Muse is making noise

Taciturn goaltender silenced opposition

DENVER - He doesn't have an awful lot to say. While the game is going on, Boston College freshman netminder John Muse prefers to stay in a mental zone. The only time he speaks is when he's directing his teammates in the defensive zone.

Last night, in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals against North Dakota at the Pepsi Center, Muse let his play do the talking. He stopped some terrific bids early in the first period, then watched as his teammates dazzled at the other end on the way to a 6-1 victory and a spot in tomorrow night's NCAA championship game for the third straight year.

Muse, who had 29 saves, outdueled Fighting Sioux senior J.P. Lamoureux (21 saves) and although Muse lost a shutout with 1:16 remaining when defenseman Jake Marto blasted a slap shot past him from just inside the blue line, the East Falmouth, Mass., native was all smiles.

"Keeping them off the scoreboard in the first period was huge," said Muse, who has played in all 43 games this season. "Even until we scored a goal, we knew we had to weather a storm. Luckily, we were able to and get on the board."

Dan Bertram's tally with 14.8 seconds left in the first made it 4-0 and took the Fighting Sioux out of the game.

"Whenever you can score in the last minute of a period or first minute of a period, that's huge," said Muse. "We were able to do that and I think it took some of the wind out of their sails."

It's the third time the Eagles will play for it all and the first for Muse, who won the Beanpot, the Hockey East championship, the NCAA Northeast Regionals, and now the Frozen Four semifinal.

"It's a dream come true for any kid, growing up as a college hockey fan," he said. "Being able to play in the Frozen Four, it's something I've always wanted to do and luckily I got the chance this year."

Different feel for York

BC coach Jerry York will be making his sixth appearance in the NCAA title game, bringing a 1-4 mark with him.

This is his third straight final, having lost the last two to Michigan State and Wisconsin.

"It feels different for some reason," York said. "Each year is different, your teams are different. Generally your path to get there is different. There's not a lot of similarities between this team and the last two.

"It's a different makeup. Players leave and players come and it changes a little bit your group dynamics. It's really a difficult process to get here, you go through regions, you go through semifinals; you have to win a lot of big games to get here. That's the good news. The bad news is you've always got to play another real good club."

Hitting the big time

Captain Mike Brennan said the Eagles heard all the talk prior to the game about being undersized against the big, strong Fighting Sioux, but he said neither he nor his teammates paid any mind. "We were just doing the things we've been doing all season," said Brennan. "That paint area is big for us, getting to the net hard. I know a big thing before the game was the physical aspect of it. They're bigger than us, they're stronger than us. But guys don't read into that at all. It doesn't matter how big you are, it's how hungry you want to be. Our forwards show that every single game. That's the staple of our team right now is hard work and a gritty team and I think that's been working for us." . . . North Dakota coach David Hakstol said he thought his team was fine even after Nathan Gerbe's shorthanded goal made it 2-0. "I liked the energy we had played with through that period of time," he said. "I thought really more the turning point, if you want to call it that, was more so the third and fourth goals. Even after the third goal, the feeling on the bench was that we were just fine. But that fourth goal - that was a pretty tough hill to climb." . . . BC is playing in its ninth title game, and its sixth in the last 11 years. It's the third straight year in the final for the Eagles, something that hasn't been done since Wisconsin in 1981-83 . . . The last time BC scored four goals and lost was at North Dakota, Oct. 17, 2003. Since then, the team is 89-0-1 when scoring four or more . . . The six goals scored by BC was just the second time this season North Dakota had given up more than four. The other was a 7-4 loss to the University of New Hampshire Dec. 29 . . . There were a score or two of Massachusetts 14-year-olds cheering extra hard for BC's first goal, scored by Andrew Orpik on a pass from Kyle Kucharski. The two juniors were counselor/coaches for the Mass. Hockey team that traveled to Sweden last summer for a series of games . . . Asked if he needed to settle his players when they hit the first intermission with a 4-0 lead, York said, "The players did most of the talking. We've got kind of a veteran crew; they've played in a lot of big-stage games." . . . Gerbe, who had a hat trick and an assist, has nine career shorthanded goals, including one last night. It was his third hat trick of the season and his career. He leads the team with 14 points in 11 career NCAA games. He has 9 points (six goals) in four games against North Dakota . . . The last time there was a five-goal differential in the Frozen Four was April 4, 2002, when Maine beat New Hampshire, 7-2.

Barbara Matson of the Globe staff contributed to this report.