Wisconsin scored in the opening minutes of the first two periods and went on to rout Rochester Institute of Technology 8-1 in the Frozen Four on Thursday night at Ford Field.
DETROIT (AP) -- The Badgers will play the winner of the Miami of Ohio-Boston College game for the national title on Saturday night.
John Mitchell scored 1:27 into the game and Jordy Murray made it 3-0 at 2:18 of the second, allowing Wisconsin to coast against the overmatched Tigers. Scott Gudmandson made 13 saves for the Badgers.
RIT's Jared Demichiel stopped 27 shots before being replaced late in the game by Shane Madolora, who gave up a goal on the only shot he faced. Jan Ropponen then came on and allowed one goal on three shots.
The game was played at the home of the NFL's Detroit Lions. About 35,000 tickets were sold, but empty seats in the football facility and a lopsided game without a local team led to a lackluster atmosphere.
When Detroit landed the Frozen Four, organizers dreamed of putting the ice in the middle of the field and packing 70,000-plus fans around it as was done for the men's basketball Final Four last year.
The plan was wisely downsized, putting the ice near an end zone, and placing portable sections along the boards opposite the team benches.
It felt like a hockey arena with a game-time temperature of 60 degrees and 47 percent humidity thanks to air conditioning that created a breeze strong enough to make curtains that cut off portions of the venue sway from side to side.
RIT fans who made the trip from upstate New York tried to create a buzz 90 minutes before the puck dropped, chanting "R-I-T! R-I-T!" but the Badgers quickly quieted them and made the final score the only thing in doubt.
Mitchell scored off a rebound on the second shot of the game, and Derek Stepan put Wisconsin ahead 2-0 midway through the second period.
After Murray scored early in the second, Justin Schultz made it 4-0 a couple minutes later.
Wisconsin had a pair of two-man advantages midway through the second period and took advantage of both, on goals from Michael Davies and Blake Geoffrion, to lead 6-0.
RIT then called a timeout, but there was nothing that could be said or done to change the outcome.
The Tigers did, though, avoid a shutout with 28 seconds left in the second when Tyler Brenner banged in a shot from the left side off a crisp pass to make it 6-1.
Craig Smith and Stepan scored 20 seconds apart late in the game to finish the scoring barrage for the Badgers.
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Cam Atkinson scored the first of three goals in a 1:35 stretch midway through the third period, helping Boston College pull away from Miami of Ohio for a 7-1 win Thursday night in the Frozen Four.
The fourth-seeded Eagles will play third-seeded Wisconsin on Saturday night for the NCAA hockey title in a rematch of the 2006 final won by the Badgers.
Ford Field, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions, drew an announced crowd of 34,954 to set a world indoor attendance record for a hockey game. The fans saw two routs: Wisconsin beat Rochester Institute of Technology 8-1 earlier Thursday.
Boston College's John Muse made 17 saves. Connor Knapp and Cody Reichard gave up seven goals on 30 shots for the top-seeded RedHawks.
It started off being the closely contested game many expected. Ben Smith put Boston College ahead 1-0 by scoring a power-play goal with 1:28 left in the first period.
The Eagles began to pull away with Jimmy Hayes' power-play goal early in the second — like Smith's score, from the slot — and Joe Whitney's goal a minute later.
Knapp was then replaced by Reichard, who made nine saves in the second period to keep the game relatively close.
Joe Hartman gave the RedHawks' fans something to finally cheer about when he scored 5:19 into the third.
Atkinson, Patch Alber and Paul Carey silenced the red-clad fans, who made the short drive from Ohio, with three goals midway through the third period. Smith netted his second goal late in the game to make it 8-1.
Reichard finished with 17 saves. Knapp had just six.
Boston College coach Jerry York has led the Eagles to their fourth Frozen Four appearance in five years and is a win away from his second national title in three years and the school's fourth.
The two-game session on Saturday smashed the Frozen Four attendance record of 19,432 set in St. Louis three years ago and hockey's indoor mark of 21,183 from Tampa Bay's home game at Tropicana Field against Philadelphia during the 1996 NHL playoffs.
A year ago, Miami almost won its first national championship in any sport.
The RedHawks blew a two-goal lead in the final minute against Boston University and lost in overtime.
They overcame that setback and a loss off the ice this season. Student manager Brendan Burke, the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, was killed on Feb. 5, in a car crash in Indiana, but the RedHawks were still able to put together a strong season.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
