Notre Dame breaks out of scoring slump, pounds New Hampshire 7-3

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New Hampshire left winger Greg Collins (8) knocks Notre Dame defenseman Kyle Lawson off his skates during the second period of a first round NCAA west regional college hockey match, Friday, March 28, 2008, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Mar 28, 2008 at 11:06 PM EST

Story Updated: Mar 28, 2008 at 11:06 PM EST

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Notre Dame broke out of a scoring slump in monumental fashion on Friday, upsetting top seed New Hampshire 7-3 in the NCAA West Regional.

It was only the second time since the NCAA adopted the 16-team tournament format in 2003 that a No. 4 seed defeated a No. 1.

Notre Dame (25-15-4) advanced to the regional finals for the second consecutive year and will play the winner of Friday night's game between Michigan State and Colorado College.

The Fighting Irish torched New Hampshire goaltender Kevin Regan, a Hobey Baker Award finalist, for three goals on their first 10 shots. Six players scored for Notre Dame, which got more goals than it did in its previous three games combined.

"Our team has the ability to put the puck in the net but has struggled to do so in the second half of the season," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said. "It was positive to see us respond."

Christian Hanson scored two goals for the Irish and Ryan Thang added a goal and two assists. Mark Van Guilder had three assists.

New Hampshire (25-10-3), the regular season Hockey East champions, took the lead 64 seconds into the game on a goal by Jerry Pollastrone. Notre Dame answered with a power-play goal by Ian Cole a little more than one minute later, but another goal by Pollastrone gave the Wildcats a 2-1 edge.

A power-play goal by Notre Dame's Kyle Lawson tied the game 2-2 going into the first intermission, and consecutive Irish goals by Christian Hanson and Dan Kissel in the second period gave Notre Dame the lead for good.

The Irish took the lead for good on Hanson's first goal early in the second.

The Wildcats had a golden chance to retake control when they had a five-on-three power-play for 1:13. But Notre Dame, which entered the tournament with the fifth-best penalty-kill percentage in the nation, denied the Wildcats and got an unassisted goal by Dan Kissel as the second penalty expired.

"It was a positive for me to see our power-play as effective as it was tonight," said Jackson, who praised associate coach Paul Pooley for his work with special teams. "Our penalty-killing has been one of our strengths all season long."

Notre Dame padded its lead with a pair of empty-net goals in the final minutes by Kevin Deeth and Hanson.

James vanRiemsdyk had three assists for New Hampshire and Phil DeSimone added a goal.

New Hampshire coach Dick Umile said the Wildcats didn't do well on power plays and penalty kills.

"Disappointing. No excuses. It was not our best performance," he said. "This was a special team, and that's the real disappointing part for me."

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