from Lou Somogyi of Yahoo,

A Cinderella run to the 2017 Frozen Four struck midnight, literally, for Notre Dame on Thursday night at Chicago’s United Center.

Shortly before midnight Eastern Standard Time — after a 9:57 p.m. face-off — the No. 4-seed Fighting Irish had fallen behind No. 1 Denver 5-0 after the first two periods en route to a 6-1 defeat, the worst of the year for the Fighting Irish, who finish 23-12-5.

On Saturday night Denver (32-7-4) will play for the national title against Minnesota-Duluth, a 2-1 victor over Harvard in the earlier game.

The Pioneers asserted their dominance in the first period, forcing goalie Cal Petersen to make a save off a hard shot in the opening five seconds and then continued to pepper him with onslaughts while controlling the action through the first 20 minutes.

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