ESPN College Sports

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The first goal was quick and easy. The next one didn't come for more than 37 minutes.

North Dakota jumped on Holy Cross in the first minute and eventually added two more goals as the top-seeded Fighting Sioux defeated the Crusaders 3-0 in the NCAA West Regional tournament on Friday night.

North Dakota's Zach Parise took a breakaway pass from Brady Murray, then faked out Holy Cross goalie Tony Quesada 47 seconds into the game to give the Fighting Sioux a 1-0 lead.

Then the game became a gritty defensive battle, with Quesada fending off 30 shots and Jordan Parise blocking 21 for the Fighting Sioux. Ben Conway had four saves in relief of Quesada.

"It wasn't a pretty game," North Dakota coach Dean Blais said. "It wasn't a race horse hockey game. We started a little uptight, but as the game moved on we started moving the puck better."

North Dakota's offensive attack never seemed to get on track.

"It was one of those games where every pass we'd make seemed to hit a stick or the tip of a skate," North Dakota's Brandon Bochenski said.

Blais credited the Holy Cross defense. "It was hard to get the puck to the net, and when we did, their goaltender was making fantastic saves," he said.

North Dakota finally broke through again on a power play at 18:22 in the second. Zach Parise fed to Bochenski in the slot, who then fired a shot past Quesada to make it 2-0.

North Dakota was 1-for-4 on power play chances. Holy Cross was 0-for-5.

Mike Prpich made it 3-0 at 5:09 in the third period, backhanding into the net after a pass in front of the crease from Ryan Hale.

The Fighting Sioux outshot fourth-seeded Holy Cross 37-21.

North Dakota (30-7-3) will play the winner of the Denver-Miami (Ohio) game in the West Regional championship Saturday night.

Holy Cross finishes the season 22-10-4.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press