How Minnesota Got to the Final Five The University of Minnesota men's hockey team faced the same opponent in the opening round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's playoffs as it did last year, with far different results. Last year Alaska Anchorage went into Mariucci Arena and swept the Gophers, and the sweep kept the Minnesota out of the N.C.A.A. tournament. This year Minnesota finished first in the W.C.H.A. and won the MacNaughton Cup. Last-place Alaska Anchorage played tough last weekend but in the end got swept by the Gophers. Minnesota won 2-1 on Friday and 7-3 on Saturday. "I'm just happy for all of our seniors," Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said. They know they're going to be playing at the Xcel [Energy] Center the next couple weeks, they know they're going to be in the N.C.A.A. tournament and it will be fun on Friday night back at the Xcel with a great crowd. All of the scoring in Friday's game happened in the second period. Sophomore Erik Haula scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead. Minnesota looked like it would take that lead into the locker room but Anchorage's Brad Gorham score a power play goal with two seconds remaining in the period. "My line especially has really come together," Haula said. We're getting chances, this time it's been me and maybe tomorrow it's someone else. The Gophers held on and won 2-1. Haula's game-winning goal was reviewed with a possibility of goaltender interference and held up, a decision that Anchorage head coach Dave Shyiak was not happy with. "It clearly was no goal, it was goaltender interference," Shyiak said. [The officials] agreed that he did get knocked down but [said] he wouldn't have been able to get across anyways to make the save. I said "So you're guessing how quick he is?"" The Gophers had a 1-0 lead after the first period on Saturday's game but Anchorage came out strong in the second. Matt Bailey scored twice and Scott Allen chipped in another to give the Seawolves a 3-1 lead halfway through the game. All of Anchorage's goals on the weekend were scored on the power play. Minnesota responded by scoring the next six goals of the game. The Gophers managed to tie the game in the second period with two beautiful goals from Zach Budish and Nick Bjugstad. Budish's goal came after a one-time pass by Kyle Rau and Bjugstad's was the result of two tape-to-tape passes from Nate Schmidt and Haula. "Those two goals in the second period were critical," Lucia said. We've been a very good third period team all season long, we've been good on Saturday nights all season long and we came back and finished in the third period. Minnesota broke the tie early in the third when Haula put a backhander past Anchorage goaltender Chris Kamal; seconds later he added another goal. Seth Helgeson and Sam Warning capped off the scoring for Minnesota. Haula scored four goals on the weekend and had two assists. The Gophers have now advanced to the W.C.H.A. Final Five, which will be played this weekend at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Minnesota will receive a first-round bye and will square off against the winner of St. Cloud State-North Dakota. Minnesota Duluth received a bye on the other side of the bracket and will play the winner of Michigan Tech-Denver. "It's been a climb, there's been some frustrations along the way," Lucia said. "I think a year ago at this time I said, "I don't think we're that far away." I don't know if anybody believed me at that time but I seriously didn't think we were that far away. Minnesota fans tend to pack the Xcel Energy Center, with the arena being located only eight miles from campus. The Gophers are ranked No. 8 in the PairWise Rankings, which is used to seed the N.C.A.A. tournament. With the sweep of Alaska Anchorage the Gophers essentially secured their spot in the tournament. The winner of the W.C.H.A. tournament, along with the winners of other conference tournaments, are assured a spot in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Minnesota will play the winner of St. Cloud State and Denver on Friday with the championship game set for Saturday. Drew Claussen is a sports reporter for The Minnesota Daily.