Michael Garteig made 34 saves and No. 1 overall seed Quinnipiac held off Boston College 3-2 on Thursday night to reach the NCAA hockey championship game for the second time in four seasons.
Kevin McKernan and Andrew Taverner scored in the opening period and Landon Smith added a power-play goal that made it 3-1 in the second period, setting the stage for Garteig to shine when the Bobcats needed him.
Ryan Fitzgerald's power-play goal trimmed Boston College's deficit to 3-2 with 4:16 remaining. Garteig had four more saves, including a glove deflection on Ian McCoshen's shot from the high slot in the closing seconds.
Quinnipiac (32-3-7) will try to win its first national championship Saturday night, facing the winner of Thursday night's other semifinal between North Dakota and Denver.
The Bobcats lost to Yale in their only previous appearance in the title game in 2013.
This was the first meeting between the Eagles and Bobcats, who are in the Frozen Four for just the second time. Quinnipiac didn't start its program until 1975 and made the transition from Division II to Division I 18 years ago.
Boston College, meanwhile, has one of the most-accomplished programs in college hockey with a record 25 appearances in the national semifinals, 12 under coach Jerry York.
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The Eagles won the most recent of their five NCAA championships in Tampa four years ago, though none of that rich tradition mattered to Quinnipiac — generally regarded an underdog in the Frozen Four, even though the Bobcats have the nation's best record and are the top seed in the tournament.
McKernan gave Quinnipiac some early momentum, scoring from the slot less than three minutes into the game. Taverner made it 2-0, and the Bobcats hardly blinked when Alex Tuch scored for Boston College to trim the Eagles' deficit to goal in the opening minute of the second period.
Smith countered four minutes later, restoring a two-goal cushion for Garteig, who made it stand. BC got off 14 shots in the third period, most of them in one-man advantage situations, including the final 1:37 when the Eagles pulled goalie Thatcher Demko, who had 27 saves.
Boston College (28-8-5) finished 1 for 5 on the power play.
