Leading by a narrow 3-2 margin going into the third period, Notre Dame Academy scored twice in a span of two minutes midway through the final period and held on for a 6-3 win over Verona Friday night in semifinal action at the WIAA state tournament at the Alliant Energy Center.

Due to the four-overtime affair between Kettle Moraine and Onalaska in the second girls' semifinal game, the boys' games were backed up and this game started about 50 minutes behind schedule, much to the chagrin of the usher at the north end of the ice.

It didn't take too long for Notre Dame to get on the board, as Luke Davison scored at the 5:53 mark. His slapshot from the point through traffic hit the back of the net to give NDA a 1-0 lead. Brother Tim Davison made the pass that made the score possible.

Five minutes later Verona took advantage of an odd-man rush to tie the game. Eddie Matsushima passed the puck from the right side over to Zach Jones on the left wing and the junior forward roofed one past NDA goalie Chris Nell at the 10:50 mark. Michael Stevens also earned an assist on the 3-on-2 break.

Just over a minute later, Jason Reynolds worked hard to put the Tritons back in front. He skated from behind the net and tried a wraparound, but the puck bounced off Verona goalie Matt Opsal. Reynolds grabbed the rebound and pushed it past the goalie to give NDA a 2-1 lead at the 12:07 mark, with assists to Brett Gruber and Riley Christensen.

Near the end of the period, NDA's Peter Coleman clanked one off the crossbar for a near score.

Shots in the period favored Notre Dame, 8-5.

The Tritons took an early penalty, but it was the second infraction that Verona cashed in on.

Midway through the second power play, the Wildcats' freshman Tarek Baker had the puck low and attempted a couple close-in shots, which Nell stopped. On the third, Baker moved back a foot or so and that enabled him to get the puck over Nell's pad and into the net to tie the game at two. Ben Scherschel and Charlie Parker got assists on the play at 4:25 of the second.

The Tritons got the lead back on a misfortunate play, at least for Verona.

Opsal made an initial save and poked the puck out, but it bounced off the skate of one of his defensemen--who was moving in--and into the net to make it 3-2 for NDA. The goal at 14:27 was credited to Mark Vandenburg.

The period ended with Verona holding a 12-9 shot edge.

It took until almost midway through the third, but Coleman scored his second goal on a rebound past a sprawling Opsal to make it 4-2 at 7:14. Sam McCormick got an assist on the play.

Two minutes later, NDA played 'tic-tac-toe' and scored to make it 5-2. Goal by Christensen, with assists to Gruber and Grant Kluesner.

Zac Keryluk took advantage of a Verona 2-on-1 and scored to make it 5-3 at the 12:22 mark, with an assist to Alex Watzke.

In the final minute, Opsal was finally able to come off for an extra attacker, but Tim Davison scuttled that strategy by scoring with 12 seconds left from the face-off circle on the far end to make the final 6-3.

Notre Dame outshot the Wildcats 14-8 in the period.

Nell stopped 22 of 25 for Notre Dame, who will move to Saturday's title match-up with defending state champs Wausau West. Opsal made 25 saves for Verona, who end the season with a solid 26-2-1 mark.