Box Score The University of Minnesota Duluth has not lost an overtime NCAA Tournament game in 34 years, and Parker Mackay did his part to make sure the streak stayed intact Saturday night.

The senior team captain accounted for both of the Bulldogs's two goals -- including the final one 11:45 into overtime -- to lead No. 2 UMD to a 2-1 victory over No. 15  Bowling Green State University in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. It marked the first multi-goal night of Mackay's career (after 33 one-goal games) and the 10th consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament victory for the defending national champion Bulldogs. UMD (26-11-2 overall), which will play Quinnipiac University (a 2-1 winner over Arizona State University in the other semifinal) Sunday night for the Midwest Regional title and a chance to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four for a program-record third year in a row, has now reeled off eight straight overtime NCAA Tournament victories since falling 6-5 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 1985 national semis. 

Bowling Green, the Midwest Regional's No. 4 seed, took a 1-0 lead with 3:37 to go in the second period on a goal from Brandon Kruse. That one-goal advantage held up until the 16:59 mark of the third period when Mackay rapped a shot from close in that went off the leg pad of Falcon goaltender Ryan Bednard and then deflected in off the shin of Bowling Green defenseman Chris Pohlkamp. Mackay started the scoring play by knocking down a shot from UMD rookie left winger Cole Koepke with his shoulder. 

"Cole got a puck off a pinching defenseman and I was just trying to hang around the net, hoping that it would come back low and try to keep it alive," said Mackay. "Koeps hit me with a shot, then I got a shot on net and got a pretty fortunate bounce. At this time of the year we'll take that."

Mackay's third career overtime goal (his last came in the 2018 NCAA West Regional semifinals against Minnesota State University-Mankato) was again set up by a Koepke scoring attempt. This time Koepke's backhander was kicked out by Bednard to the high slot where Mackay ripped in a one-timer for his 14th tally of the season. Koepke, who has collected five points in the past four games, paced both team in shots with a personal-high nine.

Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard, one week removed from being selected the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's Most Valuable Player, made 30 saves while giving up just the fifth goal in his last five appearances (all wins). Bednard finished with 34 stops as Bowling Green closed out the season at 25-11-5 overall.

"Very excited to get the win for sure," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin, who improved his overall NCAA Tournament record to 18-6. "I thought our guys stayed with the game and we knew it was going to be a hard game. We knew there wasn't going to be a lot of room. I didn't think offensively we generated a ton, but Bowling Green was a big part of that. We just needed a goal to give us some life which we got with Parker's first and obviously it was great to see him score again in overtime. That's what leaders do."