The CBS Line won the ratings battle, and North Dakota won the war.

Nick Schmaltz scored with less than a minute to play on a bang-bang play after a face-off to lift the Fighting Hawks to a 4-2 victory over Denver in the second Frozen Four semifinal Thursday at Tampa., Fla.

North Dakota will play Quinnipiac for the NCAA championship on Saturday. DU finished the season 25-10-6 after mounting a furious third-period rally in the NCHC rivals’ sixth meeting of the season.

“I’d said two days ago that the team that makes the last play is going to win,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “North Dakota made the last play.

“That being said, I can’t be more proud of our group. I think what you saw, the fight in us all year long. And this game exemplifies the great leadership we have, led by Grant (Arnold) and the three other seniors and Butchie (Will Butcher). I think it just shows what’s inside of us to just keep fighting or keep believing no matter what the score.”

Arnold concurred, saying “I’m extremely proud of my teammates, the fight and the heart they showed in the third period. It was a pleasure to lead this team.”

The Pioneers trailed 2-0 after senior Drake Caggiula scored twice in the first 6:15 of the second period.

However, just as DU resurrected its season after the calendar turned to 2016, the Pioneers restored hope for playing for their first NCAA title in 11 years with a statement third period.

Butcher scored off a face-off play to the left of North Dakota goalie Cam Johnson 2:50 into the third period. Matt Marcinew won the draw to Arnold to his right, and Arnold redirected the puck back to Butcher, who was stationed on the upper left edge of the circle.

“A lot of (the openings for defensemen to shoot) came from forwards creating space for us up top,” Butcher said. “That face-off play, Grant had great intensity and bumped the puck back to me. All I had to do was put the puck in the open area (of the net).”

Defenseman Matt VanVoorhis tied the score 8:01 later, gathering the puck near the bottom of the right circle and sending it in Johnson’s direction. The puck hit the stick of Hawks captain Gage Ausmus and went past his goalie.

“VanVoorhis made a great rush toward the offensive zone and he just tried to throw one on the net. It hit a stick and we got a little puck luck,” Butcher said. “I think our forwards did a lot more tonight than what they were given credit for.”

The Pioneers’ Pacific Rim Line of Dylan Gambrell, Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore was held off the scoresheet thanks to being the focus of North Dakota’s defense all night, while their high-scoring counterparts – Cagguila, Brock Boeser and Schmaltz – accounted for six points and all three NoDak goals, including Schmaltz’s backbreaker with 57 seconds to play.

The deciding goal came about after DU had dominated the first 15 minutes of play in the third. The Pioneers had a power play with 6:25 to play but could not cash in. The Hawks seemed to draw energy from their fourth consecutive killed off penalty.

“That was our worst power play of the night,” Butcher said. “I made a crappy pass to Trevor. They do a pretty good job of clogging the middle. It’s hard to get shots through on them.”

Montgomery cited a few other factors for NoDak’s season-long success against DU’s power play.

“The big thing is they won face-offs,” the coach said. “And the second thing is anytime there was a scrum they came up with it. They’re really good at killing penalties. The one thing we didn’t do is wanted to go to the goal line and we never did that. We shot in the shin pads a little too much.

“I give full credit to North Dakota’s penalty kill. They work as four, it’s not easy to penetrate their blue line.”

The re-energized Hawks applied much more pressure in the closing minutes and ultimately forced an icing with a minute to go, after which DU called its timeout.

Boeser won the face-off and fired a shot, Caggiula’s rebound shot was blocked but the puck went to Schmaltz, who put a backhander past Tanner Jaillet. An empty-net goal in the closing seconds sealed the outcome.

“I thought the player was trying to go off the glass … he was starting to get squeezed off,” Montgomery said. “Our weak side wing’s got to go pursue, and he was tired. We called time out, we had three seniors on the ice and we got outmuscled at the net front.

“The CBS Line scored all three goals. You’ve got to tip your hat to them.”

Caggiula was a one-man wrecking crew in the third of the second period. He got the Hawks on the board 1:03 into the second, taking a pass from Boeser as he drove the net and beating Jaillet on the blocker side.

Caggiula extended NoDak’s lead to 2-0 after making a steal along the right wall, walking and firing a wrister past Jaillet 6:15 into the second.

The Hawks’ push to start the second came after DU had largely out played them in the first period. The teams had four shots apiece after a thrilling first, a period in which the Pioneers had two power plays. Part of the reason for that was the Pioneers’ ability to possess the puck.

Montgomery said the Pioneers missed some chances to take charge.

“In the first period we had the momentum of the game, especially early,” he said. “That’s when we needed to capitalize, where we needed to go up.”

The eight combined shots tied a Frozen Four record for fewest in a period.

The end of the season means the end of DU hockey careers for at least four Pioneers – in addition to Arnold, Gabe Levin, Quentin Shore and Nolan Zajac are seniors. There also has been widespread speculation that leading scorer Heinen, a Bruins draft choice, might opt to sign with Boston as soon as this weekend.

It wasn’t hard to understand why Arnold and Butcher were still in full uniform at the post game press conference.

“This is the last time I’m going to be able to wear this jersey,” Arnold said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears. Two surgeries on my body. A lot of great wins, a lot of great friendships.

“I’m just keeping it on as long as I can. … I want to show the pride I have in Denver hockey and Denver athletics. It’s a family. Coach Montgomery, I’ve learned more than you can imagine from him.

“We’re never going to give up.”

A season that could have gone sideways after a 7-7-2 start capped by four consecutive NCHC losses was turned around by Arnold and his teammates for that very reason. DU went 18-3-4 in 2016 and went one step further in the NCAA Tournament in each of Montgomery’s first three seasons.

Though not what the Pioneers ultimately were hoping for, they can take solace in the faced they did indeed never give up when it would have been very easy to do so.