DENVER - It had the look of a pick-up street-hockey game played without goalies.

By the end of the first period, one of every three shots had resulted in a goal. By the end of the game, that number had fallen to a still astronomical one goal in just less than every five shots.

But somehow, Michigan, the nation's highest-scoring team, lost the type of game that usually suits it so well, falling to North Dakota in the NCAA West Regional semifinals, 8-5.

"This time of year you're not going to win games giving up five and six goals," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.

Unless you're North Dakota, apparently.

It was the second consecutive year the Wolverines' season has concluded with a tournament loss to the Fighting Sioux. The eight goals were the most Michigan had allowed in an NCAA Tournament game since an 8-1 loss at Boston University in 1991.

Michigan's penalty kill, which excelled at the CCHA Championships, proved to be its downfall. North Dakota scored on five of its eight power-play chances and made it look easy along the way.

The Fighting Sioux's five extra-man tallies came in less than two minutes combined.

It was the most power-play goals Michigan (18-9-1 CCHA, 26-13-1 overall) has allowed since it gave up five to Minnesota on Nov. 25, 2005.

"Halfway through (the first) period, we started taking penalties," Michigan senior captain Matt Hunwick said. "The momentum swung a little bit. It was tough for us to get going again once they got those power-play goals."

But if the game had just been the first minute of each period, the penalties wouldn't have made a difference.

The Wolverines scored two goals in the first minute of both the first and second periods, jumping out to 2-0 and 5-4 leads, respectively.

When asked after the game about the early scoring barrage, sophomore Andrew Cogliano said he'd never seen anything like it in a college game before

"It was obviously a high-scoring game," Cogliano said. "When you have guys like T.J. Hensick scoring goals at the beginning of periods, as a team you've got to rally around that."

But the Wolverines didn't rally, and the final 19 minutes of each period hit them hard.

North Dakota (13-10-5 WCHA, 22-13-5) scored three unanswered goals to end the first and second periods, securing a 4-3 lead at the first intermission and a 7-5 lead after two.

The Fighting Sioux's seventh goal was the most unsettling.

On the power play, North Dakota's T.J. Oshie corralled a rebound just behind the goal line and facing the end boards. From a negative angle and without even looking, Oshie threw the puck toward Michigan goalie Billy Sauer, who didn't react and allowed the puck to bank in off his pads.

"The puck was going in," Berenson said. "Billy Sauer couldn't see it or couldn't find it or was too far back to make a save. It was a goalie's nightmare."

Oshie added an empty-net goal in the third period for a hat trick.

Perhaps it was the altitude or maybe it was North Dakota's neutral-zone trap, but there was no doubt by the third period that the game's manic pace had taken its toll Michigan. The Wolverines looked tired and frustrated.

Nothing proved this more than Hensick's 10-minute misconduct with just more than 12 minutes remaining.

The penalty forced the senior, who had already scored two goals, to watch all but the final two minutes of his final game from the penalty box. It also robbed him of a chance at being the first Wolverine to score 70 points in a season since Brendan Morrison had 88 in the 1996-97 campaign.

More importantly, the loss deprived Michigan's senior class of its last chance to go the Frozen Four, making it the first group since the class of 1991 to never make a trip to the national semifinals.

"It's a sad statement that this team wasn't better or didn't prove they were better," Berenson said. "(The seniors) played on teams that were contending teams that went to the tournament, (and) didn't do as well as they'd hoped. And that's too bad."