CINCINNATI — Rhett Gardner broke a tie with 7:57 left and North Dakota beat Michigan, 5-2, on Saturday night to win the NCAA Midwest Regional ­final and advance to the Frozen Four.

The Fighting Hawks (32-6-4) reached the Frozen Four for the third straight year and 22d time overall. They won the last of their seven titles in 2000.

Gardner deflected Paul LaDue’s shot off Steve Racine’s glove. Luke Johnson, Drake Caggiula, Coltyn Sanderson, and LaDue — into an empty net — also scored for North Dakota. Cam Johnson made 23 saves.

JT Compher scored twice for Michigan (25-8-5).

Caggiula opened the scoring on a backhander off his own rebound late in the first period. Troy Stecher started the play by breaking up a pass from inside his own blue line and feeding it to Caggiula.

Compher tied it at 5:33 of the second period, beating Johnson glove-side from the slot.

Johnson put North Dakota back in front with 45 seconds left in the second. He picked up a loose puck after a Michigan turnover and shot it past Racine.

Michigan’s national-best power play finally got a chance midway through the third period when LaDue was called for holding, and Compher fired a shot from the circle past Johnson to tie it at 8:39 of the third.

Gardner broke the tie, and Sanderson doubled the advantage 1:14 later.

In the semifinals Friday, North Dakota beat Northeastern, 6-2, and Michigan topped Notre Dame, 3-2, in overtime.

Quinnipiac 4, RIT 0 — Michael Garteig made 27 saves and Soren Jonzzon scored twice for the top-ranked Bobcats in the NCAA East Regional semifinals in Albany, N.Y.

Quinnipiac (30-3-7) will face the winner of the second semifinal between UMass Lowell and Yale for a spot in the Frozen Four in Tampa.

Garteig has seven shutouts this season and 19 overall.

Travis St. Denis opened the scoring on a first-period power play. Scott Davidson made it 2-0 early in the third, and Jonzzon added his two goals to help the Bobcats match the school victory record set in 2012-13.

Mike Rotolo made 26 saves for RIT (18-15-6).

Ferris State 5, St. Cloud St. 4 — Jared VanWormer scored 18 seconds into overtime, cleaning up after a Gerald Mayhew rush, as the fourth-seeded Bulldogs (20-14-6) advanced to the West Regional final in St. Paul.

‘‘I wanted to go to the net and see if I could get a rebound,’’ said VanWormer. “[Mayhew] made a nice play. He put it off the pad, great place, great time, and I had to put it in.’’

Top-seeded St. Cloud State (31-9-1) scored twice in the third period to force overtime. Mikey Eyssimont pulled the Huskies within one on a power play at 4:38 with his second goal of the game, and Joey Benik tied it with 8:31 to go.

‘‘This tournament can rip your heart out, absolutely can rip your heart out,’’ St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said. ‘‘Obviously we didn’t have our ‘A’ game today. We battled back. We showed what we can do but it’s pretty simple. Four turnovers led to the first four goals. We did some uncharacteristic things early in the game.’’

Ferris State will play Denver in Sunday’s regional final at Xcel. The winner advances to the Frozen Four.

“We just have to keep winning and playing Bulldog hockey and we'll be fine,’’ said VanWormer.

VanWormer also scored in the first period. Mitch Maloney, Kenny Babinski, and Mayhew added goals for the Bulldogs.

Freshman Darren Smith made 29 saves.

‘‘I'm obviously thrilled to win, especially against a team such as St. Cloud with the year they've had,’’ Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. ‘‘Any win in the NCAA Tournament is great, but when you consider the opponent we played, I'm really proud of our guys and our team and the way they battled.’’

Jacob Benson also scored for St. Cloud State.