ALBANY, N.Y. – Freshman left wing Mike Hamilton has been Mr. March for the University of Maine men’s hockey team. And his heroics in March have earned the Bears an opportunity to play in April.

Hamilton’s third crucial goal in the last four playoff games, coming 3:27 into overtime Saturday at Pepsi Arena, gave Maine a 2-1 victory over the University of Wisconsin and sent Maine to its fourth NCAA Frozen Four in six years.

Maine will face Hockey East rival Boston College in the national semifinals at the FleetCenter in Boston on April 8 at either noon or 6 p.m. The winner advances to the April 10 national championship game.

“This is incredible,” said Maine senior left wing and captain Todd Jackson. “Every game seems to be one of these types of games: life or death. We kept battling. They didn’t make any mistakes. They were solid all around. We were fortunate to manufacture a goal in overtime.”

Hamilton had scored the lone goal in the Hockey East tournament semifinal win over Boston University. He found the back of the net in the third period Friday night against Harvard to jump-start a memorable four-goal rally that supplied Maine, 32-7-3, with a 5-4 triumph and a berth in Saturday night’s East Regional final.

It was Maine’s ninth straight win, the longest current streak in the nation, and the last seven have been by one goal, including three in overtime.

“The biggest thing with hockey is confidence,” said the 6-foot-1, 193-pound native of Victoria, British Columbia. “If you’re confident, you try things you normally wouldn’t. You don’t put as much pressure on yourself. You just think good thoughts.”

One of those thoughts was to try to take Wisconsin All-WCHA third-team and All-Rookie team defenseman Ryan Suter wide in overtime after he regained the puck in the neutral zone.

“I kind of caught him in transition a bit,” said Hamilton, who has three game-winners among his seven goals this season. “He was coming at me and I drove wide. I ended up putting my arm out a bit [to hold him off].”

Hamilton sliced across the top of the crease on Badgers goalie Bernd Bruckler “and I got off a one-handed shot. The puck was just kind of sitting there and as I was going by, I chipped it in.”

“He kind of handcuffed me,” said Suter. “He cut to the net there and got it through somehow.”

Referee Tim Kotyra signaled the goal, but the decision was made to go to a video replay official to verify that the puck crossed the line.

A few moments later, Kotyra pointed to the center ice faceoff circle to signify the goal.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking, for sure,” said Hamilton. “I saw it go in, but I didn’t know if there was someone in the crease or the net [was dislodged].”

The video replay apparently revealed that the puck was sitting in the crease after Bruckler stopped the initial shot and Maine’s Jon Jankus checked Wisconsin defenseman Andy Wozniewski, causing Wozniewski’s stick to poke the puck over the goal line.

“I was just driving hard to the net. I was pushing everything in my way. So I probably did knock a guy in and maybe it hit his stick,” said Jankus. “We’ve been working on getting the puck to the net and driving the net. The first guy takes guys [opponents] to the net and the second guy usually puts the puck in.”

“I made the initial save, the rebound trickled to my right and it just barely crossed the line,” said Bruckler.

“Mike Hamilton has been huge for us,” Jackson said. “I knew he was a great player early on and he has really developed.”

“That’s what happens when you go to the net,” said Maine senior defenseman and assistant captain Prestin Ryan. “Strange things can happen. When they end up being an overtime winner for your team, that’s pretty good.”

Wisconsin sophomore defenseman Tom Gilbert said both teams worked hard the whole game. “We knew it would come down to a bounce and obviously they got it,” he said. “It was a bummer for us.”

“Both teams were very solid defensively and Bernd and [Jimmy] Howard are excellent goalies. We knew it was going to come down to a one-goal game,” Gilbert added.

Maine senior right wing Colin Shields opened the scoring just 1:32 into the game with his 18th goal of the season, but Wisconsin’s Rene Bourque equalized with his 16th at the 17:38 mark of the second period.

Shields’ goal was unassisted as he pounced on a loose puck at center ice and skated in on Wisconsin freshman defenseman Matt Olinger in a one-on-one.

“It was a broken play,” said Shields. “Prestin stepped up and the puck came to me. I had a lot of time, so I got some speed up and the defenseman had to back off. I cut to the middle and shot it through the defenseman’s legs to the far [glove] side.”

Howard preserved the lead by robbing Robbie Earl, whose one-timer off a Jake Dowell pass was labeled for the short side.

Not to be outdone, Bruckler flashed out his pad to stop Hamilton’s breakaway later in the period and then scurried across the goalmouth to absorb in his chest Jankus’ one-timer off a Hamilton cross-ice pass.

Adam Burish had a breakaway early in the second period, but Howard rejected it with his blocker; Bruckler held his ground and made a stick save off Shields’ breakaway backhander moments later; and Howard made a great desperation right-pad save on Suter, who stopped at the top of the crease and then pulled the puck around Howard before shooting.

Wisconsin tied it when Gilbert’s shot from the right point was deflected, forcing Howard to lunge and get a piece of his glove on it. Bourque slipped past Ryan, gathered in the puck and patiently pulled it around Howard before flipping it past his glove hand.

Both teams had a few good chances in the third period, but the goalies were equal to the task.

Bruckler robbed Michel Leveille, who teed up a left-circle slapper off a partial break-in only to see the goalie kick it out with his left pad.

Leveille set up Shields in overtime for a one-timer from the high slot, but Bruckler got his stick on it.

Howard, who was pulled Friday after allowing four goals in two periods against Harvard, rebounded with a 36-save performance, including 17 Grade-A [high-percentage] stops.

“I knew before I came to the rink I was going to be on today,” said Howard. “I just zeroed in. I felt good.”

Bruckler finished with 26 stops, including 16 Grade-A’s.

“We played our hearts out and I thought, in the game, we were the better team,” said Wisconsin freshman left wing Earl, one of 14 freshmen and sophomores in the lineup for the 22-13-8 Badgers. “But the bounces didn’t go our way.”

Maine’s Leveille, Shields, Hamilton, and Ryan earned all-tourney honors along with Wisconsin’s Dan Boeser and Bruckler. Bruckler was also named tourney MVP.

BLACK BEARS 2, BADGERS 1 (OT)

Wisconsin (22-13-8) 0 1 0 0 ? 1

Maine (32-7-3) 1 0 0 1 ? 2

First period ? 1. Maine, Shields 18 (unassisted), 1:32; Penalties: Wis, Heatley, contact to the head, 4:40; Maine, Murphy, tripping, 7:08; Wis, MacMurchy, roughing, 9:41; Maine, Hamilton, holding the stick, 15:10; Maine, Hamilton, roughing, 15:23; Wis, Wozniewski, holding, 15:23; Wis, Suter, charging, 17:19.

Second period ? 2. Wis, Bourque 16 (Gilbert, MacMurchy), 17:38; Penalties: Maine, Hamilton, high-sticking, 1:12; Wis, Suter, holding the stick, 2:39; Maine, Deschamps, interference, 8:27; Maine, Ryan, tripping, 9:28; Wis, MacMurchy, cross-checking, 9:46; Wis, Wozniewski, hitting after the whistle, 11:55.

Third period ? No scoring; Penalties: Wis, MacMurchy, high-sticking, 4:51; Wis, Dowell, elbowing, 7:55; Maine, Lyall, holding, 7:55.

Overtime ? 3. Maine, Hamilton 7 (unassisted), 3:27; Penalties: none.

Shots on goal: Wisconsin 9-14-12-2?37; Maine 7-7-12-2?28.

Goaltenders: Wisconsin, Bruckler (28 shots-26 saves); Maine, Howard (37-36).

Power-play opportunities: Wisconsin 0 of 5; Maine 0 of 7

High-percentage scoring chances: Wisconsin 8-9-6-0?23; Maine 10-5-11-2?28

Attendance: 5,480