ST. PAUL, Minn.--Jon Anderson was supposed to be slow.

Too slow to be recruited by Coach Doug Woog for the Minnesota hockey program.

Too slow to keep up with the speedy Golden Gopher skating style.

And too slow to be considered one of Minnesota's offensive threats.

But here at St. Paul Civic Center Friday night, this gopher was too fast for the Maine Black Bears to catch--exploding for a third-period hat trick that lifted Minnesota to a 7-4 triumph over Maine in the NCAA semifinals.

Before the game, Anderson was demoted from his usual center spot on the first line to the fourth line.

Woog said he needed stronger defense from the fourth line, and he thought Anderson was the player to provide it.

But Anderson had other ideas.

At the 2:59 mark of the third period, Anderson took a feed from junior Pete Hankinson and stuffed it past Maine goaltender Matt DelGuidice to give Minnesota a 4-2 lead.

Exactly four minutes later, Anderson capitalized on a sweet pass play orchestrated by Dave Snuggerud to swell the Gopher advantage to three. Teammate Ken Gernander chipped in with a tally 59 seconds later, and Anderson finished off the run--and his hat trick--with a stuff just 36 seconds after that.

"It was a move I thought we had to make to make us stronger defensively," Woog said. "I switched him to the fourth line and he comes up with a hat trick."

The switch put Snuggerud, Minnesota's top scorer, at center for the first time in more than four months. But he didn't take long to adjust.

With the Black Bears leading, 2-0, Snuggerud took a pass in the zone and beat DelGuidice to open up a Gopher scoring onslaught. Minnesota scored seven unanswered goals, holding Maine scoreless over the next 43 minutes of action.

"What killed us was [Minnesota] got four goals with Maine players right on them," Black Bear Coach Shawn Walsh said. "Matt [DelGuidice] did an excellent job. But they had players with our guys draped right on them and they still found the net."

Maine's Dave Capuano took advantage of a man-up situation to give the Black Bears a 1-0 lead just 2:43 into the game. Sophomore Mario Thyer found the net at the 6:21 mark of the same period to give Maine a cozy 2-0 lead.

But the Black Bears were a little too comfortable with the advantage--they hibernated until late, too late, in the third period.

"When it was 3-2 I thought we were still in the game for sure," Capuano said. "But we couldn't get a break and they played well the rest of the way."

Gophers 7-4 at St. Paul Civic Center Minnesota  2-1-4--7 Malsa  2-0-2--4

First Period--1, Me, Capuano 37 (Corkum, Beers) 2:43; 2, Me, Thyer 8 (Pellerin) 6:21; 3, Mn, Snuggerud 29 (Hankinson, Pederson) 6:35; 4, Mn, Bischoff 21 (Chorske, Skarda) 18:02. Penalties--Me, Carney (roughing) :22; Mn, Richards (tripping) 2:13.

Second Period--5, Mn, Miller 15 (Olimb, Chorske) 14:52. Penalties--Me, Burke (holding) 9:43; Me, Scremin (interference) 14:12; Strot (cross checking) 15:18.

Third Period--6, Mn, Anderson 17 (B. Hankinson, Olimb) 2:59; 7, Mn, Anderson 18 (Olimb, Snuggerud) 6:59; 8, Mn, Gernander 9 (Williamson, Strot) 7:58; 9, Anderson 19 (Richard, Pederson) 8:34; 10, Me, Pellerin 28 (Guidotti, Scremin) 9:33; 11, Bellefeuille 5 (Cambio, Jenkins) 19:39.

Saves--Mn, Stauber, 4-5-5--14; Mn, Stolp (1:56) x-x-1--1; Me, DelGuidice 16-14-8--38; Snow (1:56) x-x-0--0.

Power Play Opps: Mn, 2-5; Ms, 2-4.

A: 15,860