WASHINGTON — Boston University's coach got in on the geographic fun when asked about the Miami team he'll face in the Frozen Four championship.

"It's pretty warm down there," Jack Parker joked.

Of course, Parker knows well that it's Miami University — the one in Oxford, Ohio, not the University of Miami in Florida — that has crashed the NCAA title game. BU, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, will face the RedHawks, the bottom seed from the West Regional, on Saturday for college hockey's crown.

"It puts Miami on the map," RedHawks left wing Justin Mercier said. "To establish ourselves as a perennial powerhouse, we need to make it to more Frozen Fours. It has to start somewhere, right?"

Miami beat fellow upstart Bemidji State 4-1 Thursday night in the first semifinal, a game between two first-time Frozen Four participants. BU then topped Vermont 5-4 in a back-and-forth nightcap between conference rivals.

"We have been quote-unquote a 'favorite' in a lot of games down the stretch here," said Parker, who has the Terriers a game away from their fifth title and first since 1995. "We're getting everybody else's best game, and I don't know if we've been giving everybody else our best game."

The Terriers, the only No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the 16-team tourney to reach the Frozen Four — and the only past champion to get that far — blew a 2-0 lead and had to overcome a pair of one-goal deficits before putting away the Catamounts. Even so, Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon likes his fellow New Englanders' chances in their 10th appearance in the title game.

"I think BU's the team to beat," Sneddon said. "In my opinion, they're the best team in the country and have been that way for most of the year. But, as Jack will tell his team, that doesn't mean much going into a one-game finale."

Hobey Baker Award finalist Colin Wilson scored the game's first and last goals, including the tiebreaker with about 5› minutes left, for the Terriers (34-6-4). Jason Lawrence, Vinny Saponari and Chris Higgins also netted, with Higgins getting credit for the tying goal in the third only after the puck was deflected into the net off Vermont freshman Drew MacKenzie's stick.

MacKenzie had scored his first college goal only a few minutes earlier to give the Catamounts (22-12-5) the lead. Wahsontiio Stacey, Justin Milo and Josh Burrows also scored for Vermont, which was making its first Frozen Four appearance since 1996.

"A great game for college hockey — the emotional swings, the tide turning one way or the other," Parker said.

The first game — between a pair of No. 4 seeds — was less of a cliffhanger. Miami (23-12-5) took control with a three-goal burst in a 7-minute span early in the second period, effectively ending the surprising run of Bemidji State (20-16-1). The small university from the small town in northern Minnesota had evoked memories of George Mason's 2006 trip to basketball's Final Four — even Mason's pep band was in the Verizon Center on Thursday, playing "Livin' on a Prayer" for the Beavers.

"A lot of people were pulling for us; we knew that going into the game," BSU defenseman Cody Bostock said. "It's a feel-good story for a lot of people out there. It's something special to be a part of. You want to thank everyone out there.

"Unfortunately, tonight we came up on the wrong end, but it's been a good run. The time of a lifetime. Something I'll never forget."