ALBANY, N.Y. – One shot. Barely one minute into the game. What it meant was one and done for No. 1 Michigan State.

When North Dakota's Kevin Spiewak took a pass from Jason Notermann just inside the faceoff circle to the right of Ryan Miller and fired a shot that beat the Michigan State goalie high to the stick side, it was the beginning of the end for the CCHA champions.

Spiewak's shot – the first one of the game no less – found the right post and then the back of the net just 75 seconds into the game to give UND the lead.

"We dumped the puck in and Notermann and (David) Lundbohm had a great forecheck," Spiewak said. "The puck bounced to Notermann and I was open in the slot and he gave it right to me; I shot the puck and it happened to go in the net. I saw it hit the post but a guy hit me as soon as I shot it but I saw it in the net after everyone was celebrating.

"On a play like that you just want to bury your head and shoot it. You get those shots once in a while, so you just bury your head, fire it and hope it goes in."

The puck was dropped at 1:40 p.m. ET to start Thursday's first national semifinal. By 1:42, the Spartans were back on their heels trying to figure out a way to solve the Fighting Sioux's aggressive forecheck.

They never did.

Bryan Lundbohm added a goal at 15:32 of the first period on UND's first power-play opportunity against the nation's best penalty killers. It gave North Dakota a 2-0 lead that Dean Blais' team never gave up.

Michigan State was hoping to regroup, and while the Spartans didn't give up another goal in the 2-0 loss, they also never mounted a serious threat to North Dakota goalie Karl Goehring in the final 40 minutes.

"When they scored on the first shot, I just wanted to regain my composure," Miller said. "I just wanted to keep my composure and keep the team in it, but it didn't happen that way."

After the first 20 minutes of play, the signs were ominous for Michigan State. In three of the Spartans four losses they had been trailing after one period. They also hadn't overcome a two-goal deficit all season.

"We thought that if we could get the first goal and just play good, solid defensive hockey, then you never know," said Blais, who is now 5-0 as a Frozen Four coach. "We ended up going up 2-0 which put a little more pressure on them to try and score."

Coming into the Frozen Four, all of the talk about North Dakota's offense centered around Jeff Panzer's line. But it was a pair of second-line sophomore wingers that helped to set the tone against the Spartans.

"Me and Notermann have been playing together for two years," said Spiewak, who also scored a goal – with an assist to Notermann, of course – in last year's 2-0 national semifinal win over Maine. "Before it happens we know what each other are going to do."

Somebody should have told Michigan State it would happen so fast.

David Albright is a senior editor at ESPN.com.