Michigan defenseman Zach Werenski talks about the play of goaltender Steve Racine and about scoring the tying goal in the third period of the 3-2 OT win over Notre Dame Friday in Cincinnati. Video by George Sipple/DFP
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CINCINNATI – Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson said North Dakota is “as good as anyone we’ve seen on defense.”

The Wolverines beat Notre Dame, 3-2, in overtime Friday night in the NCAA Midwest Region at U.S. Bank Arena.

Michigan (25-7-5) will face North Dakota (31-6-4) at 6 p.m. tonight for the right to play in the Frozen Four in Tampa on April 7.

North Dakota advanced with a 6-2 win over Northeastern in the early game Friday.

“They had a good power play today, their penalty killing is good,” Berenson said of North Dakota. “They’re going to be another tough team to play against and they can come at you with as good a line as we might have. So, it’s going to be a good game.”

North Dakota’s top line features senior Drake Caggiula, senior Nick Schmaltz and freshman Brock Boeser.

Caggiula scored his 20th goal of the season in the win over Northeastern and has 45 points. Schmaltz added two assists and has 44 points this season. Boeser scored a goal and two assists and has a team-leading 26 goals and 54 points.

Sophomore goaltender Cam Johnson made 24 saves for North Dakota. He’ll get a chance to face U-M junior forward Alex Kile. Johnson and Kile are both from Troy and have known each other since elementary school.

Johnson gave up an early goal to Northeastern, but North Dakota rattled off the next five goals.

Michigan defenseman Zach Werenski said the Wolverines just need to play against North Dakota as they did in the third period against Notre Dame. Werenski scored the game-tying goal at 9:52. Tyler Motte scored at 8:19 of overtime for Michigan.

“If we play like we did in the third it should be a good college hockey game,” Werenski said. “They’re a good team. They’ve been ranked high all year. And they’re good players. We gotta be aware of that, but I think mainly we gotta focus on ourselves and just play our game.

“When we’re buzzing and when we’re working hard as a team I think we’re pretty hard to stop as well.”

Motte said North Dakota has been one of the best teams in college hockey over the past few years.

“I think that’s something we gotta take note of,” Motte said. “They’ve got a pretty good top line over there as well.

“They’re D, they got a lot of pucks to the net. Got a great goaltender. … Come game time we’re going to focus on ourselves and what we have to do.”

Tyler Motte talks about scoring the winning goal in overtime to give Michigan a 3-2 win over Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional in Cincinnati on Friday. Video by George Sipple/DFP
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■Scout’s honor: Among the many NHL execs scouting the Midwest Region were Red Wings assistant general manager Ryan Martin, Pittsburgh Penguins associate general manager Jason Botterill (a former U-M standout and Winnipeg Jets amateur scout) and Brian Renfrew.

Caggiula (5-feet-10, 185 pounds ) was among the undrafted free agents that are of interest to the Wings. Caggiula is highly-skilled forward.

“I’m watching,” Martin said. “There will be a lot of teams in the mix and varying levels of interest, from an NHL deal to a minor-league deal. I’m more just watching.”

The Wings didn’t have any prospects at the Midwest Region.

Martin said two scouts would be at the West Region in Minnesota and an Eastern scout will go to the other two regions, in Worcester, Mass. and Albany, N.Y.

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.