LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, a slap shot away from the rink where the United States once famously beat the Soviet Union, the 25 remaining members of the State University of New York Geneseo hockey team gathered near center ice, huddling in blue and white, speaking not about a miracle, but a mission.

They raised their sticks in unison. The captain, Ryan Donnelly, said a few words, and then they chanted, “One, two, three, Hutch.”

Geneseo will take on Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Herb Brooks Arena on Friday in the semifinals of the N.C.A.A. Division III Final Four. Even Chris Schultz, Geneseo’s coach, did not expect his team to be here. An astonishing late-season run — Geneseo has outscored its opponents, 26-5, in its last five games — has put the Knights two victories away from the program’s first national title, and the best possible closure to the worst season of their lives.

“The last two months have been heavy; the burden has been heavy,” Schultz said. “I’ve gone through the entire gamut of emotions, from the moment I found out to where we are now.”