The games got bigger, and the Denver Pioneers’ Pacific Rim Line stepped up.

With freshman Dylan Gambrell centering junior Trevor Moore and sophomore Danton Heinen, the line combined to score five goals as the Pioneers beat Boston University 7-2 and Ferris State 6-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., over the weekend to advance to the Frozen Four.

The Pioneers (25-9-6) will meet National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival North Dakota (32-6-4) for the sixth time this season in an April 7 semifinal, with Quinnipiac (31-3-7) facing Boston College (28-7-5) in the other semifinal in Tampa, Fla., at Amalie Arena, home of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The winners meet in the championship game April 9.

Yes, the Pacific Rim name for the Pioneers’ top line is appropriate because Heinen, who had one goal and five assists over the weekend, is from Langley, British Columbia; Gambrell (two goals, two assists) is from Bonney Lake, Wash.; and Moore (two goals) is from Thousand Oaks, Calif.

“They created the first four goals,” coach Jim Montgomery said after DU’s victory over Ferris State in the West Regional title game Sunday. “They’re a great line. They’re great players.”

Gambrell said the line rebounded after not playing up to its standards during the Pioneers’ four NCHC postseason games.

“That was great,” he said. “We’ve been working hard all season and the past couple of weekends we weren’t as good as we have been. I think this weekend, we really brought it and I think it showed out there.”

Gambrell said making it to the Frozen Four “still is kind of shocking to me. But everybody’s really excited. We get a couple weeks of good practice and get our heads around it and get ready.”

The line displays a combination of relentless forechecking and pressure on the opposition, flashy skating and high-end skill.

The biggest surprise among the three is Gambrell, 19, who played the first of his three United States Hockey League junior seasons with the Dubuque Fighting Saints under Montgomery in 2012-13.

Together they won the junior league’s Clark Cup before Montgomery, also the team’s general manager, moved to DU.

Three years later, they’re seeking another championship together.

The surprise isn’t that Gambrell has developed into a collegiate star — he has 17 goals in 40 games, second to Heinen’s 20, and his 47 points lead the team — but rather that it has happened this fast.

The same could be said for freshman defenseman Blake Hillman, a Gambrell teammate at Dubuque for one full season and part of a second before finishing his USHL career with 13 games for Waterloo last season. Hillman had the game-winning goal against Ferris State, off a pass from Heinen, and was named the regional’s most outstanding player in the arena about 40 miles from his hometown of Elk River, with his family among the tiny crowd.

“I was really close to his family, and I’m close to him too,” Gambrell said. “I’m sure it was awesome for them to see that and see the success he’s having.”

At the other end of the spectrum, the Pioneers’ seniors — Grant Arnold, Quentin Shore, Gabe Levin and Nolan Zajac — are in the Frozen Four after three seasons of making it to the NCAA Tournament but coming up short.

“It’s an amazing feeling, especially as a senior,” Arnold said. “I think about the tough losses that our class has had, I think about the seniors from last year, and all the alumni around the country. Denver’s a family.”

Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei