No. 1 falls as No. 11 Omaha knocks off St. Cloud State, 3-2; No. 20 UMass Lowell extends unbeaten streak to eight with 4-2 win over No. 16 Boston College

UMass Lowell’s Andre Lee scored twice as No. 20 UMass Lowell defeated No. 16 Boston College. The River Hawks picked up wins over BC and No. 17 Northeastern on the weekend (Photo: Rich Gagnon)

Tyler Ward scored at 2:46 of overtime as No. 11 Omaha earned a series split with top-ranked St. Cloud State, 3-2.

The Huskies still take four-of-six points on the weekend having earned a regulation win over the Mavericks on Friday.

Omaha took a lead late into the third period and seemed in position to ice the game when St. Cloud State’s Joe Molenaar was whistled for a major penalty and game misconduct for contact to the head. But rather than extending the lead, Omaha surrendered a shorthanded goal to Kevin Fitzgerald with 5:19 remaining.

That, however, just set up Ward’s heroics set up by a beautiful feed from Brannon McManus.

With the outcome, both teams stand at 9-3-0 on the season.

SCOREBOARD  |  USCHO.com POLL

No. 20 UMass Lowell 4, No. 16 Boston College 2

Andre Lee scored twice and Owen Savory stopped 24 shots to improve to 5-0-1 as No. 20 UMass Lowell handled No. 16 Boston College with a 4-2 victory.

The victory completes a two-win weekend for UMass Lowell, which knocked off No. 17 Northeastern on Friday in overtime.

Defenseman Ben Meehan, the overtime hero on Friday, scored his second goal of the weekend and Carl Berglund put the game away with a nifty redirect of a shot-pass with 9:17 remaining.

Lowell jumped to a 2-0 lead, but goals by Trevor Kuntar and Marc McLaughlin just 95 apart in the latter part of the second period sent the game to the third tied at 2.

The River Hawks, who lost on opening night at Arizona State, are unbeaten in their last eight games (6-0-2), the longest such streak in the country. The 6-1-2 record matches the best to start a season for Lowell in its Division I history.

No. 14 Denver 5, No. 9 Western Michigan 2

Denver completed the two-game sweep of Western Michigan, slowing down a Broncos team that had won seven of eight to begin the year but now have lost three straight.

Western Michigan opened the scoring on a Max Sasson goal midway through the first and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

But that’s all goaltender Magnus Chrona would allow, stopping 16 shots over the final two periods and 25 all told. Bobby Brink, Carter Savoie (twice) and Cameron Wright all scored second period goals to wrestle the game back in the Pioneers favor.

The two-game sweep for Denver was much needed having entered the weekend on a four-game losing skid.