Friday’s hockey round-up: No. 5 Clarkson outlasts No. 15 Quinnipiac, 3-2, remains tied atop ECAC with No. 2 Cornell

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(Jim Meagher)
Clarkson’s Anthony Callin’s scored with less than five minutes left in the second to break a 2-2 tie as the Golden Knights earned a road win at Quinnipiac, 3-2, to keep pace with Cornell atop the ECAC (File photo: Clarkson Athletics/Jim Meagher)

Anthony Callin’s goal with less than five minutes left in the second period broke a 2-2 tie while Clarkson netminder Frank Marotte made 39 saves to lead the fifth-ranked Golden Knights to a 3-2 road victory over No. 15 Quinnipiac.

Combined with No. 2 Cornell’s 5-2 victory over Union, the Bid Red and Golden Knights remain tied atop the ECAC standings, each with 28 points. Quinnipiac and Harvard, which skated to a 4-4 tie with Yale on Friday, are both six points back in third place.

Clarkson looked well-positioned early on Friday with goals from Mathieu Gosselin and Anthony Romano both coming in the opening six minutes.

But the Bobcats had a push back on Michael Lombardi’s goal late in the first and Ethan Leyh’s tally at 2:36 of the second.

Quinnipiac certainly had the offensive pressure, pumping 31 shots at Marotte over the final 40 minutes, but the grad transfer was excellent stopping all but one over than span.

Scoreboard  |  PairWise Rankings  |  Standings

Connecticut 3, No. 17 Maine 2

Maine, which climbed into the national rankings on Monday, fell for the first time at home this season, losing on Friday, 3-2, to Connecticut.

The Huskies jumped to an early 2-0 lead, but goals by Maine’s Tim Doherty and Sam Rennaker in the second evened the score.

That set up Benjamin Freeman’s heroics with 9:21 remaining in regulation, to propel the Huskies to the win and into a tie with the Black Bears for fifth place in Hockey East. With 20 points in Hockey East, UConn and Maine are just a point behind fourth place Boston University, a 4-1 winner over New Hampshire on Friday, for Hockey East’s final home ice spot.

No. 1 North Dakota 4, No. 6 Denver 1

If there was any questions as to how dominat top-ranked North Dakota can be, the Fighting Hawks answered them on Friday.

Matt Kiersted’s power play goal at 7:36 of the second broke a 1-1 tie and North Dakota tacked on two more insurance tallies as they held serve at home in a 4-1 victory over Denver.

Peter Thome, who didn’t make his first appearance in goal this season for the Fighting Hawks until January 10 and didn’t get a start until eight days later, made 26 saves to earn his fifth straight win for North Dakota.

With second-place Minnesota Duluth idle, North Dakota extends its lead for first place in the NCHC to five points over the Bulldogs.

No. 10 Arizona State 5, Alaska Anchorage 0

Brett Gruber scored twice and three other Sun Devils added goals as Arizona State earned a 5-0 win over Alaska Anchorage on Friday, further solidifying its position in the PairWise Rankings.

Evan DeBrouwer posted a 25-save shutout for the Sun Devils, who have just three games remaining in their regular season before then beginning a waiting game to see if the independent school earns an NCAA at-large bid for the second straight year.

Brandon Pasichunuk’s third period goal is the 100th career point for the senior defenseman.

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