GOTW: No. 1 Cornell routs No. 7 Clarkson in final night of regular season, 5-1, skates into ECAC playoffs on nine-game winning streak

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Matthew Galajda (35 - Cornell) (2018 Omar Phillips)
No. 1 Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda made 25 saves as the Big Red earned their final regular-season win over No. 7 Clarkson, 5-1, propelling Cornell into the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak (File phot: Omar Phillips)

Clarkson’s Adam Tisdale scored early in the opening period but the scoresheet was all No. 1 Cornell after as the Big Red completed the game with five straight goals and completed the regular season with a 5-1 victory over No. 7 Clarkson.

 

Cornell has a first-round bye and the top overall seed in the ECAC playoffs, completing the regular season with a nine-game winning streak.

Ben Berard registered a hat trick for Cornell and Matthew Galajda further padded his resume with a 25-save victory.

Both teams will take a weekend off, awaiting their quarterfinal opponents.

No. 3 North Dakota 2, No. 16 Western Michigan 1 (OT)

Shane Pinto’s goal at 2:00 into the 5-on-5 overtime not only clinch at 2-1 victory for No. 3 North Dakota over No. 16 Western Michigan, it also sewed up at least a share of the NCHC regular-season title for the Fighting Hawks.

The goal wasn’t without controversy as Western Michigan appeared to score earlier in the OT only to have the goal disallowed for goaltender interference.

North Dakota needs just a single point in the final weekend to earn the title by itself. Minnesota Duluth would also need all six points next weekend to have the opportunity to force a co-champion situation.

The low-scoring affair featured an early goal from Collin Adam just 4:41 into the first.

But Western Michigan had the answer at 17:01 when Paul Washe responded.

Neither team mustered many shots, with North Dakota owning a slight 19-18 advantage at game’s end.

No. 2 Minnesota State 4, No. 11 Bemidji State 1

The Maverick’s earned revenge for their first loss in more than a month and in the process earned their place atop the WCHA alone, beating second-place Bemidji State, 4-1, earning a split on the weekend.

Minnesota State had already clinched at least a share of the regular-season title last weekend, but, if swept, would shake the record with the Beavers. Saturday’s win made sure there is only one team atop the WCHA heading into the playoffs.

Four different scorers netted goals and no one on the Mavericks earned more than a single point. Dryden McKay finished with 38 saves for his 28th victory of the season.

Michigan 2, No. 18 Minnesota

Nick Granowicz’s goal at 2:13 of the third broke a 1-1 tie and launched Michigan to a season-ending 2-1 victory over Minnesota.

For the Wolverines, that moves them into second place and a home ice position in next weekend’s Big Ten playoffs. Michigan at one point was more than 10 points out of a home ice position before rallying in the second half of the season.

The Gophers fail to capture the opportunity to win the Big Ten title.

Jack Becker opened the scoring in the second before Nathan Burke responded quickly.

Despite the fact that Michigan couldn’t win the Big Ten title, the proved spoilters, taking five-of-six from Minnesota in a weekend where four points would have earned the Gophers a share of the league title and five points would’ve lead to Minnesota taking the Big Ten title to themselves. Instead, Penn State, idle this weekend, earns the Big Ten regular-season title.

Rensselaer 4, Dartmouth 1

While the ECAC title was decided before Saturday, which team earned the final bye in the first round and the last home ice spot in the ECAC quarterfinals was not.

But and early 3-0 lead for RPI and four different goal scorers total propelled the Engineers to a 4-1 win over Dartmouth, pushing RPI to the fourth-place tie with Harvard with the Engineers earning the tie breaker. RPI with play the highest remaining seed of next weekend’s ECAC first round series in the conference quarterfinals.

RPI won its last four games and seven of its last 10 ECAC games to earn the first-round bye. The team’s current 17-win total is one short of the 18 the club recorded in 2015-16.

No. 8 Massachusetts 4, Connecticut 3

UMass revenged a late-game comeback on Friday night to earn a series split with UConn and, in doing so, clinch a home-ice spot in the Hockey East playoffs.

John Leonard’s nation-leading 27th goal of the year in the third was the game winner, earning the split after UConn’s late-game comeback on Friday.

With one weekend remaining – and for many teams just a single game – only two of the four home ice positions have been clinched in Hockey East. Beside Boston College, which is locked into the top seed as conference champions, and UMass, which will play at home in the quarterfinals, six teams still have an opportunity to earn home ice in the final weekend.

Four of those team – UMass Lowell, UConn, Maine and Providence – have just a single game remaining, while Boston University and Northeastern will play a two-game series next weekend that could mean a lot in deciding home ice.

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