Desi Burgart’s goal at 2:29 of 3-on-3 overtime gave Quinnipiac a victory in a game the Bobcats chased the entire night, twice falling behind by two goals but rallying in the third to earn the OT win.
“We found a way to win tonight,” sad Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold. “I thought we had four lines rolling and guys really competing hard. We were really good on the details, too.”
Saturday’s Scoreboard | USCHO.com Poll
Burgart’s game-winner finished a two-goal game, a bright spot for the junior forward who scored just four goals in his first 55 games but has now potted seven in 12 games this season for the Bobcats.
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! #BobcatNation pic.twitter.com/HxDFpKE7nt
— Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey (@QU_MIH) January 10, 2021
“He scored a lot in junior hockey so this is what we thought he could do,” said Pecknold. “He’s got that knack and you saw that goal in overtime. That was a rocket. He’s been playing great.”
For Clarkson and coach Casey Jones, Saturday was hardly a carbon copy of Friday’s overtime victory despite some similarities. Jones didn’t feel his team had the same jump and finding that consistency is the challenge his team faces.
“They were better than us tonight,” said Jones. “I just thought out poise wasn’t where it needs to be. We’ve got to be able to exit with pucks on our sticks here. We have to get better and better.”
Clarkson jumped to an early lead on Grant Cooper’s tally at 3:43 of the first and doubled that margin when Anthony Calling’s scored with 1:41 left in the frame.
Jaylen Lee scored the only goal of the second for Quinnipiac, cutting the deficit in half. But that only set up a wild third period and overtime.
Anthony Romano restored Clarkson’s lead to two at 3:32 of the third but that lasted only 25 seconds before Burgart scored his first of the game to cut the lead to 3-2.
Kaelen Taylor’s slashing penalty at 6:36 gave the Bobcats power play the chance it needed and Ethan de Jong buried the equalizer at 7:10 of the third.
Quinnipiac held a lopsided 47-21 shot advantage in the game, including 17-3 in the third period alone, meaning Burgart’s OT tally spoiled a great effort for Clarkson netminder Kris Oldham (43 saves).
The two teams meet in the third game of a three-day series on Sunday.
“It’s been two good battles both nights,” said Pecknold. “It’s been a little crazy from a coach’s perspective. But both Clarkson and Quinnipiac have highly competitive kids who compete hard.”
Jones acknowledged playing the same opponent on back-to-back nights as opposed to the typical ECAC schedule where you play a different opponent each weekend night, is difficult. Adding a third game against a team like Quinnipiac is even more of a challenge.
“I don’t know if you’ll see [anyone sweep],” said Jones when asked about winning three straight from the same opponent. “Everybody [in the ECAC] is competitive. Everybody has got some good players. So it will be hard to get one [win] in a weekend, let alone two or let alone three.”
No. 12 Wisconsin 3, No. 1 Minnesota 1
There will not be an undefeated team that competes in men’s NCAA Division I hockey this season as No. 1 Minnesota, which began the year 10-0-0, fell on the road, 3-1, on Saturday.
In a game where Minnesota returned three defensemen from the World Junior tournament and Wisconsin got back a pair of forwards, only U.S. gold medalist Cole Caufield made the scoresheet, assisting on the Badgers first goal that was scored by Linus Weissbach.
Hard drive to the net opened the scoring when the Badgers took down No. 1 Minnesota
That's today's @alliantenergy Power Through Moment of the Game pic.twitter.com/RhQLmnHyzb
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) January 10, 2021
Tarek Baker, who helped set up the first goal, scored 1:59 into the third to give the Badgers some breathing room at 2-0.
But the nation’s top team wouldn’t go down without a fight as Sampo Ranta tallied on the power play with 12:10 remaining to add to the drama.
Another power play for the Gophers with 2:12 left gave the game a final sweat but Owen Lindmark’s empty-net shorthanded goal gave the Badgers the 3-1 victory.
#6 St. Cloud State 1, #5 Minnesota Duluth 0 (F/OT)
Nick Perbix’s goal, assisted by goaltender David Hrenak, with 1:02 remaining in 3-on-3 overtime was the only tally of a heavyweight battle between St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth and gave the Huskies the weekend sweep and three victories in four games over the Bulldogs over the past two weekends.
The goal came on a perfect one-on-one move by Perbix. After Hrenak settled the puck near the goal line in the defensive zone, Perbix skated slowly into the offensive zone, deked outside and moved to the slot where he fired a shot past UMD netminder Zach Stejskal, who made just his second career start for the Bulldogs.
? Picture Perbix!
The defenseman goes ?-to-? and scores on a nifty move to give @SCSUHUSKIES_MH the OT victory#NCHCHockey x #unleashSCSU pic.twitter.com/XBhyZVb9bI
— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) January 10, 2021
The victory completed a solid two weekend for the Huskies who, after falling to Minnesota Duluth eight days ago in overtime, won three straight in a four-game set against UMD, taking eight of a possible 12 NCHC standings points over the two weekends.
