1. North Dakota downs Omaha at home, wins Penrose Cup
Over in the NCHC, the first-place team looked the part this weekend. North Dakota swept Omaha, winning 4-1 on Friday and 7-1 on Saturday. The Fighting Hawks won the NCHC’s Penrose Cup for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall.
Jacob Bernard-Docker, Jackson Keane and Tyler Kleven scored the first three goals of the game for UND on Friday before Omaha’s Tyler Weiss cut the lead to two late in the second. Jasper Weatherby scored a power-play goal near the midpoint of the final period to give the game its final score.
The Fighting Hawks got seven goals from six players in Saturday game. Brendan Budy and Kleven scored in the first, Jordan Kawaguchi, Weatherby and Colin Adams scored in the second and Shane Pinto and Adams scored in the third. Goaltender Adam Scheel picked up the victory in each game this weekend for UND with 24 saves on Friday and 17 on Saturday.
The end of Saturday’s contest got chippy between the two teams with 72 penalty minutes being handed out in the last 1:01 of the game. The same two teams will meet for single games the next two Fridays.
2. Minnesota cruises past Michigan State
In the battle if first and last in the Big Ten this weekend, advantage first-place team.
Minnesota downed Michigan State at home, winning 4-2 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday.
The Gophers jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Friday with goals from Ben Myers, Jackson LaCombe and Brannon McManus. After the Spartans scored a shorthanded goal to cut the lead to two, Sampo Ranta scored the fourth goal of the night for Minnesota to ice the victory.
Cullen Munson, Scott Reedy, Myers and Jack Perbix scored in the first period for Minnesota on Saturday. Sammy Walker extended the lead to five in the second period before Gianluca Esteves was able to light the lamp for Michigan State.
3. Boston College sweeps Maine
Thanks to a strong showing from its star players, Boston College was able to sweep Maine at home this weekend. The Eagles won 4-2 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday.
Matt Boldy scored a shorthanded and power play goal on Friday and Alex Newhook added another power play goal. Patrick Giles, Newhook and Colby Ambrosio scored the three goals for BC on Saturday.
Spencer Knight made 24 saves in each game.
4. Minnesota State survives Friday, dominates Saturday
Junior goaltender Dryden McKay has been on the same level as Vladislav Tretiak this season, where if you score on him you might want to consider keeping the puck, but on Friday at Ferris State he looked human.
After two periods in Big Rapids, Minnesota State and Ferris State were tied at four goals apiece and McKay had given up those four goals on only 10 shots. He was pulled to start the third period in favor of Ryan Edquist. The Mavericks and Bulldogs played the third period and most of overtime scoreless before Reggie Lutz popped home the winner for Minnesota State. Edquist made a singular save in his 24:12 of work to pick up the victory.
The two teams played the first period of Saturday close, too, with Jake Jaremko giving the Mavericks the lead in the first minute of the game and Stepan Pokorny tying things up about 13 minutes later. This time, however, the Mavericks pulled away. Wyatt Aamodt. Brendan Furry and Cade Borchardt scored goals in the second and Walker Duehr scored another late in the third to give Minnesota State a 5-1 victory and weekend sweep.
The Mavericks can clinch the MacNaughton Cup with a victory over in-state rival Bemidji State at home on Thursday.
5. Air Force finally gets to play, sweeps Canisius
After a brutal stretch of only playing two games in 41 days, Air Force finally got back on the ice this weekend at home.
The Cadets were rewarded for their patience with a 4-3 overtime victory on Friday and 5-1 victory on Saturday.
Willie Reim scored the first and last goal of the game for Air Force on Friday. He scored the overtime winner at the 3:43 mark of the extra session after tying the game late in the second period. Brandon Koch and Ty Pochipinski also scored for Air Force in the game.
The Cadets didn’t leave things to chance on Saturday. Shawn Knowlton, Max Harper and Nate Horn scored the first three goals of the game to give Air Force a 3-0 lead. Jami Virtanen cut the lead back down to two before the second period was over but Horn and Harper scored again in the third to put things out of reach.
6. Notre Dame denies Badgers home sweep
After squandering away a 2-0 lead in Friday’s eventual 4-2 loss to Wisconsin, Notre Dame was determined to not suffer a similar result on Saturday.
The Irish again took the lead on Saturday thanks to a goal by Trevor Janicke. Notre Dame, however, found itself trailing 3-1 after two periods as Ty Pelton-Byce, Roman Ahcan and Cole Caufield scored consecutive goals for the Badgers. Alex Steeves and Colin Theisen erased that lead in the third period, but Linus Weissbach restored a one-goal lead for the Badgers right after the midway point of the third. Steeves scored again to tie the game, again, and Solag Bakich gave Notre Dame the lead with about five minutes remaining in the game but another goal from Pelton-Byce denied Notre Dame a split.
The Irish ended up winning a shootout and nabbing an extra conference point. Wisconsin trails Minnesota by four points in the Big Ten standings.
7. Boston University downs UConn in OT
Two-goal leads, they say, are the worst in hockey and that held true for UConn on Saturday.
Carter Turnbull scored at the 1:28 mark of the first period for the Huskies and Brian Rigali doubled the lead with about five minutes remaining in the period, but the offense went cold after that.
Jay O’Brien cut UConn’s lead to one in the final minute of the first and Max Kaufman tied the game at the 13:59 mark of the third period. Luke Tuch ended the game 44 seconds into overtime. Vincent Duplessis made 27 saves for the Terriers, who are 9-2 this season.
8. Colorado College downs Minnesota Duluth
Minnesota Duluth failed to recover from a road sweep at Western Michigan and dropped a one-game set at Amsoil Arena against Colorado College 2-1.
Nick Swaney gave UMD the lead 19 second into the game, but the offense went cold after that. Matthew Gleason scored a power play goal at the 6:33 mark of the third period to tie the game and Tony Conzo scored the game winner with about two and a half minutes left in the game.
Minnesota Duluth will close out its regular season with a home-and-home against St. Cloud State next weekend.
9. Bemidji State sweeps Michigan Tech
In a battle that could be key to the WCHA tournament seedings, Bemidji State downed Michigan Tech twice at home this weekend. The Beavers picked up a 4-1 victory on Friday and closed things out with a close 2-1 win on Saturday.
Elias Rosen gave BSU the lead early in the first period of Friday’s game. Tristan Ashbrook tied things up in the second period but the Beavers used a strong third period with goals from Brad Johnson and two from Ethan Somoza to pull away.
Ross Armour scored the game-winning goal for the Beavers about halfway through the third period on Saturday. BSU’s Alex Irullo and Ashbrook also scored in the game. Bemidji State will play a home-and-home series with Minnesota State this weekend.
10. Ohio State and Michigan split series in Columbus
In one of the more surprising results of the weekend, a reeling Ohio State team downed Michigan 3-2 at home on Friday. The Wolverines came back to win 6-0 on Saturday.
Gustaf Westlund, Jaedon Leslie and Patrick Guzzo scored for the Buckeyes on Friday. Tommy Nappier made 32 saves in the game.
Michigan got goals from Brendan Brisson, Dakota Raebe, Jack Becker, Eric Ciccolini and two from Thomas Bordeleau on Saturday. Strauss Mann picked up an 18-save shutout in the victory.
