Meyers’ OT winner gives No. 11 Minnesota come-from-behind victory over No. 3 Michigan; Princeton hangs on in wild finish to upset No. 8 Cornell; Merrimack’s power play too much for No. 10 UMass Lowell

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In the battle of two Big Ten heavyweights, No. 11 Minnesota’s Ben Meyers scored a power-play goal in overtime to give the Gophers a 2-1 victory over No. 3 Michigan (file photo: Jim Rosvold).

It was billed as a heavyweight matchup between the top two preseason favorites in the Big Ten. And the battle lived up to its hype.

Ben Meyers’ goal at 1:09 overtime gave No. 11 Minnesota a 2-1 victory over No. 3 Michigan.

The goal came during an extended power play for the host Gophers after Michigan’s Jacob Truscott was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind with 2:09 remaining in regulation.

In goal for Minnesota, Justen Close made 26 saves, many of the impressive variety, to earn the victory in just his third collegiate start.

Rookie Dylan Duke scored what stood as the only goal for much of the game firing home a rebound at 12:25 of the second.

The game remained that way until Matthew Knies scored at 4:43 of the third to even things. And it appeared that Minnesota might have scored the winner  in regulation’s final seconds but it was ruled that Blake McLaughlin directed the puck into the net with a distinct kicking motion.

That simply extended the game into overtime where Meyers played hero. Getting to overtime could be beneficial for the Wolverines, who earn a point in the Big Ten standings and more importantly only take 45 percent of a loss in the PairWise Rankings. The single Big Ten point keeps Michigan atop the conference standings, now tied with Ohio State, a 4-1 winner over Michigan State on Friday.

SCOREBOARD |  DCU/USCHO POLL  |  PAIRWISE RANKINGS

Princeton 5, No. 8 Cornell 4

Princeton continued its success as road warriors, jumping to a 3-0 lead and then holding on against a desperate Cornell team, earning a 5-4 upset victory on Friday.

The Tigers, which are winless at home this season, earned their fourth road victory in 10 games, none bigger than this upset of what had been a red-hot Cornell club.

Princeton potted the game’s first three goals before the midway point of the second on tallies from Joe Berg, Adam Robbins and Spencer Kersten. Kyle Penney answered at 13:33 of the second to pull the Big Red within two, but that’s how things stood until a wild finish.

Cornell closed the gap to 3-2 on Jack Malone’s fifth goal of the year with 2:57 left. Kersten responded 62 seconds later with his second of the game before Travis Mitchell scored an extra attacker goal with 49 second remaining.

Ian Murphy scored into an empty net at 19:36 which became the eventual game-winning goal when Ben Berard added another extra-attacker goal with 10 seconds left, all too little too late.

Merrimack 3, No. 10 UMass Lowell 1

Merrimack scored twice on the power play and goaltender Hugo Ollas made 23 saves as the Warriors extended their winning streak to four with a 3-1 upset of Merrimack Valley rival No. 10 UMass Lowell.

The River Hawks opened the scoring shorthanded on Lucas Condatta’s fifth goal of the season at 8:29 of the second. But penalty trouble for the River Hawks allowed Merrimack the chance to respond.

Max Newton scored on the power play at 16:40 to even the score and Declan Carlile added a goal during a five-minute man advantage late in the second to go to the third with the Warriors leading, 2-1.

Zach Uens added an insurance goal, his first of the season, with 16:00 minutes remaining.

The two rivals, which did had not played one another in more than 700 days because of COVID cancellations a year ago, will rematch on Saturday at Tsongas Center.

 

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