Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Denver comes back on Friday, sweeps on Saturday
NCHC cellar dweller Miami found itself in a great position when Red Savage scored 23 second into the third period to give the RedHawks a 4-2 lead against No. 5 Denver, but an upset was not meant to be.
Cole Guttman cut Miami’s lead to one with 3:43 left in the game and then tied the contest with 11 seconds remaining. Mike Benning gave Denver the victory at the 3:43 mark in overtime.
Denver jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Saturday, thanks to goals from Sean Behrens and Cameron Wright. Then it was Miami’s turn to mount a comeback, using goals from Matthew Barbolini and Jack Olmstead to tie the game heading into the third period.
An upset, again, wasn’t meant to be as Ryan Barrow gave the Pioneers the lead in the third and McKade Webster added and empty-netter late in the third.
2. Minnesota takes four of six conference points at Notre Dame
In what was expected to be, and usually is, a close series between two teams at the top of the Big Ten standings, Minnesota flexed its offensive muscles on Friday at Notre Dame.
Grant Cruikshank, Tristan Broz and Blake McLaughlin scored first period goals on Friday and chased goalie Matthew Galajda from the net. Sammy Walker extended the lead to 4-0 in the second before Trevor Janicke scored a power-play goal to get Notre Dame on the board. McLaughlin scored again in the waning seconds of the middle period and neither team found the back of the net in the third.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Saturday with goals from Max Ellis and Janicke. The Gophers came back with a goal from Ben Meyers in the second period and Bryce Brodzinski in the third. After the game went to overtime Notre Dame secured the extra points with a goal by Landon Slaggert.
3. Michigan Tech stays hot, sweeps Bemidji State
Michigan Tech continued its undefeated 2022, and its march up the PairWise Rankings, by picking up a pair of 5-2 victories over Bemidji State at home this weekend.
Brian Halonen picked up two goals on Friday and was joined in the scoring department by Logan Ganie, Eric Gotz and Colin Swoyer.
Ganie notched another goal on Saturday, along with two from Alec Broetzman and scores from Tommy Parrottino and Tyrell Buckley.
The wins jumped the Huskies to second in the CCHA standings, they’ll play a singular game against Northern Michigan on Tuesday before traveling to St. Thomas next weekend.
4. McKay notches wins No. 99 and 100 as Minnesota State sweeps Arizona State
Arizona State gave No. 1 Minnesota State a challenge in both games this weekend, but the Sun Devils will head back South still without a victory and in a tough position to try and make the NCAA tournament.
Dryden McKay became the third goaltender in NCAA Division I men’s history to win 100 games on Saturday. He made 24 saves on Friday and stopped 21 shots on Saturday.
ASU took the lead against the Mavericks in both games, Matthew Kopperud scored on Friday and Jack Becker did the honors on Saturday, but MSU responded each night.
Andy Carroll tied the game in the first period on Friday before Reggie Lutz and Ondrej Pavel extended the lead in the second with a one-handed breakaway goal while being hauled down. Julian Napravnik gave the Mavericks a 4-1 lead in the third before Kopperud scored again to cut the lead back to two.
The Mavericks used second-period goals by Lutz, Akito Hirose and Cade Borchardt to counteract Becker’s goal on Saturday. Ryan Sandelin extended the lead in the third period and added an empty netter later in the period after Josh Doan scored twice to cut the lead to one.
5. North Dakota blows out St. Cloud State on Friday, wins in a shootout on Saturday
St. Cloud State was riding a four-game winning streak and was fresh off scoring 19 goals against Miami last weekend, but North Dakota proved once again that it is a tough opponent no matter how well you’re playing.
The Fighting Hawks hung seven goals on the Huskies on Friday night and came back to earn a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s game after falling behind 3-1 in the first period. North Dakota won the shootout for the extra conference points.
Connor Ford, Ethan Frisch and Riese Gaber gave UND a 3-0 lead after one period on Friday and Griffin Ness extended the lead to four in the second period. Jami Krannila got the Huskies on the board in the middle period but two goals from Ashton Calder and another from Gaber squashed any hope of a comeback.
Frisch opened the scoring on Saturday, but the Huskies responded with goals from Veeti Miettinen, Nick Perbix and Micah Miller. Chris Jandric cut SCSU’s lead to one in the second period and Jake Sanderson tied the game in the third with a nifty wrist shot from the faceoff circle.
6. Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan split
In one of the more entertaining series of the weekend, Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan each picked up a victory with the Bulldogs winning 5-4 on Friday and the Broncos rebounding with a 3-2 victory in overtime on Saturday.
Friday’s game was back-and-forth. Kobe Roth gave UMD a lead 14 seconds into the contest and Matt Anderson doubled it later in the first, but Ethen Frank and Max Sasson scored for Western Michigan before the period was over to tie the game. Blake Biondi and Jesse Jacques gave UMD another two-goal lead in the second period, but Drew Worrad and Jason Polin erased it yet again in the third. Hunter Lellig scored the eventual game-winner at the 8:43 mark of the final period.
Noah Cates gave UMD a 1-0 lead in the first on Saturday and WMU’s Josh Passolt and UMD’s Connor Kelley traded goals in the second period. Ronnie Attard scored early in the third period to tie the game and Passolt scored his second at the 1:51 mark of overtime.
7. Air Force and Army split battle of the armed forces
After an impressive 8-2 victory by Army on Friday, Air Force was able to rebound at home and pick up a 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday.
The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Friday’s game, but it was all Army from there. Daniel Haider had a hat trick for the Black Nights in the contest, who scored five unanswered goals after Air Force doubled its lead and closed out the game with three goals in the third.
Air Force took the lead again on Saturday with a goal by Parker Brown, but Army scored two goals early in the second to take the lead. Nate Horn scored at the 4:00 mark of the third period and 4:08 mark of overtime to give the Falcons the victory.
8. Michigan cruises past Wisconsin
The Badgers weren’t expected to be much of a test for Michigan and, well, they weren’t.
The Wolverines picked up a 5-1 victory on Friday in Madison and completed the sweep with a 6-2 victory on Saturday.
Dylan Duke, Thomas Bordeleau, Luke Morgan, Mackie Samoskevich and Matty Beniers scored goals for the Wolverines on Friday.
Saturday’s game was slightly closer, for a bit. Ethan Edwards gave Michigan a 1-0 lead after one period before Jesper Peltonen and Dominick Mersch scored in quick succession early in the second period to give the Badgers a 2-1 lead. Philippe LaPointe, Jimmy Lambert and Brendan Brisson restored order with goals for Michigan before the second period expired. Luke Hughes and Nick Blankenburg added to the final score in the third.
9. Massachusetts downs UMass Lowell on Sunday
In one of the few Hockey East games this weekend, Massachusetts eked out a victory over rival UMass Lowell on Sunday afternoon.
The River Hawks took the lead three times in the game, but UMass came back each time. Andre Lee gave UML the lead early in the game before Lucas Mercuri leveled things at the 3:28 mark of the first period. Lucas Condotta gave Lowell another lead later in the first, but that was equaled by Bobby Trivigno in the second. Matt Crasa gave the River Hawks their final lead at the 10:29 mark of the third, which was canceled out by Taylor Makar three minutes later. Scott Morrow gave UMass the victory with 2:48 remaining in the final period.
10. Quinnipiac wins Connecticut Ice
After battling to down Sacred Heart in overtime on Saturday, Quinnipiac defeated Connecticut 2-0 on Sunday to capture the Connecticut Ice tournament played at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn.
Saturday’s game was a battle.
Joey Cipollone gave the Bobcats the lead in the first period and that was all the scoring there would be until Neil Shea and Dakota Raabe gave SHU the lead in the third. Cipollone scored again with 1:59 left in the third period and Zach Metsa scored at the 3:51 mark of overtime to send QU to the championship game.
On Sunday against Connecticut, who defeated Yale on Saturday to advance to the title game, goals were hard to come by.
Desi Burgart scored the first goal of the contest and gave Quinnipiac the lead with 12:47 left in the third period. Ethan De Jong added an empty-netter later in the period to ice the game. Yaniv Perets picked up a 29-save shutout in the game.
