SATURDAY ROUNDUP: No. 12 Western Michigan rallies from three goals down to beat North Dakota; Sacred Heart, No. 11 UConn each fall while opening new buildings; St. Thomas upsets No. 13 Michigan Tech

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UConn was one of two Connecticut men’s programs to play their first game in a new building, though both the Huskies and Sacred Heart fell on Saturday night (photo: Hockey East).

In one of the craziest games of the year, No. 12 Western Michigan fell behind, 5-2, rallied to take the lead at 6-5 and then, after the Fighting Hawks evened the score, Carter Berger netted the game winning goal with 2:54 remaining to give the Broncos a 7-6 victory and a keep NCHC series sweep.

Luke Grainger put forth a massive effort for WMU, scoring twice and adding four assists for a six-point game.

North Dakota jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Connor Moore and Jackson Kunz. Western Michigan tied to the game on goals by Cole Gallant and Luke Grainger before Riese Gaber gave the Fighting Hawks the lead at 3-2 in the closing seconds of the first.

That lead was tripled in the middle frame before the Broncos began the comeback.

Grainger and Chad Hillebrand each tallied before the end of the second before Tim Washe and Hugh Larkin scored 17 seconds apart late in the third to give the Broncos a 6-5 lead.

Ethan Frische, though, had an equalizer with 4:09 left before Berger’s game-winner came with just 2:54 remaining.

SCOREBOARD  |  PAIRWISE RANKINGS  |  USCHO.com POLL

Northeastern 4, No. 11 Connecticut 3

In the opening men’s game at Toscano Family Ice Forum, Northeastern spoiled the party, rallying from 2-0 down with four straight goals, holding on for a 4-3 victory over No. 11 UConn.

It was one of two inaugural men’s games played at arenas on Saturday. Sacred Heart also opened the Martire Family Arena on Saturday, falling, 3-2, to Boston College.

UConn jumped to a 2-0 advantage on a first period goal by Chase Bradley and a goal at 8:42 of the second by Roman Kinal.

Jakov Novak closed the gap to 2-1 at 12:15 of the second, before Northeastern exploded for three goals in less than six minutes late in the third.

Aidan McDonough scored twice at 12:53 and 15:08 to give Northeastern the lead. Jack Hughes’ power play tally with 1:22 left appeared to be insurance.

UConn, though, continued to push and scored an extra-attacker power play goal late, but couldn’t find the equalizer as Devon Levi made 30 saves to earn the win.

No. 2 Minnesota 3, Notre Dame 0

Minnesota netminder Justen Close stopped all 38 shots he faced as the Gophers earned a 3-0 road victory over Notre Dame, taking four of six points in the Big Ten standings from the Irish.

Notre Dame was a shootout on Friday after the teams skated to a 2-2 tie.

Ryan Johnson, Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies all scored for the Gophers in the victory.

Minnesota maintains a 10 point lead over its closest contender in the Big Ten standings with six weekends remaining in regular-season play.

No. 17 Michigan State 4, No. Penn State 4 (MSU wins shootout)

Michigan State completed a five-point Big Ten weekend, rallying from 3-1 and 4-3 down behind a hat trick by Jagger Joshua. The Spartans scored three times in the shootout to earn the extra point in the standings.

Tyler Paquette broke a 1-1 tie at 4:45 of the second period on the power play for the Nittany Lions before Simon Mack doubled the lead at 7:58.

Joshua scored twice before the end of the period to tie the game before Danny Dzhaniyev regain the lead for Penn State at 3:43 of the third.

Joshua, though, needed just 11 seconds to score the equalizer before the Spartans won the shootout to take five-on-six points on the weekend.

St. Thomas 3, No. 13 Michigan Tech 2

Upstart St. Thomas ended Michigan Tech’s four-game winning streak, rallying form 2-1 down for a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Luc Laylin scored the game-winning tally with 3:33 remaining, just 2:06 after Josh Eenisse evened the scored at 2.

Evan Orr gave Michigan Tech the lead heading to the third period after each club scored in the opening 20.

Aaron Trotter made 27 saves to earn the victory.

The win is the first for St. Thomas over a nationally-ranked program.

 

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