SATURDAY ROUNDUP: No. 3 North Dakota sweeps No. 12 Western Michigan to claim Penrose Cup, No. 16 Michigan rebounds with OT win over No. 8 Minnesota, No. 5 Denver sweeps No. 15 St. Cloud State, Atlantic Hockey first round sees trio of winners

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North Dakota celebrates its sixth Penrose Cup championship after shutting out Western Michigan on home ice Saturday night (photo: Russell Hons).

Ludvig Persson stopped all 35 shots fired his way to help No. 3 North Dakota defeat No. 12 Western Michigan 3-0 and capture the Penrose Cup for the sixth time in program history on Saturday night from the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

UND wins its 21st conference crown in program history and league-leading sixth Penrose Cup in 11 years. The Fighting Hawks have won four of the last five league titles.

Persson shined between the pipes once again to register his NCHC-leading fifth shutout of the season, stopping all 27 shots fired his way over the final 40 minutes to earn his 21st win of the season.

North Dakota jumped out to an early lead on a breakaway goal as Louis Jamernik V got sprung on a great feed from Dylan James to give the Fighting Hawks a 1-0 UND lead just over four minutes into the game.

UND held strong through the opening 40 minutes, carrying the 1-0 lead into the final period before Jackson Blake put his mark on the contest with a highlight-reel goal to extend the advantage to 2-0 with just over 13 minutes to play.

Owen McLaughlin put the finishing touches on the victory, dancing around Western Michigan goaltender Cameron Rowe and tucking it home on the breakaway to seal the 3-0 win.

Rowe finished with 24 saves.

SCOREBOARD | POLL | PAIRWISE

No. 16 Michigan 6, No. 8 Minnesota 5 (OT)

Michigan’s Seamus Casey scored the game’s first goal and then the last 1:31 into overtime on a power play as the Wolverines defeated Minnesota 6-5 Saturday night from 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn.

Casey also had an assist for a three-point game, while Gavin Brindley had two goals and two assists and Rutger McGroarty a goal and two assists to back Noah West’s 23 saves in goal.

Dylan Duke added three assists and Mark Estapa also scored for the Wolverines.

For the Gophers, Jaxon Nelson had two goals and an assist, Brody Lamb and Luke Mittelstadt a goal and an assist each, and Aaron Huglen a goal.

Justen Close and Nathan Airey combined to make 26 saves between the pipes.

No. 5 Denver 7, No. 15 St. Cloud State 2

Denver used six different goal scorers and was led by a 36-save performance from goaltender Matt Davis to earn a 7-2 victory and weekend sweep of St. Cloud State at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

Denver won its season-high fourth straight road contest and earned its first road sweep of SCSU in more than 16 years. The last time DU won both games in St. Cloud was Dec. 7-8, 2007 when it had a pair of 3-2 victories.

McKade Webster, Sean Behrens, Jack Devine, Tristan Lemyre, Aidan Thompson and Alex Weiermair all scored for the Pioneers.

Tristan Broz led Denver with three assists, Devine had two goals on the evening, Thompson and Weiermair each added an assist to their scores, and Zeev Buium registered a pair of helpers.

St. Cloud outshot Denver 10-5 in the period, but the Pioneers had the 1-0 lead at the break as Thompson scored an unassisted goal with 20.9 seconds left in the period during a 2-on-1 rush after forcing a turnover in his own end.

Mason Salquist ended Davis’ shutout at 13:48 of the third period and Veeti Miettinen also scored for the Huskies with 2:07 left.

St. Cloud State netminder Isak Posch finished with 16 saves.

No. 9 Maine 3, Vermont 2

Maine earned a 3-2 win at Vermont on Saturday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt.

Midway through the third period, Ben Poisson potted the game-winning power-play goal.

Nicholas Niemo put the Black Bears up 1-0 just over seven minutes into the contest before the Catamounts’ Joel Maatta tied it before the break. A Harrison Scott short-handed goal early in the middle frame was than answered by a Vermont power-play tally from Timofei Spitserov for a 2-2 game after two periods.

Albin Boija made 14 saves for the win, while Gabe Carriere collected 22 stops for Vermont.

No. 7 Quinnipiac 8, St. Lawrence 1

Sam Lipkin scored twice and Charles-Alexis Legault and Collin Graf each had a goal and two assists to lead Quinnipiac to an 8-1 win over St. Lawrence from the M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn.

Cooper Moore chipped in three assists and Vinny Duplessis made 24 saves befre giving way to Noah Altman and Matej Marinov, who played the final 8:51 but did not face any shots.

Christophe Tellier posted a goal and an assist and Iivari Räsänen, Travis Treloar and Andon Cerbone also scored.

For the Saints, Mason Waite scored and Mason Kucenski made 28 saves.

No. 4 Wisconsin 4, No. 6 Michigan State 1

Carson Bantle and Sawyer Scholl each scored twice to lead Wisconsin to a 4-1 win over Michigan State Saturday night from the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Kyle McClellan made 28 saves in net for the Badgers.

Karsen Dorwart scored for the Spartans and goalie Trey Augustine finished with 36 saves.

Atlantic Hockey Tournament – First Round

Canisius 5, Mercyhurst 2
Stefano Bottini, Kyle Haskins and Powell Connor all had a goal and an assist and David Fessenden made 22 saves for Canisius in the 5-2 win at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y.

With the win, Canisius coach Trevor Large becomes just the third coach in program history to reach 100 victories.

Niagara 4, Army West Point 1
Noah Carlin registered a goal and an assist for the Purple Eagles, while Jarrett Fiske made 42 saves between the pipes in a 4-1 win from Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, N.Y.

Robert Morris 4, Bentley 3 (OT)
Cameron Garvey was the overtime hero, scoring at 19:49 of extra time to lift Robert Morris to a 4-3 win at the Bentley Arena in Waltham, Mass.

Rylee St. Onge added a goal and an assist for RMU and Chad Veltri stopped 29 shots in goal.

Nick Bochen and Garrett Horsager each posted a goal and an assist for Bentley, while goalie Connor Hasley finished with 28 saves.

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