NCHC: St. Cloud State overcomes No. 2 Denver in overtime

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Host St. Cloud State rallied from a 2-1 deficit and defeated No. 2 Denver in overtime, 3-2, Friday night when Mikey Eyssimont sent a pass on net and Ryan Poehling deflected it over Evan Cowley’s shoulder at 2:27 of the OT.

The Huskies scored first on a power play just 51 seconds into the game when Robby Jackson fired a snap shot from the top of the left circle. Denver didn’t take long to respond, as Henrik Borgström beat Jeff Smith at 2:54 with a snap shot from the top of the slot that beat Smith perfectly high glove side.

DU took a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Liam Finley got a pass from Kevin Conley and beat Smith top corner glove side at 2:48.

St. Cloud tied it 2-2 with 26.6 seconds left when Jack Poehling came down on a three-on-two and sent a harmless-looking wrist shot on net from the left faceoff circle that beat Jaillet five-hole and went in off Jaillet’s left skate.

In overtime, Denver almost scored when Borgstrom’s shot down low went through Smith’s legs, but before it could cross the goal line Will Borgen cleared it.

NCHC roundup

No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth 5, No. 8 North Dakota 3

Minnesota-Duluth won its third straight game of the season against North Dakota behind a three-goal outburst in the second period. The Fighting Hawks struck first when Tyson Jost scored a power-play goal at 7:12 of the first off a feed from Tucker Poolman, as Jost rang it in off the post. However, Minnesota-Duluth tied it just 38 seconds later on a goal from Riley Tufte when he redirected Dan Molenaar’s shot five-hole. Adam Johnson gave the Bulldogs a lead with a quick strike at 1:02 of the second when he flew down the left side from his own zone and beat Cam Johnson top corner. Sammy Spurrell put UMD up 3-1 with a shot from the goal line to Johnson’s right and knocked it in off Johnson’s leg. Avery Peterson then scored at 18:37, picking up a shot that caromed off the boards behind the goal and beat Johnson top corner glove side to send the Bulldogs into the third period up 4-1. North Dakota came out more determined, and Shane Gersich scored at 4:23 to pull North Dakota back within two, picking up the puck behind UMD’s defense and skating in alone on Hutner Miska and beating him five-hole, but Tufte scored his second of the game on a power play at 9:28 of the third, picking up a rebound of Peterson’s shot in the slot and banging it home. Joel Janatuinen scored a power-play goal at 15:22 to pull North Dakota back within two, but that was as close as the Fighting Hawks got. The Bulldogs will go for a season sweep Saturday night.

No. 13Western Michigan 4, Colorado College 2

Western Michigan broke open a 2-2 game with a goal by Colt Conrad at 2:04 of the third period, then withstood a determined Colorado College team, emerging with the win. The Broncos struck first at 3:25 of the first when Frederik Tiffels stripped the puck from Kristian Blumenschein in the neutral zone and raced down the left side, firing a shot past Alex Leclerc from the left faceoff circle. The Broncos held that lead through the first period, and built on it with a power-play goal at 5:18 of the second when Griffen Molino carried the pick through the neutral zone and took it toward the left faceoff circle, beating Leclerc with a wrist shot at 5:25 that went high glove side. However, CC rallied to tie it heading into the third. First, Mason Bergh beat Ben Blacker at 11:47 with a deflection from in front of the net, then Matt Hansen scored with 21.3 seconds left in the second, beating Blacker with a shot from the top of the slot. That set the stage for Conrad’s game-winner that came off a draw in the CC end when Hugh McGing got a shot on net. Conrad picked up the rebound in the crease and poked it in as he was falling to the ice. Aaron Hadley added an insurance goal at 15:58.

“I think certainly this league it’s tough to get points, so whenever you get points that’s the most significant thing,” said Broncos coach Andy Murray. “Give a lot of credit to Colorado College; they came as advertised. Very tough opponent in our league on the road. … I think bottom line for us is as I told our players after the game: we got the three points, the third period we were there when we needed to be there, but we will be a lot better tomorrow night.”

No. 19 Omaha 3, Miami 3

A back-and-forth battle that saw both teams have leads and lose them, Miami and No. 19 Omaha battled to a 3-3 tie. The RedHawks got an extra point in the NCHC standings by winning a 3-on-3 overtime when Scott Dornbrock got the puck low in the right circle and beat Evan Weninger far side at 2:50. The goal came after Miami had killed off an Omaha 4-on-3 power play. Omaha jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. First Fredrik Olofsson sent a shot from the blue line and Steven Spinner deflected it five-hole at 9:32 of the first. Just after that Teemu Pulkkinen got a rebound in the slot and beat Ryan Larkin five-hole at 10:31. However, Miami got it back late in the period on a power-play goal at 17:13 from Louie Belpedio off a nice pass from Anthony Louis. Belpedio beat Weninger with a one-timer low stick side. Miami tied it at 11:44 when Willie Knierim poked a rebound top corner stick side. Miami took the lead just 21 seconds into the third period a shot by Louis was deflected five-hole by Carson Meyer. Omaha however, rallied and tied it late when on a pretty power-play goal when Austin Ortega carried the puck down the right side and sent a pass to Jake Randolph streaking down the left side, and he deflected it past Ryan Larkin at 13:44.