No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 7 Clarkson
The Badgers skated to a weekend sweep in Potsdam thanks in part to Emily Clark’s overtime winner Friday afternoon. Wisconsin trailed 2-1 heading into the third period, but Sam Cogan’s power-play goal forced the extra period and the Badgers won 3-2 in overtime. The Badgers seemed to find their stride on Saturday, winning 4-1 and securing coach Mark Johnson’s 400th career win. Johnson is only the third head coach in NCAA Division I women’s hockey reach that milestone and is the first WCHA coach to do so.
No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth at No. 3 Minnesota
Sarah Potomak’s third-period goal gave the Gophers a 4-3 victory on Friday night. The Gophers, who were just one-for-10 on the power play entering the weekend, scored two goals with the extra attacker. Minnesota-Duluth also scored twice on the power play and had a chance to tie the game with a man advantage with less than two minutes to play, but the Gophers held on. On Saturday, it was Potomak again that scored the go-ahead goal, this time in overtime to secure the sweep for Minnesota with a 3-2 win. The goal was her 100th career point. UMD’s Lara Stalder had both the Bulldogs’ goals.
Ohio State at (8) Bemidji State
Ohio State continued to defy expectations as the Buckeyes earned a split at Bemidji State. The Beavers outshot OSU 36-22 in Friday’s game, but two first-period goals by the Buckeyes proved too much for Bemidji to overcome as the Beavers lost, 3-1. On Saturday, the Beavers netted three power-play goals in the second period on the way to a 4-1 victory. Ohio State had killed 24-of-26 penalties prior to Saturday’s game.
How the rest of the top 10 fared
Fifth-ranked Boston College scored three third-period goals to take down New Hampshire 4-1 on Friday night. On Saturday, the Maine Black Bears upset them 3-2 with their own third-period flurry. Maine, who had played to one-goal losses against Quinnipiac and BC earlier in the season, got the game-winning goal with just 37 seconds left in the game. The Eagles’ loss snapped the team’s 52-game undefeated streak in Hockey East play that dated back to February 2014, and its 27-game winning streak in league play that dated back to October 2015.
The Quinnipiac Bobcats suffered their first loss of the season Friday night at the hands of Mercyhurst. It was the Lakers first win of the season. They relied on a stifling defense to keep the Bobcats in check, allowing them just one shot on goal in the first period. On Saturday, Quinnipiac needed an overtime goal from Taylar Cianfarano to salvage the weekend sweep.
North Dakota dominated Minnesota State on Friday night, 6-0. Charly Dahlquist and Emma Nuutinen each potted two goals on the way to the victory. On Saturday, MSU gave the Fighting Hawks a scare and it took an overtime goal from Nuutinen to preserve the win. Mavericks sophomore defenseman Megan Hinze had two goals in the losing effort.
