The action out West included some intraconference matchups, most of which were won by the ranked teams.
No. 11 Augsburg at Wisconsin-Stout/Wisconsin-River Falls
Augsburg swept its Wisconsin battles, defeating Wis.-Stout 4-1 and Wis.-River Falls 1-0. Against Wis.-Stout, the Auggies got three second-period goals to rally from a 1-0 deficit, with Nate Flyn getting the tying goal and an assist on the game-winner. On Saturday, Nick Schmit made 24 saves to earn the shutout and Trevor Stewart scored the lone goal.
No. 1 Wisconsin-Stevens Point vs. Concordia (Minn.)/St. John’s
Wisconsin-Stevens Point swept its MIAC foes. On Friday, the Pointers got three goals in the first en route to a 6-3 win. Jacob Barber assisted on two of the first-period goals and notched his own goal on a power play in the second, which proved the game-winner. On Saturday, Eliot Grauer scored twice in the second period, including what proved to be the game-winner when the Pointers had an extra attacker at 17:36. Jesse Gordichuk made 23 saves in the 5-2 win over St. John’s.
No. 13 Wisconsin-Eau Claire vs. St. John’s/Concordia (Minn.)
St. John’s did have some success on its Wisconsin swing, tying Wis.-Eau Claire on Friday night 3-3. Joey Lindberg got the tying goal at 13:33 of the third after Todd Korizinsky’s goal at 18:31 of the second had capped a rally for Wis.-Eau Claire from a 2-0 deficit. Tyler Nelson made 38 saves for the Johnnies in the draw.
Wis.-Eau Claire rallied from that disappointment to defeat Concordia 5-1 Saturday behind four goals in the first period from four skaters. Koritzinsky had two assists, as did Patrick Moore. Koritzinsky also scored at 12:14 of the third. Jordan Christianson ruined Jay Deo’s shutout bid with a power-play goal at 16:06 of the third. Deo made 15 saves in the win.
No. 6 Adrian vs. Marian
Adrian swept an NCHA series against Marian, 4-2 and 6-3. On Friday, Bryan Yim broke open a 1-1 tie with a goal at 7:42, the first of three straight for the Bulldogs, who got 24 saves from Kevin Entmaa. Saturday, Austin Hervey got the Bulldogs on the board at 12:02 of the first and Connor Armour made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 19:33. Armour also scored at 4:36 of the second, and Trevor Boyd scored what proved to be the game-winner at 5:19. Entmaa made 18 saves, while the Bulldogs fired 51 shots on Marian.
No. 3 St. Norbert vs. Aurora
The Green Knights swept Aurora in an NCHA series. Friday, T.J. Black only faced five shots, but stopped them all in a 2-0 win. Pijus Rulevičius scored the only goal the Green Knights would need at 8:23. St. Norbert fired 37 shots on Hunter Vorva, who stopped 35 in the loss.
The Spartans did better Saturday, getting three goals on 11 shots on Tony Kujava, and even had a 2-1 lead on Brendan Logan’s goal at 1:10 of the third, but Vorva couldn’t withstand the Green Knights’ barrage, which included 18 of their 54 shots in the third period. Brad Pung tied it for St. Norbert at 4:29, and Luke Karakas gave the Green Knights the lead just 30 seconds later. However, Aurora fought back again, tying it barely a minute later on a Rarie Petrich strike at 6:11 before Dominick Sacco scored the game-winner for St. Norbert at 10:06.