Just when everyone was ready to count out the Irish, sophomore Graham Slaggert helped bring Notre Dame back to relevance.
Slaggert’s goal with exactly five minutes left in regulation broke a 2-2 tie as Notre Dame skated to a 4-2 victory and completed a five-of-six point road weekend against No. 8 Penn State, evaluating the Irish to a tie for third place with Michigan State and Minnesota, just a single point behind both Penn State and Ohio State.
What a pass. What a finish.
Stastney ➡️ Slaggert for the game winner!#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/h1vJtq9qs4
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) February 2, 2020
A night after Michael Graham’s goal with less than two minutes remaining push Notre Dame to overtime against the Nittany Lions before the Irish earned the extra point in the 11th round of the shootout, Notre Dame fell on the opposite side of the equation, letting a two-goal lead slip away.
Nikita Pavlychev’s goal for Penn State at 6:10 of the third drew the game even, but only set up Slaggert’s heroics.
Troy Dello’s unassisted empty-net goal with 1:00 left capped a two-point night for him (goal, assist) and sent Notre Dame back to South Bend significantly more relevant than when it left.
The five-point weekend was Notre Dame’s best Big Ten weekend since a two-game sweep of Ohio State. At the time, the Irish were 7-0-1 overall and since then have gone 4-11-4.
Scoreboard | Standings | PairWise Rankings
No. 18 Quinnipiac 2, Colgate 1
A strong two-win weekend in the ECAC moved Quinnipiac back into a tie for third place with Harvard after a 2-1 victory on Saturday night over Colgate
Combined with a 5-0 victory on Friday over No. 1 Cornell, the Bobcats are back within striking distance, three points behind second-place Cornell in the ECAC and just five points behind first-place Clarkson.
Wyatt Bongiovanni’s goal 17 seconds into the third period was the difference maker as Keith Petruzelli stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced.
Beauty of a goal and a high ?! #BobcatNation
?: Tufto (2)
??: de Jong pic.twitter.com/znGzYDnAcO— Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey (@QU_MIH) February 2, 2020
The Bobcats also killed of three Colgate power plays while scoring in their only chance with the man advantage.
No. 6 Clarkson 4, Brown 1
Two goals by Josh Dunne propels Clarkson to a 3-0 lead by the early minutes of the second period as the Golden Knights defeated Brown, 4-1, to earn back-to-back wins on the weekend and remain two points ahead of Cornell for first place in the ECAC.
.@ClarksonMHockey skates past Brown behind strong special teams play for second @ecachockey win of the weekend at Cheel Arena.#LetsGoTech!https://t.co/7eXFsACHnt
— ClarksonAthletics (@ClarksonUSports) February 2, 2020
The Golden Knights are solidly in seventh in the PairWise Rankings and possess the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation.
The victory leads Clarkson into a game next Saturday against cross-town rival St. Lawrence, one of the top rivalries in college hockey.
American International 7, Mercyhurst 4
Three different Yellow Jackets scored two goals each led by Joel Kocur’s four-point game as AIC completed the weekend sweep of Mercyhurst to keep the team in a first-place tie with Sacred Heart for the top spot in Atlantic Hockey.
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The goal light got a workout today. Check out the tallies from this afternoon's victory!#AICommitted pic.twitter.com/olYF5thJ7S
— AIC Hockey (@AIC_Hockey) February 1, 2020
The win extends AIC’s winning streak to a nation’s best six games and seven straight in Atlantic Hockey. Both are program records for the Yellow Jackets.
