Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1) Sandelin claims 400th career win
Friday’s 2-1 win by No. 6 Minnesota Duluth over Miami was the 400th career win for coach Scott Sandelin. He became the 33rd active Division I coach to reach that milestone. Of course, for Sandelin and his workmanlike attitude, that was just another day at the office, one that improved his team to 9-5-2 on the year.
In the postgame interview on the team’s website, all Sandelin said was, “Good win for our guys. We kind of went through a little bit of adversity to start the third period with the major kill. It was nice to have a two-goal lead. Our guys did a great job with that and we closed it out.”
The Bulldogs followed that with a 6-3 win on Saturday, sweeping the series and marking Duluth’s fourth straight win against Miami, one in which 14 different Bulldogs skaters earned a point. Goaltender Ryan Fanti made 32 saves in the win after making 14 the previous night.
2) Bemidji State upsets No. 3 Minnesota State
In what was technically a nonconference tilt due to a reschedule from a game canceled due to COVID-19 protocols, No. 3 Minnesota State was upended by Bemidji State, 4-1. The loss ended Minnesota State’s nine-game winning streak. Brad Johnson’s power-play tally at 3:03 of the second period broke a 1-1 tie and proved to be the game-winner. Zach Driscoll made 35 saves in the win, which pulled Bemidji into a 1-1-1 tie in the season series with the Mavericks.
The win by Bemidji might lift them into the USCHO.com poll, as it follows a sweep of No. 8 Bowling Green the previous weekend.
3) No. 10 Massachusetts notches big sweep of No. 16 UMass Lowell
No. 10 UMass scored a big sweep of No. 16 Lowell, winning 5-0 and 2-1. In Friday’s shutout, Bobby Trivigno provided all the scoring the Minutemen would need, notching two goals. He added an assist on Matthew Kessel’s goal that made it 3-0. Trivigno is now seventh in the country in scoring, tied with Minnesota-Duluth’s Nick Swaney.
In Saturday’s rematch in Lowell, goaltender Filip Lindberg made 21 saves, including nine in the third period as Lowell attempted to rally from a 2-0 deficit. The win marked the program’s first in Lowell since Greg Carvel took over as coach.
4) No. 4 Minnesota sweeps Ohio State
Minnesota scored a big road sweep of Ohio State, winning 5-1 and 5-2. On Friday, Blake McLaughlin and Sammy Walker each notched a goal and two assists as the Gophers built a 5-0 lead. Walker added a goal and assist in Saturday’s rematch, while McLaughlin added an assist.
The Gophers are now 11-3 in the conference, five points ahead of second-place Wisconsin, which also swept on the weekend to keep pace.
5) No. 2 North Dakota and No. 9 Omaha split
North Dakota and Omaha will be getting very familiar with each other, as the two play six games against each other over the final month. In the first two games, the teams split. On Friday, North Dakota ripped off five unanswered goals to rally from a 2-1 deficit for a 6-2 win. Shane Pinto started the rally with a goal at 6:49 of the second. Pinto also assisted on the first goal. Judd Caufield, who assisted on Pinto’s goals, also scored North Dakota’s final goal of the game.
In the rematch Saturday, a wild first period saw Omaha take a 2-0 lead before North Dakota tied it. However, a power-play goal by Jonny Tychonick at 19:49 of the first changed the momentum again. After the teams traded goals in the first eight minutes of the third, a power-play goal by Kevin Conley at 15:57 sealed the win for Omaha, which had three power-play goals in the game. Pinto scored at 19:46 for the final margin.
6) No. 19 AIC brooms Holy Cross
American International looked strong in an impressive shutout sweep of Holy Cross, winning 6-0 and 3-0. On Friday, rookie Ryan McInchak made 17 saves after coming on late in the first after Jake Kucharski made three saves in 19:46 of action. Brennan Kapcheck had three assists on the first three goals in the win. On Saturday, AIC got all its scoring in the second period, including two power-play goals, while McInchak made 20 saves.
McInchak became the first goaltender in the program’s D-I history to get a shutout in his first start.
7) No. 8 Bowling Green sweeps No. 18 Michigan Tech
Bowling Green rebounded from being swept by Bemidji the previous weekend to sweep Michigan Tech, 6-3 and 5-2.
On Friday, Brandon Kruse notched a goal and three assists, while Connor Ford had two goals and an assist. While Friday’s game saw Bowling Green roll to a 3-1 first period lead en route to the win, Saturday saw Michigan Tech build a 2-1 lead after one period, thanks to a power-play goal by Alec Broetzman at 18:36. However, Gavin Gould tied it with a power-play strike at 15:37 of the second, and Alex Barber gave the Falcons the lead two minutes later. Sam Craggs’ short-handed tally at 10:36 of the third gave the Falcons a cushion, and Ford added an empty-netter to seal the win.
8) Badgers’ Caufield nets seven points on weekend
Wisconsin sophomore Cole Caufield, who leads the country in scoring, continued to rack up the points in Wisconsin’s sweep of Michigan State.
In Friday’s 6-0 win, Caufield opened the scoring with a power-play goal at just 56 seconds of the game, added another goal in the second, and assisted on the final goal. Saturday was even more impressive, as Caufield assisted on Linus Weissbach’s goal at 7:05 of the second that gave Wisconsin a 1-0 lead, then assisted on Ty Pelton-Byce’s power-play goal at 12:29 of the third that proved to be the game-winner. Caufield then scored a power-play goal of his own at 14:33, then capped the scoring with an empty-netter at 19:25.
9) Connecticut takes both from Merrimack
The Hockey East standings are a logjam after the weekend, as Connecticut’s sweep of Merrimack means seven of the 10 teams have a .500 or better win percentage.
Connecticut rolled to a 6-1 win Friday and followed that with a 6-2 win Saturday. Jonny Evans scored four goals in Saturday’s win, including one short-handed, two at even strength, and one on a power play. His first goal of the night was also the game-winner. Evans also had two assists on Friday, assisting on both of Carter Turnbull’s power-play goals
10) COVID continues to play havoc
COVID-19 protocols lead to more cancellations this past weekend.
For the second time this season, Colorado College had people associated with the team test positive for COVID, leading to the cancellation of the team’s series with Denver. RIT’s game with Canisius that was scheduled for Sunday was canceled due to COVID protocols. Michigan remains on pause due to COVID.
