SATURDAY RECAP: Second-ranked Denver sweeps No. 12 North Dakota, No. 7 UConn and No. 9 Providence skate to wild 6-6 tie, No. 3 Michigan upset by No. 18 Notre Dame, No. 14 BU sweeps No. 11 UMass

By
-
Notre Dame players celebrate with their fans after downing third-ranked Michigan Saturday night on home ice (photo: Notre Dame Athletics).

No. 2 Denver scored three goals in both the second and third periods to defeat No. 12 North Dakota 6-3 Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Denver hasn’t lost in regulation in the last eight games and picks up its third weekend sweep of the season. The Pioneers earned their first weekend sweep over the Fighting Hawks at Ralph Engelstad Arena since Jan. 29-30, 2010.

Carter Mazur and Jared Wright both had two goals in the game, while McKade Webster and Aidan Thompson also scored. Jack Devine had a pair of assists for a multi-point performance as well, and goaltender Magnus Chrona made 21 saves.

The Fighting Hawks began the scoring just seven seconds into the game as Judd Caulfield tallied off the opening faceoff.

Cooper Moore and Brent Johnson added goals for North Dakota and Jakob Hellsten made 27 saves in net. Dylan James chipped in two assists.

No. 4 St. Cloud State 4, No. 17 Western Michigan 1

Jami Krannila tallied two goals for the fourth-ranked Huskies, who earned a weekend split with a 4-1 win at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Aidan Spellacy and Grant Cruikshank added to the offense with a goal each.

In goal, St. Cloud State’s Dominic Basse needed to make just 11 saves.

For the Broncos, Ryan McAllister scored the lone goal and Cameron Rowe finished with 25 saves in taking the loss in net.

No. 7 Connecticut 6, No. 9 Providence 6 (UConn wins shootout)

The seventh-ranked UConn Huskies came from behind on a goal filled afternoon Saturday, scoring six goals before forcing overtime and winning in a shootout at the XL Center.

The Huskies came away with the extra point as Jake Percival scored the shootout winner.

Max Crozier contributed four assists for the Huskies.

Providence rushed out to a 2-0 lead just 5:17 into the game as Nick Poisson and Brett Berard scored. Bennett Schimek made it a 3-0 Providence lead at 14:18.

Ryan Tverberg scored late in the first period to cut the Friars’ lead to 3-1 before back-to-back goals from John Spetz and Matthew Wood drew the Huskies even at 3-3 at 14:43 of the second period. Liam Valente tallied his first-career NCAA goal just 1:03 later, giving the Friars a 4-3 lead.

Justin Pearson tied the game once again at 18:43. Seconds later, Pearson was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding Crozier. The Friars cashed in twice on the major penalty, Michael Citara and Jaroslav Chmelar finding the back of the net.

The Huskies tied the game with a pair of extra-attacker goals from Samu Salminen and Tverberg in the final minutes, with Tverberg’s equalizer with under five seconds to play.

Providence couldn’t convert on two breakaways in overtime and Nick Poisson was denied on a one-timer at the buzzer.

Philip SvedebΓ€ck stopped 20 saves for PC while Arsenii Sergeev made 26 for the Huskies.

No. 18 Notre Dame 3, No. 3 Michigan 2 (OT)

The No. 18 Fighting Irish earned the weekend split against third-ranked Michigan with a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday night at Compton Family Ice Arena.

Trailing by two goals at the end of the first period, Notre Dame battled back to score three unanswered goals from Tyler Carpenter, Chayse Primeau and Grant Silianoff 2:34 into overtime to get the win.

Ethan Edwards and Mackie Samoskevich scored for the Wolverines, giving Michigan a 2-0 lead 17:14 into the first period.

Ryan Bischel made 31 saves for the victory in goal and Erik Portillo stopped 28 for Michigan at the other end.

No. 14 Boston University 5, No. 11 Massachusetts 1

Jay O’Brien tallied a goal and an assist to help lead No. 14 Boston University to a 5-1 win over No. 11 UMass on Saturday night at Agganis Arena.

BU dominated UMass in both games this weekend. The Terriers outscored the Minutemen 12-3 across the two tilts and generated 45 shots on goal in each win, outshooting UMass 90-53 in the sweep.

“I thought the team played fairly well tonight,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “BU’s a good hockey team and I knew it was going to be tough trying to win here. I really liked the way the team came out. I thought our first period was actually pretty good, we created a fair number of chances, but I don’t think we got in front of the goaltender enough to make his life difficult. I was proud of the team tonight. We played hard. I thought the game was closer than the score. We had some kids step up and play hard tonight. We needed that. We’re really struggling with injuries. We’ve got three defensemen out right now and we played two nights in a row with five defensemen basically for the whole game.

“The kids sucked it up and the kids played hard. I was proud of their effort tonight.”

Ryan Greene scored his third goal of the weekend while Jamie Armstrong, Case McCarthy and Nick Zabaneh also lit the lamp. Wilmer Skoog and Matt Brown each secured two assists for the Terriers.

Drew Commesso turned in his second strong performance of the weekend, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced between the pipes.

Cole Brady stopped 32 shots for the Minutemen and Eric Faith netted the one goal in the defeat.

No. 5 Quinnipiac 4, Yale 0

Collin Graf tallied his first collegiate hat trick and QU captain Zach Metsa added a goal as No. 5 Quinnipiac blanked Yale 4-0 on Saturday night at Ingalls Rink.

Sam Lipkin recorded a four-assist night, providing a helper on each of the tallies to bring his season total to seven, the most on the team.

Yaniv Perets recorded his third shutout of the year and second in the last three outings, finishing the night with 15 saves to backbone the Bobcats’ defense.

Nathan Reid collected 41 saves in the Yale cage.

Michigan Tech 2, Lake Superior State 0

Blake Pietila earned his 14th career shutout, and his fourth shutout over the Lakers, making 20 saves in the win for the Huskies at MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

“I thought our guys battled hard tonight,” Michigan Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. “Lake State is a good team. They’re well-coached and they’re big and strong and have a lot of skill. I feel fortunate that we were able to come out of the weekend with some success.

“Arvid (Caderoth) made a really nice play on that first goal, and it was nice to have (Chris) Lipe and (Brett) Thorne back in the lineup this weekend. Everybody contributed and gave their best.”

David Jankowski and Trevor Russell registered the MTU goals.

For LSSU, Ethan Langenegger made 21 stops in the loss.

Air Force 2, Bentley 0

Luke Rowe had a goal and an assist for the Falcons, who salvaged a weekend split with their Falcons counterparts in a 2-0 shutout at Cadet Ice Arena.

Guy Blessing picked up the 25-save shutout and Andrew DeCarlo also scored in the win for Air Force.

β€œI feel better about this one, but not about last night,” said Air Force coach Frank Serratore. β€œIt gets exhausting to have our backs against the wall on a Saturday after a stinker on Friday. We have to figure it out on Friday nights. It is early in the year, but this was a must-win. This was a well-earned shutout for Blessing. They generated some quality chances, but Blessing was sharp as a tack.

“I’m proud of the boys for how they responded, but not over-joyed about the weekend.”

At the Bentley end, Connor Hasley finished with 40 saves.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR