SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Colorado College sweeps top-ranked North Dakota with second straight OT win, No. 2 Boston College upends No. 9 Providence, No. 4 Denver gains split with No. 13 Western Michigan after OT win, St. Thomas salvages split with Minnesota State

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Denver and Western Michigan played a thriller Saturday night in Kalamazoo, with the Pioneers coming out on top in overtime (photo: Ashley Huss).

Gleb Veremyev scored on a breakaway 2:54 into overtime to give Colorado College a 3-2 victory Saturday night and a sweep over No. 1-ranked North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena, the first sweep by the Tigers in Grand Forks, N.D., in 30 years.

Veremyev took a pass from Stanley Cooley during the 3-on-3 overtime period and found himself all alone against UND goalie Ludvig Persson. Veremyev put a backhand past Persson to lock in CC’s first sweep at North Dakota since Nov. 26-27, 1993, and the first over a No. 1-ranked team since Jan. 8-9, 2005, at Minnesota.

In a game eerily similar to Friday night, when Noah Laba won it for the Tigers in overtime, team captain Logan Will scored twice and Kaidan Mbereko had 22 saves.

Will put the Tigers on the board just 1:51 into the contest with his fourth goal of the season. Ryan Beck and Bret Link helped force a turnover in the North Dakota end, and Will, who hit the post three times last Saturday night against Arizona State, beat Persson from the slot.

Jackson Kunz evened the game with a power-play goal at the 12:51 mark of the second period, but Will notched his second of the game just 10 seconds later to put the Tigers back on top. Will took the puck into the offensive zone and whiffed on his initial shot, but then took a shot from the slot that deflected off Kunz’s skate past Persson.

UND’s Garrett Pyke made it 2-2 with 1:59 remaining in the middle frame with a shot from the left point that eluded Mbereko.

For the second straight night, neither team scored in the third period to force the extra frame.

Persson finished the game with 21 saves.

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No. 2 Boston College 5, No. 9 Providence 4

Oskar Jellvik scored twice in the span of 66 seconds late in the third period to break a 3-3 deadlock as Boston College closed the first semester with a 5-4 victory over Providence on Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 7,884 at Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Saturday’s sold-out crowd was the fourth sellout in nine home games this season, the most since BC had five sellouts during the 2012-13 campaign.

Cutter Gauthier registered a three-point game with a goal and two assists and Gabe Perreault and Will Smith each netted power-play goals as BC went 3 for 5 on the man advantage.

For the Friars, Nick Poisson scored two goals and Jamie Engelbert and Austen May also scored. Brady Berard picked up two assists.

In goal, Jacob Fowler made 25 saves for the win, while Philip Svedebäck finished with 28 stops for Providence.

No. 4 Denver 6, No. 13 Western Michigan 5 (OT)

Massimo Rizzo scored 62 seconds into overtime on Saturday night to lift Denver to a 6-5 overtime win against Western Michigan at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Rizzo recorded his first career overtime goal by going coast-to-coast up the ice and depositing the puck into the cage after cutting across the high crease.

Miko Matikka had two goals for the second straight game for the Pioneers, while Tristan Broz, Jack Devine and Sean Behrens also found the back of the net. Devine scored his NCAA-leading 15th goal of the season with 4:27 remaining to give DU a 5-4 lead at the time, but Joe Cassetti knotted the contest with 14 seconds remaining to force overtime while WMU had the extra attacker on the ice.

Devine and Rizzo both added assists to join Matikka with multiple points while Zeev Buium had three assists and junior Shai Buium had two helpers.

Zeev Buium is now on a 12-game point streak, surpassing Boston University’s Lane Hutson’s 11-game run from last season (Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023) for the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the last 21 years.

Denver goaltender Paxton Geisel made his collegiate debut in the crease after joining the Pioneers mid-season on Nov. 24. The freshman made 31 saves in his first career start.

Western Michigan used back-to-back markers from Hugh Larkin at 16:19 of the second and Samuel Sjolund 50 seconds into the third to tie the game at 4-4 and set up a wild finish.

Cassetti led WMU with two goals and one assist, while Ethan Phillips also had a three-point outing with one score and two helpers.

Western Michigan goaltender Cameron Rowe finished with 30 saves in the loss, which ended Western Michigan’s seven-game winning streak.

No. 5 Quinnipiac 4, LIU 2

Quinnipiac rounded out its first half with a 4-2 victory over LIU on Saturday afternoon at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn.

Collin Graf once again led the Bobcats on the offensive end, recording a pair of goals and dishing an assist. He assisted on the opening tally to Jacob Quillan, who reached double figures in the goal department on the season.

Jayden Lee also had a multi-point night for the Bobcats, adding a pair of assists on the game-tying and game-winning goals. Zach Tupker also scored for Quinnipiac and Matej Marinov stopped 15 shots for the win.

For LIU, Nolan Welsh and Isaiah Fox scored and Brandon Perrone made 29 saves in goal.

No. 6 Wisconsin 4, No. 17 Penn State 1

Jimmy Dowd, Jr. opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions one minute into the game, but the Badgers scored the next four to win 4-1 Saturday night at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Anthony Kehrer, Christian Fitzgerald, Charlie Stramel and Jack Horbach scored for Wisconsin and William Gramme made 25 saves between the pipes.

Liam Souliere stopped 18 shots in net for Penn State.

No. 7 Michigan State 2, No. 20 Notre Dame 1

Karsen Dorwart and Red Savage scored as the Spartans held on to drop Notre Dame Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich.

Patrick Moynihan broke the shutout in the final seconds of the third period.

Trey Augustine finished with 31 saves for MSU and Ryan Bischel kicked out 38 for the Irish.

No. 10 Minnesota 1, Ohio State 1 (Ohio State wins shootout)

Cam Thiesing scored in the first period for Ohio State, Aaron Huglen in the second for Minnesota, and the two teams settled on a 1-1 tie Saturday night at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The Buckeyes won the shootout.

Kristoffer Eberly made 23 saves for the Buckeyes, while Justen Close turned aside 29 for the Gophers.

Dartmouth 1, No. 12 Arizona State 1 (Arizona State wins shootout)

Brian Chambers scored for ASU and Cooper Flinton for Dartmouth as the two teams played to a 1-all tie Saturday night from Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz.

Cooper Black made 35 saves in the Big Green cage, while Gibson Homer stopped 20 for the Sun Devils.

St. Thomas 2, Minnesota State 1

St. Thomas rallied for the 2-1 win over Minnesota State Saturday night at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn.

After Adam Eisele gave the Mavericks the 1-0 lead at 5:39 of the second period, Luc Laylin tied the game at 13:28 of the third period and then Noah Prokop scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 16:16.

Jake Sibell finished with 28 saves to get the win in net for the Tommies.

Keenan Rancier made 25 saves for Minnesota State.

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