Charlie Stramel’s hat trick — including the game-winning goal in overtime — helped No. 2 Michigan State nip B1G rival No. 5 Penn State in overtime, 5-4, before a crowd of 74,575 at Beaver Stadium on Saturday night.
“Tough, tough environment,” said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale. “The crowd was awesome. Feel fortunate that Penn State offered us to come and play in it. Try to take advantage of the experience for our guys. It was back and forth, and we stuck with it. Some timely goals by us for sure. (To) come back, you’re on the road in this type of environment, to tie it up and find a way to get it done in overtime, I thought, was awesome.”
Stramel and senior forward Daniel Russell paced the Spartans with four points each. Stramel’s points came on three goals and an assist while Russell added three assists and a goal. Porter Martone matched Russell’s three assists, giving Michigan State’s top-line forwards 11 points on the afternoon. Matt Basgall scored the game-tying goal in the third period.
Penn State’s goals were scored by Aiden Fink (2), Gavin McKenna and Shea Van Olm.
Spartans goalie Trey Augustine made 31 saves and improved to 15-5-2 in his career against teams ranked in the top 5. Kevin Reidler had 35 saves for the Nittany Lions.
The win by Michigan State sets up a huge series next weekend between the second-ranked Spartans and No. 1 Michigan. The first game is Friday in Ann Arbor with the rematch scheduled for the NHL arena in Detroit on Saturday.
No. 1 Michigan 3, Ohio State 2 (OT)
Nick Moldenhauer secured his first career multi-goal game, including the overtime winner, to lead top-ranked Michigan past B1G rival Ohio State 3-2 to clinch a series and season sweep.
Adam Valentini also scored for the Wolverines. Michigan goalie Stephen Peck had a career high 32 saves in net.
Michigan led 2-0 through the first 54:16, before Ohio State goals by Felix Caron and Nathan McBrayer tied the game in the waning minutes of the third period.
Michigan improved its overtime record to 4-0 this season while securing its fifth road sweep.
Omaha 4, No. 3 Western Michigan 1
Omaha got its biggest win of the season by taking care of No. 3 Western Michigan 4-1 Saturday night. Omaha snapped Western Michigan’s 10-game winning streak and salvaged a split of their weekend NCHC series.
Simon Latkoczy recorded 25 saves for Omaha and the defense killed off all five power plays for the Broncos, who entered the night averaging 3.9 goals per game. Omaha had four players score goals as Luke Woodworth finished with a goal and an assist.
No. 6 Quinnipiac 3, Clarkson 3 (OT, Clarkson wins shootout)
No. 6 Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey program battled to a 3-3 tie on Saturday night in ECAC action, before losing the shootout at Clarkson.
Antonin Verreault, Aaron Schwartz and Ethan Wyttenbach each scored for Quinnipiac, while Clarkson’s goals were provided by Talon Sigurdson, Matthew Mayich and Jace Letourneau. Clarkson battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the third period.
Dylan Silverstein had 21 saves for Quinnipiac while Clarkson’s Shane Soderwall had 23 on the other end of the ice.
No. 11 Denver, No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (OT)
Rieger Lorenz’s goal at 2:17 of overtime broke a scoreless deadlock and lifted No. 11 Denver to a 1-0 win over No. 7 Minnesota Duluth in a NCHC thriller Saturday night before a crowd of 6,356 at Magness Arena.
It was Lorenz’s ninth goal of the season, and was assisted by Eric Pohlkamp and Kieran Cebrian. Denver’s Johnny Hicks turned away 19 shots, while Adam Gajan of Duluth had 30 saves.
Minnesota 8, No. 8 Wisconsin 4
Minnesota finished off a huge home weekend sweep of No. 8 Wisconsin on Saturday, throttling the Badgers by an 8-4 score in B1G action from Mariucci Arena.
Erik Påhlsson and Brodie Ziemer each scored twice for the Gophers, while LJ Mooney thrice assisted. Christian Fitzgerald contributed a pair of goals for Wisconsin.
As far as goaltenders were concerned, Minnesota’s Luca Di Pasquo had 34 saves.
No. 9 Providence 3, No. 17 Maine 2 (OT)
Make that seven wins in a row for No. 9 Providence, which was a 3-2 overtime winner at No. 17 Maine on Saturday night in Hockey East action.
Andrew Centrella tied the game with 5.5 seconds left in regulation and Logan Sawyer scored the game-winning goal in overtime. Goalie Jack Parsons had 23 saves.
The Friars matched their most wins (8) in the month of January in program history, matching the 1973-74 team. Providence is 8-0-0 over its last eight Hockey East games dating back to Nov. 22. The Friars won in overtime at Alfond Arena for the fifth time in program history and have won back-to-back overtime games at Alfond Arena, their last coming in February of 2024.
No. 10 Cornell 4, Brown 2
Tenth-ranked Cornell got its fourth win in a row and 10th in its last 11 games with a 4-2 win at Brown on Saturday night in ECAC Hockey.
Gio DiGiulian scored a pair of second-period goals for Cornell, The win marked the 250th career head coaching win for Cornell’s Casey Jones, making him the 15th active Division I head coach to reach that milestone.
”I thought it was a good weekend of hockey for us,” Jones said. “We didn’t manage tonight as well as we have in the last few games. I thought we locked it down there and got the job done.”
Cornell’s win increased its win streak against Brown to eight games and improved its all-time record over the Bears to 91-44-8.
Alexis Cournoyer had 27 saves for Cornell.
No. 14 Dartmouth 3, RPI 1
No. 14 Dartmouth closed out January with a 3-1 home win over RPI on Saturday night in an ECAC Hockey battle.
Hayden Savroff scored twice for the Big Green, while Cooper Cleaves added a power-play goal in the second period to break a scoreless deadlock. Emmett Croteau turned in a 15-save performance in net.
No. 16 Augustana 4, Lake Superior 1
Owen Bohn recorded a pair of goals while Josh Kotai turned aside 31 shots as Augustana earned a 4-1 victory over Lake Superior State to complete the weekend CCHA sweep.
Josh Kotai earned the win in net for Augustana, stopping 31 of 32 shots, as the Vikings were outshot 32-27 on the night.
No. 19 Michigan Tech 4, No. 15 St. Thomas 15
No. 19 Michigan Tech earned a 4-3 win at No. 15 St. Thomas, snapping the Tommies’ 11-game winning streak and salvaging a split of the CCHA weekend series.
“I’m just so proud of our guys,” Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. “We had to make a commitment to physicality up and down the lineup against skilled and dangerous players. We smothered them at times. We just beat a team that’s as good as any.”
Tech never trailed in the game and got a goal and an assist from three different players. Elias Jansson scored the game-winner 6:11 into the third, and the Huskies held off a late surge by the Tommies while on the penalty kill. Goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz had 20 saves.
No. 18 Minnesota State 4, Ferris State 3
With four second-period goals on Saturday night, No. 18 Minnesota State rallied from two goals down for a 4-3 at Ferris State for a CCHA series sweep.
Four different goal scorers contributed for the Mavericks, including Reid Morich and Mason LeBel, both of whom also found the scoresheet on Friday.
“It was great to get the sweep,” said Minnesota State coach Luke Strand. “None of us would say that is our formula to win but winning is hard. The power play stepped up and Alex (Tracy) was excellent in net (29 saves).”
Miami 3, No. 20 St. Cloud 1
Matteo Drobac made 36 saves and Miami took down No. 20 St. Cloud State 3-1 Saturday to seal the RedHawks’ first road sweep in NCHC play since January 2021.
John Emmons, Ryan Smith and David Deputy scored for the RedHawks. Max Smolinski had the only goal for the Huskies.
Miami swept a team ranked in the USCHO.com men’s D-I poll for the first time since February of 2022 vs. then-No. 18 Omaha and swept a ranked team on the road for the first time since January 2016, also vs. Omaha (then ranked No. 7).
The RedHawks have won four NCHC games in a row for the first time since the 2016-17 season and posted their first regular-season sweep in St. Cloud since 1999.