MONDAY 10: Michigan, MSU trade blows in rivalry series

by
Michigan and Michigan State split a crucial B1G series this weekend with games at Yost Arena and Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. (Photo: Michigan Athletics)

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.

1. No. 2 vs. No. 1 did not disappoint

Michigan State and Michigan split a spectacular weekend series, with the Wolverines taking a come-from-behind overtime 4-3 win at Yost Ice Arena and the Spartans responding with a decisive 5-2 win Saturday in front of a crowd of 19,515 in Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.

Jayden Perron had the game-winning goal Friday to give the Wolverines a nation-leading 23 wins. Goalies Stephen Peck for Michigan and Trey Augustine for Michigan State each had 31 saves.

Saturday, the Spartans took a commanding 4-0 lead into the third period. Charlie Stramel’s goal at 4:01 in the second period was the game-winner.

https://www.twitter.com/MSU_Hockey/status/2020293701277302805

Augustine had 25 saves in the win, his 20th of the season. Returning to the Michigan net after an injury in January, Jack Ivankovic stopped 32 of 36.

Saturday’s win put the Spartans at the top of the Big Ten standings, one point ahead of the Wolverines. The win Saturday also means that the Duel in the D trophy remains with Michigan State for the third straight year.

2. It was a carnival in a different Michigan town

With their two-game home sweep of Augustana, Michigan Tech jumped into second place in the CCHA standings and captured the MacInnes Trophy, awarded during Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival the first weekend every February.

The Huskies won 3-2 and 4-3, with Jack Anderson’s ninth goal of the season putting Michigan Tech ahead midway through the third period Saturday.

https://www.twitter.com/mtuhky/status/2020286389355442294

In Saturday’s win, Owen Bartoszkiewicz became one of three Division I goalies to reach the 20-win plateau on the season. That also gave the Huskies their first 20-win season since 2022-23.

3. Speaking of the whole state of Michigan

By beating Miami 3-1 on the road Saturday, Western Michigan halted a two-game skid to hold onto its very slim hope of catching a part of first place in the regular-season NCHC standings.

But let’s back up for a moment.

That Western win came one night after the RedHawks upset the Broncos in overtime, 3-2, with David Deputy figuring into the game in spectacular fashion. The freshman scored the tying goal at 11:05 in the third and had the winner at 1:40 of OT.

https://www.twitter.com/TheNCHC/status/2019973187791122477

Friday’s game was Deputy’s fourth multi-goal game of the season.

4. Just how good is that Quinnipiac offense, anyway?

Seventeen goals in two games good. That’s how good Quinnipiac’s offense is.

The Bobcats beat Brown 9-1 Friday before blanking Yale 8-0 Saturday. In case you’re math challenged like me, that also means that Quinnipiac’s defense is pretty good, too.

Through 30 games, the Bobcats are scoring 4.4 goals per game on average while allowing 2.13.

Here are three pretty goals from the first period of Friday’s game: Ethan Wyttenbach’s game-winner, Matthew Lansing’s goal scored 10 seconds later and Antonin Verreault’s score 2:41 after that.

The Bobcats have scored fewer than four goals in only two of 12 games in 2026.

5. A dozen is pretty good, too

There’s nothing like a pair of 6-1 wins over two different conference opponents to make the case that you’re the best team in the league.

After beating New Hampshire 6-1 on the road Friday night, Providence beat Vermont at home by the same score Saturday night.

Eight different Friars had goals on the weekend, with Aleksi Kivioja scoring three — once Friday, twice Saturday — and both Will Elger and Hudson Malinoski netting two apiece on the weekend.

Kivioja had the game-winning goal Friday night.

The sweep extended Providence’s win streak to nine dating back to a 6-1 win over Maine Jan. 9. In that stretch, the Friars are scoring 4.44 goals per game on average and allowing 1.56.

6. Holy Cross bests Bentley

By beating Bentley 4-1 Saturday night, Holy Cross joined a small fraternity of teams to have delivered an Atlantic Hockey conference loss to the Falcons.

The Crusaders were backstopped by Danick Leroux’s outstanding weekend, with 32 saves in a 4-2 loss to the Falcons Friday and 29 in Saturday’s win.

Before Saturday’s defeat, Bentley had lost AHA games only to Sacred Heart (Jan. 16) and Niagara (Dec. 5).

The Falcons are on top of Atlantic Hockey with 45 points, six ahead of second-place RIT.

7. North Dakota is a third-period team

In their road split against Minnesota Duluth, the Fighting Hawks scored six total goals, and all six came in the third period.

Trailing 2-0 at the end of two Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Bulldogs, North Dakota scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the game to force an overtime.

Zam Plante gave Duluth that win with seven ticks of the clock remaining.

Saturday’s 4-1 North Dakota win saw the Fighting Hawks score first, but not until Mac Swanson’s power-play goal at 4:49 in the third period.

North Dakota has scored 17 goals in its last four games, with 12 of those coming in the third period.

8. Friday night was extra

Nine games went into overtime Friday night, including Michigan’s dramatic come-from-behind home win against Michigan State.

Kienan Draper’s unassisted, third-period game-tying goal may be the best regular-season example we’ll get of the term “raise the roof.”

Of those nine OT games Friday, eight featured ranked teams and three of the NCHC’s four games took extra time.

9. The weekend by some numbers

Of the 19 two-opponent series, 12 of them (63 percent) were splits.

Nine games went to overtime Friday and five Saturday, which means that 27 percent of the total games played for the weekend went to OT. Friday’s Denver-Colorado College game wass the only overtime game that ended in a tie.

A total of 25 players had two-goal games and two players registered their first career hat tricks.

In Friday’s 6-5 OT Wisconsin win over Notre Dame, Fighting Irish junior Evan Werner’s third goal sent the game into overtime.

In Saturday’s 8-0 Quinnipiac win over Yale, freshman Ethan Wyttenbach’s hat trick was his third multipoint game of the season. His first goal of the night was the game winner.

Three goalies recorded shutouts: Charlie Schenkel (Robert Morris), Dylan Silverstein (Quinnipiac) and Tyler Muszelik (Connecticut).

Another notable goalie performance: Niagara’s Tomas Anderson had a 76-save weekend (.950 save percentage) in the Purple Eagles’ split with Air Force.

Team with the highest shots on goal in a game: Clarkson (47).

Team with the lowest shots in a game: Mercyhurst (11).

10. The rest of the regular season, by some numbers

Conference races got a lot more interesting over the weekend. Four of the six teams at the top of their conferences split series with single opponents. The two league-leading teams that played different opponents each night recorded two wins on the weekend.

In only one conference, ECAC Hockey, is there more than one team that controls its own destiny heading into the final weeks. Those teams are Quinnipiac and Dartmouth, each of which can win the season title by winning out.

Each team has six games remaining. Quinnipiac is two points ahead of Dartmouth in league standings, and the teams play each other once more before the season ends.

Cornell is tied for second place with Dartmouth and does not control its own destiny, which tells you how much that Quinnipiac-Dartmouth game matters. The Big Red also have a game remaining against Quinnipiac.

In Atlantic Hockey, Bentley needs to win only three of its six remaining games to take the season crown. Five of those remaining games are against opponents with winning records, though. The Falcons are six points ahead of second-place RIT, with whom they have one remaining road game.

Only Michigan State can take the Big Ten title by winning its remaining six games – and the Spartans are looking at a favorable schedule, too. Four of those six games are at home, and all are against the bottom three teams in the conference. Michigan State is one point ahead of Michigan, and the Wolverines face both Penn State and Wisconsin down the stretch.

St. Thomas can capture the CCHA by winning its four remaining games. That includes a series against third-place Augustana, who sits just five points behind the Tommies. Between them is Michigan Tech, two points behind St. Thomas. The Huskies finish against fourth-place Bowling Green, a team seven points out of first.

In Hockey East, if Providence takes six of its remaining seven games, the Friars are the regular-season champs. Their schedule is favorable, with six of those games against opponents with records below .500.

With 39 points, the Friars are seven ahead of second-place Massachusetts and Providence also has two games in hand on the Minutemen. Connecticut and Boston College each have 31 points, and each has a game in hand on Providence and three on UMass.

Just a few weeks ago, it looked like no one would be able to catch North Dakota in the NCHC. All took were losses to Denver (Jan. 17) and Minnesota Duluth last weekend for the wind to change a little in that conference.

If North Dakota wins four of its last remaining six games, it wins the conference no matter what. It’s a tough schedule, though: Miami, St. Cloud, Western Michigan. The Fighting Hawks are two points ahead of Denver, but both North Dakota and third-place Western Michigan have two games in hand on the Pioneers.

At this point, the NCHC is the only league with three teams with a chance of finishing in first place. Those three teams — North Dakota, Denver, Western Michigan — are also the only NCHC teams that cannot finish in last place, mathematically speaking.

The craziest math in all of college hockey belongs to Hockey East. Of the 11 HEA teams, only UMass Lowell is mathematically unable to finish in first place.

Theoretically, there’s a longshot scenario for each of the other nine teams chasing Providence that can give them the regular-season title. There may be planetary alignment in play as well, but those are numbers I didn’t run.