ROUNDUP: Michigan Tech beats Alaska to improve to 5-1-0

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Michigan Tech improved to 5-1-0 with a 4-2 win over Alaska on Saturday night. (Photo: Michigan Tech Athletics)

No. 14 Michigan Tech earned a non-conference sweep of Alaska after a 4-2 home win on Saturday.

Luke Shipley scored a pair of goals in the third period to lift the Huskies. Tech improved to 5-1 overall on the season and begins CCHA play next week at Ferris State.

“I’m proud of the resolve today,” Tech coach Bill Muckalt said. “We found a way when things weren’t going our way, and we weren’t getting the calls we wanted. We stayed focused and didn’t quit. (Sweeps) are hard to come by in college hockey, and these wins will be important late in the season.”

Noah Reinhart and Carson Birnie also scored for Michigan Tech. Jack Rogers and Rylen Roersma scored for the Nanooks.

In net, Owen Bartoszkiewicz had 30 saves while Tyler Shea of Alaska stopped 29 shots.

No. 2. Michigan 4, No. 1 Denver 3

There will be a new No. 1 in the USCHO men’s D-I hockey poll come Monday.

No. 2 Michigan completed the weekend sweep at No. 1 Denver with a 4-3 win Saturday night before a crowd of 7,009 at Magness Arena. The Wolverines were a 4-1 winner the previous night.

Asher Barnett scored his first goal of the season with 4:53 left to give the Wolverines the lead for good. Denver rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game with goals from Sam Harris and Kieran Cebrian.

Garret Schifsky, Adam Valentini and Jayden Perron also scored for Michigan, while Kristian Epperson also scored for Denver.

In net, Jack Ivankovic had 33 saves for the Wolverines while Tyler Krivtsov had 21 saves for the Pioneers.

Northeastern 4, No. 19 Massachusetts 1

Northeastern got goals from four different scorers and freshman goaltender Sam Caulfield made 34 saves as the Huskies beat No. 19 UMass 4-1 on Saturday night at the Mullins Center. UMass was a 4-1 winner when the two schools met the previous night.

Giacomo Martino led the way for Northeastern with a goal and two assists, while Miguel Marques (goal, assist) and Tyler Fukakusa (two assists) also logged multi-point nights. The Northeastern power play was 2 for 6,with goals from Amine Hajibi and Dawson Sharkey’s first collegiate goal.

For UMass, Gavin Cornforth scored a second-period goal and Ethan Eskit had 34 saves in net.

No. 15 Augustana 3, Omaha 2 (OT)

Maxwell Chakrabarti netted the game-winning goal with his first of the season at 3:57 of overtime and No. 15 Augustana remained undefeated with a 3-2 win over Omaha before a crowd of 6,754 on Saturday night at Baxter Arena.

The Vikings earned the weekend sweep with the win.

Leonid Bulgakov scored all of Augustana’s regulation goals, including one at 17:12 of the third period to tie the game 2-2.

For Augustana, Mathis Langevin had 28 saves in net while William Lacelle stopped 33 shots on the Omaha side.

No. 4 North Dakota 5, Bentley 0

For the second straight night, No. 4 North Dakota was a 5-0 winner over Bentley in front of a sellout crowd of 11,652 at the Fighting Hawks’ home rink on Saturday night.

Caleb Heil finished with a perfect 15-for-15 night to record his second straight shutout in net for the Fighting Hawks. Anthony Menghini scored a pair of goals for his fifth multi-goal game of his career. Brasen Boser, Cody Croal and Hudson Malinoski also scored. Bauer Dumanski had two assists.

For Bentley, Easton Rye had 25 saves in net.

No. 12 Colorado College 4, No. 17 Connecticut 1

Connor Hvidston scored twice and Jackson Unger made 31 saves to lead No. 12 Colorado College to a 4-1 victory over No. 17 UConn Saturday night.

The Tigers salvaged the weekend split and improved to 3-1-0, while UConn fell to 2-2-0.

“The second period tonight might have been one of the better second periods we’ve had in a while,” Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte said. “We scored early, which was obviously a plus, but to out-attempt them 30-9 with a two-goal lead, it just showed we didn’t change who we are or how we were doing things.”

The Huskies took the lead for the second straight night when Kaden Shahan scored a power-play goal at the 7:54 mark of the first period. The Tigers responded quickly as Bret Link notched his second goal of the season just 19 seconds later.

CC took its first lead of the weekend at the 10:45 mark of the opening frame thanks to Zach Olsen’s first career goal. Hvidston made it 3-1 just 1:53 into the second period. The sophomore from Tisdale, Saskatchewan, tallied his second of the game at the 6:49 mark of the third period.

For UConn, Veeti Louhivaara had 26 saves in net.

No. 3 Michigan State 5, RIT 1

No. 3 Michigan State beat RIT 5-1 before a sellout crowd of 10,556 Friday night at Blue Cross Arena.

Three Spartans turned in multi-point nights, with Anthony Romani, Eric Nilson and Chase Reid all tallying a goal and an assist each. Tommi Mannisto and Ryker Lee also scored for Michigan State. Adding assists for MSU were Sean Barnhill and senior forward Gavin O’Connell.

“This is why you want to play the game, to put our guys in this type of environment,” said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale. “Ton of respect for RIT, we knew they were going to play with desperation and that’s important for our guys to see. It’s one thing to have talent but there’s a desperation and a hunger level you have to play with. I thought they really pushed us tonight.”

Freshman goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen made 25 saves for Michigan State, while Jakub Krbecek had 33 for RIT.

No. 11 Boston University 2, Vermont 1 (OT)

Ryder Ritchie tied the game in the final minute of regulation and scored in the first minute of overtime to lift No. 11 Boston University to a 2-1 win over Vermont on Saturday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

“It was nice to see that one go in with a minute left, and find a way in overtime,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “We just have to keep pushing here, and hopefully pucks start going into the net for us, and make some of these games a little easier for us.”

The teams split the weekend series with each team winning by a 2-1 score. For BU, Mikhail Yegorov had 24 saves in net and also assisted on the overtime goal. Jacob Oster made 32 saves for the Catamounts.

St. Cloud 5, No. 16 Boston College 3

Five different players scored for St. Cloud in a 5-3 win over No. 16 Boston College on Saturday night to earn the series split.

Finn McLaughlin, Nolan Roed, Darels Uljanskis, Thor Byfuglien and Jake Southgate all scored for the Huskies, while Yan Shostak had 43 saves, a career high.

For BC, Leo Henriquez had 20 saves and Teddy Mutryn, Caron Woodall and Matias Vanhanen each scored a goal.

No. 9 Minnesota Duluth 2, No. 20 Minnesota 2 (OT, Minnesota wins shootout)

No. 9 Minnesota Duluth and No. 20 Minnesota skated to a 2-2 tie before a crowd of 6,956 at Amsoil Arena on Saturday night. The Gophers won the ensuing shootout 2-1.

Aaron Piionk and Braden Fischer scored for Duluth, while Brodie Ziemer scored twice for the Gophers.

In net, Luca Di Pasquo had 34 saves for Minnesota while Carl Axelsson had 16 for Duluth.

No. 6 Western Michigan 4, Notre Dame 0

No. 6 Western Michigan got 17 saves from Quentin Miller in a 4-0 win at Notre Dame on Saturday night to complete the sweep of the home-and-home series.

It was Miller’s second shutout in his first four games. He has yielded just two goals in those four games, with WMU outscoring its opponents by a margin of 21-2 in its 4-0-0 start to the season.

The Broncos had four different goal scorers — Nicholas Sykora, Ty Henricks, Bobby Cowan and Adam Benák.

Notre Dame got 35 saves from Nicholas Kempf.

Niagara 2, No. 18 Bowling Green 1

Charles-Edward Gravel stopped 36 shots and Brayden Boehm scored the game-winning goal in the third period as Niagara earned a weekend sweep at No. 18 Bowling Green with a 2-1 win on Saturday night.

“I was really excited about our group effort,” Niagara coach Jason Lammers said. “I thought it took everybody tonight. Penalty kill was outstanding. (It) wasn’t pretty but we found a way.”

Niagara is now 6-3-2 all-time against Bowling Green. Dalin Melin also scored for the Purple Eagles. Jake Sloan scored the Falcons’ lone goal while Jacob Steinman had 21 saves.