Penn State upsets No. 12 Ohio State, 2-1, will face Minnesota; No. 7 Notre Dame survives scare from Wisconsin, winning Game 3, 4-2; St. Lawrence advances in OT; RPI, SLU, Bemidji St., and NMU all advance in Game 3

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No. 7 Notre Dame survived a scare from Wisconsin in its best-of-three Big Ten quarterfinal series with a 4-2 victory on Sunday (Photo: Fighting Irish Media)

Though on paper, a series between seventh-ranked Notre Dame and Wisconsin, a nine-win team in the regular season, seemed like a mismatch.

Once the series played out on the ice, it became a barn-burner.

On Sunday, in a winner-take-all Game 3, four different Irish players scored as Notre Dame survived the quarterfinal round scare, 4-2. The Irish will face #2 seed Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals next Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET.

After Wisconsin won game one, 3-1, Notre Dame needed a Trevor Janicke goal with 20.7 seconds remaining in regulation to break a 2-2 tie in a 3-2 victory to force Game 3.

On Sunday, Notre Dame never trailed, jumping to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jack Adams and Landon Slaggert. But things were hardly comfortable.

Sam Stange pulled the Badgers within a goal at 16:01 of the first. And after Jake Pivonka stretched the Irish lead back to two 1:55 into the second, Daniel Laatsch scored with 4:38 left in the middle frame, sending a one-goal game to the third.

Notre Dame goaltender Matthew Galadja, who made 24 saves in the game, stopped all nine shots he faced in the third and Jack Gorinak’s empty net goal advanced the Irish to a date with Michigan.

When the two teams meet, the Wolverines will be looking to exact revenge. Notre Dame swept Michigan in the final weekend of the regular season, preventing the Wolverines from earning first place in the Big Ten and a first-round bye. Notre Dame won all four meetings thus far against Michigan this season.

Penn State 2, No. 12 Ohio State 1

A goal by Dylan Lugris with 6:54 remaining gave Penn State an upset win over No. 12 Ohio State and advances the Nittany Lions, two-games-to-one, in the Big Ten tournament.

Penn State will travel to top-seed Minnesota in the Big Ten semifinals.

The Nittany Lions have been on the brink all weekend, losing 4-3 in Friday’s series opener. It took a late-game goal by Ryan Kirwan on Saturday for force a third game and even then, there was little room on either side.

Kirwan tallied again on Sunday, this time opening the scoring with 6:30 remaining in the second period. But Ohio State’s Tate Singleton responded prior to the end of the period.

Penn State held a shot advantage of 13-8 in the third and Lugris finally broke the deadlock late to send the Nittany Lions to the semifinals.

Ohio State will be forced to wait out the final two weekends to understand their NCAA fate. The loss placed the Buckeyes square on the PairWise bubble with no ability to control their own destiny.

ECAC Tournament

St. Lawrence 4, Brown 3 (OT – St. Lawrence wins series, 2-1)

Host St. Lawrence overcame a 3-1 deficit midway through the game and Reilly Moran’s goal 46 seconds into overtime was the series clincher as the Saints defeated Brown, 4-3, to advance in the ECAC playoffs.

After Brown’s Tristan Crozier spotted the Bears a 3-1 lead at 11:11 of the second, Ty Naaykens’ response 28 seconds later gave St. Lawrence life.

Cameron Buhl tied the game with 8:09 remaining in regulation setting up Moran’s dramatic clincher.

St. Lawrence will now face top-seeded Quinnipiac next weekend in Hamden, Conn., beginning Friday.

Rensselaer 5, Dartmouth 3 (RPI wins series, 2-1)

Despite falling behind 2-0 and 3-1, host Rensselaer scored the game’s final four goals to rally for a 5-3 victory and win their ECAC first round series over Dartmouth, two-games-to-one.

The series was one of comebacks for the Engineers after losing the series opener, 3-2.

On Sunday, Simon Kjelberg scored twice and Ryan Wahshie buried the eventual game-winner on the power play, breaking a 3-3 tie with 3:56 remaining in regulation.

RPI advances and will begin its best-of-three quarterfinal series against third-seed Harvard on Friday.

CCHA Tournament

Northern Michigan 5, Lake Superior 4

Visiting Northern Michigan trailed Lake Superior, 3-1, midway through a decisive game three in the CCHA quarterfinals on Sunday.

But four goals in exactly eight minutes in the second half of the middle frame turned a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead as the Wildcats held on for a 5-4 victory and two-games-to-one victory over the Lakers to advance to the CCHA semifinals.

Mack Byers and Trevor Cosgrove scored 1:25 apart to even the game by 12:01 of the second, then a Hank Crone goal on the power play at 17:09 gave the Wildcats the lead. Tanner Vescio tallied another goal 95 seconds later, the eventual game winner.

AJ Vanderbeck assisted on all three of the final Northern Michigan goals and Charlie Glockner made 17 saves to earn the win.

Northern Michigan now takes on top-seeded Minnesota State in the CCHA semifinals on Saturday.

Bemidji State 3, Bowling Green 1 (BSU wins series, 2-1)

Lukas Sillinger’s goal with 9:47 left in regulation broke a 1-1 tie and his brother Owen added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds remaining as Bemidji State advanced past Bowling Green in the CCHA quarterfinals.

Mattias Sholl made 23 saves to earn the victory.

Bemidji State will travel to Michigan Tech on Saturday for a single-game semifinal.

 

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