Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.
1. Everything came together in the last few seconds
Heading into the last weekend of Hockey East action, Northeastern needed everything to line up just right for the Huskies to win their first-ever regular-season title. First, Boston College needed to sweep UMass. The resurgent Eagles survived with a 2-1 win on Friday after a Minutemen goal was found to have come after the buzzer, and then earned the sweep, 4-3, on Saturday. Northeastern also needed at least five points against Merrimack in their two-game series to earn at least a tie for first. With time ticking down on a 0-0 regulation tie vs. the Warriors on Saturday, Aidan McDonough found himself unmarked in the slot in front of the Merrimack net and buried a shot on a pass from Jack Hughes with 9.6 seconds left, giving Northeastern sole possession of the conference regular-season championship. Devon Levi notched his 10th shutout of the season for the Huskies.
2. Penrose Cup(s) awarded
North Dakota needed two points over the weekend to clinch a share of its third consecutive Penrose Cup and earned them with an overtime win over Omaha, 5-4, on Friday. Denver’s 5-0 shutout of Colorado College that same night kept the Pioneers’ own hopes for the NCHC regular-season trophy – and a top seed in the conference playoffs – alive. Omaha’s 4-1 defeat of the Fighting Hawks on Saturday – North Dakota’s first regulation loss since January 22 – combined with DU’s 5-2 win at home vs. Colorado College tied Denver and North Dakota with 53 points. The Pioneers earned the playoff top seed by virtue of more regulation wins; because North Dakota hosted the only two games between the Fighting Hawks and Pioneers, that head-to-head first tiebreaker was thrown out per NCHC rules.
3. You guys again?
Heading into Saturday night’s contest at AMSOIL Arena, St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth knew they’d face each other in the first round of the NCHC playoffs, but that night’s game would decide where. The Bulldogs had pulled three points ahead of the Huskies on Friday with a 3-2 overtime win and needed at least to make it to another overtime to stay alone in fourth place. But David Hrenak’s third shutout of the season backstopped SCSU to a 2-0 win and a tie in the NCHC standings. The regulation win gave St. Cloud State the tiebreaker and the Huskies will host UMD next weekend.
4. A pair of sweeps in the CCHA quarterfinals
Despite being heavily outshot both nights, Ferris State took Michigan Tech to overtime on Friday and double overtime on Saturday before falling to the Huskies with identical 3-2 scores. Bemidji State will visit Michigan Tech in a single-elimination semifinal next Saturday. Meanwhile, Minnesota State came back from a 2-1 late-second-period deficit to down St. Thomas, 3-2, on Friday and rolled to an 8-2 victory on Saturday. The Mavericks will host Northern Michigan in Saturday’s other semifinal.
5. And two three-game series in the CCHA
Bemidji State advanced past visiting Bowling Green with a 3-1 win on Sunday. The game was scoreless until early in the second period when the Beavers’ Ethan Somoza gave Bemidji a 1-0 lead. Bowling Green’s Evan Dougherty tied it at 1-1 at 7:43 of the third. Lukas Sillinger scored the game-winning goal at 10:13 of the final period, and Owen Sillinger added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left. Bowling Green had won game one, 2-1, on Friday and Bemidji countered with a 4-2 victory on Saturday.
Northern Michigan downed host Lake Superior State, 5-4, on Sunday in a back-and-forth affair. The Lakers opened up a 3-1 lead early in the second period before the Wildcats responded with four unanswered goals, all after the midway point of the period. Northern Michigan won Friday’s game, 5-1, with the Wildcats scoring five straight goals after a scoreless first 30 minutes. Lake Superior State had evened the series on Saturday, 3-2.
6. Other than Michigan’s sweep, the Big Ten needed three to decide
Michigan swept arch rival Michigan State 4-1 and 8-0 over the weekend in the only Big Ten sweep. The second-seeded Wolverines will host Notre Dame in the conference semifinals next Saturday. The Fighting Irish won all four games against Michigan in the regular season, with two overtime victories at Yost Ice Arena.
Notre Dame advanced Sunday night with a 4-2 win after Wisconsin had climbed back to within 3-2 late in the third period. The Badgers had taken a 1-0 lead in the series, stunning Notre Dame in Friday’s game, 3-1, despite being outshot 50 to 27. The Fighting Irish came back with a 3-2 victory on Saturday. Notre Dame opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period in the series’ second game, only to see the Badgers come back to tie it in the second period on a pair of power-play goals. Trevor Janicke then slammed home the gamewinner on a pass from behind the Wisconsin net from Spencer Stastney with 20 seconds left to even the series at two.
Top-seeded Minnesota will welcome Penn State in the other Big Ten semifinal. Penn State’s Dylan Lugris tallied the game-winning goal with 6:53 left in the contest on Sunday to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 win over host Ohio State. The Buckeyes took Friday’s game, 4-3, with Ohio State goalie Jakub Dobeš making 49 saves in the victory. Penn State evened up the series, 3-2, on Saturday, scoring a goal in each period and putting up 46 shots on net. Ohio State’s at-large probabilities are very slim.
7. Colgate, Union sweep in ECAC Hockey’s first round
Colgate’s Josh McKechney notched the overtime game winner on Friday to down Yale, 3-2, after the Bulldogs had tied the game with 7.1 seconds left on Teddy Wooding’s extra-attacker goal. The Raiders rolled over Yale, 5-1, on Saturday to win the series. Colgate will face ECAC travel partner Cornell in next weekend’s quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Union also got the sweep with 3-2 and 5-1 wins over Princeton. The Dutchmen will head up north to Clarkson next Friday.
8. While Rensselaer, St. Lawrence need a third game to advance
Rensselaer scored four unanswered third-period goals, including an empty-netter, to take game three of its ECAC Hockey first-round series on Sunday. The Engineers scored all but one of those goals on the power play. Despite being outshot 38-20 by Rensselaer on Friday, Dartmouth had taken a 1-0 series lead on Friday, 3-2, at Houston Fieldhouse. The Engineers tied the series at one apiece with a 3-2 win Saturday. The win moves Rensselaer to a quarterfinal matchup at Harvard starting Friday.
St. Lawrence advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 4-3 win thanks to Reilly Moran’s goal just 46 seconds into overtime. The Saints had come back from a 3-1 deficit to tie it midway through the third period. After a 4-1 Friday loss to St. Lawrence, Brown needed just 2:06 in overtime on Saturday for Justin Jallen to break a 1-1 tie that had lasted since late in the first period, forcing Sunday’s tilt. St. Lawrence heads to top seeded Quinnipiac for the ECAC quarterfinal round next weekend.
9. Mercyhurst’s McClellan continues his torrid pace in net
Blazing hot Mercyhurst goaltender Kyle McClellan kept his winning ways going as Mercyhurst notched a pair of 2-1 home wins over Holy Cross to advance to the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals at Canisius next week. The Lakers were outshot by an at-times dominant Crusaders 33-15 in Friday’s overtime win and by 43-20 on Saturday. Mercyhurst travels to Buffalo to take on Canisius in the quarterfinal round. The Lakers swept the Golden Griffins in a home-and-home weekend to end the regular season. In his last 12 games, McClellan has three shutouts and has given up only 19 goals.
10. We’re on to Springfield (and can we get Disney tickets)?
After dropping from second to ninth place in the last two months of the season, Bentley found itself on the road at Niagara for the Atlantic Hockey first-round. The Falcons had appeared to go up 3-2 in regulation on Friday on what looked like a goal for Kohei Sato, but video review overturned the goal despite Sato looking to have been helped into Purple Eagle goaltender Chad Veltri by a Niagara defender. Collin Rutherford then got the game-winner at 9:47 of overtime for the Bentley victory. The Falcons cruised to a 4-1 win on Saturday and will face American International next weekend, not at the MassMutual Center – which is booked solid with Disney on Ice – but at the Yellow Jackets’ former home in Springfield, Mass., Olympia Ice Center. AIC has installed cameras at its old barn and promises a full FloHockey video production.
