SATURDAY RECAP: No national title hangover as No. 1 Denver adds hardware, capturing IceBreaker with win over Maine

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Defending national champion Denver added to its trophy collection on Saturday, collecting the IceBreaker Championship with a 3-1 victory over Maine (Photo: Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative Photography)

One may have thought that last year was trophy season for Denver, given that it ended last April in Boston with the national championship trophy.

Well, the Pioneers aren’t done collecting the hardware. Behind a two-goal and three-point effort by Carter Mazur, Denver posted a 3-1 victory over Maine to capture the 2022 IceBreaker Championship.

All of the Pioneers offense came in the opening frame. Mike Benning opened the scoring at 6:57 of the first. Then Mazur struck not once, but twice, in a span of 2:23 to open a 3-0 lead.

Penalties hurt the visiting Black Bears, who were forced to kill seven penalties, posting success on six of those kills. And thought the penalty kill was strong in the middle period, Maine spent eight of the 20 minutes on the kill, stifling the comeback.

The IceBreaker consolation game between Air Force and Notre Dame featured plenty of drama as 3-0 and 4-1 before scoring four times in the third – including the tying goal by Ryder Rolston with 1:11 remaining – to force overtime. The game goes into the books as a tie but Air Force officially captured third place winning a shootout.

No. 5 Minnesota State 3, No. 2 Minnesota 2

Friday was a difficult night for the defending national runner up Minnesota State Mavericks.

Saturday was a night of retribution.

Ryan Sandelin’s goal with 6:03 remaining in regulation broke a 2-2 tie as the Mavericks earned the weekend split in what was a rematch of last year’s national semifinal game played in Boston.

Jimmy Snuggerud, who netted a hat trick on Friday, kept his hot hand spotting the Gophers a lead at 15:29 of the first.

Campbell Cichosz netted the equalizer in the second, finishing a feed from Ondrej Pavel.

That set up a great final 20 where the Mavericks grabbed their first lead of the weekend on Josh Groll’s tally at 4:15. Mason Nevers found the equalizer just 61 second later, setting up Sandelin’s dramatic tally.

MOMENTS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO SEE…

Here are a few highlights from Saturday’s action. Have a play you’d like to see in the future? Email it to jim.connelly@uscho.com.

UConn wins in OT on Chase Bradley goal set up by rookie phenom Matthew Wood

No. 14 Ohio State rallied for 4-3 win over Wisconsin, including this perfect setup that started the comeback

Plenty of goals between Penn State and Canisius including this gem by Kevin Wall

 

 

 

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