SATURDAY RECAP: Massachusetts completes sweep of No. 1 Denver, Minnesota State sweeps Minnesota Duluth, Quinnipiac takes ‘W’ over North Dakota

By
-
Luke Pavicich pitched the shutout in goal Saturday night for UMass (photo: Thom Kendall/UMass Athletics).

Massachusetts completed the sweep of No. 1 Denver, as the 13th-ranked Minutemen downed the Pioneers 3-0 Saturday night at the Mullins Center.

Luke Pavicich stopped all 30 shots fired his way and Cal Kiefiuk registered a goal and an assist for UMass.

“Last night was a pretty disjointed game and I came away just happy to win the game,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “Tonight, I was very happy with the way we played. I’m very proud of this group. I’m sure everyone will say ‘the team made a statement,’ but most importantly we made a statement to ourselves. I think this group created an identity this weekend, very similar to our teams in the last couple years. I saw so many positives tonight and, of course, it starts with the goaltender. I thought our defense played way better tonight. To shut out that team, that’s quite a feat. I thought we got a little lucky at times.

“We had some puck luck this weekend for sure, but I walk away tonight feeling like we earned the victory tonight for sure.”

Scott Morrow and Matt Koopman also scored in the win.

In goal for DU, Magnus Chrona finished with 21 saves.

Denver returns home next weekend to play its third straight Hockey East opponent as No. 15 Providence visits Magness Arena on Friday (7 p.m. MT) and Saturday (6 p.m. MT). The Pioneers will raise their 2022 national championship banner prior to Saturday’s game.

No. 8 Quinnipiac 6, No. 3 North Dakota 2

Quinnipiac scored five unanswered goals to rally for a 6-2 win over North Dakota on Saturday night from Ralph Engelstad Arena.

UND held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, but the Bobcats turned the tables on the hosts with a trio of goals over a 4:01 span in the middle frame to hand the Fighting Hawks their first loss of the season.

No. 5 Minnesota State 2, No. 4 Minnesota Duluth 1

Minnesota State players celebrate one of Sam Morton’s two goals Saturday night (photo: Mansoor Ahmad).

Minnesota State got two goals from Sam Morton in downing Minnesota Duluth at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center to finish off the weekend sweep.

Freshman netminder Alex Tracy, who earned a shutout in Friday’s 6-0 win, finished with 15 saves Saturday night.

No. 10 St. Cloud State 2, Wisconsin 1

St. Cloud State edged Wisconsin Saturday night (photo: Tom Lynn).

Kyler Kupka had a goal and an assist as SCSU edged the Badgers at the Kohl Center.

Grant Cruikshank also scored and Dominic Basse made 19 saves between the pipes.

For the Badgers, Corson Ceulemans scored and Kyle McClellan stopped 25 shots.

No. 15 Providence 2, No. 7 Northeastern 1

Philip Svedebäck made 30 saves and Patrick Moynihan recorded his third game-winning goal in as many games as the Friars defeated Northeastern 2-1 at Matthews Arena.

Devon Levi made 49 saves for the Huskies and Gunnarwolfe Fontaine netted Northeastern’s lone goal.

No. 17 Connecticut 6, No. 11 Ohio State 1

UConn dominated the Buckeyes Saturday afternoon to improve to 5-0-1 on the season for the program’s best start in team history.

Ty Amonte finished with two goals, while freshman Matthew Wood, also a top NHL draft prospect, finished with one goal and two assists.

Arsenii Sergeev made 28 saves in goal for UConn.

St. Lawrence 4, Colorado College 1

Tyler Cristall scored his first career goal and eight different Saints earned points as St. Lawrence used a balanced attack to defeat Colorado College and sweep the weekend series at Appleton Arena.

“We made bad mistakes at bad times and they are a tough team to come back on because they make it hard on you,” Colorado College coach Kris Mayotte said. “We didn’t manage situations well, (and) we didn’t manage momentum well. We weren’t really on until we scored. We have to get past that.”

Rensselaer 7, Army West Point 4

TJ Walsh’s hat trick paced the offense for the Engineers, who got a 14-save outing from Jack Watson between the pipes.

Walsh also added an assist for a four-point game.

Emil Zetterquist turned aside 25 of the 26 shots he faced, while Kaidan Mbereko stopped 32 shots in the loss.

Air Force 5, Lindenwood 3

Willie Reim scored two goals and Guy Blessing made 25 saves as Air Force defeated Lindenwood 5-3 at the Centene Ice Center.

“We really needed to get that win,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “After giving up a lead against Notre Dame last week, and then the disaster of last night, that was a must-win for us. Give our guys credit. We deserved to win this game. We won two of the three periods, we never trailed, and just played a better game than last night.”

Omaha 4, Lake Superior State 4

The Mavericks did tonight what no other team in program history has done.

Omaha erased a four-goal first period deficit to force overtime and secure a tie with Lake Superior State at Taffy Abel Arena.

It is the largest comeback for the Mavericks since Dec. 18, 2020 when they overcame a 3-0 Western Michigan lead to down the Broncos 6-5 in the NCHC pod.

American International 5, Niagara 2

The Yellow Jackets completed a weekend sweep of Niagara, scoring in every period of the finale on Saturday at Dwyer Arena.

Blake Bennett scored twice for AIC and added an assist in the win. Duston Manz and Alexander Malinowski each posted a goal plus a helper.

In goal, Alexandros Aslanidis made 24 saves to earn his first AIC victory.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR