FRIDAY RECAP: Ohio State downs top-ranked Minnesota, Bemidji State upsets No. 2 St. Cloud State, UMass edges Merrimack in OT, Denver blanks Miami

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Taylor Makar celebrates his overtime winner Friday night that led UMass to a 3-2 win over Merrimack (photo: UMass Athletics).

No. 11 Ohio State improved to 7-1-1 on the year and 3-0 in the Big Ten with a 6-4 victory over No. 1-ranked Minnesota Friday night at Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes led 1-0 after the first period before Minnesota tied the game early in the second. Ohio State scored three of the next four goals and led 4-2 after the second, later pushing the advantage to 6-2 less than eight minutes into the third.

Minnesota scored the game’s final two goals for the 6-4 final.

β€œ[It was] our work ethic against the best team in the country,” Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said on the Big Ten Network postgame show. “As much talent as they have, you have to play above the puck. I thought our forwards did a great job of coming back and playing above the puck and that was the difference.”

Twelve Buckeyes had a point in the win, led by Travis Treloar with two goals and Joe Dunlap with a goal and an assist. Jakub Dobes made 27 saves in goal.

“Obviously, we are not real happy right now,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “That was not a great effort by us. Our energy was low and we were trying to find it. When you don’t have your energy, you make some poor decisions.”

Four different players netted goals for the Gophers, Aaron Huglen posted two assists, and Justen Close turned aside 21 shots in suffering the loss in goal.

Bemidji State 3, No. 2 St. Cloud State 1

After Zach Okabe scored for St. Cloud State, the Beavers rattled off three unanswered to take the 3-1 win on home ice at the Sanford Center.

Jere Vaisanen, Adam Flammang and Alexander Lundman scored for Bemidji State and Mattias Sholl stopped 17 for the win in goal.

For the Huskies, goaltender Jaxon Castor made 25 saves to take the loss.

No. 3 Denver 4, Miami 0

Carter Mazur recorded a natural hat trick and goaltender Magnus Chrona stopped all 24 shots he faced to lead Denver to a 4-0 shutout victory against Miami on Friday night at Goggin Ice Center.

Mazur’s three goals marked his first career hat trick, with Massimo Rizzo and Casey Dornbach picking up assists on each marker.

Dornbach recorded his 100th career point on Mazur’s tally in the second period that made it a 2-0 game at the time, and his three helpers in the contest extended his team scoring lead to 11 points on the season (four goals, seven assists).

In goal for the RedHawks, Ludvig Persson collected 33 saves.

No. 4 Michigan 5, No. 17 Western Michigan 4

Michigan captain Nolan Moyle notched the game-winning goal with 9:02 left in the third period on Friday night inside a sold-out Yost Ice Arena as the fourth-ranked Wolverines outlasted No. 17 Western Michigan in a 5-4 nonconference matchup.

Goalie Erik Portillo stopped 31 of 35 shots to earn his sixth win of the season.

Cameron Rowe finished with 28 saves for the Broncos, while four different players scored and Ryan McAllister and Jason Polin each recorded two assists apiece.

The two teams head to Kalamazoo, Mich., Saturday to wrap up the home-and-home series.

No. 5 Massachusetts 3, Merrimack 2 (OT)

Taylor Makar scored his third goal in as many games 1:12 into overtime to help lift No. 5 UMass past Merrimack in its Hockey East opener at the Mullins Center on Friday night.

The win moves to the Minutemen 5-0-1 overall.

“We were fortunate tonight,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “I thought for two periods Merrimack out-competed us and we started to play in the third. I liked our third period and we get the lead and quickly turn it back. It was another tight game with Merrimack. Every time we play them it seems to go to overtime and we were, once again, lucky to find our way on top. I thought we did a good job in overtime with our execution 3-on-3 strategy, which led to the odd-man rush. It was a frustrating game.

“I don’t think we were ready to compete tonight and that’s on me, but as the game went on, we got a little bit better, but we were fortunate to come out on top tonight.”

Luke Pavicich finished with 25 stops for the Minutemen and Hugo Ollas had 16 saves for the Warriors.

Merrimack’s Alex Jefferies had tied the game at 2-all at the 7:12 mark of the third period.

No. 8 Minnesota State 3, Bowling Green 2 (OT)

Mavericks captain Brendan Furry scored 4:05 into overtime to give eighth-ranked Minnesota State a 3-2 win over Bowling Green Friday night at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.

Minnesota State held a 2-0 lead heading into the third period in the game, but BGSU scored twice in forcing overtime, with Austin Swankler tying the game at 19:04 of the third period with a six-on-four marker after BGSU netminder Christian Stoever went to the bench for the extra attacker.

Alex Tracy made 13 saves in getting the win for Minnesota State, while Stoever stopped 29 for the Falcons.

No. 18 UMass Lowell 2, No. 9 Boston University 1

The River Hawks’ Scout Truman scored twice in the second period and UMass Lowell held off a furious Terriers rally at the end of the game to secure the win at the Tsongas Center.

In goal for UMass Lowell, Henry Welsch kicked out 32 shots.

“Overall, we’re excited about getting some points at home against a very good opponent,” UMass Lowell coach Norm Bazin said. “I thought we started the game a little slower than we would’ve liked and ended up defending most of the first period. As the game progressed, I thought we got a little bit better, and I thought the third period was much better. PK was decent. We scored a power-play goal. That’s something we’ve been working on this week. The goaltending was strong again. But I think we’ve got several areas where we have to shore up if we hope to have any success against a team that good.”

Ethan Phillips scored for BU and Vinny Duplessis made 19 saves between the pipes.

American International 8, Army West Point 2

Jordan Biro scored twice for the Yellow Jackets, Blake Bennett went for a goal and two helpers, and Julius Janhonen and Josh Barnes chipped in with a goal and an assist each at Tate Rink.

In net, Alexandros Aslanidis earned the win with 26 saves before being lifted at the third-period media timeout for Troy Kobryn, who made eight saves on eight shots in the final 7:41.

For Army West Point, John Keranen and Lucas Kanta scored, Anthony Firriolo assisted on both, and Gavin Abric and Evan Szary combined to stop 23 shots in goal.

Michigan Tech 6, St. Lawrence 0

Michigan Tech overwhelmed St. Lawrence 6-0 Friday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena to begin a nonconference series.

Six different Huskies scored, 12 tallied a point, and Blake Pietila made 18 saves to extend his school record with the 12th shutout of his career.

“I’m happy with the win, and I thought our guys played hard,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said. “We got better as the game went on and our goaltending was tremendous. A big difference was special teams, and I also think the guys fed off the energy in the building.”

In his 100th game as a Husky, Parker Saretsky finished a three-point night – his second of the season – when he scored on the power play 3:46 into the third period. He added two assists in the game.

Emil Zetterquist started the game in net for the Saints and stopped 16 shots in the first 43:46. Francis Boisvert made 15 saves in the final 16:14.

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