Monday 10: No. 1 Denver splits with unranked Alaska, Michigan Tech romps to Desert Hockey Classic title, Quinnipiac continues hot streak

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Michigan Tech celebrates its Desert Hockey Classic championship Saturday night in Tempe, Ariz. (photo: Michigan Tech Athletics).

Each week, USCHO.com will pick the top 10 moments from the past weekend in our Monday 10 feature.

1. Another No. 1 falls as Alaska beats Denver

The Nanooks scored two power-play goals in the first half of the second period Friday – one by Jonny Sorenson, one by Brady Risk, both assisted by T.J. Lloyd – and added Garrett Pyke’s empty-net goal to beat the Pioneers in Denver 3-1 Friday night.

With that win, the unaffiliated, unranked Nanooks improve to No. 18 in the PairWise rankings with a record of 11-9-2, including six wins in their last eight games.

The loss, Denver’s fifth of the season, snapped the Pioneers’ seven-game win streak. Denver rebounded the following night with a 7-2 win over Alaska.

2. The dominant Bobcats

Quinnipiac is unbeatable – at least in ECAC hockey so far this season. With the Bobcats’ 3-0 win over Dartmouth and 4-1 win over Harvard, Quinnipiace remains undefeated in the ECAC with a perfect 12-0-0 record in conference play.

The Bobcats are now 15-0-1 in their last 16 games and have won their last nine home games.

3. 70 miles and a couple of goals apart

No. 3 Minnesota and No. 4 St. Cloud State split a pair of home-and-home games, with the Huskies blanking the Golden Gophers 3-0 at home Saturday and Minnesota winning 2-1 in overtime at home Sunday.

Aidan Spellacy’s third goal of the season at 9:09 in the second period was the game winner for the Huskies Saturday. Jaxon Castor made 23 saves in his first shutout of the season, the third of his career.

Logan Cooley had the game winner for Minnesota with 20 seconds remaining in OT Sunday. It was the 11th goal of the season for Cooley and his third GWG.

4. Frozen Fenway surprises

Two unranked teams picked up conference wins at Boston’s Fenway Park Saturday, as Northeastern beat No. 9 Connecticut and Boston College beat No. 15 Massachusetts.

Northeastern had gone 2-7-1 in the previous 10 games before the 4-1 win over Connecticut. Justin Hryckowian’s 11th goal of the season put Northeastern up 3-1 in the third.

The Eagles’ 4-2 win over the Minutemen was Boston College’s fourth straight win at Fenway Park, where they are 4-1-0 all time.

5. Twice is nice for Michigan Tech

After beating host Arizona State 4-2 Friday, No. 15 Michigan Tech defeated No. 6 Boston University 3-2 in the title game of the Desert Hockey Classic in Mullet Arena.

Goaltender Blake Pietila, named tournament MVP, said that the tourney offered some much-needed redemption. “It feels good after coming off the GLI and our rough showing in the first game.”

The Huskies won the inaugural Desert Hockey Classic in 2015.

6. Ohio State rolls

With a decisive home sweep of Michigan State, the Buckeyes gain six points and move into third place in the Big Ten standings, a point behind Penn State and nine behind first-place Minnesota. It was the second sweep of the season for Ohio State, a team that is picking up momentum with five straight wins.

After winning 3-1 Friday night, Ohio State shut out the Spartans 6-0 Saturday. Jakub Dobes made 32 saves in his second shutout of the season, the fifth of his career.

7. Friday night lights out?

Most teams strive for consistency, but this is the kind of consistency that Notre Dame can do without: for their past six series, the Fighting Irish have lost on Friday night.

At least they’re winning Saturdays.

Notre Dame dropped a 2-0 game to Wisconsin Friday, continuing a streak of seven Friday-night losses that dates back to a 4-1 game against Minnesota Nov. 4. The Irish last won on a Friday night Oct. 28, a home win over Michigan State.

As they have six of the last seven Saturdays, the Irish rebounded with a Saturday win, 6-4 over the Badgers.

Related: Friday’s win was the second conference win of the season for Wisconsin.

8. Lindenwood pushes some boundaries

North Dakota came from behind – twice – to beat Lindenwood, 4-3 and 4-2. The Lions took a 3-2 lead into the third period of the Friday game and led 2-0 after the first period Saturday.

Lindenwood has pushed other traditional hockey powerhouses this season, showing in their first season that the Lions are striving for more than their 5-15-0 record indicates.

In a 6-4 loss to Minnesota Oct. 2, the Lions tied the game 4-4 early in the third and less than a week later (Oct. 7), the Lions led the Wolverines 2-1 after the first period of a 7-4 loss. More recently, Lindenwood gave Denver all the Pioneers could handle when the Lions tied the game 4-4 late in the third period of Denver’s 5-4 win (Dec. 17).

9. Tiger, tiger burning bright

RIT returned to conference play and winning ways with a solid sweep of Bentley in which the Tigers outscored the Falcons 6-1 in two games.

The series followed two losses to Penn State (Dec. 30-31), a series that capped a midseason rough spot for RIT. After going 10-2-0 in their first 12 games of the season, the Tigers were 4-4-0 in the eight games previous to their series with Bentley.

Picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic Hockey preseason coaches’ poll, RIT leads the conference with a record of 12-2-0-0 and sits at No. 20 in the PairWise Rankings.

Ohio State’s Cam Thiesing gets his postgame dog time (photo: Ohio State Athletics).

10. Hockey is for the dogs – quite literally

For their Saturday game against the Spartans, the Buckeyes welcomed canine fans to Value City Arena in an effort to benefit the Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center.

And for the Husky-on-Husky action at Fenway Park, UConn’s Jonathan made an appearance.

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