One day after clinching the Big Ten regular season championship, No. 2 Minnesota delivered a statement performance with a 7-2 road win over No. 7 Penn State.
Matthew Knies had the game-winning goal 39 seconds into the second period, the first of four unanswered markers scored within a 10-minute span.
Floodgates: Opened pic.twitter.com/pSpijRKptJ
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) February 18, 2023
Jimmy Snuggerud scored two for the Gophers and Logan Cooley had a five-point night with four assists and the final Minnesota goal of the game late in the second period.
Justen Close allowed one goal and stopped 35 in 50:06 minutes of play. Owen Bartoszkiewicz finished the game for Minnesota, allowing a goal and saving four in his first action since Dec. 31
The Gophers secured the regular season B1G title with No. 10 Ohio State’s shootout victory over second-place No. 4 Michigan in Columbus Thursday night. This is the second consecutive and sixth total Big Ten conference championship for Minnesota since 2014.
No. 20 Merrimack 4, No. 5 Boston University 1
The Hockey East standings tighten a bit after No. 20 Merrimack beat No. 5 Boston University, 5-1. The third-place Warriors entered the weekend five points behind the Terriers and are two points back after tonight’s win.
Zachary Borgiel made 38 saves for the Warriors and Jordan Seyfert had the game-winner at 14:35 in the second. Matt Copponi opened the scoring for Merrimack in the first, and Mick Messner had two third-period goals, including an empty-netter.
BU’s lone goal was scored by Jay O’Brien on the power play at 10:37 in the third. The loss is the third in a row for the Terriers, their longest skid of the season.
No. 1 Quinnipiac 5, Yale 1
Trailing by a goal after the first, the No. 1 Bobcats rolled onto a 5-1 win over Yale, earning Quinnipiac its third consecutive ECAC regular season championship.
David Chen gave the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead at 7:08 in the first, but two late second-period goals scored less than a minute apart by Sam Lipkin tied the game and put the Bobcats ahead for good. CJ McGee added another three minutes later to make it a 3-1 game after two.
One wasn't enough for Sam… so he went and scored again.#BobcatNation x #ECACHockey pic.twitter.com/GXxJT1R7S1
— Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey (@QU_MIH) February 18, 2023
Collin Graf and Cristophe Tellier added third-period goals for the Bobcats. Yaniv Perets stopped 15-of-16 in his 25th win of the season. Chase Clark faced no shots in the Quinnipiac net in the final five minutes of the game.
Clarkson 4, No. 11 Cornell 3
With two goals each from Alex Campbell and Ayrton Martino and a 24-save performance by Ethan Haider, the Golden Knights beat the Big Red in Lynah Arena, becoming the only ECAC team to sweep their season series against No. 11 Cornell in conference play.
The score was tied 1-1 after the first and Cornell briefly took the lead on Ben Berard’s first goal of the night at 6:10 in the second, but goals by Martino and Campbell put Clarkson ahead by the end of the period. Berard’s second goal midway through the third period briefly knotted the game again, but it was Ayrton’s second goal of the night that decided it at 11:54 in the third.
The Big Red outshot the Golden Knights 27-19.
No. 3 Denver 6, Minnesota Duluth 2
The Pioneers battled from behind twice against the Bulldogs as No. 3 Denver beat Minnesota Duluth 6-2.
Jesse Jacques opened the scoring for Minnesota Duluth late in the third but Denver’s Aidan Thompson answered two minutes later on the Denver power play to tie the game 1-1 after one.
Big stop by Magnus Chrona leads to a two-goal swing as Jack Devine doesn't miss on his marker. pic.twitter.com/eb0ZW4gXm4
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) February 18, 2023
Luke Loheit put the Bulldogs up by one again early in the second period. Two Denver goals scored less than three minutes apart — the first by Mike Benning, the second from Jack Devine — put the Pioneers for good midway through the second period.
Devine scored another midway through the third. Jared Wright and McKade Webster added late goals for the Pioneers. Magnus Chrona made 31 saves and Jack Caruso stopped the only shot he faced as he played out the final 2:30 in Denver’s net.
