SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Minnesota State clinches MacNaughton Cup; Colorado College, North Dakota skate to 0-0 tie; No. 1 Minnesota sweeps No. 8 Ohio State; Denver takes Penrose Cup

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Minnesota State celebrates its sixth straight MacNaughton Cup championship (photo: Kenzie Schmidt).

Minnesota State scored three power-play goals – the final coming off the stick of Cade Borchardt at 19:15 of the third period – en route to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Michigan Tech Saturday evening in the final regular-season game of the year at the Mayo Clinic Health Systems Event Center.

With the victory, the Mavericks claimed its sixth consecutive MacNaughton Cup as CCHA regular-season champions.

The Mavericks cracked the scoreboard at first 17:34 of the second period as Andy Carroll faked a shot from the left point before sliding into the left circle. He found a seam through the slot and gave the puck to Lucas Sowder, who blasted a shot from the right circle over the glove of Huskies goalie Blake Pietila.

After Sowder’s goal, David Silye redirected a shot by Akito Hirose from the top of the slot, out of mid-air and between the post and Pietila’s stick side just 1:19 into the final period.

A penalty-shot goal less than two minutes later by MTU’s Tristan Ashbrook, as he cut in from the left side, ducked his shoulder and used a stutter step before reaching around Mavericks goalie Keenan Rancier and sliding the puck home, cutting the lead in half and set up a thrilling finish for the conference crown.

The Huskies pulled Pietila for an extra attacker and appeared to have scored the game-tying goal with 1:31 remaining, only to have the goal waved off due to goalie interference.

It mattered little as Kyle Kukkonen scored short-handed with Pietila pulled for an extra attacker just 25 seconds later.

Still on the power play, the Mavericks were able to set up in the Michigan Tech zone and with 45 seconds to play as Borchardt netted the winner.

Borchardt’s fourth goal of the season came when he caught the pass at the top of the right circle and quickly wristed a shot to the far side, giving his team its sixth consecutive title.

The 18th-largest crowd in the history of the Mayo Clinic Health Systems Event Center, 5,120 fans, saw the Mavericks hoist the McNaughton Cup, setting an NCAA Division I men’s record for consecutive outright league titles.

Goaltending also played a key role, not only in the game, but on the weekend, as Rancier stopped 22 shots for the game and 44 of 47 shots on the weekend. Pietila turned aside 68 of 71 shots for the weekend, including 33 in the loss, which saw MSU hold a 36-24 advantage in shots on goal.

The victory gives Minnesota State the top seed in the CCHA playoffs as the Mavericks will face Lake Superior State in a best-of-three series next weekend at home. Michigan Tech hosts St. Thomas.

SCOREBOARD | STANDINGS | USCHO.COM POLL | PAIRWISE

Colorado College 0, North Dakota 0 (North Dakota wins shootout)

Colorado College and North Dakota battled to a 0-0 tie Saturday night at Robson Arena and Tyler Kleven scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Fighting Hawks the extra point in the standings.

CC’s Matt Vernon and UND’s Drew DeRidder each finished with 26 saves in the 65 minutes of regulation and overtime. This marks the second 0-0 game ever in Colorado College history and Vernon, who started tonight’s game in place of the injured Kaidan Mbereko, is responsible for both. The other came last year at Minnesota Duluth. This was Vernon’s third career shutout and second this season (8-0 over Air Force on Oct. 28).

North Dakota collected four of a possible six points this weekend and leads the Tigers by three points in the race for sixth place in the league standings with two games remaining.

Ryan Beck, Hunter McKown and Noah Serdachny each had his shootout attempt saved by DeRidder, while Vernon made a great save on Riese Gaber, then Jackson Blake did not get a shot off before Kleven scored.

No. 1 Minnesota 5, No. 8 Ohio State 2

Thanks to five unanswered goals, the top-ranked Golden Gophers closed the regular season with a 5-2 come-from-behind win against Ohio State Saturday inside 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Facing a rare two-goal deficit in the second period, Minnesota responded by scoring twice in a matter of 13 seconds before adding three more to complete the sweep over the Buckeyes.

Aaron Huglen and Matthew Knies provided the offensive spark for the Maroon and Gold that ignited the crowd and helped fuel the comeback as it ended the season as the only team in Big Ten conference history to win the league by double figures. The win also was the Gophers’ 11th over a team ranked inside the top 10.

Justen Close made 28 saves for his 22nd win of the year.

No. 3 Denver 3, No. 5 Western Michigan 1

Denver secured its second consecutive Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions on Saturday with a 3-1 victory against Western Michigan at Lawson Arena.

It is the third time that DU has won the Penrose Cup, with the school having also captured the hardware in 2017 and 2022 en route to national titles. Overall, Denver won its 15th conference regular-season championship, as the program won 12 such trophies in the old WCHA.

The victory gives the Pioneers the top seed for the upcoming NCHC tournament. DU will host No. 8-seed Miami in the best-of-three quarterfinal series at Magness Arena on March 10-12.

Denver erased a first-period deficit against WMU and never relinquished the lead in front of a crowd of 4,419, the highest-attended game at Lawson Arena since 2012.

Jack Devine tied the outing at 1-1 with a power-play marker midway through the middle frame, and Carter Mazur tallied the game-winner 4:48 into the third period after forcing a turnover in the neutral zone and scoring on his ensuing wrist shot at the left circle.

Massimo Rizzo sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 91 seconds remaining.

Goaltender Magnus Chrona stopped 30 of 31 shots for his 22nd win of the season and 73rd of this career. He made 11 saves in the first period when Western Michigan had three power-play opportunities, which included a five-minute major man advantage that also included a full two-minute 5-on-3.

The Pioneers picked up their first sweep at Western Michigan since Feb. 26-27, 2016, and now have four series sweeps on the road this season — all against NCHC foes (Miami, North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan).

No. 2 Quinnipiac 4, Rensselaer 1

For the first time since 1988-89, an ECAC Hockey team finished the regular season with 20 wins as Quinnipiac culminated its league slate 20-2-0 with a 4-1 victory over RPI on Saturday night at the Houston Field House.

The Bobcats won their final eight league contests by a combined 33-7 scoreline after sweeping the weekend with a pair of 4-1 victories.

Collin Graf, Jayden Lee, Jacob Quillan and Sam Lipkin all had multi-point nights to lead the Bobcat attack against the Engineers.

After RPI started the scoring with a redirection in front, the Bobcats potted two goals in the second and two in the third to seize control and earn their milestone win.

Quinnipiac’s 20 ECAC wins are the most since Harvard in 1988-89, a feat they hit twice in three seasons.

The Bobcats’ 28 regular-season wins match last season’s total, both of which are the most in a single campaign in program history.

After earning the bye in the first round of the ECAC postseason, the Bobcats will host the lowest seed remaining in a best-of-three series starting March 10 at M&T Bank Arena.

No. 9 Boston University 3, Vermont 0

Drew Commesso stopped all 23 shots he faced to backstop BU to a 3-0 win at Vermont on Saturday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

The Terriers maintained their perch atop the Hockey East standings thanks to a goal in each period and a sharp performance from Commesso, who made 12 saves in the final 20 minutes to earn his first shutout of the season.

Domenick Fensore lit the lamp and assisted on Jay O’Brien’s first-period strike that proved to be the winner. Luke Tuch tallied an insurance goal midway through the third period to put the contest out of reach.

The Terriers will enter the final weekend of the regular season with a one-point lead on second-place Merrimack and a two-point edge on third-place Northeastern.

No. 20 Notre Dame 2, No. 4 Michigan 1 (OT)

Sixty minutes of regulation time was not enough to determine a winner for the second straight night in front of a sellout crowd at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday, and Notre Dame downed Michigan 2-1 as Drew Bavaro scored his second goal of the game 1:30 into the extra session on a third shot attempt after creating a pair of rebounds off a rush to claim the extra point in the B1G standings.

With 32.2 seconds left in the first period, the officials chose to review a play in the Notre Dame zone near the left half wall. After review, U of M’s Adam Fantilli was assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct to bring his active 12-game point streak to an end.

Rutger McGroarty scored for the Wolverines and Erik Portillo made 20 saves.

For Notre Dame, Ryan Bischel finished with 48 saves.

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