Late-game heroics in Denver on Saturday night, coupled with a manic finish at Amsoil Arena, has left Minnesota holding a one-point lead over Minnesota Duluth for first place in the WCHA with six games remaining in the regular season.
No. 14 Denver defeated No. 2-ranked Minnesota 4-3 in overtime and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth held on to beat No. 16 North Dakota 5-4 in front of 6,790 fans, the largest hockey crowd in city history. The WCHA standings are below.
UMD sophomore winger J.T. Brown was injured at the end of the first period and did not return. UMD coach Scott Sandelin said Brown would be examined and had no other information. No one in the Amsoil Arena press area saw a specific incident leading to the injury, however an initial report of a broken arm, was in correct. Brown had scored in the first period and at that time had seven of UMD previous eight goals over four games.
With a career-best five-point night, senior center Jack Connolly moved to No. 2 in Division I scoring. Maine senior Spencer Abbott leads at 16-33-49 and Connolly is next at 17-31-48. UMD center Travis Oleksuk is No. 7 at 17-24-41 and Brown is No. 12 at 18-21-39.
UMD is No. 1 in scoring at 3.70 and second in winning percentage at 19-7-4 (.700).
The PairWise Rankings, with UMD at No. 3, are here.
Game stories from the News Tribune here and Grand Forks Herald here.
The sports information offices also have recaps: UMD here and a Connolly interview video here and North Dakota here and a Mario Lamoureux video here.
College Hockey News has Division I game recaps here.
At Denver, sophomore center Nick Shore provided the heroics for Denver in front of 6,079 fans, putting the Pioneers third in the WCHA, just one point behind UMD. Minnesota led 1-0 on an Erik Haula goal and Zach Budish made it 2-0 for the Gophers in the second. Nico Sacchetti gave Minnesota 3-2 lead with 9:53 to play and Shore tied it on a power play with 86 seconds left in regulation. And Shore (9) ended the game just 17 seconds into OT. Denver led in shots 41-36 and scored two PP goals. Minnesota has 11 losses, nine by one goal. Jason Zucker was out for Denver after taking a hit Friday and Kyle Rau out for Minnesota, serving a suspension for hitting Zucker. A Denver Post story is here.
In Anchorage Alaska, Michael Dorr scored on a breakaway with 6:09 to play to give Minnesota State-Mankato a 2-1 win over Alaska Anchorage in front of 2,745 fans. Mankato (home this weekend against UMD) managed just 33 shots on goal in the series and got a sweep. Anchorage led 19-16 in shots Saturday. Phil Cook had 18 saves for the win. The Purple Mavs are 4-1 the last five games. Stories from the Anchorage Daily News here and Mankato Free Press here.
In Bemidji, Minn., after falling behind by a goal, Bemidji State scored the last four in a 4-1 victory over No. 10 Colorado College, and a series sweep before 3,305 fans. Andrew Hamburg gave CC a 1-0 lead through one period. Jordan George (15) and Shea Walters started the comeback with second-period goals for BSU. The Beavers led in shots 30-24. Dan Bakala got the victory. BSU is 4-1-1 the last six games and CC 2-4-1 the last seven. Stories from the Bemidji Pioneer here and Colorado Springs Gazette here.
In Houghton, Mich., three third-period goals sparked Nebraska-Omaha to a 4-0 win over Michigan Tech before 3,488 Winter Carnival fans. Matt White had two goals for the Red Mavs, who led 1-0 after two periods. Jason Megna and Michael Young also scored in the third. Ryan Massa got the win with 35 saves in his first collegiate shutout. Tech led in shots 35-31. A story from the Omaha World-Herald is here.
WCHA Standings Courtesy of CollegeHockeyStats.net
1 Minnesota 30 22 15- 7- 0 .682 72- 47 31 19-11- 1 .629 114- 68 2 Minnesota Duluth 29 22 13- 6- 3 .659 82- 57 30 19- 7- 4 .700 111- 76 3 Denver 28 22 12- 6- 4 .636 77- 65 30 17- 9- 4 .633 106- 82 4 Colorado College 25 22 12- 9- 1 .568 76- 67 28 15-11- 2 .571 91- 78 Nebraska Omaha 25 22 10- 7- 5 .568 69- 66 30 13-11- 6 .533 91- 86 6 North Dakota 24 22 12-10- 0 .545 63- 60 29 16-11- 2 .586 89- 81 7 Michigan Tech 23 22 10- 9- 3 .523 75- 68 30 13-14- 3 .483 92- 90 8 Bemidji State 21 22 9-10- 3 .477 60- 69 30 15-12- 3 .550 85- 81 St. Cloud State 21 22 9-10- 3 .477 64- 59 30 12-14- 4 .467 90- 84 10 Minnesota State 17 24 8-15- 1 .354 65- 87 32 12-19- 1 .391 89-107 11 Wisconsin 16 22 7-13- 2 .364 58- 71 28 12-14- 2 .464 83- 84 12 Alaska Anchorage 9 24 4-19- 1 .188 49- 94 28 7-19- 2 .286 66-103
ALL my money is on our BULLDOGS!!! Many good times yet to be had this season! GO DOGS!!!
What is interesting from my perspective is that ND (along with several other WCHA teams) typically gets away with a lot of shenanigans during a WCHA weekend series (especially when they are not playing one of the aforementioned several others) and then when they arrive in the NCAA’s and they engage in the same brutal behavior they pout and ask “why, does this happen (i.e., spending large chunks of time in the penalty box) to us now when this didn’t happen to us during the regular season.”
You are very special…
And you are a moron!
MNSioux, much to your dismay I am not a ND hater but let’s see if what I said is accurate. I believe that the light calls (or non-calls) often made in ND’s favor (and a few other WCHA teams) during the regular season is a big, big disservice to your team during the NCAA’s. Your team more often than not has had its share of penalty problems during the NCAA’s in the recent past.
However, I am not so certain that even with the the improved play over the past month that ND will make it to the NCAA’s. At this point, the only way to play beyond mid March is if ND wins the Final Five.
That shouldn’t be a problem…
I watched the Beavers take the series! Great games