UMD's Jake Hendrickson fends off Quinn Sproule of Alaska Anchorage Photo Courtesy of: Michael Dinneed
UMD gets upset, Mass.-Lowell, Michigan, and MSU all earn weekend sweeps
First off, I want to apologize for the tardiness of this post. I’ve been under the weather all week but hope to have the “weekend round-up” published on Sunday’s from here on out. Without any further adieu, here’s your college hockey weekend in review:
(Rankings are based on the PairWise)
(1) Minnesota Duluth at Alaska Anchorage
Friday: UMD: 4 Alaska-Anchorage: 1
Saturday: UMD: 2 Alaska-Anchorage: 3
What a tough weekend it was for the visiting Bulldogs in a crucial series. UMD earned a split with the Seahawks on their road trip to Alaska. In Friday night’s game, UMD handled Alaska easily, led by J.T. Brown, who had all four Bulldog goals, including a natural hat trick in the first period. Brown was the 12th UMD player to score four goals in a game. Kenny Reiter had 17 saves on the night for the ‘Dogs while Travis Oleksuk added four assists. Mitch Bruijsten scored the lone goal for the Seawolves.
Saturday night belonged to the Seawolves. Alaska-Anchorage broke an eight-game losing steak and upset the number one ranked Bulldogs, 3-2. Rob Gunderson played tough between the pipes for the Seawolves, stopping 27 shots. Corbin Karl had a first-period goal for Alaska-Anchorage. Brown finished off the weekend with his fifth goal but the Bulldogs (18-6-4, 12-5-3) fell short with the WCHA title on the line. Minnesota, who was idle this weekend, now stands three points ahead of the ‘Dogs.
(2) Boston U at (6) Merrimack
Friday: BU: 4 Merrimack: 1
It was BU’s top ranked offense in Hockey East taking of the top-ranked defense of Merrimack, allowing a Hockey East conference-low 2 goals per game in a match-up with serious playoff implications. But it was all BU in the first game of the series, as the Terriers outskated the Warriors to a 4-1 win. Chris Connolly had three points on the night, including BU’s first strike. Then just 54 seconds into the second period, BU was lengthened their lead to three goals and never looked back. The game ended, 4-1, in favor of BU as Merrimack netted their only goal of the game late in the third.
Vermont at (3) Massachusetts-Lowell
Friday: Vermont: 1 Mass.-Lowell: 3
Saturday: Vermont: 4 Mass.-Lowell- 6
Despite giving up the first goal in the game, Mass.-Lowell rebounded with three unanswered goals and a win that bumped them into third place in Hockey East. The River Hawks were held off of the board in the first, but that’s all Vermont could manage as Mass.-Lowell added two goals in a five minute span in the second to take the lead. Joseph Pendenza had the first tally of the night for the River Hawks for his eight goal of the year while Riley Wetmore had his first goal in 13 games. Mass.-Lowell goaltender Doug Carr had 25 saves in the game en route to his 16th win of the season.
It was much of the same for Mass.-Lowell Saturday night at home in front of a crowd of 5,125 at the Tsongas Center. The River Hawks outscored the Catamounts 6-4 in the series sweep. Mass.-Lowell improved to 18-7-0 overall and 13-6 in Hockey East, good for second place in the conference. Mass.-Lowell capitalized on a power play just five minutes into the game as Chad Ruhwedel beat Catamounts netminder Alex Vazzano for the early lead. It took only 56 seconds to add to their lead as the River Hawks and Terrence Wallin as he put one in from the point. That was all of the action Vazzano would get though as he was pulled and replaced by Rob Madore. Vermont would cut it to a one-goal game twice but it wouldn’t be enough as Josh Holmstrom added an empty-netter to seal the deal. Scott Wilson ended the weekend with five points for the River Hawks. Kyle Reynolds led the Catamounts in two tough losses with four points.
(4) Ferris State at Northern Michigan
Friday: Ferris State: 5 NMU: 5 (SO: Northern Michigan 1, Ferris State 0)
Saturday: Ferris State 3 NMU: 1
Northern Michigan would score the first goal of the game, but Ferris State would answer in a back-and-forth battle that would end in a shootout decision, 1-0 in favor of the Wildcats. Stephan Vigier put the Wildcats on the board in the first but less than two minutes later, Kyle Bonis and the Bulldogs evened it at one-a-piece. The next goal belonged to Ferries State, but Northern Michigan would tie it up in a see-saw match-up. After a scoreless overtime period, NMU won the shootout 1-0 for an extra league point. Eric Alexander, Chad Billins, CJ Ludwig, and Aaron Schmit all added goals for FSU.
In the second of two games between FSU and NMU, the Bulldogs edged the Wildcats 3-1 and moved back into first place in the CCHA standings. FSU is unbeaten in regulation in ten straight games and improved to 18-8-4 overall and 12-6-4 in conference. The Bulldogs came out of the gate strong, jumping to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Chad Billins, his sixth of the season and Scott Czarnowczan, who tallied the goal with just five seconds left in the first. NMU finally got on the board in the third with a power-goal. But that would be all the Wildcats offense could muster in this one. FSU added an empty-netter with 40 seconds left en route to the win. The Bulldogs will face Notre Dame this weekend.
Michigan State at (7) Ohio State
Friday: MSU: 6 OSU: 3
Saturday: MSU: 3 OSU: 2
Ohio State had a two-goal lead heading into the second period, but the mighty Spartans would score five unanswered goals in the final two periods to beat the Buckeyes, 6-3. It’s been a tough new year for OSU, who fell to 0-5-4 in 2012 and hasn’t won at home since December 3 against Lake Superior State. The Buckeyes started off strong with first period strikes from Alex Lippincott, Max McCormick, and Ryan Dzingel, outshooting the Spartans 19-10. MSU would put one on the board with the goal from Dean Chelios. The Spartans mounted its comeback in the second, when A.J. Sturges scored. Just five minutes later, captain Torey Krug would add a goal of his own. Matt Crandell added the eventual game-winner in the final minute of the second period off of a rebound. All three second-period Spartan goals came from defensemen.
MSU finished the sweep Saturday night, and Ohio State continued their 2012 skid as the Spartans defeated the Buckeyes, 3-2. MSU is now one of eight teams in the CCHA within six points of first place as the season comes to an end. Torey Krug led MSU with his second straight multi-point game and five points on the weekend, giving him 24 points on the year, tops for defenders for the CCHA. OSU did their best to rally back, with two goals from Tanner Fritz in the second period. They headed into the final period only down a goal. The Buckeyes couldn’t overcome the deficit, going 0 for 3 on the power play in the third.
(10) Miami at (8) Michigan
Friday: Miami: 1 Michigan: 4
Saturday: Miami: 0 Michigan: 3
Three-first period goals powered the Wolverines to a 4-1 win over the RedHawks despite a 13-day layoff for Michigan. A.J. Treais led the charge with two goals, and defenseman Jon Merrill pitched in with two assists. Shawn Hunwick limited the RedHawks to just one goal with 24 saves on the night. It was all about special teams in this one. Michigan was able to kill off all six of Miami’s power-plays while capitalizing on two of their own chances.
Hunwick pitched a shutout for the Wolverines and special teams came up big in the series sweet of the Buckeyes. Lee Moffie had the first two goals in the game, one short-handed and one on the power-play, to give Michigan the early lead. Once again, Michigan killed all six of Miami’s power-play chances. Chris Brown added the third and final goal for Michigan before things got out-of-hand. With less than a minute left, a scrum formed in front of the Miami goal, with Brown and Weber getting into it and eventually tossed from the game. Each player will have a one-game suspension heading into this weekend. Miami will face Alabama-Huntsville next while Michigan will take on in-state rival Michigan State.
For all of your college hockey news and game recaps, check out: http://www.uscho.com/scoreboard/division-i-men/20112012/list-19/
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