Freshman Ben Steeves' second natural hat trick of the season powered Minnesota Duluth to a 5-3 upset of No. 1 St. Cloud State at home on Friday.
Steeves scored all three goals on the power play, with two finishing off a second period rally and the third coming as the eventual game-winner in the third period. He scored the second and third goals in just 1:25 of elapsed time.
It's the second straight week that the nation's top-ranked team has fallen after former-No. 1 Quinnipiac went winless last weekend, losing to No. 16 Cornell via 4-0 shutout before blowing a 2-0 lead to unranked Colgate in a 3-2 loss. They were the Bobcats' first losses since Oct. 22.
Carter Loney and Kyle Bettens each scored for the Bulldogs (11-13-1, 6-9-0 NCHC). Dominic James had three assists, and Wyatt Kaiser had two helpers as well. Matthew Thiessen made 25 saves. Defenseman Derek Daschke also had two assists to reach the 100-point milestone for his career.
Thiessen with three back-to-back saves🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/3kbhWAak6Y
— UMD Men's Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) January 28, 2023
Adam Ingram had two goals and an assist for the Huskies (18-7-0, 10-5-0 NCHC), while Grant Cruikshank also scored. Jaxon Castor made 23 saves. St. Cloud State was on a three-game winning streak, most recently sweeping then-No. 3 Denver last weekend.
Loney opened 7:52 into the game with his first goal of the season with a wrist shot from left face-off dot.
Not only was it the first goal of the night, but it was @CarterLoney's first goal of the season https://t.co/8cTnjZu36b pic.twitter.com/xiChsFtHgj
— UMD Men's Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) January 28, 2023
LATEST RANKINGS: Click or tap here for the latest USCHO poll
Ingram tied it, 1-1, two minutes into the second, and Cruikshank gave SCSU a 2-1 lead on the power play just over five minutes later with a one-timer from a sharp angle on the power play.
Moments later, Steeves scored his first of the game to even it up, 2-2, with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. He added another with 13 seconds to go in the period with another wrister from distance to give UMD a 3-2 lead heading into the third.
Steeves completed the hat trick just 1:02 into the final frame, picking the top left corner from the right dot off a cross-ice pass.
SCOREBOARD: Click or tap here for the latest scores around Division I men's hockey
Make that two natural hat tricks for the rookie @ben_steeves https://t.co/M3SApZUMZP pic.twitter.com/0ar94QS4jg
— UMD Men's Hockey (@UMDMensHockey) January 28, 2023
Bettens scored with 15:57 remaining on the doorstep to extend it to 5-2. Ingram's second of the game just over two minutes later cut the deficit to two for the 5-3 final.
Duluth went 4-for-8 on the power play, while St. Cloud was 1-for-3.
The Huskies will look to avoid a sweep in Saturday's Game 2 at the Bulldogs. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET.
