BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Mario Puskarich scored his first career goal with 1:44 remaining in the third period on the power play to lift Vermont past second-ranked Notre Dame 2-1 in the Hockey East opener on Friday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The Catamounts capture their second consecutive win and improve to 2-1-1 (1-0-0 HEA) to open up their 50th anniversary weekend, while the Fighting Irish falls to 5-2-0 (0-1-0 HEA).
Late in the first period, Vermont scored off of an offensive zone faceoff to take the lead. Connor Brickley tapped Jake Fallon's faceoff win to Chris McCarthy inside the right circle, and McCarthy, a senior co-captain, rifled a wrist shot over the blocker of Steven Summerhays into the upper left corner. It marked the 30th career goal and 75th career point for McCarthy.
Notre Dame equalized early in the middle frame with UVM on the power play. Bryan Rust took a feed from Jeff Costello and deked his way through center ice into the Catamount zone. Rust curled wide left before stuffing a doorstep shot that trickled through Mike Santaguida's pads. The shorthanded goal came at 1:52 of the second and tied it 1-1.
It would stay a deadlock until the closing minutes of the contest as Vermont earned its fourth power play of the night. Fallon slid a pass to McCarthy in the high slot, and he fired the puck to the right goal line for Puskarich. He delayed before turning a shot off Summerhays' back and the puck snuck inside the right post at the 18:16 mark of the third.
No. 18 Boston University 4, No. 3 Providence 3
BOSTON -- Despite facing a 3-0 deficit through one period, No. 18 Boston University rallied all the way back to pull off a thrilling 4-3 victory against No. 3 Providence at Agganis Arena on Friday evening.
Sophomore Danny O'Regan scored the game-tying and game-winning goals with the latter coming 5:38 into the third period. Fellow sophomores Sam Kurker and Matt Lane each added a goal for the Terriers, who improve to 4-3-0 overall and 2-0-0 in Hockey East play.
BU handed the Friars their first loss of the season, as the visitors moved to 4-1-1 on the year with a 0-1-0 conference mark.
No. 4 Michigan 3, Michigan Tech 2 (OT)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Andrew Copp scored the game winner 3:26 into overtime for his third goal of the season, giving Michigan a 3-2 victory against Michigan Tech on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena.
Michigan was up 2-0 until midway through the second period when Michigan Tech evened the score.
During their third power play of the second period, the Huskies got on the board when Blake Pietila chipped in the puck off a deflected backhand past Zach Nagelvoort at 11:09.
Tech evened up the score on a short-handed breakaway goal with 2:55 left in the second frame when C.J. Eick sent the puck over Nagelvoort's shoulder to tie the game at 2-2.
In overtime, Nagelvoort snagged a Tech shot out of midair with 1:51 left to keep the score even, and seconds later, Copp skated down the wing on a two-on-two and nailed the game winner over Copley's shoulder.
No. 9 St. Cloud St. 3, No. 5 North Dakota 2
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- St. Cloud St. (4-0-1, 1-0-0 NCHC) rallied with three goals in the third period to nab a 3-2 victory at North Dakota (2-2-1, 1-2-0 NCHC) on Friday at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Down 1-0 after a marker by UND's Drake Caggiula at 3:10 of the opening period, the Huskies ignited in the third to gain their first NCHC victory and also maintained an unbeaten record in 2013-14. The comeback for SCSU started at 2:36 of the final period with a goal by senior defender Kevin Gravel. He scored the even-strength goal with a rocket slapper from just inside the blueline that beat UND goalie Zane Gothberg.
SCSU broke the tie at 4:32 of the third period with an even-strength goal by sophomore forward Kalle Kossila. Rookie defender Ben Storm notched his first collegiate point with the assist on the play while freshman defender Niklas Nevalainen provided the second assist on the play. This was Kossila's second goal of the season and Nevalainen's third assist of 2013-14.
The game winner was credited to junior defender Andrew Prochno, who charted his first goal of the season at 12:36 of the third period. Sophomore defenseman Ethan Prow provided the first assist on Prochno's play and senior captain Nic Dowd added the second assist. Prow currently leads the Huskies this season with four assists.
No. 6 Miami (Ohio) 3, Canisius 0
OXFORD, Ohio -- Alex Wideman scored two goals and Ryan McKay turned aside all 20 shots he faced to lift Miami (Ohio) to a 3-0 win against Canisius at Steve Cady Arena on Friday night.
The RedHawks move to 4-2-1 with the win, snapping a brief two-game winless streak in the process.
Blake Coleman scored a third-period goal to cap the scoring for Miami.
The RedHawks were strong on special teams, finishing 1-for-3 on the power play and killing off all three of the Golden Griffins’ tries with the man advantage.
McKay’s 20 saves earned him his fifth career shutout and his first this season. CC’s Keegan Asmundson stopped 37 of 40 shots at the other end of the rink.
No. 7 Quinnipiac 7, Colgate 2
HAMILTON, N.Y. -- Connor Jones scored twice and became the 20th player in Quinnipiac's Division I history to reach the 100-point mark as the Bobcats topped Colgate 7-2 in its 2013-14 ECAC Hockey opener. Quinnipiac's seventh consecutive win moves it to 7-1-1 overall. Colgate drops to 2-5-1 overall and 0-1-0 in league play.
Jones added an assist for a three-point night. In addition to his standing in Quinnipiac's Division I history, Jones is the 34th Quinnipiac player all-time to reach 100 career points. In addition to Jones, Sam Anas and Kellen Jones had a goal and two assists apiece as Kellen now has 96 career points. Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Travis St. Denis and Dan Federico also scored for Quinnipiac while Devon Toews, Zach Tolkinen and Bryce Van Brabant all had assists.
October's ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Month Michael Garteig improved to 7-1-1.
No. 8 Boston College 4, No. 19 Northeastern 2
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass -- A pair of goals by junior Johnny Gaudreau, including his first career short-handed tally, and sturdy play from rookie netminder Thatcher Demko backed Boston College to a 4-2 triumph against Northeastern on Friday night at Kelley Rink.
With the win, Boston College elevates its record to 18-8-4 in Hockey East opening games.
Senior Kevin Hayes finished with a strong night, registering his second power-play strike of the season while rookie Ryan Fitzgerald scored his second of the year thanks for a hard drive on Hayes’ behalf.
Demko finished the evening with 20 stops, but several with the quick glove as the Huskies attacked from all angles. NU goalie Clay Witt picked up his first loss of the season after stopping 29 of BC’s 33 attempts. Demko remains unbeaten on the season, upping his mark to 2-0-1.
Senior alternate captain Bill Arnold and sophomore Michael Matheson each assisted on a pair of goals in BC’s conference-opening victory.
Harvard 2, No. 10 Rensselaer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In the back end of a home-and-home series with Rensselaer, senior goalie Raphael Girard was flawless in net, turning aside all 28 shots that he faced to post his second shutout in as many games, powering Harvard to a 2-0 win against Rensselaer. The win keeps Harvard (2-0-1, 1-0-1 ECAC) unbeaten on the season while RPI (4-2-1, 0-1-1 ECAC) takes its first conference loss.
The clean sheet marks the first time since the 2007-08 season that a Harvard goalie had posted back-to-back shutouts. That year, Kyle Richter, blanked Rensselaer and Union (N.Y.) in back-to-back contests.
Blocked shots were the story of the game for the Crimson defense as Harvard blocked more shots (29) than made it through to Girard. Kevin Guiltinan led all Harvard players with five blocked shots on the evening, while Dan Ford and David Valek each had four.
Kyle Criscuolo (one goal, one assist) is now riding a three-game point streak which ties a career high, and leads the team with five points through three games.
It was clear the teams were familiar with one another in the early going, and the physical play from Tuesday's matchup in Troy, N.Y., was apparent once again. Harvard took a pair of penalties within the first five minutes, but showed poise on the penalty kill despite seven shots from RPI. The Crimson had an excellent chance to retaliate when quick penalties put Harvard on a five-on-three for more than a minute and a half. The Crimson managed a few promising shots, but Scott Diebold was up to the task and kept the game scoreless through one.
