TROY, N.Y. -- The Capital Skates trophy will be staying in Schenectady for now.
Union solidified its hold of the series trophy with Renssalaer, defeating the 10th-ranked Engineers 4-1 before 4,105 fans at Houston Field House. In the process, Union extended its win streak against RPI to 10 games, which included a series-opening 4-3 victory on Friday night at Messa Rink. The teams meet for the final time on Jan. 25, with the Mayor's Cup on the line at the Times Union Center in Albany.
After a scoreless first period, Union scored back-to-back power play goals in a span of two minutes, three seconds. The first came off the stick of freshman Eli Lichtenwald, who redirected a pass in the slot from Matt Bodie.
Bodie and Sullivan teamed on the second goal as well, setting up Daniel Carr just inside the blueline, who ripped a slapshot over the shoulder of goaltender Scott Diebold.
RPI (6-4-2, 2-3-2 ECACH) cut the lead in half just before the second period ended. With a power play having expired, Brock Higgs managed to nudge the puck past a sprawling Colin Stevens, who had lost his goalie stick and was buried under a scrum in front of the net. It marked the second game in a row Higgs scored against Union.
Gostisbehere put the finishing touches on the win at 15:15 of the third period, finding the back of the net on a slapshot from inside the left circle. He switched sides and scored from atop the right circle at 16:25 to ensure Union its fourth win in the past five outings.
No. 1 Minnesota 3, Minnesota State-Duluth 0
MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota extended its win streak to three games on Saturday night with a 3-0 victory against in-state rival Minnesota State-Duluth at Mariucci Arena. Netminder Michael Shibrowski stopped all 25 shots he faced in his first start in 393 days and the Gophers received goals from three different scorers in the win.
The shutout was the first of Shibrowski’s career and the triumph yielded Minnesota’s first home sweep of a two-game series for the season.
Jake Bischoff got the scoring started 6:20 into regulation, one-timing a feed from Hudson Fasching past Maverick goaltender Cole Huggins for his third tally of the year. Sam Warning added the second assist on the play.
With 8:55 to play, Tom Serratore snapped a 17-game goalless drought by swatting home a loose puck in front after fellow senior Justin Holl forced a turnover and Huggins failed to cover.
Fasching capped the scoring 2:51 later on a quick shot off a pass into the slot by Warning. Captain Kyle Rau got the secondary assist. The helper was Warning’s 12th of the season. He leads the Big Ten in points with 17.
No. 2 Michigan 4, Nebraska-Omaha 3
OMAHA, Neb. -- Andrew Copp had a goal and an assist and Derek DeBlois broke a 3-3 tie late in the third period to lead Michigan to a 4-3 win at Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night inside CenturyLink Center.
Phil Di Giuseppe and JT Compher added second-period goals for the Wolverines, who improved to 5-2 in one-goal games this season.
Sophomore goaltender Steve Racine, making his first start in net since Oct. 18 at New Hampshire, made 40 saves to earn the victory.
No. 3 St. Cloud State 4, Alabama-Huntsville 3
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- St. Cloud State (8-1-1, 3-1-0 NCHC) completed another road sweep with a 4-3 victory at Alabama Huntsville (0-10-0, 0-6-0 WCHA) on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, Ala.
This marked the Huskies' third consecutive road sweep of the 2013-14 season and the victory moves SCSU's record against UAH to 11-0-0 in the all-time series.
Daniel Tedesco scored the game-winning goal goal at the 14:18 mark of the third period after Alabama-Huntsville had stormed back from a 3-1 deficit.
Also scoring for the Huskies were Cory Thorson, Nic Dowd and David Morley.
No. 4 Notre Dame 2, Merrimack 2
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Merrimack scored a goal with a little more than a minute remaining, and both teams engaged in a scoreless overtime, as Notre Dame ended in a 2-2 tie with Merrimack on Saturday.
Vinny Scotti's second goal of the year tied the game with 1:09 to go in the final period. It was the only goal of the period.
The Fighting Irish had a 2-0 lead after a first-period power-play goal from Shayne Taker and a goal from T.J. Tynan in the second. But Merrimack would rally, starting with Clayton Jardine's goal in the second.
Steven Summerhays finished with 25 saves while the Irish put 32 shots on goal against Merrimack goaltender Rasmus Tirronen.
No. 5 Providence 3, Vermont 0
BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Providence used goals from Ross Mauermann, Nick Saracino and Kevin Rooney and a shutout performance from Jon Gillies to record a 3-0 win at Gutterson Arena on Saturday night to complete a weekend sweep of the Catamounts.
With the shutout, Gillies, a sophomore, becomes Providence’s all-time leader in career shutouts with eight. Providence improves to 9-1-1 (5-1-0 HEA) on the season with the win, while Vermont is now 3-5-1 (2-4-0 HEA). With 10 points, the Friars currently sit atop the Hockey East standings.
After a scoreless first period, Mauermann got the Friars on the board at 5:59 of the second when he lifted a quick snapshot over Mike Santaguida’s shoulder at the near post for his 10th goal of the year.
The Friars continued to pressure in the offensive zone and less than a minute after Mauermann rang one off the post, he fed Saracino in the high slot, who fired a shot past Santaguida for his first goal of the season at 8:53.
The Friars took a 3-0 lead at 14:18 of the third when sophomore Rooney scored his first of the year by beating Santaguida high to the glove side. McParland and senior Kevin Hart assisted on the play, giving McParland his second assist of the night.
All told, Gillies made 23 saves to earn his record-setting eighth career shutout in just his 45th career start. Santaguida made 19 saves for the Catamounts.
No. 6 Quinnipiac 3, Darmouth 1
HAMDEN, Conn. -- Quinnipiac defeated ECAC Hockey foe Dartmouth 3-1 to extend its NCAA-leading unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1). WIth the win, Quinnipiac improves to 11-1-1 overall while it remains undefeated in ECAC Hockey play at 5-0-1. Dartmouth drops to 0-8-0 overall and 0-6-0 in league play.
Alex Barron assisted on all three Quinnipiac goals. The career night for him added to his two assists on Friday night to give him five for the weekend, and eight for the year. Bryce Van Brabant, Cory Hibbeler and Jordan Samuels-Thomas all scored for the Bobcats.
In goal, Michael Garteig won his NCAA-best 11th game of the year with a 20-save performance against Dartmouth.
No. 12 Wisconsin 3, No. 8 Miami (Ohio) 2
OXFORD, Ohio -- Wisconsin had to wait 35 days to see Joel Rumpel return to action after an early season leg injury. It turned out to be well worth the wait, as he was spectacular in his comeback, helping the Badgers (4-3-1) secure a comeback road win against Miami (7-4-1) on Saturday night.
Wisconsin struck for three goals against RedHawks goalie Ryan McKay who had allowed only two goals in the past 116 shots he faced entering the day.
Joseph LaBate scored with about five minutes left in the game to break a 3-all deadlock. Michael Mersch had scored earlier in the period for the Badgers to tie the game.
After Jake McCabe scored a power-play goal in the first, the RedHawks scored the next two goals. But Rumpel didn't give up anything else in his 32-save night.
No. 9 Yale 5, Sacred Heart 1
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Yale took a weekend off from ECAC Hockey play, but it didn't slow down at either end of the rink. Jesse Root had two goals and Trent Ruffolo added a goal and an assist as Yale beat Sacred Heart 5-1 at Ingalls Rink.
The Elis (4-1-2), who scored three times on special teams, outshot the Pioneers 42-23 and converted two power plays to run their unbeaten streak to six games.
After each team scored a goal in the first, Stu Wilson scored the game-winning goal nine minutes into the second period.
Kenny Agostino and Trnt Ruffalo each scored in the second while Jesse Root added his second goal of the game in the third.
