NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The ninth-ranked Yale Bulldogs, playing without three key players in the lineup, overcame a pair of one-goal deficits before getting an overtime tally from Chris Izmirlian to register a 3-2 overtime win against Merrimack in front of a near full house at Ingalls Rink.
A pair of newcomers combined on the winner that came with 45.3 seconds left in the extra session.
Frankie DiChiara, who had just jumped on the ice, picked off a pass by Merrimack defenseman Dan Kolomatis inside the visitor's blueline and then spotted his linemate, Izmirlian, who had also just jumped over the boards. Ismirlain took the pass at the top of the right circle and fired a slapshot that bounced off the glove of Warriors' goalie Rasmus Tirronen.
The puck popped up about three feet over Tirronen's head and a few feet behind him. Izmirlian followed his shot and beat the goalie to the puck in the crease before smacking it home.
That was the only time that Yale (6-2-2) had the lead. The Elis overcame 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to notch their first OT win since Andrew Miller beat Massachusetts-Lowell last April in the Frozen Four semifinals.
No. 1 Minnesota 4, No. 12 Wisconsin 3
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota forward Seth Ambroz scored two goals, including the game winner with 26 seconds left, to vault Gophers past Wisconsin for the second time in as many nights. The victory improved Minnesota's record to 11-2-1 on the season and 2-0-0 in league play after its inaugural Big Ten conference series.
Ambroz finished the weekend with four goals and he now has seven on the season.
Minnesota trailed 2-1 at the end of the first period despite a goal from Kyle Rau. Ambroz's first goal of the game was the only score in the second period as the teams entered the third period tied.
In the third period, the two teams exchanged goals as Brady Skjei gave the Gophers their first lead of the night 3:44 in and Michael Mersch capitalized on a Nic Kerdiles feed in front to knot the score just past the midway point of the period.
Wilcox and Rumpel exchanged saves for the next nine minutes until Minnesota junior Travis Boyd directed a puck toward the Badger cage to set up Ambroz's heroics.
With a goal and an assist on Skjei's third-period tally, Rau now has 99 career points. Ambroz now has four multi-goal games in his career.
No. 4 Providence 3, Brown 2
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Providence defeated cross-town rival Brown 3-2 on Saturday night in the 28th meeting of the annual Mayor's Cup at Schneider Arena. Senior Derek Army's goal at 9:17 of the third period proved to be the game winner.
Sophomore Nick Saracino scored the first goal of the game 17 minutes into the first period by putting back his own rebound, giving Providence (11-2-2, 6-2-0 HEA) a 1-0 advantage. Junior Ross Mauermann and sophomore John Gilmour assisted on the play.
Providence increased its lead to 2-0 at 5:58 of the second period when junior Drew Brown scored his first goal of the year. Brown (3-6-1, 1-4-1 ECAC) closed the gap when Matt Lorito found the back of the net at 3:44 of the third period to bring the score to 2-1.
Providence regained a two-goal lead when sophomore Steven McParland sent a pass to Army down the near side of the boards. Army continued into the offensive zone and fired a shot that beat De Filippo low. Brown would score once more in the third, but would not get any closer.
Sophomore goalie Jon Gillies recorded 32 saves in net for the Friars while De Filippo stopped 26 shots for the Bears.
No. 5 Quinnipiac 6, Massachusetts 1
HAMDEN, Conn. -- Quinnipiac defeated Massachusetts 6-1, in a non-conference match-up at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 13-2-2 overall while UMass drops to 3-10-2 overall.
Quinnipaic shook-off an early UMass goal from Michael Pereira to score five unanswered goals, with three coming on the power play. Kellen Jones led all Bobcats with a goal and two assists while Zach Tolkinen set up Quinnipiac's first three goals for a career-best three-assist night. Sam Anas and Connor Jones had a goal and an assist each while Travis St. Denis, Bryce Van Brabant and Brayden Sherbinin also scored in the Bobcats win.
Michael Garteig made nine saves for the Bobcats before giving way to Jacob Meyers for the final 3:39 of the game.
No. 6 Ferris State 1, Northern Michigan 1
MARQUETTE, Mich. -- Ferris State began an eight-game road stretch by taking three of a possible four points as the Bulldogs skated to a 1-1 overtime tie against Northern Michigan in Saturday's Western Collegiate Hockey Association series finale at the Berry Events Center.
The overtime deadlock pushed the Bulldogs' nation-leading unbeaten streatk to 11 consecutive games as the Bulldogs are now 9-0-2 and have not lost since Oct. 18. Goaltender CJ Motte, who remains the nation's winningest goaltender and is still unbeaten on the season at 11-0-2 on the year after Saturday's tie.
Following a scoreless first period, the Bulldogs opened the scoring midway through the second period at the 9:50 mark. FSU tallied a power-play goal from sophomore forward Matt Robertson, who tallied his sixth goal of the year, including one for the fifth consecutive game. Freshman Kyle Schempp and sophomore Brandon Anselmini picked up the helpers on the Bulldogs' lone goal of the night.
Northern Michigan answered less than five minutes later as the Wildcats also responded with a power-play goal following a Bulldog tripping penalty. Jake Johnson recorded his second goal of the season for NMU with assists credited to Dominik Shine and Sami Salminen at 14:17 of the second period.
