MINNEAPOLIS -- Top-ranked Minnesota outlasted Big Ten conference foe Ohio State 1-0 in a defensive struggle to win the Hockey City Classic at TCF Bank Stadium on Friday night.
The 45,021 fans on hand gave the game the largest attendance ever for a hockey game in the state of Minnesota.
Minnesota netminder Adam Wilcox stopped all 21 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season and the fifth of his career. The victory improved the Gophers' record to 16-2-3 with a 6-0-1 ledger in league action, giving them a seven-point first place lead in the standings.
After being outshot 8-7 in the opening period, Minnesota came out firing in the second, recording the first eight shots of the frame. At the 4:20 mark, Gopher freshman forward Taylor Cammarata ended the stalemate when his shot from the slot beat OSU goaltender Matt Tomkins and trickled across the goal line. Junior captain Kyle Rau and senior Justin Holl picked up assists on Cammarata's fifth tally of the season.
Minnesota is now 13-1-0 all-time against the Buckeyes.
Minnesota State-Mankato 6, No. 2 Ferris State 2
MANKATO, Minn. -- Junior forward Matt Leitner and senior forward Zach Lehrke each enjoyed three-point games in leading Minnesota State-Mankato to a 6-2 home Western Collegiate Hockey Association win against Ferris State on Friday.
Junior forward Matt Leitner one-timed a rocket from the right circle past C.J. Motte at 3:28 of the first period. Then, just 17 seconds later, senior forward Zach Lehrke beat Motte after taking a pass from the side of the net from Jean-Paul Lafontaine. The Bulldogs got one back at 11:24 of the opening stanza on a shot from the right face-off dot by T.J. Schlueter and the first period ended with the Mavericks owning a 2-1 lead.
Senior forward Johnny McInnis got his eighth goal of the season when he tapped in a cross ice pass from Dylan Margonari at 5:50 of the second. The goal proved to be his 11th career game-winning goal. A long shot from the point by FSU defenseman Brandon Anselmini found the twine behind Cole Huggins at 11:21, but Leitner tallied his second of the night at 17:54 after he got his own rebound and slid the puck underneath Motte to give the Mavericks a 4-2 lead after two periods of play.
McInnis scored again at 1:45 of the third, converting on a breakaway after taking a pass from Margonari at center ice. Then, at 4:24, Lafontaine made it 6-2 with his 11th goal of the year.
Leitner finished with two goals and an assist, while Lehrke had a goal and two assists. Sophomore forward Dylan Margonari had two assists.
Minnesota State freshman goaltender Cole Huggins stopped 29 FSU shots in the and now stands 9-5-0 for the year.
No. 3 St. Cloud State 5, Western Michigan 5
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- St. Cloud State (12-3-4, 7-2-2-0 NCHC) skated to a 5-5 tie against Western Michigan (11-8-4, 5-5-1-1 NCHC) at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Friday.
In a roller-coaster contest, the Huskies jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the contest before WMU staged a comeback in the second period to tie the game at 4-4. Both teams exchanged goals in the final period before the Broncos gained the extra point in the NCHC standings with a 1-0 decision in the shootout after a scoreless OT session.
SCSU's Jimmy Murray kicked the game off with an unassisted goal at 1:47 of the first period. Murray stole the puck from WMU in the neutral zone and then charged in to hit the open top corner against Bronco netminder Frank Slubowski. Justin Kovacs of WMU tied the score at 1-1 at 8:55 of the first with a power-play marker with assists from Colton Hargrove and Kenney Morrison.
The Huskies then rolled off three unanswered goals as Murray started the parade with an even-strength goal at 13:57 of the first period with assists from Nic Dowd and Joey Holka. Two goals on the night moved Murray's season total to five in 2013-14.
Kalle Kossila notched his sixth goal of the season with a power-play goal at 14:34 of the first period as Ethan Prow and Jonny Brodzinski had assists on the play. This was Kossila's sixth goal of the year and it was also Brodzinski's team-leading 20th point of the season.
The scoring run was completed by SCSU's Cory Thorson at 5:33 of the second period with a power-play goal. Thorson's sixth goal of the season was assisted by David Morley and Andrew Prochno.
No. 4 Boston College 5, Boston University 2
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- On the strength of a perfect night from the power-play unit,Boston College finished off the regular-season sweep of arch-rival Boston University on Friday night in front of an electric, sold-out Kelley Rink, helping head coach Jerry York clinch his 950th career victory.
First-year forward Adam Gilmour broke out with a two-goal, one-assist performance, including the game winner, while junior Johnny Gaudreau kept the nation’s longest point streak intact, netting a pair of goals to extended the hot spell to 17 consecutive games with at least one point.
Rookie Chris Calnan has now scored a goal in consecutive games while junior forward Quinn Smith snapped a 19-game scoring drought with his second marker of the year. Calnan, who also chimed in with an assist, joined senior Kevin Hayes as one of four skaters with a multi-point performance over the Terriers.
The Eagles capitalized on both power-play opportunities on Friday evening and have no scored a pair of power-play tallies in three of their past five games.
Junior Brian Billett picked up his 11th triumph (11-3-1) of the season while Sean Maguire stopped 38 shots in the loss. BC outshot the Terriers 44-27.
No. 5 Quinnipiac 6, Merrimack 1
HAMDEN, Conn. -- Quinnipiacjunior Bryce Van Brabant scored twice to lead the Bobcats to a 6-1 win against Merrimack at High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center. With the win, Quinnipiac improves to 18-3-5 on the year while the Warriors drop to 5-11-3 on the year.
Van Brabant's two goals were a career best. Van Brabant scored the go-ahead goal in the second period before adding his second early in the third period. He now has four goals in his past three games and five points in his past four games.
Jordan Samuels and Kellen Jones both tallied a goal and an assist in the Bobcats' win while Dan Federico had a game-high two assists. Connor Jones and Brayden Sherbinin also scored for Quinnipiac while Matthew Peca, Travis St. Denis, Tim Clifton and Tommy Schutt added assists. In goal, Michael Garteig picked up his NCAA-leading 18th win of the year after stopping 22 of Merrimack's 23 shots on goal before exiting the game in favor of Jake Meyers with 2 minutes to play.
No. 6 Union (N.Y.) 3, No. 17 New Hampshire 1
Durham, N.H. -- Union (N.Y.) continues to excel on the road following a 3-1 win against New Hampshire in a ECAC Hockey-Hockey East showdown before 4,045 at the Whittemore Center. With the win, Union (14-4-3) is now unbeaten in 10 of 11 games (8-1-2) away from home while improving to 6-1-1 against ranked opponents.
Union jumped to a 2-0 lead behind the strong play of the third forward line of Matt Hatch, Eli Lichtenwald and Michael Pontarelli, which accounted for both goals.
Hatch knocked in a rebound in a goal-mouth scramble at 4:21, while Pontarelli snapped a lower wrister between the circles at 7:06 for his ninth goal of the season.
Union added a power-play goal 5:49 into the second period after a flurry of activity in front of the Wildcat net. Mat Bodie was denied on a point-blank shot by goaltender Casey DeSmith, but Daniel Carr jumped on the rebound and buried a one-timer from the right faceoff circle into the upper corner of the net.
Carr's goal signaled the 131st point of his career, moving him into a first place tie with Adam Presizniuk (2007-11) on Union's all-time Division I scoring list.
New Hampshire (13-11-1) finally got on the board just 47 seconds into the third period, converting a three-on-one opportunity. Nick Sorkin notched his team-leading 13th goal on an assist from Matt Willows. The goal snapped Colin Steven's shutout streak at 115:46.
No. 7 Providence 2, Colorado College 2
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- With the extra attacker on, Mark Jankowski scored with 20 seconds to play in regulation as Providence skated to a 2-2 tie with Colorado College at the World Arena (5,542) on Friday night.
Providence (13-5-5, 6-4-1 HEA) came back from deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to move to 7-1-4 in non-conference play this season. Senior co-captain Steven Shamanski scored the first Friar goal. Alex Kushelnyski led Colorado College (2-15-4, 2-7-3-1 NCHC) with a goal and an assist.
With Head Coach Nate Leaman home in Rhode Island awaiting the birth of his third child, assistant coaches Jamie Russell and Ben Barr led the Friars. Shamanski now has six goals this season (23 games played), surpassing the five goals he had in his first three seasons (102 games played). Mark Jankowski scored his career-high eighth goal of the season.
No. 14 Clarkson 3, No. 8 Yale 2
POTSDAM, N.Y. -- A trio of freshmen highlighted one of the best efforts of the season for Clarkson in its return to ECAC Hockey action as the Golden Knights knocked off defending national champion Yale 3-2 at Cheel Arena on Friday night.
Forward A. J Fossen scored a career-high two goals, defenseman James de Haas recorded two assists while also putting in a strong effort on the blueline and rookie goaltender Steve Perry was solid in the Clarkson crease with 17 saves as the Knights snapped the Bulldogs' four-game unbeaten streak.
Playing in its first league game since Dec. 6, the Knights improved their record to 14-7-2 overall and hold down third place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 7-2 league mark.
Clarkson outshot Yale 35-19, holding the Bulldogs (8-4-4, 3-3-3) to their lowest shot total of the season.
No. 10 Massachusetts-Lowell 1, No. 19 Maine 1
LOWELL, Mass. – Massachusetts-Lowell battled to a 1-1 tie against Maine on Friday night in front of 5,427 fans at the Tsongas Center in Hockey East action.
With 1:24 remaining in the third period, Maine tied the game on an extra-attacker goal via a backhand shot by sophomore forward Ryan Lomberg to beat Connor Hellebuyck high glove side for his seventh goal of the season. With 10 seconds left in regulation, Hellebuyck made a save on Stu Higgins to extend the game to the extra frame.
Junior forward Scott Wilson had a great chance with 3:24 left in overtime, but Ouellette made the stop with his left pad. The River Hawks took a cross-checking penalty kill by Christian Folin with 3:09 left in overtime, but then Maine returned the favor with 1:56 left to play on a roughing penalty by Connor Leen.
UMass Lowell outshot Maine 40-29 for the game, including a 6-1 shot advantage in the overtime frame. The River Hawks now own a 14-6-2 overall record and 4-3-1 mark in league play, while Maine is now 11-7-3 (5-2-2 HEA) with the tie.
