ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Sophomore Scott Dawson scored the game-winning goal with 1:38 remaining in overtime to lift host Nazareth to a 2-1 victory against Utica in ECAC West action on Friday evening. Dawson's game-winning shot was from the point following a faceoff victory by freshman Ben Blasko. Freshman Travis Hill also had an assist on the game-winning goal.
With the victory, the Golden Flyers improve to 4-12-1 overall and 1-6-1 in conference play. Following the loss, the Pioneers drop to 10-4-3 overall and 5-2-1 in ECAC West contests.
Utica's Jon Gaffney opened the scoring 5:04 into the first period following a turnover in Nazareth's defensive zone. Luc Bobby intercepted the pass and found Gaffney. Gaffney's initial shot was saved but the puck bounced and spun over the goal line.
Nazareth answered just a few minutes later to tie the game. Following a shot from the point by senior Jordan Ciccarello, junior Tom Seravalli collected the puck in front of the Pioneers' goal and flipped a shot over the shoulder of goalie Nick Therrien with 11 minutes to play in the first period. Senior Mark Zavorinwas credited with an assist on the game-tying goal.
The second and third periods featured strong goaltending by Nazareth sophomore Ed Zdolshek, who amassed 20 saves between the periods. Zdolshek finished the game with 34 saves.
No. 1 Adrian 6, Finlandia 3
ADRIAN, Mich. -- Adrian made it a perfect 14-for-14 against its neighbors to the north on Friday night the Bulldogs defeated Finlandia 6-3 at Arrington Ice Arena in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association matchup. The Bulldogs are now 14-0 against the Lions and 7-0 at home in the series. Adrian improved to 15-0-3 (9-0-2 NCHA) with the win while Finlandia dropped to 2-14-1 (1-10 NCHA).
Adrian and Finlandia combined to score the first eight goals at even strength before an empty-net goal concluded the scoring.
Adrian struck first at 6:05 of the first as Rob Heath scored his second goal of the season on a one-timer from the right circle area right off a clean draw by Brent Sauve. Finlandia had the tying goal at 6:50 as Cody Essel beat Bulldog goaltender James Hamby down low from the right circle with an assist from Skylar Harding. Adrian took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission at 19:03 as Kevin Balas scored his fifth of the season into an open left side of the net between the circles after a feed from Ryan Gieseler.
Adrian scored first in the second at 3:57 as Josh Cousineau cocked and fired a hard slapshot near the left wing boards top shelf for his third of the season from Adam Davies. The Lions cut the lead to 3-2 early in the third at 2:37 in a period that featured five total goals. Justin Scott notched his second of the season from Thomas Kerr and Sean Burke.
The Bulldogs would score the next two goals to take a 5-2 lead. Duston Hebebrand at 3:52 tallied his 11th of the season from Ryan Lowe and Brett Pinkerton on a play where Hebebrand was alone in front and chipped the puck in after a left wing pass from Lowe. Sauve also scored on the doorstep on a gorgeous feed behind the net by Lowe at 6:09 giving him three goals in his freshman season. Michael Hoy also was credited with an assist on the Sauve goal.
No. 2 St. Norbert 3, Milwaukee Engineering 0
DE PERE, Wis. -- St. Norbert remained unbeaten in January as the Green Knights topped Milwaukee Engineering in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game at Cornerstone Community Center.
The Green Knights (15-2-1, 10-1 NCHA) improved to 5-0-1 this month. MSOE dropped to 4-13-1, 3-8.
Following a scoreless first period, St. Norbert got on the board with a power-play goal at 14:25 of the second period. Erik Cooper finished off the man advantage with his 10th goal of the season. The Green Knights added to their lead when Chris Rial scored for his fifth goal of the season, beating MSOE goaltender Austin Campbell with a wrist shot just as a Raiders power play was expiring at 17:56.
St. Norbert added an insurance goal just 29 seconds into the third period when Joe Perry banged home a rebound for a power-play goal. It was Perry's 13th marker of the season.
Sam Higgins assisted on all three St. Norbert goals, while Perry added an assist on Cooper's goal for a two-point game.
David Jacobson posted 15 saves for the Green Knights to record his 12th career shutout.
No. 3 Wisconsin-Stevens Point 4, Wisconsin-Superior 4
STEVENS POINT, Wis. -- Wisconsin-Stevens Point skated to a 4-4 tie with visiting Wisconsin-Superior in a seesaw Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) matchup on Friday night at K.B. Willett Arena.
The Pointers (13-2-2, 2-2-1 WIAC) led 2-0 in the first minute of the second period but the Yellowjackets (6-9-3, 1-2-2 WIAC) scored three consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead in the final minute of the second period.
After Scott Henegar opened the scoring in the first period, Kyle Brodie outskated a Yellowjackets defender and unleashed a shot to the top corner at the 43-second mark of the second period to make it 2-0.
Michael Rey, Pat Dalbec and Jeff Forsythe scored second-period goals for UW-Superior to put the visitors on top. Forsythe, Dalbec and Rey each had multi-point games for the Yellowjackets.
At 8:50 of the third period, the Pointers got a five-minute power play and cashed in just three seconds into the man advantage on a goal by Kyle Sharkey after Garrett Ladd won a face-off in the UW-Superior end.
Less than a minute later, the Yellowjackets scored a short-handed goal as Joey Massingham got in behind the Pointers power-play unit, giving UW-Superior the lead again, 4-3.
Kevin Gibson's power-play goal, his fourth consecutive game with a point, at 12:29 accounted for the final score.
No. 4 Plattsburgh State 4, SUNY Potsdam 2
POTSDAM, N.Y. -- A four-goal second period lifted Plattsburgh State to a 4-2 win at SUNY Potsdam in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) contest Friday night at Maxcy Ice Arena.
The second period went much better for Plattsburgh State as the Cardinals put up a four-spot in the middle frame. Dakota Mason got the visitors on the board with just 2:03 off the clock, knocking in his own rebound to give Plattsburgh State a 1-0 lead. Alex Brenton quickly made it a 2-0 game, scoring 1:51 later off an assist from Patrick Hermans.
Connor Gorman scored the Cardinals' third of the night off a feed from Kevin Emmerling at the 14:12 mark before Michael Cassidy set up Brenton for his second of the night at 16:03. Cassidy's pass from the left circle found Brenton, who lifted a shot over the left shoulder of Potsdam goaltender Shane Talarico to make it 4-0 in favor of Plattsburgh State.
The Bears cut the lead in half with two goals in the third period.
Mathieu Cadieux recorded 28 saves in the win to improve to 14-2-2 on the year for the Cardinals.
No. 5 Norwich 5, New England 1
NORTHFIELD, Vt. -- Norwich scored five unanswered goals en route to its third consecutive victory and a 5-1 win against New England on Friday night in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action at Kreitzberg Arena.
Freshman forward Paul Russell scored twice, while freshman Tyler Piacentini and sophomore Dean Niezgoda each dished out two assists to lead the Norwich (13-3-2, 9-1-1 ECAC East) offense.
UNE junior goalie Colby Drost stymied the Cadet attack for more than half of Friday night's game, totaling 40 saves in all. However, rookie forward Dmitry Ermakov finally got one past Drost at the 11:36 mark of the second period and the Cadets never looked back from there.
No. 6 Babson 2, No. 12 Massachusetts-Boston 0
BOSTON -- Junior Mike Driscoll broke a scoreless deadlock 14:07 into the second period and sophomore goalie Jamie Murray made 30 saves to earn his fifth career shutout, lifting Babson past Massachusetts-Boston 2-0 in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action on Friday night.
With its fourth conseuctive win, Babson is now 15-3-0 overall and 9-2-0 in ECAC East play, while UMass-Boston, which has dropped two consecutive games, falls to 13-3-2 overall and 6-3-2 in conference play.
Senior Troy Starrett added an insurance goal 3:37 into the third period for the Beavers while Driscoll and senior Ben Kravitz each had an assist.
Murray, who earned Co-Goalie of the Week honors from the ECAC East on Monday, was tremendous between the pipes. He made 15 of his 30 stops in the second period and the Beavers' defense blocked 17 shots on the night helping him tie for the NCAA lead with his 14th victory of the season.
No. 7 Wisconsin-Eau Claire 8, No. 13 Wisconsin-River Falls 3
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- All good things must come to an end, at least that's what the cliché says. For Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the cliché was partially true, as the record-setting shutout streak finally came to an end. But more importantly for the Blugolds, the winning streak stayed alive and improved to seven games as they defeated Wisconsin-River Falls 8-3 in a convincing victory in front of a packed house at Hobbs Ice Center.
After setting a Div. III record for consecutive shutouts with five last Saturday against St. Thomas (Minn.), the Blugolds (12-3-1, 1-1-1) had one record they were still chasing. They were chasing the consecutive shutout minutes record of 337 minutes, 22 seconds, set by Kyle Jones of St. Norbert in 2006. They needed just over 17 minutes of shutout play, and they did that and much more. Tyler Green, who played an integral part in the streak, kept the Falcons (10-5-2, 3-2-0) off the board until the 14:58 mark of the second period, setting the record at 354 minutes and 25 seconds.
Of course, there was a very important hockey game to be played with important implications as both teams hit the conference stretch of the schedule. The Blugolds came into the game looking for their first WIAC victory, while the Falcons led the WIAC with a 3-1-0 record. UW-Eau Claire was ranked-No. 7 in the USCHO.com poll, while UW-River Falls was ranked No. 13. The game did not disappoint, as it had a little bit of everything.
Both teams finished with 38 shots and Green finished with 35 saves to pick up his seventh win of the season. He saw his shutout streak end at three games, but was impressive in goal once again as he has won his last four starts.
Colby 2, No. 8 Williams 1
WATERVILLE, Maine -- Colby handed Williams its first loss in regulation play and gave the Ephs their first league loss of the year with a 2-1 NESCAC win Friday night at Alfond Rink.
Ben Chwick scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season with just 1:22 left in the game to give the Mules the victory. Chwick scored from the left side of the goal off assists from Jack Bartlett and Geoff Sullivan.
The Mules improve to 9-5-3 overall and 6-4-1 in the conference while the Ephs drop to 10-3-2 overall and 6-1-2 in the league.
Colby opened the scoring at 4:02 of the first period when Tyler Lingel came around the goal and scored from a tight angle. Jonathan Sdao and Devin Albert had assists on the play.
No. 9 St. Thomas (Minn.) 8, Hamline 0
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Eight different Tommies scored goals and junior Drew Fielding recorded his school-record sixth shutout of the season in Friday's 8-0 St. Thomas (Minn.) win against Hamline.
The game was 0-0 into period two but the Toms scored five goals in a 7:50 span.
Fielding, who leads Division III in shutouts, had 19 saves for the Tommies (11-3-2 overall, 6-0-1 MIAC).
Alex Altenbernd and Michael Dockry each had a goal and two assists, and Connor McBride and Jordan Lovick each had three assists. Michael Pieper and freshmen Dockry and Chris Benson each scored their first season goals.
Williams tied it up at 11:37 of the first period on a nice individual effort from Tyler Young. He was able to circle in front of the net with his skating ability and lifted a hard shot to the upper left corner of the goal. Paul Steinig had an assist on the goal.
