St. Cloud State splits with No. 3 Western Michigan; Gopher women hand No. 1 Badgers first loss in split
College hockey’s been nuts this year and we’ve got ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys. It’s enough to make you pull your hair out - or if you don’t have any, grow in gray. Conference action is here. You already hate the NPI even though it’s not even worth looking at until January at the earliest. Did you learn NOTHING from years of not understanding Pairwise? It’s like you’re Lowell Sun. Anyway, it’s time for Minnesota’s College Hockey Scoreboard Show, where there’s no breakdowns, no analysis, it’s just the scores!
Division I Men
Thu: #14 Wisconsin 5, #19 Minnesota 2
Sat: #14 Wisconsin 4, #19 Minnesota 0
Christian Fitzgerald scored twice as No. 14 Wisconsin opened up its series with No. 19 Minnesota on Thursday with a 5-2 win. Wisconsin completed the sweep, handing the Gophers their fourth straight loss in a 4-0 win on Saturday night. Quinn Finley and Blake Montgomery scored two goals apiece for Wisconsin. The Gophers fell to 2-7-1 and host Notre Dame this coming weekend.
Fri: Bemidji State 4, Bowling Green 4 (BSU wins SO)
Sat: Bemidji State 3, Bowling Green 2
Bemidji State and Bowling Green skated to a 4-4 tie with the visiting Beavers picking up the extra CCHA point with the shootout win in the first game of the weekend series. Hudson Thornton’s second of the year was the OT game-winner as Bemidji took the weekend series with a 3-2 overtime win in the second game.
Fri: #10 Minnesota Duluth 4, #8 North Dakota 3 OT
Sat: #8 North Dakota 5, #10 Minnesota Duluth 1
Ty Hanson’s third goal of the year was the OT game-winner as No. 10 UMD opened up its NCHC series at The Ralph with a 4-3 win over the host Fighting Hawks. Max Plante scored twice to give him nine goals on the season. In the second game, host North Dakota shut down red-hot Minnesota Duluth with a 5-1 victory. Five different players scored for the Fighting Hawks, who limited UMD to just 20 shots on goal and earned the weekend split. UMD will host St. Cloud State this weekend at AMSOIL.
Fri: #16 Minnesota State 3, St. Thomas 1
Sat: St. Thomas 4, #18 Minnesota State 3 OT
No. 16 Minnesota State scored three third-period goals to run past host St. Thomas 3-1 in St. Paul in the first game of their weekend home-and-home series. Alex Tracy stopped 24 shots in net for the Mavericks. Nathan Pilling’s fourth of the year came in overtime and gave St. Thomas a win in Mankato to split the home-and-home series. St. Thomas is off this weekend, while Minnesota State will host Bowling Green.
Fri: #3 Western Michigan 6, St. Cloud State 5
Sat: St. Cloud State 5, #3 Western Michigan 1
Zack Bookman’s power-play goal with just over four minutes left was the game-winner as third-ranked Western Michigan took the first game of the weekend NCHC series in a 6-5 win at St. Cloud State. Liam Valente scored twice for the Broncos. Patriks Berzins made 32 saves and Jack Reimann had his first career multi-goal game as St. Cloud State earned the weekend split with what some could dub an eye-opening 5-1 win to close out the series. Austin Burnevik scored in both games, giving him 10 goals on the season and extending his point streak to 11 games in a row, dating back to last season. St. Cloud State heads to AMSOIL this coming weekend to face rival Minnesota Duluth.
Division I Women
Fri: Minnesota State 2, Bemidji State 2 (MSU wins SO)
Sat: Minnesota State 2, Bemidji State 0
Minnesota State picked up the extra WCHA point, winning the shootout in Friday’s opener as the Mavericks and the Beavers skated to a 2-2 tie. In Game Two, Minnesota State took all the points as Kamryn Van Batavia and Mercury Bischoff scored for the host Mavericks, who improved to 6-5-1. Bemidji State will host St. Thomas this weekend, while Minnesota State is at Ohio State.
Fri: #3 Minnesota 5, #1 Wisconsin 1
Sat: #1 Wisconsin 7, #3 Minnesota 2
Josefin Bouveng scored twice and Abbey Murphy scored her 15th of the season as Minnesota handed Wisconsin its first loss of the year and snapped the Badgers’ 37-game unbeaten streak with a 5-1 win in Madison. Top-ranked Wisconsin bounced back to earn a split in resounding fashion as the Badgers put seven in the net, chasing starting goalie Hannah Clark in a 7-2 rout in Madison. Abbey Murphy scored her 16th of the year in the loss. Murphy leads the nation in goals and is tied for the lead in points with 25. The Golden Gophers are off next weekend.
Fri: #5 Minnesota Duluth 5, #10 St. Cloud State 3
Sat: #5 Minnesota Duluth 3, #10 St. Cloud State 2
Five different players scored and Thea Johansson scored her eighth of the season as fifth-ranked UMD opened up the weekend series in St. Cloud with a 5-3 win over the 10th-ranked Huskies. UMD continued its mastery of St. Cloud State, taking the weekend sweep with a 3-2 win on Saturday. Thea Johansson scored two more goals, giving her three on the weekend and 10 on the year. UMD has the weekend off, as do the Huskies, who dropped their fifth straight.
Fri: #2 Ohio State 3, #13 St. Thomas 2 OT
Sat: #2 Ohio State 8, #13 St. Thomas 0
St. Thomas goalie Julia Minotti made 40 saves and gave the Tommies a fighting chance, but the second-ranked Buckeyes came away with a 3-2 overtime win as Sanni Vanhanen buried the OT game-winner 97 seconds into the extra frame. Game Two was no treat for the Tommies as the Buckeyes put eight on the board with Joy Dunne scoring four of them for Ohio State. St. Thomas will head to Bemidji State next weekend.
We also kicked off the Division III season over the weekend with the MIAC teams in full display. We’ll start with the men.
Division III Men
Augsburg dropped both games over the weekend, falling 4–1 to #6 Aurora on Friday and 3–2 to #11 UW-Stevens Point on Saturday.
Concordia-Moorhead and Concordia Wisconsin split their series in Moorhead — the Cobbers won 5–2 on Friday before the Falcons evened things up with a 6–1 victory on Saturday.
MSOE and St. Scholastica also split their weekend — the Raiders opened with a 4–2 win Friday before St. Scholastica took Saturday’s rematch 3–1.
St. John’s and Marian played to a 4–4 tie on Friday with the Johnnies winning the shootout.
St. Mary’s and Lake Forest skated to a 5–5 tie Friday, Lake Forest taking the shootout, then the Cardinals rebounded Saturday with a 4–2 win to claim the weekend edge.
St. Olaf and #5 St. Norbert split their series — the Green Knights shut out the Oles 3–0 on Friday, but St. Olaf came back with a 5–4 overtime win on Saturday.
Beloit fell 6–2 to Bethel in its lone game of the weekend.
Division III Women
#2 Augsburg won both games over #9 Adrian, taking Friday’s opener 4–1 and Saturday’s finale 3–2.
Hamline swept Aurora, posting shutouts of 4–0 on Friday and 5–0 on Saturday.
St. Catherine rolled past Dubuque in both games, winning 7–1 Friday and 5–0 Saturday.
#5 Gustavus Adolphus and #6 St. Norbert split their ranked matchup — Gustavus took game one 3–2 before St. Norbert answered with a 2–1 overtime win in game two.
Bethel swept MSOE, earning a 4–2 win on Friday and a 9–0 rout on Saturday.
St. Mary’s and Concordia Wisconsin split their weekend — Concordia Wisconsin won 3–1 on Friday before St. Mary’s blanked the Falcons 1–0 Saturday.
St. Scholastica picked up a weekend sweep at Lawrence with 1–0 and 3–1 victories.
UW-Eau Claire took both games from Concordia-Moorhead, 3–1 Friday and 2–0 Saturday.
UW-Stevens Point beat St. Olaf twice, 2–1 on Friday and 2–1 in overtime on Saturday.
I’m Jason Bryant (@jasonmbryant). Leave a rating, review, or feedback at collegehockeyscoreboardpod.com and check out all the shows from The Sota Pod.
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