Splits Were the Theme of the Weekend (Mostly)
CHN Staff Report
After Denver watched in horror while North Dakota scored four unanswered third-period goals to win Friday’s game, blowing a 4-1 lead in the process, the Pioneers were able to recover Saturday and play a tighter game. Still it took a third-period goal by Zeev Buium to tie the game, before Carter King won it with his 10th of the season, 2:06 into 3-on-3 overtime. All in all, though there is much for both teams to improve upon, it was an epic weekend battle between two of the top teams in the country. At the end of it, North Dakota is No. 1 in the Pairwise, and Denver is No. 8, and they are 2-3 in the NCHC standings. “Very different style of hockey game. It was good to see that we were comfortable in the game, coming back from two, one-goal deficits,” Denver coach David Carle said. “I’m glad we won the game, but regardless of the outcome I just thought we showed a lot more battle to be in a real tight-checking hockey game. I thought it was a good experience for us to go through. We haven’t been in many this year … Excellent team on the other side. I thought we showed a lot of maturity from night one to night two.”
After bring trounced Friday, Michigan showed it was capable of clamping down and ekeing out a win against a tough opponent. The Wolverines got a late second-period goal from Dylan Duke (8) to squeeze past Notre Dame, 2-1, behind 28 saves from Jake Barczewski.
Minnesota’s four-game unbeaten sreak was halted, as Penn State pulled out the home split with a 6-3 win. Ryan Kirwin had two goals and an assist to lead the Nittany Lions. “When everyone’s contributing we’re a tough team to play against,” Penn State’s Jimmy Dowd said. “When everyone’s playing a full 60, everyone’s playing well defensively which leads to offense, it really shows.”
Colgate’s Reid Irwin scored 1:16 into the third period to break a tie, as Colgate won at Lynah Rink, 4-2. The teams had the opposite result in Hamilton on Friday. The loss was a massive setback for Cornell, which was coming off the win at Colgate and a massive win at Madison Square Garden against Boston University last weekend. It dropped the Big Red from 17 to 24 in the Pairwise. “I told the players after the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at College Hockey News from CHN…