Upsets abound Friday night as Western Michigan downs Denver, Harvard beats Clarkson, Providence knocks off Northeastern

19-021-WMU-UD HKY (GARY SHOOK/photo: Gary Shook)
Western Michigan celebrates its 3-1 win over Denver on home ice Friday night (photo: Gary Shook).

Western Michigan killed off over nine minutes of penalties in the third period to hold on and defeat No. 3 Denver 3-1 at Lawson Ice Arena on Friday night.

Ethen Frank tallied twice for the No. 13 Broncos, while Hugh McGing netted a short-handed goal and tallied an assist in the win. Senior goalie Trevor Gorsuch made 21 saves, including 14 in the third period, to pick up his career-high 12th win of the season.

“They played with a lot more desperation than we did,” said Denver coach David Carle. “They had us on our heels for 40 minutes tonight. We didn’t have the level of desperation that we needed and it took us two periods and being down two goals to get that, which is disappointing at this time of year.”

Harvard 4, Clarkson 3 (OT)

Reilly Walsh was the overtime hero as Harvard beat No. 10 Clarkson 4-3 at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

Jack Badini scored twice and added an assist and classmate Henry Bowlby added a goal for the Crimson. Michael Lackey made 28 saves on the night.

Harvard outshot Clarkson 41-31, with neither team registering a power play in the game.

Providence 4, Northeastern 1

Kasper Björkqvist and Jason O’Neill scored short-handed goals 2:41 apart in the first period as No. 14 Providence picked up a key 4-1 win over No. 8 Northeastern at Schneider Arena.

The Friars scored two short-handed goals in a game for the first time since Feb. 7, 2015 against UConn (Steve McParland and Noel Acciari).

Providence is now unbeaten in the last five games against Northeastern (4-0-1) dating back to Nov. 2016 and earned its first win over a top-10 team this season.

St. Cloud State 3, North Dakota 1

Patrick Newell’s goal at 13:33 of the third period proved to be the winner as top-ranked St. Cloud State toppled North Dakota on the road at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Micah Miller and Blake Lizotte also scored for the Huskies, who improve to 18-3-2 overall (10-1-2 NCHC).

Minnesota 9, Wisconsin 4

Minnesota produced its most offense in three years with a 9-4 victory to open the Border Battle series against Wisconsin at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Minnesota opened up a three-goal lead in the first period, but a combined nine goals in the third — including six for the Gophers — pushed the home team past the Badgers.

Tyler Sheehy went for a goal and three assists, Sammy Walker two goals and a helper and Brannon McManus and Brent Gates. Jr. each contributed a goal and two assists to back Mat Robson’s 42 saves.

The Gophers last scored nine goals in a game against this same Wisconsin team in a 9-2 win in Madison nearly three years to the day on Jan. 23, 2016.