Top-ranked Minnesota State doubles up Arizona State, No. 4 Michigan downs Wisconsin, No. 17 Providence wins thriller over No. 9 UMass, No. 5 Denver escapes with OT win over Miami

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Riley Duran and Chase Yoder celebrate Duran’s goal that proved to be the game-winning tally for Providence as the Friars edged UMass 2-1 Friday night (photo: Rich Gagnon).

Top-ranked Minnesota State hosted Arizona State Friday night and knocked off the Sun Devils 4-2 behind goals from four different players and 34 saves in net from Dryden McKay.

McKay is now 24-4-0 on the year with tonight’s win. With 99 career victories, McKay stands tied for third all-time in NCAA Division I men’s hockey in wins. Marty Turco (Michigan 1994-98, 127 wins) ranks first, Steve Shields (Michigan, 1990-94, 111 wins) is second and McKay is tied with Scott Clemmensen (Boston College, 1997-01, 99 wins).

Andy Carroll, Reggie Lutz, Julian Napravnik and Ondrej Pavel scored for the Mavericks, while Matthew Kopperud tallied both goals for ASU.

Ben Kraws took the loss between the pipes for Arizona State.

Minnesota Duluth 5, Western Michigan 4

Third-ranked Western Michigan erased two two-goal deficits but fell short on the road to No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, 5-4.

Hunter Lellig’s goal at 8:43 of the third period, his first goal of the season, lifted the No. 7 Bulldogs to the win.

“Can’t let your guard down against good teams,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We were able to battle back, get some big kills at the end, got a big goal from ‘Lells,’ and got the win. It was a great play by Quinn (Olson) to pull up and find the late guy, also a nice shot from Hunter. Tomorrow’s going to be a similar game.”

Ryan Fanti made 24 saves for Minnesota Duluth, while Brandon Bussi finished with 30 for the Broncos.

Michigan, 5, Wisconsin 1

Nine players recorded points on Friday night as the offense clicked for the No. 4 Wolverines in a 5-1 road win over Wisconsin.

Erik Portillo turned in another outstanding performance with 26 saves on 27 shots faced to earn his 20th win of the season.

Mackie Samoskevich scored once and added two assists, Matty Beniers scored a goal and recorded two assists for his 12th multi-point game of the year, and Ethan Edwards collected two assists to secure his first career multi-point game.

Denver 5, Miami 4 (OT)

Cole Guttman led the fifth-ranked Pioneers to the thrilling OT win as the senior captain scored twice in the final 3:03 to help Denver to erase a two-goal deficit and then added the primary assist on Mike Benning’s tap-in game-winner during the 3-on-3 OT.

Cameron Wright also scored twice for the Pioneers, while Massimo Rizzo and Brett Stapley contributed a pair of assists each.

Denver goalie Magnus Chrona had not allowed a goal in over 198 minutes before the RedHawks scored three times against him in a five-minute span of the first period.

Chrona stopped 15 shots while at the other end, Ludvig Persson made 40 saves.

Michigan Tech 5, Bemidji State 2

The No. 18-ranked Huskies won their third straight game to begin 2022 with a 5-2 victory over the Beavers.

Four Huskies notched at least two points, and Blake Pietila stopped 32 shots in goal.

“I’m very proud of our players,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said. “We shook the cobwebs off early and competed and battled hard. We got contributions from everybody who played.
“It was a big night for Justin Misiak. It’s been a thrill to watch every single one of his games, and the guys made it a special night for him.”

Misiak skated in his 166th career game in a Michigan Tech uniform to break a program record. Misiak was tied with Richard Novak (1984-89) entering the game.

Providence 2, UMass 1

Riley Duran scored twice in the third period, including the game-winning goal with 3:42 remaining in regulation as the No. 17 Friars outlasted No. 9 UMass 2-1.

In goal, Jaxson Stauber made 31 saves for Providence and Matt Murray 26 for the Minutemen.

The Friars snapped an eight-game winless streak against the Minutemen (0-6-2).

UMass’ Bobby Trivigno scored at 16:09 of the third period to tie the game 1-1 before Duran scored the winner nine seconds later.

Minnesota 5, Notre Dame 1

Minnesota’s run of luck at Compton Family Ice Arena continued on Friday night as the No. 10 Gophers beat No. 11 Notre Dame 5-1 for their fifth straight win over the Irish.

Minnesota has also won seven straight games at Notre Dame’s venue and is unbeaten in the last eight games at the facility (three of those wins came against other Big Ten teams during last year’s conference playoffs).

Twelve Gophers tallied points in the win, including two goals from Blake McLaughlin and Justen Close’s first career point with the program.

Close also improved to 3-2-0 on the season behind a career-high 28 saves.

Cornell 2, Dartmouth 2 (Dartmouth wins shootout)

Jack Malone scored on a power play with 2:22 left in the third period to help No. 8 Cornell salvage a 2-2 tie.

The Big Green earned an extra point in the ECAC Hockey standings by winning the best-of-three shootout.

Nick Unruh and Joey Musa scored on their attempts while Clay Stevenson came up big in goal.

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