SATURDAY ROUNDUP: Wisconsin knocks off No. 1 Minnesota, No. 5 Michigan gets by No. 15 Michigan State on last-second OT goal, No. 2 Quinnipiac blanks St. Lawrence, Niagara sweeps No. 19 RIT

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Wisconsin upset top-ranked Minnesota Saturday night on home ice (photo: Tom Lynn).

Wisconsin scored three straight goals in front of a season-high 11,075 fans at the Kohl Center to take down No. 1 Minnesota 3-1 in an upset win on Saturday.

Carson Bantle posted a goal and an assist and Jack Horbach notched a pair of helpers to lead Wisconsin to the victory.

Goaltender Kyle McClellan stood tall in net with 32 saves.

Minnesota struck first at 18:28 in the first period when Mike Koster fired off a wrist shot from the point that hit off a Badger and sailed into the top corner.

However, the Gophers’ lead was short lived. With 21 seconds remaining in the first period, Cruz Lucius beat goaltender Justen Close on his blocker side with a backhand wrist shot to tie the game at one.

Daniel Laatsch gave the Badgers the lead with his first goal of the season at 10:17 in the second period.

Bantle extended Wisconsin’s lead to 3-1 at 14:09 of the second period.

Minnesota pulled Close (26 saves) in the final three minutes, but the Badgers shut them down.

Wisconsin honored its 1973 and 1983 NCAA championship teams during the game on the 50th and 40th anniversary seasons of the championships.

The Badgers are also 4-2-0 in the last six meetings with Minnesota when the Gophers have been ranked No. 1.

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No. 2 Quinnipiac 5, St. Lawrence 0

Quinnipiac cruised to its sixth consecutive victory on Saturday night, defeating St. Lawrence by a 5-0 final at Appleton Arena.

The Bobcats were powered by both of its Hobey Baker Award nominees, as Collin Graf potted a pair of goals and Yaniv Perets recorded his eighth shutout of the campaign as Quinnipiac leaves the northern part of New York with all six available points.

Christophe Fillion, Anthony Cipollone, and Jayden Lee also scored for QU, while Iivari Räsänen chipped in two assists.

With his two-point night, Graf crossed over the 40-point plateau, becoming the first Bobcats player since Odeen Tufto in 2018-19 to record 40 points in a campaign.

Perets’ eighth shutout brings him into a tie for second with Michael Garteig’s 2015-16 total. The sophomore netminder owns the single-season record with 11 a year ago. His 19 career shutouts match Garteig’s career record.

This is the first time this season that the Bobcats have shut out opponents in back to back contests and it’s the first time since Dec. 11, 2021 and Jan. 14, 2022 when the squad blanked LIU and Harvard.

St. Lawrence goalie Emil Zetterquist finished with 24 saves.

No. 4 Denver 5, North Dakota 2

Denver scored a trio of power-play goals, all coming on a pair of major man advantages, to complete the weekend sweep over North Dakota with a 5-2 win on Saturday night from Magness Arena.

Massimo Rizzo collected a goal and an assist for DU, while Aidan Thompson, Shai Buium, Carter King and Tristan Broz also scored to back Magnus Chrona’s 21 saves between the pipes.

“It was good to win games in two different ways,” said Denver coach David Carle. “Like last night, our 5-on-5 play really excelled, and tonight, obviously special teams did. We were able to take advantage on the power play, and I thought the penalty kill was excellent.”

Sean Behrens tacked on two assists for the Pioneers.

For North Dakota, Jackson Blake and Mark Senden scored and Drew DeRidder made 32 saves in a losing effort for the Fighting Hawks.

No. 5 Michigan 4, No. 15 Michigan State 3 (OT)

Luke Hughes scored with seven-tenths of a second remaining in overtime Saturday night to propel No. 5 Michigan to a 4-3 victory over Michigan State in the “Duel in the D” game at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena in front of 18,325 fans.

With the win, the Wolverines claim their sixth straight Iron D Trophy.

Hughes’ goal was set up by freshman Frank Nazar III, who had a goal and an assist in his second collegiate game after missing much of the season with an injury.

MSU sent the game to overtime with a goal by Michael Underwood with five minutes to go in regulation.

TJ Hughes and Dylan Duke also scored for Michigan. Erik Portillo stopped 30 shots in goal and Mackie Samoskevich posted three assists.

The Spartans also got goals from Miroslav Mucha and Jeremy Davidson and 26 saves from Dylan St. Cyr.

No. 11 Cornell 4, Colgate 4

Cornell played to a 4-4 tie with Colgate at the Class of 1965 Arena on Saturday night.

Colgate picked up the extra point for standings purposes in the shootout.

Jack Malone scored two goals, while Ben Berard, Gabriel Seger, and Nick DeSantis all had two-point nights for the Big Red.

Remington Keopple made 16 saves in 45 minutes of relief for starting netminder Ian Shane, who made six saves in the opening 20 minutes.

Colton Young factored in all four Colgate goals, finding the back of the net twice. Colton’s brother, Alex, had two assists to extend his nation-leading point streak to 14 games. Nick Anderson chipped in a goal and an assist for the Raiders, who had a 27-save performance by Carter Gylander.

Niagara 4, No. 18 RIT 1

Niagara downed RIT 4-1 on home ice Saturday night at Dwyer Arena to secure the weekend sweep.

Jason Pineo and Olivier Gauthier each had a goal and an assist for the Purple Eagles, while Shane Ott and Glebs Prohorenkovs also scored.

Josef Mysak added three assists and Casey Carreau two assists to back Chad Veltri’s 28 saves in goal.

For the Tigers, Tommy Scarfone finished with 20 stops and Elijah Gonsalves netted the lone goal.

New Hampshire 3, No. 13 Connecticut 2 (OT)

Damien Carfagna was the OT hero, scoring the winner 2:52 into the extra session to lift the Wildcats to a weekend sweep at the Whittemore Center.

Stiven Sardarian and Jake Dunlap also scored for UNH and Tyler Muszelik made 23 saves in net.

Harrison Rees and Justin Pearson scored for UConn, while Arsenii Sergeev finished with 27 stops for the Huskies.

No. 12 Michigan Tech 4, Bowling Green 2

Michigan Tech earned a Winter Carnival split with a 4-2 victory over Bowling Green Saturday on Senior Night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

The Falcons held a 1-0 lead before the Huskies scored three straight and then sealed the win with an empty-net tally.

“We had a lot of nervous energy last night, and I think we were more settled in and focused tonight,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said. “We bounced back in a big way, and Kyle Kukkonen had a really big weekend for us.

“I’m really happy for the seniors. It’s always bittersweet on Senior Night. They’ve won a lot of games for Michigan Tech hockey.”

With the win, Michigan Tech matches last season’s win total as the Huskies improved to 21-8-4 overall. The Huskies also jumped Minnesota State for the top spot in the CCHA standings. The Huskies and Mavericks will play for the MacNaughton Cup as CCHA regular-season champions in the regular-season finale on February 24-25 in Mankato, Minn.

Kukkonen was named Winter Carnival MVP after scoring four goals on the weekend with a pair of tallies each night. Royal Majesty Josie Edick presented the award with Jerry, Scott, and Betty MacInnes also present on the ice.

In the game Saturday night, Kukkonen scored twice, Ryland Mosley and Tristan Ashbrook one each, and Brett Thorne had two assists as Blake Pietila made 21 saves to earn his 55th career win, which is three shy of tying the Michigan Tech record

Austen Swankler and Nathan Burke scored for BGSU and Christian Stoever stopped 24 shots for the Falcons.

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