SATURDAY ROUNDUP: No. 19 RIT advances to Atlantic Hockey title game, No. 4 Michigan State, No. 11 Michigan to play for B1G crown, No. 20 Bemidji State, Michigan Tech to battle for CCHA title, ECAC, Hockey East semis set, two NCHC series going to Game 3s

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Michigan Tech players Logan Pietila, Ryland Mosley and Isaac Gordon celebrate Pietila’s game winner late in the third period Saturday night to beat Minnesota State (photo: Michigan Tech Athletics).

Conference playoffs raged on Saturday afternoon and night, as one Atlantic Hockey series is going the distance, the Big Ten title game is set between two Michigan teams, the ECAC and Hockey East semifinals are set, and two teams have advanced to the NCHC semifinal round next weekend.

SCOREBOARD | POLL | PAIRWISE

ATLANTIC HOCKEY

No. 19 RIT 5, Niagara 2


Elijah Gonsalves scored twice as RIT eliminated Niagara at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, N.Y. Tyler Fukakusa, Carter Wilkie and Dimitri Mikrogiannakis also scored and Tommy Scarfone made 25 saves in goal. Shane Ott and Tyler Wallace netted Niagara’s goals and Jarrett Fiske stopped 25 shots between the pipes.

AIC 3, Holy Cross 0


Brett Rylance scored a pair of goals and Nils Wallstrom made 32 saves as AIC forced a Game 3, winning tonight at the Hart Recreation Center in Worcester, Mass. Nick Somerville also scored for the Yellow Jackets. Jason Grande stopped 22 shots for the Crusaders.

BIG TEN

No. 4 Michigan State 2, Ohio State 1


Nash Nienhuis’ goal early in the third period stood as the game winner at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich., as Michigan State will play for the Big Ten title next weekend. Daniel Russell also scored for the Spartans and Trey Augustine made 37 saves in goal. Max Montes tallied Ohio State’s goal and goalie Logan Terness finished with 36 saves.

No. 11 Michigan 2, No. 6 Minnesota 1


Kienan Draper and Gavin Brindley scored and Jake Barczewski turned in a 23-save performance for Michigan at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn., and the Wolverines will join MSU next weekend in the Big Ten championship tilt. Justen Close turned aside 29 shots for the Gophers and Jimmy Snuggerud scored the lone goal.

CCHA

Michigan Tech 4, Minnesota State 3


From the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich., Logan Pietila scored the winning goal with 9.1 seconds left in the third period to lift the Huskies into the conference title game next weekend. Pietila had tied the game 3-3 on a penalty shot at 15:27 of the third period. Jack Works and Kash Rasmussen also scored for MTU and goalie Blake Pietila made 29 saves. Lucas Sowder, Will Hillman and Adam Eisele scored for the Mavericks and Alex Tracy made 34 stops in goal.

No. 20 Bemidji State 4, Lake Superior State 1


Bemidji State is in the CCHA title game after Eric Pohlkamp, Jake McLean, Kirklan Irey and Jere Vaisanen found the back of the net at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn. Mattias Sholl made 13 saves in goal. Branden Piku scored for LSSU and Ethan Langenegger made 34 saves in goal.

ECAC HOCKEY

St. Lawrence 3, Colgate 2


Cameron Buhl, Felikss Gavars and Jan Olenginski scored for the Saints, who eliminated the Raiders at Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, N.Y. Goaltender Ben Kraws made 41 saves. Ryan Sullivan and Ryan McGuire scored for Colgate and Carter Gylander stopped 19 shots in net.

Dartmouth 4, Union 2


Luke Haymes’ goal at 14:04 of the third period proved to be the game winner as Dartmouth bounced Union at Thompson Arena in Hanover, N.H. Matt Fusco, Braiden Dorfman and Cam MacDonald also scored and Cooper Black made 24 saves in goal. Caden Villegas popped both goals for the Garnet Chargers and Kyle Chauvette finished with 21 saves.

No. 15 Cornell 4, Harvard 1


Cornell swept Harvard at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y., winning tonight on the strength of two goals each from Ben Robertson and Gabriel Seger. Ian Shane made 21 saves. Ian Moore scored the Harvard goal and Derek Mullahy also stopped 21 shots.

No. 7 Quinnipiac 5, Rensselaer 2


Andon Cerbone scored two goals for QU, who advance to the ECAC Hockey semifinals, from the M&T Bank Center in Hamden, Conn. Collin Graf, Anthony Cipollone and Jacob Quillan also scored and goalie Vinny Duplessis made 22 saves. Lauri Sertti and Sutter Muzzatti scored for the Engineers and Jack Watson made 28 saves in goal.

HOCKEY EAST

No. 8 Maine 5, No. 17 New Hampshire 0


Albin Boija made all 18 saves at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine, and Bradly Nadeau scored two goals for the Black Bears. Josh Nadeau, Ben Poisson and Nolan Renwick also scored. UNH goalie Jakob Hellsten finshed with 20 saves.

No. 2 Boston University 4, Northeastern 2


From Agganis Arena in Boston, Quinn Hutson, Luke Tuch, Case McCarthy and Macklin Celebrini scored and Mathieu Caron made 21 saves in net. Justin Hryckowian scored both for Northeastern and goalie Cameron Whitehead turned aside 28 shots.

No. 1 Boston College 5, UConn 1


Jack Malone scored two goals for BC at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Jacob Bengtsson, Drew Fortescue and Ryan Leonard added goals and Jacob Fowler made 29 stops in goal. Matthew Wood registered two goals for the Huskies, John Spetz and Jake Richard also scored, and Arsenii Sergeev stopped 28 shots between the pipes.

No. 16 UMass 3, No. 13 Providence 1


Ryan Lautenbach, Ryan Ufko and Kenny Connors scored for the Minutemen and Michael Hrabal made 27 saves at Schneider Arena in Providence, R.I. Hudson Malinowski broke Hrabal’s shutout at 14:50 of the third period. Friars goalie Philip Svedebäck stopped 22 shots.

NCHC

No. 5 North Dakota 7, Miami 1


Seven different players scored for the Fighting Hawks, who swept Miami at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., to advance to the conference semifinals. Riese Gaber, Jackson Kunz, Jackson Blake, Logan Britt, Dylan James, Ben Strinden and Hunter Johannes scored and Hobie Hedquist finished with 28 saves. Artur Turansky scored for the RedHawks and goalie Logan Neaton also made 28 saves.

No. 12 Omaha 3, No. 10 Colorado College 1


Tanner Ludtke, Jimmy Glynn and Brock Bremer scored for Omaha to force a deciding Game 3 at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. Simon Latkoczy finished with 39 saves. For CC, Chase Foley scored and goalie Kaidan Mbereko made 18 saves.

No. 14 Western Michigan 6, No. 18 St. Cloud State 1


Sam Colangelo netted a hat trick from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn., forcing a Game 3 as the Broncos scored six unanswered goals. Dylan Wendt added two goals, Luke Grainger one, and Cameron Rowe finished with 15 saves in net. Tyson Gross scored for SCSU and Isak Posch made 34 saves between the pipes.

No. 3 Denver 5, Minnesota Duluth 2


Denver swept Minnesota Duluth from Magness Arena in Denver, Colo., as Rieger Lorenz scored two goals and goalie Matt Davis stopped 28 shots. Aidan Thompson, Sean Behrens and Tristan Broz also scored for the Pioneers. Luke Loheit and Kyle Bettens scored for UMD and Matthew Thiessen made 25 saves in goal.

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