HAMDEN, Conn. — While on paper there was a stark difference between No. 2 Quinnipiac and No. 15 Northeastern, the reigning Hockey East and ECAC Champions squared off on Friday attempting to seize an out-of-conference victory. Neither got their way after 65 minutes, ending in a 2-2 tie.

The score was mirrored, and the play at times ran parallel for both teams as well. The difference makers, as the coaches decided, were panic on one side of the puck and poise on the other.

“It was an unusual game, there were some things for us to take out of it … obviously disappointing to not hold the lead there at the end but it’s the first game of the year,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We gotta clean areas up, we panicked a little bit with the puck. Some of our better players panicked a little. We’ll clean it up, we’ll be better tomorrow night.”

Quinnipiac’s first goal from Andrew Taverner had a long review to check for goaltender interference. Northeastern would start the second on a power play and tie it up as time nearly expired on the infraction to tie it at one.

“I thought our team got better as the game went along,” Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan said. “From the first period where we’re outshot a little but we had opportunities, and then the second and third period we really liked our offensive zone play and the opportunities in and around the net. There weren’t many penalties, but it took us out of a rhythm when we did get some penalties.”

Of the 11 infractions on the night, the second period was broken up by five combined offenses. Northeastern was the only successful party on the man advantage as Quinnipiac went 0-for-4 on the night.

“I thought they were a little bit better. We had a couple bad shifts that generated a lot of their offense, there was two really bad shifts that started with us panicking for the puck, we didn’t make a good decision with the puck,” Pecknold said.

Madigan still admired some of the successes his team had in the transition game and the work that could be done when the Huskies had the puck.

“It’s a puck possession game down low and then you’re trying to get guys into the open ice,” Madigan said. “I thought we showed a lot of patience with the puck down along the wall in the offensive zone and made some plays. We had some real good looks.”

One Northeastern forward who thrived in transition was Adam Gaudette, who both pulled the puck out from along the goal line in the first period while having strong attempts of his own on the other side of the ice.

“I’m a two-way guy but that can obviously produce,” Gaudette said. “I model my game after Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, those are kinda guys that I really focus on.”

The Bobcats believed the game was clinched with six-and-a-half minutes left to play in the game when Bo Pieper stuffed in a shot Huskies goaltender Ryan Ruck hadn’t fully covered yet. Even in the early goings of the season, Madigan was confident his team wouldn’t be fazed.

“We’re not as seasoned as Quinnipiac, but we’ve been through a lot last year, and even in the past two years,” Madigan said. “There’s no panic on the bench and there’s a confidence on the bench of ‘hey, we’re gonna have a chance to win this, to tie the game still.'”

The poise paid off with a Nolan Stevens goal with less than a minute left in the game as three Northeastern players dropped in from the high slot. For both teams, the bounces, odd plays and penalties still ended off even for these strong schools.

“They were good tonight, we were good. They were sloppy at times, we were sloppy at times,” Pecknold said. “Hopefully it’ll be a cleaner game tomorrow night, for us at least.”

ECAC Results

St. Lawrence at Penn State

The Saints stretched a four goal lead through the first period and a half as St. Lawrence doubled up the Nittany Lions 6-3 in front of a sellout crowd in Happy Valley. Both SLU’s Sturtz and PSU’s Marnell had two goal nights.

Vermont at Clarkson

The Catamounts’ four goal outburst in the third period pushed them over the Clarkson Golden Knights 5-2, lead by Jordan Boucher’s pair of goals on the night. Clarkson maintained the shots on goal advantage all night, peppering Mike Santaguida with 37 shots in the loss.

Rensselaer at Maine

Maine’s Mitchell Fossier scored a pair of goals against the Engineers, though the teams sat even in shots through two. RPI struggled on the man advantage, going 1-for-10 on the night, while Maine went 0-for-7.

Union at Michigan

The unranked Union Dutchmen took down the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines 4-3 after two late goals with less than five minutes in the game. Michigan was held to single digit shots on goal the entire game, totaling 23. The Dutchmen posted 40 shots on Wolverines starter Zach Nagelvoort.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Dutchmen brought their relentless, sixty-minute game to Ann Arbor as Union (N.Y.) beat No. 11 Michigan, 4-3, in the season-opening tilt for both teams. It was a contest in which the momentum turned three times on special teams. The third time — late in the third period — was the charm in the form of senior captain Mike Vecchione’s game-winning power-play goal, his first of the season.

It was all a matter of preparation, said Union coach Rick Bennett.

“Jason Tapp, our associate coach, does a very good job with our power play. The guys that are there on the power play are there for a reason and I think they came through, especially our ‘unity group’ there, our five guys. They did a really good job of leading our team tonight.”

Those five guys include Vecchione, his classmates Eli Lichtenwald and Jeff Taylor, and juniors Spencer Foo and Ryan Scarfo. Three of those players – Vecchione, Taylor and Foo – combined for all four goals and three assists. With the Dutchmen trailing 2-0 at 15:10 in the first, Foo scored with a wrist shot on the power play, then tied the game with his second goal of the night, burying Brett Supinski’s feed from behind the net.

After Michigan’s Will Lockwood netted his first of the season early in the second, the teams seemed locked into a 3-2 Michigan lead, until UM’s Cutler Martin took a high stick penalty at 14:17 in the third, a penalty forced by a very tenacious Union squad. It took Vecchione just over a minute to capitalize on that mistake and Taylor another two-and-a-half minutes to capitalize on the momentum from that power play.

“That power-play goal was kind of a turning point for their team, and maybe for our team, too,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “We took an unnecessary penalty and, sure enough, you have to pay for it. I thought it was an unearned goal on their part. We shouldn’t have taken the penalty to give them the power play. Up until then, I thought we were having a pretty good third period.”

It was special teams in the first period that gave the Wolverines their 2-0 lead to begin with. Sam Piazza scored from the top of the slot on the first Michigan power play at 8:54, and Tony Calderone made it 2-0 on a shorthanded breakaway at 11:52, moments after he exited the penalty box himself when the Wolverines were killing overlapping penalties.

“That was a great lift for us,” said Berenson. “It’s one of those things that’s a break. Sometimes you’re lucky. Tony’s a goal scorer and good for him. In the first shift of the third period, Alex Kile walked in on the breakaway and didn’t score. Those are huge points in the game that can go your way or not.”

The Dutchmen outshot the Wolverines 40-23, including a 15-7 differential in the third period. Even before drawing the penalty, Union was pressing.

“It was just nice for us to not get caught in the lull of the game,” said Bennett. “I don’t think we did that. I think we had some chances there in the third, instead of sailing pucks over the net like we were earlier, we finally hit the net.”

B1G results

No. 16 St. Lawrence 6, Penn State 3 

Junior Mike Marnell netted his first two of the season as No. 16 St. Lawrence beat Penn State, 6-3, to earn a split on the weekend. The Saints jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the 3:30 mark of the second with sophomore Jacob Pritchard’s first goal of the year, a marker that held up to be the game winner. The Nittany Lions drew within two goals in the second and added another in the third, but Marnell’s two third-period goals, the second an empty-netter, put the game out of reach. St. Lawrence junior Kyle Hayton made 43 saves as the Nittany Lions outshot the Saints, 46-26. Sophomore Chris Funkey gave up three goals in the loss and freshman Peyton Jones saw time at the end of the game.

Northern Michigan 3, Wisconsin 2

Three different Wildcats scored as Northern Michigan outlasted Wisconsin in the opener of a two-game set in Green Bay’s Resch Center. Seniors Gerard Hanson and Brock Maschmeyer each had three-point nights, as Hanson had a goal and two assists and Maschmeyer helped on all three tallies. The Wildcats led 2-1 after the first, with Hanson scoring just 19 seconds into the game. Wisconsin sophomore Will Johnson tied it on the power play at 4:50, but Robbie Payne gave the Wildcats the lead again on a five-on-three advantage at 10:17 in the first. Troy Loggins had the game-winning goal at the six-minute mark in the second and Corbin McGuire added an early third-period goal for the Badgers. NMU sophomore Atte Tolvanen made 27 saves as Wisconsin outshot Northern Michigan, 29-19.

Ohio State 3, No. 3 Denver 2

The Buckeyes never trailed as the knocked off No. 3 Denver 3-2 in the nightcap of the Icebreaker Tournament in Denver, Colo.  Ohio State stunned the Pioneers on a goal by junior Matthew Weis, 30 seconds into the contest. The visitors broke open a tie contest with a pair of goals in the second period. Sophomore John Wiitala netted what would prove to be the game-winner at 16:14 of the second. The Buckeyes will face Air Force, a surprise 2-1 winner over No. 5 Boston College, in the the tournament final on Saturday.

LOWELL, Mass. — No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth returned to the scene of two past crimes and almost added a third before settling on a 4-4 ties against No. 8 UMass-Lowell.

Lowell sits 37 miles east of Worcester and 25 miles south of Manchester, New Hampshire. But for a Bulldogs team from halfway across the country, all three might as well be the same place. For the past two years, the Bulldogs were sent by the NCAA Selection Committee to the Northeast Regional. Both times ended in heartbreaking fashion, inches from a trip to the Frozen Four.

Last year in the opening round, they defeated the defending national champions, Providence, in what was pretty close to the champ’s backyard, Worcester. Then Duluth had to face Boston College in the Eagles’ actual backyard. Down 3-0 in the third period, the Bulldogs rallied to make it 3-2, went on the power play and pressed for the tying goal. They almost got it, necessitating a video review on the potential equalizer with 2.6 seconds left.

This close to overtime and a possible trip to the Frozen Four.

But no.

The year before, Duluth defeated Minnesota handily in the Northeast Regional opener, but again had to face a formidable foe, Boston University, playing in its backyard, Manchester.

Again, the Bulldogs came agonizingly close to the Frozen Four, surrendering the game-winner on a BU power play with only 2:32 remaining in regulation.

Would this season-opening road trip, a northeastern trek to Lowell, result in a similarly close-but-exploding-cigar loss?

For a time it appeared that way. Duluth fell behind, 4-1, in a tightly-called game littered with 19 penalties. The Bulldogs roared back with a dominant third period in which they outshot the hosts, 21-10, tying the game with 3:30 remaining in regulation. A tidal wave of momentum was on their side.

In overtime, however, it appeared that crushing heartbreak had struck again. Not of the season-ending variety, of course, but it would be a soul-crushing way to get the season going. Lowell’s C.J. Smith put the puck into the net 2:23 into OT, and the River Hawks fans rejoiced. All that remained was a video replay to confirm the result.

Duluth coach Scott Sandelin had seen this movie before.

“I was just [upset] our guy turned the puck over,” he said. “I was yelling at our guys to go shake hands. Then there was the delay.” The delay would eventually find that Smith had interfered with goaltender Nick Deery and not only would the game-winner be waved off, but Smith would be sent to the penalty box.

Sandelin wasn’t expecting that reprieve. “I was thinking to go shake hands, get off [the ice], and go prepare for tomorrow.”

This time, however, the video review determined that there would be no heartbreaking loss. In the end, there wouldn’t be the win that might have been hoped for considering Duluth’s third-period dominance and its 5-0 shot disparity in overtime. But at least there wouldn’t be a loss.

“It probably was fitting that it ended in a tie,” Sandelin said. “We’ll take it and move on to tomorrow.”

National Collegiate Hockey Conference results

Western Michigan 2, #20 Ferris State 1

Western Michigan outshot Ferris State 20-4 in the decisive second period, getting the game-tying goal from Matheson Iacopelli and the winner on the power play by Scott Moldenhauer, both in that period. Ben Blacker stopped 17 shots for his second win.

#10 Providence 4, Miami 3

Providence’s Brian Pinho tallied the game-winning, shorthanded goal at 13:53 of the third period, negating three power-play goals by Miami. The RedHawks rallied three times from one-goal deficits before surrendering the game-winner.

Massachusetts 3 Colorado College 0

UMass shut out Colorado College, 3-0, on the strength of a perfect penalty kill unit that stopped all 11 Tiger power plays. The Tigers outshot the Minutemen, 31-18, but Ryan Wischow stopped all 31 shots for the shutout.

#1 North Dakota 6 Canisius 0

Top-ranked North Dakota showcased its power, using even-strength goals from five different players and a shorthanded goal by Dixon Bowen to secure the dominating win. The Fighting Hawks scored in the game’s opening minute and Cam Johnson stopped all 17 shots for the shutout.

LEWISTON, NY – It is unequivocally amazing how instantaneously a collegiate hockey game can sometimes change.

Suddenly, a razor close game between host Niagara and Holy Cross had turned dramatically – and in lightning quick fashion – thanks mainly to Crusaders junior TJ Moore’s hat trick.

That was certainly what transpired in Holy Cross’ 8-2 victory at Dwyer Arena on Friday evening, as the Purple Eagles fell apart technically, and paid dearly for it. The Crusaders capitalized during a 33-second, second period blitzkrieg. When the proverbial dust settled, a tight 2-2 game disintegrated into a one-sided affair.

During the onslaught, Holy Cross used its speed in a four-on-four situation, its collective skill on the rush and some shabby defensive work by Niagara and the game changed and was never the same.

“It was a combination,” confirmed Moore, who also had two assists. “We got a few good bounces with a lot of space out there, and we made it work for ourselves by using our speed, and getting the puck to the net.”

The three goal outburst was a school-record for Holy Cross, which eventually cruised to an 8-2 triumph.

Niagara coach Dave Burkholder acknowledged that speed and skill were the catalysts to the explosion.

“They are a really good team in transition, and obviously we knew that going in.,” he said. “They are going to kill you on the rush, and we had a couple of bad turnovers. And, we didn’t get a save, there were a couple of short side goals that are unacceptable. It just happened so quick, it was the difference in the game.”

“You can’t take penalties how we did, and when we did, and win at this level.”

Moore, who led the Crusaders in scoring last season with 15 goals and 28 points, started the assault with his second goal of the game at 12:21 of the second period when we whistled a shot over Niagara goaltender Jackson Teichroeb’s right shoulder for a 3-2 lead.

“It was another good play by my linemates,” Moore said. “I just shot the puck through a screen and it wound up going in.”

After Ryan Ferrill scored just 11 seconds later for a 4-2 advantage, Moore essentially ended the game when he sped in and lifted a backhander over Teichroeb, and all of a sudden it was 5-2 Holy Cross at the 12:54 mark.

Earlier, Moore tied the game 1-1 late in the first period when he swiped in a rebound after Mike Barrett’s initial shot was stopped by Teichroeb. The puck hit the goalpost and slid right out to Moore, who was in the right place at the right time.

Following the game, Moore was wrapped in an ice pack on his lower back, and deliberately steered conversation away from his personal accomplishments and focused on his teammates.

“Our team is really confident right now and that is what it is really all about,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who gets the points around here. That’s why we love playing with each other, because we have a good group of guys in the locker room. It is good to get our first win in this fashion, and we want to pick up another one tomorrow and move along with our schedule.”

ATLANTIC HOCKEY RESULTS

Robert Morris at RIT

Rochester Institute of Technology rode a three-goal spurt in just under 10 minutes in the second period to defeat Robert Morris 6-3. Gabe Valenzeula led the Tigers with a goal and two assists while Timmy Moore scored twice for the Colonials.

Sacred Heart at Army

Taylor Maruya had three assists to lead Army to a 4-0 victory over Sacred Heart. Parker Gahagen recorded 33 saves for the Black Knights, who were outshot 33-23.

Canisius at North Dakota

Six different players scored for No. 1 North Dakota in a 6-0 victory over Canisius. Simon Hofley stopped 29 shots and played all 60 minutes between the pipes for the Golden Griffins.