A crazy Friday in men’s college hockey saw No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 St. Cloud State each lose, among other notable results.
Here’s how it all went down:
No. 1 Minnesota falls to No. 11 Ohio State, 6-4
The Buckeyes took a 1-0 lead out of the first period before the Golden Gophers evened it up early in the second. But OSU found a rhythm, scoring three of the next four goals before chasing Minnesota starting goaltender Justen Close early in the third period when Travis Treloar scored his second of the night to make it 5-2.
The Gophers fought back in the third, scoring twice, but it was no use en route to the 6-4 final.
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The Buckeyes have won three in a row, improving to 7-1-0 (3-0-0 Big Ten). They’ve averaged six goals per game during the winning streak.
Minnesota (4-3-0, 0-1-0 Big Ten) has lost two in a row, and is 1-3-0 since opening the year with three straight wins. The nation’s top team has fought to splits with then-No. 5 Minnesota State and then-No. 7 North Dakota in its last two series. Clawing back for a split on Saturday.
No. 2 St. Cloud State loses to (RV) Bemidji State, 3-1
The Beavers handed the Huskies their first loss of the season, riding three unanswered goals to the win.
St. Cloud took a 1-0 lead into the second, but two goals within 1:24 of each other late in the period shifted the game for Bemidji State. Both goals came off some nice passing by the Beavers, as Elias Rosén fed Jere Vaisanen on the equalizer with a strong effort before Ross Armour’s smart power play setup to Adam Flammang gave the freshman a tap-in for his first career goal.
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The Beavers (3-1-1, 1-0-1 CCHA) are unbeaten in three straight contests with a win and tie (won the shootout) against (RV) Michigan Tech. Bemidji has been receiving votes, and a win like this could be what pushes them into the polls.
The Huskies (6-1-0) had been on a roll coming into the series, most recently sweeping former-No. 2 Minnesota State last time out. Like Minnesota, St. Cloud will look for a good response in tomorrow’s rematch.
Elsewhere around the nation
No. 9 Boston University falls to No. 18 UMass Lowell, 2-1
Lowell has had BU’s number in recent years, and that stayed true Friday night as the River Hawks took a tight game at home.
All the scoring happened in the second period as Ethan Phillips’ equalizer for BU was bookended by two go-ahead goals for Lowell freshman Scout Truman, who has given UML good production early on in his career.
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Both BU (3-3-0, 1-2-0 HEA) and UMass Lowell (5-2-0, 2-0-0 HEA) have had mixed results so far this year, although Lowell has won three straight. Whether it’s a split for BU tomorrow or a River Hawk sweep, the result will go a long way for either team.
No. 15 Northeastern ties Maine, drops shootout
Speaking of Hockey East schools lacking consistency this season, Northeastern is winless in four straight games, going 0-2-2 with ties against (RV) Boston College and Maine. The Huskies won the shootout for the extra conference point against BC, but dropped Friday’s extra tally to the Black Bears.
Northeastern scored twice less than five minutes into the third for a 2-0 advantage, but Maine clawed back with two unanswered, including a short-handed goal in with 2:34 left to tie it up late before eventually taking the extra point.
The Huskies (3-2-2, 2-2-1 HEA) find themselves in a rut, where whether by bad luck or efforts like Friday, they find themselves failing to deliver against lower-ranked opponents in four straight games. Meanwhile, Maine has a 4-0 win over then-No. 3 Quinnipiac and a tie against No. 15 NU, basically out of nowhere.
The Huskies could use a “get right” win on Saturday.
