Thursday Recap: All three Hockey East teams eliminated on Day 1
The first day of the NCAA Tournament is in the books, and it was a difficult one for Hockey East, which saw all three of its teams eliminated. Meanwhile, Worcester will send a Big Ten representative to the Frozen Four on Saturday, while North Dakota will face Quinnipiac in Sioux Falls.
Worcester Regional
Michigan State 2, UConn 1: The Huskies went 0-for-5 on the power play, which ultimately proved to be the difference. UConn outshot Michigan State, 42-22, but couldn’t solve Spartans goaltender Trey Augustine, who made 41 saves. Ryker Lee and Porter Martone scored for Michigan State.
“I thought UConn was the better team tonight,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said. “Trey was the best player on the ice by a country mile for us and I have a lot of respect for how (UConn) played. We got ourselves into a lot of penalty trouble, and we have to clean that up a bit.”
Wisconsin 5, Dartmouth 1: Wisconsin broke the game open in the third period with four unanswered goals — including two empty-netters — to pull away from the Big Green. Dartmouth was limited to just 14 shots on goal. Simon Tassy scored twice for Wisconsin, while Quinn Finley recorded three points (1g, 2a).
“We took some time off,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “The group was able to spend some time together and this group has always had each other’s back, so for us to get off to a good start was very important for us. (Dartmouth) is incredibly disciplined, so for us to take advantage of that early power play, it gave us a big momentum boost.”
Sioux Falls Regional
Quinnipiac 5, Providence 2: The Friars made it interesting late, cutting a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 in the third period before the Bobcats added two empty-net goals. Quinnipiac scored three times in the second period after a scoreless first.
“It wasn’t perfect. We had some bad penalties late, we had a bad turnover late. So we need to grow up a little bit, mature if we want to get back to the Frozen Four,” Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold said. “When you’re playing at this level with this much pressure, and there’s a lot of things going through these young kids’ minds, you got to handle adversity. And we did a good job of that.”
North Dakota 3, Merrimack 0: Jan Špunar posted his fifth shutout of the season, stopping all 31 shots he faced — his highest save total in a shutout this season.
The Warriors pushed late, outshooting North Dakota 14-4 in the third period, but Špunar held firm.
“When we play a strong game in front of him, he rarely lets bad goals in. He just makes all the saves that he should,” North Dakota coach Dane Jackson said. “I thought it was an outstanding response by him where there were maybe a couple people saying, ‘[He] hasn’t played so well,’ but it was more on our team kind of being a little more committed and more detailed.”