There's something about the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena that seems to bring out the best in the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.
Dominic Toninato scored twice and
Austin Farley had a goal and an assist to propel No. 9 UMD past No. 4 Michigan Tech University 3-1 Friday night and extend the Bulldogs' unbeaten streak in Houghton, Mich., to eight games. UMD, which is 7-0-1 on the Huskies' home ice going back to Feb. 6, 2010, hiked its 2014-15 overall record to 12-5-0 while Michigan Tech lost for just the third time in 15 outings.
The Bulldogs started the weekend series in forceful fashion as they outshot the Huskies 20-6 in the first period, but managed get just one puck past Michigan Tech goaltender Jamie Phillips. That came off the stick of Toninato, who banged in a rebound off a shot from Farley with 1:14 to go before intermission while UMD was on its second power play of the night. Farley picked up the eventual game-winner at 7:30 of second period with a four-on-four goal off a rebound just just outside the Michigan Tech goal crease. At the 6:16 of the third period, Dylan Stemen tipped in a shot to cut the Bulldog lead in half, before senior right winger
Adam Krause sprung Toninato with long pass and the sophomore center broke in all alone and beat Phillips with a nifty move for his team-leading 12th goal of the season. Phillips came into the night sporting with the nation's second-best goals against average.
"That's what you have to do against good goalies -- get pucks on net and look for rebounds and second chances," said
Scott Sandelin, who is 29-15-9 lifetime against Michigan Tech. "We did a good job of that tonight, we just didn't finish on all of them."
Kasimir Kaskisuo made 26 saves en route to posting his 11th win of the year -- tops among all NCAA I rookie netminders -- in 15 appearances.
The two former Western Collegiate Hockey Association rivals, who have combined to go 15-2-0 on the road this season (UMD is 7-2-0) will meet again Saturday night in Houghton.
Video Highlights (Courtesy of MTU)Â
