An overtime winner from senior captain
Noah Cates helped the No. 10 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to 4-3 comeback victory over the No. 9 St. Cloud State Huskies on Saturday evening. Along with their 5-2 win on Friday night, UMD notches it's first NCHC sweep of the season. With the win, UMD advances to St. Paul, Minn. for the NCHC Semifinals next weekend.
"We just needed to get a goal," said Head Coach
Scott Sandelin on UMD's third period comeback. "Obviously it was a great third period for us. We thought we had momentum going into the overtime, got a big penalty kill, and got a big goal from Noah."
Down by two entering the third period, UMD never quit. Just 56 seconds into the third,
Koby Bender found Cates open in the St. Cloud slot. Cates snapped a shot that beat SCSU's Jaxon Castor low glove. The goal would be Cate's first of the evening. The Bulldogs would keep up the pressure and drew a penalty just two minutes later. With the man-advantage,
Dominic James punched home a rebound on the side of the St. Cloud net to give UMD back-to-back goals within the first four minutes of the period.
SCSU wasted no time responding. Eleven seconds after the James goal, Nick Perbix beat
Ryan Fanti through a screen to give St. Cloud the lead right back. UMD never quit, and would outshoot the Huskies 13-1 in the third period. With just under three minutes to play in regulation,
Tanner Laderoute would deflect a
Matt Anderson point shot to tie the game at 3-3. The teams would head to overtime. It's just the second time all season that UMD has comeback when entering the third period behind.
In the overtime, UMD would note numerous early chances. The best opportunity was a shot from
Blake Biondi right off the faceoff, which was turned away by Castor. A tripping penalty to
Darian Gotz would give the nation's top power-play a chance in overtime. While on the man-advantage, a SCSU shot would bounce up and over Fanti, eventually bouncing off the top of the net. Luckily for the Bulldogs, Fanti was able to dive back and swat the puck away from danger.
Following the successful penalty-kill,
Kobe Roth broke in with Cates on a 2-on-2. Roth dished the puck to Cates and then drove towards the SCSU net. Cates used Roth as a screen and buried a wrist shot past Castor to send UMD to the NCHC Semifinals in St. Paul. On the night, Cates tallied two goals, bringing him to 99 points for his collegiate career.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will head to St. Paul for the NCHC Semifinals. Their opponent is yet to be determined.
