The University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team played their second game of the home series against Miami University tonight. Unlike Friday, this game was tight, with defensive plays and penalty killing making the difference.
UMD ultimately won 3-2 in overtime, with a circling goal by freshman Anthony Menghini. However, the game was close throughout, a stark contrast to last night's six-goal performance by the Bulldogs.
This time around, it took 25 minutes of play for either team to find the back of the net. For the second night in a row, however, Ben Steeves opened the scoring. Steeves' goal was his 21st this season and his 11th on the power play, tying him for most goals and power play goals in the NCAA.
Later that same period, fellow sophomore Riley Bodnarchuk added to the tally. The defenseman shot through traffic for his second goal of the season.
Early in the third period, Quinn Olson blocked a shot on the penalty kill, which sent him to the ice. After the game, his teammates had plenty of positive things to say about Olson staying out.
"It's never easy to put your body on the line," Menghini said. "When you have a guy like that doing it, especially a fifth year, a leader on our team, it's great to see. Everyone, younger guys, we all look up to that."
"It gives me tons of motivation, I think I can speak for every guy on the bench," Bodnarchuk added.
The penalty kill streak extended to 25 consecutive kills, including a five minute major in the third period.
The Bulldogs thought they had sealed the deal with an empty net goal from Blake Biondi, but the officials reviewed the play and ruled MU had scored earlier. Instead of extending the lead, UMD had to take this one in overtime.
At the other end of the ice, goaltender Zach Stejskal made a total of 31 saves and had a .932 save percentage. This weekend marked Stejskal's first two-win weekend since playing Bemidji State in late October.
"I thought he was tracking the puck really well," said Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "Especially, he got some cross-seam plays. I thought he was on top of the flank shots."
The Bulldogs will play at the University of Omaha next weekend, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 3 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 4.
