Freddy Gerard's second goal of the game, on a power play just over 7½ minutes into the third period, was the winner in No. 4 Ohio State's 4-2 victory over No. 11 Notre Dame on Friday night in Big Ten hockey in Columbus, Ohio. His goal gave the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead; Brendon Kearney added an empty-netter.
The Buckeyes (16-5-4, 9-3-3 Big Ten) expanded their conference lead over second-place Notre Dame (14-9-3, 7-7-2) to seven points. The Irish won the regular season and playoff titles last season, which was Notre Dame's first in the conference.
Michael Graham and Cam Morrison scored for the Irish, 34 seconds apart in the middle of the second period.
Sean Romeo had 27 saves for the Buckeyes, Cale Morris 22 for Notre Dame.
Michigan State 4, Wisconsin 1: Patrick Khodornko scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season and Mitch Lewandowski added a power-play goal, leading the Spartans over the visiting Badgers. Taro Hirose had the final goal, an empty-netter in the third, and two assists for Michigan State, giving him an NCAA-leading 31 assists. Ty Emberson scored Wisconsin's goal late in the second period. Drew DeRidder had 27 saves for the Spartans, Daniel Lebedeff 28 for the Badgers.
NCHC
No. 1 St. Cloud State 5, Miami (Ohio) 1: Ryan Poehling scored two goals and had two assists and his brother Jack had one goal as the Huskies defeated the visiting RedHawks. Jimmy Schuldt had the other goal, which put SCSU ahead 2-1 at 3:15 of the second period. Ryan Poehling got his first goal 49 seconds later. Both of those goals came on power plays. David Hrenak stopped shots for the Huskies.
No. 7 Denver 2, North Dakota 1: Goals by Jake Durflinger and Ryan Barrow gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead early in the second period and they held on to edge the visiting Fighting Hawks. Filip Larsson had 45 saves for Denver; Adam Scheel 25 for UND. Collin Adams scored for North Dakota with 5:10 to play.
Colorado College 4, No. 3 Minnesota Duluth 1: Troy Conzo scored twice as the host Tigers upset UMD, which had a 41-28 shot advantage. Peter Krieger had the Bulldogs' goal.
WCHA
No. 6 Minnesota State Mankato 6, Alabama Huntsville 1: Connor Mackey, Julian Napravnik and Chris Van Os-Shaw each had an assist as the Mavericks routed the visiting Chargers with five goals in the third period. Napravnik put MSU Mankato ahead 2-0 at 2:08 of the third with the eventual game-winner; Mackey got his goal 1:06 later. Dryden McKay stopped 14 shots for the Mavericks, Jake Theut 35 for Alabama Huntsville.
