Spartans' Hirose Still Leads NCAA in Scoring

Taro Hirose (Michigan State) continues to lead all NCAA Division I men's ice hockey players in scoring.

The Calgary native and junior forward for the Spartans added to his goal and point totals last week in a loss and a tie at Big Ten Conference opponent Notre Dame. He scored once on Friday in a 6-3 setback in South Bend, Ind., and then scored the Spartans' lone goal in a 1-1 tie on Saturday. The previous weekend, Hirose recorded a total of five assists in a two-step sweep of visiting Big Ten foe Minnesota at MSU's Munn Arena.

The undrafted Hirose now has 42 points on the year in 26 games, matching his career-high total set last season in 36 outings, and has also scored a personal-best 13 goals so far this season. His nation-leading 29 assists this winter is just one away from his personal career-high of 30 assists set in 2017-18. He also leads NCAA Division I with 1.62 points per game to date.

In 96 career appearances with MSU, Hirose has posted 31 goals and 77 assists for 108 points. He and the Spartans (9-13-4 overall, 5-8-3-2- Big Ten) will return to action this weekend with two contests at home against Big Ten opponent Wisconsin.

Nanooks Drop Bowling Green, 4-1

Anton Martinsson recorded 35 saves and Tristan Thompson registered three assists as the University of Alaska (Fairbanks) notched a 4-1 win over visiting Bowling Green in WCHA action at the Carlson Center on Friday.

Troy Van Tetering and Tyler Cline staked the Nanooks to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, before Connor Ford scored with 4:29 remaining in regulation to pull the Falcons within a goal. Martinsson and Thompson then teamed up to assist Steven Jandric on an empty-net power-play goal just over a minute later for Alaska (6-15-2 overall, 6-10-1 WCHA), and Thompson then set up Justin Young with 2:30 left on the clock for another empty-netter to finish off the scoring. BGSU (15-6-3, 10-5-2) outshot Alaska, 36-23, on the night but finished 0-for-6 on the power play.

The two schools will close out their two-game conference series on Saturday in Fairbanks at 11 p.m. ET.

ADDENDUM: Bowling Green gained the split with a 2-0 victory in the rematch, thanks to goals by Max Johnson and Brandon Kruse, and 31 saves from Eric Dop.

Dartmouth Shuts Out Princeton, 5-0

Alex Jasiek scored twice and Adrian Clark made 25 saves as Dartmouth College blanked Princeton University, 5-0, on Saturday in an ECAC Hockey/Ivy League contest at Hobey Baker Rink. The Big Green, which fell at Quinnipiac on Friday, improved to 6-8-2 overall (5-3-1 ECAC Hockey, 4-2-0 Ivy League) and also avenged a 7-1 loss to the Tigers back in November in Hanover, N.H.

Jasiek's first goal on Saturday, a wrist shot under the crossbar just 2:54 into the contest, stood up as the game-winner. After New Jersey native Drew O'Connor scored on a power play in his return to his home state, Jasiek added a power-play goal of his own before the end of the period to put Dartmouth up, 3-0, after 20 minutes.  Kevan Kilistoff and Carl Hesler then scored less than two minutes apart in the second stanza to increase Dartmouth's lead to five and close out the scoring, as Clark made 12 of his 25 saves.

Ryan Ferland took the loss for Princeton, which fell to 6-11-2 (4-7-1 ECAC Hockey, 2-3-1 Ivy League), one night after he backstopped the Tigers to a victory over Harvard. Ferland finished with four saves on seven shots in just under 12 minutes of play against Dartmouth before giving way to Austin Shaw, who stopped eight of 10 shots in almost 21 minutes. Freshman netminder Jeremie Forget made his NCAA debut in the second period after the Big Green scored its fifth goal, and stopped all 14 shots he faced in playing the final 27:16.

Dartmouth, which scored on both of its power-play attempts Saturday while canceling out both Princeton power-play tries, visits Colgate next on Jan. 18. Princeton is now on its exam break, and will not return to action until Feb. 1 at St. Lawrence.

U.S. Falls to Finland in WJC Gold Medal Game

Sasha Chmelevski and Josh Norris scored goals (Michigan), and Cayden Primeau made 28 saves in all, but the U.S. National Junior Team came up short Saturday night in the 2019 IIHF World
Junior Championship gold medal game in Vancouver. A late third-period goal gave Finland a 3-2 victory and its first WJC gold since 2016.

After Finland took a 2-0 lead early in the third period, Chmelevski and Norris scored to tie the game before the Finns took the lead for good with 1:26 remaining in regulation on Kaapo Kakko's goal off a goalmouth scramble. A first-period goal by USA's Oliver Wahlstrom (Boston College) was disallowed, due to interference with Finnish goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

It was the first WJC silver medal since 1997 for the U.S., which was seeking its third gold medal in four years. Finland now has five WJC gold medals overall, while the U.S. remains at four. Ryan Poehling (St. Cloud State) of Team USA was named Most Valuable Player of this year's tournament, after finishing third among all scorers with five goals and eight assist for 13 points.

U.S. Tops Russia, Advances to WJC Gold Medal Game

The United States will medal for the fourth consecutive year at the World Junior Championships. The only question now is if that medal will be silver or gold.

Team USA advanced to the championship game of the 2019 tournament in Vancouver with a 2-1 semifinal win over Russia on Friday. Oliver Wahlstrom (Boston College) and Sasha Chmelevski scored goals for the Americans, and Cayden Primeau (Northeastern) made 34 saves for the U.S., which will be seeking its second World Juniors gold in three years, and fifth WJC gold medal all-time.

The U.S. will face Finland, a 6-1 semifinal winner over Switzerland, on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, NHL Network) for the title. The Americans defeated the Finns, 2-1, on Dec. 26 in round-robin play to open this year's tournament.

Cornell Edges Princeton, 3-2

Alec McCrea's wrist shot from the right point with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation served as the game-winning goal as No. 20 Cornell edged host Princeton, 3-2, in ECAC Hockey and Ivy League action on Friday night, in a penalty-free game at a sold-out Hobey Baker Rink.

Brenden Locke and Brendan Smith each recorded his respective first goal of the season in the first period for Cornell, to boost the Big Red to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Princeton pulled within a goal on Matthew Thom's score late in the second stanza, and then tied matters 11:37 into the third period as Corey Andonovski cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Thom.

Just over a minute later, McCrea took a pass from Max Andreev on the right side and whipped a high shot past Princeton netminder Ryan Ferland (33 saves). After a lengthy review, the goal was allowed to stand. Princeton had one last offensive chance with five seconds left, but couldn't get a shot on net off a face-off in the Big Red's end of the ice.

Cornell (7-5-0 overall, 5-2-0 ECAC Hockey, 5-1-1 Ivy League) outshot Princeton, 36-32, before 2,300 spectators, and got 30 saves from winning goaltender Austin McGrath. The Big Red also swept its regular-season series with Princeton, having topped the Tigers by a 5-1 count in Ithaca, N.Y. in mid-November.

Friday's game also saw no penalties called on either team, in what was Cornell's first overall appearance since Dec. 1. The Big Red visits Quinnipiac on Saturday, while Princeton (5-9-2, 3-5-1, 1-2-1) will entertain Colgate, after the Tigers saw their three-game unbeaten streak snapped.

U.S. Edges Czechs, Advances to WJC Semifinals

Noah Cates (Minnesota-Duluth) and Josh Norris (Michigan) staked the United States to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, and then Team USA held on for a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic in a quarterfinal match-up at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver.

Alexander Chmelevski secured the triumph with an empty-net goal late in the third period after the Czechs scored with around seven minutes remaining in regulation, and Cayden Primeau (Northeastern) finished with 18 saves to earn his second straight WJC win in the U.S. net. The Americans will now take on Russia in a semifinal game on Friday, with the winner to meet the
victor of Finland-Switzerland on Saturday in the WJC championship contest.

Kuraly Boosts Bruins to Win in NHL Winter Classic

A third-period goal by Sean Kuraly (Miami) vaulted the Boston Bruins into the lead for good in a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 NHL Winter Classic on Tuesday in South Bend, Ind.

Kuraly's backhand goal off a rebound with 9:40 remaining in regulation lifted the Bruins to a 3-2 lead before a crowd of 76,126 at Notre Dame Stadium, the second-largest crown in league history, according to NHL.com. It was Kuraly's fourth goal and 10th point of the season, in his 39th game of the 2018-19 campaign. A native of Dublin, Ohio, he has 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 122  career NHL contests, all with the Bruins, after he was originally drafted by the San Jose Sharks in 2011.

Kuraly, 25, played collegiately at Miami from 2012 to 2016. He posted 43-50—93 points in 154 career appearances with the Redhawks, while also helping them to two NCAA Tournaments. He was
also a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. squad at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Russia.