Quinnipiac season ends with OT loss to Minn St.

Ryan Sandelin had enough chances to score on Quinnipiac all night Saturday in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament. On one rebound try in the second period, Keith Petruzzelli somehow got there to make a rebound save, and Sandelin tossed his head back.

In overtime, Sandelin sent Minnesota State past Quinnipiac and gave the Mavericks their first tournament win in program history.

Sandelin jammed in a loose puck in the crease 11:13 into overtime at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo., for a 4-3 win to eliminate the Bobcats, who had a two-goal lead with just over 5:06 left in regulation.

Second-seeded Minnesota State (21-4-1), ranked fifth in one national poll and sixth in the other, will play Sunday night at 8 (ESPN2)

for a spot in the Frozen Four. Top-seeded Minnesota (23-6), the No. 2 team in the country, was to meet Omaha (14-10-1) late Saturday in Loveland to determine Sunday’s opposition.

Quinnipiac finished 178-4.

Nathan Smith’s shot changed direction and went in with 5:06 to go. With goalie Dryden McKay pulled for an extra attacker, Cade Borchardt tied the game with 1:02 left off of Jake Livingstone’s end-toend rush.

Quinnipiac took a 3-1 lead with 11:06 left on C.J. McGee’s first college goal and seemed about set to get to Sunday.

Michael Lombardi set it up, kicking the puck out of a two-on-two battle below the goal line in the Minnesota State end. His pass came through to McGee for a snap shot above the left circle and his first goal in 44 Bobcats games.

Attendance was limited to a small number of guests of the teams’ travel parties because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Quinnipiac had a chance to add to its 2-1 lead early in the third, getting a 97-second five-on-three power play. The Mavericks’ penalty kill blocked a shot early and denied the Bobcats a good chance until late in the two-man advantage.

Quinnipiac senior goalie Petruzzelli made a handful of huge saves in the second period to preserve a twogoal Bobcats lead, with Minnesota State spending most of the period in the Quinnipiac zone.

Borchardt had a chance with the goalie down; Petruzzelli got enough of a pad on it to deflect it into the right post about 8:30 into the period.

But Jake Jaremko got the Mavericks on the board with 1:51 left in the second, deflecting Julian Napravnik’s left-point shot over Petruzzelli after a Quinnipiac rim didn’t get out of the zone.

Quinnipiac built a 2-0 lead in the first period.

Iivari Rasanen denied a Minnesota State clearing attempt at the left point to set up the first goal. Mankato standout goalie McKay stopped Rasanen’s shot, but Bobcats captain Tufto went around McKay’s right pad on the backhand with the rebound to score 3:00 into the game.

Peter DiLiberatore doubled the lead 15:35 in on a three-on-two, driving to the left post to tap in Guus van Nes’ pass.

About six minutes into the second, not long before Minnesota State’s push, McKay denied Ethan de Jong alone in front off a Tufto setup.

Tufto has eight goals and an NCAA Divison I-leading 38 assists for 46 points, second in the nation to Wisconsin’s Cole Caufield’s 52.

His 167 career points are two behind the school’s Division I record. Brian Herbert and Bryan Leitch both scored 169 points in Division I for the Bobcats. Four other players had higher totals before Quinnipiac reached Division I, led by Chris Cerrella’s 205.