Saturday Scores: Robertson Cup Championship Game Set as Maryland and Minnesota Punch Their Ticket

Maryland 5 @ Lone Star 4 OT (Maryland wins series 2-0) - The Maryland Black Bears punched their ticket to the Robertson Cup Championship Game thanks to a battle-back performance in the third period and a hat-trick night from Ryan Franks. The contest opened with Ryan Franks capitalizing on the power play to give the Black Bears the lead. Three minutes later, the score was evened when Leo Isaksson struck on the man advantage. The second period spotlighted two Lone Star goals to give them an advantage heading into the third period. Army commit Vinny Capano lights the lamp less than 90 seconds into the period, while Christian Venticinque strikes 10 minutes later for Lone Star. In the final frame, the Black Bears delivered a comeback to punch their ticket to Tuesday’s game. Cutting the deficit first would be Will Esterbrooks on the man advantage for the Black Bears. He lights the lamp in his home state, notching his fourth goal of the postseason. Six minutes later, the Black Bears even the score thanks to another power-play goal, this time by Brady Anes. Lone Star would not go down without a fight, as Jackson Vaites lit the lamp for his second of the postseason. The hero of the contest would continue his goal-scoring ways with the Black Bears as Ryan Franks evened the score with a little less than five minutes on the clock for Maryland. As the contest is forced into overtime, the Black Bears would come out on top as Ryan Franks finds twine in hat-trick fashion, punching the ticket of Maryland to the championship game. This series was a rematch of the 2024 Robertson Cup championship game, and the Black Bears got things done in a two-win series fashion.

Austin 3 @ Minnesota 7 (Minnesota wins series 2-0) - In a continued battle of teams from the State of Hockey, the Minnesota Wilderness skated to a big victory over their in-state rivals, the Austin Bruins. The contest opened with Talan Blanck lighting the lamp first for the Wilderness off of a rebound in front of Austin’s net. The Bruins would capitalize on their second power play of the night as EJ Paddington tips the puck in front of the net off of a feed by the captain, Nathan Williams. Less than a minute later, the Wilderness would reclaim the lead as Noah Dziver struck through traffic. Moving into the second frame, the captain, Noah Dziver, strikes in one-timer fashion from a feed from Talan Blanck less than five minutes into the middle period. The scoring would continue for the Wilderness as Logan Nagle tips in the puck 12 seconds later to give Minnesota the 4-1 lead. Not long after those back-to-back goals, Caleb Kim would go five-hole off a pass from Anthony Capello. With a dominating lead, the Bruins would strike back with a power-play tally by Sam Kline five minutes later. As this physical and penalty-heavy contest moved into the final frame, the dagger of the night would come from the Wisconsin commit, Talan Blanck. In a speedy, short-handed fashion, Noah Dziver would feed Blanck the puck as they entered the offensive zone, and they delivered the sixth goal of the night for the Wilderness. The final Minnesota goal of the night would be scored in empty-netter fashion by the alternate captain, Olle Karlsson, with a little under seven minutes on the clock. A minute later, Gavin Hruza would deliver the final Austin goal of the night as he danced into the offensive zone. The Wilderness skated to a big 7-3 victory and an opportunity to compete in the championship game on Tuesday. In net, Valdemar Andersen turned aside 38 out of 41 shots on net, securing the victory in the blue paint.