WCHA Weekend Recap - 11/12

In maybe the surprise of the weekend in the WCHA, the St. Cloud State Huskies went into Houghton and swept the Michigan Tech Huskies in a pair of games that weren’t really close. In Friday night’s 5-2 victory, freshman center Garrett Roe three assists, all of which came on the Huskies three power play goals. Junior Rob Nolan got the start between the pipes for Tech on both nights, as fellow junior Michael-Lee Teslak was out with an injury (rumored to be back spasms). On Saturday night, the SCSU power play went 0-3, but sophomore Jase Weslosky made 24 saves in the 4-1 win. SCSU’s Ryan Lasch had a goal and an assist in the win.

In what turned out to be a hotly contested series, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux split for the third weekend in a row against, this time against the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison. On Friday night, Wisconsin’s Shane Connelly turned away 43 North Dakota shots – including 25 in the third period – and the Badgers got three third period goals to propel themselves to a 4-0 win. The Fighting Sioux were able to rebound for a 3-1 win on Saturday, but the game was largely overshadowed by the end-of-game antics which resulted in 122 minutes in penalties at the 16:52 mark of the third period. The video can be viewed here, along with the video of the argument between UND head coach Dave Hakstol and UW head coach Mike Eaves at the end of the game.

The Colorado College Tigers continued their strong play, sweeping the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. In Friday night’s 5-3 win, the Tigers scored four goals in the second period to jump out to a 5-2 lead which they would of course hold on to. CC’s top line of Bill Sweatt, Andreas Vlassopoulos and Derek Patrosso combined for seven points on the evening. Freshman goalie Richard Bachman got the win on Friday, which earned him a start in Saturday night’s rematch, and he didn’t disappoint, as he blanked the Bulldogs by a 3-0 score. Senior Jimmy Kilpatrick, back from injury, scored the game-winning goal midway through the first period.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers finally won a WCHA game on Friday night, and followed that up with another win on Saturday as they swept the Minnesota State Mavericks in a home and home series. On Friday night, the Gophers took a 4-1 lead into the third period at the Alltel Wireless Center in Mankato, but the Mavs scored a pair of goals in the third to cut the lead to one, but Minnesota was able to limit MSU’s chances down the stretch and hang on for the 4-3 win. In Saturday’s rematch in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Kyle Okposo scored a pair of goals – his first since the opening game of the season – as the Gophers topped the Mavs by a 5-3 score. The power play, which had been zero for the last 30 for Minnesota, went 5-10 against MSU, so it would appear that the Gophers are in the process of righting the ship.

Alaska Anchorage and Denver were off this weekend.