WCHA Weekend Recap - 11/5

The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves remain winless at the National Hockey Center as they lost and tied to the St. Cloud State Huskies this weekend in St. Cloud. In Friday night’s game, the Huskies went 2-7 with the man advantage to propel themselves to a 5-3 win. The line of Tony Mosey, Nate Dey, and Ryan Lasch combined for four goals and seven points, while defenseman Aaron Brocklehurst had a goal and two assists. The following night, the Seawolves got out to a 3-1 lead early in the second period but St. Cloud State stormed back, and eventually tied the game midway through the third period thanks to Andreas Nodl’s third goal of the season. Jon Olthuis was between the pipes on both evenings for the Seawolves, while Jase Weslosky (Friday) and Dan Dunn (Saturday) split the goaltending duties for the Huskies.

In the marquee WCHA matchup of the weekend, the Colorado College Tigers were able to leave Grand Forks with two points after splitting their weekend series with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. The Sioux used three first period goals on Friday night to get out to a 3-0 lead, and cruised to a 6-2 victory. The duo of Ryan Duncan (2 G, 1 A) and T.J. Oshie (1 G, 2 A) led the way for UND. Senior defenseman Robbie Bina chipped in with three assists as well. Saturday night’s rematch could have got off to a similar start for CC, as they were outshot by an 18-4 margin in the first period. However, freshman netminder Richard Bachman was stellar, and Scott Thauwald’s short-handed tally gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead heading to the first intermission. After a slick move by UND’s Matt Watkins tied the game at 1-1, the Tigers rebounded to score two goals in a 49 second span to regain the lead which they would not relinquish in their 4-1 win.

The Wisconsin Badgers got back into action this week as they played host to Michigan Tech Huskies, and to the surprise of, um, not many, the teams split their series in Madison. The Husky power play was the difference on Friday night, going 2-4. Senior Jimmy Kerr scored a pair of first period goals, including one with the man advantage, and junior netminder Michael-Lee Teslak made 25 saves in the win. For the first time this season, fellow junior Rob Nolan was not in net on Saturday, as head coach Jamie Russell gave Teslak the start. And despite Teslak making 30 saves on the night, the Badgers used three third period goals – all by defensemen – to secure the 4-2 win.

Another two games in WCHA play, and another pair of losses for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who dropped a pair of games to the Denver Pioneers at Mariucci Arena. On Friday night, Minnesota outplayed the Pioneers in the first period but found themselves down 1-0. Then, in the second period, a pair of Tyler Ruegsegger power play goals buried the Gophers, who failed to score on the power play again this weekend, extending their scoreless streak with the man advantage to 30. DU would cruise to a 5-1 win on Friday night, with senior Peter Mannino making 36 saves. Mannino was very good again on Sunday in stopping 32 shots in the 4-1 win. After junior Blake Wheeler got Minnesota out to an early 1-0 lead, the Pioneers used a pair of late first period goals to gain the lead. Freshman Tyler Bozak, who scored one of those goals, would score two more – one short-handed on a breakaway and another with an empty net – on the night. This is the first time in WCHA history that the Gophers have started 0-4.

In non-conference play, the Minnesota State Mavericks extended their unbeaten streak to four games in winning a pair of games at Alabama-Huntsville. They outshot the Chargers by a 44-18 margin on Friday night and scored four goals in the first period to cruise to a 7-0 victory. As one would expect after a pasting like that, the Chargers rebounded to be a bit more competitive on Saturday, but still fell by a 4-2 score. The Mavericks finally play their home opener this weekend as the first game of a home-and-home series with the offensively-challenged Golden Gophers.

Minnesota Duluth was idle this week, but return to action this weekend as they travel to Colorado College to take on the Tigers.