Jan. 4, 2009

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MADISON, Wis. - The Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-3-5) received a game-winning power-play goal from center Patrick White at 1:38 of overtime on Saturday (Jan. 3) evening to triumph over Northeastern, 3-2, and capture their own Dodge Holiday Classic championship before 9,887 at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota played the second straight night without head coach Don Lucia on the bench due to illness, and without three top players who are competing for the U.S. National Junior Team at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Ottawa, Ontario. But the Golden Gophers rose to the occasion and rewarded their coach with the title and Minnesota joins Wisconsin as WCHA teams who won holiday tournaments, with the Badgers claiming their own Badger Hockey Showdown title on Dec. 27-28.

In two other tournament championship games contested on Saturday evening, both Minnesota Duluth (9-5-6) and Denver (13-6-2) were defeated. The Bulldogs fell 3-1 to Notre Dame at the Shillelagh College Hockey Tournament at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., while the host Pioneers were upended 4-1 by Boston University in the annual Wells Fargo Denver Cup at Magness Arena. In the process, both teams saw their eight-game unbeaten streaks come to an and, with UMD's halted at 5-0-3 and DU's at 7-0-1.

In other non-conference matchups contested over the Jan. 2-3 weekend, North Dakota (11-10-1) claimed both ends of a home-and-home against Bemidji State, winning 4-3 in Bemidji last Friday and 4-3 (ot) on Saturday in Grand Forks; Minnesota State (9-9-3) knocked off Nebraska-Omaha, 4-3, on Saturday, and Wisconsin (10-9-3) suffered a sweep at the hands of visiting Northern Michigan, falling 3-2 on Friday and 6-5 (ot) on Saturday. As a result, and through games of Jan. 4, the WCHA and its 10 member teams now own a collective non-conference mark of 38-22-10 (.614) in 2008-09. Both Alaska Anchorage and Colorado College were idle.

The race for the WCHA championship and MacNaughton Cup will resume in earnest next weekend, Jan. 9-10, with a full slate of five head-to-head series. Denver (9-4-1 WCHA, 19 pts) leads the WCHA race by two points over Minnesota (7-2-3 WCHA), although the Gophers do have two games in hand. Just four points separate the top five teams in the standings and nine of the league's 10 teams have reached double digit point totals at the break. Defending WCHA champion Colorado College (11-6-5, 7-5-2 WCHA) shares third place with Wisconsin (7-5-2 WCHA), both with 16 points, while Minnesota Duluth (5-4-5 WCHA) is fifth with 15 points. North Dakota (6-5-1 WCHA) is two points back of the Bulldogs in sixth, followed by Minnesota State (5-7-2 WCHA) in seventh with 12 points, Alaska Anchorage (7-7-2, 4-6-2 WCHA) and St. Cloud State (5-7-0 WCHA) tied for eighth with 10 points each and Michigan Tech (1-11-2 WCHA) in 10th with four points.

This Week in the WCHA
Results of Monday, Dec. 29: Minnesota State 2 at Princeton 5 (nc).

Results of Tuesday, Dec. 30: Minnesota State 2 at Yale 3 (nc). Results of Friday, Jan. 2: * UMass Lowell 1 vs Minnesota Duluth 2 (nc); # Brown 2 at Minnesota 6 (nc); Northern Michigan 3 at Wisconsin 2 (nc); North Dakota 4 at Bemidji State 3 (nc); & Holy Cross 2 at Denver 2 ot (nc). * Shillelagh Tournament (Hoffman Estates, IL); # Dodge Holiday Classic (Minneapolis, MN); & Denver Cup (Denver, CO)

Results of Saturday, Jan. 3: * Minnesota Duluth 1 vs Notre Dame 3 (nc); # Boston University 4 at Denver 1 (nc); & Northeastern 2 at Minnesota 3 ot (nc); Northern Michigan 6 at Wisconsin 5 ot (nc); Nebraska-Omaha 3 at Minnesota State 4 (nc); Bemidji State 3 at North Dakota 4 ot. * Shillelagh Tournament Championship (Hoffman Estates, IL); # Denver Cup Championship (Denver, CO); & Dodge Holiday Classic Championship (Minneapolis, MN)

Saturday, January 3 Highlights:
UMD 1 vs Notre Dame 3 (nc): Left winger Garrett Regan scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner at 14:11 of the first period, as Notre Dame captured the Shillelagh College Hockey Tournament crown with a 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs before 3,229 at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Scoring the lone goal for UMD was center Drew Akins to close the gap to 2-1 late in the first period while in goal, Alex Stalock made 29 saves.

Northern Michigan 6 @ UW 5 ot (nc): Trailing 5-2 midway through the third period, the visiting Wildcats shocked the host Badgers with a 6-5 overtime win before 13,924 at the Kohl Center, with right winger Phil Fox netting the game-winner at 2:01 of the extra session. Leading the way for the UW were winger John Mitchell (2g), defenseman Brendan Smith (2g), center Derek Stepan (1g,2a) and defenseman Jamie McBain (3a).

Northeastern 2 @ UM 3 ot (nc): A game-tying third period goal from defenseman Aaron Ness at 11:32 and a game-winning overtime tally from center Patrick White at 1:38 propelled the host Golden Gophers over Northeastern, 3-2 (ot), in the championship game of the Dodge Holiday Classic before 9,887 at Mariucci Arena. Also scoring for UM was left winger Tony Lucia in the first period while Alex Kangas had 26 saves.

Nebraska-Omaha 3 @ MSU 4 (nc): Left winger Geoff Irwin had a shorthanded game-winner at 19:20 of the third period to boost the host Mavericks over UNO, 4-3, before 3,483 at Alltel Center in Mankato.

Bemidji State 3 @ UND 4 ot (nc): Center Chris VandeVelde scored two goals and left winger Brett Hextall tallied the game-winner on a power-play just 0:31 into overtime as host North Dakota rallied past the Beavers, 4-3, before 11,394 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Also for UND, defenseman Chay Genoway and right winger Brad Miller both had two assists.

Boston University 4 @ DU 1 (nc): Defenseman Matt Gilroy had the eventual game-winner on a power-play at 11:05 of the first period and goaltender Kieran Millan stopped 33 of 34 shots on goal as the Terriers won the Wells Fargo Denver Cup title with a 4-1 win over the host Pioneers before a sellout crowd of 6,050 at Magness Arena. Scoring for DU in the second period was winger Rhett Rakhshani to make it 2-1.

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