St. Cloud State Gains Three Points, Minnesota Duluth Rallies for Split as Huskies, Bulldogs Now Share First Place; 55,031 Watch Wisconsin Defeat Michigan Outdoors
SCSU Goaltender Mike Lee Earned a Shutout Win over UAA on Feb. 6 |
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Feb. 7, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
MADISON, Wis. – St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth now share the top spot in the men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association heading into the final four weeks of the 2009-10 regular season, after the Huskies took three points from visiting Alaska Anchorage over the weekend and the visiting Bulldogs rallied for a split at Michigan Tech with a victory on Saturday (Feb. 6).
Streaking St. Cloud State, sporting a 10-1-1 overall mark in the New Year, followed up a 4-4 (ot) tie against the Seawolves on Friday evening with a 6-0 shutout victory on Saturday to take the season series 3-0-1. Minnesota Duluth, meanwhile, needed two third period tallies on Saturday to avoid being swept at Michigan Tech, claiming a 3-2 decision after the host Huskies won 3-1 in their Winter Carnival series opener on Friday night.
In non-conference action over the Feb. 5-6 weekend, WCHA-member teams Colorado College, Denver and Wisconsin combined for a 5-0-0 mark to boost the league’s non-conference mark this season to an impressive 45-22-5 for a .660 winning percentage through 72 games. The host Tigers defeated Air Force (2-0) on Friday and Mercyhurst (5-3) on Saturday, the Pioneers downed visiting Mercyhurst (4-1) Friday and won at Air Force (2-1 ot) on Saturday, and the Badgers knocked off visiting Michigan, 3-2, outdoors on Saturday in front of 55,031 in the Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic at Camp Randall Stadium.
Through games of Feb. 7, just one point separates the top three teams in the current WCHA standings and four lie between the top five. Minnesota Duluth (18-11-1, 14-7-1 WCHA) and St. Cloud State (18-8-4, 13-6-3 WCHA) share first place with 29 points each, pre-season MacNaughton Cup favorite Denver (18-6-4, 12-4-4 WCHA) is third with 28, and Wisconsin (16-7-4, 11-6-3 WCHA and Colorado College (17-10-3, 11-8-3 WCHA) are tied for fourth with 25 points apiece. Defending conference champion North Dakota (13-10-5, 8-9-3 WCHA) is sixth with 19 points, Minnesota (13-13-2, 8-10-2 WCHA) and Alaska Anchorage (10-16-2, 8-14-2 WCHA) share seventh with 18 points each, Minnesota State (12-14-2, 6-13-1 WCHA) is ninth with 13 points, and Michigan Tech (5-22-1, 4-18-0) is 10th with eight. UAA has played 24 of it’s 28 league games, UMD, SCSU, CC and MTU have all played 22, while DU, UW, UND, UM and MSU have played 20.
A glance at next weekend’s – Feb. 12-13 – schedule finds three conference series on the docket as Denver hosts Minnesota, St. Cloud State hosts North Dakota, and Wisconsin entertains Minnesota State. Alaska Anchorage, Colorado College, Michigan Tech and Minnesota Duluth will all be idle.
At John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton on Saturday (Feb. 6), visiting Minnesota Duluth rallied for two special teams goals in the third period, including a shorthanded game-winner from left winger Mike Connolly at 12:16, to gain a 3-2 WCHA win over host Michigan Tech before 2,464. The season series ended 2-2-0. Tech led 2-0 after the first period on goals from defenseman Steven Siego and Jordan Baker (PPG) before UMD tied the game on center Drew Akins’ power-play goal at 10:26 of the third.
At the National Hockey Center on Saturday, host St. Cloud State received three points each from winger Ryan Lasch (1g, 2a) and Garrett Roe (2g, 1a) and Mike Lee stopped all 33 shots on goal in a 6-0 WCHA victory over Alaska Anchorage before 6,051. Lasch’s power-play goal at 10:41 of the first period held up as the winner. The Huskies, who had multiple points from six players, took the season series, 3-0-1.
In Madison, a crowd of 55,031, the second largest in college hockey history, saw host Wisconsin down Michigan 3-2 outdoors in the Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic behind a pair of third period goals from defenseman Brendan Smith. The Wolverines took a 2-1 lead on right winger Kevin Lynch’s goal at 11:03 of the third period before Smith nailed two power-play shots at 14:28 and 18:38 to gain the non-conference win. Also for the Badgers, right winger Michael Davies and center Derek Stepan each had two assists while Scott Gudmandson made 22 saves.
At the Colorado Springs World Arena on Feb. 6, Colorado College knocked off visiting Mercyhust 5-3 in non-conference action before 6,072 as right wingers Tyler Johnson (2g, 1a) and Mike Testwuide (1g, 1a) led the way offensively. Testwuide’s power-play goal at 4:29 of the second period was the game-winner. Also for the Tigers, defenseman Mike Boivin had two assists and Michael Shibrowski made 31 saves in nets.
And at the Air Force Academy on Saturday night, visiting Denver came up with a 2-1 overtime triumph over the host Falcons before a sellout crowd of 2,901 as left winger Kyle Ostrow netted the game-winning goal at 4:03 of the extra session and goaltender Marc Cheverie stopped 45 of 46 shots on goal. The Pioneers held a 1-0 advantage after defenseman Matt Donovan’s goal at 11:21 of the second period before the Falcons tied the game at 1-1 on a third period power-play tally from forward Jacques Lamoureux.
This Week in the WCHA
Results of Friday, February 5: Alaska Anchorage 4 at St. Cloud State 4 ot (WCHA); * Minnesota Duluth 1 at Michigan Tech 3 (WCHA); Air Force 0 at Colorado College 2 (nc); Mercyhurst 1 at Denver 4 (nc). * Winter Carnival.
Results of Saturday, February 6: * Minnesota Duluth 3 at Michigan Tech 2 (WCHA); Alaska Anchorage 0 at St. Cloud State 6 (WCHA); # Michigan 2 at Wisconsin 3 (nc); Mercyhurst 3 at Colorado College 5 (nc); Denver 2 at Air Force 1 ot (nc). * Winter Carnival; # Camp Randall Hockey Classic.
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