North Dakota Hands Defending WCHA Champ CC First Loss; DU, MSU, UW also Post WCHA Wins Friday

Minnesota Stretches Season-Opening Unbeaten Streak to Seven with Tie vs UNH; SCSU Downs Robert Morris; WCHA Teams Now 17-8-3 in Non-Conference Play

Chris VandeVelde and the Fighting Sioux won at CC on Nov. 7

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UMD's Fontaine, SCSU's Dunn, CC's Howe Named Red Baron® WCHA Players of the Week for Nov. 17-23

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Nov. 8, 2008

MADISON, Wis. - Visiting North Dakota (, behind a 29-save effort from freshman netminder Brad Eidsness and a game-winning second period tally from left winger Brent Davidson, upended defending WCHA/MacNaughton Cup-champion and No. 1-ranked Colorado College, 3-1, Friday (Nov. 7) night to hand the Tigers their first loss of the 2008-09 season. The Fighting Sioux (3-4-0, 3-2-0 WCHA) and Tigers (5-1-3, 3-1-1 WCHA) go at it again on Saturday evening at 7:07 pm MT at Colorado Springs World Arena.

Elsewhere in league play on Friday, Denver, Minnesota State and Wisconsin all posted victories. The host and No. 6-ranked Pioneers (5-2-1, 3-1-1 WCHA) defeated No. 20 Minnesota Duluth (4-2-2, 1-2-1 WCHA), 5-1, the visiting and No. 13-ranked Mavericks (4-2-1, 2-2-1 WCHA) prevailed by a 5-3 count over Alaska Anchorage (5-3-1, 2-2-1 WCHA), and the host Badgers (2-6-1, 2-4-1 WCHA) skated past Michigan Tech (2-5-0, 1-4-0 WCHA), 3-2. All three of those series continue on Saturday night, with DU and UMD facing-off at 7:07 pm MT at Magness Arena, MSU and UAA dropping the puck at 7:07 pm AT at Sullivan Arena, and the Badgers and Huskies launching at 7:07 pm CT at the Kohl Center.

Outside the WCHA on Friday night, No. 4 Minnesota (4-0-3, 4-0-2 WCHA) posted a 2-2 overime tie against Hockey East Association-foe and visiting New Hampshire that moved the Golden Gophers' season-opening unbeaten streak to seven games, while host St. Cloud State blanked Robert Morris of College Hockey America, 4-0. Those results boosted the WCHA's non-conference mark to 17-8-3 for a .661 winning percentage. The UM-UNH and SCSU-RMU series conclude on Saturday, with face-off at Mariucci Arena set for 6:07 pm CT and at the National Hockey Center at 7:07 pm CT.

Looking ahead to next weekend, Nov. 14-8, there will be a full slate of five conference series on the docket as Wisconsin visits Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State hosts Denver, Colorado College heads to Minnesota State, North Dakota entertains Alaska Anchorage, and Minnesota hosts Michigan Tech (Sat/Sun).

Games for Saturday, November 8: New Hampshire at Minnesota, 6:07 pm CT (nc); Minnesota State at Alaska Anchorage, 7:07 pm AT (WCHA); North Dakota at Colorado College, 7:07 pm MT (WCHA); Minnesota Duluth at Denver, 7:07 pm MT (WCHA); Michigan Tech at Wisconsin, 7:07 pm CT (WCHA); Robert Morris at St. Cloud State, 7:07 pm CT (nc).

Friday, Nov. 7 Highlights: MTU 2 @ UW 3 (WCHA): Defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Jamie McBain scored goals in the first period and winger John Mitchell had the winner at 14:10 of the second as the host Badgers won 3-2 over the Huskies before 12,474 at the Kohl Center ... down 3-0, Tech came back to within one on goals from center Alex Gagne and winger Alex MacLeod.

UMD 1 @ DU 5 (WCHA): Right winger Luke Salazar scored two goals, including the game-winner, and set up another while Marc Cheverie stopped 34 of 35 shots on goal as the host Pioneers defeated the Bulldogs, 5-1, before 5,032 at Magness Arena ... also adding a goal and an assist each for DU were Rhett Rakhshani, Tyler Bozak and Jesse Martin while UMD's lone goal came from forward Michael Gergen in the second.

UND 3 @ CC 1 (WCHA): A World Arena crowd of 7,311 saw the visiting Sioux jump out to a 3-0 second period lead, with left winger Brent Davidson scoring the eventual game-winner at 8:14 of the middle frame, and goaltender Brad Eidsness hold the Tigers scoreless until 18:33 of the third in a 3-1 triumph ... UND blanked CC on all eight power-play attempts in handing the Tigers their first loss of the season.

MSU 5 @ UAA 3 (WCHA): Center Trevor Bruess scored a pair of goals and center Andrew Sackrison netted the game-winner on a power-play at 8:14 of the third and added an assist as the visiting Mavericks downed the Seawolves, 5-3, before 3,169 at Sullivan Arena ... MSU scored three power-play goals while coming back from a 2-0 second period deficit ... for UAA, center Paul Crowder had two goals.

New Hampshire 2 @ UM 2 ot (nc): Center Jordan Schroeder and winger Jay Barriball scored goals and Alex Kangas made 35 saves as the host Golden Gophers tied the visiting Wildcats, 2-2, before a Mariucci Arena sellout crowd of 10,246.

Robert Morris 0 @ SCSU 4 (nc): Right winger Brian Volpei had the game-winning goal and one assist, defenseman Sam Zabkowicz added two assists and Jase Weslosky turned in a 22-save shutout as the host Huskies downed the Colonials, 4-0, before 5,450 at the National Hockey Center.