In the two other holiday tournaments being conducted over the weekend, Michigan Tech (5-15-2) finished third in the annual Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit after a 2-1 victory over league-rival North Dakota (9-10-1) on Sunday while St. Cloud State (10-9-1) tied Maine 3-3 in overtime before falling in a shootout in the third place game at the Florida College Classic at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. Through Dec. 28, the WCHA and its 10 member teams own a collective non-conference mark of 32-16-9 (.640) in 2008-09.

On Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 29-30, No. 17-ranked Minnesota State (8-7-3) returns to action and launches the new week in a pair of non-conference tilts out east. The Mavericks will play at Princeton at 7:00 pm ET on Monday evening and then at Yale at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday night.

On Friday (Jan. 2) and Saturday (Jan. 3), Denver Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth return to action in a series of holiday tournaments, North Dakota engages Bemidji State in a home-and-home non-conference series, and Wisconsin hosts Northern Michigan for a two-game non-conference set. The No. 5-ranked Pioneers (13-5-1) will welcome Holy Cross, Boston University and Rensselaer in the annual Wells Fargo Denver Cup at Magness Arena, the No. 4-ranked Golden Gophers (8-3-5) entertain Brown, Northeastern and Western Michigan in the annual Dodge Holiday Classic at Mariucci Arena, and the Bulldogs (8-4-6) will join host Notre Dame, UMass-Lowell and Union for the Shillelagh College Hockey Tournament at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

In the conference race, on hold over the holidays until a full slate of five head-to-head series on Jan. 9-10, Denver (9-4-1 WCHA) leads the MacNaughton Cup derby by two points over Minnesota (7-2-3 WCHA), although the Golden 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 (-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. Seven of the 10 WCHA teams have winning records overall and eight of the 10 are at least .500 overall.

This Week in the WCHA

Results of Saturday, December 27: * Michigan 5 vs Michigan Tech 0 (nc); * North Dakota 1 vs Michigan State 2 (nc); # Alabama-Huntsville 0 at Wisconsin 5 (nc); & St. Cloud State 2 vs Cornell 3 (nc). * Great Lakes Invitational (Detroit, MI); # Badger Showdown (Madison, WI); & Florida College Classic (Estero, FL)

Results of Sunday, December 28: * North Dakota 1 vs Michigan Tech 2 (nc); # St. Cloud State 3 vs Maine 3 ot (nc); & Lake Superior 1 at Wisconsin 1 ot (nc). * Great Lakes Invitational Third Place (Detroit, MI); # - Florida College Classic Third Place (Estero, FL); & Badger Showdown Championship (Madison, WI).

Games for Monday, December 29: Minnesota State at Princeton, 7:00 pm ET (nc).

Games for Tuesday, December 30: Minnesota State at Yale, 7:00 pm ET (nc)

Games for Friday, January 2: * UMass Lowell vs Minnesota Duluth, 5:05 pm CT (nc); # Brown at Minnesota, 7:07 pm CT (nc); Northern Michigan at Wisconsin, 7:07 pm CT; North Dakota at Bemidji State, 7:35 pm CT (nc); & Holy Cross at Denver, 7:37 pm MT. * Shillelagh Tournament (Hoffman Estates, IL); # Dodge Holiday Classic (Minneapolis, MN); & Denver Cup (Denver, CO)

Games for Saturday, January 3: * Union/Notre Dame vs Minnesota Duluth, 4:05/ 7:05 pm CT (nc); # Boston Univ/Rensselaer at Denver, 4:37/ 7:37 pm MT (nc); & Northeastern/Western Michigan at Minnesota, 7:07 pm CT (nc); Northern Michigan at Wisconsin, 7:07 pm CT (nc); Nebraska-Omaha at Minnesota State, 7:07 pm CT (nc); Bemidji State at North Dakota, 7:37 pm CT (nc). * Shillelagh Tournament (Hoffman Estates, IL); # Denver Cup (Denver, CO); & Dodge Holiday Classic (Minneapolis, MN)

Sunday, December 28 Highlights:

Lake Superior 1 @ UW 1 ot (nc): Senior right winger Tom Gorowsky's shootout goal following a 1-1 overtime tie enabled the Badgers to capture the Badger Hockey Showdown title before 13,422 at the Kohl Center. After more than 56 minutes of scoreless hockey, the Lakers took a 1-0 lead at 16:24 of the third before the Badgers' John Mitchell notched the game-tying goal at 18:17. In goal, tourney MOP Shane Connelly stopped 25 of 26 shots for the UW.

UND 1 vs MTU 2 (nc): Goals by center Ryan Angelow in the second and right winger Jordan Baker in the third, along with a strong penalty-killing effort, gave the Huskies a 2-1 victory over the Fighting Sioux in the third place game of the Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. UND tied the game at 1-1 on center Evan Trupp's goal at 8:14 of period three before Baker tallied the game-winner at 14:02. MTU held the Sioux scoreless on six power-play attempts while in goal, Rob Nolan stopped 29 of 30 shots for the Huskies.

SCSU 3 vs Maine 3 ot (nc): the Huskies twice held two-goal leads at 2-0 and 3-1 but shorthanded and power-play goals by the Black Bears in the third period resulted in a 3-3 overtime tie in the third place game of the Florida College Classic at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. Maine then claimed third place with a shootout win. Leading the way for SCSU were center Aaron Marvin (1g,1a), right winger Ryan Lasch (1g,1a) and defenseman Garrett Raboin (2a) while in goal, Dan Dunn made 40 saves.