The final weekend of WCHA games in 2012 continued some interesting story lines Friday night: Minnesota State-Mankato has the best winning streak in Division I (seven straight), while league-leading Denver has now gone nearly a month without a victory (0-4-3).
Minnesota Duluth won 5-1 at last-place Alaska Anchorage as WCHA road teams went 3-2-1. The Bulldogs are 3-1-1 the past five games and have moved up into a tie for seventh place (although the four teams directly ahead of them have played fewer games). Center Tony Cameranesi leads WCHA rookie scorers at 8-9-17 and UMD’s power play remains No. 1 at 24.1 percent.
Game recaps from the News Tribune here and Anchorage Daily News here.
Bruce Ciskie reviews the series opener right here.
The News Tribune is not on site in Anchorage but will have updates here for Saturday’s 10:07 p.m. game.
At Houghton, Mich., three second-period goals pushed No. 8 North Dakota to a 6-1 win over Michigan Tech. North Dakota scored two power-play goals and led 38-35 in shots. Corban Knight had two goals and two assists, and Danny Kristo a goal and two assists. Goalie Clarke Saunders (7-3-3) got the win with 34 saves. Attendance 2,649. From the Grand Forks Herald here and Houghton Daily Mining Gazette here.
At Madison, Wis., Wisconsin earned its first sweep of the season with a 4-1 nonconference victory over Alabama-Huntsville. Michael Mersch had two assists. Wisconsin led in shots 30-22. Joel Rumpel was in goal for the Badgers. Attendance 9,538. From the Wisconsin State Journal here.
At St. Cloud, Minn., four third-period goals rallied No. 17 St. Cloud State to a 5-3 win over Colorado College. David Morley scored consecutive goals in the final period to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. CC, 1-6-2 the last nine games, led 2-0. St. Cloud State led in shots 29-25. Attendance 3,959. From the St. Cloud Times here and Colorado Springs Gazette here.
At Omaha, Neb., Jean-Paul Lafontaine and Johnny McInnis scored goals 83 seconds apart in the second period to break a tie and No. 20 Minnesota State-Mankato went on to a 6-3 victory over No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha. Mankato had two power-play goals. Omaha led in shots 28-27. John Faulkner started in goal for the homestanding Red Mavs but Anthony Stolarz finished. The Purple Mavs were led by two McInnis goals. Attendance 6,125. From the Mankato Free Press here and Omaha World Herald here.
At Bemidji, Minn., Aaron McLeod scored with 8:30 left in the third period as Bemidji State rallied for a 1-1 overtime tie with No. 11 Denver. The Pioneers led 1-0 on a Chris Knowlton power-play goal with 2:20 left in the first period. In a 0-4-3 streak, Denver has been limited to one goal four times. Denver led in shots 34-21. Attendance 2,827. Goalies were Juho Olkinuora for Denver and Andrew Walsh for Bemidji State. From the Bemidji Pioneer here and Denver Post (via the Associated Press) here.
WCHA Standings and Summaries Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net
1 Denver 17 13 7- 3- 3 .654 43- 32 17 9- 5- 3 .618 58- 43 2 Minnesota State 16 13 8- 5- 0 .615 43- 32 17 10- 5- 2 .647 56- 41 St. Cloud State 16 13 8- 5- 0 .615 42- 32 17 10- 7- 0 .588 59- 44 4 North Dakota 15 11 6- 2- 3 .682 40- 29 17 9- 5- 3 .618 56- 43 Minnesota 15 12 6- 3- 3 .625 36- 30 17 11- 3- 3 .735 57- 34 6 Nebraska Omaha 13 11 6- 4- 1 .591 36- 33 17 10- 6- 1 .618 60- 43 7 Colorado College 11 11 5- 5- 1 .500 40- 40 19 8- 9- 2 .474 68- 68 Minnesota Duluth 11 13 4- 6- 3 .423 38- 39 17 6- 8- 3 .441 50- 49 9 Wisconsin 9 12 2- 5- 5 .375 23- 29 16 4- 7- 5 .406 35- 36 Bemidji State 9 13 3- 7- 3 .346 29- 42 15 4- 8- 3 .367 34- 44 Michigan Tech 9 13 3- 7- 3 .346 33- 49 16 4- 9- 3 .344 44- 59 12 Alaska Anchorage 5 11 1- 7- 3 .227 20- 36 15 3- 8- 4 .333 31- 47
North Dakota 6 at Michigan Tech 1 Box Alab-Huntsville 1 at Wisconsin 4 Box Colorado College 3 at St. Cloud State 5 Box Denver 1 at Bemidji State 1, tie Box Minnesota State 6 at Nebraska Omaha 3 Box Minnesota Duluth 5 at Alaska Anchorage 1 Box
