With the first half of the season completed, the WCHA has a new look. St. Cloud State has taken over first place with North Dakota and Denver one point behind. The top seven teams are separated by five points.

Minnesota Duluth (7-8-3) defeated Alaska Anchorage 2-1 in Saturday’s final game, in Anchorage, and is in seventh place. In goals for-and-goals against, UMD is 40-40 in the league and 52-50 overall. The Bulldogs are off until Dec. 28 and the first round of the Florida College Classic vs. Maine in Estero, Fla.

UMD swept in Anchorage for the first time in 16 years, since a pair of 3-1 wins on Oct. 18-19, 1996. Mike Seidel is tied for the WCHA goal-scoring lead, for all games, with 11. Tony Cameranesi leads WCHA rookie scorers with 19 points UMD’s power play is No. 1 in the league at 23.5 percent. Freshman goalie Matt McNeely has four straight wins. Cameranesi had two goals and two assists in the Anchorage series and is tied with Seidel for the team scoring lead.

Recaps from the News Tribune here and here and from the Anchorage Daily News here.

At Houghton, Mich., Danny Kristo had a goal and two assists as No. 8 North Dakota completed a sweep of Michigan Tech with a 4-1 victory. The game was 1-1 just two minutes into the game. North Dakota got its first sweep of the season and is 4-0-1 the last five games. North Dakota led in shots 44-32. Tech had made a number of lineup changes after a 6-1 Friday loss. Clarke Saunders (8-3-3) got the win. Attendance 2,702. From the Grand Forks Herald here.

At St. Cloud, Minn., Ben Hanowski and Jonny Brodzinski scored 98 seconds apart in the second period, to break a 1-1 tie, and No. 17 St. Cloud State went on to a 3-1 victory over Colorado College. St. Cloud State led in shots 30-17. Ryan Faragher made 16 saves and earned his 10th win (10-6). CC is 1-7-2 the past 10 games and St. Cloud State has three straight wins. Attendance 4,101. From the St. Cloud Times here and Colorado Springs Gazette here.

At Bemidj, Minn., Jeff Jubinville had a pair of goals as Bemidji State smacked No. 11 Denver 5-1 to keep the Pioneers reeling. Brance Orban added a goal and two assists for the Beavers. Goalie Andrew Walsh is 2-0-1 the last three games. Denver is 0-5-3 the last eight games.Bemidji State led in shots 30-25 and scored twice on power plays. Attendance 3,268. From the Bemidji Pioneer here.

At Omaha, Neb., the No. 13 Red Mavs of Nebraska-Omaha took an early three-goal lead and went to beat the No. 20 Purple Mavs of Minnesota State-Mankato 5-1. That broke Mankato’s seven-game win streak (the best in Division I). Johnnie Searfoss, Dominic Zombo and Ryan Walters (10) gave Omaha a 3-0 lead after two periods. Omaha led in shots 33-28. Attendance 6,041. Anthony Stolarz was the winning goalie. From the Mankato Free Press here and Omaha World Herald here.

WCHA Standings and Summaries Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 St. Cloud State   18  14  9- 5- 0 .643  45- 33   18 11- 7- 0 .611  62- 45
 2 North Dakota      17  12  7- 2- 3 .708  44- 30   18 10- 5- 3 .639  60- 44
   Denver            17  14  7- 4- 3 .607  44- 37   18  9- 6- 3 .583  59- 48
 4 Minnesota State   16  14  8- 6- 0 .571  44- 37   18 10- 6- 2 .611  57- 46
 5 Minnesota         15  12  6- 3- 3 .625  36- 30   17 11- 3- 3 .735  57- 34
   Nebraska Omaha    15  12  7- 4- 1 .625  41- 34   18 11- 6- 1 .639  65- 44
 7 Minnesota Duluth  13  14  5- 6- 3 .464  40- 40   18  7- 8- 3 .472  52- 50
 8 Colorado College  11  12  5- 6- 1 .458  41- 43   20  8-10- 2 .450  69- 71
   Bemidji State     11  14  4- 7- 3 .393  34- 43   16  5- 8- 3 .406  39- 45
10 Wisconsin          9  12  2- 5- 5 .375  23- 29   16  4- 7- 5 .406  35- 36
   Michigan Tech      9  14  3- 8- 3 .321  34- 53   17  4-10- 3 .324  45- 63
12 Alaska Anchorage   5  12  1- 8- 3 .208  21- 38   16  3- 9- 4 .312  32- 49

  North Dakota       4 at Michigan Tech      1       Box   
  Colorado College   1 at St. Cloud State    3       Box   
  Denver             1 at Bemidji State      5       Box   
  Minnesota State    1 at Nebraska Omaha     5       Box   
  Minnesota Duluth   2 at Alaska Anchorage   1       Box