With six weeks to go, and with games played evening out, St. Cloud State leads the WCHA with 25 points. Minnesota Duluth (10-11-3) has some work to do, sitting eighth in the 12- team league, but just two points from fourth place. Just ahead for the Bulldogs is seventh-place Denver (13-8-4) which is at Amsoil Arena this weekend.

UMD defeated the USA U18 team 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Amsoil Arena and and a recap is here.

Five WCHA teams are in the top 16 of the PairWise Rankings, led by No. 2 Minnesota, listed here.

At Mankato, Minn., No. 2 Minnesota built a three-goal lead and held off No. 14 Minnesota State-Mankato 4-1. Zach Budish gave the Gophers a 3-0 lead on a power play 9:46 into the third period. Zach Lehrke got Mankato within 3-1 and the Purple Mavs then had a goal disallowed. The Gophers added an empty-net score. Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox (17-3-4) had 26 saves. Minnesota, 9-1-2 the last 12 games, led in shots 29-27. Attendance 5,134. From the Mankato Free Press here, Minneapolis Star Tribune here and St. Paul Pioneer Press here.

At Grand Forks, N.D., the spotlight series of the weekend was entertaining. A crowd of 11,937 saw No. 16 St. Cloud State and No. 5 North Dakota tie 2-2 in overtime. Danny Kristo (150 and Corban Knight (12) scored in the first for North Dakota. Ben Hanowski had both St. Cloud State goals, including 1:59 into the second period. That was all the scoring. North Dakota led 36-18 in shots. North Dakota 0-2-2 the last four games, the Huskies 3-0-1. From the Grand Forks Herald here and the St. Cloud Times here.

At Bemidji, Minn., the homestanding Beavers led early on an Aaron McLeod goal, but No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha rallied for a 2-1 victory and weekend sweep. Dominic Zumbo had the game winner 1:56 into the second period. John Faulkner (13-4-2) of the Red Mavs had 22 saves. Omaha led in shots 26-23. Attendance 3,676. From the Bemidji Pioneer here and the Omaha World Herald here.

At Madison, Wis., the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers continue to climb in the WCHA after a 2-1 win over Alaska Anchorage and a series sweep. All the scoring was done in the second period. Jefferson Dahl had the game winner. Landon Peterson got the win with 21 saves. Anchorage is 0-11-1 the last 12 games. Wisconsin is 10-1-3 the last 14 and is unbeaten in the last 10 games in the WCHA. Anchorage led in shots 22-19. Attendance 13,167. From the Wisconsin State Journal here and Anchorage Daily News here.

WCHA Summaries and Standings Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 St. Cloud State   25  18 12- 5- 1 .694  60- 39   26 15-10- 1 .596  85- 64
 2 Minnesota         24  18 10- 4- 4 .667  61- 42   26 18- 4- 4 .769  98- 48
   Nebraska Omaha    24  18 11- 5- 2 .667  66- 53   26 15- 9- 2 .615  95- 71
 4 North Dakota      21  18  8- 5- 5 .583  60- 51   26 13- 8- 5 .596  84- 69
   Wisconsin         21  18  8- 5- 5 .583  42- 39   24 11- 8- 5 .562  56- 48
   Minnesota State   21  20 10- 9- 1 .525  58- 51   28 16- 9- 3 .625  85- 65
 7 Denver            20  18  8- 6- 4 .556  57- 54   25 13- 8- 4 .600  85- 67
 8 Minnesota Duluth  19  18  8- 7- 3 .528  50- 51   24 10-11- 3 .479  64- 68
 9 Colorado College  15  18  7-10- 1 .417  60- 66   26 10-14- 2 .423  88- 94
10 Bemidji State     12  18  4-10- 4 .333  40- 56   24  5-14- 5 .312  52- 73
   Michigan Tech     12  18  4-10- 4 .333  44- 61   23  7-12- 4 .391  63- 71
12 Alaska Anchorage   6  20  1-15- 4 .150  34- 69   24  3-16- 5 .229  45- 80

  USA Under-18 Team  1 at Minnesota Duluth   3       Box   
  Minnesota          4 at Minnesota State    1       Box   
  St. Cloud State    2 at North Dakota       2, tie  Box   
  Nebraska Omaha     2 at Bemidji State      1       Box   
  Alaska Anchorage   1 at Wisconsin          2       Box