St. Cloud State, picked in WCHA preseason polls to finish sixth by the media and fourth by coaches, is securely in first place with five weeks left in the 2012-13 regular season. The Huskies are 5-0-1 the last six games after a 4-1 win Saturday at Bemidji State for a weekend sweep, and have a three-point lead in the WCHA standings.

Minnesota Duluth (10-13-3) remains in eighth after losing twice at home to Denver, including a 4-3 defeat Saturday at Amsoil Arena. Updates from the News Tribune here, and the sports information offices at UMD here and Denver here.

No. 15-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato (16-9-3), idle over the weekend, is right ahead of UMD in seventh place, with a two-point edge. The teams meet this Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena.

UMD center Tony Cameranesi is second in scoring among WCHA rookies for all games with 24 points. St. Cloud State’s Kalle Kossila leads with 25.

At Omaha, Neb., Mikael Lickteig’s first goal of the season with 2:04 left in overtime gave Michigan Tech a 2-1 over No. 14 Nebraska-Omaha. The teams exchanged second-period goals — David Johnstone of Tech and Josh Archiblad (15) for the Red Mavs. Omaha led in shots 37-28. Phoenix Copley had 36 saves for Tech. Attendance 37-28. From the Omaha World Herald here.

At Bemidji, Minn., Jonny Brodzinski (13) broke a 1-1 tie with a second-period goal and Drew LeBlanc added a third-period goal as No. 12 St. Cloud State defeated Bemidji State 4-1 for a weekend sweep. The Huskies had ZERO penalties in the series. Bemidji State on 0-8-2 winless streak. St. Cloud led 33-24 in shots. Ryan Faragher (16-8-1) had 21 saves. Attendance 3,634. From the St. Cloud Times here and Bemidji Pioneer here.

At Grand Forks, N.D., two second-period goals by Michael Parks helped No. 7 North Dakota smack No. 19 Wisconsin 4-1 and end an 8-0-3 league unbeaten mark by the Badgers. North Dakota had a pair of power-play goals and led in shots 29-22. It was first Wisconsin road loss since Nov. 17. North Dakota breaks 0-2-3 streak. The teams combined for 29 penalties for 106 minutes Saturday to conclude a penalty-filled weekend. Attendance 11,962. Zane Gothberg had 21 saves for North Dakota. From the Grand Forks Herald here and Wisconsin State Journal here.

At Anchorage, Alaska, Scott Warner scored with 73 seconds to play, with an extra attacker, as Alaska Anchorage tied Colorado College 3-3 in overtime. Both games in the series were ties. Anchorage is 0-11-3 the past 14 games. The Seawolves led 2-0 early in second period and CC scored three straight, including a William Rapuzzi penalty shot goal in the third period, for a 3-2 lead. Anchorage led in shots 21-17. Attendance 2,650. From the Anchorage Daily News here.

WCHA Summaries and Standings Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 St. Cloud State   29  20 14- 5- 1 .725  68- 40   28 17-10- 1 .625  93- 65
 2 Nebraska Omaha    26  20 12- 6- 2 .650  71- 58   28 16-10- 2 .607 100- 76
 3 Minnesota         24  18 10- 4- 4 .667  61- 42   26 18- 4- 4 .769  98- 48
   Denver            24  20 10- 6- 4 .600  64- 57   27 15- 8- 4 .630  92- 70
   North Dakota      24  20  9- 5- 6 .600  65- 53   28 14- 8- 6 .607  89- 71
 6 Wisconsin         22  20  8- 6- 6 .550  44- 44   26 11- 9- 6 .538  58- 53
 7 Minnesota State   21  20 10- 9- 1 .525  58- 51   28 16- 9- 3 .625  85- 65
 8 Minnesota Duluth  19  20  8- 9- 3 .475  53- 58   26 10-13- 3 .442  67- 75
 9 Colorado College  17  20  7-10- 3 .425  65- 71   28 10-14- 4 .429  93- 99
10 Michigan Tech     14  20  5-11- 4 .350  49- 66   25  8-13- 4 .400  68- 76
11 Bemidji State     12  20  4-12- 4 .300  41- 64   26  5-16- 5 .288  53- 81
12 Alaska Anchorage   8  22  1-15- 6 .182  39- 74   26  3-16- 7 .250  50- 85

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