Road teams went 2-0-1 Saturday night in the WCHA as first place St. Cloud State stretched its lead to two points over Minnesota with four league games left in the regular season.

Minnesota Duluth rallied to tie No. 2 Minnesota 2-2 in overtime at Mariucci Arena. The Bulldogs are 0-7-2 the last nine games (its longest winless streak since 0-9-1 from Nov. 2-Dec. 1, 2001). Yet UMD is 0-1-2 the last three while showing improved play.

UMD will finish eighth or ninth in the league and be on the road for the first round of the WCHA playoffs March 15-17.

Recaps from Saturday in Minneapolis from the News Tribune here, St. Paul Pioneer Press here and Minneapolis Star Tribune here.

The UMD women’s team used every resource available Saturday to secure home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs, tying No. 8 North Dakota 2-2 in overtime and then winning a shootout with goals from Brigette Lacquette, Jessica Wong and Jenna McParland. The extra point for the shootout win tied UMD for fourth place, with Ohio State, and earned the home seed in a tiebreaker. The Bulldogs face Ohio State on Friday-Saturday-Sunday at 2:07 p.m. in the best-of-three series at Amsoil Arena. A recap from the UMD sports information office here.

At Denver, No. 6 North Dakota scored three goals in the first period on the way to a 6-1 win over No. 10 Denver for a series split. Mark McMillan had a goal and two assists for North Dakota, which was 3-9 on PPs. Denver led 1-0. Juho Olkinuora went one period for Denver, facing five shots and allowing three goals. Clarke Saunders was in goal for North Dakota. North Dakota led in shots 37-29. Attendance 6,049. From the Grand Forks Herald here and Denver Post here.

At Colorado Springs, Colo., No. 7 St. Cloud State had three second-period goals in dispatching Colorado College 5-2. CC led 1-0 and Rylan Schwartz had both goals. Andrew Prochnow had three assists for the Huskies. Ryan Faragher had 17 saves for the win. St. Cloud State led in shots 26-19. Attendance 7,385. From the St. Cloud Times here and Colorado Springs Gazette here.

At Omaha, Neb., the USA Under 18 team scored twice in the third period to beat Nebraska-Omaha  3-2 in an exhibition game. The U18s led in shots 45-17. Omaha led 2-1 after two. Keaton Thompson and Evan Allen scored goals 89 seconds apart for the U18s. Omaha goalie Ryan Massa saw his first duty of the season. From the Omaha World Herald here.

WCHA Standings and Summaries Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 St. Cloud State   33  24 16- 7- 1 .688  82- 53   32 19-12- 1 .609 107- 78
 2 Minnesota         31  24 13- 6- 5 .646  80- 58   32 21- 6- 5 .734 117- 64
 3 Nebraska Omaha    30  24 14- 8- 2 .625  83- 70   32 18-12- 2 .594 112- 88
   North Dakota      30  24 12- 6- 6 .625  82- 62   32 17- 9- 6 .625 106- 80
 5 Minnesota State   29  24 14- 9- 1 .604  77- 57   32 20- 9- 3 .672 104- 71
 6 Denver            27  24 11- 8- 5 .562  76- 74   31 16-10- 5 .597 104- 87
   Wisconsin         27  24 10- 7- 7 .562  54- 53   30 13-10- 7 .550  68- 62
 8 Colorado College  22  24  9-11- 4 .458  78- 85   32 12-15- 5 .453 106-113
 9 Minnesota Duluth  21  26  8-13- 5 .404  64- 79   32 10-17- 5 .391  78- 96
10 Bemidji State     16  24  5-13- 6 .333  50- 72   30  6-17- 7 .317  62- 89
   Michigan Tech     16  24  6-14- 4 .333  62- 82   30 10-16- 4 .400  89- 94
12 Alaska Anchorage  10  26  2-18- 6 .192  50- 93   30  4-19- 7 .250  61-104

 Minnesota Duluth   2 at Minnesota          2, tie    Box   
 USA Under-18 Team  3 at Nebraska Omaha     2         Box   
 North Dakota       6 at Denver             1         Box   
 St. Cloud State    5 at Colorado College   2         Box