Roman Augustoviz is covering Gophers hockey this season for a third year. Coach Don Lucia's team finished seventh and fifth in the WCHA his first two years on the beat, but it’s not his fault. Occasionally, Roman will write about other Gopher sports such as volleyball, wrestling, cross country, track-and-field and baseball.
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WCHA games offered nice mix, from defense at U to scoring frenzy at CC
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DiggHere's a look at Saturday's WCHA games. These were all written by college sports information directors and all have been slightly edited by me:
From Minnesota:
Denver 3, Minnesota 0
St. Cloud State 4, Minnesota Duluth 2
St. Cloud State University (2-2-2, 1-0-1 WCHA) gained its first WCHA victory of the season with a solid 4-2 triumph over #14/18 Minnesota Duluth at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
The victory helped the Huskies gain a three-point WCHA weekend against the Bulldogs, as they prepare for an upcoming weekend trip on Oct. 30-31 against Michigan Tech in Houghton, Mich.
The Huskies scored a pair of short-handed goals. Sophomore forward Drew LeBlanc, of Hermantown, charted SCSU's first short-handed goal at 3:36 of the second period with assists from sophomore forward Jordy Christain (Moorhead) and junior defender Brett Barta (Moorhead).
The game-winner was also shorthand. Sophomore Jared Festler (Little Falls) scored at 10:27 of the second period with a single assist from sophomore defenseman Oliver Lauridsen (Gentofte, Denmark). Huskies junior forward Tony Mosey (Prior Lake) added a power play goal at 19:45 of the second period with assists from senior defender Garrett Raboin (Detroit Lakes) and junior forward Garrett Roe (Vienna, Va.).
Senior forward Ryan Lasch (Lake Forest, Calif.) scored his second goal of the season at 3:17 of the first period to make it 1-0 Huskies. Lasch now has 61 goals and 137 career points as a Husky.
Roe's two assists pushed his career totals to 98 points (36g/62a) as a Husky.
Minnesota Duluth broke the shutout at 10:12 of the first period with a power play goal by Rob Bordson. Assists were provided by Jack Connolly and goalie Brady Hjelle. UMD completed the scoring in the third period with another power play goal at 2:54 by Drew Akins.
UMD had 33 shots, SCSU 27 shots. SCSU was 1-of-7 on power plays, UMD 2-of-7. UMD had 10 penalties for 23 minutes, SCSU had 11 penalties for 25 minutes.
A rare penalty shot was called against SCSU, after Craig Gaudet was whistled for covering the puck in the crease. On the penalty shot, Justin Fountaine was stopped with a huge save by junior netminder Dan Dunn (Oshawa, Ontario).
Dunn made 31 saves while Hjelle had 19 saves in the first two periods of play. Kenny Reiter finished the game for UMD with four saves in the third period.
From Minnesota State Mankato:
Minnesota State Mankato 3, Wisconsin 2
Senior forward Zach Harrison had a hand in all three goals as Minnesota State defeated the Wisconsin 3-2 Saturday night in front of 4,337 fans at Verizon Wireless Center in downtown Mankato.
The Badgers got on the board first capitalizing on the second power play of the night as senior forward Blake Geoffrion poked the puck through the legs of Maverick goaltender Austin Lee at 13:02 of the first period.
MSU sophomore forward Adam Mueller got the equalizer early in the second period at the 2:55, putting in the rebound off Zach Harrison’s shot. Wisconsin junior goaltender Brett Bennett left the goal open after stopping the initial shot.
MSU freshman Eriah Hayes finished off a scrum in front of the Wisconsin net at the 8:34 mark giving MSU a 2-1 second-period advantage. Harrison and sophomore defenseman Joe Schiller had assists.
The Badgers capitalized with a man advantage as junior defensemen Brendan Smith scored t 5:26 of the third.
Then following game disqualification and a game misconduct penalties on the Badgers, both for checking from behind, Harrison got the game-winner on a great individual effort at 12:22 of the third.
Minnesota State was 2-for-9 with a man advantage, the Badgers 2-for-6. Lee got his second career win with 31 saves; the Badgers’ Scott Gudmandson recorded 24 saves.
The Mavericks are now 3-3-0 overall, 1-3-0 in the WCHA. They travels to Denver next weekend.
The Badgers got on the board first capitalizing on the second power play of the night as senior forward Blake Geoffrion poked the puck through the legs of Maverick goaltender Austin Lee at 13:02 of the first period.
MSU sophomore forward Adam Mueller got the equalizer early in the second period at the 2:55, putting in the rebound off Zach Harrison’s shot. Wisconsin junior goaltender Brett Bennett left the goal open after stopping the initial shot.
MSU freshman Eriah Hayes finished off a scrum in front of the Wisconsin net at the 8:34 mark giving MSU a 2-1 second-period advantage. Harrison and sophomore defenseman Joe Schiller had assists.
The Badgers capitalized with a man advantage as junior defensemen Brendan Smith scored t 5:26 of the third.
Then following game disqualification and a game misconduct penalties on the Badgers, both for checking from behind, Harrison got the game-winner on a great individual effort at 12:22 of the third.
Minnesota State was 2-for-9 with a man advantage, the Badgers 2-for-6. Lee got his second career win with 31 saves; the Badgers’ Scott Gudmandson recorded 24 saves.
The Mavericks are now 3-3-0 overall, 1-3-0 in the WCHA. They travels to Denver next weekend.
From Colorado College:
Colorado College 8, Michigan Tech 5
Demonstrating remarkable resiliency to go along with textbook special-teams play, Colorado College continued its early run of success.
The Tigers rallied from a two-goal deficit for the second time in two weeks, exploding for four goals less than seven minutes apart early in the third period, and remained undefeated (3-0-1) in WCHA play by beating Michigan Tech at the World Arena.
First-place CC, which scored three power-play goals in its 4-1 triumph over the Huskies a night earlier, pumped home five more in this wild one while completing the sweep and improving to 4-1-1 overall.
Sophomore forward Nick Dineen struck for a short-handed tally that snapped a 4-4 deadlock and put his team ahead to stay at 5:24 of the final frame. Matt Overman’s empty-netter with 4.4 seconds left also was short-handed. The Tigers killed 10 of 11 MTU power plays.
Sophomore defenseman Gabe Guentzel emerged as the game’s offensive hero, collecting four points with a goal and three assists. Junior forward Tyler Johson scored twice during the second period, keeping Colorado College in contention while Tech was busy lighting the lamp four times itself within a span of 5:08 to build short-lived cushions of 3-1 and 4-2. Johnson also added an assist on Guentzel’s power-play blast from the right point that evened the game at 4-4 just 1:58 into the third stanze.
Senior left wing Bill Sweatt capped a seven-point weekend with three assists.
Also scoring a goal apiece for the Tigers, who led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play, were Addison DeBoer, Rylan Schwartz and Stephen Schultz. Schwartz, a freshman, notched his second consecutive game-winner as a dozen different CC players recorded at least one point.
Malcolm Gwilliam had two goals and an assist for Michigan Tech, which finished with a 37-36 edge in shots on goal.
The Tigers rallied from a two-goal deficit for the second time in two weeks, exploding for four goals less than seven minutes apart early in the third period, and remained undefeated (3-0-1) in WCHA play by beating Michigan Tech at the World Arena.
First-place CC, which scored three power-play goals in its 4-1 triumph over the Huskies a night earlier, pumped home five more in this wild one while completing the sweep and improving to 4-1-1 overall.
Sophomore forward Nick Dineen struck for a short-handed tally that snapped a 4-4 deadlock and put his team ahead to stay at 5:24 of the final frame. Matt Overman’s empty-netter with 4.4 seconds left also was short-handed. The Tigers killed 10 of 11 MTU power plays.
Sophomore defenseman Gabe Guentzel emerged as the game’s offensive hero, collecting four points with a goal and three assists. Junior forward Tyler Johson scored twice during the second period, keeping Colorado College in contention while Tech was busy lighting the lamp four times itself within a span of 5:08 to build short-lived cushions of 3-1 and 4-2. Johnson also added an assist on Guentzel’s power-play blast from the right point that evened the game at 4-4 just 1:58 into the third stanze.
Senior left wing Bill Sweatt capped a seven-point weekend with three assists.
Also scoring a goal apiece for the Tigers, who led 1-0 after 20 minutes of play, were Addison DeBoer, Rylan Schwartz and Stephen Schultz. Schwartz, a freshman, notched his second consecutive game-winner as a dozen different CC players recorded at least one point.
Malcolm Gwilliam had two goals and an assist for Michigan Tech, which finished with a 37-36 edge in shots on goal.
Minnesota fell victim in another matchup against a top five nationally ranked opponent as the Gophers were shutout for the third time in four games in a 3-0 loss to fourth-ranked Denver at Mariucci Arena.
The Gophers are 0-3-1 for the season after playing two games against second-ranked North Dakota and the two games with the fourth-ranked Pioneers. It marks the first time since the 1999-2000 season that Minnesota has opened without a win in its first four games. The back-to-back shutouts were Minnesota's first since Jan. 4 and 10, 1930 when the Gophers tied the Tulsa Athletic Club 0-0 and lost to Wisconsin 2-0. It was the third time it has happened all-time, having also occurred in a pair of losses to Manitoba in 1927.
Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie continued his dominance of the Gophers, posting his third straight shutout against Minnesota and his third straight overall with 30 saves. Cheverie blanked the Gophers 4-0 on Nov. 22 of last season and also had 30 saves in the series opener on Friday. He also shut out Ohio State 2-0 last weekend.
The Gophers owned a 30-26 advantage in shots, including a 14-11 edge in the third period.
Minnesota owned a 13-9 advantage in shots in the first period, but Denver scored the period's lone goal when Kyle Ostrow was wide open on the back door and scored off a feed from Luke Salazar at the 10:15 mark. Drew Shore also assisted the goal.
Denver held the Gophers to just three shots in the second period and scored the only goal on the power play at 4:27 of the period. Rhett Rakhshani scored his third goal of the weekend when he fired a shot from the left faceoff dot that beat Gophers' goaltender Kent Patterson through the five-hole. Patrick Wiercioch and Tyler Ruegsegger each assisted on the play.
The Pioneers had three minutes of power play time early in the second period after Minnesota's Mike Carman was given a five-minute major for grabbing the facemask and the power play was a five-on-three for one minute. It appeared Minnesota was on its way to killing the penalties before Denver converted with 48 seconds left with one man up. Ostrow scored his second goal of the game at the 4:12 mark of the period. Shore and Jesse Martin each had assists.
Minnesota's best chance to score came in the third period when Denver was called for two penalties on the same whistle, giving the Gophers a five-on-three for two minutes. Cheverie stopped all three of Minnesota's shots during the power play.
The Gophers were unable to score on eight power play chances for the game and are now 0-for-20 through four games for the season. Denver was two-for-six on the man advantage.
Patterson made his third career start in goal and finished with 23 saves. He had tied his previous two starts in net.
Minnesota looks for its first victory of the season next weekend when it hosts Alaska Anchorage on Friday and Sunday.
From Alaska Anchorage:
Alaska Anchorage 2, North Dakota 1
Kevin Clark and Kane Lafranchise netted second-period goals and goalie Bryce Christianson made 22 saves Sas Alaska Anchorage upset undefeated and No. 2 North Dakota 2-1 at Sullivan Arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Seawovles came out with full force in the second to claim a two-goal lead. UAA improves to 3-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in conference play, while UND falls to 4-1-1 and 2-1-1 in the WCHA.
With just 30 seconds gone in the second period, Clark received a pass from freshman defenseman Lee Baldwin wrapped around the net and slid the puck past sophomore goaltender Brad Eidsness.
At 13:54 of the frame, Lafranchise extended UAA’s lead with his first goal of the season, on the power play. Junior Tommy Grant assisted on the play as the Seawolves broke UND’s season-long perfection on the penalty kill.
Christianson mimicked a brick wall until UND senior Darcy Zajac scored with 1:26 left in the game. The Fighting Sioux pulled Eidsness with 25 seconds left but were unable to tie it.
The Seawolves found the back of the net on one-of-five power play opportunities, while UND was scoreless on four attempts.
UAA was tagged for five penalties for 10 minutes. the Fighting Sioux were whistled on six penalties for 12 minutes.
Christianson received his first win of the season. Eidsness suffered his first loss of the season, dropping his record to 3-1-1.
The Seawolves begin their first conference road series at Minnesota on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1.
From St. Cloud State:
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