Three teams tied for first in WCHA, Gophers two points back

Slightly edited release from WCHA on Saturday's games:

Defending WCHA regular-season champion North Dakota is back at the top of the league standings after the visiting Sioux won twice at Michigan Tech over the weekend to create a three-way tie for first place. North Dakota beat the Huskies 4-2 and 4-1 at Houghton for four points and a season total of nine.

Elsewhere Saturday, three other WCHA series were splits.

The Gophers beat Wisconsin 5-2 at the Kohl Center, host Alaska Anchorage exploded for seven goals in a 7-3 victory over Denver and host Colorado College dumped Minnesota Duluth 6-2.

 As a result of those conference series, just four points separate the top seven teams in the WCHA. Colorado College (5-2-1, 4-1-1 WCHA), Denver (6-3-1, 4-1-1 WCHA) and North Dakota (6-1-1, 4-1-1 WCHA) share the top spot with nine points apiece.

Minnesota (3-4-1 overall and conference) and Minnesota Duluth (6-3-1, 3-2-1) are tied for fourth place with seven points each, idle St. Cloud State (3-3-2, 2-1-1) and Wisconsin (4-3-1, 2-3-1) share sixth with five points apiece, Alaska Anchorage (4-6-0, 2-4-0 WCHA) is in eighth with four points, idle Minnesota State, Mankato (3-4-1, 1-4-1) is ninth with three points, and Michigan Tech (2-6-0, 1-5-0) is 10th with two.

Looking ahead to next weekend,  there are four WCHA series. Alaska Anchorage visits Wisconsin, Michigan Tech plays at Minnesota Duluth entertains Michigan Tech,  Colorado College visits Minnesota State, Mankato and St. Cloud State travels to North Dakota.

In non-conference play, Bemidji State play at Minnesota takes on Saturday and Sunday

Gophers 5, Wisconsin 2

 At the Kohl Center in Madison, Alex Kangas stopped 45 of 47 shots on goal and wingers Zach Budish (2g,1a) and Tony Lucia (1g,2a) each had three points to lift  Minnesota to a 5-2 win over Wisconsin. Scoring the game[winner for the Gophers was center Patrick White at 15:38 of the second. The Badgers, who outshot UM by a 47-28 margin, had third period goals from defensemen Jake Gardiner and Ryan McDonagh.
 

North Dakotas 4, Michigan Tech 1

At John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, visiting North Dakota received a pair of goals from left winger Evan Trupp, including the game-winner on a power-play at 12:54 of the second period, to prevail over Michigan Tech 4-1 before 1,977. The Sioux also had a goal and an assist from right winger David Toews, two assists from center Brad Malone, and 22 stops from goaltender Brad Eidsness. For the Huskies, left winger Jordan Baker scored the game’s first goal on a power-play at 8:07 of period one.

Alaska Anchorage 7, Denver 3

This was the shocker of the night, especially the margin.

At Sullivan Arena in Anchorage on Saturday night, the host UAA Seawolves scored three times in both the second and third periods, to power past Denver before 3,038 and earn a split of their WCHA series.

Ten different players had points for Alaska Anchorage, led by right winger Sean Wiles (2g), defenseman Lee Baldwin (1g, 2a), center Daniel Naslund (1g,1a), right winger Kevin Clark (1g,1a) and left winger Tommy Grant (2a). Notching the game-winner was center Curtis Leinweber at 12:15 of the second. For the Pioneers, center Tyler Ruegsegger and defenseman Patrick Wiercioch each had a goal and an assist.

Colorado College 6, UMD 2

At Colorado Springs World Arena, host Colorado College scored on 4-of-7 power-plays and had three-point efforts from winger Bill Sweatt (2g,1), center Rylan Schwartz (1g,2a) and defenseman Gabe Guentzel (3a) in a beating Minnesota Duluth before 7,051. Getting the winner for CC was winger William Rapuzzi at 8:19 of period two while goaltender Joe Howe had 34 saves. For UMD, wingers Mike Seidel and Kyle Schmidt scored goals.