Gophers lose ground on top six -- gap grows to five points

FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE SIOUX HIT TOWN ...

A slightly edited WCHA release on last weekend's results:

North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota and St. Cloud State all swept home series last weekend to start the second half of the WCHA season in great shape.

At the Ralph in Grand Forks on Saturday, North Dakota prevailed 3-2 over Minnesota State before a sellout crowd of 11,722.

Left winger Jason Gregoire scored two goals and right winger Matt Frattin added two assists. Gregoire's third period power-play goal at 9:42 proved to be the game-winner. In goal, Brad Eidsness stopped 20 of 22 shots.

For the Mavericks, left winger Geoff Irwin scored a power-play goal in the first period, and defenseman Channing Boe had a goal in the third. Austin Lee made 31 saves in Mavs' nets.

The Sioux beat the Mavs 4-1 on Friday. The sweep enabled North Dakota to tie idle Wisconsin for fifth place.

At the DECC in Duluth on Saturday, the UMD Bulldogs completed a sweep of Colorado College with a 4-1 triumph before 4,620 to move into second place. Center Jack Connolly scored two goals, including the game-winner, and linemates Mike Connolly (LW - 1g, 1a) and Justin Fontaine (RW, 2a) each had two points.

The Bulldogs scored on 2-of-5 power-play attempts, outshot the Tigers 28-19, and received 18 saves from Kenny Reiter between the pipes.

For CC, center Rylan Schwartz netted a third period power-play goal. UMD, which won 5-2 on Friday, captured the season series over the Tigers, 3-1-0.

ST. CLOUD STATE ROLLS

At the National Hockey Center, a capacity crowd of 5,987 saw St. Cloud State beat Michigan Tech 5-1 to take third place in the WCHA race. Defenseman Garrett Raboin scored two goals, including a shorthanded game-winner in the middle of the second period, and set up another.

Scoring for MTU was left winger Bennett Royer, whose goal at 10:07 of the first period gave the visitors a 1-0 lead. SCSU, which won 4-2 over Tech on Friday, won the season series 3-1-0.

DENVER STAYS IN FIRST

At Magness Arena in the Mile High City, Denver sent 5,931 home happy with a 3-2 victory over Alaska Anchorage. Center Tyler Ruegsegger scored the game-winning goal at 19:21 of the third period and added one assist. Left winger Rhett Rakhshani had two assists.

The Pioneers led 1-0 after one on defenseman Patrick Wiercioch's power-play goal at 18:35 and 2-1 early in the third after right winger Joe Colborne's goal at 9:38. But the Seawolves, who tied DU 1-1 on Friday, fought back twice to tie the game on a second periodpower-play goal from left winger Mickey Spencer and a third period goal by center Nick Haddad. DU took the season series vs UAA, 2-1-1.

BADGERS TOP U18 TEAM

Game Tuesday

Northern Michigan at Michigan Tech

Games Fri-Sat

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech

Wisconsin at Colorado College

Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota State