The week that was in the WCHA

Home teams are now 17-6-1 in WCHA games after UMD swept Bemidji State at home and Michigan Tech took three of four possible points from Denver in Houghton. The Gophers swept at Alaska Anchorage as did Colorado College in a nonconference series.

Two other series ended in splits.

A look at scores Saturday around the WCHA, based on edited team reports:

North Dakota 3, St. Cloud State 1

After three losses to open WCHA play, North Dakota got its first victory, beating St. Cloud State 3-1 at the Ralph.

Mark MacMillan's power play goal gave UND a 1-0 early in the second period.. Corban Knight made it 2-0 at 11:11, or 10 minutes later. Brock Nelson's power play goal at 12:40 increased the lead to 3-0. The Fighting Sioux weer two for four on the power play.

Forward Ben Hanowski scored for SCSU in the last minute of the second period.

Aaron Dell made 20 saves for UND, Ryan Faragher 23 for SCSU.

* Freshman goaltender Ryan Faragher made 44 saves as the Huskies beat North Dakota 4-0 on Friday at the Ralph. He started in place of injured junior netminder Mike Lee. UND was zero for seven on the power play.Senior Jared Festler scored the first goal in the opening period.

Defensemen Andrew Prochno, a freshman, and Sam Zabkowicz, a senior, scored third-period goals to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead. Senior forward Travis Novak added a shorthanded, empty net goal at 19:43 of the third period.

The Huskies were outshot 44-23.

Wisconsin 6, Nebraska Omaha 3

Sophomore Tyler Barnes of Eagan set up the first Badgers goal. He took the puck at mid-ice on a 2-on-1 break. Closing in on goal, Barnes fed a pass over to sophomore Mark Zengerle, who tapped it in for a short-handed goal.

Matt Paape's first career goal made it 2-0 and, 25 seconds later, Zengerle's second goal made it 3-0 on another tap-in after a pass from junior defenseman Justin Schultz on the rush.

UNO cut the lead to 3-1 with just under three minutes left in the period but, with 15 seconds left, Frankie Simonelli scored ona power to put Wisconsin up 4-1. Ryan Little scored in the second period for Wisconsin and Jefferson Dahl had an empty netter in the third period.

Freshman goalie Joel Rumpel of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, had 37 saves for his third victory for Wisconsin. UNO outshot the Badgers 42-24, including 17-6 in the third period.

Terry Broadhurst scored UNO's first goals and then, in the third period. Alex Hudson and Bryce Aneloski scored on power plays.

"The game came down to details," Badgers coach Mike Eaves said. "We have a saying in our locker room, 'details build empires.' We didn't do that."

Derek Lee, Tyler Barnes and Mike Mersch, on a five-on-three power play, scored the three early goals for the Badgers

Nebraska Omaha scored two goals on power plays to close the deficit to 3-2. Brent Gwidt scored with five minutes left in the firsr period, Terry Broadhurst with five minutes left in the second. Matt White of UNO tied the score at 3-3 early in the third period.

"After the first period we were up 3-0, we knew Nebraska was going to come out hard, that their coach was going to get on them, that they would come out hard and they did," Badgers forward Mark Zengerle said. "But it's up to us to match that and win the game."

Barnes' second goal made it 4-3 Badgers. But Broadhurst's second goal, on the power play, again tied the game in the sixth minute of the third period.

Wisconsin freshman goaltender Landon Peterson made 34 saves; UNO's Ryan Massa had 18 stops.

The Badgers went 2-for-4 on the power play, Nebraska Omaha 4-for-6.

Minnesota Duluth 1, Bemidji State 0

Senior center Jack Connolly's power-play goal at 11:21 of the third period for UMD broke the scoreless tie. Bulldogs' goaltender Kenny Reiter made 25 saves for his first shutout of 2011-12.

Junior Brance Orban of the Beavers had a penalty shot in the middle of the second period, but Reiter kicked the attempt to the side.

Almost five minutes later, Bemidji State's David Boehm was called for tripping. The penalty put the Bulldogs on the power-play for the fifth time and it would take them just 51 seconds for them to score.

For the second consecutive night, UMD finished 1-of-5 on the power-play, while BSU was zero for two with a man advantage
opportunities.

BSU goalie Dan Bakala had 27 saves.

Michigan Tech 2, Denver 2, overtime, tie

Freshman Juho Olkinuora of Helsinki, Finland stopped 27 shots in his first career start as No. 2 Denver skated to a 2-2 overtime tie at Michigan Tech Saturday.

Michigan Tech beat Denver 7-2 Friday night.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win with a much better effort tonight," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We had a lead in the third, but Tech capitalized on a blown coverage to earn the tie. I thought Olkinuora played extremely well in his first collegiate start."

Milos Gordic gace Tech a 1-0 lead, scoring on his own rebound on the power play at 6:29 of the opening period. DU's first shot on goal came from Jarrod Mermis at 12:46 and Zucker eventually tied the game on the power play with 10 seconds left in the first peiod.

LaLeggia's second goal of the weekend came on the power play at 5:34 of the second period. Brett Olson of Tech buried a loose puck at 12:35 of the third period to tie the score at 2-2.

Olkinuora, who replaced injured Adam Murray, saved the tie for Denver when he stopped Tanner Kero from the low slot with 23 seconds left in overtime. Olkinuora made four saves in the extra session.

Colorado College 4, RPI 1

Four different players had goals as No. 3-ranked CC scored shorthanded, on the power play, at even strength and into an empty net en route to claiming its second 4-1 road victory in as many nights over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

Junior forward Scott Winkler had the game-winning goal and added an assist, while junior Joe Howe had 20 saves as the Tigers improved to 4-0 to remain the only undefeated team in the WCHA.

Sophomore winger Alexander Krushelnyski, along with the Schwartz brothers – junior Rylan and sophomore Jaden – had the other goals.