MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Alaska Anchorage's hopes of becoming just the second No. 10 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in the first round of the WCHA playoffs came to an end tonight as Minnesota edged the Seawolves 3-1 in the third and deciding game of their best-of-3 series here at the Mariucci Arena.
The win by the No. 2-ranked Golden Gophers (28-9-3) propels them into next weekend's WCHA Final Five tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., while UAA's (13-21-3) season has come to an end with the loss.
Junior goalie Nathan Lawson produced another strong effort between the pipes, turning away 26 shots, including 10 each in both the first and second periods.
UAA had trouble generating shots in the offensive end most of the game as the Gophers defense put the clamps on the 'Wolves, limiting them to a combined five shots in the second and third periods after allowing seven in the first. Minnesota ended the game with a 29-12 advantage in shots, holding the Seawolves to their lowest total of the season.
Despite the discrepancy in shots, the Seawolves gave a solid defensive effort themselves by holding the high-powered Minnesota offense to just one goal through the first two periods.
The Seawolves took an early 1-0 lead with an evenstrength tally from freshman Kevin Clark at the 5:43 mark of the opening period. Clark, who collected his team-best third point of the series with his eighth goal of the season, wristed a backhander from the slot past Gopher goalie Jeff Frazee to give UAA its first first period lead of the series. Freshman Josh Lunden earned his second point in two nights with the assist.
The score would stay in favor of the Seawolves for the remainder of the period and extend into the opening few minutes of the second before Ben Gordon would strike fo Minnesota's fifth power-play goal of the series at 4:22 to knot the score at 1-1.
The tightly played contest would remain deadlocked for the next 24 minutes of action before the Gophers would grab their first lead of the night on a Mike Carman one-timer at the 8:44 mark.
Down one goal with 3:16 remaining in regulation Minnesota's Erik Johnson was called for a penalty giving UAA a golden opportunity to tie the game on its fourth power-play chance of the night, but puck luck would bounce in favor of the Gophers as Kyle Okposo would score a bizarre shorthanded goal at 18:35 to seal the win.
As Minnesota cleared the puck out of its end it bounced off an assistant referee to the stick of a charging Tony Lucia who unleashed a shot that bounced straight up off the cross bar before falling back in front of the crease to a waiting Okposo, who burried it past a stunned Lawson. Lawson lost track of the puck after it sailed off the cross bar.
The Seawolves, who are now 2-36-0 all-time when scoring two ore fewer goals against the Gophers, ended the night scoreless on the power play at 0-for-4, while Minnesota went 1-for-7.
Tonight's game was the final played by five Seawolf seniors - Chad Anderson, Justin Bourne, Charlie Kronschnabel, Nick Lowe and Mark Smith.
