Penalties hurt Seawolves in 5-3 loss

ANCHORAGE ? Junior Paul Crowder scored a pair of goals but his Alaska Anchorage team was unable to hold an early two-goal advantage in a 5-3 loss to 13th-ranked Minnesota State on Friday in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action at Sullivan Arena.

The Seawolves (5-3-1, 2-2-1 WCHA) suffered their second home defeat of the season despite outshooting the Mavericks 28-19.

Minnesota State (6-2-1, 2-2-1) scored three of its first four goals on the power play, plus a late empty-net tally. Sophomore center Andrew Sackrison was the offensive star of the night for the Mavericks, assisting on his team's first goal and then scoring the eventual game-winner with 12:46 left in the third period.

UAA took a 1-0 lead when Tommy Grant scored his team-leading seventh goal on an odd-man rush with one minute to play in the first period. The sophomore took a perfect pass from freshman defenseman Curtis Leinweber and beat goalie Mike Zacharias to start the scoring.

Leinweber, skating in just his third game, also picked up an assist on UAA's second goal, a Crowder power-play strike early in the second.

The Seawolf lead wouldn't last long, however, as Kurt Davis and Kael Mouillierat tallied goals three minutes apart, and Trevor Bruess put MSU up 3-2 with 7:33 on the second-period clock.

UAA answered with another goal from Crowder, his fifth of the season, late in the second, but penalties would again come back to haunt the Seawolves.

With Sean Wiles in the box for high-sticking, Sackrison scored the game-winner, and Bruess added his second goal of the night with an empty-net tally with 1:13 to play.

Zacharias earned the win in net with 25 saves, while Jon Olthuis made 14 stops in the losing effort for UAA.

MSU converted 3 of 9 power-play chances, while UAA was held to 1 of 6.

The Seawolves and Mavericks will lace up the skates again Saturday for a 7:07 p.m. face-off at Sullivan.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Paul Crowder: F; 6' 3"; Freshman; R

#30 Jon Olthuis: G; 6' 3"; Freshman; R

#16 Tommy Grant: F; 6' 2"; Freshman; L

#27 Sean Wiles: F; 6' 3"; Freshman; R

#11 Curtis Leinweber: D; 5' 8"; Freshman; L

Players Mentioned

#11 Paul Crowder
: 6' 3"; Freshman; R
: F

#30 Jon Olthuis
: 6' 3"; Freshman; R
: G

#16 Tommy Grant
: 6' 2"; Freshman; L
: F

#27 Sean Wiles
: 6' 3"; Freshman; R
: F

#11 Curtis Leinweber
: 5' 8"; Freshman; L
: D