ANCHORAGE? Two goals by Alaska Anchorage's second line wasn't enough to beat No. 9 North Dakota, as the Fighting Sioux swept the series, with a 6-2 win in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game on Saturday night at the Sullivan Arena.
Junior Kevin Clark led the charge in the first frame, putting the Seawolves on the board within just three minutes of play. Clark added his seventh tally of the season on a power play to put UAA up 1-0. Senior Mat Robinson and junior Josh Lunden peppered Brad Eidsness in net with two shots, before Clark picked up the second rebound for the goal.
The Fighting Sioux retaliated with three unanswered goals in the period. The first was a shorthanded goal at 9:29 to tie the game at 1-1. With UND's Brett Hextall serving a penalty for cross-checking, Ryan Duncan broke away from the Seawolf pack and sent a slap shot top-shelf on Bryce Christianson's glove side. The helper was credited to Jake Marto.
With 6:43 left in the period, the Sioux took the lead with a power play goal by Chris VandeVelde. With the penalty kill line defending the UAA's net, VandeVelde took a shot from the center of the zone. The puck deflected off of a defender and slipped through to the back of the net.
Sophomore Nick Haddad had a chance to score at 2:52 of the first with a breakaway. With the Seawolves shorthanded, Haddad picked the puck away from UND at the Seawolf blueline, but met Eidsness in the crease.
North Dakota posted the first full strength goal of the evening with a one timer by Brad Malone with 54.5 seconds remaining in the period. Darcy Zajac won the puck behind the net and found Malone open in front of the net, to end the period, 3-1.
With three goals on eight shots, head coach Dave Shyiak replaced Christianson with junior Jon Olthuis following the first intermission. The Seawolves lost Sean Wiles and Jared Tuton after the first period due to injuries and minutes into the second, Nils Backstrom was walked off the ice with a concussion.
The Sioux found the back of the net with their fourth goal at 6:59 of the second. VandeVelde picked up his second tally of the night, ending the period, 4-1 in favor of North Dakota.
Junior Josh Lunden scored his second goal of the weekend at 8:22 of the third to bring the Seawolves within two, but an empty net goal by UND with 2:47 left in the game once again gave the Fighting Sioux a three game lead. With 35.2 seconds remaining in the game, UND struck once again with a hat trick by VandeVelde for the final 6-2 score.
Eidsness picked up the win for the Sioux, improving his record to 20-8-3 and Christianson recorded the loss, dropping his record to 5-7-4. Eidsness posted 17 saves, while Christianson had 5 and Olthuis stopped 14 shots. North Dakota out shot the Seawolves in each period of play, giving them a 25-19 advantage over UAA.
The Seawolves were 2-for-7 on the man-advantage, connecting on two power plays for the first time since Oct. 24 against Minnesota Duluth. North Dakota went 1-for-2 on the power play.
North Dakota remained tied for first with Denver in the WCHA standings with 33 points. Denver had defeated Wisconsin, 5-0 earlier in the evening to secure their first-place standings. Even with two more conference games, the Seawolves are seven points out of fifth place, failing to secure home ice advantage for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. UAA sits in 9th with 19 points, one shy of 8th, held by Minnesota State.
The Seawolves will hit the road for a non-conference game against Fairbanks on Friday, Feb. 27 for the first game of the Governor's Cup. UAA and UAF will meet on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the second game of the Cup at the Sullivan Arena. Game time is set for 7:07 p.m.
