ANCHORAGE? A hat trick by Ryan Lasch lifted the St. Cloud Huskies over the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, 3-1 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Sullivan Arena on Friday night.
Lasch notched power-play strike in each period to give the Huskies (15-12-2, 10-10-1 WCHA) their third win in four contests.
The Seawolves (9-12-4, 6-11-4) got their lone tally from sophomore Nick Haddad, who made it a 2-1 game early in the third period with his first career goal.
The Huskies scored their first power-play goal of the evening with 3:34 minutes remaining in the first period. UAA was 14 seconds into the penalty kill when Lasch ? the national player-of-the-month for January ? scored his 14th goal of the season. Garret Roe and Garret Raboin were credited with the assists.
UAA sophomore Tommy Grant had a chance to tie the game when he was awarded a penalty shot at 8:29 of the second period. Grant was permitted the shot after being dragged down on a breakaway in front of the net. With Seawolf fans on their feet, Grant was unable to tap the puck by St. Cloud goaltender Jase Weslosky.
The last Seawolf attempt on a penalty shot was almost exactly four years ago on Feb. 4, 2005 against the Huskies. Shea Hamilton scored on the attempt?still the only successful penalty shot in UAA history.
Lasch once again capitalized on the man-advantage with his second tally of the night at 16:18 of the period. UAA junior forward Paul Crowder was sent to the box for hooking, allowing Raboin to find Lasch's stick for the 2-0 lead.
The Seawolves responded at 3:25 of the third period when Haddad re-directed a slapper by Kane Lafranchise. Junior defenseman Nils Backstrom also picked up an assist on the score.
Lasch recorded his hat trick with another power-play goal at 14:02 of the third, to put the Huskies up 3-1. Roe picked up his second point of the evening, while Raboin tallied this third.
Weslosky recorded 14 saves for the victory, while UAA goalie Jon Olthuis was solid despite the losing effort, making 23 stops.
The Seawolves and Huskies will meet again for another Western Collegiate Hockey Association tilt Saturday (7:07 p.m. AST) at Sullivan.
