DULUTH, Minn. ? Juniors Kevin Clark and Josh Lunden each added two goals apiece to give Alaska Anchorage Seawolves their third-straight win with a 5-4 victory against host No. 16 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on Friday night.
The Seawolves (13-15-5, 8-14-5 WCHA) jumped out to an early, 1-0 lead, before the Bulldogs (16-11-8, 10-0-7 WCHA) responded with three unanswered goals. UAA fought back in the second period to tie the game up, 3-3 going into the second intermission. In the third frame of play, UAA added their final two goals of the night and UMD struck once more for the final, 5-4 score.
The conference game started with an unassisted breakaway goal by Clark?his eighth of the season. Clark picked the puck from UMD's senior Jay Cascalenda right inside the Bulldog zone and was free to put one past the league-leading save-percentage goaltender, junior Alex Stalock at 4:16.
Alaska Anchorage had taken the first lead of the game for the fourth consecutive time, but found it short-lived as Minnesota-Duluth responded with a goal midway through the first frame, to even it at 1-1. Senior MacGregor Sharp netted UMD's first tally on a pass from Mike Connolly and Mike Montgomery at 10:37.
With 41 seconds remaining in the period, junior Jordan Fulton found the back of the UAA net for his 11th goal of the season. On a 2-on-1 situation, sophomore Justin Fontaine found Fulton right in front of the net where he sent the puck past the pads of sophomore Bryce Christianson.
Minnesota-Duluth entered the second period with their third unanswered goal to extend their lead to two at 16:57, with a goal by sophomore Cody Danberg. Assists were handed to Matt Greer and Drew Akins
The Seawolves picked up their play in the last five minutes of action, scoring two goals to tie the game, 3-3 going into the second intermission. Picking up his second goal of the season, freshman August Aiken scored at 16:35 for bring the Seawolves within one. Senior Shane Lovdahl and freshman Tyler Moir were credited with the assists.
The Seawolves carried the momentum into the last minutes of the period with Clark's second goal on three shots with 48 second left on the clock. Sophomore Nick Haddad sent a cross pass to a wide open Clark on the left side of Stalock for an easy one timer. Freshman Jade Portwood also assisted on Clark's ninth goal on the year.
UAA retook the lead with two power play goals by junior Josh Lunden?the first man-advantage tally of the evening. With only 2:25 expired on the clock, Lunden added the Seawolves third unanswered tally and his 13th of the season to give Alaska Anchorage a 4-3 lead. Clark found junior Trevor Hunt, who sent a slap shot from the blueline and Lunden tipped in it in for the game-winner.
Lunden scored UAA's season-high-tying 14th goal at 7:09 off a rebound to give the Seawolves their largest lead of the game. Clark posted his fourth point of the game on the assist- the most points any Seawolf has received in a game this season. Junior Paul Crowder added his first assist of the game.
Just as Hunt's penalty for tripping expired, freshman Mike Connelly brought the Bulldogs back within one goal at 12:19, but it wasn't enough to defeat the Seawolves, as the game remained and ended at 5-4.
In net, Christianson added 20 saves en route to the UAA win, improving his record to 8-7-4. Stalock received the loss and dropped his season record to 15-11-8 with 17 saves.
UAA was successful on two power plays (2-5) for the fourth game in a row, while UMD scored on 1-of-7 man-advantages.
Despite the loss, UMD outshot UAA, 28-23, including a game-high 14 shots in the first period. UAA was tagged for eight penalties to the Bulldogs six. Both Christianson and Stalock were whistled for an indiscretion.
The Seawolf victory ties head coach Dave Shyiaks's season-best overall record and conference record from the 2006-07 season. UAA had already surpassed their winning record from 2007-08, earlier in the season.
The Seawolves remain in ninth place in the WCHA standings with 21 points, while Minnesota-Duluth is still in a three-way tie with St. Cloud State and Minnesota with 27 points after all three teams failed to win tonight.
No. 6 North Dakota clinched first place in the conference and are the WCHA and MacNaughton Cup Champions after defeating Wisconsin, 2-1 this evening. Denver finishes in second place and will host the Seawolves in the first round of the WCHA playoffs on March 13-14.
The Seawolves and the Bulldogs will rematch tomorrow night in the last regular season game. The puck is scheduled to drop at 4:07 p.m. (AST).
