HOUGHTON, Mich. - The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves registered their second Western Collegiate Hockey association road victory of the season with a 6-2 defeat of the Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday night at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. UAA was led by a pair of goals from sophomore forward Jade Portwood.
The Seawolves (7-13-1, 5-11-1 WCHA) recorded two goals in each period from five different skaters, while the Huskies' (3-19-1, 2-15-0) offensive end was sparked by sophomore Brett Olson, who notched both of MTU's tallies.
UAA started the game with two goals within 15 seconds of each other in the first period. At 5:33, junior forward Tommy Grant picked up his fifth goal of the season on the power play, followed by Portwood's first tally of the night at 5:48.
At 10:16 of the frame, Olson broke free from the pack on a MTU penalty kill and recorded a short-handed goal for a 2-1 score going into the first intermission.
Picking up his first career goal was rookie forward Mitch Bruijsten at 4:40 at the second period. Bruijsten received the eventual game-winner from sophomore forward/defenseman Curtis Leinweber.
The Seawolves enjoyed a three-goal cushion following an unassisted short-handed goal from junior forward Sean Wiles. Wiles registered his team-leading second shortie at 10:39, ending the period with UAA on top, 4-1.
The Huskies struck back with a man-advantage goal by Olson at 5:17 of the third. MTU continued to trail the Seawolves, 4-2 going into the final two minutes of play and pulled their rookie goaltender, Kevin Genoe (29 saves).
The Seawolves were able to capitalize with empty net goals from Portwood at 18:30 and from senior forward Kevin Clark at 19:35 for the final.
In addition to Portwood, Clark (1-1-2), Grant (1-1-2) and sophomore-transfer Brad Gorham (0-2-2) each recorded a multi-point game. Picking up their first point of the season was seniors Nils Backstrom and Ken Selby.
The Seawolves received their third-straight start by senior Jon Olthuis between the pipes. Olthuis (4-7-1) recorded 27 saves throughout the game, including 14 in the third period.
Both teams were able to strike on one power play opportunity, with UAA going 1-for-4 and MTU scoring once on five chances. UAA was tagged for 5-10 on penalties, while the Huskies served 21 minutes due to a five-minute major and a game misconduct on sophomore Alex MacLeod for checking from behind at 15:55 of the first.
UAA peppered Tech with a season-high-tying 35 shots on goal - first time was when UAA defeated Colorado College, 3-2 in overtime in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The four-goal win is the largest victory on the road for the Seawolves since Feb. 25, 2000 against Minnesota Duluth and UAA's first WCHA Friday night win of the season.
With the win, the Seawolves move up in the WCHA standings to a two-way tie with Minnesota State, each with 11 points.
The Seawolves and the Huskies will rematch at 1 p.m. AST on Saturday.
