MADISON,
Wis. - Alaska Anchorage's hopes of earning a berth in next week's WCHA Final
Five came to an end here at the Kohl Center Saturday night as No. 3-ranked
Wisconsin downed the Seawolves, 7-2, and swept the best-of-three-game series, 2-0.
The win
by the Badgers (24-9-4) propels them into next weekend's WCHA Final Five
tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., while UAA's (11-23-2)
2009-10 season comes to an end.
The Seawolves erased an early 2-0 Wisconsin lead on goals by senior defenseman Trevor Hunt late in the first
period and sophomore forward Curtis Leinweber early in the
second. But the Badgers answered with back-to-back power-play goals in the
second, and three more scores in the third.
Wisconsin's Blake Geoffrion and
Michael Davies put the Badgers on the board with even-strength tallies at 3:32
and 16:46 of the opening period of play. Four seconds after a 5-on-3 situation
in favor of UAA, Hunt fired a shot through traffic and hit mesh, closing the
gap to one goal - his first goal of the season. Junior defenseman Kane Lafranchise and freshman
forward Daniel Naslund picked up the
helpers at 19:36.
The Seawolves tied the game when
Wisconsin's goalie Scott Gudmandson went behind his net to retrieve the puck
and was greeted by freshman forward Tyler Currier, who in turn
fed the puck to Leinweber for the empty net goal. Freshman forward Mitch Bruijsten assisted on
the play at 15:27.
The Badgers responded with two
power-play goals by Derek Stepan (18:11) and Justin Schultz (19:22), sending
UAA into the locker room with a two-goal deficit.
Wisconsin increased its lead in the
third period with a pair of goals by Aaron Bendickson - just 12 seconds apart -
and Geoffrion's second goal of the evening for the 7-2 final.
Receiving the nod in net for UAA was
junior goaltender Bryce Christianson (3-8-0). The
Anchorage native registered 31 saves, while Gudmandson (16-3-4) blocked 35
shots.
The Seawolves surrendered a
season-high 20 shots on net in the third period, giving the Badgers the final lead
in shots, 41-37.
UAA was held scoreless on the man
advantage for the second straight night, going 0-for-7. UW was able to strike
on 2-of-10 opportunities.
Saturday's game ended the college
career for seven Seawolf seniors - Nils Backstrom, Kevin Clark, Hunt, Josh Lunden, Jon Olthuis, Ken Selby and Jared Tuton.
