ANCHORAGE - Senior forward Kevin Clark netted two
goals, including the game-winner with just 22.9 seconds left, to lead Alaska
Anchorage to a 3-2 win over No. 12
nationally-ranked Minnesota Duluth in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association
game at the Sullivan Arena Friday night.
The victory snapped a five-game
losing skid for the Seawolves (11-20-2, 9-16-2 WCHA) and also served to snap
UAA's six-game home Friday losing streak in WCHA play. The Bulldogs are now
19-15-1 overall and 15-11-1 in WCHA play.
With just one game to go in WCHA
regular season play, the Seawolves remain No. 8 with 20 points - one point
ahead of No. 9 Minnesota State. UMD is tied with North Dakota for the No. 4
spot in the WCHA with 31 points. The WCHA best-of-three, first-round playoffs
are slated for next weekend with the top five teams in the conference earning home
ice for the series.
Clark, who will join six senior
teammates in their final home games Saturday night at the Sullivan, pushed his
season goal total to 21 - making him the first UAA skater since Curtis
Glencross in 2003-04 to reach the 21-goal mark for a season.
UAA
took a 1-0 lead on their first shot on goal of the night as Clark's backhander
through traffic beat a screened UMD
netminder Brad Hjelle. Alex Gellert and Nils Backstrom were credited with
assists on the goal.
Bulldog sophomore Travis Oleksuk tied
the game with a power-play strike with 2:20 left in the frame, sending the
teams into the locker room, deadlocked at 1-1.
Anchorage native and freshman
forward Tyler Currier put the Seawolves up 2-1 at 2:44 of the second on his
first collegiate goal. Sophomore forward Jade Portwood and
junior defenseman Luka Vidmar were
credited with assists.
UAA nursed that lead until 16:51 of
the third when the Bulldogs' Jack Connolly gathered in a home-run pass from
Mike Connolly and scored the equalizer on a breakaway.
That set up Clark's heroics with
just seconds remaining on an assist from Luka Vidmar. The game-winner was Clark's
second of the season.
Senior
goalie Jon Olthuis (8-13-2) was solid in net for the Seawolves, registering 24
saves. He also got his 23rd career win, tying him with Jeff Carlson
for No. 6 on UAA's all-time goaltending wins list. UMD's Hjelle (9-7-1) recorded
18 saves
UMD
outshot UAA, 26-21, for the game. The Seawolves were 0-for-5 on the power play
while the Bulldogs went 1-for-6.
The victory gave fifth-year head
coach Dave Shyiak his 51st career win at UAA, putting him No. 2 on
the UAA coaching wins list behind program founder, Brush Christiansen.
The Bulldogs and Seawolves will
square off again Saturday at 7:07 at the Sullivan Arena in the regular-season
ending game for both squads.
