ANCHORAGE - Craig
Parkinson and Alex Gellert scored goals for Alaska Anchorage and netminder
Rob Gunderson's spectacular night in goal made it stand up as the Seawolves
downed Colorado College 2-1 at the Sullivan Arena Saturday night to earn a
WCHA series sweep of the Tigers.
For UAA,
which improved to 7-10-3 overall and 6-8-2 WCHA play, it was its first home
sweep since October 2007. The Tigers, who came into the series ranked No.
17 nationally, slipped to 12-11-1 overall and 8-8-0 in WCHA play.
The
Seawolves remain eighth in the tightly bunched, 12-team WCHA standings, but are just two
points out of fifth.
Gunderson, a
freshman, stopped 17 of 18 Tiger shots and was key in helping the Seawolves
kill off all six Colorado College power plays, including a five-minute major in
the first period. CC came into the weekend ranked No. 4 nationally on the power
play.
Parkinson's
power-play goal at 4:41 of the first period, on assists from Tommy Grant and
Scott Warner, staked UAA to a 1-0 lead. That score remained until Alex Gellert
tallied the weekend's first even-strength goal just 32 seconds into the third
period on assists from Curtis Leinweber and Grant.
The Tigers
finally got on the board with 6:59 remaining on a goal by Alexander
Krushelnyski. A penalty to UAA's Wes McLeod with 2:27 left in the third
put CC on the man advantage again, and the Tigers skated 6-on-4 after pulling
goalie Joe Howe with 51 seconds remaining.
But the UAA
defense stood tall and allowed nary a shot on goal in the wild finish. The
sweep was UAA's first of the Tigers since 2003.
Gunderson
improved to 6-7-2 on the season and elevated his saves percentage to .902. CC's
Howe (10-9-1) was credited with 15 saves.
The
Seawolves will travel to Denver for a WCHA series next weekend (Jan. 21-22) with the Pioneers.