MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The freshman duo of forward Matt Bailey and goaltender Chris Kamal gave the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves a league split with a 1-0 victory against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at Mariucci Arena on Saturday night.
Following a scoreless 40 minutes of play, Bailey lit the lamp with just 1:18 expired in the third frame for the game-winning goal. Combined with outstanding goaltending by Kamal, the Seawolves (8-14-3, 7-11-2 WCHA) came away with their first shutout of the season and first-ever at Minnesota (11-10-3, 8-8-2 WCHA).
With the win, the Seawolves advance to a for No. 8 in the WCHA standings with St. Cloud State with 16 points apiece. The Seawolves earned the conference split after a 5-1 defeat on Friday night.
Kamal, who made his first start in net since Nov. 20 against St. Cloud State, posted huge saves throughout the game, helping the Seawolves to the win. With his first collegiate shutout, the Alpharetta, Ga., native improved his record to 2-3-1 with a career-high 30 saves.
The only goal scored in the game came when sophomore forward Mitch Bruijsten, who netted UAA's lone goal on Friday night, passed ahead to Bailey just outside the Gopher blueline. Bailey then skated into the zone on the left side and went top shelf over UM goaltender Kent Patterson's blocker side. Senior forward Nick Haddad was credited with the second helper on Bailey's first career game-winner.
For the first time of the season, both teams were scoreless after two periods of play. Throughout the first two frames, both teams were tagged for six penalties with three of them coincidental roughing calls. Neither team registered a penalty in the final stanza.
After holding a slight lead in shots on net (7-5) and faceoffs (10-7) in the first, the Seawolves allowed 16 shots in the second, but continued to win the drop at 23-18. Overall, UAA was outshot 30-22, but won the battle of the faceoffs, 35-28.
The win broke a three-game losing streak for the Seawolves since their Jan. 15 win over Colorado College. The last time UAA shut out an opponent was on Oct. 16, 2009 against RPI on neutral ice, while the last shutout against a WCHA member was on Feb. 1, 2008 against Michigan Tech.
Junior Curtis Leinweber returned to the lineup after missing just his second game of the season on Friday night, while freshman forward Mark Pustin entered the lineup for the first time since Dec. 11.
The Seawolves will return to the Sullivan Arena for a WCHA series on Feb. 4-5 when they host the Michigan Tech Huskies. The games are scheduled for 7:07 p.m. AST both evenings.
