ANCHORAGE - Sean Wiles scored two goals and Jordan Kwas got
the game-winner as the Alaska Anchorage hockey team downed Michigan Tech, 4-2, at the Sullivan Arena
Saturday night and earn a sweep of the two-game WCHA weekend series.
With the victory the Seawolves (10-13-3, 9-11-2 WCHA)
leapfrogged into a tie for sixth in the WCHA standings with Colorado College at
20 points apiece. Michigan Tech is now 3-22-3 overall and 1-18-1 in league
play.
The home sweep was UAA's second straight, coming on the
heels of its Jan. 14-15 home sweep of CC - the first time that has happened
since the 1998-99 season.
Tech took a 1-0 lead at 10:29 of the first period when Alex
McLeod's bouncing dump-in from near center ice trickled past UAA netminder Chris
Kamal.
The Seawolves evened things just three minutes later at 1-1 when Wiles scored on a nifty give-and-go from Tommy Grant at 13:43. Wes
McLeod was also credited with an assist.
UAA took a
2-1 lead just 1:25 into the second on Wiles' second goal of the night. This
time it was Curtis Leinweber with the nice return pass.
The Huskies
knotted things, 2-2, at 10:55 of the second on a severe-angle shot from along
the goal line by Evan Witt on an assist from Brett Olson.
That set up
Kwas' third-period game-winner via the power play at 9:41 of the final frame on
assists from Matt Bailey and Grant. Mitch Bruijsten sealed the deal with an
empty-netter with just 31 seconds left on assists from Alex Gellert and Luka
Vidmar.
For the
second night in a row the Seawolf blue line crew came up big as well, limiting
the Huskies to just 18 shots on goal after permitting just 14 on Friday.
UAA freshman
netminder Chris Kamal, who stopped 16 shots in registering his third straight
win, climbed over the .500 mark to 4-3-1 on the season. MTU's Kevin Genoe had
21 saves.
The
Seawolves travel to Grand Forks next week (Feb. 11-12) to meet
nationally-ranked North Dakota.