MANKATO, Minn. – Senior Tommy Grant
registered two goals, leading the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves to their first Western Collegiate Hockey Association road sweep of the season with a 4-1 defeat of the Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center.
The Seawolves will face the Minnesota Gophers for the WCHA 1st Round Playoffs in a best-of-three series. The games will commence at 4:07 p.m. on March 11-12 and on March 13, if necessary.
UAA (14-17-3, 12-14-2 WCHA) wrapped up the regular season with its best conference record under sixth-year bench boss Dave Shyiak
and its best since the Seawolves' first season in the league in 1993-94. The Seawolves (26 points) finish the season tied for No. 8 in the conference with St. Cloud State, following a SCSU loss and a win by Wisconsin tonight.
In addition to Grant's third multi-goal game of the season, freshman goaltender Chris Kamal
was solid in net for the third straight game. Stretching back to the UAA's 4-1 win over Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 26, the rookie from Alpharetta, Ga., has posted 85 saves, while allowing only two goals.
The Seawolves struck first for the fourth straight game with an even-strength tally by sophomore forward Daniel Naslund
with just 1:32 left in the opening frame. Naslund recorded his third goal of the season after picking up a loose puck in front of the net and scoring on just UAA's sixth shot of the night. Freshman Brett Cameron
and senior Sean Wiles
were credited with the assists.
UAA took a two-goal lead at 5:32 of the second, three seconds after a MSU penalty had expired. Senior forward Craig Parkinson
found Grant, who sent it home for his second goal of the series.
The Mavericks (14-16-6, 8-16-4 WCHA) cut the lead in half with their first tally in 94 minutes of play against the Seawolves. The goal came at 14:34 of the second with senior Brett Peterson's first career goal, in what was his last home game.
The Seawolves once again had a two-goal advantage over the MSU with a power-play goal at 14:13 of the third, with just 24 seconds left in the man advantage. Netting his third goal in six games was Wiles, who received the pass from freshman Quinn Sproule
and junior Brad Gorham
.
Grant secured the WCHA series sweep with 40 seconds remaining in the game with the empty netter – his team-leading 15th goal and fifth in the last six games. Sproule collected the helper, marking his first multi-point night and first collegiate points of his career.
The last time the Seawolves swept an opponent on the road was Jan. 15-16, 2010 at Michigan Tech (6-2, 5-4), while it was the first time UAA has ever swept MSU on the road. The last time UAA had back-to-back wins against the Mavericks was on Jan. 15-16, 1993 at home.
