ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves' comeback came up
short as the Wisconsin Badgers took Game 1 of the Western Collegiate Hockey
Association series with a 5-3 win at the Sullivan Arena in front of 2,268 fans
on Friday night.
The Badgers (5-7-5, 3-5-5 WCHA) opened the scoring with two
goals in the first before the Seawolves (3-10-4, 1-9-3 WCHA) converted in the
second period to cut the lead in half. Wisconsin took a 4-1 advantage in the
third before UAA responded with two of their own. The Badgers ended the game
with an empty-netter.
The Badgers, who sport the league's second-best defense,
struck first and early with two even-strength tallies in the opening stanza.
Captain John Ramage put UW on the board at the 2:56 mark when he capitalized on
his own rebound after cutting in front of the net. Joseph LaBate extended the
lead with a 2-on-1 pass from Michael Mersch at 8:17.
The Seawolves cut the deficit in half with a drop pass from
senior Jordan Kwas to junior Matt Bailey, who then sent a wrister from the
center of the zone for his third of the season. Sophomore Kory Roy collected
the second assist on the play.
Wisconsin seemingly took control with back-to-back goals at
6:29 and 7:34 by Mersh and Tyler Barnes, respectively, for a 4-1 lead, but the
Seawolves didn't give up, retaliating with two of their own - one on the power
play and one at even strength.
Following a flurry in the net, Kwas
produced his second of the season with help from freshman Blake Tatchell and sophomore Derek Docken at 11:04 - his team-leading third man-advantage strike. Kwas then brought UAA within one at 12:19, with
the helpers going to Bailey and Roy. With the assist, Bailey has a team-high-tying 11
points, while the two helpers give Roy his first multi-point game.
With a minute remaining, UAA pulled netminder Chris Kamal
for the extra attacker, but the Badgers broke away from the Seawolf defense for
the empty-netter at 19:29.
Kamal, from Alpharetta, Ga., made 22 saves in the loss and
dropped his season record to 2-7-0, while Landon Petersen (26 saves), a former
goaltender for the Alaska Avalanche, improved to 3-2-2.
After being outshot, 12-7 in the first 20 minutes, the
Seawolves won the battle of the shots in the second, 10-6 and third, 12-9, for
a 29-27 advantage - just the third time UAA has outshot an opponent this
season.
The teams will reunite tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. AST at
the Sullivan Arena.
