WCHA Tournament Roundup
Saturday, March 23, 2013 (WCHA Championship)
Wisconsin 3, Colorado College 2
Friday, March 22, 2013 (WCHA Semifinal)
Colorado College 2, Minnesota 0
Wisconsin 4, St. Cloud State 1
Thursday, March 21, 2013 (WCHA Play-In)
Colorado College 4, North Dakota 3 (1 ot)
Wisconsin 7, Minnesota State 2
Sunday, March 17, 2013 (WCHA First Round)
Colorado College 4, Denver 3
Probably the last team Denver wanted to play this weekend was CC, and that turned out to be for good reason. Denver squandered a 2-0 lead, as CC came roaring back, taking the lead on a shorthanded goal by Rylan Schwartz in the second period. After Denver tied it in the third, Charlie Taft responded with the game winner with about 10 minutes left in regulation. Joe Howe has had his ups and downs, but he was phenomenal on the weekend, out-dueling goaltenders who have gotten more accolades this season. Denver will likely make the NCAAs anyway, but it was a bitter pill to swallow for the Pioneers.
Minnesota State 3, Nebraska-Omaha 1
Minnesota State advances to the Final Five for the first time in 10 years. Matt Leitner's power-play goal in the third period sealed it, his 17th goal of the season. "That was the best 20 minutes I thought we had in a month," Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings said. "I thought we came out with a lot of energy and committed to what we needed to do. We had a couple of guys make some plays." ... Hastings pointed to Bryce Gervais, who he moved to the first line with Leitner and Chase Grant (who had Friday's OT winner). Gervais, a freshman, scored the game's first goal. "He's a guy that's big and been successful in other places, and having the season he had last year in Penticton and what they did, he really stepped up. And so did No. 18 (Leitner). He really challenged himself today, and to score the goal he did ... Matt Leitner's got a lot of will -- a prideful kid. And I'm really happy for him, because he went the extra mile tonight."
Said Leitner: "It's awesome. I can't really put it into words rightnow. It's something we talked about art the beginning of the year."
UNO's season comes to a disappointing conclusion after the nice start it had. Of course, Hastings was an assistant there last year, and former Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting is now a UNO assistant. So the post-game handshake line was emotional, with Jutting hugging all of his former players. "That group over there is a special group," Hastings said of UNO. "I spent a lot of time with them. I'm happy for our guys. But I've had my season ended. It's not fun. I've got a lot of respect for Dean (Blais), the (UNO) administration and the guys in that locker room. I'm happy for my guys, but I don't take any pleasure in having that happen to those guys."
North Dakota 6, Michigan Tech 0
North Dakota delivered one of its most complete games of the season to eliminate Michigan Tech. North Dakota will face Colorado College in the Final Five play-in game on Thursday. This marks the 11th straight year UND -- winners of the last three WCHA tournament titles -- has advanced to the Final Five, tying the league record for longest streak set by Minnesota (1999-2009). Goalies Clarke Saunders (27 stops) and senior Tate Maris (1) combined for the shutout. Maris, who played the last 4:02 of the game, saw his first varsity action in his four years and entered to a thunderous ovation from the fans.
"I thought the level of play was our most complete of the year, without a question," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "We played at a playoff level for three periods. That started right from the drop of the (opening) puck." UND ran away with the game with an explosive four-goal second period, the most goals in a single period for UND since they scored four against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 28. "Sometimes you can score the first goal in a game and maybe not deserve it," Hakstol said. "We deserved it tonight and we kept our foot on the gas after we got the first one."
Maris, much loved by his teammates, got a chance to play in goal for UND. "Easy decision," Hakstol said. "It means an awful lot to the guys in that locker room. He (Maris) means a ton to our program. He's earned a helluva lot more minutes than four over his time here." Maris, a walk-on from Denver, Colo., has practiced with the team every day, but never got into an actual game -- until now. "It's kind of indescribable," Maris said. "I guess I'm at a loss of words for it. It's kind of four years pushed into four minutes right there at the end. It's pretty surreal, to say the least."
Michigan Tech hopes it laid a foundation for the future. "It's a program we'd like to become in a lot of ways," Tech coach Mel Pearson said on his post-game show. "We'll get there. It's a tough night to look at all the accomplishments, but our program is growing and heading in the right direction. ... (The future) starts now and we have to get better. We can't be satisfied just accomplishing things here and there."
Saturday, March 16, 2013 (WCHA FIrst Round)
Michigan Tech 2, North Dakota 1
10th-seeded Michigan Tech used a late goal from fourth line freshman wing C.J. Eick with 2:02 left in the game to win and force a Game 3. It snaps North Dakota's 14-game WCHA playoff winning streak. Eick raced up right wing, got UND goalie Clarke Saunders to lean a shade to his right, then flipped a backhander high past him on the short side for the winning goal. "I was trying to take it wide and get the puck on net," Eick said. "Ryan Furne made a great pass to put me on, I wouldn't say a breakaway, but I had a little step on them. ... I think he (Saunders) was making the read I was going to cut to the far post, so he leaned and I tried to tuck it short side." His goal came about 30 seconds after UND freshman star Rocco Grimaldi had a similar rush at Tech goalie Phoenix Copley, but slid his shot wide.
"I'm ecstatic. We have a new breed of Huskies. I hope North Dakota knows that tonight," Michigan Tech coach Mel Pearson said on radio after the game. "We have everything we need for success tomorrow. ... Time to shock the WCHA world."
Michigan Tech goalie Phoenix Copley had lost his previous four starts and given up 19 goals in those games, but he was superb tonight. "It was a hard-fought playoff game," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "We came up one goal short. We battled hard. It was kind of an up-and-down first period, I thought they carried the momentum in the second period and we had a good push throughout the third. But it wasn't enough."
Minnesota 4, Bemidji State 3
A goal in the closing minute from Ben Marshall capped a comeback for the Gophers and prevented Bemidji State from an upset for the second straight night. "They put their foot on the gas pedal for the final 15 minutes,' BSU coach Tom Serratore said of Minnesota. "That's the sign of a championship team. ... Too bad there's no results to show for it (because) I thought we played a very good hockey game."
Read more in our blog.
Nebraska-Omaha 2, Minnesota State 1
Nebraska-Omaha weathered an early storm, allowing just one goal, which gave itself the opportunity to come back over the final two periods, which it did. Game 3 is Sunday. It figures the 6-7 seeds would go to three games, but these were teams seeming in opposite directions, with UNO losing seven of nine. And goalie John Faulkner has been taking heat from UNO fans, but coach Dean Blais stuck with him after Game 1, and Faulkner played perhaps his best game of the season. Dominic Zombo wound up getting the game winner in the third. "We needed a better net presence," MSU coach Mike Hastings said. "There's a price you gotta pay to score goals. We're just gonna have to do that tomorrow. ... When I watch the Tour de France, I think about fatigue. Fatigue's a state of mind. So, we're not fatigued. ... We had some good opportunities tonight with guys I thought this entire year were good at finishing. It didn't happen tonight. I don't have a problem with my team tonight. I thought the effort was there."
Colorado College 2, Denver 1
St. Cloud State 5, Alaska-Anchorage 1
The Huskies took care of business for a second straight night, sweeping with a combined 11-2 score. “Usually, you win a first-round playoff series and there’s not that much hype,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko told the St. Cloud Times. “I’m really glad we brought the (MacNaughton) Cup here tonight for the fans and all of them stayed around to see it. It’s been a long time and we have a great core of fans and there was excitement in the building." WCHA Player of the Year Drew LeBlanc opened the scoring, but St. Cloud didn't pull away until the third. ... "Tonight we put the cherry on top to have the trophy in front of our home crowd," SCSU forward Ben Hanowski said afterward. "It's special to get this one. St. Cloud State has always been close to me in my heart and physically. I couldn't ask for a better way to end my career here at home."
The question for Alaska-Anchorage going forward, is will changes be made? The Seawolves finished the season with just four wins. It's always been a struggle, but things are going backwards, with little to look forward to, except an easier conference next year.
Wisconsin 4, Minnesota-Duluth 1
Wisconsin sweeps to get to the Final Five, though the Badgers still have work to do to get an NCAA bid. Jefferson Dahl scored just under three minutes into the game to open the flood gates for the Badgers, who scored three goals in the first eight minutes of the first period to take a 3-1 lead. “'Great start' is the first thing we write (on the board in the locker room) because stats tell us that the team that scores the first goal has the winning percentage in its favor,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said. “To score three (goals) like that is an explosion for us. That great start put (Minnesota-Duluth) in a position they couldn’t get back from.” ... “To finally get back to the WCHA Final Five is huge for the guys,” John Ramage (St. Louis) said. “We know we can be there. We knew we could be there the past couple seasons and didn’t get the job done. ... We got the job done this year and we’re excited to go make some noise.”
Eaves said the whole team was lifted by the quick early goal from Dahl. “The bench jumped about a foot and a half when he scored,” Eaves said. “They know how many good things (Dahl’s line) does, and to get a little bit of a reward for that was pleasing to the team and pleasing to those guys because they do work so hard.”
Read more in our blog.
Friday, March 15, 2013 (WCHA FIrst Round)
Denver 5, Colorado College 3
Eleven different players had points for Denver, as it held off intra-state rival CC in a wide open game. The win clinches a 12th consecutive 20-win season for the Pioneers, the longest streak of any program. Denver has also only been defeated once over its last 11 games on the Magness Arena ice.
Minnesota State 4, Nebraska-Omaha 3 (1 ot)
Minnesota State battled from behind all night. It overcame Ryan Walters' 22nd goal of the season, rallying in the third to tie on a goal from Bryce Gervais. Then Chase Grant scored 7:04 into overtime on a setup from John-Paul Lafontaine. "They just almost scored at the other end," Grant said. "I was pretty tired from my shift. But I saw my guys go up and we had a 3-on-2, so I just had to stay on. I got a great pass from John-Paul and I just put it home. ... I've been needing to shoot the puck more, and I was really happy to see one finally go in. ... It's a big goal, but we did a lot of good things in that game and it's a total team effort. But I've been really trying to push myself in practice just to get more pucks on net, and score more goals, because I need to be able to contribute for the team in that way too."
It was the fifth straight overtime playoff game played in Mankato, dating all the way back to 2003. Since last reaching the Final Five in 2003, MSU has won the first game of a series four times, but lost the next two games each time. This is another opportunity.
Wisconsin 3, Minnesota-Duluth 1
Wisconsin kept its recent strong play going, taking Game 1. The win puts the Badgers right on the cusp of the NCAAs. “We’ve been playing playoff hockey since November when we started the season 1-7-2,” Wisconsin defenseman John Ramage said. “It’s just another game. That’s just kind of the mentality we have. We know exactly what we need to do to win and we got the job done tonight.” Ramage had a power-play goal and assist.
Wisconsin also kept down the fourth-best power play in the nation in Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs were 0-for-3 with the man advantage, after entering the game having converted 14 of its last 32 (43.8 percent). Mark Zengerle's empty netter capped a three-point night. “We needed his offense,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said. “One of the responsibilities he has, or the expectations that we have for him, is to help produce offense for us and he was in on every goal tonight. The empty-netter was a goal scorer’s goal, an offensive player’s goal. ... This time of year, to have an offensive guy feeling it from the inside out is a good thing for us.”
Read more here.
North Dakota 5, Michigan Tech 3
Michigan Tech put up a strong fight, outshooting North Dakota, 34-24. But the skill of North Dakota won out in the end, including the game's third goal from Danny Kristo. "I thought we played very average tonight," Kristo said. "We didn't do the things we need to do to keep playing this time of the year, but we're going to move on and forget about this one." Freshman goalie Zane Gothberg finished with 31 saves for UND, but gave up two soft goals, including one from center ice at 15:14 of the third period by Tech defenseman Riley Sweeney that chopped UND's lead to 4-3. But Kristo scored 58 seconds later to make it 5-3, banking in a rebound off a Tech player from a sharp angle for his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.
Minnesota 2, Bemidji State 1 (1 ot)
Bemidji State tried to steal Game 1, with Andrew Walsh turning aside 49 shots. But it wasn't enough. Kyle Rau scored at 13:18 of overtime to give Minnesota the win. It came off a faceoff win by Nick Bjugstad, who got it back to the point. A shot was blocked, but caromed right to Rau, who buried it. BSU had tied it with 38 seconds left in regulation, leaving the Gophers temporarily stunned. Minnesota goalie Adam Wilcox also had to stop two breakaways in regulation and a big kick save in overtime. The goal was Rau's seventh game winner of the season.
"We felt as it was going on, we scored that goal, good things could happen," BSU coach Tom Serratore said. "But they had 50 shots, pushed the pace, and that's a hard-working team. ... It's a good hockey game, but we have to forget about it. It stings, but you just have to wipe it out of your memory bank."
St. Cloud State 6, Alaska-Anchorage 1
UAA held close, 1-1 after one. St. Cloud took control of the game with a three-goal second period. Following a five-minute major and game misconduct on freshman Ben Matthews for checking from behind, the Seawolves were able to kill off four minutes and 49 seconds of the penalty before David Morley scored to help open things up for the Huskies. Freshman Jonny Brodzinski scored his 20th of the season early in the second period, then scored again with 22 second left in the frame. The Seawolves, which were already short one forward and one defender prior to Matthews' ejection, didn't help themselves any in the second period, receiving two penalties early on. Overall UAA was tagged for 25 minutes of penalties.
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