Colorado College extends streak
Colorado College extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games after a weekend series at Minnesota, keeping the Tigers atop the WCHA standings with a five-point advantage over second-place Denver.
The Tigers beat Minnesota 7-3 Friday and then tied the Gophers 2-2 Saturday.
Minnesota used a late third-period rally to force a tie Saturday night. Thomas Vanek scored off his own rebound with just over six minutes to play in regulation to knot the score at 2-2.
"(Tigers goalie Curtis McElhinney) is a big guy who blocks the net and always makes the first stop. But he does give up rebounds sometimes, and it was nice to get that one in," Vanek said.
Colorado College (9-1-2, 6-0-2 WCHA) dominated early for the second consecutive night, out-shooting Minnesota 12-3 in the first period. Peter Sejna scored both goals for the Tigers.
The Tigers were disappointed to let a two-goal lead slide into a tie on the scorebooks. Noah Clarke had a goal and two assists in the Tigers' 7-3 win on Friday.
In other WCHA action, Denver beat and tied Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Duluth split with Wisconsin, North Dakota swept Alaska-Anchorage and St. Cloud State split with Minnesota State, Mankato.
Gabe Gauthier had a goal and an assist in Denver's 5-2 win over Michigan Tech on Saturday. The Pioneers (9-2-1, 4-1-1) built up a 3-0 lead before Michigan Tech's first score, a Jon Hartman goal at 10:23 in the third. Adam Berkhoel stopped 24 shots for Denver, while Cam Ellsworth turned away 26 shots for Michigan Tech (1-5-3, 0-4-2).
Denver tied Michigan Tech 3-3 on Friday night.
Jake Brandt stopped 22 shots as North Dakota shut out Alaska-Anchorage 1-0 on Saturday. Half of Brandt's saves came in a flood of third-period Seawolf shots on goal.
Kevin Spiewak's goal on the power play 6:31 into the first period was all North Dakota (9-1-0, 3-1-0) needed for the win. Seawolves goalie Kevin Reiter had 35 saves. The Fighting Sioux beat Alaska-Anchorage (1-7-2, 0-5-1) 4-2 on Friday.
Eric Jensen scored the winning goal with 18 seconds left in overtime Saturday to give Wisconsin a 2-1 victory over Minnesota-Duluth.
Bernd Bruckler stopped 21 shots on goal for Wisconsin (5-5-0, 1-3-0), while Duluth's Isaac Reichmuth had 34 saves. Junior Lessard scored the Bulldogs' (3-4-3, 3-3-2) lone goal late in the third period, forcing overtime.
Reichmuth had 21 saves as the Bulldogs beat Wisconsin 4-1 Friday night. Tyler Brosz scored the game-winning goal for Minnesota-Duluth at the 11:07 mark of the first period. The victory was the Bulldogs' first over Wisconsin in their last eight meetings.
Joe Motzko scored two goals as St. Cloud State avenged Friday's loss with a 7-2 win over Minnesota State, Mankato (3-5-2, 2-3-1) on Saturday. The Huskies (5-4-1, 3-2-1) scored three unanswered goals in the second period. Dana Sorensen and Grant Stevenson scored for the Mavericks in the loss.
On Friday night, Shane Joseph scored the winning goal for Minnesota State, Mankato and got his first career hat trick in a 7-6 win over St. Cloud State. Ryan Malone scored two goals and dished an assist and Matt Hendricks scored two goals for St. Cloud State.