University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Alaska-Anchorage
Gophers Sweep Seawolves, Improve To 4-0-0 On Road
10/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Live Blog Recap l Instant Analysis From 3-1 Win
Postgame Audio: Lucia and Patterson l Updated Team Stats
Oct. 30, 2011
The No. 8 Minnesota men's hockey team climbed into sole possession of first place in the WCHA on Saturday night with a 3-1 road win over Alaska Anchorage at Sullivan Arena. The Gophers, who fell victim to a sweep at home at the hands UAA in the conference playoffs last season, returned the favor with back-to-back wins over the Seawolves on Friday and Saturday. UM's Kent Patterson stole the show between the pipes, finishing the night with 26 saves.
Though the Gophers came out of the first period with a 1-0 lead for the second night in a row in the series finale, the Seawolves would not allow Minnesota to cruise to victory again after UM pulled away for a 5-0 triumph in Friday's contest.
Assistant captain Zach Budish gave Minnesota the lead just past the halfway point of the opening frame. Nick Bjugstad gathered a pass from Kyle Rau and found Budish camped out in front of UAA goaltender Rob Gunderson. The redshirt sophomore buried a one-timer in tight to put the Gophers in front.
Minnesota carried the play for the rest of the period, outshooting the Seawolves 20-4, but was unable to build on its lead.
Three minutes into the middle stanza, a Ben Marshall high-sticking penalty give Alaska Anchorage its first power play of the game, but it was the Gophers who ended up taking advantage.
After Patterson made a stop on a shot that came through a scrum of players in between the faceoff circles, Nate Condon collected the puck and carried it out of the UM zone with momentum. Condon proceeded to split two Alaska Anchorage backcheckers and beat Gunderson with a quick shot up high to make it 2-0.
The sophomore winger's tally was the first shorthanded goal of the season for Minnesota.
Seven minutes later, after killing off a bench minor for too many men on the ice, the Gophers afforded UAA its third power play chance of the game and sixth of the weekend.
After coming up empty on their first five man-advantage opportunities in the series, the Seawolves finally capitalized with the extra skater when Sam Mellor backhanded a shot past Patterson to cut the UM lead to one.
Alaska Anchorage generated several scoring chances in the final frame, but Patterson weathered the storm, stopping all nine shots he faced to preserve the victory. The senior netminder finished the weekend with 48 saves on 49 UAA shots.
With Gunderson pulled, Rau iced the Gophers' second conference road sweep of the season with a long empty-net goal. The score came with four seconds left on a UM penalty kill, giving the Gophers their second shorthanded goal of the game.
Minnesota is now 7-1-0 on the young season and has and unblemished WCHA record of 4-0-0. UM is one point ahead of Michigan Tech for first place in the conference.
The Gophers return to action on Friday, hosting No. 12-ranked North Dakota at Mariucci Arena at 7 p.m. The two teams will play again on Saturday night at 7:30.
