In addition to Minnesota's 2-1 win over Alaska-Anchorage, five other games in the WCHA first round were played Friday night. While second-seeded Minnesota-Duluth, fourth-seeded North Dakota and sixth-seeded St. Cloud State won at home, tenth-seeded Wisconsin and eighth-seeded Michigan Tech upset both Colorado schools (Denver and CC) on the road.
Friday WCHA Final Recaps:
#2 Minnesota-Duluth 4 - #11 Minnesota State 2
DULUTH- Second period goals by Mavericks forwards Max Gaede and Joe Schiller erased an early 2-0 UMD lead and gave Minnesota State a chance to pull off a road upset. However, Minnesota-Duluth took advantage of mistakes in the third period and senior defenseman Brady Lamb scored the eventual game-winner with just over eight minutes left. Wade Bergman added an 150 foot empty net goal for the Bulldogs as they look to go for the sweep Saturday.
#10 Wisconsin 1 - #3 Denver 0
DENVER- Wisconsin sophomore forward Sean Little scored the only goal of the night with 5:50 remaining in the third period and Badgers freshman goalie Joel Rumpel stood tall, saving all 28 shots he faced against Denver, to give tenth-seed Wisconsin a 1-0 lead in the series.
With the loss the Pioneers drop to 1-13 against Wisconsin in the postseason.
#4 North Dakota 4 - #9 Bemidji State 1
GRAND FORKS- Fighting Sioux goalie Aaron Dell saved 28 of 29 shots he faced from Bemidji State as North Dakota defeated the Beavers 4-1 and got one step closer to clinching a NCAA Tournament berth. Carter Rowney had three assists Friday night and Connor Gaarder, Corban Knight, Mark MacMillan and Ben Blood scored for UND.
Aaron McLeod had the lone goal for Bemidji State, who lost Friday for the first time in three WCHA first round games. Their only other appearance last season saw the Beavers sweep Nebraska-Omaha.
#8 Michigan Tech 3 - #5 Colorado College 1
COLORADO SPRINGS- After Rylan Schwartz tied the game at one 39 seconds into the third period on a two-man Tigers advantage, Michigan Tech rebounded three minutes later when Dennis Rix found a way past Colorado College goaltender Josh Thorimbert. Alex McLeod added an insurance goal for the eighth-seeded Huskies, who are one win away from heading to St. Paul for the first time since 2007.
#6 St. Cloud State 4 - #7 Nebraska-Omaha 0
ST. CLOUD- As a signal of things to come, Joe Rehkamp gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead 2:30 into the game and St. Cloud State never took their foot off the pedal. Nebraska-Omaha was never able to find a way past Huskies senior goalie Mike Lee, who made 27 saves in the shutout win, and Ben Hanowski, Andrew Prochno and Taylor Johnson also scored for the home team to give them a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
It was the second consecutive Friday that the Mavericks have been shut out and they are 0-3-2 in their last five opening games.