Rink and Run blog: Sunday in the frigid WCHA

The Metrodome is down in Minneapolis on Sunday morning and so are the temperatures. As Minnesota Duluth plans to face Minnesota at Mariucci Arena, and North Dakota readies to play Minnesota State-Mankato at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, both at 4 p.m., temperatures are below zero under sunny skies. The snow, about 18 inches in Minneapolis, has moved elsewhere.

Three series in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association were finished Saturday: No. 16 Wisconsin completed a home sweep with a 2-0 win over Bemidji State; Colorado College completed a road sweep with a 5-2 win over St. Cloud State; and No. 9 Denver tied at Alaska Anchorage 2-2.

That leaves North Dakota and Denver tied for first in the league with 20 points as we reach the season’s mid-point. UMD is one point back with 19 and Nebraska-Omaha fourth with 17.

UMD leads on offense with 3.82 goals a game and is third on defense at 2.59.

What did the Bulldogs do with Saturday’s off day? A News Tribune story is here.

Also, a hockey world-record crowd of 113,411 watched Michigan beat Michigan State 5-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the Big Chill at the Big House. The Ann Arbor News has an update here.

At Madison, Wis., the Badgers scored once in the first period, Michael Mersch (7), and once in the third, Podge Turnbull, and Scott Gudmandson made 21 saves. There were just five total penalties and the game took just 2:10. Bemidji State’s Dan Bakala had 23 saves. Bemidji State scored twice in the first three minutes of the first game in the series, then was shut out the final 117 minutes, 30 seconds. The Bemidji Pioneer has a story here and the Wisconsin State Journal has a story here.

At St. Cloud, Minn., the Huskies led 1-0 just 3:58 into the game, from Ben Hanowski (6), but Colorado College rallied with three goals in four minutes later in the period. Winger Tyler Johnson (11) of Cloquet finished with two goals for the Tigers. St. Cloud State led in shots 31-28 and is 1-7-1 the last nine games. Colorado College has won five straight and allowed just five goals total in that streak. The Colorado Springs Gazette has a story here and the St. Cloud Times has a story here.

At Anchorage, Alaska, the Seawolves were looking for a fifth straight series split, but ended up in a tie as Mitch Bruijsten scored with 8:10 left in the third period. Dustin Jackson had put Denver up 2-1 at 2:10 of the second period. Anchorage led in shots 22-20. Sam Brittain of Denver and Rob Gunderson of Anchorage were in goal. Denver is 8-1-1 the last 10 games. The Anchorage Daily News has a story here.

Of the top five ranked teams in Division I, only three played, all on Friday: No. 2 UMD lost 3-2 at Minnesota; No. 3 New Hampshire beat Maine 4-3 in overtime; and No. 5 North Dakota won 4-3 at Minnesota State-Mankato on Friday. No. 1 Yale and No. 4 Boston College did not play.

And in the final college hockey game at the DECC Arena on Saturday night, No. 9 North Dakota rallied with the game’s final three goals to beat No. 4 UMD 4-3 to gain a split in the WCHA women’s series. Mary Loken scored the game winner with 4:05 to play. UMD led in shots 44-27. The Bulldogs led 3-1 after one period. Jocelyne Lamoureux (16) had two goals for North Dakota.

WCHA Standings Courtesy of College Hockey Stats.net

 1 North Dakota      20  13 10- 3- 0 .769  44- 29   19 12- 5- 2 .684  65- 51
   Denver            20  14  9- 3- 2 .714  47- 35   20 12- 5- 3 .675  64- 52
 3 Minnesota Duluth  19  13  9- 3- 1 .731  44- 32   17 12- 3- 2 .765  65- 44
 4 Nebraska-Omaha    17  12  8- 3- 1 .708  41- 28   16 11- 4- 1 .719  59- 39
 5 Colorado College  14  12  7- 5- 0 .583  45- 33   18 10- 7- 1 .583  61- 50
   Wisconsin         14  14  6- 6- 2 .500  40- 31   20 10- 7- 3 .575  69- 42
 7 Minnesota         13  13  6- 6- 1 .500  42- 41   17  9- 7- 1 .559  57- 54
 8 Minnesota State   10  13  4- 7- 2 .385  31- 45   17  6- 7- 4 .471  48- 56
   Alaska Anchorage  10  14  4- 8- 2 .357  29- 44   18  5-10- 3 .361  43- 59
10 Bemidji State      9  14  4- 9- 1 .321  32- 40   16  5-10- 1 .344  35- 44
11 St. Cloud State    7  12  3- 8- 1 .292  29- 40   18  5-11- 2 .333  45- 60
12 Michigan Tech      3  12  1-10- 1 .125  29- 55   15  3-10- 2 .267  43- 64

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