ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Wisconsin men’s hockey team
swept Alaska Anchoarge with a 6-3 win for the second
time this season on Saturday at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Seawolves (7-9-2, 4-7-2 WCHA) gained an early lead in the first period, but Wisconsin (12-9-3, 9-5-2 WCHA)
did not take long to respond, earning a two-goal advantage by the end of
the period. In the second, each team scored a goal, maintaining the goal
difference, though UAA reduced UW’s lead to one in the third period. Two
UW goals late in the game gave Wisconsin the comfortable win.
The victory over the Seawolves marks UW’s fifth consecutive WCHA victory
and its first road sweep since winning two at Denver on March 9-10,
2007. The Badgers now sit alone in second place in the league, three
points behind Denver and two points ahead of Colorado College.
Tommy Grant scored the first goal of the game 3:45 into the first
period. Grant found the net after a forced turnover along the boards in
the UW zone resulted in a UAA 2-on-1.
Senior Tom Gorowsky put Wisconsin on the board with
seven minutes left in the first period. Junior Andy Bohmbach, knocked the puck out of the air to keep possession in the UAA
zone, where Gorowsky beat Bryce Christianson to draw even with the
Seawolves at 1-1.
With 4:38 left in the first, junior Blake Geoffrion
notched another tip-in goal by knocking down a point shot from junior
Jamie McBain to put Wisconsin 2-1. Freshman Derek Stepan was also credited with the assist on the
power-play goal.
The Badgers expanded their lead to two about a minute later. Sophomore
Sean Dolan shot through the UAA defensemen that banked off
the short-side corner and into the far side of the goal with 3:31 left
in the first period for the 3-1 lead. Junior Ben Grotting and freshman Eric Springer recorded the
assists.
McBain scored UW’s fourth goal late in the second period. He slapped a
wrist shot past Christianson from the top of the faceoff circle to
stretch Wisconsin’s lead to 4-1 with 4:31 left in the second.
Alaska Anchorage finally found the net again with 3:53 left in the
second. Kevin Clark knocked the puck out of the air in front of the UW
goal and beat senior Shane Connelly to reset the score
at 4-2.
The Seawolves further narrowed Wisconsin’s lead to one early in the
third period. Craig Parkinson capitalized on a botched clearing attempt
by the Badgers to make it 4-3 with 16:52 left.
Junior Aaron Bendickson (Thief River Falls, Minn.) cushioned UW’s lead
with a goal right after skating out of the penalty box with 2:51 left in
the game. Stepan recorded his second assist.
With 1:18 left, Grotting scored on an empty net to secure the 6-3 win
for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin outshot UAA 37 to 25 and went 1-for-6 on the power play, while
UAA went 0-for-4. Connelly saved 22 goals to Christianson’s 31.