WCCHA Weekend Review 11/3-11/5: Bethel and UW-Eau Claire Stake Claims to Top Divisional Spots
The first weekend of November featured 5 Divisional series that kicked off an important three week stretch of conference play. In both divisions, teams grabbed the opportunity to start building their resume for qualification for the WCCHA Tournament in February.
NOTE: The scheduled series between Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota State was postponed. The series will now be contested Nov. 17-18.
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NORTHWEST DIVISION: BETHEL-SCSU | UND-UMN
SOUTHEAST DIVISION: WISC-MNSU | UWL-UWEC | UST-UWS
Bethel Takes Northwest Lead With Sweep of St. Cloud State
Starting Friday night in St. Cloud, Bethel University and St. Cloud State University met in a vital Divisional home-and-home series with all four points going to the Royals.
Bethel struck first on Friday night just 3:24 in when, following a denied breakaway, Adam Fisher buried a penalty shot for a 1-0 lead. The game settled in from there, and St. Cloud State evened it at 1-1 through Jared Christen. From there, the action would push to both ends in a wide-open game on the Olympic sheet, but more than 20 minutes of gameplay would go by without a goal. Finally, as the second neared its end, Luke Small of the Royals put home a chance with helpers from Jacob Posner and Ryan Sola to carry a 2-1 lead into the third. With the game hanging in the balance, BU took advantage of a power play when Tyler Larwood completed a play from Carter Sola and John Migliore to get an all important third goal. Just a minute later, SCSU would halve the lead as Mason Emerson breached the Bethel net, but the Royals would hold off the Huskies for the remainder to earn the narrow 3-2 opening night victory.
Back in Blaine on Saturday, another close game played out until the later stages of the third ensured a comfortable margin of victory for Bethel. For the second night in a row, Bethel scored early as Jonathan Trepstra netted the opener with assists from Tyler Larwood and Carter Sola. The slim lead would hold until the early second, when BU would net a second from Ben Tucker. 8 minutes later, St. Cloud State put home their first on a nice finish from Luke Zelanek with assists to Kole Kobel and Sasha Choporov. With four minutes remaining in the second, the Royals turned the tide again as Reese Ferrin scored unassisted for a 3-1 lead after 2. Early in the third, St. Cloud State pushed hard and got their reward as Jared Christian scored off a pass from Sasha Choporov to make it a one goal game. The next five minutes were fast and furious, with both teams having chances, but Bethel would once again make the breakthrough with Tyler Larwood finding the twine. From there, Bethel took control and scored two late power play goals for a more comfortable 6-2 win and series victory.
Bethel had four players - Luke Small, Carter Sola, Tyler Larwood and Jonathan Trepstra - who tallied 3 points on the weekend, while goalie Will Griswold once again earned both victories. For St. Cloud State, Jared Christen led the Huskies with 3 points. Bethel improved to 4-0 in the Northwest and 5-1 overall, while St. Cloud State fell to 1-3 in the Northwest and 5-4 overall.
Wisconsin Grinds Out Impressive Road Victories versus Minnesota State-Mankato
The University of Wisconsin Badgers headed over to Mankato to take on the Minnesota State University-Mankato Mavericks in a big Southeast Division matchup.
On Friday, the Badgers showed no signs of having any bus legs, jumping out to a two goal lead in the first period. Mason Bartosh scored off a feed from Owen Palmer to get the scoring going. Matt Masterman, the Badgers leading scorer, added another goal in the first period off an assist from Jake Cohn, the Badgers second leading scorer. The two teams settled down and battled it out over the rest of the first and entire second period. Shots were relatively equal in this affair, with Mankato outshooting the Badgers 26-24 for the game. Both teams exchanged chances, but nobody broke through until the third period. Justin Anderson scored for the Badgers to add insurance and extend the lead to 3-0. Ian Klotz and Todd Bates assisted on the goal. Wisconsin held off the Mavericks to preserve the 3-0 win. Trevor Macey earned the shutout with 26 saves.
Both teams were back at it on Sunday for an early morning contest to finish out the series. Mankato struck first, getting their first goal of the weekend off of a nice finish by Dylan Reynolds. Ryan Coyle assisted that tally. Jake Cohn tied things up for the Badgers before the first period was over. With the score tied 1-1, Todd Bates scored early in the second period off of a feed from Ian Klotz to make the score 2-1. Bates and Klotz combined again later in the second period, this time setting up linemate Justin Anderson for a goal of his own to push the score to 3-1 in favor of Wisconsin. Justin Novak for Mankato cut the lead to 3-2 before the second period was over, with assists going to Jack Diercks and Alex Paulson. The third period saw both goaltenders, Trevor Macey for Wisconsin and Danny Long for Mankato both making big saves down the stretch. As time marched on in the period, Diercks followed through on a puck bouncing around in the slot and buried it, tying the game at 3-3. That score held through regulation, sending it to overtime. The 4-on-4 sudden death period began, and the Badgers found the net to end it early. Zac Rodeheffer got the puck through off of passes from Matt Masterman and Brien Martin, winning the game for the Badgers and completing the sweep.
Trevor Macey, the Badgers goaltender, finished with 55 saves on 58 shots, earning the shutout on Saturday. Also for Wisconsin, Justin Anderson finished his weekend with two goals, Ian Klotz finished with three assists, and Todd Bates finished with a goal and two assists on the weekend. Zac Rodeheffer’s only point of the weekend was the overtime game winner. The Mavericks’ Jack Diercks finished the weekend with a goal and an assist, and Justin Novak and Dylan Reynolds both scored as well.
UWEC Maintains Divisional Lead With Big Scoring Wins Over UW-La Crosse
The Southeast Division leading University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds trekked south to take on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse looking to maintain their lead on the division.
On Friday night, the Blugolds wasted no time in getting their offense started. Tyler Husnick found twine 2:35 into the first period UWEC scored four more times before the halfway mark of the first period. Seth Jaglinski, Jett Jaraczewski, Jake Fuhr, and Jared Konen all getting goals before La Crosse got one of their own. The Eagles’ Connor Julius scored 11:15 into the first, at that point making it a 5-1 game. The Blugolds kept their foot on the pedal with goals from Roy Cranston and another market from Jaraczewski before the horn rang to finish the first period. The second period saw more of the same. Cranston scored for UWEC to push the score to 8-1 just 30 seconds into the period. Jakob Schappel answered that for for the Eagles, making the score 8-2. UWEC went on to score seven more times before the final horn rang out and UWEC skated off with a 15-2 win. Graydon Skok finished with 26 saves on 28 shots for UWEC.
The Saturday contest of this series kept in line with how Friday went for both teams. UWEC jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period, powered by Jaglinski and Victor Skangard. La Crosse got on the board to cut the lead in half with a finish from team captain Quaid Cavallin. The Blugolds responded just eight seconds later, with Jaglinski scoring another goal to push the score to 3-1. La Crosse proved resilient yet again, cutting the score to 3-2 with a goal from Preston Witt. The score stayed close in the first period until Jared Konen got on the board again with two minutes to go in the period to make the score 4-2 for UWEC. UWEC would control play the rest of the game, utilizing their prolific offense to add eight more goals to finish the game off by a final score of 12-2. Blugold goaltender Darby Hand picked up the win with 30 saves on 32 shots.
UWEC’s balanced offense prevailed over the weekend. Both games had 10 different scorers for the Blugolds. On Friday, Roy Cranston finished with a hat trick and an assist, Jacob Roth and Victor Skangard both finished with three assists apiece, and Tyler Husnick, Jared Konen, and Garrett Dey all finished with three points apiece as well. Jett Jaraczewski finished with two goals. Connor Julius and Jakob Schappel finished with goals for the Eagles. On Saturday, Seth Jaglinski and Konen finished with two goals apiece, with Konen picking up another assist. Tyler Palecek wrapped up the game with three assists, and Jake Fuhr finished with one goal and two assists.
St. Thomas's Offense Clicks Into High Gear In Sweep of UW-Superior
The University of St. Thomas Tommies continued their winning ways this weekend with a dominating sweep of the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets in St. Paul this weekend.
In The Friday game, UST outshot Superior 46-19. Mitchell Cerrato for UST scored the first two goals in the first period to jumpstart his team. Justin Ruedebusch from Superior tacked on a goal to cut the score to 2-1 midway through the first period, but that was all the offense the stifling defense from UST would allow all night. Wyatt Close responded with a goal in the second period, part of his four point night. Close and Cerrato both ended with four points, leading all skaters. Tempers seemed to boil over later in the game, as the two teams combined for 82 penalty minutes. UST finished with seven different goal scorers, and Jack Hardwick picked up the win with 17 saves on 18 shots before exiting the game early due to penalties.
On Saturday, the Tommies prevailed again, but in closer fashion this time. The teams again racked up lots of penalty minutes, with 50 being doled out in this game. Max Cory got things going for the Tommies in the first period on an unassisted goal. Superior held down the fort for the rest of the first period. Marshall Bjorlin broke through for the Tommies 3:20 into the second period on a goal assisted by Andrew Glad and Tyler Hayes. Mitchell Cerrato followed up with a goal five minutes later with Bjorlin helping out on this one to push the score to 3-0. The Yellowjackets answered that goal, with Spencer Sutton putting one home to cut the Tommies lead to 3-1 late in the second. That would be the last goal that UST goaltender Jack Hardwick allowed, as he picked up the win again with 22 saves on 23 shots. Jared Inserra and Andrew Glad scored insurance goals for the Tommies in the third period to put the stamp on a 5-1 win and a St. Thomas sweep.
Mitch Cerrato finished the weekend with three goals and two assists. Wyatt Close had one goal and three assists on Friday, and Jack Sterne finished the weekend with two goals and two assists. Jack Hardwick finished with 39 saves on 41 shots, earning both wins. Scoring for Superior on the weekend was Justin Ruedebusch and Spencer Sutton.
Furious Friday Comeback Earns North Dakota Split With Minnesota
In the great state of North Dakota, the University of North Dakota welcomed long-time hockey rival the University of Minnesota for what was a very exciting two game Northwest Divisional series.
Friday night’s game featured plenty of fireworks as UND emerged victorious. Early on, the balance of play was even as both teams fought for chances. Following a North Dakota penalty, Minnesota struck first with an unassisted goal from Luke Heffernan halfway through. That lead would hold until early in the second, as Minnesota scored again through Jake Olson on assists from James Scanlan and Connor Freeman. UND responded 6 minutes later with Kyle Jamison netting from Rex Riley and Joey Mendel, but Minnesota took control of the remainder and put in two more goals - first from Nick Anderson with 14 minutes gone, then through Jacob Radenbaugh with 3 minutes remaining. The visitors would thus carry a 4-1 lead into the third, where the home team turned the tables. After some sustained pressure in the first 8 minutes didn’t produce a goal, the Fighting Hawks finally notched one with Talon Johnson completing a play from David Larson and Ryan Leiber. Just two minutes later, the lead was down to one with a Kyle Altendorf goal. With Minnesota shell-shocked, NoDak kept up the pressure and tied the game with 8:17 on the clock when Alec Herb tickled the twine from Rex Riley and Charlie Klos. The onslaught continued, and with just over 4 minutes remaining UND would take the lead through Charlie Klos. Minnesota pulled the goalie to press for the tying goal, but it would not come as North Dakota scored with just 2 seconds left to get the big comeback 6-4 win.
On Saturday, the visiting Gophers pushed back as their determination to get a road win paid dividends with a strong offensive performance and victory. The scoring would start 4 minutes in with Luke Heffernan of UMN netting, but UND would reply on the power play 5 minutes later through Rex Riley. Nick Anderson restored the Minnesota lead just over a minute later, but another power play goal from Riley evened the game at 2 with 6 minutes left in the first. In an exciting first, the Gophers would strike again through Nick Anderson to end the period with a 3-2 lead. In the second, Minnesota took control, outscoring the Fighting Hawks 3-1. The first goal came from Michael Pettijohn, with Connor Freeman scoring on the power play and James Scanlan scoring in the last minute. UND’s Rex Riley provided some brief respite by scoring his third of the game, but Minnesota carried a 6-3 lead going into the third. Desperate to avoid giving up the 3 goal lead like the previous night, the Gophers applied the pressure and scored the next goal 3:45 via Peyton Phillips. Talon Johnson of NoDak would score next 8 minutes in, but UMN’s James Scanlan responded for their 8th and final goal with 9 minutes remaining. From there, the Gophers closed up shop in their end and saw out the 8-4 win and earned the series split.
North Dakota’s Rex Riley had a great offensive weekend, assisting 3 goals on Friday and scoring 3 of his own on Saturday for 6 total points. For Minnesota, Brandon Thompson was the top provider with 5 assists to lead his team. North Dakota moved to 2-2 in the Northwest and 2-6 overall, while Minnesota sits at 3-1 in the Northwest with a 7-2 overall record.
FULL RESULTS:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2017:
UW-Superior -1 @ St. Thomas - 10 (W) | St. Paul, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
Bethel - 3 (W) @ St. Cloud State - 2 | St. Cloud, MN (WCCHA - NW Division)
UW-Eau Claire - 15 (W) @ UW-La Crosse - 2 | La Crescent, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
Minnesota - 4 @ North Dakota - 6 (W) | Grand Forks, ND (WCCHA - NW Division)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2017:
Minnesota - 8 (W) @ North Dakota - 4 | Grand Forks, ND (WCCHA - NW Division)
UW-Eau Claire - 12 (W) @ UW-La Crosse - 2 | La Crescent, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
North Dakota State @ Minnesota-Duluth | POSTPONED - Duluth, MN (WCCHA - NW Division)
UW-Superior - 1 @ St. Thomas - 5 (W) | St. Paul, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
St. Cloud State - 2 @ Bethel - 6 (W) | St. Cloud, MN (WCCHA - NW Division)
Wisconsin - 3 (W) @ Minnesota State-Mankato - 0 | Mankato, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2017:
Wisconsin - 4 (W, OT) @ Minnesota State-Mankato - 3 | Mankato, MN (WCCHA - SE Division)
North Dakota State @ Minnesota-Duluth | POSTPONED - Duluth, MN (WCCHA - NW Division)
