ALASKA ANCHORAGE (4-23-7, 2-22-6 WCHA) vs. NO. 8 ST. CLOUD STATE (21-14-1, 18-9-1 WCHA)
March 15-17 at National Hockey & Event Center (NHEC)
Game Times: 4:37 / 4:07 / 4:07 p.m. ADT
MEDIA
Live Stats: SCSUHuskies.com
Live Audio: Kurt Haider on KTZN 550 AM /GoSeawolves.com ($)
Live Video Stream: AmericaONE ($)
Live Television: None
Game Updates: UAA's Facebook & Twitter
THIS WEEK: The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves will commence the postseason as the No. 12 seed in the WCHA First Round taking on No. 1-seed St. Cloud State on March 15-16 and 17, if necessary, in St. Cloud, Minn. Friday's game is scheduled for a 4:37 p.m. ADT start, while Saturday's and Sunday's contest will commence at 4:07 p.m. ADT.
THE SERIES – UAA vs. SCSU
OVERALL: SCSU leads, 50-17-6 AT SCSU: SCSU leads, 32-4-4
LAST MEETING: Dec. 1, 2012 (UAA won, 3-1) STREAK: UAA 1
NOTES: The series will be the second meeting of the season for the teams after splitting a league series in Anchorage, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 … then No. 14-ranked SCSU defeated UAA 4-3 in overtime on Friday before UAA retaliated with a 3-1 win on Saturday … UAA and SCSU have met once in the postseason – March 9-10, 2001, with SCSU sweeping 5-1, 8-2 … in the playoffs, the Seawolves are 6-37 and 1-3 at the WCHA Final Five … the Seawolves have only advanced to the WCHA Final Five twice, with the last coming in 2011 when they defeated Minnesota at Mariucci in the First Round (4-3, 2-0)… in the last eight games, the teams are tied, 4-4, while UAA leads in the last five, 3-2 … UAA's last win in St. Cloud came on Feb. 17, 2012 (3-2 OT).
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: The Huskies entertain the Seawolves following a WCHA split with Wisconsin, March 8-9 ... SCSU won on Friday, 4-2, before the Badgers took Saturday's game, 3-2 ... the Huskies earned a share of the 2013 MacNaughton Cup with 37 points in the final league standings – their first ever WCHA regular season title ... the Huskies are led by senior F Drew LeBlanc (12-34–46), junior F Nic Dowd (13-23–36) and freshman F Kalle Kossila (15-16–31) ... suiting up between the pipes in 34 games was sophomore G Ryan Faragher (.914 sv%, 2.34 gaa, 20-12-1).
LAST TIME vs. ST. CLOUD STATE: The Seawolves earned a WCHA split with then-No. 14/15 St. Cloud State in Anchorage, Nov. 30 - Dec. 1 … the Huskies came back to win 4-3 in overtime on Friday before UAA responded on Saturday, 3-1 ... on Friday, UAA gave up a 3-0 first period lead, as the Huskies tied the game in the third and scored the game-winning tally in extra minutes ... on Saturday, the Seawolves again took a 3-0 lead and held on to it, allowing just one SCSU goal in the final period ... six different skaters registered goals against the Huskies, including three firsts of the season – Hayden Trupp, Scott Warner and Daniel Naslund.
LAST TIME OUT: The Seawolves play the Huskies following a 7-1, 6-1 sweep at then-No. 11/12 Denver on March 8 & 10 ... on Friday night, the Pioneers and Seawolves were deadlocked 1-1 for most of the first period before DU erupted for two more goals in each of the periods ... UAA's lone tally was netted by sophomore F Scott Allen with assists going to sophomore F Andrew Pettitt and freshman F Blake Tatchell ... junior G Rob Gunderson posted a career-high 45 saves in net ... on Sunday, DU hit UAA with three goals in the first, two in the second and one in the third before senior F Tyler Currier ended the shutout with less than four minutes remaining in the third ... freshman D Blake Leask and senior F Daniel Naslund assisted on the play.
SEAWOLF BITES: After the OT game on March 2, the Seawolves have played in 11 games that have gone into sudden death, going 0-2-8 ... at the completion of all six non-conference games this season, UAA finished with a 2-3-1 record ... the Seawolves currently have four shorthanded goals – the most since scoring 10 in 2010 ... currently, 7 Seawolves have dressed in all 34 contests ... on Feb. 1-2, Seawolves forged their sixth and seventh ties of the season, now one short of the program record of eight (2007-08) ... the junior class is tied with the freshman class with 49 points to lead UAA, while the junior class's 18 goals and eight power-play tallies leads the Seawolves ... the freshman class has a team-high 35 assists ... UAA earned its first WCHA point of the season with the 3-3 tie on Oct. 27 – UAA's first non-loss at UND since Nov. 14, 2008 … Dave Shyiak is 18-8-6 (.656) all-time in the first four games and picked up his 80th career win on Feb. 8 at MTU … the Seawolves claimed their second straight Kendall Hockey Classic title on Oct. 12-13 … UAA is now 22-14-10 overall in the Classic ... UAA is now 8-3-5 under Shyiak in the Kendall Hockey Classic, with titles in 2006, 2011 and 2012 ... the Seawolves are now 6-0-2 in season-openers under Shyiak ... UAA hasn't lost a season-opener since 2000 against Michigan State (5-4); since then, UAA has gone 9-0-3 in season-openers ... the shutout on Oct. 12 was only the second for UAA in a season-opener in 35 years of program history, along with a 4-0 win against Niagara in the 1999 Classic.
PLAYER NOTES: UAA's lone goal on March 8 against Denver came by sophomore F Scott Allen – his team-leading 12th of the season … Allen (12-6–18), who was named to the Kendall Hockey Classic all-tournament team in October, has easily bypassed his goal total from his rookie campaign (3) … assisting on Allen's goal were sophomore F Andrew Pettitt and UAA's point leader freshman F Blake Tatchell … Tatchell leads UAA with 16 assists and 24 points … Tatchell's eight goals rank him tied for No. 22 on the all-time UAA rookie list and are the most for a UAA freshman since Matt Bailey posted 10 in 2010-11 ... Tatchell leads UAA by scoring at least one point in 17 of the 34 games this season … UAA's lone goal on March 10 was scored by senior F Tyler Currier – his fourth of the season … the Seawolves will be without freshman D Austin Sevalrud on March 15 against St. Cloud State after receiving a DQ on March 10 vs. Denver ... on March 1, junior G Chris Kamal registered a career-high 39 saves in net against UAF ... Kamal's previous best was 37 registered earlier this season against Minnesota State ... Kamal has dressed in 20 games this season for UAA, while classmate Rob Gunderson has suited up in 17 ... Gunderson posted a career-high 45 saves in net on March 8 vs. Denver ... Gunderson's previous high was 43, furnished Jan. 28, 2011 at Minnesota ... junior F Jordan Kwas has missed the last four games with an injury and is out for the rest of the season... Kwas' career- and team- high six game point streak (3-6–9) came to an end on Feb. 15 ... Kwas' power-play goal on Feb. 8 was his team-leading fifth of the season, while his game-winning strike was the second of his career ... Kwas owns nine career power-play goals, with just 15 goals coming at even strength ... the Cochrane, Alberta, native leads current UAA skaters with 58 points.
INJURY UPDATE: Junior F Brett Cameron fractured his collarbone on Nov. 23 against Bemidji State and is on the inactive list ... junior F Jordan Kwas, sophomore D Austin Coldwell and freshman D Chris Williams are also on the inactive list.
2013-14 SCHEDULE RELEASE: UAA head coach Dave Shyiak and Athletic Director Dr. Steve Cobb announced the 2013-14 Seawolf hockey schedule on March 5 ... the slate will include two in-season tournaments, 14 Western Collegiate Hockey Association series and a four-game Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup competition ... UAA will play four games each against Alaska Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Minnesota State, Lake Superior State and Alabama Huntsville and two games each against Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Ferris State and Bemidji State ... the schedule also includes two non-conference games against Wisconsin and one each against Denver, Western Michigan, Quinnipiac and Air Force.
