St. Cloud will make its sixth consecutive trip to the WCHA Final Five this season thanks to an 8-2 win over Alaska-Anchorage.
The opening period proved to be all SCSU needed as it hit four goals, starting with Chris Purslow’s seventh of the season at 1:16.
Joe Motzko continued the attack with his 15th goal of the season at 6:01 of the first. He followed that with another goal at 10:48 before Mark Hartigan took over the team goalscoring lead with his 25th tally of the season at 18:04 on the power play.
UAA got into the fray with a goal by Petr Chytka at 19:26, and in the second period, made things interesting with a goal by Vladimir Novak at 3:26.
But SCSU ended the UAA drive late in the second period when senior captain Brandon Sampair notched his 11th goal of the season on the power play at 18:15.
The Huskies nailed the lid shut in the final period when senior assistant captain Ritchie Larson posted his fifth goal of the season at 3:11.
To ice the game, Hartigan struck again at 10:53 of the third. Hartigan now has 26 goals on the season, which moves him into third place on the SCSU single-season goalscoring list behind New York Islander Mark Parrish, who had 27 in 1996-97. SCSU’s all-time season leader is Fred Knipscheer, who had 34 in 1992-93.
The victory improved the Huskies’ record to 29-8-1 overall. UAA ended its 2000-01 season with a 7-24-5 record.
The Huskies will continue their season on March 16, with a date in the WCHA Final Five. Their opponent will be determined by the results of Sunday’s deciding game between Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota.
