Huskies maul Seawolves in hockey

One day after absorbing a rare home loss to the UAA hockey team, St. Cloud State struck back with a vengeance to take an 8-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory at the National Hockey Center.

It didn't get ugly until the end. The Seawolves (8-20-2, 5-20-1 WCHA) trailed by one goal at the end of the first and second periods and were down by one goal early in the third period.

But the Huskies unleashed five third-period goals, four of them in the final 11 minutes, to earn a series split after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss on Friday.

St. Cloud (13-15-4, 10-11-3) never trailed, leading 2-1 after the first period and 3-2 after the second.

David Eddy and Travis Novak each scored twice and goaltender Ryan Faragher made 28 saves for the Huskies. Seven St. Cloud players enjoyed multiple-point nights and Jared Festler and Nic Dowd each tallied a goal and two assists.

UAA got goals from freshman Scott Allen, sophomore Mark Pustin and senior Curtis Leinweber and 20 saves from goalie Rob Gunderson. Chris Kamal replaced Gunderson during St. Cloud's third-period barrage and registered one save.

Allen, who had a pair of assists Friday, scored his second goal of the season in Saturday's first period to knot the score 1-1. Eric Scheid, the beneficiary of Allen's assists Friday, returned the favor by setting up Allen's goal.

Dowd's first-period goal broke the tie but Leinweber's eighth goal of the season, on assists from Derek Docken and Brad Gorham, tied the game 2-2 in the second period.

The Huskies regained the lead with Novak's first goal for a 3-2 lead after two periods and Eddy's goal early in the fourth period made it 4-2 for St. Cloud.

Pustin trimmed St. Cloud's lead to 4-3 with his third goal of the season, off assists from Sam Mellor and Scott Warner, who extended his team lead to 12 assists on the play.

The Huskies responded with goals from Novak, Kevin Gravel, Brooks Bertsch and Eddy. With 2:57 remaining, Kamal replaced Gunderson and faced just one shot.

Both teams were scoreless on two power plays.

UAA is back in town this week for a home-and-away Governor's Cup series with UAF. The teams play in Anchorage on Friday and in Fairbanks on Saturday.