Tommy Grant figured the only way to bust out of his prolonged goal drought was to keep shooting the puck -- often, from every conceivable angle, and in every possible situation.

So it was that UAA's junior winger spent all Saturday night going Tommy Gun. He unloaded a game-high eight shots, emerged from his funk with two goals and helped lift the Seawolves from the depths of three straight losses and setbacks in six of their previous seven games.

Grant's two goals and one assist sparked UAA's 4-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win over Minnesota State-Mankato at Sullivan Arena.

His eight shots on net were the most by a Seawolves skater this season, surpassing the seven he unleashed in a season-opening 5-3 win over Mercyhurst. He scored twice in that match but failed to score a goal in the 12 games that followed.

Saturday, he attempted a remarkable 17 shots, missing the net on seven of those bids and getting two blocked by the Mavericks.

"Going all Ovechkin out there,'' Grant said with a laugh. "Shooting from everywhere.''

Grant finally broke through early in the second period, when he carried the puck out of the zone and, along with linemate Kevin Clark, attacked three Mavericks defenders. Clark and Grant turned the play into a 2-on-1 rush.

"We just skate as fast as we can,'' Clark explained. "We both use our speed to our advantage.''

Clark, after taking a pass from Grant in neutral ice, busted in on the right wing and returned a feed to Grant, who steered the puck past Mavericks goaltender Kevin Murdock from point-blank range at the left post.

"All I had to do was bank it in,'' Grant said. "Easy.''

That strike provided the Seawolves a 2-0 lead. They jumped out to a 1-0 edge just 1 minute, 44 seconds into the game when, in a role reversal for a team that has surrendered its share of soft goals, sophomore winger Jade Portwood put a shot past Murdock that was softer than a stick of butter left out overnight. Portwood, stationed just above the goal line on left wing, flicked a shot that Murdock tried to glove but whiffed on.

Shortly after Grant scored off Clark's feed, Grant returned the favor on a power play. His diagonal pass through the Mavericks' penalty-killing box found Clark at the left post and Clark banged in the feed for his team-high seventh goal and a 3-0 lead.

Mankato pulled to within 3-1 on Zach Harrison's power-play goal less than two minutes after Clark's score, but that was all UAA junior goalie Bryce Christianson (22 saves) permitted.

Grant sealed the win with an empty-net goal with about 40 seconds left.

UAA's victory was critical, and not just because the team was slumping, but also because it was hammered 8-2 by Mankato on Friday.

Also, the Seawolves were short-handed. Senior winger Josh Lunden, the team's active career goal-scoring leader, missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Junior defenseman Kane Lafranchise sat out with a knee injury and will have X-rays taken Monday. And freshman winger Mickey Spencer was sick.

"I thought it was a great collective effort,'' said UAA coach Dave Shyiak. "Good power-play goal, good penalty killing, good saves. Everyone ate up good minutes.''

That included freshman winger Tyler Currier of Anchorage, who initially intended to redshirt this season. But with the Seawolves slumping, injuries mounting and Currier looking sharper in practice, Shyiak offered him a chance to bag the redshirt year.

"I told him, 'You're pushing to be in the lineup,' '' Shyiak said. "I thought he was pretty darn good.''

UAA (5-9-0, 3-7-0) jumped out of a last-place tie in the 10-team league and moved into eighth place, one point ahead of Mankato (4-7-1, 2-7-1 WCHA) and two points atop last-place Michigan Tech.

"This game is so emotional, and built on momentum, and it's a credit to the guys they bounced back,'' Shyiak said.

No one did so better than Grant, who led UAA last season with 15 goals.

"I didn't think once along this stretch that I wasn't scoring,'' Grant said. "I knew I wasn't, obviously, but it wasn't a big deal, and I tried to do other things.

"But it was definitely nice to get it out of the way. Now, no one can bother me for four or five games.''

UAF 3, Lake Superior 2, OT

Junior defenseman Bryant Molle of Anchorage scored his first career goal with just 49 seconds left in overtime Saturday night to give No. 10-ranked UAF a come-from-behind 3-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association win at Lake Superior State in Michigan.

The Nanooks (8-3-1) trailed 2-0 through two periods, but leading goal scorer Dion Knelsen struck twice in the first seven minutes of the third period to forge a 2-2 tie.

Molle's OT strike came in his 76th career game and gave the Nanooks a split of the series.

Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

Mankato 0 1 0 -- 1

UAA 1 2 1 -- 4

First Period -- 1, UAA, Portwood 1, 1:44. Penalties -- Mankato bench minor, served by Wiley (too many men), 5:48; Elbrecht, Mankato (tripping), 9:53; Youds, Mankato (cross-checking), 11:49; Canzanello, Mankato (holding), 12:32; Backstrom, UAA (holding), 15:23.

Second Period -- 2, UAA, Grant 3 (Clark), 1:25; 3, UAA, Clark 7 (Grant, Vidmar), 4:34 (pp); 4, Mankato, Harrison 2 (Youds, Louwerse), 6:13 (pp). Penalties -- Elbrecht, Mankato (tripping), 3:14; Baldwin, UAA (interference), 5:27; Hayes, Mankato (contact to head), 8:19; Backstrom, UAA (tripping), 13:13.

Third Period -- 5, UAA, Grant 4 (Haddad), 19:40 (en). Penalties -- Clark, UAA (hooking), 1:35; Haddad, UAA (cross-checking), 3:30; Hayes, Mankato (holding), 3:30; Currier, UAA (cross-checking), 4:55; Zuck, Mankato (interference), 7:22; Grant, UAA (hooking), 9:09; Gellert, UAA (cross-checking), 12:35; Youds, Mankato (interference), 12:35; Clark, UAA (diving), 13:34; Galiardi, Mankato (roughing), 13:34; Zuck, Mankato (slashing), 19:58.

Shots on goal -- Mankato 8-6-8--22. UAA 11-9-5--25.

Power-play Opportunities -- Mankato 1 of 6; UAA 1 of 8.

Goalies --Mankato, Murdock, 1-3-1 (24 shots-21 saves). UAA, Christianson, 3-4-0 (22-21).

A -- 3,232 (6,251). T -- 2:28.

Referees -- Brad Shepherd, C.J. Berline. Assistant referees -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.

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