In the frantic final 2 minutes, 27 seconds at Sullivan Arena on Saturday night, seemingly every advantage tilted toward No. 17-ranked Colorado College, which trailed UAA by one goal.
The Tigers not only enjoyed a power play to start that stretch, but they burnished it by pulling goaltender Joe Howe for an extra attacker and a 6-on-4 manpower advantage for about 25 seconds.
The puck never left UAA's zone in the final two minutes. And during that entire stretch, the same four Seawolves penalty killers -- forwards Craig Parkinson and Jade Portwood, and defensemen Curtis Leinweber and Luka Vidmar -- defended the lead.
Somehow, though, UAA did not permit a shot on freshman goaltender Rob Gunderson, and that stinginess delivered a 2-1 victory and UAA's first home-ice sweep of a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series in more than four years.
"It was amazing,'' Gunderson said. "Honestly, our shot blockers may be the best in the league. Craig Parkinson and Jade Portwood -- they have hearts the size of my head.''
Coupled with Friday night's 4-1 win, UAA generated its first home sweep of a league series since before any current player was even a Seawolf. UAA's previous home sweep came when it took two games from North Dakota on Nov. 17-18, 2006. The WCHA sweep was UAA's first since Jan. 10-11, 2010 at Michigan Tech and just the fourth in 78 league series under sixth-year coach Dave Shyiak.
"It's a big step for our team,'' Parkinson said. "That's a good team over there, very skilled and very good on the power play.''
Yet the Seawolves killed all six CC power plays, including a five-minute advantage that bridged the first and second periods after UAA defenseman Brad Gorham received a major penalty and game misconduct for contact to the head. UAA allowed two shots on goal during the major and seven shots on CC's six power plays.
"We didn't want to give them easy looks at the net, and the guys did a great job of denying the seam passes,'' Shyiak said.
The Tigers, who entered the weekend with the nation's fourth-most-efficient power play, got off a few shots in the last two minutes, but they were all either blocked or whistled wide of net because of the presence of UAA's penalty killers.
"We fumbled a couple and shanked one, but basically (UAA) did a really good job of closing shooting lanes,'' said Tigers coach Scott Owens.
The victory before an announced crowd of 3,199 earned UAA (7-10-3, 6-8-2 WCHA) continued sole possession of eighth place in the 12-team league entering a four-game road trip that takes the Seawolves to Denver and Minnesota.
UAA, which struggled statistically on special teams in the first half of the season, dominated on them in the series. Of their six goals, four came on the power play -- including Parkinson's opening strike Saturday -- and one came short-handed. The Seawolves went 4 for 7 on the power play in the series to raise their power-play efficiency to 15.9 percent from 12.3 percent.
"It's good to be rewarded on the power play,'' Shyiak said. "I've been telling people they've been reading too much into our power-play stats.
"We're getting the same amount of (scoring) chances as the other teams, but we haven't been able to capitalize, and this weekend we did.''
Parkinson staked UAA to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game when he blistered a one-timer off Tommy Grant's cross-ice feed past Howe (15 saves).
Grant also notched the secondary assist on Alex Gellert's even-strength goal, which gained UAA a 2-0 lead on the opening shift of the third period. Gellert, the sophomore who pounced on Howe's rebound of a Curtis Leinweber shot from the left point, scored his first goal of the season and snapped a 25-game goal drought dating back to last season.
Grant's two assists extended his point streak to six games and followed his two-goal, one-helper performance Friday.
"Tommy Grant played like a man this weekend,'' Owens said.
That 2-0 cushion held until Alexander Krushelnyski scored a beauty for CC seven minutes into the third period. Kruschelnyski cruised across the top of the crease, deked Gunderson (17 saves) and roofed a forehand over the goalie's stick.
After that, though, the Seawolves held the Tigers (12-11-1, 8-8-0 WCHA) in check, even in those frantic final minutes after defenseman Wes McLeod was penalized for cross- checking with 2:27 to go.
"They played hard, and they probably deserved it,'' Owens said. "That's the third straight game that goalie has only given us one goal, so he's got our number.''
But Gunderson on Saturday night needed to stay stingy until the final horn blew.
"It was an adrenaline rush,'' Gunderson said of the chaos in front of him in the waning minutes. "My legs are still feeling it.''
Seawolves notes
• Grant has produced 6-4--10 totals in his six-game point streak. He leads the team in goals and points with 10-10--20 totals in 20 games.
• With 6-7--13 totals in 20 games, Parkinson is on pace to easily surpass his career highs for goals (7), assists (9) and points (16). He's UAA's third-leading scorer this season.
• After review, freshman center Jordan Kwas was awarded the second assist on Friday's power-play goal by Mitch Bruijsten, giving him two assists in the game. Kwas' five-game point streak was snapped Saturday, but he remains the team's second-leading scorer with 3-13--16 totals in 19 games.
• Gunderson made his eighth straight start. In that span, he has generated a .923 save percentage to lift his season save percentage to .902.
• UAA finished the season series 3-2-0 against CC. UAA won three of the four league games against CC and CC won a tournament meeting in Fairbanks.
UAF 4, Notre Dame 1
Scott Greenham turned aside 27 shots and 20th-ranked UAF received goals from four different players Saturday night to stop a three-game winless streak with a 4-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association win over eighth-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
Scoring for the Nanooks (10-8-4, 7-7-4 CCHA) were Scott Enders, Jarret Granberg, Carlo Finucci and Nik Yaremchuk. Aaron Gens furnished two helpers.
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
CC 0 0 1 -- 1
UAA 1 0 1 -- 2
First Period -- 1, UAA, Parkinson 6 (Grant, Warner), 4:41 (pp). Penalties -- Boiven, CC (slashing), 2:49; Leinweber, UAA (tripping), 5:03; Gorham, UAA (hooking), 10:04; Kwas, UAA (tripping), 16:41; Gorham, UAA, major-game misconduct, served by Pickering (contact to the head), 19:27.
Second Period -- None. Penalties -- Lowery, CC (cross-checking), 6:39; Johnson, CC (cross-checking), 14:56.
Third Period -- 2, UAA, Gellert 1 (Leinweber, Grant) 0:32. 3, CC, Krushelnyski 3 (Civitarese), 6:59. Penalties -- Wiles, UAA (boarding), 8:12; Skalbeck, CC (tripping), 8:36; McLeod, UAA (cross-checking), 17:33.
Shots on goal -- CC 8-8-2--18. UAA 3-9-5--17.
Power-play Opportunities -- CC 0 of 6; UAA 1 of 4.
Goalies -- CC, Howe, 10-9-1 (17 shots-15 saves). UAA, Gunderson, 6-7-2 (18-17).
A -- 3,199 (6,251). T -- 2:13.
Referees -- Todd Anderson, Jon Campion. Assistant referees -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.
By DOYLE WOODY
dwoody@adn.com