UAA picked a good time to have its best hockey game of the season.
The Seawolves scored a season-high five goals and snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 5-3 win over Northern Michigan on Friday at Sullivan Arena.
Five Seawolves scored, including Chase Van Allen and Connor Wright nabbing their first goals of the season, and UAA picked up its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association win to move past Northern Michigan from 10th — dead last — to ninth in the WCHA standings.
Early on, it was deja vu for the Seawolves, who surrendered the first goal for the 14th time in 15 games. James Vermeulen put the Wildcats up 1-0 with 10.4 seconds remaining in the first period.
But UAA (2-11-2, 1-6-2 WCHA) bounced back with two goals in a 23-second span in the second period. On the first goal, forward Jeremiah Luedtke found an open Nathan Renouf in front of the net, and Nathan made a move on Wildcats goalie Atte Tolvanen before sending a no-look, backhand pass to his brother, Jonah Renouf, who buried the goal.
The goal tied the game and halted a more than 100-minute scoring drought for UAA, going back to a Nov. 25 tie at Bowling Green.
Seconds after the first UAA goal, defenseman Jarrett Brown found space on the right side and squeezed in another goal to put the Seawolves up 2-1.
The third period was back-and-forth with Matt Anholt scoring his fourth goal of the season to give UAA a two-goal cushion only for Northern Michigan's Collin Peters to score minutes later to make it 3-2 UAA.
Van Allen tacked on a power-play goal for UAA midway through the period and Northern Michigan (3-12-2, 1-9-1 WCHA) was forced to go with an empty net for the final 90 seconds. The Wildcats and Seawolves traded goals in that span.
Goalie Olivier Mantha continued his solid play in the net for UAA. The junior from La Tuque, Quebec, snagged 23 saves to 17 for Tolvanen.
The win was crucial for UAA, which is fighting to get into the top eight in the WCHA standings — a spot the Seawolves need in order to play in the league playoffs for the first time in three seasons.
The Seawolves play Northern Michigan again at 7:07 p.m. Saturday at Sullivan Arena. Next week, UAA travels to Fairbanks to face eighth-place UAF for the first two Governors Cup matches.
Northern Michigan 1 0 2 — 3
UAA 0 2 3 — 5
First Period — 1, Northern Michigan, Vermeulen 1 (Salminen, Craighead), 19:49. Penalties — Payne, Northern Michigan (hooking), 3:41; Johnson, UAA (hooking), 9:54; Roberts, UAA (interference), 17:03.
Second Period — 2, UAA, J. Renouf 3 (N. Renouf, Luedtke), 12:31; 3, UAA, Brown 3, 12:54. Penalties — Trinkberger, UAA (tripping), 2:41; Diamantoni, Northern Michigan (holding), 8:00; Shine, Northern Michigan (checking from behind), 12:54; Anholt, UAA (interference), 15:26; Trinkberger, UAA (cross-checking), 17:49.
Third Period — 4, UAA, Anholt 4 (Kozun, Trinkberger), 1:22; 5, Northern Michigan, Peters 2 (Voltin, Craighead), 6:10; 6, UAA, Van Allen 1 (J. Renouf, Luedtke), 10:37, (pp); 7, UAA, Wright 2 (Van Allen, Jackstadt), 18:53 (en); 8, Northern Michigan, Purpur 2, 19:10. Penalties — Maschmeyer, Northern Michigan (interference), 1:26; Peters, Northern Michigan (checking from behind), 10:15; Brown, UAA (holding), 11:04; Luedtke, UAA (slashing), 14:39.
Shots on goal — Northern Michigan 9-6-11—26. UAA 5-9-8—22.
Power-play Opportunities — Northern Michigan 0 of 7. UAA 1 of 5.
Goalies — Northern Michigan, Tolvanen, 2-12-2 (21 shots-17 saves). UAA, Mantha, 2-9-2 (26 shots-23 saves).
A — 612. T — 2:18.
Referees — Mike Forys, Tom Albindia. Assistant referees — Travis Jackson, Carl Saden.