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Huskies dominate Seawolves
The Huskies' Mark Hartigan scored four goals in the second period Friday night
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor SCSU�s Mark Hartigan skates past University of Alaska-Anchorage�s Corey Hessler Friday night in the Huskies 7-4 win. Hartigan had four goals, all in the second period, in Friday�s game. The Huskies also beat the Seawolves Saturday night, 4-0. The sweep keeps the Huskies within one point of first-place Denver. The Huskies travel to Denver this weekend to play the Pioneers.
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 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor National Hockey Center workers carry off hats that were thrown on the ice by fans after Mark Hartigan�s hat trick Friday.
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If Saturday night's performance was a sign of things to come for the SCSU men's hockey team, they might still end up with a new piece of hardware for the trophy case when the regular season comes to a close in two weeks.
Senior netminder Dean Weasler called Saturday's 4-0 win over Alaska, Anchorage the team's best game since Christmas. And coupled with their 7-4 win on Friday night, the Huskies stayed within a single point of Denver heading into next weekend's showdown in Colorado.
But, first things first. Friday night at the National Hockey Center, junior Mark Hartigan put on a one-man show in the second period, scoring four goals and solidifying his place as a definite Hobey Baker finalist.
The Huskies put a seven spot up in that middle period and, even though they were outscored 4-0 in the first and third, they came away with their fifth straight win.
"I don't know what to say," said Hartigan. "It was just one of those nights that every time I shot, it went in."
Anchorage got on the board twice in the first 20 minutes and at one point held an 11-1 edge in shots on goal. But at about the halfway point, the Huskies began to wake up. By the time the period was over they evened that shots on goal stat to 12-12 and when Dan Gilkerson went off for roughing at the 19:10 mark, it gave SCSU the opportunity they needed to start the second.
Hartigan took a pass from Jeff Finger in his own end, made his way around a pair of Seawolves in the neutral zone, skated in and beat Kevin Reiter with a back hand just 23 seconds into the period, cutting the Anchorage lead in half.
Less than a minute later, Ryan LaMere took a pass from Doug Meyer and beat Reiter with a shot low to the ice to tie it.
Then it was time for number three to take over. Hartigan cleaned up a Matt Hendricks wraparound attempt at the 7:09 mark to give the Huskies their first lead. Then just over two minutes later, Hendricks hit him with a breakaway pass that Hartigan took, skated into the Anchorage end and blasted a slap shot over Reiter's glove from about 25 feet out.
"I knew he thought I was going to fake it," Hartigan said later about the goal. "So I just decided to shoot high."
He scored his fourth goal with just under five minutes to play in the second, diving under Reiter to knock in his own rebound.
"We saw the Mark Hartigan show tonight," said SCSU head coach Craig Dahl. "He was spectacular, but more than that, he was unselfish and was probably one of our hardest workers."
He did miss twice. Sliding the puck off the right post on a spectacular shorthanded effort in the second and blasting a shot off the crossbar midway through the third, but his 20-minute performance in the second was a message his teammates took to heart.
"That was leadership right there," said Hendricks, who assisted on three of Hartigan's goals. "That's putting the game into his own hands. He comes out 23 seconds into the period and scores a goal on an end-to-end rush. He showed everybody on this team he wants to win."
Derek Eastman and Peter Szabo also scored in that middle period, but the team wasn't happy with the 40 minutes that surrounded that middle 20.
"We had a nice little visit (after the first period)," said Dahl. "We played extremely well in the second and in the third we were trying to play defense, but tomorrow night I want to see an entire 60 minutes of solid hockey."
Message sent � message received.
Dahl got his 60 minutes Saturday night. Four different Huskies scored goals � none of them being Hartigan � and Weasler turned away 21 shots to earn his third shutout of the year.
Szabo scored a power play goal late in the first, and again the offense took over in the second as Nate DiCasmirro and Garrett Larson sandwiched even strength goals around an Eastman power play goal.
"That was a pretty solid effort from start to finish tonight," said Dahl. "And we needed that."
They were sound defensively, opportunistic on the offensive side and, in the words of Anchorage head coach John Hill, "dominating on special teams."
"I never felt at any time that we were even in the game," said Hill. "Sometimes you have to give your opponent credit and tonight, St. Cloud deserves the credit."
Now the Huskies must look ahead to next weekend. However, none of them seemed too eager to think about it quite yet. Weasler said he'd worry about Denver when they get there on Thursday, but Eastman let out a small hint that this coming weekend has been circled on the calendar for some time.
"We got a really big weekend this next weekend," he said. "This is the time to peak, right now, we want to be playing our best come playoff time."
Which Dahl said starts now.
"We got Denver, then we have Minnesota, then the first round of the WCHA playoffs and if we are fortunate enough to make it, the Final Five, then the NCAA's," he said. "It's time to rumble."
Around the rink
- Following Friday night's win, Dahl said to expect some changes in the Husky lineup and the coach stuck to his word. Mike Walsh returned to the line chart for the first time since breaking his pinky finger Jan. 11 in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota-Duluth. Walsh replaced Dave Iannazzo on the third line with Mike Doyle and Peter Szabo. The only other changes saw Garrett Larson dressing in place of Lee Brooks on the forth line and Colin Peters replace Jim McNamara on the blueline.
- Mark Hartigan's four-goal outburst Friday night not only propelled the team to a 7-4 win, it also put a significant dent into the Huskies' record book. His 79 career goals lift him past Jeff Saterdalen on the schools all-time goal-scoring list. His 60 points on the year tie him with Fred Knipscheer for the best season even by a Husky. His four-goal period Saturday was the most goals ever scored in a period and his shorthanded goal was his sixth of the year breaking the old record of five.
- Matt Hendricks didn't play most of the third period Saturday night after he took a skate to his foot. Somehow, the skate cut through his and cut the sophomore's foot open. It took 10 stitches, five on the inside and five on the outside, to close the cut.
- Student tickets for the Minnesota game March 1 will be available Feb. 19 at the National Hockey Center ticket office. There are 2,000 available and can only be picked up with a valid student ID.
Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]
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