NEWS

There was only one conference series played this past weekend, but it proved important in the overall conference picture. Despite traversing the longest series distance in the current WCCHA - Grand Forks to Madison takes a shade over 9 hours - North Dakota left Madison with all four points with a weekend sweep of Wisconsin.

Friday night's game saw UND take an early 2-0 lead into the first intermission, then extending it to 4-1 in a penalty-filled second. The Badgers were able to get a second goal, but North Dakota completed their first victory by a score of 6-2. On Saturday, the teams were even at 1 after the first, but UND once again broke through in the second to take a 3-1 lead into the final stanza. The third was closely contested, but UND outscored Wisconsin 2-1 in the final period for a 5-2 win and series sweep.

With the pair of victories, North Dakota kept up their undefeated start to the season, taking over 1st place in the WCCHA with a perfect 6-0 conference record (8-0 overall). Wisconsin remains in 4th place with 6 points from 6 games.

In non-conference action, St. Thomas travelled to #8 Northern Illinois anticipating a close series, which turned out to be the case as the teams shared the spoils. St. Thomas came out on top Friday night by a score of 3-2, a game that saw the UST goalie stop a penalty shot with mere second left in regulation. On Saturday, the game was again close, but NIU broke through on a power play late in the third, adding an empty net tally to take a 5-3 victory.

In addition, Wisconsin-Eau Claire hosted former WCCHA member and #17 ranked Michigan Tech. Friday night's game ended even at 5-5, with UWEC dominating on Saturday to take home a 7-3 victory.

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The first ACHA Central Regional Rankings of 2015-2016 were published this past weekend. After a tabulation error was discovered, the rankings showed St. Thomas at #14, Wisconsin at #15 and St. Cloud State at #16. North Dakota and UW-Eau Claire both recieved votes, but were not ranked.