NEWS

With three players arriving late Friday night, the WCCHA All-Stars were able to take the ice on Saturday with a solid, homegrown lineup for games against the Mountain West College Hockey League and the ACHA Independents. The day was a mixed bag of results, as the WCCHA earned the victory in the early game but was shutout in an evening loss.

Game #4 vs. Mountain West College Hockey League

Looking to build upon a strong start on Friday, the WCCHA All-Stars came out flying as Will Reabe of UW-Eau Claire opened the scoring just two and half minute in. Not two minutes later, the WCCHA added a goal when Justin Anderson of Wisconsin buried a rebound with assists from Brien Martin of Wisconsin and Connor Wilcox of Winona State. Then, the WCCHA put home a third with 10 minutes gone when Anthony Benda of Winona State finished a nice solo play by going coast-to-coast for the goal. The first period would end 3-0 in favor of the WCCHA.

The MWCHL hit the ice in the second determined to make a comeback. However, after an early goal reduced the deficit to 2, the WCCHA All-Stars struck again through Justin Anderson off of a feed from Brien Martin. The MWCHL would score the next two goals, bringing the game close as the clock wound down. With the victory hanging in the balance, Tyler Palacek of UW-Eau Claire finished a sweet play involving Justin Anderson and Brien Martin to give the WCCHA a 5th goal and what would turn out to be the winner. The MWCHL struck again 30 seconds later, but the WCCHA All-Stars held out the remainder for the 5-4 win. Billy Winselman of Winona State earned the victory, stopping 24 of 28 shots.

The WCCHA earned 5 points in the game, while the MWCHL took the remaining 2.

Game #5 vs. ACHA Independents

With a fifth game in under 48 hours, the WCCHA took on the previously win-less ACHA Independents in the evening session. The teams battled back and forth in the first, but it was the Independents that struck with just over 10 minutes remaining to take a 1-0 lead that would hold through the remainder of the period. As the WCCHA All-Stars began to push for the equalizer, the Independents took advantage of the open game and scored twice to build a 3-0 lead. With the game winding down, the WCCHA players kept searching for openings, hitting a few crossbars but otherwise unable to breach the Independents net. With the goalie pulled, the Independents were able to add a fourth into the empty net before scoring a final goal in the waning minutes of the game. The WCCHA thus settled for a 5-0 loss, and the Indepedents earned all 7 available points. Trevor Macey of Wisconsin stopped 35 of 39 shots in the game.

Following the completion of pool play on Saturday evening, the WCCHA held a .514 rating in the competition standings, good enough for 5th place out of 11 teams. The NECHA and TSCHL finished #1 and #2, respectively, with ratings of .800 and .750.

In the final game of the competition, the WCCHA will take on the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Conference (MACHA) at 8:30 AM on Sunday.