Former Viper Captain & The Seawolves Season Ends At WCHA Final Five:

Former Vernon Vipers captain Chris Crowell and the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves season came to an end last week with a 4-2 loss to Colorado College. Crowell played four years with the Vipers (2005-2009) & is in his second season with the Seawolves.

This was posted on the Seawolves website:

Win streak, season ends at WCHA Final Five

Release: March 18, 2011 -

Courtesy: UAA Sports Information

ST. PAUL, Minn. - On a day that is supposed to favor those in green, this St. Patrick's Day good fortune was reserved for those in black and gold as Colorado College downed Alaska Anchorage 4-2 Thursday night in quarterfinal action of the 2011 Red Baron WCHA Final Five here at the Xcel Energy Center.

The loss ended a five-game winning streak for sixth-year Head Coach Dave Shyiak's Seawolves, which finished the season with a 16-18-3 record - UAA's best since the 1992-93 season. UAA went 12-14-2 in regular season WCHA play - second best since joining the league in 1993-94. The Tigers improved to 22-17-3 and will meet No. 1-seed North Dakota in Friday's late semifinal game.

Friday's other semifinal game will feature No. 6 seed Bemidji State vs No. 2 seed Denver. Bemidji upset No. 3 seed Minnesota Duluth, 3-2 in overtime, in Thursday's early quarterfinal.

Thursday's CC-UAA matchup was their sixth meeting of the season, which saw both teams win three.

The Seawolves, which outshot the Tigers 23-16 for the game, owned territorial and shots on goal advantages early on, but found themselves in a 3-0 hole by early in the second period.

"It doesn't sit well. It doesn't feel right. I thought the guys did everything we asked," said Coach Shyiak. "They got some puck luck goals early and that's just the nature of the game. I can't take anything away from [our] guys - it just wasn't in the cards tonight. I'm proud of the way we played. I thought we played well enough to win, but it just wasn't there."

CC went up 1-0 at 7:30 of the first period on a power play goal by William Rapuzzi, who stuffed home a deflected puck. Dakota Eveland and Gabe Guentzel were credited with assists. Tim Hall put the Tigers up 2-0 at 16:30 of the first after gathering in another deflection and beating a screened Kamal. Rapuzzi and Ryan Lowery assisted on the goal.

CC went up 3-0 at 4:39 of the second after a wide shot by Joe Marciano from the point went off the back of UAA's Craig Parkinson and into the net. Coach Shyiak opted to call timeout and replace Seawolf starting goalie Chris Kamal with fellow freshman netminder Rob Gunderson.

"[I did it] just to shake it up. Chris [Kamal] did great," said Coach Shyiak. "Obviously he strung five [wins] together. It wasn't at all his fault and it wasn't anybody's fault."

The move appeared to jump start the Seawolves as Mickey Spencer tipped in a Quinn Sproule drive from the point at 14:57 of the second to make it 3-1. Alex Gellert assisted on the goal as UAA was finally rewarded for its hard work. The goal came just seconds after a penalty on CC's Guentzel had expired.

The Tigers' Marciano made it 4-1 as his shot from the point found net with just 18 seconds left in the second. Schultz and Schwartz assisted on the goal for CC.

The Seawolves had some high quality scoring chances in the third period, including some a 5-on-3 power play, but were unable to cash in until Luka Vidmar's shorthander at 18:59 of the third on assists from Brad Gorham and Jade Portwood.

The contest was the final game for five seniors - forwards Tommy Grant, Craig Parkinson, Sean Wiles and Nick Haddad along with defenseman Vidmar.

Said Parkinson: "It was a great season. There are a lot of good guys in that dressing room and I wish I was coming back...getting to the Final Five is a big deal. [The program] is going in the right direction."

UAA netminder, Kamal, which had his personal five-game win streak halted, had four saves and saw his record slip to 9-5-1. Gunderson had eight saves in relief. CC's Joe Howe had 21 saves in picking up the win in goal for the Tigers.

The Seawolves were 0-for-6 on the power play while the Tigers went 1-for-5.