Zach Krajnik

Eagle River’s Zach Krajnik, a freshman on Minnesota State-Mankato, entered the weekend with two assists in 11 career games with the No. 1-ranked Mavericks.

He pumped up that scoring line considerably in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association sweep of Ferris State.

Krajnik delivered two assists and a plus-3 rating in Friday’s 7-1 win, then burnished that performance with his first two college goals and a plus-2 rating in Saturday’s 7-0 demolition.

It’s not as if scoring isn’t familiar to Krajnik – the former Chugiak High star produced 35-71—106 totals in 110 games in two seasons of junior hockey with the Kenai River Brown Bears of the North American Hockey League.

Clair DeGeorge

Elsewhere in college hockey over the weekend, Clair DeGeorge of Anchorage, a grad student for the No. 2-ranked Ohio State women’s team, extended her point streak to 11 games with an assist Friday in an 8-2 win over Lindenwood. DeGeorge’s streak was snapped in Saturday’s 10-win. In those 11 games, she went 9-16—25. In 20 games overall this season, DeGeorge is 10-19—29.

Army senior Daniel Haider of Anchorage (South) had an assist in Friday’s 5-3 loss to Canisius to push his point streak to three games (1-4—5) and give him 3-9—12 totals in 19 games. He did not play in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Canisius.

On the pro front, goaltender Andrew Shortridge hasn’t played much this season – he has spent most of the last two months as the third goalie with the Stockton Heat of the American Hockey League – but generated strong work over the weekend for the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL.

Andrew Shortridge

Shortridge stopped 32 shots in Friday’s 4-2 win over Wichita in what was his first ECHL game since Nov. 16 and just his second game overall in that stretch. Shortridge made 21 saves in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Wichita. At 3-3-0, with a 2.36 goals-against average and .913 save percentage for Kansas City, his small-sample-size numbers are considerably stronger than the other two goals the Mavericks have largely used.

Shortridge played one game for Stockton, stopping 22 shots on New Year’s Eve in a 4-0 loss to San Jose, his former team.

Lastly in the ECHL, the scoring race among Alaskans remains tight. Anchorage’s Tanner Sorenson of Kalamazoo and Anchorage’s Cam Hausinger of Wheeling have dropped identical 9-14—23 totals in 27 games. Leading the way in goals by an Alaska player is Alec Butcher of Anchorage (West High), the former Seawolf, with 11-9—20 totals for Rapid City.

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