J.T. Brown took matters into his own hands Friday night in Anchorage, Alaska and the University of Minnesota Duluth certainly benefited by that gesture.  The sophomore right winger erupted for four goals, including a natural hat trick in the opening period, while single-handedly dismantling the University of Alaska Anchorage 4-1 in the front end of a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series.

Brown, who three weeks ago registered his first collegiate hat trick in a  6-2 victory at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, scored at 2:30, 11:36 and 19:10 of the first, and then added a power play goal with 4:26 to go before the second intermission en route to becoming just the 12th Bulldog to reach the four-goal plateau in the NCAA Division I era (1965-66 to present) and the first to register more than one hat trick in a season since MacGregor Sharp did it in 2008-09. Brown's linemate, senior center Travis Oleksuk, celebrated his 23rd birthday in style Friday by racking up four assists. 

Brown's final goal (his 15th of 2011-12) was the Bulldogs' first with the man advantage in seven games and snapped an 0-for-21 power play drought. Senior center Jack Connolly was credited with the second assist on that tally, giving him 41 points on the season -- the second highest scoring harvest in the nation at the moment -- and avoiding a third consecutive pointless night for the first time since his rookie year.

Senior goaltender Kenny Reiter, making his 22 consecutive WCHA start going back to last season, continued his mastery over the Seawolves with a 17-save performance to move to 17-4-4 in the year. In five lifetime appearances against Alaska Anchorage, Reiter is a perfect 5-0-0 with a 1.38 goals against average and a .946 saves percentage.

With the victory, its sixth in a row over the Seawolves, UMD is now 18-5-4 overall and 12-4-3 in the WCHA, three points back of league-leading Minnesota with one game in hand.

The two clubs will collide again Saturday night at 10:07 p.m. (CST).