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Alaska vs. Michigan State Series Notes 02-05-10]
FAIRBANKS, AK - The Blue and Gold host the No.12 Michigan State Spartans for a two-game Central Collegiate Hockey Association series at the Carlson Center on Friday and Saturday. Opening face off Friday night is at 7:05 p.m. AKT, while Saturday's contest is set to start an hour earlier at 6:05 p.m. AKT to accommodate a live national television broadcast of the match-up by KFXF Fox 7 and Comcast. Here are the need to know facts for the MSU series and Alaska Hockey:
• The Nanooks trail the Spartans 11-37-1 in the all-time series and 5-14-1 in Fairbanks.
• Although Alaska is 2-8-0 in the last ten meetings with Michigan State, they snapped a seven-game losing streak in their last encounter on Jan. 3, 2009 at Munn Ice Arena (3-1).
• The Blue and Gold will look to snap a four-game home winless streak against the Spartans at the Carlson Center this weekend.
• January proved the coldest month of the season for the Alaska Nanooks as they went 1-4-3 through four CCHA series. After outscoring their opponents 54-45 in the first half of the season, the Blue and gold have been outgunned 23-12 in the last eight outings.
• Alaska fell in a CCHA shootout for the second time in as many weeks. They are now 4-2 in league shootouts but still remain unbeaten in overtime this season at 2-0-7.
• SR F Dion Knelsen scored his 14th goal of the season and 38th of his career for his 100th point as a Nanook. Knelsen is the 28th player in program history to eclipse the 100 point mark and needs just four more points to surpass head coach Dallas Ferguson’s four-year total (104).
• SO F Carlo Finucci assisted on both of Alaska’s goals in Friday’s 2-2 tie at NMU for his fifth multi-point game of the season, third most on the team. FR F Andy Tarnato leads with 10 multi-point games, while Dion Knelsen is second best with six.
• Friday’s 2-2 tie marked the fourth time in the previous five games that Alaska and NMU went to a shootout. With the ‘Cat’s 2-0 shootout win, the teams are even at 2-2 in CCHA shootouts when facing one another over the last two seasons. Saturday’s game marked the first time in four meetings this season that the clustermates’ game did not result in a tie.