Oct. 21, 2006
Final Stats
FAIRBANKS, AK - The Alaska Nanooks and the University of Alaska Anchorage battled to a 1-1 overtime tie in the second game of the Alaska Airline's Governor's Cup Saturday night at the sold-out Carlson Center. One night after a 6-5 OT win for the Seawolves, the Nanooks (2-1-1) battled from a 1-0 first period deficit to salvage a tie on their home ice behind a solid defensive effort led by goalie Chad Johnson (Calgary, AB).
"It was a strong contrast to last night," Nanook head coach Tavis MacMillan said.
UAA (2-0-2) leads the quest for the Cup with a win and a tie in Fairbanks. Alaska will attempt to regain control of the series and win their sixth straight Cup on UAA's home ice in December.
Sophomore Justin Binab (Victoria, BC) scored the equalizer for the Nanooks early in the third period. Sophomore Adam Naglich (Las Vegas, NV) took control of the puck along the boards behind the UAA goal and passed to junior Brandon Gawryletz (Trail, BC) at the point. Gawryletz fired a shot off UAA goalie Jon Olthuis and Binab maneuvered for the rebound. The 5-11 forward shot, rebounded his own miss and put it high past Olthuis' glove side 3:13 into the third for his first career goal.
It was Binab's first game on the ice this season due to a bout with mononucleosis.
"I thought Justin gave us a great spark and great energy," MacMillan said. "It wasn't surprising to me at all that he would be a guy with a big goal at a big time."
UAA forward Jay Beagle scored the Seawolves lone goal at the 12:26 mark of the first period when he put a rebound of a Merit Waldrop miss into the Nanook net past Johnson. Seawolf defenseman Luke Beaverson also earned an assist on the goal.
"We missed one assignment and it ended up in the back of our net," MacMillan said.
The overtime period saw numerous close call saves by Johnson (1-0-1) and Olthuis (0-0-1), which caused gasps from the sellout crowd of 4,595.
Johnson stopped 20 shots in his debut against the Seawolves. Olthuis denied 34 Nanook attempts in his first career start for UAA. One night after an 11-goal affair that saw goaltenders Nathan Lawson of UAA and Alaska's Wylie Rogers (Fairbanks, AK) facing shot after shot, MacMillan was pleased with the effort of Johnson and impressed by the play of Olthuis.
"I thought both goaltenders did a good job of not allowing rebounds," MacMillan said. "You didn't see a lot of second and third opportunities around the net."
A night after getting out shot by the Seawolves 45-26, the Nanooks won the shot battle in every period including a 14-3 advantage in the third and 4-3 in overtime. The three shots in the third was the lowest total that the Nanooks have allowed in a final period all season.
Tyler Eckford (Langley, BC) took home Toyota Player of the Game honors with three blocks and led a solid Alaska penalty killing unit that shut down all four UAA man advantage opportunities.
The Nanooks and Seawolves continue their quest for the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup December 29 and 30 at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Alaska has taken the Cup title from UAA the last five years and leads the Cup's 13-year history eight to five.
