Nov. 24, 2006
Box Score
By Danny Martin, Sports Writer, Fairbanks Daily News-miner
Published November 25, 2006
Posted in Sports
Ryan Muspratt's knee is doing fine and its sturdiness helped the Alaska Nanooks gain a point in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings.
The junior right wing, in his first game in more than nine months, jump-started the Nanooks' second-period rally toward a 2-2 tie against the Lake Superior State Lakers in Friday night's series opener at the Carlson Center.
The Nanooks, moving to 5-2-4 overall and 3-1-3 league for a fifth-place tie with Northern Michigan, Michigan State and Western Michigan, got the game-tying goal from junior defenseman Darcy Campbell and 21 saves from junior goaltender Wylie Rogers in his first start in more than a month.
Thirty-one saves by All-CCHA first-team selection Jeff Jakaitis and power-play goals by sophomore right wing Josh Sim and junior defenseman Derek A. Smith gave the Lakers sole possession of ninth place (8-4-1, 3-3-1).
The last time Muspratt was on the Carlson Olympic-size ice, he writhed in pain after sustaining a knee injury from colliding with a Bowling Green skater on Feb. 10.
Understandably, the 6-foot, 192-pound native of Calgary, Alberta had some apprehension when he skated to center ice for the opening faceoff. It wasn't too far from the spot near the right point where his knee injury occurred.
"You try not to think about it, but it somehow sticks in the back of your mind," Muspratt said in the postgame media conference, "but it (knee) felt good."
The Nanooks probably thought likewise of their comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the second period.
For 30 minutes -- the entire first period and 10 minutes of the second -- the Nanooks outshot the Lakers but also had countless opportunities go wide, fly up into the back nets or get fanned on. The missed opportunities eventually led to the third straight tie between the teams at the Carlson Center. The series in 2004-05 ended with respective 2-2 and 1-1 outcomes.
"I thought we had lots of good chances. I thought we missed more opportunities tonight than we've missed in a long time," Alaska head coach Tavis MacMillan said of Friday night's game.
"And not just opportunities where pucks bounced over guys' sticks -- guys just missed them," MacMillan added. "Guys who should have scored those goals, and probably will later, just missed them tonight."
Even Jakaitis was surprised at seeing several Nanooks' opportunities go awry.
"They had a lot of chances where the puck was bouncing," he said. "I saw in practice that the puck was kind of bouncing a little bit on the ice.
"I don't know what I did right, but I must have did something because they had quite a few chances."
The Nanooks needed only a stint of 41 seconds in the second period to right themselves offensively and tie the game after seeing Lake Superior cash in on two power plays.
Muspratt awoke the Nanooks offense at 11:39 of the second, parking himself at the left of the crease and tapping in a rebound of center Justin Binab's shot from the right circle.
Campbell, helped by his teammates' checking in front of the Lakers bench, got hold of a loose puck, streaked alone up the middle of the ice, ignored Derek A. Smith's screen and put a wrist shot over Jakaitis' glove at 12:20.
"Our checking has become part of our team identity, so it really opens up the ice," Campbell said. "They (Lakers) sent three men back, so you're not really going to get any odd-man rushes ... so I just threw a puck on net."
A Lake Superior squad which had scored one power play goal in 12 chances in its last three games found cracks in Alaska's penalty-killing armor for the two-goal lead, including scoring on a two-man advantage.
Sim provided the game's first score by redirecting center Dominic Osman's delivery from the right point at 13:23 of the first period.
Alaska gave up its first 5-on-3 power marker of the season, as Derek A. Smith steamed a one-timer from the top of the right circle at 6:26 of the second period.
The Nanooks entered the night with the league's best power-play efficiency of 23.9 percent (17 goals in 71 chances) but the Lakers denied them on six opportunities with the extra skater.
"We were just trying to keep them to the perimeter and try to win puck battles down low so they can't get full control of the puck, and we just tried to cut away their time," said Smith.
The Nanooks had a slight advantage in third period shots -- 12-10 -- but in overtime, Jakaitis faced only two shots while the Lakers peppered Rogers four times, including wings Nick Martello and Dan Eves getting right in front of him with less than 30 seconds left.
It was Rogers' first start since a 6-5 overtime loss to Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 20 at the Carlson. It was also his second straight tie after he backstopped a 5-5 deadlock at Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 3 after replacing sophomore starter Chad Johnson in the second period.
