Nov. 4, 2006
Final Stats
By Danny Martin, Sports Reporter, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published November 5, 2006
Posted in Sports
OMAHA, Neb.- A little conversation on Saturday night led the Alaska Nanooks to a 4-3 victory over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, giving the Nanooks a three-point weekend in Nebraska's largest city and a five-game unbeaten streak this season.
Before they gained a 5-on-3 power play in the third period, the Nanooks had rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the first period by knotting the score at 3 in the second period, aided by two short-handed goals on the same power play.
A chance to snap the tie came courtesy of a 5-on-3 power play at 8:32 of the third period after Mavericks right wing Mick Lawrence was whistled for roughing at 7:17 and defenseman Juha Uotila followed him into the penalty box with a holding minor.
Sophomore defenseman Tyler Eckford and junior left wing Kyle Greentree talked while skating to the faceoff circle for the Nanooks' two-man advantage.
"He's such an effective guy with the puck that they have to overplay him or he's going to score goals," Eckford said.
Eckford and 5,158 mostly-partisan spectators in the Qwest Center remembered Greentree's performance in Friday night's 5-5 tie, as he delivered four points, with three of them on a natural hat trick in the first period, including two goals on 5-on-3 power plays.
Before they arrived at the faceoff circle Saturday night, Eckford said to Greentree, "You look for the shot first and if it's not there, I'll be rolling."
Greentree did just that, skating toward a thicket of Mavericks penalty killers in the slot and then fed the puck smoothly to an open Eckford at the top of the right circle, where the Nanooks sophomore uncorked a shot over the glove side of UNO goaltender Jeremie Dupont just nine seconds after the two-man advantage began.
"He went and took everyone with him and laid a beautiful pass," Eckford said. "I didn't really have to do much except for hit it and I just put it in."
Said Greentree, "He's got an awesome shot."
It was the Nanooks' third 5-on-3 goal among four power-play markers in the series.
"They showed all weekend, that if you give them a 5-on-3, they're going to bury it," said Nebraska-Omaha head coach Mike Kemp.
Greentree's three points (a goal and two assists), goals from Curtis Fraser and Braden Walls and 35 saves by goaltender Chad Johnson helped put the Nanooks in sole possession of second place at 3-0-1 league and 5-1-2 overall.
Nebraska-Omaha, which outshot the Nanooks 38-19 Saturday and got two goals from junior center Bryan Marshall, slipped to 2-1-1 and 3-2-3, respectively, for a third-place tie with Ohio State.
Just as they remarked on Greentree's performance Friday night, Kemp and Alaska counterpart Tavis MacMillan saw the Nanooks assistant captain as the difference maker for the series finale, and Alaska's first road action of the season that followed a six-game homestand at the Carlson Center.
"I thought Kyle Greentree took over the hockey game," said MacMillan, "and I really thought he put our team on his shoulders, and our best players started to follow him."
Greentree finished with seven points (four goals and three assists) in the first two games of a two-week, four-game league road trip that wraps up with against Northern Michigan on Friday and Saturday in Marquette, Mich.
"The story of the game, to me simply, is Kyle Greentree and he was the story all weekend," Kemp said. "I'll be shocked if he's not (CCHA Offensive) player of the week because he deserves it."
It was a better night for Johnson after the unbeaten netminder (4-0-1) was pulled in the second period Friday after the Mavericks tied the game 4-4 following a 4-2 Nanooks lead.
"I just tried to move on and forget about last night," Johnson said. "Obviously, it's disappointing getting pulled, and I didn't play well. I just wanted to come out today and help the team win and do my part. That's what coach said to all the guys -- just do your part."
The Mavericks' pressure limited the Nanooks to three shots in the first period while the hosts cranked out 14. Alaska didn't have its first shot until a Walls backhand on a power play near the 13-minute mark. By then, though, Nebraska-Omaha had produced 10 shots.
"Our whole team was nonexistent," MacMillan said of the first period.
The Mavericks stifled the Nanooks on the wings and were more physical than their perpetual scheduling clustermate.
It also didn't help Alaska to spend half of the period in the penalty box with five minors totaling 10 minutes. Nebraska-Omaha marched to the box just twice.
"We just weren't moving our feet, and they were moving their feet and we were just kind of standing there," Greentree said. "We weren't even hitting, we weren't even playing good hockey. We're a veteran club and we decided to pick it up. If we're going to be successful, we've got to hit guys and we've got to get pucks deep and get our feet going. We adapted and changed, and we got a huge win."
But not before the Mavericks seized a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore left wing Danny Charleston, with his third goal of the weekend, one-timed in Brandon Scero's crossing pass from the left circle during a power play with 59 seconds left in the period for the two-goal edge. Marshall had provided the game's first goal during a delayed penalty for the Nanooks, as he beat Johnson with a low wrist shot from the right side of the crease 3:15 into the contest.
The Nanooks stepped up their forechecking in the second period, where they had a few more shots (eight) and were opportunistic, setting the stage for the 3-3 tie. Alaska also survived several turnovers by a Nebraska-Omaha pressure that often didn't allow the Nanooks to get out of their zone.
In what may have been a first, the Nanooks tied the game 2-2 with two shorthanded goals on the same power play, and Greentree figured into both markers.
Sophomore defenseman Steve Vanoosten passed to Greentree from deep in the Nanooks zone and the puck deflected off a Mavericks defender's blade at the right point in the UNO zone. Greentree poked the carom onto his stick and blasted a shot from the right circle over Dupont's glove side at 10:18.
Forty-two seconds later, Greentree faked a shot down low that ended up floating in front of Dupont and in the vicinity of Mavericks defensemen Eddie Del Grosso and Juha Uotila. None of the Mavericks reacted in time, but Walls did by laying out to swipe the puck into an open right side of the net.
"Braden Walls did a great job of stopping in front of the net," MacMillan said, "and if Braden Walls doesn't stop, he doesn't score that goal."
Marshall, with his second score of the night, put UNO back in front 3-2 at 12:15 with a power-play wrist shot over Johnson's stick hand, and Fraser, with his second goal of the weekend, knotted the score at 19:11 by tapping in a rebound of Tyler Eckford's shot from the left circle that skipped off Dupont's glove.
"It was just a recognition," said MacMillan, "by our better players -- the guys we count on -- to step up."
