Jan. 20, 2007
Box Score
By Danny Martin, Staff Writer
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published January 21, 2007
One bright spot for the Alaska Nanooks in Saturday night's Central Collegiate Hockey Association game was outshooting the Michigan Wolverines 34-24.
However, there weren't enough watts in that bright spot, as the Nanooks fell 5-2 to the 13th-ranked Wolverines at the Carlson Center for their ninth straight loss and 11th defeat in their last 12 contests.
"I'm not in this for moral victories, but it's very few times that we were at Michigan or Michigan came up here and we outshot them 34-24," Alaska head coach Tavis MacMillan said.
On the way to a 1-0 lead from Curtis Fraser's 5-on-3 power play goal, the Nanooks had a 15-7 edge in shots in the first period, where they also amassed 32 offensive attempts to 10 for the fourth-place Wolverines.
"Very seldom have we ever done that (against Michigan)," MacMillan said. "Normally, even in games we've won, we're getting outshot 40-27."
"Won" has been a seldom-heard word lately for the Nanooks, who got their other goal from sophomore right wing Braden Walls and 19 saves from sophomore goaltender Chad Johnson in his first start since a loss at Ohio State on Jan. 5.
"There's a lot of positives (from the series)," said MacMillan, "but I told the guys I'm tired of moral victories, I'm tired of finding ways to feel good about this. It's time we correct this and win a game."
Alaska, which remained in 10th place at 5-10-3 league and 7-13-4 overall, earned its last victory against Bowling Green on Dec. 8 at the Carlson Center. The Nanooks and last-place Falcons meet this Friday and Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio, in the final series of the season between the scheduling clustermates.
MacMillan saw the first period as the best period of the season for the Nanooks.
"Territorially, opportunity wise, converting on the 5-on-3 ... we were moving, we were cycling the puck, we were getting pucks to the net," he said.
But he added, "Against a team like Michigan, one (goal) isn't enough against them."
The Nanooks saw the Wolverines knot the score at 1 in the second period and manufacture four goals in the third, including two in a stint of 30 seconds.
"I guess you could say to a point that it was demoralizing," said Fraser, who had a goal and two assists for the weekend, giving him 102 career points. "We had that timeout (at 7:35 of the third period) and we turned it around again and got refocused. We did what we could, but it was too little too late."
Michigan, led by a trio of sophomores -- left wing Brandon Naurato with a goal and two assists, center Tim Miller with a goal and an assist and goaltender Billy Sauer with 32 saves -- struggled with Alaska's neutral-zone coverage in the first period but for the rest of the game, returned to the quick transition mode that led to their 6-2 win Friday night.
"They flat out beat a couple of our guys up the ice where we actually had position on them," MacMillan said. "We had the inside-out position and had a step on them."
The Wolverines (12-6-0, 17-9-0) also had an effective talk in their locker room during the second intermission.
"We had a good team talk after the second," Naurato said. "We talked about little things we've got to do and make sure we had a good start. We got a good bounce on our second goal to go ahead."
One night after missing on two 5-on-3 power plays, the Nanooks capitalized with the two-man advantage at 12:09 of the first period for their first lead of the weekend.
Fraser, taking advantage of Michigan defenseman Matt Hunwick losing his stick, collected Adam Naglich's pass across the front of the crease and beat Sauer high with a shot from between the right circle and the goal line.
Alaska's tight coverage in the neutral zone limited Michigan's odd-man rushes and kept the Wolverines off the scoreboard for the first time in a period in the series.
"We were pressuring them really good the first half of the game," said Alaska sophomore left wing Trevor Hyatt. "In that third period ... it wasn't a lack of effort by any means. Maybe it was just guys getting tired, or mentally fatigued."
Michigan seemed to be patient offensively in the second period, sending out drop passes and waiting for players to get set up in the Nanooks zone.
The patience paid off in a 1-1 tie at 16:13, as Naurato passed off the right-wing boards to a rushing center Andrew Cogliano, who outreached Nanooks defenseman Darcy Campbell and tipped the puck behind Johnson.
"I can't tell you if it was patience," said Michigan head coach Red Berenson, "but we finally got the goal that we needed. I thought that Alaska had the edge in the first half of the game; they capitalized on the 5-on-3 and they were doing a great job of forechecking and creating puck control. We needed to get a goal and we got it."
The Nanooks then saw the ice collapse under them in the third period, as the Wolverines sealed the win by rattling off three goals in a 2-minute, 9-second span, with the first two markers 30 seconds apart.
Alaska was the victim of an unfortunate hop on a power play that put Michigan ahead 2-1 at 5:26. Nanooks defenseman Nathan Fornataro attempted to forecheck away Miller's shot in front of the crease, but the collision of sticks caused the puck to lob high over Johnson and into the net.
"That was kind of an unlucky break," MacMillan said.
Thirty seconds later, Michigan won the race to the puck, as senior right wing David Rohlfs collected Kevin Porter's long pass, rushed behind three Nanooks and drilled the puck between Johnson's pads.
Naurato, set up by Miller, walked into the slot at 7:35 and sent his first goal and third point of the night between Johnson's pads.
The Nanooks resorted to patience at 15:02 to cut Michigan's lead at half.
Darcy Campbell, with his second assist of the game, worked the puck up the right wing, waited for a Michigan defender to slip at the top of the right circle and softly lined the puck to Walls at the right side of the crease. The pass deflected off Walls' skate and off Sauer's glove before fluttering into the net.
Johnson was pulled for an extra attacker with less than two minutes left, and Wolverines defenseman Jack Johnson deposited his first goal of the weekend into the empty net with 1:35 left on the clock.
