Nov. 3, 2007
Final Stats
Another hard-fought game, another tough loss for the Alaska Nanooks.
The Blue and Gold's Saturday night match with defending NCAA champions Michigan State produced a near-replay of Friday's, right down to the 3-1 scoreline. Freshman Landon Novotney lashed his third goal of the season to cancel out the opening goal from MSU's Bryan Lerg.
But a lack of discipline once again did in the Nanooks, as Daniel Vukovic scored what proved to be the game-winner on a power play caused when Brandon Gawryletz was whistled for contact to the head in the final two minutes of the second period. Tim Kennedy tacked on an empty netter in the final 30 seconds to drop Alaska to 0-4-0 on the season.
The two teams showed no ill effects from a highly competitive game the night before, as both sides came out with plenty of energy. This time, however, it was Michigan State who struck first, putting the puck into the net just over five minutes into the game. Winning a faceoff in the offensive zone, Lerg took the draw back to Dustin Gazley, who ushered the puck back to Jeff Petry at the point. Petry took one touch before blasting a shot that deflected off of Lerg, leaving Nanook goalkeeper Wylie Rogers helpless.
While falling into an early hole could have spelled a long night for Alaska, the Blue and Gold responded well, and soon had leveled the scores seemingly out of nothing. There seemed to be no real danger when Dustin Sather laid the puck off for Landon Novotney deep on the right wing. But from a difficult angle, Novotney blasted his shot past goalkeeper Jeff Lerg and into the net.
The first period didn't end without a bit of controversy, however, as Michigan State had a Ryan Turek goal disallowed. Turek had prodded the puck home following a goalmouth scramble, but the goal was ruled out when a Michigan State player was adjudged to have screened Rogers while in the crease.
Alaska would have a couple of clear chances in the second period, but found the Spartan goalkeeper in excellent form. Lerg came up big to deny Novotney from point blank range after Dustin Sather had found the freshman with a perfect pass on an odd-man break. The MSU assistant captain then smothered an Aaron Lee rocket with a fine glove save.
Slowly but surely, however, Michigan State began to assert control over the game, and the Nanooks spent much of the second and third period bunkered down in their own end. Even when the Spartans' Justin Abdelkader was whistled for a five-minute game misconduct penalty for hitting from behind, Alaska could manage just one shot on goal as Michigan State effectively killed off the major penalty.
The Spartan pressure finally paid off with just over a minute remaining in the second period. On a power-play opportunity, a fake shot from junior Nick Sucharski got Rogers to commit, and the puck made its way across to defenseman Daniel Vukovic. Though Rogers was able to get a piece of the shot, the puck trickled agonizingly over the line.
The Nanooks would push ahead in search of an equalizer, but struggled to produce chances against a well-organized Michigan State defense. Tyler Eckford tried a couple of shots from distance, and Braden Walls had perhaps the best opportunity of the period, firing his slapshot right at Lerg on a quick attack, but the Michigan State goalkeeper never looked likely to be beaten before Tim Kennedy extinguished the Nanooks' hopes, slotting into an empty net with just 24 seconds remaining.
With the loss, Alaska falls to 0-2-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play ahead of next week's daunting trip to Michigan. The Nanooks meet the Wolverines in Ann Arbor next Friday and Saturday, with the puck dropping at 3:35 p.m. both days.
