Jan. 4, 2008
Box Score
By Danny Martin
Staff Writer
Published January 5, 2008
COLUMBUS, OH -- The drought is over in Columbus for the Alaska Nanooks.
The team's five seniors will end their careers with at least one win in Ohio's capital after the Nanooks captured a 4-2 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes in Friday night's opener of a Central Collegiate Hockey Association series at Value City Arena.
Right wing Ryan Muspratt, one of those five seniors, began the end of the drought by redirecting in junior defenseman Tyler Eckford's blast for the game's first score.
The Nanooks never looked back in winning for the first time in Columbus in nearly five years.
Alaska's current senior class of Muspratt, goaltender Wylie Rogers, left wing Aaron Lee, center Brandon Gawryletz and defenseman and team captain T.J. Campbell were playing junior hockey in western Canada the last time that the Nanooks won in Columbus -- a sweep on Feb. 21-22, 2003 by respective scores of 4-1 and 5-4.
"This is the third time we've come down to this rink and it's been pretty tough in the past. It's great to get the first game," Muspratt said.
Playing Ohio State for the third time in less than a month benefited Alaska, which got 31 saves and an assist from Rogers, and its other goals from sophomore center Dion Knelsen and freshmen left wings Dustin Sather and Nathan Lawrence.
Alaska also raised its ninth-place league record to 4-7-2, moving within one point of eighth-place and idle Nebraska-Omaha. Eighth place is the lowest a team can finish in the regular season to earn home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs on March 7-9.
The 10th-place Buckeyes, who got goals from senior center Matt McIlvane and junior defenseman Nick Biondo and a combined 30 saves from freshman Dustin Carlson and sophomore Nick Filion, are a scheduling clustermate this season of the Nanooks, who are 4-10-3 overall.
Alaska prevailed 2-1 in overtime on Dec. 14 at the Carlson Center and tied 2-2 there the next night.
"We were a little familiar with them," Sather said after his two-point night. "We had the (Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup) series last weekend, but this was for points (in the CCHA standings)."
Before coming to Ohio, the Nanooks were coming off a 4-2 loss and 2-2 tie against Alaska Anchorage last weekend at the Carlson Center.
"We knew coming down here that we had to start off right," Sather said. "We were just taking this like any other game, one period at a time, and we were happy to get two points."
It's only the second game this season that Alaska led from beginning to end. The other time was Nov. 30 in a 4-1 win over Northern Michigan at the Carlson Center -- Alaska's first victory of the season after seven straight losses.
"I thought we played patient defensively and were very opportunistic when we had opportunities in the game," Alaska head coach Doc DelCastillo said of Friday's victory.
The Nanooks seemed to put on an opportunity seminar in the third period, scoring twice in a 49-second span to assure the end of the drought in Columbus.
Sather, aided by center Adam Naglich's cycling and right wing Braden Walls' pass, was wide open in front of Carlson when he scored his fifth of the season at 3:41 for a 3-1 Nanooks lead.
"I don't know if they (Ohio State) were changing or they just got in there late," said Sather, "but we had kind of a 2-on-1 there and Walls made a good pass."
Lawrence, with the fourth marker of his career, was left alone at the top of the left circle during a Buckeyes shift change. He collected a long pass from Rogers and had time to set up for a slap shot that beat Carlson to the right corner of the crossbar at 4:40.
The goal also chased Carlson for Filion, who last played for the Buckeyes last Feb. 3 against Ferris State.
The Buckeyes, though, reminded the Nanooks that there was still time left in the game, as Ohio State cut the lead in half on a tic-tac-toe scenario and an Alaska defensive breakdown.
Center Patrick Schafer passed from the right circle to right wing Peter Boyd at the right post, who quickly fed Biondo at the left post at 11:47. It was Boyd's second helper of the night.
"It was late in the game and we were down three goals and we had to start pinching the D a little bit," Biondo said. "Once I pinched out, I saw the puck was bouncing around a bit, and I just stood back door and Peter did the rest."
Ohio State pulled Filion for the extra attacker at the 17:44 mark, but Alaska persevered and even got a shot by Eckford, which went high. Ohio State head coach John Markell was expecting his team to carry over the intensity it showed last weekend in the Ohio Hockey Classic, where it won 4-2 over Harvard and lost 3-2 in the championship game to No. 1-ranked Miami (Ohio).
"It's this roller coaster we're on ... you've got to be able to sustain it (consistency) from one weekend to the other," he said. "It's pretty simple, we need to get points tomorrow and we need to play like we did in the last 10 minutes (Friday)."
Dion Knelsen helped Alaska get two points in the standings, making it 2-0 at 3:53 of the second period with a high wrist shot from the slot as he was falling down.
Knelsen had collected the puck from Sather from behind the net, and the assist gave the freshman a team-high seven-game points streak. Knelsen's goal also marked the sixth straight game he's had at least one point.
