Oct. 18, 2008
Box Score
by Danny Martin, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS, AK — The Alaska Nanooks saw two season-opening tournaments as good preparation for Central Collegiate Hockey Association play, which begins this coming weekend.
On Saturday night at the Carlson Center, Maine gave Alaska a preparation it didn’t expect but will long remember.
Alaska lost 2-0 to the Black Bears in the final game of the Brice Alaska Goal Rush, dashing Alaska’s hopes of raising the championship trophy in its inaugural tournament and taking a tournament title for the second straight weekend.
“Obviously, from the get-go, it was not the result we wanted,” Alaska head coach Dallas Ferguson said in the arena’s Pioneer Room.
The Nanooks hurt themselves early and tried to bounce back late in the game, but they were snake-bitten, as they also went 0-for-7 on the power play.
Alaska spent half of the first period killing penalties and saw one of the nation’s best penalty-killing streaks this season come to an end — along with a three-game unbeaten streak to start Ferguson’s first season as head coach.
“That’s just not how we need to play,” Ferguson said. “We can’t be in the penalty box. ... I think it killed our momentum.”
Alaska stepped up its offensive aggressiveness in the third period, outshooting the Black Bears 15-4 in the final 20 minutes of the Goal Rush. However, Maine freshman goaltender Scott Darling, with help from his teammates, survived the pressure, and 24 shots Saturday, for the win in his first career start.
Alaska senior goaltender Chad Johnson registered 23 saves in his second start of the season and 46th game of his career.
The Nanooks (2-1-1 overall) encountered a Hockey East squad from Orono, Maine, that took away passing and shooting lanes and took the body well.
“The Maine team ... that’s the caliber of team we’re going to face every night in the CCHA. There’s a lot of good teams in that league,” said Alaska senior defenseman Steve Vanoosten.
“We learned a lot from tonight,” Vanoosten said. “Obviously, this was our first loss, and the way we handle adversity is a big part of every game. Nothing is going to go right every time, and the way the boys come together and handle the bad things is going to set us up real nice for when we do get into league play.”
That happens against Bowling Green State of Ohio at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Carlson Center.
Maine, 9-0-0 all-time against Alaska, had lost 3-1 to the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in Friday’s opener of the Goal Rush.
The Black Bears did themselves a favor by winning their first game of the season, and they helped UAA capture the Goal Rush championship after the Nanooks took the title in the Seawolves’ Kendall Classic last weekend in Sullivan Arena. UAA also defeated the Mercyhurst Lakers 6-4 earlier Saturday.
“We were disappointed with our result last night, and we thought Anchorage outplayed us in a lot of ways, particularly on special teams and loose pucks,” Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “We wanted to make sure we put everything into it tonight so that we didn’t get on that plane with any regrets.”
The Nanooks ended the first period on a 5-on-3 power play, but they also ended it trailing 1-0 and getting outshot 12-6. The period was also delayed for 14 minutes to repair broken Plexiglass on the door in the left corner of the rink, causing by Nanooks center Dustin Sather, who is 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, checking Black Bears 6-7, 226-pound defenseman Simon Danis-Pepin.
The Black Bears scored with the man-advantage to end Alaska’s string of 16 straight denials this season, including two in the first seven minutes of Saturday’s game. The Nanooks came into the game 14-for-14 while skating shorthanded, putting them in a six-way tie for first place for penalty-killing efficiency among NCAA Division I teams.
Black Bears right wing Lem Randall produced the game’s first goal by taking advantage of a Nanooks shift change and by taking Keif Orsini’s floating pass from the left circle and redirecting it in at the right post at 12:24.
The Nanooks killed off four other power plays and gained a two-man advantage on left wing Robby Dee’s hooking minor at 18:09 and defenseman Mike Banwell’s cross-checking infraction 40 seconds later.
Maine killed both penalties early in the second period, where center Jeff Marshall also padded the Black Bears’ lead to 2-0 at the 1:37 mark after the senior center picked up defenseman Josh Van Dyk’s pass to the right circle and beat Johnson with a hard wrist shot.
“Josh Van Dyk did a really good job of carrying the puck into the zone,” said Marshall, a senior. “They went to poke-check him, he kind of dropped it off to me and I was able to corral it and get off a quick shot that happened to beat him short side.”
The Nanooks were outshot 9-3 in the second period and they missed on at least three quality chances.
Right wing Brandon Knelson’s shot on a 2-on-1 with his brother and center Dion hit the right post at 6:27. At 11:47 and with five seconds left in Alaska’s first power play of the second period, Scott Enders sent a shot into the safety net after the defenseman was open in front of Darling. Center Derek Klassen was alone in the low slot when he fanned on a centering pass from Adam Cardwell at the 19:21 mark.
The Nanooks generated 12 shots through 12 minutes of the third period, but couldn’t capitalize.
