Nov. 29, 2008
Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
The Nanooks are now unbeaten in their last three games as they defeated the Lakers of Lake Superior State on Friday night at the Carlson Center 4-1.
Freshman Ron Meyers (Prince Albert, SK) netted his first goal of the year at the 13:24 mark of the first period. The play started with the puck in the corner to the right of Lake Superior State’s goalie Bran Mahoney-Wilson. Sophomore Kevin Petovello (Sparwood, BC), passed the puck through two defenders to Trevor Hyatt (Anchorage, AK) who found Meyers open in front of the net and tucked it through Mahoney-Wilson’s five-hole. Meyers’ first of the season gave the Nanooks the 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Blue and Gold kept the pressure on to start the second 20 minutes as Derek Klassen tickled the twine for his second goal of the year to give Alaska a 2-0 advantage. Great one-touch passing from Braden Walls (Clagery, CA) to Carlos Finucci (Burnaby, BC) found Klassen streaking to the net, where he tipped the pass in at 4:24.
Alaska would claim a 3-0 lead on a power-play goal behind Finucci’s first goal of the season at 16:03 in that same frame. An interference call on LSSU’s Matt Cowie gave the Nanooks a man-advantage. Finucci received the puck from Adam Naglich (Las Vegas, NV) and backhanded it to the left of Mahoney-Wilson for his second point of the period.
LSSU would get one back on a power-play goal of their own. With Alaska’s Ryan Hohl (Northville, MI) sitting in the penalty box, the Lakers’ Zac MacVoy wound up for an open slap shot. Nanook netminder Chad Johnson (Calgery, AB) was there to make the kick save, but could not control the rebound that trickled onto the stick of LSSU’s Rick Schofield, who lifted it past Johnson at 18:11 to make it 3-1.
The Nanooks could not convert on a power play to start the third quarter with new Laker’s goalie Mitch Edmondson in net. However, with Lake Superior pulling Edmondson with over two minutes to go, the Nanooks scored a fourth goal to seal the victory. Rookie defenseman Joe Sova (Berwyn, IL), the third star of the game, forced a Laker turnover in the defensive zone and found Naglich in the neutral zone, who slid the puck into the unguarded LSSU net. The game would end 4-1 in favor of Alaska as the Nanooks improved their record to 8-4-1 (6-3-0-0 CCHA). LSSU is now 4-6-3 (3-4-2-1 CCHA).
Johnson, the reigning CCHA Goalie of the Week, made some enormous saves to preserve the lead for the Nanooks. He finished the game with 23 saves.
“If Chad continues to play like this,” Assistant Coach Lance West stated, “We are going to go a long way this year.”
Tomorrow the Nanooks look to complete their second sweep of the year in as many weeks as they host Lake Superior State at the Carlson Center. Opening face off is at 7:35 p.m.
Notes:
*The Nanooks are 6-0 this season when they score the first goal.
*Friday nights treat the Blue and Gold well. Alaska is 5-1-1 on Friday’s, and unbeaten in the last four.
* Chad Johnson has moved into seventh national in goal-against average at 1.63 GAA. He is ninth in save percentage at .941
