Feb. 8, 2008
Box Score
By Danny Martin
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
BOWLING GREEN, OH-The Alaska Nanooks saw proof Friday night in the Bowling Green State University Ice Arena that preseason polls are not an exact science. The Nanooks also saw the end of a four-game unbeaten streak in northwest Ohio, as Alaska lost 4-2 to Bowling Green despite an impressive third period in the opener of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association series.
The league's preseason polls had the Falcons finishing in last place in the 12-team league after they ended 2006-07 in the cellar. Bowling Green now sits in a fifth-place tie with Nebraska-Omaha.
"For one, they're a very good hockey team," Alaska head coach Doc DelCastillo said, "and two, I would say for the first two periods, they wanted this game more than we did and that's why they won."
Alaska dropped from seventh place into ninth place.
Eighth place is the lowest a team can finish in the regular season to have home ice for the first round of the playoffs on March 7-9.
Alaska, 7-13-3 CCHA and 7-16-4 overall, got two assists from freshman defenseman Jeff Penner, goals from senior right wing Ryan Muspratt and freshman left wing Dustin Sather and 31 saves from senior goaltender Wylie Rogers
Freshman left wing David Solway and sophomore right wing Kai Kantola each had a goal and assist and junior Jimmy Spratt stopped 31 shots for Bowling Green (11-10-0, 14-13-0).
"I thought it was a really solid, complete game from our team," said Bowling Green head coach Scott Paluch. "I liked the way we came out, I thought we had some good jump in our feet."
The Nanooks gained some jump in the third period, cutting the Falcons' lead in half after falling behind 4-1.
Penner triggered the surge with a backhand from the right circle that struck a calf of the streaking Sather and surprised Spratt at 3:18.
Penner described the play as a "pass gone wrong," but he was happy that it corrected itself into the net.
"I got a little more under it than I expected and it went off something," Penner said. "It was way too far off the ice and it could have gone off his stick if it hadn't hit a leg."
The bounce motivated the Nanooks in a period in which they outshot the Falcons 12-5, including 9-1 for the first 13 minutes. Bowling Green had a 30-21 advantage in shots for the first two periods.
"We were kind of sick and tired of getting outworked for the first two periods," said Muspratt. "So, we kind of said to ourselves that we've got to lay it on the line in the third period. Yeah, we took it to them for the most part, but it was not enough to win."
Alaska also came up empty on two power plays in the period and finished the night 0-for-3, making the Nanooks 0-for-11 with the man-advantage through their last three games.
"They did a good job of killing and I thought we had some opportunities; we just didn't bury our opportunities," DelCastillo said.
The Nanooks, said Penner, have to outwork a quick, physical Falcons squad in tonight's series finale.
"I think we've just got to take the positives out of the third period and bring a good head tomorrow and outwork them tomorrow," he said. "Come prepared to work from the start of the game."
Alaska finally got on the scoreboard in the second period, but Bowling Green padded its lead by three goals while ending a significant streak.
Muspratt, while attempting a wraparound at the right post, slipped and fell after his stick met the stick of a Falcons defender. The collision caused the puck to sneak by Spratt at the right post at 3:56, cutting Bowling Green's lead to 2-1.
"I think it slid over the goalie's pads or under," Muspratt said. "I'm not exactly sure how it went in, but it went in."
Solway had put Bowling Green ahead 2-0 at 1:11 of the second by backhanding in his own rebound from the slot during a power play, ending the Falcons' 0-for-43 drought in nine games with the man-advantage.
Bowling Green made it 3-1 on an opportunistic play at 9:59. Tyler Eckford, stationed in the slot, blocked defenseman Tim Maxwell's shot from the top of the right circle before Falcons left wing John Mazzei swooped in, knocked the puck out of the Alaska junior defenseman's glove and into the upper right corner of the net.
The Falcons put the Nanooks in a three-goal hole at 13:05 of the second with their second power-play tally, as Kantola got away from the Alaska penalty killers and tapped in Solway's feed at the left post.
"Their penalty kill kind of scrums right there in front of the net," said Kantola, "and I was open there on the side, trying to battle for the puck and it just popped out to me."
Falcons senior left wing Derek Whitmore scored the game's first goal, and his 22nd of the season, at 2:21 of the first, beating Rogers high from the front of the crease with Dan Sexton's centering pass from the right side of the net.
