FAIRBANKS, AK - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team took the ice for the first time and defeated the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Trojans 6-1 Saturday night. Alaska jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back as they picked up an exhibition win in preparation for the regular season.
The home team got out to a fast start in the opening frame as they outshot the Trojans 20-7 and held them off the board through the first 11:19 of play.
Alaska opened the scoring with a power-play tally at the 11:05 mark, when Brad Plumton for SAIT was whistled for interference. The Nanooks made the visitors pay quickly as sophomore defenseman Cody Butcher found the back of the net 27 seconds later, from Scott Enders and Kevin Petovello to make the score 1-0.
The Nanooks struck again at the 16:04, as another SAIT penalty expired. Junior captain Derek Klassen gathered a missed shot by Brandon Knelsen that ricocheted off the end boards and buried it in a wide open net to double the Nanooks lead.
The second stanza started much of the same way as the first did for Alaska. Thirty-one seconds into the period senior center Dion Knelsen took a pass off a one-on-three and beat SAIT goaltender Tyan Nieszner to make it 3-0. Rookies Nik Yaremchuk and Andy Taranto assisted on the play.
The Trojans finally got on the board in the second period when Mike Ullrich tipped Plumton's shot over the shoulder of Nanooks netminder Scott Greenham to cut the score to 3-1 after two periods of play.
The Blue and Gold continued their strong play in the final 20 minutes as they held the Trojans to only three shots through the first 12:34 of the third period and just five shots for the entire period. Alaska's offense caught fire, when the Trojans took back-to-back penalties to give the Nanooks a 5-on-3 power play for 1:40.
The Nanooks took full advantage as sophomore forward Dustin Sather scored during the 5-on-3 with assists from Taranto and Brandon Knelsen. Twenty-six seconds later junior left wing Ryan Hohl tickled the twine, with assistance from Butcher and freshman Jarret Granberg for Alaska's fifth marker of the evening.
Alaska was not done however, as 1:16 later sophomore center Justin Filzen capped off the scoring with an even-strength tally from Sather and Hohl.
Greenham made the lead stand up as he made 21 saves on 22 shots.
The Nanooks outshot the Trojans 39-22 and finished the game with three power-play goals on eight chances while the penalty kill was a perfect five for five.
The Nanooks were led by the games number one star, Brandon Knelsen who had three assists and was a +1 on the night. Twelve different players found the score sheet for Alaska, with Hohl (1g,1a), Butcher (1g1a), and Taranto (2a) turning in multi-point performances.
Klassen led the way in the faceoff circle for the Blue and Gold, winning 14 of his 20 faceoffs (70%) as the Nanooks won 40 of the 67 faceoffs as a team (60%).
Mike Ullrich recorded the only goal for the Trojans and Ryan Nieszner took the loss stopping 18 of the 21 shots he faced.
The Nanooks will return to action October 9-10, when they travel to Anchorage to take part in the Kendall Hockey Classic. They faceoff against the Michigan Wolverines Friday and the Mercyhurst Lakers on Saturday, playing in the earlier games both days at 5:07 (Friday) and 4:07 (Saturday), respectively.
