March 20, 2009
Box Score
by Danny Martin
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
DETROIT, MI — Playing short-handed for most of Friday night’s semifinal and playing against Michigan’s stepped-up speed affected Alaska’s opportunity to play for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Championship.
The fourth-seeded Nanooks fell 3-1 in a semifinal to the second-seeded Wolverines before a crowd of 11,043 at Joe Louis Arena.
Rather than playing for the title tonight, the 17-15-6 Nanooks will try to match their best finish in a CCHA postseason tournament, as they’ll take on the sixth-seeded Northern Michigan Wildcats in the third-place game at 11:35 a.m. ADT. Alaska placed third in the 2005 CCHA Super Six Tournament.
Northern Michigan (18-17-5) lost 2-1 earlier Friday in a semifinal against the top-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who play Michigan at 3:35 p.m. for the title.
Third place, though, wasn’t Alaska’s desire in Detroit, particularly after they reached the championship tournament by defeating Ohio State at the Carlson Center. Hosting a CCHA quarterfinal for the first time was made possible by placing fourth in the CCHA regular season after the league’s preseason polls predicted an 11th-place finish for first-year head coach Dallas Ferguson’s squad.
Reaching tonight’s final would have given Alaska consideration for an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament and winning the championship would have automatically qualified it for NCAA’s.
The NCAA Tournament is now almost certainly out of the question, but coming away with a win today is very possible.
“It’s always a pride thing,” junior center Dion Knelsen said outside of the Alaska lockerroom after producing a game-best seven shots Friday, “and when you feel you deserve a better fate, you always want to go out with the best you can, and tomorrow (today) would be a win. We obviously didn’t reach our goal and that’s very disappointing, but I think it would be a better end to the season to get a win.”
Alaska, with 29 saves from Johnson and a game-tying power-play goal from senior right wing Braden Walls, got respect on Friday from Michigan, particularly for a scoreless first 15 minutes of the game.
“We knew Alaska had a great defensive system, and they proved it all year,” said Wolverines sophomore center Louie Caporusso, who contributed a goal and two assists for Michigan (29-10-0), the third-ranked team in the nation. “They have a great goalie, so getting goals on this team is precious.
“When we got our goals, we tried to make sure that we valued them as much as possible because you don’t know when they’re going to come again.”
The Nanooks, unfortunately, lost Bryant Molle late in the first period.
The sophomore defenseman left the contest with a major and a game misconduct for cross-checking Michigan right wing Aaron Palushaj into the right corner in the Alaska zone at 15:36 of the first period.
Molle’s departure meant Alaska had adjust to using five defensemen rather than the typical six, and being minus a player who is known for sacrificing his 6-foot-3, 210-pound body by taking checks to get the puck out of the Alaska zone.
“It was tough,” Alaska head coach Dallas Ferguson said in the postgame media conference, “because with Michigan’s speed, I think they put a lot of pressure on your D. If they push you back and force you generally off the rush, you’ve got to be moving.
“Obviously, going to five defensemen I think can take its toll on them. But at the same time, we’ve been in situations in a game when you’ve got six, you go to four, and I think our guys responded well.”
The Wolverines capitalized on the five-minute power play at 17:17, as left wing Tim Miller passed the puck from the right side of the crease through Nanooks defenseman Dustin Molle’s legs and to defenseman Chad Langlais, who whipped in a high wrist shot off Johnson’s glove.
“He made a good pass, kind of backdoor through the crease there,” Johnson said. “I was kind of flat-footed and I didn’t have enough momentum to slide over there and kind of make a nice butterfly save. I tried to make a desperate save and they’re pretty good with the puck.”
The Nanooks tied the game at 1 in the second period with a power-play goal from a player who missed most of last weekend’s quarterfinal series in Fairbanks.
Walls, who sustained a lower-body injury last Friday, collected defenseman Joe Sova’s feed from the high slot, and despite being blanketed by Wolverines center Matt Rust, redirected the puck high over Hogan’s glove side at 13:39.
“Before the power play, we looked and I saw that they were pretty aggressive and there were open lanes,” Walls, who was also assisted by sophomore right wing Kevin Petovello, said. “I told Sova before we went on the ice that there’s a lane and (the puck) just got its way through.”
However, 1 minute, 50 seconds later, defenseman Steve Kampfer found Caporusso to snuff Alaska’s momentum. Kampfer blazed along the right wing and crossed the puck past Sova and to Caporusso, who tipped it in at the left post after getting behind the Nanooks’ Justin Filzen and Steve Vanoosten in the slot.
