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Box Score]
MARQUETTE, Mich. – A three-goal first period for the Northern Michigan Wildcats proved too great a debt for the Alaska Nanooks to overcome, as they fell 3-2 at the Berry Events Center Saturday night in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action. One bright spot of the evening for the Blue and Gold was that senior
Dion Knelsen (Three Hills, AB, Drumheller (AJHL)) became the 28th skater in program history to eclipse the 100-point career mark with his 14 goal of the season.
Alaska only managed one point on the weekend and is now 10-9-7 and 7-9-6-4 in conference on the season. The loss coupled with wins by Michigan and Notre Dame, moved the Nanooks into a two-way tie for sixth place with the Wolverines, while the Fighting Irish leapfrogged in the standings into a fourth place tie with Lake Superior State.
Similar to Friday night's contest, NMU got the scoring started in the first period when Greger Hanson beat
Scott Greenham (Addison, ON, Oakville (OPJHL)) at 2:48. Andrew Cherniwchan made it 2-0 just minutes later, tickling the twine at 4:53. Capping the scoring for the period was Mark Olver at 9:39.
Facing a 3-0 deficit after 20 minutes of play, Alaska came back in the second period determined to chip away at their hosts lead. The got on the board in the second period with a marker at 6:13 from sophomore
Ron Meyers (Prince Albert, SK, Lloydminster (AJHL)) to cut the lead to 3-1. Meyers redirected a centering pass from rookie
Nik Yaremchuk (St. Albert, AB, Sherwood Park (AJHL)) to give the Nanooks a boost.
In the waning seconds of the game, two timely NMU penalties set up Alaska's final goal. The Nanooks pulled Greenham for an extra-attacker and made good on their 5-on-3 power-play attempt at 19:31 of the third period, when Knelsen deposited a rebound from a
Joe Sova (Berwyn, IL, Omaha (USHL)) shot. Yaremchuk also got his stick in on the play for his second helper of the game.
The Nanooks outshot the 'Cats 29-24 in the game and were 1-for-7 with the man-advantage while holding NMU scoreless in two chances.
Between the pipes, Greenham recorded 21 saves in the loss.
Alaska returns to Fairbanks to host the Michigan State Spartans on Feb. 5-6 at the Carlson Center. Friday the teams face off at 7:05 p.m. AKT, while they meet an hour earlier (6:05 p.m. AKT) in Saturday's rematch.
