OMAHA, Neb. — The Alaska Nanooks will long have memories of their Central Collegiate Hockey Association series against the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.
However, Saturday night's 2-1 loss won't be among the best ones for the Nanooks. It was the last conference contest between the teams because the Mavericks are moving to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association next season.
The Nanooks, who held on to fourth place in the CCHA (7-6-3-3 conference, 10-6-4 overall), weren't happy with their performance in Saturday's historic game in the Qwest Center after winning 3-1 in Friday's opener. Alaska and Nebraska-Omaha had been scheduling clustermates for 12 seasons in the CCHA, meeting annually for two games each in Fairbanks and Omaha. Alaska finished 22-16-11 overall in the series.
“It's doesn't really matter if it's the finale of a series or a Friday game or whenever against whoever,'' Alaska captain
Derek Klassen said. “We're never satisfied with a loss like that.''
“We came out and we didn't play well for the first 30 minutes,” he said. “Then our backs get to the wall, and then we start going. It's pretty frustrating knowing that we can be a lot better than we were tonight.”
Sophomore left wing
Carlo Finucci scored in the third period for the 20th-ranked Nanooks, who were outshot 17-2 in the first period, their lowest output in an opening period this season.
Nanooks sophomore goaltender
Scott Greenham registered 34 saves in the finale after stopping 41 shots Friday.
Head coach
Dallas Ferguson said his team lacked both emotion and motion for the first 40 minutes Saturday.
“I wrote on my card that's there's nothing you can do if one team is skating and one team is not,” Ferguson said. “We just weren't skating at the end of the day. The right things are being said, but the actions weren't there to back it up.”
It took nearly 48 minutes for Alaska to rediscover its offense after sophomore center Alex Hudson spotted the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
Finucci, with a pass from sophomore right wing
Ron Meyers, lifted a wrist shot from the left circle that cleared the stick-side shoulder of Mavericks goaltender John Faulkner at 7:47 of the third.
“That one was nice,'' said Finucci, who notched his fourth goal and 13th point of the season, “but it would have been nice to get that second one that hit the post.”
Finucci fired a shot from in front of the crease that hit the right post at 12:41. It was indicative of an aggressiveness by the Nanooks that had been mostly absent in the first two periods.
“Was that a good 20 minutes for us in the third? Yes, I was happy with how we how played; but I'm not happy overall,'' Ferguson said. “You've got to play 60 minutes. I'm very disappointed in our emotion in the first two periods of this game.”
Hudson added to Alaska's frustration with his second and third goals of the weekend.
One second after the Nanooks killed a charging minor against freshman
Andy Taranto — one of three penalties Saturday for the team's leading scorer — Hudson produced the game's first goal at 15:22 of the opening period, tapping in a rebound at the left post after Greenham had stopped Nick Fanto's attempt from in front of the crease.
“I think he had eight shots on net tonight, and that's a good night,'' said Mavericks associate head coach Mike Hastings, correctly guessing that Hudson's shots were equal to more than a third of the 22 shots Alaska had as a team.
“He has been one of our best players over the last five or six games,'' Hastings said. “He wasn't getting rewarded offensively that way, and this weekend he was.”
Hudson scored the eventual game-winner on a 4-on-3 power play at 11:21 of the second with a slap shot from the top of the slot.
