WORCESTER, Mass. - The Alaska Nanooks traveled more than 4,300 miles to play in their first ever NCAA DI Regional contest, but fell short 3-1 to Boston College on Saturday afternoon at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Pat Mullane netted the game winning goal early in the second period and the Eagles held off a frantic Alaska comeback to advance to the NCAA Northeast Regional final on Sunday.
Alaska (18-12-9, 11-9-8-4 CCHA) got its only goal from freshman forward Andy Taranto (Woodridge, IL) with 2:28 left in the second period to even the game up at one. The Nanooks nearly tied the game for a second time when Dustin Sather (Wanham, AB) rang a shot off the cross bar with 2:10 left in the contest before Matt Price ended the game with an empty net goal.
Boston College (25-10-3, 16-8-3 Hockey East) outshot Alaska 32-29 and got timely scoring in their 38th all time win in the NCAA Tournament. Boston College also improved to a perfect 11-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue and Gold had the first golden opportunity of the game when the Eagles were shorthanded almost eight minutes into the first period. Despite being shorthanded Boston College's Matt Lombardi forced a turnover at the Boston College blue line and skated the length of the ice and beat the Alaska goaltender Scott Greenham (Addison, ON) through the five-hole on the backhand. The shorthanded goal was the first let up by the Nanooks all season.
Boston College had an opportunity to extend the lead almost four minutes later when the Nanooks were called for their first penalty but the penalty kill unit was up to the task and killed off the only Eagles power play.
Three of the first four penalty of the second period belonged to Alaska but the Nanooks were able to kill off each of the penalties, while they were unsuccessful in their lone power play chance of the period.
The Nanooks penalty kill unit was spectacular all night, killing off five Boston College power plays, giving up eight shots.
Alaska got the break it needed late in the second period when they found themselves on a 5-on-3 power play. Taranto gave the Nanooks its first ever goal in the NCAA DI Tournament at the 17:32 mark when he beat Eagles goaltender John Muse on his blocker side after the first of the 5-on-3 penalties expired.
“It was a relief to get that first goal to get it going; we were working the puck around, cycling, and getting chances. stated Taranto “It was a great play by Dion to take it to the net and the puck bounced right up to me and I finally got one in.”
Taranto, who seemed snake bitten, nearly put the puck in the back of the net twice before the goal, just missing on a backdoor play on the 5-on-3 and then getting robbed by Muse at the start of the backend of the power play.
Sophomore defensemen Joe Sova (Berwyn, IL) sent the puck around the boards from the Boston College blue line, where it was picked up behind the net by senior forward Dion Knelsen (Three Hills, AB). Knelsen's centering pass took a deflection off an Eagles defender and goaltender Muse and ended up on the stick of Taranto to tie the game at one.
Greenham, who made 29 saves on the night, was huge for Alaska in the second period stopping all 13 shots he faced while being the backbone of the penalty kill unit.
“Scottie was good all night, he's a quality goaltender.” said head coach Dallas Ferguson “You don't see him getting panicked, and that's one thing we like in our goaltender and he obviously did his job tonight and gave us a chance to win.”
Boston College wasted no time regaining the lead in the third period as Mullane gave them their second tally 3:46 into the period. Patch Alber took a shot on net that banked off Paul Carey onto the stick Mullane who deflected it back in the net.
The Nanooks put a few scoring chances together, none better than when Sather hit the crossbar with only 2:10 remaining in regulation. After an Aaron Gens (Baudette, MN) shot Sather regained control of the puck and walked it out in front of Muse had his backhander come inches away from tying the game up.
Boston College iced the game with an empty net goal with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Although Matt Price did not put the puck into the net he was awarded the goal as he was hauled down from behind in the Alaska zone on a breakaway. Since the net was empty Price was awarded the goal.
Despite the loss coach Ferguson was still happy with the way the game was played: “I was real proud of the way our team competed for our first time being in the tournament, how they handled themselves in this environment.” he said “They are just a great group of kids they work hard and they are very proud to put that jersey on every night.”
Alaska is now 17-28 all-time in the postseason and 0-1 in the NCAA Division I Tournament. Head coach Dallas Ferguson is 4-6 all-time in the postseason at Alaska. The Nanooks are 2-5 in neutral site postseason games all-time.
Alaska finishes the season on a three game losing streak despite winning six of their last ten contests, also picking up a tie. Alaska finished the season fifth in the CCHA with 45 points and were led by Dion Knelsen with 44 points (19 goals, 24 assists).
