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Box Score]
FAIRBANKS, AK — Moving on to next weekend's quarterfinal round wasn't the only benefit the Alaska Nanooks gained from Saturday night's 4-1 victory over Western Michigan in Game 2 of their Central Collegiate Hockey Association first-round playoff series.
The Nanooks get to continue the postseason on big ice. The Carlson Center, the home of the Nanooks, and the Berry Events Center, home of upcoming quarterfinal opponent Northern Michigan, contain the only Olympic-size rinks (200x100 feet) in the 12-team CCHA.
“Obviously, it's a little bit less of an adjustment coming from home,” said senior center
Dion Knelsen, who contributed the Nanooks' third goal in the first-round finale.
However, Knelsen sees the size of Alaska's fight in the postseason as more important than the size of the rink on which it swept Western Michigan and the rink it will face Northern Michigan in a best-of-three quarterfinal series in Marquette, Mich., on Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.
“I think we're doing a lot of things right right now, and I think it's (rink size) going to be one more thing we're not going to have to worry about going into Northern Michigan,” said Knelsen, who became the Nanooks' second 40-point scorer this season. “Hopefully, we'll just focus on what we need to do to get the series win.”
Alaska got its other goals from junior center
Derek Klassen, freshman center
Jarret Granberg and freshman right wing
Andy Taranto and got 27 saves from sophomore goaltender
Scott Greenham. The nationally-ranked Nanooks also improved to 18-9-9, raised its unbeaten streak to a team-record 10 games (8-0-2), and joined the league's three other first-round hosts in sweeping series.
“Obviously, getting it done in two games is a nice thing when you're moving on to the second round,” Alaska head coach
Dallas Ferguson said.
One adjustment the Nanooks did have to make Saturday was counteracting Western Michigan's offensive aggressiveness, which led to a 1-1 tie in the first period after the Nanooks were coming off Friday's 4-0 win.
Western Michigan, before ending the season at 8-20-8, continued its pressure despite Alaska rallying for a 2-1 lead late in the first period and tacking on two more goals in the second period.
“They really stormed out that (second) period. They were throwing a lot of pucks at the net and trying to get traffic at the net,” said senior right wing
Brandon Knelsen, who had an assist Saturday. “We just had to make sure we were sound defensively in our own end.”
Junior center Ryan Watson, who scored the tying goal for Western Michigan at 7:49 of the first period after Klassen had given Alaska a 1-0 lead at 1:02 into the game, said the Broncos remembered Friday's series opener, where they generated only 16 shots to the 44 of the Nanooks. Alaska is ranked 13th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, 14th by USCHO.com and 15th in the Inside College Hockey.com Power Rankings.
“We just tried to throw everything we could on net (Saturday),” Watson said.
His head coach said the Broncos had nothing to lose.
“We were just trying to play hard,” Jim Culhane said. “We've got to empty the tanks, we've got no tomorrow and our backs are to the wall.”
The Nanooks, though, made sure there would be no deciding Game 3 tonight.
Alaska, for the second straight night, gained the lead for good with a puck bouncing in its favor.
Its 2-1 lead at 17:21 of the first period started with left wing
Ryan Hohl's pass from the half boards that touched three players before it got past the stick side of senior goaltender Riley Gill, who had 36 saves for the Broncos.
Hohl's pass deflected off linemate
Nik Yaremchuk's stick in the right circle, then caromed off Granberg's skate before going into the net off of the stick blade of Broncos right wing Ian Slater.
Alaska stretched its lead to 4-1 late in the second period, beginning with its first power-play goal of the playoffs.
Dion Knelsen took defenseman
Aaron Gens' crossing feed and one-timed it in from the right circle at 15:28.
Thirty-nine seconds later, Taranto gained his 41st point and a three-goal lead for Alaska with a wraparound.
The play had started with the freshman aiding left wing
Dustin Sather in a puck battle near the left corner. Sather tipped the puck to his linemate, who chipped it past Broncos defenseman Tyler Ludwig and despite Gill poke-checking it, Taranto regained it to slide around Gill's skate.
“He had a real special effort to stay there and get that fourth one,” Ferguson said. “Those two goals coming so quickly led us into the third period, where I thought we were really skating, moving the puck and creating scoring opportunities.
“We wanted to play a solid third period to obviously win the game, but to keep things going the way things have been going.”
