FAIRBANKS, AK - Alaska Nanooks junior defenseman
Joe Sova lit the lamp twice to give the Gold team a 3-2 edge over the Blue team Saturday at the Patty Ice Arena.
Sophomore forward Jarrett Granberg opened the scoring at 12:40 of the first period when he made good on an
Aaron Gens feed to give Gold the early edge.
The Blue Nanooks responded with just six seconds left in the frame, when
Colton Beck collected his rebound off Gold-team goalie
Scott Greenham and found the back of the net to even the tally. Senior
Ryan Hohl gathered an assist on the equalizer.
During the intermission the teams held their skills competitions, where junior
Cody Butcher took the crown with a 98 mile per hour slapshot, rookie
Erik Slemp edged defending champion
Ron Meyers in the fastest skater race finals and the Gold team prevailed 2-1 on goals by senior
Derek Klassen and Meyers.
Coming back in the second stanza, Sova helped Gold regain its advantage with his first marker of the game at 6:57. Gens and junior
Adam Cardwell were charged with setting up the play that made it 2-1. The Gold team kept the pressure on peppering sophomore goalie
Colin Rundell, who finished the game with 13 saves. Sova beat Rundell a second time with a one-timer from the point delivered off the sticks of Klassen and sophomore
Nik Yaremchuk.
Down, but not out, Blue got a goal from
Andy Taranto at 23:50 with help from senior
Dustin Sather and rookie
Cody Kunyk to cut their team's debt. They looked to even the score, when a penalty to Cardwell (Gold) with just 26 seconds remaining allowed them to pull Rundell for a two-man advantage. Senior defenseman
Bryant Molle almost made good on it but a shot fired from the point rang of the right pipe and the Blue could not solve Thompson to force an extra session.
All three netminders saw action, with Thompson turning aside nine shots and Greenham stopping eight. Gold outshot Blue 25-10 and both teams were scoreless in four and three power-play opportunities, respectively.
The Nanooks get one more exhibition test as they host the University of Windsor (Ontario) next Thursday at the Patty Ice Arena at 7 p.m.
