[
Box Score]
NOTRE DAME, IN -
Junior defenseman
Aaron Gens scored with 23 seconds remaining but the No. 20 Alaska Nanooks could not overtake their hosts as they fell 2-1 to No. 8 Notre Dame in front of a sell-out crowd of 2,857 Friday night at the Joyce Center.
Gens sent a centering feed past UND's Mike Johnson to spoil his shutout bid with the extra attacker tally at 19:37 of the final frame and cut the deficit in half in the waning seconds of the contest. It was too little too late though as the Fighting Irish held on for the win and improved to 15-7-3 overall and 12-4-1-1 in the CCHA. The Blue and Gold falls to 9-8-4 overall and 6-7-4-2 in league action.
After a scoreless first period that saw the Nanooks out shoot the Irish, 13-8, UND broke the scoring drought with a short-handed goal. In their first power-play opportunity of the game, Alaska looked to take the early lead only to see Irish forward Anders Lee give Notre Dame the 1-0 lead at 15:16.
The Nanooks played tight with the Irish through the remainder of the second period and the majority of the third and kept the pressure on at both ends as they sought to net the equalizer. The Blue and Gold took control offensively dominating on the shot count; however, the Irish forced a turnover and converted it into an insurance goal, as they doubled-up on a goal by Nick Larson at 18:45 of the third period.
With 1:07 left on the clock, Alaska took a timeout and pulled junior goalie Scott Greenham in favor of the extra attacker and it paid off as the Nanooks were able to beat Johnson with 23 seconds left as Gens took a feed from behind the net from sophomore Jarret Granberg and fired a shot from in front that deflected off an Irish defender and popped over Johnson for his second goal of the season at 19:37, making it a 2-1 game.
Alaska outshot their hosts 35-22 in the contest, giving Greenham 20 saves to Johnson's 34. Both teams were scoreless with the man advantage, as the Nanooks were 0-for-3 and the Irish were 0-for-2.
The two teams cap the weekend with game two of the series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.
