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Box Score]
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - After matching goal for goal with their hosts three times, Alaska exhausted its offensive rewards and fell short of its quest for a series split, 4-3 against the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines Saturday night at Yost Ice Arena. It marked the first time in over two years that the Blue and Gold were swept in a regular-season weekend series.
“It's been almost two years since we haven't got a point on a weekend, but I don't think that's the big picture right now,” said head coach
Dallas Ferguson. “There's a lot of good things, but at the end of the day, you've got to have execution and that's what we're all striving for, to execute in the situations that we need to, and that's usually what makes the difference.”
With the loss, the Nanooks (10–10–4, 7–9–4–2 CCHA) dropped to eighth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings, while Michigan (17–6–4, 14–4–1–0 CCHA) moved into the top spot.
From the opening faceoff the match-up was fast paced. With the Wolverines circling low in the Nanooks' zone, Jon Merrill beat Alaska's junior goaltender
Scott Greenham with a shot from the inside of the left circle just 1:15 in the first.
Junior Justin Filzen answered for the visitors at 8:38 to tie the game on his first point of the season, picking up Ryan Hohl's initial shot after trailing in, but U-M's Matt Rust beat Greenham at 14:21 on an Alaska giveaway to make it 2–1 at the first break in the action.
The rest of the scoring came in the second period. Senior captain Kevin Petovello tied it for the Nanooks from between the circles at 5:18, but U-M went ahead on a power play at 10:30 when Chris Brown picked up his own rebound and beat Greenham five-hole.
Rookie Cody Kunyk scored perhaps the prettiest goal of the night, a short-handed backhand shot that went behind U-M's netminder Shawn Hunwick at 12:17 to knot the score at 3–3, but Scooter Vaughan answered just over a minute later, fed by Ben Winnett from a faceoff in the left Alaska circle.
“We've been in good tight games like this and against good teams like Michigan, you really have to have execution,” Ferguson said. “The game-winning goal comes off a faceoff play that we knew that they run and they find a way to get it in. We had an opportunity on five-on-three that we didn't capitalize on.”
With Louie Caporusso called for high sticking at 15:08 in the third followed by Merrill for slashing at 16:12, the Nanooks pressed hard, but couldn't get a shot on net in a period during which they otherwise outshot the Wolverines 9–1.
Greenham finished the evening with 19 saves, while Hunwick stopped 37.
Next up for the Nanooks is a home series against Ohio State.
