Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sophomore
Cody Kunyk scored his first goal of the season but a pair of mistakes in the middle of the second period cost the Alaska Nanooks in the end as they were upended 4-1 by the St. Cloud State Huskies in the first game of the Kendall Hockey Classic on Friday night at the Sullivan Arena.
SCSU opened the scoring at 9:30 of the first frame, when Nic Dowd converted passes from Jared Festler and Jarrod Rabey to beat Alaska's senior goalie
Scott Greenham.
Dowd had a role in Kunyk's goal too as a cross-checking minor he assessed at 12:50 put the Nanooks on the power play. After struggling to get set-up in the offensive zone, defenseman
Aaron Gens won a race to a loose puck in the Nanooks defensive zone that he collected and carried back into Alaska's zone and circled behind the net. He sent a feed to Kunyk in the slot, that he redirected past SCSU's Mike Lee at 13:38 of the first period to even the game. With the game tied at 1-1, the shots on goal were 7-5 in favor of the Nanooks after the first 20 minutes.
Coming back into the second stanza, overlapping Nanook penalties gave SCSU a couple of prime chances to take the lead early on. Alaska's penalty-killing unit was up to the task, thwarting the Huskies attempts through 94 seconds of a two-man advantage and another man-advantage opportunity less than a minute later.
However, the momentum was not on Alaska's side and it was the Huskies who capitalized on a pair of mistakes by the Nanooks in their defensive zone and converted the errant plays into two unassisted goals at 9:59 and 12:14 by Travis Novak and Ben Hanowski, respectively, to make it 3-1 going into the second intermission.
Alaska came out gunning in the third period and turned up the pressure, pouring eight shots on net before SCSU managed to register their first of the period around the 12 minute mark. Coming down the stretch and facing a two-goal defecit, the Nanooks pulled Greenham with about 2:30 seconds left. Just seconds after Greenham left the ice, the Huskies gained control of the puck and Drew LeBlanc sent the puck sailing towards the empty net to seal the deal at 17:18 and made it 4-1.
For the game, the Blue and Gold outshot the Huskies 24-15. Greenham made 11 saves, while his counterpart had 23 for the victors. Alaska went 1-for-4 on the power play and held SCSU scoreless in seven chances of their own.
Tournament action continues tomorrow as the Nanooks take on the Clarkson Golden Knights at 4:07 p.m. AKDT.
