Box Score Quotes From Coach Ferguson
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Alaska Nanooks scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period and senior goalie
Scott Greenham shutout the Bowling Green Falcons on the road for the second straight night to blank their hosts 2-0 on Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena. The back-to-back shutout wins marked the first time in program history a Nanook squad shutout their opponent in both games of a weekend road series.
Lighting the lamp while on the power play were a pair of Nanook centermen, junior
Adam Henderson and sophomore
Cody Kunyk. It was Henderson's first of the year and first since Alaska's 4-1 win against Bowling Green in Fairbanks on Oct. 30, 2010. Kunyk's fifth goal of the year gave him his 12th point of the season to move into a three-way tie for the scoring lead with his linemate and sophomore
Colton Beck (6g, 6a) and senior
Carlo Finucci (3g, 9a), who assisted on both of Alaska's goals in the win. Senior blueliner
Aaron Gens checked in with a multi-point game and his third helper of the weekend, playing a hand in both strikes in the Nanooks third CCHA win of the year.
Despite having 16 minutes with a man advantage, the Nanooks were unable to get on the board in the first period. Amidst the seven penalties assessed by the Falcons, which also saw them lose Ryan Carpenter and Camden Wojtala to majors and game misconducts, BGSU got one power-play opportunity of their own but were unable to convert. The Nanooks got 11 of their 13 shots while on the power play, eight more than the home team could muster in the first 20 minutes.
Wojtala's hitting from behind major at the end of the first period set the Nanooks up for their first score at the start of the second. They managed to cash in on their fifth chance of the game four minutes and 20 seconds into the middle frame, when Henderson dove on a rebound in front of the Bowling Green cage and flicked it over BGSU goalie Andrew Hammond's right shoulder to make it 1-0. Gens fed Finucci at the blue line and he put a shot on Hammond that set-up Henderson's putback score.
Alaska tallied a second power-play goal on it's eighth attempt with just under two minutes left in the second stanza, when sophomore
Cody Kunyk tipped a pinpoint pass that originated from Gens at the right point to double the visitors' advantage at 18:05. Kunyk won the offensive zone draw back to Finucci at the left point, who then slid the puck over to Gens along the blueline for his second assist of the night.
Things settled down and evened out in the third period but both goalies were stingy and the 2-0 margin held up for the remainder of the contest.
With the win, Alaska (6-8-2, 3-7-2 CCHA) moves into a tie for ninth place (11 points) with Northern Michigan. The Nanooks face the Michigan Wolverines next weekend at the Carlson Center (Dec. 2-3) for their final games of the 2011 portion of their schedule. Michigan (7-6-2, 3-5-2-1 CCHA) is tied with Michigan State for seventh in the league standings with 12 points apiece.
