Box Score Box Score
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Sophomore forward
Colton Beck lit the lamp for the Alaska Nanooks but the visitors rallied behind 29 saves from their netminder Cody Reichard to top the home team 2-1 in a CCHA hockey matchup Friday night at the Carlson Center.
Miami's Alden Hrischfeld opened the scoring, batting a puck out of the air to make it 1-0 at 10:15 of the first period. Tyler Biggs fed Bryon Paulazzo below the goal line from the right half boards. Paulazzo walked to the left post and attempted to lift the puck past Greenham, who made a stick save but couldn't control the rebound that caremed off his stick. Hirschfeld swatted the floating puck out of the air over Greener's right shoulder to give the visitors the lead mid-way through the first period.
After a slow start in the first period, that saw them outshot 7-3, Alaska worked to control the flow of the game in the second. The momentum swing paid off and they managed to net the equalizer at 9:33 of the middle frame, when Beck intercepted a cross-ice pass by Miami defenseman Steve Spinell just inside their blue line. He skated across the top of the slot and fired a shot that beat Reichard low on his stick side to make it 1-1.
The tie was short-lived though as Rilley Smith gave Miami back its one-goal lead a minute and 21 seconds later. Austin Czarnik and Curtis McKenzie assisted on the go-ahead marker, chipping the puck up boards to center ice where Smith collected it and skated in the offensive zone. He skated into the right face-off circle and fired a hard wrist shot that beat two Nanook defenders and Greenham over his left shoulder to make it 2-1 at 10:54.
Alaska nearly answered several times throughout the remainder of the period but the bounces just didn't go in favor of the hosts and the tally stayed 2-1 after the first 40 minutes. The Nanooks outshot the RedHawks 14-5 in the middle frame but were scoreless in four power-play chances.
The Nanooks pressured Miami over the final 20 minutes, outshooting their guests 13-2, but Reichard was up to the task and turned aside their best efforts. In a final attempt to tie the game a second time, Alaska pulled Greenham in favor of an extra-attacker with 1:25 to go but Miami's defense thwarted their attempts the Nanooks remained winless in league play, falling to 0-3-2-0 in the CCHA and 3-4-2 overall.
Both teams play a rematch in the series finale on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. AKDT at the Carlson Center.
