Box Score [
Box Score]
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Senior captain and left wing
Kevin Petovello and rookie winger
Colton Beck scored two goals apiece and sophomore center
Andy Taranto notched one as the Alaska Nanooks blasted their archrivals 5-1 in the opening game of the 2011 Alaska Arilines Governor's Cup Series on Senior Night, Friday evening at the Carlson Center. Junior goalie
Scott Greenham turned aside 24 shot attempts by the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in the victory.
UAA opened the scoring just 25 seconds into the contest, when Brad Gorham beat Greenham high on his gloveside from the top of the left circle to make it 1-0. Gorham notched his first goal of the season on a rush generated by Jordan Kwas and Tommy Grant. Alaska's
Scott Enders fired a shot from the point in Alaska's offensive zone, which Grant blocked down and pushed ahead to Kwas, who found Gorham primed to strike.
Despite chances both ways in the next 27 minutes of play, the score reamined the stagnat until about halfway through the middle frame. Petovello and junior
Carlo Finucci exchanged passes before Finucci found himself with enough time and space at the end boards to feed a sweet pass to Petovello on the doorstep, where he tucked it under UAA netminder Rob Gunderson's left leg pad to knot the tally 1-1 at 11:38.
Alaska broke the deadlock in the third period with a four-goal breakout to put the game out of reach for the Seawolves. After killing off UAA's two-minute five-on-three power-play chance early on, Beck broke the tie with the game-winning score at 8:09. Taranto and defenseman
Scott Enders assisted on the play that sent the 4,039 fans to their feet.
The goal suppled an adreneline rush, which resulted in the Nanooks' third goal on the evening just seven seconds later, when Taranto turned on the red light at 8:16. His linemates
Cody Kunyk and Beck notched assists on the marker that made it 3-1 and led to an on-ice Nanook dogpile near the right halfboards.
The Seawolves looked to chip away at their deficit, opting to pull Gunderson with under six minutes left. Despite their sixth attacker, they could not control the puck and after missing wide on the first try, Beck made good on his second look at the empty net, when he buried the biscut from the slot at 15:09 for the 4-1 advantage on the scoreboard.
Petovello capped the scoring with a power-play tally at 18:15 that beat Gunderson nearside over his left shoulder. Sophomore Jarrett Granberg and Enders cued up the strike that was the exclamation point on the Nanooks dominating performance.
For the game, the Blue and Gold outshot UAA 35-26 and were 1-for-6 on the power play, while killing off all four of the Seawolves' power-play chances.
The two teams meet for the series finale Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. in Anchorage at the Sullivan Arena. The Nanooks need to tie or win to retain the Governor's Cup for the second consecutive season. A win by UAA, would force a shootout to decide the Cup's 2011 champion.
