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FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks carried a two-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of play, but the ninth-ranked Western Michigan Broncos scored three third-period goals to douse their hopes of a series sweep, dealing them a 3-2 loss and series split on Saturday night at the Carlson Center.
The Nanooks got a first-period goal from rookie
Tyler Morley (General Studies) and a second-period power-play tally from junior center
Cody Kunyk (Business Administration) before WMU rallied behind goals from Garrett Haar, Shane Berschbach and Mike Cichy, and clutch goaltending from sophomore Frank Slubowski. The Broncos' netminder made 40 saves in the contest, helping the visitors take three points to move into sixth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings.
Morley opened the scoring at 14:41 of the first period, when he tapped in a rebound off a shot by freshman right wing
Nolan Huysmans. The Nanooks narrowly missed scoring on their second power-play chance of the game after WMU assesed back-to-back penalties at 12:26 and 12:39, but carried the momentum built and cashed in just two seconds after the holding minor on Ben Warda expired. Freshman defenseman
Josh Atkinson assisted on the score that made it 1-0 for Alaska.
Alaska doubled its lead with Kunyk's third goal of the season and on their fourth power-play opportunity of the game. The play started in the Nanooks defensive zone, where Keeney sent a long pass through the neutral zone to junior left wing
Colton Beck, who fed his linemate in the Broncos' zone. Kunyk beat Slubowski at 10:20 for the 2-0 advantage in the second period.
Haar scored the first of three unanswered WMU goals at 3:34 of the final frame and Berschbach tied the game 57 seconds later. A holding penalty whistled against senior
Adam Henderson gave the Broncos the time and space they needed to net the game-winner off the stick of Cichy at 17:16.
With the loss, the Nanooks fall to fourth in the CCHA with a 6-4-2 overall record and a 4-3-1-0 league mark.
Nanook netminder and rookie
John Keeney (Business Administration) turned aside 26-of-29 shots and helped the Nanooks kill six of seven penalties.
Up next for Alaska is a two-game road series against the Northern Michigan. The Nanooks play the Wildcats next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 23-24 in Marquette, Mich. Both games are set to start at 3:35 p.m. AKT.
