Box Score Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Plagued by a handful of first-period penalties the Alaska Nanooks men's hockey team got down early and could not recover, falling 2-1 to the #16 Western Michigan Broncos on Friday night at Lawson Arena.
Back-to-back penalties in the opening minutes of the contest set the Broncos up for their first goal of the game. WMU's Shane Berschbach scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 3:56 to make it 1-0.
The Nanooks managed to kill the next two penalties (whistled at 5:17 and 12:09) successfully only to see Western score an even-strength marker 24 seconds later. Greg Squires doubled the home team's lead at 14:33 with assistance from Matt Tennyson and Garrett Haar.
The worst of the penalties in the opening frame saw junior defenseman
Kaare Odegard earn an early trip to the showers after assessing a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head; however, the Nanooks managed to kill off Odegard's major and carried the momentum into the second stanza.
Sophomore left wing
Colton Beck scored the only goal for the visiting Nanooks at 9: 11 of the second period to cut their defecit in half, but the Broncos and their netminder Frank Slubowski held firm, denying their guests of any other scores. Junior right wing
Andy Taranto tallied the lone assist on Beck's 10th goal of the season.
The Nanooks looked to light the lamp with the equalizer in the final frame without result and dropped the first of two games between the teams slated for the weekend.
Senior goalie
Scott Greenham had 24 saves in the contest, while Slubowski turned aside 20 Alaska shots at the other end.
Alaska was 0-for-2 on the power-play and 4-for-five on the penalty kill, while getting outshot 26-21 by WMU.
The teams meet for the series finale on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. EST (3:05 p.m. AKST).
