University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Box Score Listen to all Five Goals

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Alaska wrapped up the 2013 calendar year on a very positive note, using two early goals to spark the offense, en route to a 5-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association road victory at Bemidji State Saturday night at Sanford Center.
 
The win for the Nanooks (7-8-3, 4-7-1 WCHA) was their second in three games as they are now on a three-game unbeaten streak heading into the break. The Beavers (5-9-6, 5-5-4) failed to win for a sixth straight outing in the loss, with an 0-2-4 mark the last three weekends.
 
I thought a key in all three periods was that guys were prepared, focused and ready to go at the start of the periods in the way we started," head coach Dallas Ferguson said.
 
The Nanooks had five different goal scorers on the night and were led by senior defenseman Michael Quinn (Surrey, British Columbia/Geography), who scored his first goal of the season and added an assist. Senior center Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business Administration) had a pair of helpers to move into 21st place all-time on the program's scoring list (49-60—109).

Alaska's other four goals came from sophomore right wing Alec Hajdukovich (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business Administration), junior left wing Garrick Perry (Apple Valley, Minn./Communication), sophomore defenseman Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration) and junior left wing Nolan Youngmun (Anchorage, Alaska/Petroleum Engineering).
 
Rookie netminder Davis Jones (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration) played an outstanding game and earned the victory in net for Alaska after making 25 saves to improve his season record to 3-3-1.
 
"Tonight was Davis' turn to get in there," Ferguson said. "The thing with all our goaltending is they've all gotten in there and just have to be prepared for what's coming at them. Davis didn't make the road trip to Anchorage and he stayed with it. He worked and stayed focused getting ready for the next opportunity."
 
He continued, "I thought he was outstanding – the breakaway save he made in the second period shorthanded was a game changer because that would have made it 2-1. He made big saves on the penalty kill and I'm happy for him."
 
BSU's Andrew Walsh took the loss between the pipes with his 33 stops, dropping his record to 5-8-3 in 2013-14.
 
The Nanooks outshot the Beavers 38-26 and went 2-for-10 on the power play, while going a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill. The eight successful PK's rank tied for second for most penalties killed off in a single game without a goal since the hiring of Ferguson. They also held the blocks advantage again tonight, by a 20-14 margin.
 
The Nanooks got on the board early with a pair of tallies to go up 2-0. In the offensive zone, sophomore center Matthew Friese (Wasilla, Alaska/) controlled the puck in the left circle. He sent a no-look pass behind him to a heavily covered Hajdukovich, but the Fairbanks native was able to backhand it far side for the game's first goal at 2:30.
 
"Our fourth line has scored a goal in the last three games and coincidentally we've gotten points in the last three games," Ferguson said. "I think the minutes they have are really important and they scored the right way. Josh's [Erickson] line got us on the board first with a nice face-off goal and they capitalized on it."
 
Less than a minute later, Perry possessed the puck on a break and cut to the ride side of the ice. He beat a defensemen and cut in towards Walsh and roofed the puck in short side on a forehand shot to give the Nanooks a 2-0 advantage at 3:28, which would be the eventual game-winner.
 
Alaska struck thrice more in the second period on just eight shots while Bemidji managed to score its lone tally to avoid the shutout.
 
BSU committed a penalty 7:40 into the second period and immediately following the face-off win by Kunyk, he dished it back to Quinn who fired a rocket top shelf for the power play score at 7:43 to give the 'Nooks a 3-0 lead.
 
Later in the frame, Quinn sent the puck down ice and Beck won the race to it. He played it at the behind the net to left of the goaltender and centered it out in front where it was tapped by Kunyk. From there, Parayko stepped in and deked out Walsh with backhand goal at 14:20 to make it 4-0.
 
The Beavers got on the board at 15:58 with their lone tally of the night. Cory Ward fed the puck from right to left to Markus Gerbrandt and he fired a shot that beat Jones glove side to cut it to 4-1.
 
But with time winding down in the second, freshman center Shawn Hochhausen (Kelowna, British Columbia/Petroleum Engineering) played the puck down ice where he found a wide open Youngmun. The Anchorage native skated in on the left side and it appeared he would send a shot far side on Walsh but faked him out and shot over his stick on the near side for the goal at 19:22.
 
The Nanooks will have the next two weekends off for final exams and the holidays and will return action Jan. 3-4 with a home WCHA series against Minnesota State at the Carlson Center.
 
"I want the guys to get away from the game a little bit," Ferguson said. "We've had a tough-go here four of the last five series on the road so we've been traveling a lot. We'll have a couple practices before the week we start back playing and we can start getting prepared then. Going in to the break on a positive is good and they can feel good about what they've done. It's going to be about resetting and focused in for the second half."