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Game Notes (Game #25, 1/24/14)
FAIRBANKS – Following a long two-week road trip to the Lower 48, Alaska returns home to open up a stretch of four consecutive home games this weekend when it hosts Bemidji State for a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association games at the Carlson Center, Jan. 24-25.
The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. AST on Friday and Saturday from the Carlson Center (4,595). Both games can be seen on WCHA TV and listened to on ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF or online at 820sports.com.
The Nanooks (9-11-4, 6-10-2 WCHA) are coming off a road split at Northern Michigan (Jan. 17-18) and are in a three-way tie for seventh in the WCHA standings while the Beavers travel to Alaska with a 7-12-7 overall record and are fifth in the WCHA standings at 7-7-4.
With a sweep this weekend, Alaska would catch BSU in the conference standings. Alaska's schedule will be favorable down the stretch as it plays eight of its final 10 at the Carlson Center.
Earlier this season, Alaska went 1-0-1 at Bemidji State (Dec. 13-14), notching a 3-3 tie before rolling 5-1 to earn its first conference series win of the season. The 5-1 triumph was Alaska's first-ever win over BSU as the Beavers hold a 3-1-1 advantage all-time.
Last weekend, Alaska completed a 13-day trip with a series split at Northern Michigan, with a 5-4 defeat and 4-3 victory. Saturday's win was only the second win all-time at Northern and first in nine years (2/5/05 - 2-1 win) in a series dating back to 1989.
The Morley brothers had a good offensive week for the Nanooks as sophomore center
Tyler Morley (Burnaby, British Columbia/Business Administration) accounted for a team-best three goals, tying him with senior
Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business Administration) at 12 goals on the season.
Freshman left wing
Brandon Morley (Burnaby, British Columbia/Business Administration) scored twice and added an assist in the split and tallied the game-winning goal on Saturday night with a one-timer in the slot.
Kunyk's two assists Friday moved him to 19th all-time on Alaska's scoring list with 115 points with 50 career goals and 65 assists.
Kunyk ranks tied for first on the WCHA's season scoring list with 25 points (12-13--25) while
Tyler Morley is tied for fourth with 23 points (12-11--23). Both also rank tied for fourth in the goals category.
Senior defenseman
Michael Quinn (Surrey, British Columbia/Geography) is tied for fourth in assists (14) while senior left wing
Colton Beck (Langley, British Columbia/Business Administration), sophomore defenseman
Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration) and Kunyk are all tied for seventh with one assist less than Quinn.
Parayko and Quinn are two of the WCHA"s leading defenseman as Parayko has 16 points (3-13--16) and Quinn has 15 points (1-14--15), which ranks tied for fifth and seventh, respectively.
Freshman right wing
Marcus Basara (Port Moody, British Columbia/Business Administration) is also third among freshman in scoring with 16 points (9-7--16).
Scouting Bemidji State:
The Beavers enter this weekend with a 7-12-7 overall record and sit in fifth place in the WCHA standings at 7-7-4 following a week of non-conference play. Bemidji State is coming off a 0-1-1 week after a home and home against North Dakota last week, tying 1-1 Friday before falling 4-2 Saturday.
Bemidji is 4-4-3 away from home this season and has a 5-1-3 mark when leading heading to the third period, and is yet to blow a third-period lead on the road in 2013-14. It is sixth in scoring this season in the WCHA, with 2.65 goals per game and ranks seventh in scoring defense, allowing 3.00 goals per outing.
Cory Ward leads the attack with 22 points with a league-best 14 goals and eight assists while
Markus Gerbrandt and
Matt Prapavessis are both tied with 18 points apiece. Gerbrandt is tied for fourth with 12 scores while Prapavessis leads BSU with 13 helpers. Prapavessis, the league's WCHA Defensive Player of the Week, is the league leader for scoring by defenseman as well.
Andrew Walsh is 5-10-4 in net for the Beavers with a 2.93 goals against average and .907 save percentage.
Important Links for this weekend's series:
Live Stats:
alaskananooks.com
Live Audio:
ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF
Live Video:
America One Sports (WCHA TV)
