Men's Ice Hockey | 2/10/2017 6:16:00 PM
Box Score MARQUETTE, Mich. – Senior goaltender Davis Jones turned away 19 shots, including 10 in the first period, but it wouldn't be enough as the Alaska Nanooks hockey team fell 3-0 to the Northern Michigan Wildcats in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchup at the Berry Events Center on Friday night.
Alaska's overall record drops to 9-17-3 and 8-12-3 in conference games, while the Wildcats continue their eight-game unbeaten streak to improve to 10-17-4 overall and 8-12-3 in WCHA play.
"Tonight, we liked our first and third periods. The transition game was good and it created a fair amount of time in the offensive zone," head coach Dallas Ferguson said following Friday's loss. "The difference in the game was Northern Michigan was able to capitalize on a couple of scoring chances and we did not. We had some good looks but we weren't able to get it in the back of the net."
Northern Michigan opened the scoring in Friday's conference contest, as Demico Hannoun scored an even-strength goal at the 9:36 mark of the first period. NMU's Robbie Payne collected the next two Wildcat goals, scoring at the 4:48 mark of the second period before tallying his second of the night only 1:08 into the third period. Payne's goals were assisted by Darien Craighead, Connor Frantti, Zach Diamantoni and Dominik Shine.
Alaska outshot their opponent 39-29 on the night, as NMU goaltender Atte Tolvanen recorded his fourth-straight shutout with 39 saves. The Nooks peppered Tolvanen with double-digit shots in each of the three periods, including 14 in both the second and third.
Neither team was able to capitalize on the man-advantage on Friday, as Alaska went 0-for-6 on power play opportunities while Northern Michigan went 0-for-3.
"The second period our power play had a 5-on-3 and a 4-on-3 opportunity and we weren't able to capitalize," Ferguson concluded. "Those were both missed opportunities for sure."
The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will face the Northern Michigan Wildcats again tomorrow (Saturday), in another WCHA tilt at the Berry Events Center at 3:07pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.
