Hockey evens series against Spartans with 4-1 victory
March 12, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Four different skaters lit the lamp as the Alaska Nanooks rebounded from Friday's overtime loss to beat the Michigan State Spartans 4-1 and even the teams' Central Collegiate Hockey Association first round playoff series 1-1. The teams will play a third and deciding game on Sunday at 7:05 p.m. to see who will advance to the second round next weekend.
Junior Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, AB/Business Administration), seniors Jarret Granberg (Foremost, AB/Business Administration) and Andy Taranto (Woodridge, Ill./Communication) and rookie Nolan Huysmans (Ponoka, AB/Business Administration) all scored for the home team, while MSU's Tanner Sorenson had the visitors lone tally.
Kunyk opened the game scoring at 10:08 of the first period, cashing in on a short-handed chance in a two-on-one rush. Freshman defenseman Colton Parayko (St. Albert, AB/Business Administration) delivered the puck to Kunyk, who found rookie Tyler Morley (Burnaby, B.C./General Studies) on his left flank. Morley sent a perfect pass to Kunyk at the right post, where he backhanded it past MSU goalie Will Yanakeff to make it 1-0.
The Nanooks doubled their lead early when Granberg tickled the twine at 1:43 for a 2-0 lead. Parayko and Morley assisted on the play, each notching their second helpers of the contest.
A little over 10 minutes later, Taranto raced to a puck that was cleared by senior defenseman Kaare Odegard (Red Deer, AB/Business Finance) and stickhandled his way around an MSU defender before potting his team-leading 15th goal of the year past Yanakeff for the 3-0 advantage.
Alaska finally cashed in on a man-advantage early in the third period to score their fourth unanswered goal, when Huysmans deflected a shot from the point by sophomore defenseman Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, Mo./Mechanical Engineering) past Yanakeff at 1:34. Parayko passed the puck to Campbell, earning his third assist of the game and 13 of the year on the score that made it 4-0 for the good guys.
The Spartans finally broke through Nanook netminder and rookie John Keeney (Twin Peaks, Calif./Business Administration) 57 seconds later as Sorenson tapped a feed from Travis Walsh and Matt Berry into Alaska's net at 2:31 of the final frame to make it 4-1.
It was a solid special teams night for the Nanooks, who were 1-for-5 on the power play and notched their sixth short-handed marker of the season, in addition to killing all nine of MSU's power-play chances in the contest.
The Blue and Gold outshot their guests 35-33 and Keeney made 32 saves in improving to 13-10-3, while Yanakeff had 31 at the other end, while falling to 5-8-1.
Tickets for Game Three will be available for purchase at the Carlson Center and the UAF Patty Center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 10.