Taranto Nets 100th Career Point, RedHawks Overpower Nanooks 5-2
December 3, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Fairbanks, Alaska - Senior right wing Andy Taranto (Communication) became the 18th player in Alaska Nanooks men's hockey program history to notch 100 career points, but the visiting No. 4 Miami RedHawks proved a potent opponent, beating their hosts 5-2 Friday night at the Carlson Center.
With the loss the Nanooks drop to 6-6-3 overall and 4-5-2-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, but remain in a tie for fifth place with Western Michigan. The first-place RedHawks improve to 8-2-3 on the season and 5-2-2-2 in league play.
Taranto and rookie Nolan Huysmans (Business Administration) lit the lamp in the second period for Alaska to cut its 4-0 deficit in half. The RedHawks held a 2-0 advantage after the first period and doubled up in just over 11 minutes of the second before adding a fifth later in the frame.
"Give Miami credit, they came out and worked hard and competed hard and then the opportunities they got they capitalized on," said head coach Dallas Ferguson. "They had 19 shots after two periods and five goals; if you look at the goals we gave up, there were some opportunities to win battles and we didn't."
Miami's Andrew Czarnik, the Perani Cup Second Star, led all players with a three-point night with a goal and two assists, while his teammate Cody Murphy was the First Star with a pair of goals, including the game winner. Taranto garnered Third Star honors as he notched his sixth goal of the season, the 49th of his career.
"It's pretty special but a lot of my teammates, my coaching staff and my family — their hard work and sacrifice got me to that position," said Taranto.
Czarnik put the RedHawks up 1-0 at 7:07 of the opening frame with assistance from Matthew Caito and Riley Barber, and Cody Murphy doubled their lead at 14:21 on the power play, while the Nanooks Kaare Odegard served a two-minute minor for checking from behind.
Barber put Miami up 3-0 with the eventual game-winner at 4:00 before Murphy beat Alaska's freshman goalie John Keeney (Business Administration) short-handed at 11:16 to make it 4-0.
The Nanooks finally got on the board with Taranto's strike at 13:25, when rookie defenseman Josh Atkinson (Petroleum Engineering) found him wide open in the slot. He unleashed a wrist shot that sailed past Miami goalkeeper Jay Williams. Senior captain Adam Henderson (Masters of Business Administration) had the secondary assist on the goal.
"Atkinson made a great play driving hard to the net and kicking the puck out. I saw the middle open and just wanted to get a puck on net and it went in," Taranto said.
A few minutes later Huysmans put the Nanooks on the board for the second time. Henderson kicked the puck out from the right half boards and his senior linemate Chad Gehon (Business Finance) collected it and skated through the right circle before finding Huysmans near the crease. He skated the puck across the top of the crease, stretching Williams across the goal, and lifted it backhanded over the RedHawk goalie who had sprawled out to try to freeze it.
Williams finished the evening with 31 saves, while Keeney stopped 25 and the Nanooks outshot Miami 33-30. They were held scoreless in eight power-play chances, while holding their guests to one-of-seven in their opportunities with a man advantage.
The teams play a rematch on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Carlson Center.