For the second consecutive night the UAF Nanooks shut down a determined
Ohio State team, earning the series sweep with a 5-3 win in front of a
Carlson Center crowd of 2,906 (outside temperature was a balmy -18F at the
opening face-off).  UAF picked up where it left off Friday night, playing
a not-so-pretty-but-effective-nonetheless style of hustling defensive
hockey, capitalizing on numerous OSU miscues and surviving another night
of terrible officiating by CCHA referee John Kelly.  In fact, Mr. Kelly's
overwhelming aversion to his whistle led to a few confrontational scrapes
near the game's end.  To their credit, both teams resisted the temptation
to mix it up too much.  This is particularly important to UAF, who will
need everyone on the ice next week for a tough road series at Bowling
Green.
 
The Buckeyes, despite being outshot 14-10, left the ice at the first
intermission with a 2-0 lead.  Sean Sutton netted the first OSU goal,
taking the pass from Tyler McMillan and snaking a shot through a jumble of
legs past Nanook goaltender Brian Fish at 12:16.  Although UAF controlled
the play for most of the period, a defensive lapse left Randy Holmes all
alone in front of the net where he tipped in a nice feed from Pierre
Dufour and Steve Richards at 19:01.  Cody Bowtell got the crowd on its
feet early with a couple of beautiful solo rushes on the OSU net, but he
was unable to beat Buckeye goalie Kurt Brown 'and his band of renown'
(sorry Chris Berman).
 
The second period was all UAF, as the Nanooks reeled off three unanswered
goals to take a 3-2 lead before heading into the locker room.  Trent
Schachle hummed a bullet of a wrist shot past Brown's ear at the 2:41
mark.  He was assisted on the play by Fred Scott and Rob Phillips.  At
15:20, Greg Milles banged in a loose puck in the Buckeye crease.  Assists
were credited to Bowtell and Forrest Gore.  Pat Williams took a pass from
Corey Spring and Warren Carter and weaved his way through traffic to
launch a worm burner against Brown from 20 feet out.  Brown got a piece of
the shot but was unable to control as the puck slipped over the goal line.
UAF's penalty killing unit got a lot of work during the period but did not
buckle under the Buckeye assault.  For the game, the Nanooks killed off
all 4 OSU man advantage situations.  Shots after two showed UAF with a
24-21 edge.
 
OSU tied the game at three goals apiece early in the third period.  With
Fish partially screened by a tangle of players from both sides, Richards
scored his tenth goal of the year at 0:25, a trickler assisted by Sacha
Guilbault and Ryan Root.  The Buckeyes would get no closer, though, as UAF
slammed the door with two goals in a 16 second span to ice the game.  The
first was registered at 7:27 by Bowtell, who was set up by some excellent
puck movement around the net courtesy of Messrs. Milles and Bob Schwark.
Pat Williams scored his second of the evening at 7:43, pouncing on a
dropped pass and rifling a quick wrist shot past a shell-shocked Kurt
Brown.  Although Brown was fairly proficient with his glove, his lacked
the mobility to cut off all the shots offered up by the buzzing UAF
forwards.
 
As was mentioned earlier, there was some commotion in the game's final
minutes, as Kelly's backlog of uncalled penalties began to gnaw at both
teams' nerves.  Unfortunately for OSU, the scuffling denied them of any
chance to mount a final flurry against Fish and his defense.  Although I
didn't get the final shot total, UAF was in the driver's seat almost all
the way down the home stretch and my guess is that they finished up with a
40-30 advantage.
 
With Notre Dame's performance this weekend, it should be an interesting
couple of weeks in the CCHA nether regions.  This sweep, combined with a
5-4 win in South Bend on December 9, UAF *should* be able to play well
enough to claim the #10 seed in the conference post season tourney.  Next
week's showdown at Bowling Green should prove to be a timely challenge for
the Nanooks, who have not faced top-flight opponents since the CC series
here last month.  Also, it is unlikely that the Falcons have forgotten the
6-1 and 10-4 thrashings the Nanooks handed them on their home ice last
season.
 
If any BGSU fans are planning to catch the series, please let me know how
things go.  I'd be happy to provide advance info such as players to watch,
etc.
 
UAF's next home series is February 17-18 as they play host to the Miami
University.  The Nanooks are hoping to turn the tables on the Redskins,
who last year knocked UAF out of the CCHA playoffs in the first round.
 
Until then...
 
Mark Sonnier
UAF '90, '96