FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Contact: Dave Geringer, Sports Information Director
907-474-6807

Nanooks Fall to Northern Michigan, 5-3

FAIRBANKS, AK-For 40 minutes, the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ hockey team had things going their way in the second game of their two-game, Central Collegiate Hockey Association series against Northern Michigan at the Carlson center Saturday evening.

But the third period belonged to the Wildcats.

NMU scored two goals in the first 4:38 to retake the lead, scored four times in the third period, and defeated the Nanooks, 5-3.

Goals by the Wildcats’ Tim Hartung and Alan Swanson early in the third period erased a 2-1 UAF advantage. Hartung tipped a goalmouth pass past freshman goaltender Wylie Rogers (Fairbanks, AK/Victoria-BCHL) at 2:26 of the third period to tie the game at 2-all, then Swanson scored a nearly identical goal at the 4:38 mark to make it 4-3, NMU.

Senior defenseman Cramer Hickey (San Jose, CA/Minot-AJHL) took advantage of a clean face-off win by sophomore center Lucas Burnett (Rossland, BC/Trail-BCHL) in the Wildcats’ zone, blasting a slap shot past NMU goaltender Tuomas Tarkki at 9:48 to tie the score.

Mike Santorelli scored the game-winning goal nearly two minutes later. With UAF a man short, Santorelli drove to the net and slid the puck past Rogers to give the Wildcats a 4-3 advantage at the 11:46 mark. Nathan Oystrick scored into an empty net for NMU with Rogers off in favor of a sixth attacker at 18:55 of the third period.

Alaska Fairbanks took an early lead. Freshman center Ryan McLeod (Fernie, BC/Salmon Arm-BCHL) pounced on a rebound and slipped it behind Tarkki with the Nanooks on the power play at the 2:29 mark of the first period. Freshman left wing Troy Newton (Kimberley, BC/Trail-BCHL) and freshman left wing Kyle Greentree (Victoria, BC/Victoria-BCHL) drew assists.

Pat Bateman tied it for NMU at the 10:20 mark, deflecting home a pass in front of the net. Sophomore center Curtis Fraser (Surrey, BC/Vernon-BCHL) gave the Nanooks a 2-1 lead when he cut in on Tarkki and scored at 1:27 of the second period. Freshman left wing Aaron Lee (Calgary, AB/Sherwood Park-AJHL) and junior right wing Kelly Czuy (Edmonton, AB/Cranmore-AJHL) assisted.

“After having the lead for 40 minutes, I was extremely disappointed with what happened in the third period,” said UAF Head Coach Tavis MacMillan. “We need to stop making mistakes, and learn from them. We deserved where we were after 40 minutes, but Northern Michigan is a good team that is mentally tough and knows how to win. That’s something that we still have to learn. We missed too many opportunities, we took a couple of penalties in the offensive zone, and we allowed way too many odd man rushes in the third period. I did like the fact we played with a lot of energy, and the fact that we moved the puck well on the power play. But we have to cut down on our mistakes.”

The Nanooks dropped to 6-7-1 overall and 5-6-1 in the CCHA with the defeat. Northern Michigan, which took three of four points in the series, improved to 9-4-3 and 7-3-2.

UAF will take a few weeks off for final exams, and for the holidays. They will return to action when they visit Bowling Green January 7th and 8th.

-UAF HOCKEY-