Hockey ties Bowling Green 3-3, wins shootout 1-0

December 11, 2012

University Relations

Photo by Paul McCarthy. John Keeney making one of his three stops in the shoot out to give the Nanooks the extra point in the CCHA standings.
Photo by Paul McCarthy. John Keeney making one of his three stops in the shoot out to give the Nanooks the extra point in the CCHA standings.


Jamie Foland
474-6807

Alaska and Bowling Green battled to a 3-3 CCHA tie after late-game heroics by the visitors but it was the Nanooks picking up the extra point with a 1-0 victory in the shootout on Saturday night at the Carlson Center.

Freshman goalkeeper John Keeney (Twin Peaks, Calif./Business Administration) made 28 saves in net for the Nanooks (6-8-4, 4-7-3-1 CCHA) through regulation and overtime and had no bigger stops than the three he turned away in the shootout.

Andrew Hammond was big for the Falcons (3-9-4, 2-6-3-1 CCHA) once again tonight as his 41 saves on 44 Alaska shots earned him First Star of the night for the second game in a row.

The Nanooks saw goals from juniors Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business administration) and Michael Quinn (Surrey, B.C./Geography) and freshman Tyler Morley (Burnaby, B.C./General Studies) and sophomore Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, Mo./Mechanical engineering) had two helpers again tonight.

BGSU got scores from Camden Wojtala, Mark Cooper and Adam Berkle while Bobby Shea and Dan DeSalvo each had a pair of assists in the tie.

The Nanooks wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Kunyk struck 59 seconds into regulation. Kaare Odegard took a shot from the point that was saved by Hammond but Kunyk controlled the puck and his wrist shot found the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead.

BGSU squared it at 1-1 just over three minutes into the second when Shea took a shot that was saved by Keeney but Wojtala got the rebound when it ricocheted from behind the goal and put it away.

Alaska reclaimed the lead at the midway point of the second when Nik Yaremchuk fed the puck to a wide open Quinn at the top of the offensive zone and his wrister got past Hammond for the 2-1 advantage.

Morley doubled the lead to 3-1 early in the third period when he shot the puck over the stick side of Hammond for a power play goal. Campbell took a shot from the point that was saved and Morley got the rebound for his sixth tally of the season.

Less than two minutes later, the Falcons got back to within a goal with a power play score of their own at 4:55 of the third. Arguably the highlight of the night, Marcus Perrier and DeSalvo passed it back and forth up top and Perrier fed it from right to left through DeSalvo's skates and Cooper fired the one-timer for the goal.

Alaska held the one-goal lead late into the game but after Hammond went off to give Bowling Green the extra skater, DeSalvo had his shot saved but Berkle corralled the puck with an open net and buried it with only 56 seconds to spare.

Neither team was successful in the overtime period and in the shootout, senior Andy Taranto (Woodridge, Ill./Communication) scored on the first shootout attempt and BGSU failed to score, giving the host Nanooks the extra point in the CCHA standings.

The Nanooks return to the ice Jan. 11, 2013 when they open up a four-game road trip at Michigan. Alaska is home next on Jan. 25 for a two-game set with Northern Michigan.