Nanooks take it to Irish in third period
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FAIRBANKS — Alaska Nanooks freshman Andy Taranto won’t end his collegiate career without a win against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The right wing made sure that the rest of this season’s Nanooks won’t either.
Taranto produced the game-winning goal during a third-period rally which lifted the 13th-ranked Nanooks to a 3-1 victory over the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish for a split of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association series at the Carlson Center.
Junior center and team captain Derek Klassen added two goals in the third, including an empty-net delivery which he banged in with 4 seconds left.
“I don’t know, it was a just little exclamation mark there, I guess,” Klassen said with a smile. “It was nice to get it.”
The same could be said of Alaska’s first victory in the series after suffering through an 11-game winless streak that goes back to the 2006-07 season.
Alaska’s four seniors had seen the Nanooks go 0-10-1 against the Fighting Irish during their careers. The skid included a 3-2 loss Friday.
Alaska’s five juniors also had never won against Notre Dame, until the penalty-free third period Saturday night before a season-high home attendance of 3,704.
“It’s huge. It’s the last team I hadn’t beaten and it was definitely in the back of our minds,” Klassen said. “Anytime you go on a streak like that, you definitely want to end it. They kind of have your number and it feels good to get them back.”
Sophomore goaltender Scott Greenham stopped 26 shots to get his sixth win of the season and the Nanooks returned to third place in the CCHA at 3-1-0-0 conference and 6-1-1 overall.
“Notre Dame is a great team and a well-coached team,” Nanooks assistant coach Lance West said during the postgame media conference in the Pioneer Room. “For our guys to keep battling through and stay patient and not rush things and force things ... I think that was the biggest thing. Don’t make mistakes in the neutral zone and outwork them down low — that’s what our guys did for the last 30 minutes.”
Fifth-place Notre Dame (2-1-1-0, 5-4-1) took a 1-0 lead at 3:20 of the second period on junior Ben Ryan’s goal.
Four seconds after the Nanooks killed the third of four Fighting Irish power plays Saturday, Ryan took defenseman Ian Cole’s transition pass and bolted up the ice. He got by four Nanooks — center Dion Knelsen, Taranto and defensemen Scott Enders and Joe Sova — before he uncorked a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off Greenham’s blocker and into the net.
“They were on a penalty-kill forecheck and I figured they were probably passive and they were going to back up a little bit,” Ryan said. “I knew if I could get past the first guy, I knew the D would be flat-footed; so I just tried to make a move and keep my speed going.”
Taranto said the goal helped get the Nanooks going offensively.
“We want to start every game with the lead, and I think when that other team scores that first goal, it kind of gets us going and pumps us up a little bit to try get that second goal right away,” Taranto said.
It took almost a period, but Klassen tied the score 1-1 at 2:33 of the third by whacking in a high rebound of a shot by Carlo Finucci at the left side crease.
Not long after a faceoff, Taranto took a pass from Sova on the right wing. He then skated to the top of the right circle and zipped a wrist shot past Cole’s screen and over the stick-side shoulder of Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson at 12:53.
“It was a great pass by Sova and their defenseman was far back,” Taranto said. “I was just waiting for that screen and trying to get to the far side to just get a rebound. I was fortunate enough to beat him (Johnson) there.”
Alaska was fortunate, too, to get its first win against Notre Dame since a 1-0 victory on March 4, 2006 in the third and deciding game of a first-round playoff series in Notre Dame, Ind.
Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.
Taranto produced the game-winning goal during a third-period rally which lifted the 13th-ranked Nanooks to a 3-1 victory over the ninth-ranked Fighting Irish for a split of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association series at the Carlson Center.
Junior center and team captain Derek Klassen added two goals in the third, including an empty-net delivery which he banged in with 4 seconds left.
“I don’t know, it was a just little exclamation mark there, I guess,” Klassen said with a smile. “It was nice to get it.”
The same could be said of Alaska’s first victory in the series after suffering through an 11-game winless streak that goes back to the 2006-07 season.
Alaska’s four seniors had seen the Nanooks go 0-10-1 against the Fighting Irish during their careers. The skid included a 3-2 loss Friday.
Alaska’s five juniors also had never won against Notre Dame, until the penalty-free third period Saturday night before a season-high home attendance of 3,704.
“It’s huge. It’s the last team I hadn’t beaten and it was definitely in the back of our minds,” Klassen said. “Anytime you go on a streak like that, you definitely want to end it. They kind of have your number and it feels good to get them back.”
Sophomore goaltender Scott Greenham stopped 26 shots to get his sixth win of the season and the Nanooks returned to third place in the CCHA at 3-1-0-0 conference and 6-1-1 overall.
“Notre Dame is a great team and a well-coached team,” Nanooks assistant coach Lance West said during the postgame media conference in the Pioneer Room. “For our guys to keep battling through and stay patient and not rush things and force things ... I think that was the biggest thing. Don’t make mistakes in the neutral zone and outwork them down low — that’s what our guys did for the last 30 minutes.”
Fifth-place Notre Dame (2-1-1-0, 5-4-1) took a 1-0 lead at 3:20 of the second period on junior Ben Ryan’s goal.
Four seconds after the Nanooks killed the third of four Fighting Irish power plays Saturday, Ryan took defenseman Ian Cole’s transition pass and bolted up the ice. He got by four Nanooks — center Dion Knelsen, Taranto and defensemen Scott Enders and Joe Sova — before he uncorked a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off Greenham’s blocker and into the net.
“They were on a penalty-kill forecheck and I figured they were probably passive and they were going to back up a little bit,” Ryan said. “I knew if I could get past the first guy, I knew the D would be flat-footed; so I just tried to make a move and keep my speed going.”
Taranto said the goal helped get the Nanooks going offensively.
“We want to start every game with the lead, and I think when that other team scores that first goal, it kind of gets us going and pumps us up a little bit to try get that second goal right away,” Taranto said.
It took almost a period, but Klassen tied the score 1-1 at 2:33 of the third by whacking in a high rebound of a shot by Carlo Finucci at the left side crease.
Not long after a faceoff, Taranto took a pass from Sova on the right wing. He then skated to the top of the right circle and zipped a wrist shot past Cole’s screen and over the stick-side shoulder of Notre Dame goaltender Mike Johnson at 12:53.
“It was a great pass by Sova and their defenseman was far back,” Taranto said. “I was just waiting for that screen and trying to get to the far side to just get a rebound. I was fortunate enough to beat him (Johnson) there.”
Alaska was fortunate, too, to get its first win against Notre Dame since a 1-0 victory on March 4, 2006 in the third and deciding game of a first-round playoff series in Notre Dame, Ind.
Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.
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