ANN ARBOR – In Michigan and Alaska’s last game for the foreseeable future, the Nanooks won the special-teams battle and, with it, the game, 4-1.
Alaska completed its first-ever sweep over the Wolverines in the process, after having beat Michigan 5-4 Friday night.
Freshman Jacob Trouba scored the lone goal for the Wolverines, who dropped to 4-10-2-2 in conference play with the loss. Adam Janecyk played the entire game between the pipes, stopping 24 of the Nanooks’ 28 shots.
“I think we are fragile,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said after the game. “In years past, we would lose a game, but we would bounce back the next night. I can’t remember being swept like we have been this year. Our team is fragile there is no question. They are feeling the heat; they are proud. They want to do well for Michigan, and they are frustrated.”
The Nanooks came out of the gate strong, using a very heavy forecheck to apply the pressure to Michigan. And it didn’t take very long at all for Alaska to grab the early lead.
After Derek DeBlois took an interference penalty early on, Alaska cycled the puck to the middle of the slot, where Cody Kunyk scored off assists from Andy Taranto and Michael Quinn.
The first period was a special-teams battle with the Nanooks dominating. Michigan failed to get anything going on each of its three power-play opportunities, recording five total shots in the initial frame.
Alaska had three man advantages as well, but it capitalized where the Wolverines couldn’t. After Henderson opened the game’s scoring, it was captain Adam Henderson’s turn for a power-play marker. With the period winding down, Henderson got a stick on a point shot from Josh Atkinson to give his team a 2-0 lead.
In the closing seconds, Michigan sophomore forward Alex Guptill hit the post of a wide-open net, and the period ended with the Nanooks holding a two-goal lead.
In the second period, the story was the same — ample opportunities for the Wolverines to climb back into the game on the power play, but nearly each time it failed. It seemed as if none of the period was played five on five as the parade to the penalty box continued.
Finally, with 4:10 remaining in the second period, late in yet another man advantage, Trouba ripped a slapshot from the point that beat Alaska goaltender John Keeney, making the score 2-1. The Rochester native’s goal was a rare success for an offense that’s struggled to find the net.
“We are not putting our chances in, and we are giving up goals we shouldn’t give up,” Berenson said. “We can’t make any more excuses, that is the way it is.”
Michigan was buzzing offensively when the period ended, holding the momentum despite converting on just 1-of-8 power plays to that point. The Wolverines cut down on their penalties after the first period, when Trouba was whistled twice. Michigan went on the penalty kill just once in the second.
The third period finally allowed the two teams to skate at even strength. But it was the Nanooks who finally struck about midway through the frame when Michigan defenseman Jeff Rohrkemper, typically a forward but playing on the blue line because of injuries, got burned by Kunyk who scored his second of the night.
The goal was immediately followed by a Wolverine penalty to Phil Di Giuseppe for holding. After Michigan killed it off, it was Henderson’s turn to tally his second of the evening — but he barely earned it. The shot trickled off his pad and into the net for the night’s softest goal, and the Nanooks had a comfortable 4-1 lead that would turn into a final.