Every potential breakthrough became muddled by a breakdown.
Hope degenerated into head shaking.
For the UAA hockey team, that meant its sniff at victory Saturday night was quickly vanquished.
Northeastern twice responded to UAA's game- tightening goals with rapid counterstrikes, and that bounce-back ability earned the Huskies a 4-2 win over the Seawolves in the Kendall Hockey Classic at Sullivan Arena.
UAA's setback in its own tournament was tough enough to absorb. But the Seawolves, who could have taken home the hardware with a win, also had to watch the rival UAF Nanooks accept the gold pan and championship watches that go to the tournament champions.
The Nanooks won the tournament by virtue of their 5-0 victory over Connecticut on Saturday and their 2-2 tie and subsequent shootout win against Northeastern on Friday. Dressed in suits before catching a scheduled midnight flight home, the Nanooks had their team picture taken at center ice, index fingers raised to signify their tournament title. Nanooks junior center Dion Knelsen won the Most Outstanding Player award for his four-assist weekend.
UAA (1-1-0) gets a chance to respond in kind next weekend, when it plays in UAF's Brice Alaska Goal Rush, a four-team tournament at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
The Seawolves, 6-2 winners over UConn on Friday, played from behind throughout Saturday's game. Even so, the home team's hopes brightened with less than three minutes remaining when Paul Crowder banged in a Trevor Hunt rebound with the teams skating 4-on-4, cutting Northeastern's lead to 3-2.
Less than a minute later, those ambitions were extinguished.
Northeastern's Dennis McCauley countered with a power-play goal, flicking a rebound past UAA goaltender Jon Olthuis to seal victory 57 seconds after Crowder's goal.
That marked the second time the Seawolves came close to getting over the hump only to get shoved back down.
The earlier instance came in the second period, when Jade Portwood's power-play goal, a shot that ricocheted off the skate of a Huskies defenseman, cut Northeastern's lead to 2-1. But Ryan Ginand scored his second goal of the game five minutes later to restore a two-goal lead at 3-1.
"It deflated any positive energy we had,'' UAA coach Dave Shyiak said of those Northeastern goals.
Ginand said McCauley's goal was especially timely, given that the Seawolves had seized momentum in front of an announced home crowd of 3,791.
"We needed that,'' Ginand said. "Otherwise, it would have been a long three minutes.''
In a game that was played in fits and starts because of 27 penalties, 19 power plays and frequent icings, there was a mere 24:01 of 5-on-5 play in the 60-minute game. That meant loads of man-advantage time and 4-on-4 situations.
"It keeps it action-packed,'' Ginand said.
But it also keeps teams from being able to roll four forward lines and generate rhythm.
In any event, Northeastern of Hockey East played more soundly than UAA of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. And in a matchup of old British Columbia Hockey League rivals, Huskies goaltender Brad Thiessen (21 saves) turned in a stronger showing than Olthuis (20 saves).
"I thought their goaltender was very strong,'' Shyiak said. "I honestly think they're a bubble NCAA team because they're so sound positionally and they compete.
"Our guys have to learn from that. I didn't think our top guys competed enough.''
And after racking up four power-play goals in the waltz over UConn, UAA managed one power-play goal in 10 opportunities against Northeastern. The Huskies scored twice on their nine power plays.
"Your special teams have to chip in to help you win,'' Crowder said.
Seawolves notes
Junior winger Josh Lunden, the 2007 Most Outstanding Player, and senior defenseman and team captain Mat Robinson made the all-tournament team.
Long-time Seawolves hockey public address announcer Lyle "Bubba'' Woods, who is retiring from the gig after 20 seasons, was presented with a gold pan and a Seawolves sweater -- No. 20 -- by UAA athletic director Steve Cobb during the second intermission.
The UAA team and coaching staff stayed on their bench during the ceremony and shook hands with Woods as they glided across the ice to the locker room.
Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
Northeastern 1 2 1 -- 4
UAA 0 1 1 -- 2
First Period -- 1, Northeastern, Ginand 1 (Kraemer, Chisholm), 2:06. Penalties -- Grant, UAA (tripping), :12; Silva, Northeastern (unsportsmanlike conduct), :45; Grant, UAA (interference), 3:13; Northeastern bench minor, served by McCauley (too many men), 5:27; Hunt, UAA (kneeing), 10:54; Crowder, UAA (tripping), 11:19; Guzior, Northeastern (interference), 14:10; Vidmar, UAA (hooking), 15:27; Haddad, UAA (elbowing), 18:36; Ginand, Northeastern (tripping), 19:02; Clark, UAA, double minor, served by Smith (roughing), 20:00; Vitale, Northeastern (roughing), 20:00.
Second Period -- 2, Northeastern, McLeod 1 (McNeely, Strathman), 2:55 (pp); 3, UAA, Portwood 1 (Grant, Lunden), 12:13 (pp); 4, Northeastern, Ginand 2 (McCauley), 17:21. Penalties -- Lunden, UAA (charging), 1:50; Bales, UAA (misconduct), 1:50; Muench, Northeastern (hooking), 6:43; Guzior, Northeastern (interference), 9:29; Liotti, Northeastern (cross-checking), 10:35; Kraemer, Northeastern (hooking), 13:11.
Third Period -- 5, UAA, Crowder 1 (Hunt, Bales), 16:25; 6, Northeastern, McCauley 2 (Liotti,Vitale), 17:18 (pp). Penalties -- Strathman, Northeastern (hooking), 2:05; Haddad, UAA (hooking), 4:07; Ginand, Northeastern (diving), 4;07; Portwood, UAA (roughing), 6:40; McNeely, Northeastern (roughing), 6:40; Strathman, Northeastern (tripping), 8:20; Liotti, Northeastern (hooking), 14:27; Grant, UAA (roughing), 15:38.
Shots on goal -- Northeastern 11-7-6--24. UAA 3-9-11--23.
Power-play Opportunities -- Northeastern 2 of 9; UAA 1 of 10.
Goalies -- Northeastern, Thiessen 1-0-1 (23 shots-21 saves). UAA, Olthuis 0-1-0 (24-20).
A -- 3,791 (6,251). T -- 2:17.
Referees -- Scott Bokal, Brian Thul. Linesmen -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.
KENDALL HOCKEY CLASSIC
MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER
Dion Knelsen, C, UAF
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Brandon Knelsen, RW, UAF
Ryan Ginand, C, Northeastern
Brad Thiessen, G, Northeastern
Josh Lunden, LW, UAA
Mat Robinson, D, UAA
Andrew Olsen, LW, UConn
NEXT YEAR'S FIELD
UAA, UAF, Michigan, UMass-Lowell
By DOYLE WOODY
dwoody@adn.com