Sports

Shootout gives Governor's Cup to Nanooks

UAA won the hockey game, but UAF took home the hardware.

The Seawolves won the Game 2 finale of the Governor's Cup, 4-1, at Sullivan Arena on Saturday night, but the Nanooks won the postgame shootout to retain possession of the chalice that goes to the winner of the annual two-game battle between Alaska's two college hockey teams.

UAF won the shootout 2-0 courtesy of skills-competition goals from Colton Beck and Andy Taranto.

The shootout was necessary because UAF won Game 1, 5-1, in Fairbanks on Friday night before the Seawolves rebounded Saturday.

The Seawolves cracked UAF goaltender Scott Greenham (11 saves, two shootout saves), the outstanding junior, early. They put together a three-goal first period for the first time all season.

Freshman winger Brett Cameron opened the onslaught by scoring off his own rebound on the rush after Greenham's left-pad save on Cameron's right-wing blast came directly back to Cameron. He roofed a wrister before Greenham could fully recover.

Just 1:11 later, with the first period barely seven minutes old, UAA defenseman Scott Warner was credited with a power-play goal that pushed the home team's lead to 2-0. Greenham stopped Craig Parkinson's one-timer from the slot and Warner, rushing in from the left point, whacked at the puck twice on his backhand. UAF defenseman Bryant Molle, stationed in Greenham's crease, tried to sweep the puck aside, but inadvertently put it into his own cage.

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The Seawolves pushed the count to 3-0 when Parkinson deflected an Andy Taranto pass in UAF's zone, which allowed senior Sean Wiles to pick up the puck and fire a shot that Jade Portwood deflected for his first goal of the season.

Portwood's goal was just his sixth in 88 career games and his first since he bagged two at Michigan Tech on Jan. 15, 2010.

UAA leading scorer Tommy Grant scored his team-leading 12th goal on a power-play six minutes into the second period, bombing a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off Parkinson's cross-ice feed.

The point was Grant's career-best 27th. Parkinson's assist gave him three assists in a game for the first time in his career. His 11 assists and 18 points are both career highs.

The Nanooks finally broke through when Cody Kunyk scored on a power play with about eight minutes to go.

The Seawolves mustered just five shots on goal in the final 40 minutes, but seemed content often to get the puck in deep in the Nanooks' end and force them to come 200 feet on the attack.

UAA freshman goaltender Chris Kamal stopped 19 shots in regulation.

Seawolves notes

Both teams learned more about their playoff fates Saturday.

UAA, though not yet mathematically eliminated from home-ice consideration, will be soon. The Seawolves sit ninth in the 12-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association -- the top six earn home ice -- and are four points behind sixth-place Colorado College and three points behind seventh-place Wisconsin. All three teams have two home games remaining.

But Wisconsin and Colorado College finish the regular season with a series, so one is guaranteed to finish above UAA regardless of how the Seawolves do this week at Minnesota State-Mankto.

UAF, meanwhile, will host a best-of-3, first-round Central Collegiate Hockey Association series against Michigan State.

• Ringer alert: The Alaska Airlines Puck Shoot, good for two round-trip tickets anywhere the airline flies, was won by a guy whose retired number hangs from the rafters at Sullivan Arena. Brush Christiansen, the founder of Seawolves hockey and the school's coach for its first 18 seasons, won the prize.

• A Skate with the Seawolves session is open to the public today from 1 to 3 p.m. at Westchester Lagoon.

Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

UAF wins the shootout 2-0

UAF 0 0 1 -- 1

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UAA 3 1 4-- 4

First Period -- 1, UAA, Cameron 4 (Haddad, Kwas), 6:05; 2, UAA, Warner 3 (Parkinson, Bruijsten), 7:16 (pp); 3, UAA, Portwood 1 (Wiles, Parkinson), 13:42. Penalties -- Sova, UAF (cross-checking), 6:54; Gorham, UAA (hooking), 7:29; Sather, UAF (hooking), 9:56; Haddad, UAA (roughing), 14:33.

Second Period -- 4, UAA, Grant 12 (Parkinson, Kwas), 6:12. Penalties -- Meyers, UAF (tripping), :47; Vidmar, UAA (holding), 3:08; Gens, UAF (tripping), 4:22.

Third Period -- 5, UAF, Kunyk 5 (Sova, Gens), 11:36 (pp). Penalties -- Gorham, UAA (tripping), 4:50; Molle, UAF (interference), 5:22; Gorham, UAA (holding), 11:25; Kunyk, UAF (hooking), 12:09; Parkinson, UAA (tripping), 13:00; Grant, UAA (interference), 15:11.

Shootout -- UAF 2 (Beck G, Petovello NG, Taranto G), UAA 0 (Kwas NG, Grant NG).

Shots on goal -- UAF 5-7-8--20. UAA 10-3-2--15.

Power-play Opportunities -- UAF 1 of 8; UAA 2 of 6.

Goalies -- UAF, Greenham, 14-15-5 (15 shots-11 saves). UAA, Kamal, 5-4-1 (20-19).

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A -- 4,622 (6,251). T -- 2:14.

Referees -- Brett Klosowski, Tom Sterns. Assistant referees -- Travis Jackson, Carl Saden.

By DOYLE WOODY

dwoody@adn.com

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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