Anchorage Daily News

UAA's athletic department might want to renegotiate its corporate sponsorship agreement with that fast-food franchise mentioned over the public-address system at Sullivan Arena each time the school's hockey team goes on the penalty-kill.

After all, the Seawolves' penalty box was busier than a late-night drive-thru Friday, when the game at played out like a 2 hour, 7-minute advertisement for the Golden Arches.

Even so, UAA killed 12 of Colorado College's staggering 13 power plays and feasted on a third-period rally to register a tasty 4-2 victory over the nation's No. 3-ranked team.

That made the Seawolves' post-game pizza quite the happy meal.

And check out this delicious irony: The game-winning goal came on junior center Paul Crowder's short-handed goal, the Seawolves' first shortie this season.

"We kicked down a road block against one of the best teams in the country,'' said UAA coach Dave Shyiak.

Not only did the Seawolves improve to 7-4-2 overall and leapfrog into a three-way tie for third place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association at 4-3-2, they prospered in the face of two fruitless two-man advantages for the Tigers (7-3-3, 5-3-1 WCHA). Colorado College came up empty on a pair of second-period 5-on-3s that lasted 43 seconds and 1:49, respectively.

The Tigers only managed 11 power-play shots on a night when the Seawolves blocked nearly one-third of their attempts -- 18 of 57. That was particularly impressive considering the Tigers had scored eight power-play goals on 20 attempts in their three previous games.

"We weren't scrambly,'' Crowder said. "We stuck to our system, took away their half-wall guy and took away the one-timer. We played the system to a T.''

No one could attest to that more than UAA goaltender Jon Olthuis (25 saves).

"I think we're one of the best teams in the league at staying in (shooting) lanes,'' he said. "There's so many shots from the point that never see my net because they get blocked. And we don't give up cross-seam passes.''

He got no argument from Tigers coach Scott Owens, who thought his power-play guys were too cute with the puck and played aimlessly on the perimeter.

"We tried to get style points instead of going to the dirty areas to do the dirty work,'' Owens said.

Meanwhile, the Seawolves generally maintained their cool as the announced crowd of 3,105 bombarded referees Craig Welker and Karl Olm with boos. During one stretch spanning the first and second periods, the Tigers enjoyed seven consecutive power plays, including those 5-on-3s.

"We told the guys it was comical,'' Shyiak said. "Guys were laughing it was so comical. It kept the bench loose, and we became more dangerous penalty killing.

"A lot of the penalties were deserved, but many weren't. It takes away from the beauty of the game, and we have to get it right -- players, coaches and officials.''

Crowder said the Seawolves figured lamenting their plight wouldn't solve anything.

"We just had to keep positive on the bench and on the ice,'' he said. "We had to keep moving forward and not worry about the refs. We could still make our own future.''

The Seawolves did so in the third period, which opened as a 1-1 tie courtesy of Chad Rau's first- period goal for Colorado College and Crowder's second-period goal.

Craig Parkinson gave UAA a 2-1 lead at 2:59 of the third, banging a Tyler Moir rebound over the glove of Tigers senior goalie Drew O'Connell of Anchorage. O'Connell made 18 saves, many of them terrific, including power-play stops on Tommy Grant and Josh Lunden not long before Parkinson struck.

With UAA's Ken Selby serving time for interference 29 seconds after Parkinson's goal, Crowder and Grant busted in on O'Connell 2-on-1 with Crowder carrying the puck.

"The D-man went to Grant and the goalie was halfway playing the pass,'' Crowder explained. "I kind of flared (my shot) a bit, didn't get much on it -- went in off his glove.

"They all count. We'll say it was a bomb.''

Tigers senior wing Eric Walsky, who began his career at UAA and assisted on Rau's goal, scored on a power-play rebound midway through the third to cut UAA's lead to 3-2.

Still, the Seawolves killed one more Tigers power play.

"They didn't lose their composure, and they were rewarded,'' Owens said.

And with O'Connell off for an extra attacker in the last minute, Grant bagged an empty-net goal to tie Crowder for the team high in goals (8).

"Good win,'' Shyiak said, before reconsidering. "Great win.''

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

CC 1 0 1 -- 2

UAA 0 1 3 -- 4

First Period -- 1, CC, Rau 8 (Walsky), 11:08. Penalties -- Crowder, UAA (hooking), 1:11; Johnson, CC (interference), 3:47; Lovdahl, UAA (hooking), 13:55; Vidmar, UAA (holding), 15:13.

Second Period -- 2, UAA, Crowder 7 (Grant), 12:26. Penalties -- Moir, UAA (tripping), 1:59; Hunt, UAA (slashing), 2:11; Hunt, UAA (slashing), 2:11; Hunt, UAA (interference), 10:14; Lunden, UAA (interference), 14:43; Clark, UAA (slashing), 16:25; Schultz, CC (embellishment), 16:25; Crowder, UAA (hooking), 17:21; Testwuide, CC (holding), 19:36.

Third Period -- 3, UAA, Parkinson 4 (Moir), 2:59; 4, UAA, Crowder 8 (Grant), 3:28 (sh); 5, CC, Walsky 9 (Connelly, Rau), 9:58 (pp); 6, UAA, Grant 8, 19:35 (en). Penalties -- Selby, UAA (interference), 3:12; Bales, UAA (tripping), 8:09; McCulloch, CC (interference), 8:15; Robinson, UAA (interference), 8:35; Lovdahl, UAA (roughing), 11:11; Lowery, CC (slashing), 11:59; Gannon, CC (holding), 13:50.

Shots on goal -- CC 9-10-8--27. UAA 3-4-15--22.

Power-play Opportunities -- CC 1 of 13; UAA 0 of 4.

Goalies -- CC, O'Connell 1-1-0 (21 shots-18 saves). UAA, Olthuis 4-3-0 (27-25).

A -- 3,105 (6,251). T -- 2:07.

Referees -- Olm, Welker. Linesmen -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.

UAF 3, Ferris St. 2

Ryan Hohl and Adam Naglich scored four minutes apart midway through the third period Friday night to help UAF earn a 3-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association win at Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich.

Naglich's game-winning, even-strength goal with less than seven minutes provided the Nanooks with their only lead of the evening. Hohl's power-play strike, his second goal of the game, forged a 2-2 tie four minutes earlier.

Nanooks goaltender Chad Johnson stopped 39 shots.

The Nanooks improved to 6-4-1 overall and 4-3-0 in the CCHA.

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