One day after everything came so easily offensively for UND, Alaska clogged things up and made it a difficult night for a team that once again was skating considerably shorthanded. It ended in a 2-1 Nanook win and a third Brice Alaska Goal Rush title for the host squad.
Game stories:
Other notes:
- Three UND players got on the all-tournament team: forward Mark MacMillan, defenseman Jordan Schmaltz, goaltender Clarke Saunders.
- UND defenseman Joe Gleason said the team had a lot of trouble with the breakout early in the game. Alaska was pinching defensemen up on the wingers and it was making it hard on the team’s transition.
- While UND’s defensemen got the puck to the net a lot in Friday’s opener (11 shots on goal), that wasn’t so much the case in the finale (6 shots on goal). The Nanooks blocked a remarkable 31 shots — 9 in the first, 10 in the second and 12 in the third.
- Colten St. Clair, who scored his first-career goal in the game, also led UND with five shots on goal.
- Gleason lamented the team’s power play after the game. UND went 0-for-6 with the extra man. He said that’s unacceptable. The part UND won’t like is that it didn’t have any shots on its first four power plays (one was only 17 seconds long).
- With the captains back in the lineup, Gleason no longer had the ‘C’ on his sweater.
- Coltyn Sanderson was the 10th forward. UND spotted him shifts. He was the only guy in the lineup who didn’t have a shot on goal.
- Clarke Saunders played well, even though he lost his first game with UND. He appears to have an edge on Zane Gothberg in the battle to be the No. 1 right now.
- UND left Fairbanks on a 1:30 a.m. red eye flight and will go through Seattle and Minneapolis en route back to Grand Forks. They won’t get in until the late afternoon.
- UND players and coaches were pleased with the effort, saying that wasn’t a problem. As for more on Hakstol’s thoughts on what he saw this weekend with a depleted lineup, check Monday’s Herald (will be writing that story on the plane).
Thanks for the update. Hak will turn it around, always does. However, why does UND travel to Alaska at the beginning of the year? No doubt traveling to Alaska takes a toll on the kids. Traveling to Alaska makes it tremendously more difficult to play two very bad teams. Why give that advantage to Alaska? No one else does it with the frequency of The Sioux. It’s bad for the team, makes it hard to watch, and levels the playing field against a superior exam. I hope this stops next year.
Hakstol likes challenging the team early in the year. Also it’s a good road trip for team building.
Absolutely right. They have been going there the last few years and although they may split, they always turn it around and are a real threat come march and april
Also, a trip to Alaska means you can have an extra home series.
With basically a full squad against AA this coming weekend I fully expect the Sioux to run the seapups right out of the building especially with what 15 skaters did to them this past friday night. No excuses.
It will definitely be different to have a full lineup for UND. I also expect UAA to be better than they were in the first game. They really had a bad night.
I was a little shocked when Gleason wasn’t named a captain due to his willingness to play every position and being the epitome of a team player. But, the team had a good group to choose from.