Bad start for the Nanooks tonight. Defensively fell flat early on and Air Force made them pay. 2 goals within a 34 second span in under 3 minutes put Alaska in a tough spot. Everyone in the rink was as shocked as I was. I had just finished paperwork on that first one when I looked up and saw Demers wide open on the backdoor with the lane open. Couldn't draw it up any better than that. But that's a defensive break down I have not seen from the 'Nooks in a long time.
But the boys got it going and set a good foundation to go to work in the second period. And it paid off. Although Air Force would tack on another to extend the lead, but it was all Alaska the end. And Tyler Morley in his first action on ice this season bagged a big one in the waning minutes of the 2nd to set the stage.
And they pulled it off. A big power play goal from Parayko set up by Kaiser, and a 3 on 1 play for Krieger that turned into gold as he finished by collecting the puck from a shot by Youngman that was covered by a Falcon defenseman. Krieger roofed the shot top shelf next to the thin mints for the game winner.
Not how you want to draw up a win, and I'm glad my heart was healthy enough to make it through that one. Big one tomorrow for the boys against a Penn State team that in reality should have beaten Anchorage. I'm still trying to figure out which orifice the Seawolves pulled that win out from...
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Just so UAA fans heads don't explode, somebody better decide now if they won with a +1 or +0 goal differential.
They have a +0 goal differential. If both Alaska teams win in regulation tonight, 'Nooks win the tournament
That would depend on goals scored tonight. We both would have two "wins." Assuming both Alaska teams win (definitely not a given from what we saw last night), if UAA outscores Air Force by 2 more goals than we outscore Penn State, then UAA would be tourney champ. If Friday's shootout win goes as a 4-3 victory for UAA, I would think we are both +1 differentials for tourney purposes, in which case UAA only needs to best our goal differential with Penn State by one goal. I don't really care, but if UAA fans somehow blame us for the Kendal Tourney rules, you can imagine their vitriol if they should lose the Brice on goal differential. We just need to take care of business and leave no doubt.
...so I spent all that mental effort trying to rationalize the existence of a shootout, when I should have just followed my gut, common sense, and conventional wisdom, and proclaimed they are a waste of time. Last week things just seemed to go the Nooks way and they won. This week the Nooks seemed to struggle quite often but hung in there and won. Good job Nooks.
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