The Falcons hockey team defeated the Alaska Nanooks 2-1 on Friday night before falling in a shootout 3-2 on Saturday night.
“I thought our guys responded pretty good overall,” Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron said. “Hard fought games, Alaska’s had a good eight games so far in their season, I knew they were going to have a response (on Saturday), and they did, but our team did as well. I think, overall, it was a pretty typical series in the WCHA.”
On Friday, the first period had Alaska go up at the 7:15 mark, as Troy Van Tetering scored the first goal of the game. They would hold the 1-0 advantage for the rest of the period despite the Falcons outshooting Alaska 9-4 in the period.
“I thought we started really well in the first period,” Bergeron said. “We thought the attempts were 20-6 or something like that. I thought we started much better, and it starts with our effort, and our effort was much better tonight.”
In the second period, it was the Falcons that were able to even the game back up, as senior forward Mitch McLain redirected a shot in front of the net at the 11:05 mark. The teams remained tied as they headed into the third period.
It wouldn’t take long for the Falcons to find the back of the net in the third, as sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser scored just 55 seconds in to take the lead for the first time in the game. While the team was able to hang on to the advantage for most of the remainder of the game, it was far from over, as Alaska had a late power play chance with the net empty: however the Falcons were able to stave off a number of late chances to take the 2-1 victory.
“Hand it to our guys, they hung in there,” Bergeron said. “I think you have to not let frustration sneak in there because you’re not scoring, just continue to believe that the opportunities are going to lead to goals, and then stay with the process and so on, all of the things that we preach, which is easier said than done at times, but I thought our guys did a decent job with that.”
However, the team was also looking to improve on finishing games going forward, as they felt it was Alaska that had the momentum toward the end of the game.
“Through two periods, I thought we had the better of the scoring chances for sure,” Bergeron said. “The third period will probably show the other way. They started to close that gap a little bit, and as we talked about, they’re down a goal, they’re pushing hard, they’re desperate, and we didn’t take our foot off the gas. We just got outplayed and outcompeted at times through that third, but I think through the first two periods we had the better of the chances.”
In Saturday’s game in the first period, it was the Falcons who jumped out to the early lead, with sophomore forward Frederic Letourneau getting a goal at the 9:54 mark. Alaska would respond with a goal of their own just a couple of minutes later from forward Kylar Hope to tie the game at one each, where both teams would stand as they went into the second period.
In the second, the teams remained in a draw for most of the period until the Falcons got a power play opportunity. Alaska was able to hold the team off until sophomore forward Stephen Baylis broke through late in the power play to put the Falcons back into the lead at 7:16.
The third period again saw the teams go scoreless through the first half of the period, but Alaska capitalized on a scoring chance at 8:54 to tie the game up once again. Despite some chances late, neither team was able to break through in regulation, leading to the game into overtime.
“I think that we found a level that we weren’t able to find for most of the game in the third,” Bergeron said. “In my experience with this group, it’s not easy to do if we don’t have an early end, it’s tough to find.”
In the first period of overtime, the Falcons took all of the shots, with four to Alaska’s zero. However, none of those chances were able to find the back of the net, leading to the teams going into a second period of overtime. The Falcons began on a power play, but were unable to capitalize, as again the teams went scoreless, requiring a sudden death shootout to determine the winner.
It didn’t take long in the shootout for Alaska to score, as Chad Staley put the puck in the net on the first attempt. The Falcons sent senior forward Brett D’Andrea as their first shooter, however the ensuing shot went wide and Alaska took the 3-2 win. However, the game officially counted as a tie in the WCHA standings.
The team is also looking to build on the number of scoring chances they were able to create as well as look at how to finish them.
“We’re going back to work and look at the chances we created,” Bergeron said. “We’ll look at how we could have attacked those chances a little bit differently and maybe get a different result next time in terms of goals.”
The team will next play in their first WCHA road series on Friday and Saturday nights against the Michigan Tech Huskies.
