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Seawolves suffer Saturday meltdown
UAA wins opener, drops wild one
to Nanooks
With about 35 seconds to go in game two of their season-opening
series versus the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University
of Alaska Anchorage hockey team seemed to have it all wrapped
up. UAA was on the verge of a 3-2 win in Fairbanks for the
second straight night, doubling their win total from last
season and gaining a sizable advantage in the race for the
Governor’s Cup, the UAF-UAA series for hockey bragging
rights in Alaska.
But when the game ended, the Seawolves were left open-mouthed
and shocked, while the Nanooks celebrated with pandemonium
at the Carlson Center Oct. 11.
A 3-2 lead for the Seawolves had become a 5-3 deficit.
In just 34.6 seconds.
The UAA meltdown started when icing was called on the
Seawolves, burying the face-off deep in their own zone.
The Nanooks, who had a man advantage after pulling goalie
Keith Bartusch, won the face-off and kicked the puck back
to defenseman Felipe Larranaga near the blue line. Larranaga
rifled a shot, which bounced off UAA goalie Kevin Reiter
in heavy traffic, allowing UAF forward Ryan Campbell to
swoop in for the tie with 28 seconds left.
With the goal still being announced over the Carlson Center
PA, UAA lost the ensuing face-off at center ice and Reiter
watched helplessly as Nanooks Ryan Lang and Cory Rask broke
free. Just 10 seconds after Campbell’s goal, Rask
scored the game-winner.
UAA pulled Reiter in a last-ditch effort to tie and Lang
dropped in an empty-netter to complete the misery.
The Seawolves gave their upstate rivals plenty of trouble,
answering each Nanook goal to enter the third period knotted
at 2-2.
With 9:37 to play, UAA freshman Mark Smith gave the Seawolves
the lead with his second goal of the night. It looked as
though Smith’s goal would be the game-winner until
disaster struck in the last minute.
In Friday’s 3-2 win, the Seawolves faced a two-goal
deficit heading into the second period. UAA had two periods
to recover from but all they needed was one.
The second period was all UAA. Freshman Justin Bourne
and sophomore Chris Fournier scored the first goals of their
UAA careers and senior Dallas Steward capped the comeback
with a point blank score to give UAA the lead for good.
King stopped all 40 shots he faced after the first period.
Despite the loss, the Seawolves can take some positives
away from the series. UAA scored three goals in each game,
something they had done only 10 times in the last 38 games.
Goalies King and Reiter each set career-highs for saves
with 50 and 48, respectively. The senior duo amassed a .942
save percentage in the face of 104 shots on goal for UAF.
Most importantly, the win was UAA’s first since
defeating the Nanooks 4-2 in the opening game of the 2002-03
season – a span of 35 games.
Following a winless drought that long, a road split had
to sound pretty good to the Seawolves coming into the weekend.
But with a different 34.6 seconds, it could’ve been
a perfect weekend.
The UAA volleyball team entered their weekend road trip
riding high on a three-game winning streak and tied for
third place in their conference. Following two losses at
St. Martin’s and Central Washington, the Seawolves
now find themselves in a three-way tie for fifth with their
season in jeopardy.
UAA (10-7, 4-5 GNAC) opened the weekend at last-place
St.Martin’s Oct. 10. The Saints, winless in the GNAC,
took out their frustrations on the Seawolves 32-30, 30-21,
30-16. SMU was led by the match-high efforts of Emily Wofford
(17 kills, seven blocks) and Lisa Hall (41 assists).
Mindy Cason (12 kills) was the only Seawolf with double
digit kills, as UAA had a season-low .081 attack percentage.
The Saints sweep was the first three-game loss for UAA this
season.
The Seawolves attempted to get back on track Oct. 11 against
Central Washington. Down 2-1, UAA battled back to force
a fifth game but the Wildcats shut them down to win 23-30,
30-25, 30-27, 22-30, 15-10.
On paper it would appear that the Seawolves were the better
team as they outhit the Wildcats .251 to .225, outblocked
them 8-3 and outdug them 89-81. But UAA fell behind early
in the fifth and couldn’t recover.
LeAnne McGahuey (20 kills) paced four Central players
with double-digit kills. Kate Reome (17 kills, 18 digs)
and Crystal Ames (69 assists, 14 digs) both had double-doubles
for the Wildcats.
O’Lita McWilliams tallied 20 kills and 20 digs to
lead UAA and Katina Ozrelic pounded down a career-best 17
kills. Libero Kirsten Hunley dug a season-high 20 of UAA’s
89, also a season high.
The Seawolves return home to face in-state rival UAF Saturday,
Oct. 18 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. The Nanooks,
who sit in second place in the GNAC, bested UAA in five
games Sept. 20 in Fairbanks.
The UAA men’s and women’s cross country teams
ran to second and third-place finishes, respectively, at
the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham, Wash.
Four Seawolves placed in the top10 to help the UAA squads
to the solid finishes Oct. 11.
Western Washington, led by Kurt Hartmaier’s winning
time of 32:38, outscored the Seawolves 34-70 to defend their
home turf. Junior Brandon Stum (ninth, 33:26) and senior
Eric Strabel (10th, 33:33) were the only UAA runners to
crack the top 10, with senior Todd List in 13th place with
a time of 33:53 over the 10-kilometer course.
Bolstered by the fifth and sixth-place finishes of juniors
Stacy Edwards (23:15) and Sarah Hansen (23:18), the UAA
women narrowly lost out on second place to Central Washington
78-79. Led by Jamie Witt’s winning time of 22:14,
Seattle Pacific took the top team spot in the 6K affair.
UAA has a week off before they head to Monmouth, Ore.,
for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships
on Oct. 25.
UAA Results at WWU Invitational:
Men’s 10-K
9. Brandon Stum 33:26
10. Eric Strabel 33:33
13. Todd List 33:53
18. Drew Dickson 34:26
20. Aaron Dickson 34:35
40. Leif Olson 36:38
Women’s 6-K
5. Stacy Edwards 23:15
6. Sarah Hansen 23:18
19. Davya Baker 24:20
21. Lindsay Krous 24:22
28. Stephanie Myers 24:36
31. Danielle Pratt 25:01
37. Anjuli Haydu 25:52 |
