ANCHORAGE - Alaska Fairbanks snapped a 10-game winless
streak against UAA and went up 1-0 in the 2010 Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup
with a 7-4 win over the Seawolves at the Sullivan Arena Friday night. The two
teams will meet tonight in Fairbanks to decide the Cup champion, which has been
owned by the Seawolves for the past three seasons. UAA will need a win and
shootout victory in Fairbanks to retain the Cup.
UAF improved to
15-9-9 overall while UAA is now 10-19-2.
Down 5-3 after two periods, the Seawolves climbed to within
one on Kevin Clark's second goal of the night and his team-leading 19th
goal of the season just 48 seconds into the third on assists from Luka Vidmar
and Josh Lunden. But UAF's Andy Taranto squelched the comeback with two
third-period tallies - giving him a hat trick on the night - to lead the
Nanooks to victory.
The Seawolves jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the game's onset
on back-to-back power-play tallies by Lunden at 9:39 and Tommy Grant just one
minute later. Lee Baldwin and Grant assisted on Lunden's goal while Baldwin and
Brad Gorham were credited with assists on Grant's tally.
But the Nanooks stormed back with three unanswered goals by Taranto
(11:57), Ron Meyers (15:07) and Derek Klassen (16:32) to forge a 3-2 lead at
the end of one.
In the second frame UAF sandwiched goals by Brandon Knelsen (5:57)
and Dustin Sather (12:01) around a goal by the Seawolves' Clark at 8:02 to go
up 5-3 at the end of two periods. Curtis Leinweber and Kane Lafranchise
assisted on Clark's goal. That set the stage for the deciding third period.
The Seawolves owned a 27-19 shots on goal advantage. UAA goaltender
Bryce Christianson (3-7-0), a starter for the first time since Dec. 5, was credited
with 12 saves while UAF's Scott Greenham had 23 in improving his season mark to
15-9-9.
Both teams were lethal on the power play, as UAA went
3-for-5 and UAF went 2-for-5.
UAA leads the all-time series between the two teams,
80-49-11.
