Monday, October 30, 2006

Bulldogs caged in Alaska

Article by Bob Hendrickson

The long trip home from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Big Rapids became even longer for Ferris State as the Alaska Nanooks swept the Bulldogs by 2-1 and 4-2 scores in their Friday-Saturday series played in the 49th state last weekend.

On Friday, Kyle Greentree scored during a two-man advantage with 4:21 remaining in a tight game to give the Nanooks a 2-1 victory.

Alaska took a 1-0 lead at 4:38 of the second period on a Brandon Gawryletz goal as he beat Bulldog netminder Mitch O'Keefe on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box.

Ferris knotted the score at 1-1 on a goal by defenseman Jim Jorgensen assisted by Justin Lewandowski and Brendan Connolly at 17:04 of the third period.

The Bulldogs outshot the Nanooks, 29-23.

The Nanooks completed their sweep Saturday as they jumped out to a three-goal lead before defenseman Joe Van Culin scored during a Bulldog two-man advantage with 4:12 remaining in the third period. Chris Zarb and Zac Pearson got the assists.

With 2:32 remaining in the contest, Lewandowski scored an even-strength goal on assists by Matt Frank and Connolly to narrow the gap to 3-2, but Alaska got an empty-net goal with 11 seconds to play. The Bulldogs were only able to convert on one of 14 power-play chances during the two-game set.

The Bulldogs (3-5-0, 1-3-0 CCHA) next take on the Michigan State Spartans next Tuesday in East Lansing before hosting MSU on Friday, November 10 in Big Rapids.

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