March 11, 2008

By Danny Martin
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published Tuesday, March 11, 2008

OMAHA, NE -- The Alaska Nanooks showed character Sunday night in one of the longest games in Central Collegiate Hockey Association history and the eighth-longest contest in NCAA hockey annals.

Several Nanooks were playing in pain before they suffered a 2-1, tripple-overtime defeat to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in a first-round playoff series at the Qwest Center.

Senior goaltender Wylie Rogers had a foot problem when he set a CCHA single-game playoff record with 64 saves.

"Most guys would probably be on crutches, but he's playing hockey with a broken foot and he's blocking shots," Nanooks head coach Doc DelCastillo said after the loss.

Other Nanooks who were bothered by injuries but endured 104 minutes, 22 seconds of playing time Sunday included right wing Landon Novotney, junior center Adam Naglich, senior and defenseman/forward Brandon Gawryletz. Senior right wing Ryan Muspratt missed the second and third games of the series after sustaining a lower-body injury while taking an open-ice hit from Mavericks right wing Mick Lawrence in the first period of Thursday's 4-3 loss.

Freshman wing Nathan Lawrence made the trip to Omaha, but didn't play because of a jaw injury.

DelCastillo commended Alaska trainer Mike Curtin for getting the hurt Nanooks ready to play.

"He's done a great job as far as mending these guys together and finding a way to get them on the ice," DelCastillo said. "I've got all the respect in the world for these guys, their leadership, the character and the sacrifice they put in this program."

To add to the pain of the already sore Nanooks, overtime periods in the playoffs are 20 minutes each, compared to five minutes for an overtime session in the regular season.

Players from both teams got tired during the extra periods Sunday.

"It's one of those games where it seems that your legs get heavy about the end of the third period, beginning of overtime," said Mavericks junior center J.P. Platisha, who scored the game-winner at 4:22 of the third OT, "but after that happens, you just find the energy somewhere else and it just carries you through. I'm sure Alaska was feeling the same way, too, in the third period."

Rogers encouraged his teammates as much as they did him.

"They were encouraging me the whole time," Rogers said. "Everyone was tired out there, but everyone was patting each other, making sure they didn't run out of steam.

"All of it came from the extra conditioning that we do to make sure guys had their legs, making sure they were ready to go."

The Nanooks ended the season at 9-21-5, and Sunday's loss made them 14-23-0 in playoff action since joining the CCHA in 1994-95.

Nanooks honored

Novotney and defenseman Jeff Penner were named Monday as honorable mention selections to the All-CCHA Rookie Team.

Novotney, who played with a shoulder problem during the playoffs, led the Nanooks with 16 goals in 35 games, which were the second most by a freshman in the CCHA this season.

Novotney was suprised to learn of the recognition.

"That's an honor, to be put in a category with a lot of those players," Novotney said. "It's unbelievable. I really don't know what to say."

Novotney finished the season as the Nanooks' third-leading scorer, compiling 25 points, including a goal and three assists in the first-round series against Nebraska-Omaha, and a team-high seven power play goals.

Penner, who left Monday for a spring break trip, ended his rookie season with five goals and seven assists for 12 points, finished seventh in team scoring and second among Nanooks defensemen.

Overtime strategy

Neither the Nanooks nor the Mavericks had experienced a three-overtime game before Sunday, and DelCastillo kept one thing consistent about Alaska.

He rotated three forward lines Sunday, which he had done throughout the season.

While Nebraska-Omaha used four lines in the playoffs, DelCastillo said he went with three because most of Alaska's goal production throughout the season came from its top three lines.

"To win a game like that, you've got to score goals," DelCastillo said. "You're only going to get so many opportunities and I'm going to put the guys in the lineup who have scored goals throughout the year."

Alaska's short-handed goal in the first period came from junior center Trevor Hyatt, who started the contest as the fourth-line center.

Hyatt didn't see action in overtime, but he was more concerned about the team than playing time.

"As long as we're playing well, that's all that matters," Hyatt, who had a goal and an assist in the regular season, said Sunday after the game. "The right guys were in at the right times, and certain guys, like (senior left wing) Aaron Lee, were playing unreal.

"If you see those guys are playing well in the game, those are the guys you have got to go with in overtime. I think we played a really good game tonight, but we just didn't get the bounce there at the end."