newsminer.com

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — An old adage says that practice makes perfect. On Saturday night in the Ewigleben Ice Arena, it helped make the Alaska Nanooks 2-0 winners over Ferris State for a sweep of the first of two Central Collegiate Hockey Association series of the season between the two teams.

Freshman right wing Justin Brossman produced the game-wining goal, sophomore center Derek Klassen had an assist and an empty-net tally, and senior goaltender Chad Johnson registered 30 saves to raise Alaska’s unbeaten streak against Ferris State to 11 games.

The win moved the Nanooks into a tie for fourth place in the CCHA with the Bulldogs, Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes.

It was the fourth shutout of the season for Alaska, 5-3-0 CCHA and 7-4-1 overall.

The Nanooks recorded 5-0 outcomes against Connecticut in the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage and against Mercyhurst in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush at the Carlson Center. Freshman Scott Greenham backstopped both shutouts.

Johnson’s first shutout came against Bowling Green at the Carlson Center.

Brossman’s first collegiate goal was the game-winner, just 34 seconds into the third period. It was a reward for perfectly executing a drill that the Nanooks had worked on in the Patty Center and during three practices in Ewigleblen.

The drill involves a Nanooks defenseman picking an angle to shoot the puck from high in the offensive zone and off the back boards, leading the forwards to go hard to the net to hopefully have a bounce land on any of their sticks.

It was exactly how Brossman’s goal played out after the teams played to a scoreless tie in the first two periods.

Freshman defenseman Scott Enders fired the puck from the right point to the boards just to the right of Bulldogs goaltender Pat Nagle, and the puck bounced well enough for Brossman to collect it, skate across the front of the crease and slip in a backhand.

“When we got here, we realized their boards were pretty bouncy off the back,” Brossman said. “So, if our defensemen couldn’t get it through to the net, they were told to shoot it off the boards and we’d go to the net.

“It’s a great confidence builder. It’s great to get that first one out of the way and be able to help your team,” Brossman said of the goal that also gave him two points for the weekend. He had an assist on center Adam Naglich’s game-winner in Friday’s 3-2 victory.

Johnson played with confidence and composure Saturday to record his second shutout of the season and third of his career, putting him in a second-place tie with Todd Henderson (1989-93) for career shutouts.

Besides denying every Bulldogs, Johnson secured a 7-for-7 penalty kill, and he’ll finish his career with a unbeaten record (3-0-1) in Ewigleben.

“It’s nice. Obviously, when you get a shutout, you’re putting your team in a good position to win games,” Johnson said. “For me, I don’t really look at beating records. It’s not really my goal for the year, which is to come out in every game and try to help the team win.

“If that means I have to stop everything, I’ll do my best to stop everything.”

Johnson had 39 saves in Friday’s 3-2 win.

Several of the shots that Johnson stopped Saturday came through screens that Ferris State created by quickly transitioning the puck and forming traffic in front of the crease.

“I thought the Nanooks did a good job of blocking shots and keeping a lot of shots from even getting to the net,” said Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels, “and then the ones that did get through, I thought there was sine good symmetry between Johnson and the players ahead of him.”

The Nanooks had 20 blocks to the Bulldogs’ nine.

Daniels said he thought, too, that Johnson was effective in limiting rebounds.

“He did a really good job of controlling any shots that came to him, so there weren’t rebounds laying around in front of his net,” the 17th-year head coach said. “That was a good combination of their defensive play and Chad Johnson.”

Defense accounted for Klassen’s empty-netter with 11 seconds left in the contest — 49 seconds after Nagle was pulled for an extra attacker following a 25-save night for the sophomore goaltender.

Bulldogs defenseman Zach Redmond, positioned at the right point, tried to reach for Nanooks defenseman Steve Vanoosten’s clearing pass that rimmed the boards. Klassen pounced on the puck and flipped it from the blue line into the unoccupied net.

“He kind of bobbled the puck in the middle of the ice,” said Klassen. “It was a rolling puck, and I didn’t try to shoot it too hard because it was rolling, and it was lucky enough that it went in to seal the deal.”

Ferris State, which visits Fairbanks on Feb. 20-21, dropped to 4-4-2 CCHA and 5-6-3 overall.

Contact staff writer Danny Martin at 459-7586.