Granberg's goal with three seconds left lifts hockey to 5-4 win at Notre Dame

January 22, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

Senior forward Jarret Granberg (Foremost, Alberta/Business administration) scored the game-winning goal with just three seconds remaining in regulation and Alaska upset #4/5 Notre Dame 5-4 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

A UND turnover in their defensive zone with eight seconds left in the contes set Granberg up for his heroics. Freshman forward Tyler Morley (Burnaby, B.C./General Studies) fired the puck on UND goalie Steven Summerhays, who made the stop but could not control the puck from deflecting up over his head and landing behind him in the crease. Senior center Nik Yaremchuk (St. Albert, Alberta/Business management) was quick to jump on the gift and attempted to tap it across the goal line, but the puck ricocheted off the pipe. That's when Granberg raced in from the left circle and tapped it in with only a few ticks left on the clock.

“Scoring with three seconds left to get three points rather than going to overtime and a shootout was exciting,” said head coach Dallas Ferguson. “It was good hustle (by that forward line) going to the front of the net and banging in the rebound. I'm happy the guys battled and plugged away and got rewarded tonight."

Granberg was named the Perani Cup first star after notching a pair of markers, including the game-winner, and assisting on another for the Nanooks (9-8-4, 7-7-3-1 CCHA) as they won their third consecutive outing. Yaremchuk produced one goal and a pair of helpers to earn him third star honors.

The Nanooks saw their other two goals come from sophomore left wing Garrick Perry (Apple Valley, Minn./Communication) and senior right wing Andy Taranto (Woodridge, Ill./Communication). Morley also tied Yaremchuk with a team-best two assists.

"Everybody is finding a way to add value right now and help us have success," added Ferguson. "It's not anything new that we're telling them; it's happing for us that we're not going into our shell when something bad happens and that's a credit to them."

Freshman netminder John Keeney (Twin Peaks, Calif./Business administration) got the win in goal for Alaska with 24 saves on 28 shots faced while Steven Summerhays took the loss for the league-leading Irish (15-8-0, 11-4-0-0 CCHA) with his 22 saves on 27 shots.

“Two of the goals were rebounds and two were shot through screens, so I think he (Keeney) is playing solid," said Ferguson. "He's stopping all the ones he supposed to and giving us a chance to win. Our team is starting to feel comfortable playing in front of him and I thought he did another good job for us tonight.”

UND was led by the second star of the Game, Anders Lee, who had one goal and two assists, while T.J. Tynan totaled one goal and an assist. The Irish also had goals by Austin Wuthrich and Mario Lucia. Bryan Rust and Sam Calabrese both notched a pair of assists each in the loss.

The Irish opened the scoring 5:27 into the game when Rust found Lee with a one-timer that fired into the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead.

The Nanooks wasted little time to knot the score at 1-1. Freshman forward Nolan Huysmans (Ponoka, Alberta/Business administration) took a shot that was stopped by Summerhays but Perry got the puck off the rebound and put it away at 7:03.

Forty-five seconds later, Alaska took the lead 2-1 when Yaremchuk scored on a wrist shot from the left side. Morley dished the puck to Granberg, who had his shot turned away but Yaremchuk corralled the puck and sent it past the UND goaltender to put the 'Nooks ahead.

Late in the second period, the Nanooks doubled the advantage to two at 3-1 when Taranto fired a snapper from the top of the left circle that appeared to be saved by Summerhays but he couldn't control the puck and it bounced over him past the line for the score.

Notre Dame responded with a goal of its own just 40 seconds later. Keeney made the initial save on a shot by Lee but Wuthrich was there to clean up the mess and bring the Irish to within 3-2 after two periods.

Just past the midway point of the final period, the Irish squared the contest at 3-3 when Michael Quinn (Surrey, B.C./Geography) turned the puck over and Tynan was all alone on the other end for a short-handed tally that beat Keeney. During that same power play for the Nanooks, Granberg gave Alaska the lead back at 4-3 when he scored on the man advantage 11:16 into the stanza.

Notre Dame tied it once again with just over four minutes to play. Off the draw, Lucia possessed the puck and took a shot that was positioned perfectly in between the pad of Keeney and the left pipe for the game-tying goal.

It appeared the game would head to an extra session but the costly turnover  by UND and multiple chances at the net for the Nanooks proved to be the difference in the series opener.

The win was the Nanooks third in as many games and improved their season road record to 5-2-2. After scoring more than three goals just once in the first half of the season (18 games), Alaska has scored four or more goals in each of its last three.

"They're shooting the puck and going for the rebounds - every one of our goals was scored that way tonight," Ferguson said. "It's something for us to build on and we can continue to get better at it but we'll keep doing what's working and hopefully continue to have the same success."

Alaska and Notre Dame complete the set Saturday at 3:05 p.m. (EST) in a nationally-televised game on the CBS Sports Network. The game can also be heard on the AM dial at ESPN's KCBF 820.

"Tomorrow will be a good test for our team," Ferguson said. "I want to see us dig in and have some push back in our game. We got three points tonight but there are things we can fix and we don't want to continue a trend of allowing four goals a night.”