Anchorage, AK – The Falcons struggled mightily in game two of their weekend series in UAA, falling to the Seawolves 6-1.
In an identical battery to last night’s contest, Tommy Burke started in net for the Falcons before being pulled with 1:16 to play in the second period. He stopped 17 of 20 shots in the losing effort. Chris Nell replaced Burke and stopped eight of 11 Seawolf shots. Olivier Mantha countered for the Seawolves and stopped 27 of 28 Falcon shots.
First Period
Neither team was able to find the net in the first frame, despite the Seawolves having a two minute power play. Burke stopped all 10 Seawolf shots he faced while Mantha saved all 8 Falcon attempts.
Second Period
Anchorage struck first at 4:14 of the second period while the Seawolves were on their third power play of the game. Chase Van Allen fired a bomb from the blueline that beat a screened Tommy Burke for his second goal of the season.
The Seawolves extended their lead at 5:57 of the second period. Austin Azurdia skated from the near corner across the crease before wristing the puck between Burke’s pads.
The Falcons scored their first goal at 13:33 of the second period. Brandon Hawkins followed the rebound of his shot, chopping the puck back onto the ice. Matt Pohlkamp got a hard stick onto the puck and beat Mantha.
The Seawolves would again extend their lead to 3-1 at 18:34 of the second period. A turnover in the Falcon defensive zone led to Tad Kozun scoring his sixth goal of the season. Chris Nell replaced Burke after the Seawolves third goal.
Anchorage would tack on a fourth goal at 19:52 while shorthanded. Dylan Hubbs took a Matt Anholt pass and buried a wrist shot past Nell for his sixth goal of the season.
Burke stopped seven of ten Seawolf chances he faced in the second frame. Nell allowed a goal on the one chance he faced. Mantha made seven saves on eight attempts.
Third Period
The Seawolves tallied their fifth marker at 14:51 of the third period. Anthony Conti found a rebound from Austin Azurdia and buried the shot for his fourth goal of the season. Anchorage then tallied their penultimate goal at 17:45 as Austin Azurdia scored his second goal of the game.
Bowling Green challenged Mantha 11 times in the third period with no goals. Anchorage fired 10 shots on Nell, with the freshman goaltender saving eight shots.
The Wrap-Up
With the loss the Falcon’s drop to 19-10-5, 15-8-3. Anchorage improves to 8-20-4, 5-19-2 on the season…Brandon Hawkins remains tied with C.J. Franklin of Minnesota State with 24 points for leading freshman scorer…This was the first game this season where the Falcons gave up two power play goals in a game. It’s also only the second weekend that the Falcons have given up power play goals in back-to-back games during a series…With the loss the Falcons dropped to #14 in the Pairwise rankings. They sat at #11 before the loss.
