ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team skated to a 1-1 overtime tie in game two of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup on Saturday, tying in-state rival the University of Alaska Anchorage at the Sullivan Arena. After defeating the Seawolves 2-1 on Friday night, the Nanooks earn three Western Collegiate Hockey Association points on the weekend, improving their overall record to 5-10-3 (3-8-3 WCHA), while the Seawolves move to 8-7-3 overall (5-5-2).

"To start off the game by killing three penalties was a little rough," head coach Dallas Ferguson explained, "but I think once we got through that, we started gaining momentum and flow and that helped us going into the second period. There was a span there where we were pushing hard and were able to make a nice play on the four-on-four to tie the game, but overall, it was another great college hockey game. Both teams competed hard, created scoring chances and both goaltenders were the stars of the game."

The Nanooks were backed by another stellar performance from freshman goaltender Jesse Jenks, who made 32 saves on the night. In another battle of the goaltenders, UAA's sophomore tender Olivier Mantha made 25 saves on the other end of the ice. The Nanooks were outshot by the Seawolves 33-26 and neither team was able to capitalize on the man-advantage.

"The only goal they scored tonight was a d-zone turnover with some traffic in front of him, but other than that, Jesse's doing exactly what we're expecting of our starting goaltender. He's making all the saves he's supposed to and being smart about letting certain ones go to continue play, I like the calmness in net and the squareness to the shooters," Ferguson said of the rookie goaltender. 

The Seawolves struck first in Saturday's contest, when Anchorage native and sophomore forward Connor Wright put the Seawolves up 1-0 at the 2:04 mark of the first period. After a long shift for the Nanooks, Wright found himself alone in the corner, where he walked up to the half-wall and fired it on net, scoring five-hole on Jenks. Wright's second goal of the season was assisted by Austin Azurdia and Jarrett Brown.

Alaska responded late in the second period, when senior forward Tyler Morley tied things up at the 16:40 mark. Playing four-on-four hockey, the Nanooks had set up in the Seawolf zone before senior defenseman Josh Atkinson kicked the puck across the blue line to sophomore defenseman Nick Hinz. Hinz faked a shot on goal before firing the puck through a seam in the slot that found T. Morley alone backdoor to beat Mantha. T. Morley's goal is his eighth of the season (14th point), Atkinson's fifth assist (six points) and Hinz's fourth (four points).

"I think it was a really great heads-up play by Nick Hinz," Ferguson said of the lone Alaska goal. "The guys were able to spread them apart and their goaltender is always good, especially when he sees the first shot so we knew how important it was to make him move east-west, and luckily Tyler got it off his stick quick, but overall it was a great feed from Nick Hinz."
In a nail-biting third period, Alaska was unable to score on two power play chances, with the Seawolves doing a good job putting sticks in lanes and breaking plays up. Going into overtime, the momentum chose to the be in the Nanooks favor, after Alaska killed off a five minute penalty on sophomore Austin Vieth to end the third period.

"Our penalty kill was huge for us tonight. They killed off the three penalties at the start of the game and came up big during the five minute major in the third. It was great to see the penalty kill coming through when we need them," Ferguson said.

The Seawolves made the most of the overtime period, putting four shots on net to Alaska's two. Jenks proved once again why he's starting for the Nanooks, stopping two Seawolf odd-man rushes late in OT to end game two of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup in a hard-fought tie.

After Saturday's league contest, the Nanooks remain in the number nine position in the WCHA standings with nine points, while the Seawolves are tied for sixth place with 12 points. The Nanooks take a couple weeks off for the holiday break but return to the Carlson Center Saturday, Jan. 1 and Sunday, Jan. 2 for a two-game WCHA series hosting the Bemidji State Beavers.

"I think we played two good hockey games this weekend and when you play like that, obviously you wish you could keep playing," Ferguson concluded. "It's that time of the year when the guys need to finish up strong in school and get some bodies rested. We're going to have a really tough second half push, trying to make up points. With six of our first eight games on the road, we've got to get through that first month by utilizing the break and making sure our bodies and our minds are rested."

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