University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

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HOUGHTON, Mich. – Earlier this season, Michigan Tech swept Alaska over Thanksgiving weekend in Fairbanks. The Nanooks, in much need for points this weekend, returned the favor in the road series, except they ran the Huskies out of their own barn in doing so.

Sophomore right wing Nolan Huysmans (Ponoka, Alberta/Business Administration) produced a career-high four points to lead Alaska to another lopsided Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory, cruising past Michigan Tech 7-2 Saturday at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Huysmans scored one goal to go with a career-high three assists as part of his seven-point weekend to help the Nanooks (14-12-4, 11-11-2 WCHA) to their first conference road sweep of the year and first since Jan. 18-19, 2013, when they beat Notre Dame 5-4 and 2-1 in South Bend, Ind. It was the fourth win in a row for Alaska and the sixth out of the last seven as it ended its regular season road schedule with a 6-6-2 mark at opponents' home rinks.

The Nanooks scored the most goals in a single weekend series in 11 seasons, when they beat Wayne State 6-2 and 8-2 on Dec. 6-7, 2002, at home and it was also the most goals in a road series since Feb. 1-2, 2002, when they scored 13 goals in the sweep at Notre Dame.

Senior left wing Colton Beck (Langley, British Columbia/Business Administration) scored two goals and added an assist for his fourth-straight multi-point game, moving him to 93 career points. 

Sophomore center Tyler Morley (Burnaby, British Columbia/Business Administration) recorded a goal and two helpers and junior left wing Jared Larson (Apple Valley, Minn./Business Administration) had a goal and an assist while senior center Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business Administration) and sophomore defenseman Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration) each tallied a pair of assists in the win.

For the fourth straight outing and fifth out of six games, junior goaltender Sean Cahill (Calgary, Alberta/Business Administration) notched the win in net, improving his season record to 6-3-1 after stopping 17 MTU shots on 19 faced.

The Nanooks went 3-for-7 on the power play while successfully killing off 4-of-5 Tech man advantages. They outshot the hosts 31-19 and won the battle in the face-off circle by a 39-31 margin. Alaska also out blocked MTU 19-12, led by Parayko's career-high eight blocks.
 
For the Huskies, Blake Hietala had a goal and an assist while their other score came from Tanner Kero. Pheonix Copley took the loss for the second-straight outing, allowing five goals while making 21 saves in two periods, dropping his record to 8-10-5. Jamie Phillips took over in the third only to make just three stops and allow a pair of scores.
 
The Nanooks opened the scoring 8:59 into the game with a battle out front of the net and Beck was able to sneak it past Copley for the 1-0 lead. Late in the period and on the power play, Cody Kunyk fed the puck left to right in front and Beck buried his second of the night with only 5.4 ticks left on the one-timer shot.
 
Alaska took a 3-0 advantage 6:43 into the second period with a nice passing play. Jared Larson worked with the puck on the right side and fed it to an open Huysmans through the slot with a backhand dish and Huysmans fired it home for his first of the night.
 
At 9:02, the program had its first brother-to-brother score of the year as Tyler Morley took a shot that was saved but Brandon Morley was there to clean it up to make it a 4-0 game. The beating continued just past the 14 minute mark when Larson redirected a shot by Huysmans on the rush, giving the visitors a huge five-goal lead. MTU got on the board at 19:18 of the second on the power play when Kero fired a shot from the point that beat Cahill through traffic to make it 6-1.
 
Alaska regained a five-goal lead 1:48 into the third with a power-play tally of its own. Beck passed the puck to Tyler Morley and the sophomore used a stick move with the possession, faking out the goalie and he was able to beat him stick side to up the lead to 6-1.
 
Tech scored its second of the night with a redirect goal by Hietala after Chris Leibinger took a shot from the point, cutting it to 6-2 with 7:32 to go but Alaska finished off the game with another power-play strike. Tyler Morley gave the puck off to senior defenseman Michael Quinn (Surrey, British Columbia/Geograpy) and the assistant captain ripped a shot that beat Phillips top shelf over his glove hand.

Alaska will have next week off before closing the season with four straight at home, beginning with fourth-ranked Ferris State on Feb. 28 – March 1 at the Carlson Center.