Bemidji, Minn. – Junior winger Brandon Morley scored three goals to lift the Alaska Nanooks hockey team to a 4-3 victory in game one of their Western Collegiate Hockey Association series against Bemidji State University at the Sanford Center on Friday night. The victory marks Alaska's first road win of the season and helps the Nanooks improve to 4-5-0 overall (2-3 WCHA), while the Beavers drop to 1-5-2 (0-4-1 WCHA).

"Some nights you play well enough to win, and you don't. Every once in a while, you don't deserve to win, but you do," Head Coach Dallas Ferguson described of the game. "Tonight was one of those nights. We found a way to win and that is a good sign for our team."

Before Friday's win, B. Morley only had two goals and one assist on the season, totaling three points after eight games. After completing his first career hat trick with the Nanooks, the Burnaby, British Columbia native moves to five goals, one assist combining for a total of six points in nine games in the 2015-16 season. The junior also posted the highest plus/minus rating of both teams on the night with +4.

"We were opportunistic and it was great to finish on some of our chances," Ferguson explained. "Brandon showed great composure on all three of his goals tonight. He works extremely hard eac h and every night, so I'm glad to see the puck going in the net for him."

Freshman goalie Jesse Jenks gets his career second win, making a career-high 31 saves, while Bemidji's Michael Bitzer stopped 15 of Alaska's shots.  Jenks stayed cool-headed in goal after two early first period goals from the Beavers, but came up big on multiple odd man rushes against the Nanooks throughout the game. BSU outshot the Nanooks in all three periods, totaling 34 shots to Alaska's 19.

The Beavers didn't waste any time putting themselves on the board in front of a 3,008 person home crowd, when Charlie O'Connor scored 23 seconds into the game. Four minutes later, Sophomore Nick Hinz and senior Josh Atkinson both took penalties early in the first period as BSU capitalized on a 5-on-3 opportunity to make it 2-0 mid-way through the first.

B. Morley answered back, netting his first goal at 16:41 as sophomore assistant captain Zach Frye shot the puck on net from the blue line with senior Tyler Morley screening in front of Bitzer. B. Morley picked up the rebound in the slot and fired it past BSU to make it 2-1, with assists coming from Frye and senior forward Nolan Huysmans.

Alaska's second goal came when the Nanooks capitalized on a bad BSU defensive zone change. Alaska's forwards forechecked the two Bemidji defensemen, forcing a turnover straight to B. Morley who was alone above the offensive zone circles. The junior winger walked in and scored unassisted to make it 2-2 with 40 seconds left in the first period.

The Beavers moved ahead 3-2 at the 12:35 mark of the second period, as BSU's Leo Fitzgerald scored on a 2-on-1, give-and-go from his brother and teammate Gerry Fitzgerald, low in the Nanook zone.

 The Nanooks caught a break four minutes later, as B. Morley and freshman defenseman Jack Weiss started a 2-on-1 odd man rush down the ice. B. Morley faked a pass to Weiss in the slot and fired it far side to complete the hat trick and tie the game 3-3. Junior Josh Erickson scored his first goal of the season shorthanded on a JD Peterson tripping penalty. After pressuring the Beavers power play while they were setting up in their defensive zone, Erickson forced the Beavers to move the puck behind the net, where it took a bounce and landed behind Bitzer.

Although going 0-3 on power play opportunities, Alaska's special teams came up big against Bemidji killing six of seven penalties and scoring a shorthanded game winning goal.

"We are happy to start the two-week road trip with a win, but we know we need to play a better game tomorrow to be successful," Ferguson concluded.
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The Nanooks will continue to look for their first weekend sweep of the season tomorrow night, as Alaska takes on Bemidji State University in game two of their WCHA weekend series at the Sanford Center. Puck drop is set for 4:07 p.m. AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like Alaska Nanooks Hockey on Facebook. 

*Correction: as of Nov. 14th at noon AKST, Alaska's fourth goal was given to Zach Frye instead of Josh Erickson