HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Alaska Nanooks walked away from the Von Braun Center in with five Western Collegiate Hockey Association points on Saturday afternoon, as the Nooks defeated the Alabama Huntsville Chargers 3-1 for their first conference win since Oct. 29 against Lake Superior State. Alaska improves to an overall record of 4-7-1 overall and 3-4-1 in conference play, while the Chargers drop to 4-8-2 overall, 4-4-2 WCHA.
"We are happy with both the results and our performances tonight. Five out of six points on the road against a tough Charger team is a big weekend for our young group," head coach Dallas Ferguson said on Saturday. "Our special teams were solid throughout the game and played a big part in getting the win tonight."
The Chargers got on the board first, when Hunter Anderson buried one past sophomore goaltender Jesse Jenks at the 2:36 mark in the first period. Anderson's even-strength goal was assisted by Kurt Gosselin and Cam Knight.
Alaska stormed back after the first intermission and scored two goals in the final five minutes of the second period to take a 2-1 lead. After a bad pinch by the Chargers in the Nanooks defensive zone, Alaska found themselves on the 3-on-1 man-advantage. Sophomore defenseman Jack Weiss drew the UAH defenseman toward him in the neutral zone before dishing a pass to sophomore forward Chad Staley. Staley and junior forward Tayler Munson found themselves on a 2-on-0 in front of Huntsville goaltender Carmine Guerriero before Munson put it away backdoor to tie the game at one goal apiece.
Two minutes later (17:25), Staley scored the game-winning power-play goal with the assist awarded to junior defenseman Zach Frye. A failed zone clearing by the Chargers on the penalty kill left Staley alone in the slot weak side. Frye jumped on the loose puck and slid the puck over to Staley, who one-timed it to put the Nooks up 2-1.
Freshman forward Colton Leiter scored the empty-netter at 19:59 to seal the Nooks' 3-1 victory, heading back to Fairbanks with conference points on the weekend.
Jenks made 26 saves for Alaska on the night, while Guerriero collected 23, including 15 in the second period alone. Huntsville edged the Nooks in shots 27-26, but it was Alaska who capitalized on the man-advantage and went 1-4 in power play opportunities.
"This team showed great character this weekend. We had several players battling a sickness and I was proud about how they pushed through," Ferguson concluded. "The group is growing and working through our process. The bye-week comes at a good time for us. We need to recharge and get physically and mentally prepared for a big push in the end of the first half of the season and we need to be better on our home ice."
The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will enjoy a bye-week at home before taking on the Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26 in a two-game WCHA series at the Carlson Center. Both games are slated to begin at 7:07pm AKST.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.
