FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team dropped their first game back after a two-week break, falling to the Michigan Tech Huskies 4-1 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest at the Carlson Center on Friday night. Alaska drops to a 4-8-1 overall record, 3-5-1 in WCHA play, while the Huskies improve to 8-6-3 overall and 7-2-2 in conference play.
"I thought tonight's game was a little sloppy at first but it got better as the game progressed. I thought there was a little bit more desperation in the third period, but it was tough with all the power plays and penalty kills, but obviously we have some stuff to clean up before tomorrow night and you know, hopefully we have a different outcome," assistant coach
Erik Largen said following Friday's game.
Freshman forward
Ross Heidt kicked-off the scoring on the night, as he notched his fourth goal of the season on the power play at the 9:13 mark of the first period. Fellow-freshman forward
Colton Leiter dished the puck to junior defenseman
Justin Woods, who brought the puck down the wall for a shot just below the offensive zone circle. Woods' rebound landed on Heidt's stick, who was floating in the slot along. Heidt ripped a quick-shot upstairs to make it 1-0 early, with assists awarded to Woods and Leiter.
MTU countered Hedit's goal 38 seconds later, when Tyler Heninonen scored at the 9:51 mark off of a two-on-one situation. Heinonen's even-strength goal was assisted by Alex Smith. In the second period, Jake Lucchini scored an even-strength goal off of a one-timer to take a one-goal lead, before Joel L'Esperance scored a power-play goal at the 13:46 mark to take a 3-1 lead.
At the 19:25 mark of the third period, MTU's Chris Leibinger scored an empty-net goal to seal the Huskies' 4-1 victory.
As a team, the Nanooks were outshot by the Huskies 31-23 and went 1-9 on the power play, while MTU went 1-8. Sophomore goaltender
Jesse Jenks collected a game-high 27 saves between the pipes, including 11 in the second period alone. On the other end of the ice, MTU's Angus Redmond posted 22 saves on the night.
The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will look for redemption tomorrow, Nov. 26, as they take on the MTU Huskies again at 7pm AKST at the Carlson Center.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.
