FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team suffered a Western Collegiate Hockey Association sweep at home to the No. 18 Bemidji State University Beavers on Saturday night, falling 3-1 at the Carlson Center. The Nooks drop their overall record to 3-7-0 (2-4-0 WCHA), while the Beavers improve to 8-2-0 overall and remain undefeated in conference play (8-0-0).

"That was a hard one to lose. We, as a staff, even sat in the room and were trying to figure out what the message to the team was going to be," assistant coach Lance West said in the post-game press conference. "We had a lot of scoring opportunities but Bemidji is one of the best defensive teams in the country right now with one of the hottest goaltenders. I thought it was a well-played hockey game by our guys tonight but special teams came back to haunt us once again. When you play a team that is that good defensively, with a good goaltender and they win the special teams battle, it's the formula for success. When we play teams like that, we need to figure out a way to score a couple more goals and be better on the kill. Overall, I think the message is, we play one good game and one not-so-good game the past couple weekends and we need to put two back-to-back efforts in both nights."

The Nooks were barely edged out in shots on goal by their opponent 23-22, with Bemidji's goaltender Michael Bitzer making 21 saves to senior goaltender Davis Jones' 20 saves on the night. In special teams, the Beavers capitalized on the man advantage on two separate occasions, going 2-3, while the Nooks mustered 1-4.

Bemidji's Charlie O'Connor caught a lucky break at the 14:36 mark of the first period, when the puck went off of Nanook defenseman Nikolas Koberstein's skate past Jones to give the Beavers a 1-0 lead. O'Connor's power play goal was assisted by Brendan Harms and Gerry Fitzgerald.

Freshman forward Ross Heidt scored his third collegiate goal on the power play at the 12:03 mark of the second period. Fellow freshman forward Troy Van Tetering made a play toward the net, when his linemate, senior Marcus Basara, got a quick shot on net that Bitzer wasn't able to hold on to. Hiedt came in from the top of the zone to clean up the rebound and tie the game at one goal apiece.

Bemidji's Harms scored at the 17:19 mark of the second period on the power play, with assists awarded to Gerry Fitzgerald and Charlie O'Connor for the trio's second point of the night, before Phillip Marinaccio scored an even-strength goal at the 17:44 mark of the third period to seal the victory.

The Alaska Nanooks hit the road this week, traveling to Huntsville, Alabama to take on the UAH Chargers in a two-game WCHA series. Puck-drop on Friday (Nov. 11) and Saturday (Nov. 12) is slated for 4:07 pm AKT.

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