MANKATO, Minn. – In one of the most back-and-forth battles in recent history, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team skated to a 5-5 tie against the No. 15 Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks on Saturday night but gained the extra Western Collegiate Hockey Association point after rookie forwards Tyler Cline and Ross Heidt scored in the team's first conference shootout of the season. Alaska moves to 4-7-2 overall and 3-7-2-2 in conference play, while the Mavs fall to 9-5-2 overall, 6-4-2-0 in WCHA play.

Per the new conference rules, any statistics or results past the 65-minute mark (first overtime) results in a tie in the eyes of the NCAA. If the game is still undecided following the first five-minute five-on-five overtime, the game will continue with a five-minute three-on-three overtime, followed by a sudden death shootout. The team that wins in the three-on-three overtime or the shootout receives an extra conference point, thus the Nanooks walking away from Saturday's contest with two WCHA points, while Mankato receives one point for the tie.

"We had a fantastic start and I really liked the flow in our game. It was nice to see Josh Erickson get rewarded, as I thought he played very hard for us all weekend," head coach Dallas Ferguson said following the tie.

After falling to the Mavs 7-3 the night before, the Nooks came out firing all cylinders on Saturday, scoring three goals in the first period to take a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission. Sophomore forward Chad Staley scored his first of two goals on the evening, after receiving a stretch-pass in the neutral zone from sophomore defenseman Nikolas Koberstein. Staley split the Mankato defenseman and went on a breakaway, scoring low blocker on MSU goaltender Cole Huggins. Koberstein's second assist on the season and Staley's fifth goal of 2016-17 was tallied at the 10:58 mark of the first.

Two minutes later (12:40), senior forward Josh Erickson put the Nooks up 2-0 for his second goal of the season. Junior forward Austin Vieth dished the puck to sophomore defenseman Jack Weiss in the offensive zone, as Weiss ripped a slapshot that just went wide of Huggins but bounced off of the boards directly onto Erickson's stick, who was alone on the backdoor.

At the 16:24 mark of the first period, it was senior captain Brandon Morley who forced a Mankato turnover on the penalty kill, sending himself on a breakaway before making a nifty move on Huggins and scoring five-hole to tally his first shorthanded goal of the season.

After entering the first intermission with a sense of relief, the Nanooks were in for a surprise during the second period, as the Mavs scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead over Alaska. Mankato's Brad McClure and Daniel Brickley scored two goals in the first two minutes and 12 seconds of the second to make it a 3-2 game. Ian Shied capitalized on a failed Alaska breakout to tie the game at three-apiece at the 7:10 mark, before Marc Michaelis scored a shorthanded goal to take the lead at the 9:35 mark.

"Makato came at us hard in the second period and we did not respond with a push back of our own. Next thing we know, we're down 4-3," Ferguson said of Mankato's comeback. "After the second period, we gathered our emotions, reset and got ready to play a one-goal hockey game. We had a great start and got back the lead early in the third. I liked how our team responded to an adverse situation."

The great start Ferguson was referring to was rookie forward Troy Van Tetering's goal 27 seconds into the third period to tie the game at 4-4. Morley intercepted a breakout pass from MSU's defenseman on the wall and found Van Tetering floating in the slot. Van Tetering was able to make a move on MSU's second goaltender of the night Jason Palowski before firing upstairs for his third goal of the season and Morley's second point of the night.

A little more than a minute later (1:48), sophomore forward John Mullally forced a turnover in the Mankato zone, chipping the puck to Erickson in the corner, who gave a behind-the-back pass to Staley, who was rolling through the slot and fired a quick shot past Pawloski to take a 5-4 lead over the Mavs.

Unfortunately, MSU's CJ Franklin scored the game-tying goal at the 9:33 mark of the third period after being left alone in front of Alaska senior goaltender Davis Jones to make it five-all.

A nail-biting five-on-five overtime ensued, which saw a Nanooks penalty kill 24 seconds into the first overtime and Jones turning away nine Maverick shots. The Nooks were able to get four shots on Pawloski, but to no avail, the game was deadlocked and headed into a three-on-three double overtime.

The last time the Nooks entered a three-on-three double-overtime, they scored against Alabama-Huntsville to take the extra conference point on Nov. 12. Despite killing a penalty in the double-overtime, the Nooks weren't as successful offensively, but neither were the Mavericks as the game headed to a shootout.

Cline and Hiedt were the Nanooks who scored in the team's first shootout of the season, but it was Jones who was the star of the game, turning away all but one MSU shootout attacker to seal the extra conference point. In total, Jones made 52 saves on the night, including double-digit saves in the first, second and third period. Jones' performance marks a new career personal-best for the St. Albert, Alberta native, as his previous single-game save record was 48 from earlier this year (Feb. 27) against Michigan Tech.

"Davis was very big when we needed him tonight. He made some big saves on the penalty kill and helped us get the game to the shootout in the first place. I'm happy for him, as he has kept working and focused on his game through Jesse's run of starts. He came up big for the guys tonight," Ferguson said of his goaltender.

After the weekend, Alaska remains in eighth place in the conference standings with 13 points. Alaska only trails seventh-place Ferris State by one point (14) and sixth-place Lake Superior by two points (15).

"Points are hard to come by and whether it's one, two or three, we will take it," Ferguson concluded. "Now we return home for four critical conference games before we go on Christmas break."

The Alaska Nanooks return home to the Carlson Center for a four-game homestead, facing off against in-state rival Alaska Anchorage next Friday, Dec. 9 and Saturday, Dec. 10 in a two-game WCHA series, which will also count as part of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup. Puck-drop both nights is slated for 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.