HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team dropped their final regular-season Western Collegiate Hockey Association road game of the 2015-16 campaign Saturday afternoon, falling 3-2 in overtime to No. 14 Michigan Tech at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The loss drops the Nanooks overall record to 8-20-4 and 6-16-4 in WCHA play, while the Huskies improve to 19-8-5 overall, 16-7-3 WCHA.

"Michigan Tech threw a lot at us tonight, but I think our team held their ground pretty well. We talked about staying on the right side of the puck and making our plays at appropriate times," head coach Dallas Ferguson said following Saturday's game. "I thought we did what we needed to do to stay in the game and create a good opportunity for us to get some points, but they made the last play on a tip and it cost us the game in overtime. I thought our competitive spirit was good, but give Michigan Tech some credit, they fought hard, but at the same time I thought our guys did a good job sticking together and staying competitive. Obviously, it's disappointing to not get those two points but I think we saw a lot of positives coming from more than couple of the guys tonight."

Junior goaltender Davis Jones was the best player for the Nanooks on Saturday, making a career-high 48 saves on the night, as MTU outshot the Nanooks 51-19. Early in the game, Alaska was gave up a couple odd-man rushes but Jones stood tall and challenged shooters appropriately. On several occasions, Jones made acrobatic kicks across the crease to keep the Nanooks in the game for as long as possible. Jones made 19 saves in the first period alone and collected one save in overtime.

"You could see from the start of the game, they had a plan to throw a lot of pucks on net. Sometimes that's hard to defend because they're shooting from all different angles and it's not very predictable," Ferguson said of his goaltender. "A lot of their shots were coming from the outside, which led to blocks that created a lot of havoc but Davis tracked his shots very well and made some big saves on the penalty kill. That was the type of goaltender and the type of performance we needed in a game like this, we needed to be really competitive and Davis is a competitive player, and you saw it come out in his game tonight."

Michigan Tech gave themselves the early lead, scoring 8:21 into the first period to make it 1-0 Huskies. Tech's Mark Auk took a shot from the point that Jones wasn't able to smother before Tyler Heinonen cleaned up to garbage in front to score his 14th goal of the season. Heinonen's goal was his first of three points on the night (1G, 2A) and was assisted by Auk and Dylan Steman.

The Nooks evened things up three minutes later (11:54), when Josh Atkinson scored off of a face-off play to make it 1-1. Sophomore forward Tayler Munson secured the face-off win before senior forward Nolan Huysmans picked the puck up and kicked it up to sophomore defenseman Nick Hinz at the blueline. Hinz passed over to Atkinson, who one-timed it five-hole. Atkinson's third goal of the season was assisted by Nick Hinz (two-game point streak) and Huysmans, who had a two-point night (1G, 1A).

The second period saw the Nooks earn their first lead of the weekend, as Huysmans buried at the 3:52 mark to make it 2-1 Nanooks. Huysmans broke up a play in the neutral zone and outskated the MTU defenseman to go on a breakaway, faking forehand before scoring backhand upstairs. Huysmans seventh goal of the season was assisted by sophomore defenseman Zach Frye (two-game point streak).

Michigan Tech tied it up 2-2 on the power play late in the second period (19:13), when Joel L'Esperance scored his 13th goal of the season backdoor on Jones. Tech's Max Vallis walked out of the corner toward the Nanook goal, looking to stuff the puck short-side on Jones, who was hugging the post, before sliding the puck across the crease to L'Esperance, who was alone. Heinonen was given the secondary assist on the goal.

After a scoreless third period, the Nanooks and the Huskies headed into overtime. At the 2:29 mark of OT, the Huskies' co-captain Alex Petan tipped in a shot from Shane Hanna to seal the victory and take two WCHA points from the Nanooks. Petan's overtime goal was assisted by Hanna and Heinonen.

Tech's senior goaltender Jamie Phillips made 17 saves on the night, while the Huskies were 1-of-2 on power play opportunities. Alaska had no power play opportunities on Saturday.

The Alaska Nanooks currently sit in ninth place in the WCHA standings with 16 points, only two points behind in-state rival the University of Alaska-Anchorage who's sitting in the final playoff position (eighth place) with 18 points. The Alaska Nanooks return to the Carlson Center Friday, Mar. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 5 for the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup vs. UAA in the Nanooks' final home series of the season.

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