ANCHORAGE, Alaska – It was a night of firsts for the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, as the Nooks took down in-state rival Alaska Anchorage 6-2 in a non-conference tilt at the Sullivan Arena on Friday night. The victory marks Alaska's first of the season and improves their overall record to 1-3-1 (0-0-0-0 WCHA), while the Seawolves fall to 0-4-1 on the year (0-0-0-0 WCHA).

The win not only marked the first of the 2017-18 season, it also marked first-year head coach Lance West's first NCAA Division I victory as bench boss. And the fun doesn't stop there, as four Nooks posted career-best nights over the Seawolves, led by redshirt-senior Justin Woods, sophomore forward Colton Leiter, sophomore defenseman Tristan Thompson and freshman Steven Jandric, who each registered three-point nights.

Moreover, junior defenseman Jack Weiss registered his first collegiate goal, while sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson earned his first collegiate win and freshman forward Max Newton earned his first collegiate point.

Furthermore, the Nanooks take a 1-0 lead over Alaska Anchorage in the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup standings, which will feature a best-of-six series throughout the 2017-18 season.

"We had really good jump tonight and scoring three goals in the first period doesn't hurt either," West said on Friday. "Our offense is playing really well right now and I like the focus we had going into tonight's game. I thought it was a weird game at times with some stoppages and both teams pushing the pace throughout but we found a way to finish on our opportunities."

The first period seemed all-too familiar for Alaska as the Nooks tallied three goals in the first period alone, similar to last Friday's game against the St. Cloud Huskies (Oct. 13). Jandric opened up the scoring at the 9:45 mark for his first collegiate goal, cleaning up a rebound from sophomore forward Kylar Hope with Woods being awarded the secondary.

After 36 games in the Blue and Gold, Weiss earned his first collegiate goal at the 14:07 mark of the first period with a quick wristshot  past UAA goaltender Olivier Mantha to make it a 2-0 game. Jandric earned his second point of the night with the primary assist, while Leiter was awarded the secondary.

A little more than four minutes later, Woods earned his second point in nine minutes with the eventual game-winning goal to make it a 3-0 game in favor of the Nanooks. Thompson took a long shot from the point with Mantha making the initial save but it was Woods who snuck in backdoor to net the rebound.

Before the first 20 minutes could expire, UAA's Jordan Xavier netted his second goal of the season to cut Alaska's lead to 3-1 heading into first intermission.

After a scoreless second period, the Nooks combined for three unanswered goals to seal game one of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup. Among Alaska's third period goal scorers were junior forward Ryker Leer, Woods and Leiter.


"Justin played well really well tonight," Lance said of his captain. "We had a couple of guys out of the lineup and Justin stepped up and had some quality shots on goal and battled hard tonight. He has been our leader since day one and it's nice to see him get rewarded."

In a tight interstate rivalry game, shots were tied at 24-24 with each team capitalizing on the man-advantage, as the Nooks went 1-for-5 and the Seawolves going 1-for-7. Martinsson collected a game-high 22 saves while Mantha earned 18 on the night.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will face the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves once more throughout the weekend, as the Nooks host UAA tomorrow (Saturday), Oct. 21 in another Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup and non-conference matchup at the Carlson Center. Puck-drop is slated for 7:07pm AKDT.  

"Going into tomorrow, we have to continue to handle our emotions better and stay even-keel," West concluded. "We got caught running around our defense-zone a couple times so we need to stay poised and continue to grow in a couple of areas."

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