BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – On Saturday, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team skated to a 2-2 tie with the Bowling Green University Falcons at the Slater Family Ice Arena before capturing the extra Western Collegiate Hockey Association point in a sudden death shootout. The Nanooks improve to 2-4-2-1 overall on the season and 0-1-1 in WCHA play while the Falcons drop to 3-3-1 overall and 2-1-1-0 in conference matchups.

Per NCAA regulations, any Division I ice hockey game is considered a tie after 65 minutes of play (three 20-minute periods and one five-minute overtime). In the WCHA, a tie will result in one point being awarded to both the participating schools and will continue onward with a five-minute 3-on-3 overtime followed by a sudden death shootout to determine who receives the extra conference point. Unfortunately, any statistics recorded in the double-overtime period or the shootout do not officially count toward a team's season statistics and will be deleted following the conclusion of the game.

After a scoreless 65 minutes, followed by another scoreless overtime period Alaska junior forward Chad Staley put the Nooks up 1-0 in the shootout before sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson stonewalled Bowling Green's Brett D'Andrea to walk away with two big WCHA points on the road.

"It was another great effort by our players tonight," head coach Lance West said on Saturday. They competed at an extremely high level and took a step forward by finding a way to get points on the road. Our goalie was our best player tonight and gave us the chances we needed to get those two points."

Unlike Friday night, the Falcons were the first team to break open the scoring on Saturday with a goal by Frederic Letourneau at the 9:54 mark of the first period. Letourneau's second goal of the season was assisted by Max Johnson and Brandon Kruse as the BGSU took a 1-0 lead over the visitors.

Only a couple of minutes later, sophomore forward Kylar Hope registered his third goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 at the 12:26 mark of the first period. Hope was crashing the net and was able to get a piece of senior defenseman Zach Frye's shot from the point that found its way behind BGSU goaltender Ryan Bednard. Freshman forward Steven Jandric was awarded the secondary assist on Hope's goal.

In the second period, BGSU's Stephen Baylis was the lone goal-scorer as he registered a power play tally at the 7:16 mark to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead. Baylis' second goal of the season was assisted by Cameron Wright and Mitchel McLain.

Alaska beared down and continued to compete in the third period, as redshirt-senior defenseman and Alaska hockey captain Justin Woods tallied the game-tying goal at the 8:54 mark of the third. Sophomore forward Ross Heidt entered the BGSU zone with a step on his Falcon defenseman before cutting back below the circle and giving Woods a behind-the-back pass in the slot, allowing Woods to make a swift forehand-backhand move on Bednard to register his fourth goal of the season. Heidt and sophomore defenseman James LaDouce were awarded the assists on Woods' goal.

Overtime proved to be a nail-biter, as the Nooks were able to kill, not just one penalty, but two in the 10-minute span to continue into the shootout and capture the extra conference point.

On the night, Martinsson collected a career-best 34 saves against the Falcons while Bednard collected 28 on the other end of the ice. Alaska was edged in shots by their opponent 36-30 and Bowling Green was the only team to register a power play point all weekend going 1-for-5 while Alaska went 0-for-6 on the night.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team returns to their home arena next week, hosting the Bemidji State Beavers in a two-game WCHA series on Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4 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.