FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday night, defeating the No. 20th-ranked Northern Michigan Wildcats 4-1 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest at the Carlson Center. Alaska improves to an overall record of 4-8-1 and 2-5-1-1 in conference play, while the Wildcats drop to 7-5-0 overall and 5-3-0-0 in WCHA matchups.

Saturday's victory gave the Nanooks a much-needed split against the Wildcats, as they earned three WCHA points on the weekend. At the time of article, the Nanooks are tied for seventh place in the league standings with Bemidji State and Lake Superior State, each team with eight conference points.

It was a night of firsts for three Nanooks, as rookie forward Max Newton earned his first collegiate goal and multi-point game, while fellow freshman forward Justin Young also scored his first career goal as a Nanook and sophomore goaltender Niko DellaMaggiore collected his first career start between the pipes. Additionally, Alaska registered two empty-net goals in a single game for the first time this season.

After a scoreless first period, the Nanooks earned only their fifth power play goal of the season courtesy of sophomore defenseman Tristan Thompson. Thompson's third goal of the season was scored at the 2:44 mark of the second period and was assisted by Newton and senior defenseman Zach Frye.

Later in the period, Newton tallied his first of his career at the 17:13 mark after batting in a rebound from freshman forward Steven Jandric. Senior defenseman Nick Hinz was credited with the secondary assist on Newton's first collegiate goal.

Northern Michigan spoiled hopes of DellaMaggiore's first career shutout, as they scored with an extra attacker at the 17:57 mark of the third period. Wildcat forward Denver Pierce's fourth goal of the season was assisted by Troy Loggins and Philip Beaulieu.

NMU pulled goaltender Ante Tolvanen twice more throughout the last three minutes of the game, with Alaska taking advantage of the open net with goals from sophomore forward Kylar Hope and Young. Hope's fifth goal of the season puts him on a three-game point streak while Young's first career tally was assisted by junior forward Chad Staley.

In his collegiate debut, DellaMaggiore stood tall, going 57:57 without letting a goal in and collected a career-best 20 saves for the Nanooks. On the other end of the ice, Tolvanen registered 23 saves against the Nanooks. Alaska outshot their opponent 27-21 and went 1-for-6 on the man-advantage, while the Wildcats were held scoreless on the power play, going 0-for-5.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team continues their four-game homestand with a two-game WCHA series against the Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday, Nov. 24 and Saturday, Nov. 25 at the Carlson Center. Puck-drop is slated for 7:07pm AKST.

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