ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Six Alaska Nanook hockey players earned multi-point nights on Friday evening, as the Nooks downed in-state rival Alaska Anchorage 7-2 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchup at the Sullivan Arena. The Nanooks improve to 6-11-2 overall on the season and 4-8-1-1 in conference play, while the Seawolves drop to 1-10-4 overall and 1-5-3-3 in WCHA contests.

The victory gives the Nooks three big WCHA points in the league standings, while the Seawolves were held without. At the time of article, Alaska jumps to seventh place in the conference standings with 14 points throughout 13 league games.

Friday's game also counted toward the coveted Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup, as the Nanooks now hold a 3-0 lead (9 points) over the Seawolves. In the best-of-six series between the two programs, the Nooks have to defeat UAA once more to clinch the cup for the fifth-straight season.

"We scored some goals early on which I think gave us some confidence but we did a lot of good things in all three zones tonight. We're happy with a 7-2 win that counts for points and the Governor's Cup but I really liked the effort and the focus from our guys tonight," head coach Lance West said on Friday. "We got a couple power play goals, which was nice to get, and our penalty kill went 4-for-4 so I'm happy with how our special teams played out. We know they are going to come out and be hungry tomorrow so we're going to prepare and be ready for tomorrow night."

Of Alaska's 18 skaters who dressed in Friday's game, 12 found themselves on the scoresheet with sophomore forward Tyler Cline (2 goals), senior defenseman Zach Frye (2 assists), sophomore forward Kylar Hope (1 goal, 1 assist), junior defenseman Nikolas Koberstein (2 assists), sophomore forward Colton Leiter (2 goals) and sophomore forward Troy Van Tetering (1 goal, 1 assist) earning multi-point nights.

Leiter tallied the Nanooks' first goal of the night only 45 seconds into the first period, tallying his sixth goal of the season. On a rush into the Seawolf defensive zone, senior defenseman Zach Frye left a drop-pass for Leiter at the top of the circle before the Edmonton, Alta. native fired his shot low glove-side to give the Nooks a 1-0 lead. Leiter's goal was assisted by Frye and fellow senior defenseman Nick Hinz.

Van Tetering netted his fourth goal in three games 11 minutes later with a power play goal at the 11:09 mark of the first period to give the Nooks a 2-0 lead. Koberstein kicked the puck along the blueline to his defensive partner, redshirt-senior Justin Woods, who faked a shot from the point before passing the puck to Van Tetering backdoor for the tap-in.

A three-goal second period kicked-off courtesy of Cline, who tallied his third goal of the season and the Nanooks' second power play goal of the night at the 6:33 mark of the second stanza. Cline received a pass from the offensive corner before walking into the slot and firing a wristshot past a screened-Mantha. Cline's tally was assisted by Koberstein and sophomore forward Kylar Hope.

Three minutes later, Cline scored his second goal of the night at the 9:23 mark to make it 4-0. Van Tetering wrapped the puck around the UAA net before passing it up high to junior forward Chad Staley, who was cheating in the circle. Staley made a touch-pass to Cline, who capitalized on his own rebound for his fourth goal of the season.

Senior forward Austin Vieth closed out the second period with an even-strength goal at the 16:14 mark. Sophomore forward Kyle Marino passed the puck to Vieth, alone in the slot, before Vieth corralled the loose puck and got a quick shot off to make it 5-0. The goal was Vieth's second of the season and Marino's fourth career apple.

Like the second, the third period wasn't lacking any scoring, as both teams combined for four goals within the last 20 minutes before the Nooks walked away with the 7-2 victory. Leiter scored his second goal of the night in the same fashion as the first period, scoring his seventh goal of the season within the first minute of the period (00:20). Leiter received a pass backdoor from Frye with rookie forward Steven Jandric earning the secondary assist.

The Seawolves earned their first goal of the night at the 11:33 mark, with Mason Anderson's shot sneaking past sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson to make it a 6-1 game. Anderson's first collegiate goal was assisted by Nolan Nicholas and Jonah Renouf.

Thirty-three seconds later, Hope tallied his seventh goal of the season off of a wrap-around move on the UAA net to make it 7-1. Hope's tally was unassisted and came at the 11:56 mark of the third period.

To close out the night, UAA's J. Renouf capitalized on an Alaska turnover to give UAA two goals on the night.

In net, Martinsson collected 22 saves against the Seawolves, including 11 in the second period alone. On the other end of the ice, UAA's Olivier Mantha registered 14 saves through two periods before reliever Brody Claeys earned eight saves in the third.

In the special teams' race, Alaska was able to capitalize on two power plays, going 2-for-4 on the night and holding the Seawolves scoreless on the man advantage, as they went 0-for-4.

The Alaska Nanooks take on the UAA Seawolves in WCHA and Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup action again tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 9) at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Puck-drop is scheduled 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.