ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team captured their fifth-straight Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup and completed a Western Collegiate Hockey Association sweep over in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Saturday night, as the Nooks topped the Seawolves 3-2 at the Sullivan Arena. The victory improves Alaska's overall record to 7-11-2 overall and 5-8-1-1 in conference play, while the Seawolves drop to 1-11-4 on the season and 1-6-3-3 in WCHA contests.

The Nanooks earn six WCHA points in this weekend's sweep, remaining in seventh place in the conference standings with 17 points through 14 league games.

This season, the coveted Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup was to be determined by a best-of-six series with the Seawolves but the Nooks clinch their fifth-straight cup by defeating UAA for the fourth time this season on Saturday. Alaska will face the Seawolves twice more this season, hosting UAA in a two-game WCHA series Feb. 23 and 24 at the Carlson Center.

The Nanooks now hold a 13-8 all-time record over UAA in the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup, winning consecutive titles in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and now 2018 but were forced to vacate the 2010, 2011 and 2012 titles due to NCAA infractions sanctioned prior to the 2014-15 season.

"I thought we came out and played a great first period tonight," head coach Lance Wet said on Saturday. "We controlled the pace and dictated the play throughout the night and I thought the guys finished hard and were rewarded with three big conference points and the Governor's Cup."

Alaska opened the scoring on Saturday night, as sophomore forward Kylar Hope tallied his eighth goal of the season at the 10:05 mark of the first period. Hope entered the UAA defensive zone on an odd-man rush before sneaking a backhand past Anchorage goaltender Olivier Mantha for his second goal in two games. Hope's even-strength tally was assisted by sophomore forward Troy Van Tetering and redshirt-senior defenseman Justin Woods.

The Nooks took a 2-0 lead at the 10:53 mark of the second period, as rookie forward Steven Jandric netted a power play tally for his second goal of the season. From the point, sophomore defenseman Tristan Thompson passed the puck to junior forward Chad Staley along the post before Staley snuck a pass across the crease to Jandric for a backdoor play.

Only four minutes later, UAA got on the board with an even-strength goal from Austin Azurdia to make it 2-1. A Nanook turnover in the neutral zone gave UAA's Jeremiah Luedtke an opportunity to make a stretch pass to Azurdia, who walked in the Nanook zone and scored far-side on sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson.

Alaska responded with a third period goal by sophomore defenseman James LaDouce, whose second goal of the season eventually became the game-winning, Governor's Cup-clinching goal. LaDouce capitalized on a loose puck high in the UAA slot that snuck passed a screened-Mantha.

The Seawolves were able to pull the game to within one goal, as Eric Sinclair netted an even-strength goal at the 13:01 mark of the third period to make it 3-2. Sinclair's second goal of the season was assisted by Nathan Renouf and Jonah Renouf.

Despite a late power play opportunity for the Seawolves, Alaska was able to kill a 6-on-4 in the last minute of the third period to walk away with the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup and weekend sweep.

On the night, Alaska outshot their opponent 32-21 and went 1-for-6 on the man-advantage, while UAA was held scoreless on the power play, going 0-for-4. Martinsson collected 19 saves against the Seawolves, while UAA's Mantha tallied 29 on the night.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will break for the holiday and resume conference play on Friday, Jan. 5 and Saturday, Jan. 6 as they host the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers in a two-game WCHA series at the Carlson Center. Puck-drop both nights 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.