FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Despite a late comeback, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team fell victim to the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers on Saturday night, as the Nooks fell 3-1 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest at the Carlson Center. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 8-12-2 and 6-9-1-1 in conference play, while the Chargers improve to 7-15-2 on the season and 6-9-1-1 in league games.

The loss marks a split on the weekend for the Nooks and the Chargers, each team walking away from this weekend's games with three conference points. At the time of article, Alaska drops one spot in the WCHA standings and currently sits in seventh place with 20 points. The loss moves the Chargers up to sixth place with 21 points.

"I think tonight's game was a little bit of the opposite of last night; I thought we came out really strong tonight," head coach Lance West said on Saturday. "We had four, two-on-ones and one, three-on-one in the first period alone and we didn't capitalize. When you have that many opportunities and don't score, a lot of times that goaltender gets more confident in net and I thought their goalie really helped them out early on. I thought we improved from last night in a variety of ways, we worked hard and had a good push in the second period but we weren't able to get one behind their goaltender."

After a scoreless first period, UAH's Josh Kestner put the Chargers on the board with an even-strength tally at the 14:19 mark of the second period. A bouncing puck went through three Alaska players in the defensive zone before Kestner was able to corral the puck and make a move around Alaska sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson for his 15th goal of the season. Kestner's goal was assisted by Fairbanks native John Teets and Levi Wunder.

At the 10:42 mark of the third period, UAH caught another break to put themselves up 2-0 over the Nanooks, as Austin Beaulieu emerged from the penalty box and found himself on a breakaway. Beaulieu was able to make a move around Martinsson for his second goal of the season.

Alaska responded not even a minute later (11:06), as rookie forward Justin Young netted his second career goal to make it a 2-1 game. Young fired a quick shot in the slot after senior defenseman Zach Frye made a pass from behind the UAH net to pull the Nooks to within one goal. Senior forward Tayler Munson was awarded the secondary assist on Young's goal.

At the 19:17 mark of the third period, UAH's Christian Rajic tallied an empty-net goal from Madison Dunn and Beaulieu to seal the Chargers' first victory in six games.

Alaska outshot their opponent 36-29 on Saturday, with Martinsson registering 26 saves on the night, including 13 in the first period alone. On the other end of the ice, UAH's Jordan Uhelski posted a game-high 35 saves, including 19 in the second period.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team continues conference play at home next week, as they host the Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks in a two-game WCHA series on Friday, Jan. 12 and Saturday, Jan. 13 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.