HOUGHTON, Mich. – Freshman goaltender Gustavs Grigals' career-high 46 saves wasn't enough to help the Alaska Nanooks hockey team push past the Michigan Tech Huskies on Friday afternoon, as the Nooks fell 2-1 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 2-9-2 and 2-4-1-1 in WCHA play, while Michigan Tech improves to 6-5-0 overall and 5-0-0 in conference contests.

At the time of article, Michigan Tech walks away from Friday's game with three conference points, taking sole possession of first place in the WCHA standings with 15 points. The Alaska Nanooks remain seated in seventh place with eight points in the league standings.

"We need to play a team game on a more consistent basis if we want to be successful," head coach Erik Largen said on Friday. "Right now, we have too many players who want to plan an individual game and until we can figure out how to play connected, we will be on the losing end of hockey games, especially against good hockey teams like Michigan Tech. Tomorrow, we need to focus on taking what is given and play a disciplined and heavy game."

In only his fourth career start, Grigals made 46 saves against Michigan Tech's 48 shots on goal. The Riga, Latvia native tallied 18 saves in the first period, 15 in the second and 13 in the third in 59:17 in net. Of his 46 saves, 10 came on the man-advantage. Grigals registered a single-game save percentage of .958, his second best through five games this season.

Michigan Tech's Brian Halonen scored an even-strength goal at the 11:08 mark of the first period to open up the scoring on Friday afternoon, netting his third of the season. Halonen's tally was assisted by Colin Swoyer.

Alaska responded quickly, as senior forward Ryker Leer made it a tie game at 1-1 with a power play goal at the 13:53 mark of the first. Leer's third goal of the season was assisted by freshman forward Sam Ruffin and rookie defenseman Antti Virtanen for his first collegiate point as a Nanook.

The Huskies scored a power-play goal at the 15:10 mark of the second period to make it 2-1, with Tommy Parrottino being credited for the game-winning goal. Parrottino's fourth goal of the season was assisted by Jake Lucchini and Alex Smith.

Alaska was outshot by the home team 48-21 with MTU netminder Devin Kero collecting 20 saves against the Nanooks. Alaska went 1-for-3 on the power play, while Michigan Tech went 1-for-4.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will face the Michigan Tech Huskies in another WCHA match-up at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 24) at 3:07pm AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.