SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Alaska Nanooks skated to a 3-3 overtime tie against the Lake Superior State Lakers on Friday night, earning the extra Western Collegiate Hockey Association point with a goal from junior forward Colton Leiter in double-overtime. The Nanooks move to an overall record of 0-7-2-1 and 0-2-1-1 in conference play, while the Lakers drop to 5-1-1-0 overall and 2-0-1-0 in WCHA games.

According to NCAA rules, any Division I men's ice hockey game remaining in a deadlock after the initial five-minute five-on-five overtime is considered a tie.  In the WCHA, both teams earn one league point if the game is tied after 65 minutes. Depending on the league, games can continue on with a five-minute three-on-three double-overtime, followed by a shootout to determine who earns the extra point. In the case of the WCHA, Alaska walks away from Friday's game still searching for their first win of the 2018-19 season but with two WCHA points to Lake Superior's one.  

"We did a lot of good things in tonight's game, absolutely," head coach Erik Largen said on Friday. "We generated more offensive chances and were very good on special teams. However, we need to clean up some rush coverage details and continue working on how to close out games. We will learn from tonight and continue to get better."

Junior forward Kylar Hope opened up the scoring on Friday night, making it 1-0 at the 4:15 mark of the first period. After a scrum in front of the net, Hope corralled a loose puck and threw the puck on net, beating LSSU goaltender Nick Kossoff, who had plenty of traffic in front of him. Hope's second goal of the season was assisted by junior defenseman Tristan Thompson for his first point of the season.

Less than 20 seconds later, the Nanooks struck again when Troy Van Tetering made it 2-0 with an even-strength tally at the 4:34 mark of the first. In an offensive zone 3-on-2 rush, freshman forward Sam Ruffin took the puck wide before making a drop-pass to Van Tetering and dragging a defender with him, leaving an open lane to the net for his linemate. Van Tetering's wristshot low glove beat Kossoff for his first goal of the season, with Ruffin and freshman defenseman Chris Jandric collecting the assists.

 After a scoreless second period, C. Jandric earned his second point of the game by scoring a power play goal at the 5:22 mark of the third period. C. Jandric put home a one-time along the blueline with his older brother Steven Jandric earning the primary assist on his first career goal. Hope was awarded the secondary assist for his second point of the night.

The Lakers responded with an even-strength tally at the 10:25 mark, as Collin Saccomen tapped in an open rebound on a 3-on-2 rush to make it 3-1.

LSSU's Jacob Nordqvist pulled the home team to within one goal at the 14:01 mark, scoring his second goal of the season before Will Riedell tied the game at 3-3 at the 16:22 mark of the third period.

The Nanooks manage to kill off a penalty in the five-minute five-on-five overtime, but neither team was able to score, resulting in a 3-3 tie in the eyes of the NCAA, with each team receiving one WCHA point at the conclusion of 65 minutes.

To decide who earns the extra conference point, the Nanooks and the Lakers headed into a five-minute three-on-three overtime period. Senior forward Chad Staley made a nifty backhanded pass through the legs of a Lakers defender to Leiter, who walked in uncontested to score low-glove on Kossoff.

Unfortunately, since the goal was past the 65-minute mark, neither Staley or Leiter will earn any individual points on the goal but it did give the Nanooks two conference points.

Alaska junior goaltender Anton Martinsson collected 24 saves through 65 minutes, including four saves in overtime alone. On the other end of the ice, LSSU's Kossoff earned 17 saves against the Nanooks.

In the special teams race, Alaska went 1-for-7 on the man-advantage, while going 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, holding the Lakers scoreless on the power play.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will take on the Lake Superior State Lakers in another WCHA matchup again tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 10) at the Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Puck-drop is set for 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.