BEMIDJI, Minn. – Despite a late third period goal, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Bemidji State Beavers in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest at the Sanford Center on Friday night. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 11-18-3 and 9-15-2-1 in conference play, while the Beavers improve to 16-11-7 on the season and 13-8-5-2 in league matchups.

At the time of article, Alaska remains tied for sixth place in the conference standings with Alabama-Huntsville, each with 30 WCHA points thus far.

Each of the three goals scored on Friday were within the last three minutes of the period, with Bemidji becoming the first team to light the lamp, scoring an even-strength goal at the 18:01 mark of the first period. BSU's Adam Brady and Charlie Combs found themselves on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush with an Alaskan defender with Combs dishing the puck across the slot to Brady, who one-timed it backdoor for his seventh goal of the season.

After a scoreless second period, Bemidji scored their second goal of the game at the 18:19 mark of the third period with an even-strength tally from Jordan Heller. Like their first goal, Bemidji took advantage of Alaska's numbers and capitalized on Heller's backhand shot after being left alone in the crease to take a 2-0 lead.

The Nanooks fought back, as junior forward Chad Staley netted his fourth goal of the season only 19 seconds later to make it 2-1 with an extra attacker on the ice. Sophomore forward Troy Van Tetering put a shot on BSU goaltender Michael Bitzer before Staley skated across the slot and stuffed in the rebound to pull Alaska back within one goal.

Despite the extra effort, Alaska wasn't able to tie the game within the last 1:12 of regulation and will return to Fairbanks with only one point on the weekend.

Bemidji outshot Alaska 27-25 on Friday, as the Nanooks' sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson collected a game-high 25 saves against the Beavers. On the other end of the ice, BSU's Bitzer tallied 24 saves.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team will return home for their final regular season games of the season next weekend, as they host in-state rival Alaska Anchorage for a two-game WCHA series on Friday, Feb. 23 and Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Carlson Center.

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