Box Score MANKATO, Minn. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team fell to the #3 ranked Minnesota State Mavericks 1-3 on Jan. 4 ending their eight consecutive series split streak. This sweep was the first sweep since the opening weekend when they faced Denver. This loss drops the Nanooks to 10-12-0, 8-8-0 WCHA on the season.
In the first period, the game remained even for all 20 minutes. Mankato put nine shots on goal while Alaska put six on net but neither side could find the back of the net. With no goals, the game was very back-and-forth in the neutral zone as neither side could maintain constant control of the puck in the attacking zone. As time ticked down, the Nanooks lost their captain,
Kylar Hope to a check from behind that resulted in a five minute-major and a game misconduct. This resulted in a five minute power play that rolled over to the second period.
After keeping the Mavericks off the board for the entire penalty, the Nanooks got a power play of their own with just under five minutes remaining, however, on a puck sent down ice, senior goalie,
Anton Martinsson misplayed a puck as Nick Rivera stole it off the stick and connected on the wrap-around for a short-handed goal putting the Mavericks up 0-1.
That score would stick into the second intermission before the Mavericks added another near the midway point of the third period. Reggie Lutz connected off of a Riese Zmolek pass and slotted the puck past Martinsson extending the lead to 0-2. The Nanooks found a quick answer however, as
Antti Virtanen picked up his second goal of the year after taking a pass from
Steven Jandric and
Justin Young cutting the Mavs lead in half with seven and a half minutes remaining.
With 49.8 seconds left on the clock in the third period, the Mavericks struck on an empty net when Rivera caught up to a puck deep in the zone and found the back of the net from a tough angle making it a 1-3 game.
Unfortunately for the Nanooks they could not manage to grab a split this weekend ending their streak of eight consecutive splits in weekend series'.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.
