HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team narrowly pulled out a tie against the Alabama Huntsville Chargers on Friday, Feb. 7. After falling behind early, the 'Nooks managed to crawl themselves back and grab their third tie of the season, now making them 13-13-3, 11-9-2-1 WCHA.
 
The Chargers were the first to strike on the night, only 1:34 into the opening period. Daneel Lategan found the right bounce, playing the puck just in front of Anton Martinsson of Alaska. Liam Izyk put the puck on net but Lategan caught just enough of the shot to change the direction, putting the puck up and over Martinsson's body. It did not take long for UAH to strike again, and in similar fashion as the first goal. Only 4:23 later, Izyk managed to catch a puck just in front of the net from Tanner Hickey. With the same mindset as Lategan, Izyk tipped the puck just enough to sneak it past Martinsson. 
 
Alaska answered, however, when Tyler Cline scored his fifth goal of the season 12:42 into the game, pulling the 'Nooks within one goal. Chris Jandric and Kylar Hope picked up the assists after playing the net from behind the Chargers net to Cline who then sent the one-timer past Huntsville net-minder, Mark Sinclair. Just before the first came to an end, the Chargers struck one more time. Austin Beaulieu scored with only 2:32 remaining extending the lead to 1-3 as the two teams went to the locker rooms for the first intermission. 
 
Out of the locker room, the Nanooks switched their game plan. They turned up their aggressiveness and struck immediately out of the gates. Off the opening face-off of the second period, Steven Jandric took the puck from Markuss Komuls, who played the puck from Max Newton's face-off win. From there, Jandric went coast-to-coast, slotting the goal to start the comeback. Jandric's goal came only nine seconds into the second and began a period that would see six total goals scored. 4:50 later, Kylar Hope got his name into the scoring column when he took a pass from Newton and S. Jandric and beat Sinclair, tying the game at 3-3. Nearly seven minutes passed before the next action occurred when Tyr Thompson of UAH beat Gustavs Grigals, who replaced Martinsson after the first period, making it a 3-4 Chargers lead. Connor Wood added another for Huntsville, making it a 3-5 lead only five minutes later. 
 
The Nanooks trailed almost all of the game, but that never kept them out of striking distance. Three minutes after UAH made it a two-goal lead, Komuls struck from the slot, taking a pass from S. Jandric and putting the one-timer in the back of the net. Unfortunately, Christian Rajic scored right back, nine seconds later, making it a 4-6 deficit heading into the third period. 
 
The third period saw a steady push from the Nanooks who put up 13 shots to the Chargers five. Nothing seemed to work the first 15 minutes until James LaDouce got the party started 15:33 into the third. After a lost puck in front of the net, LaDouce managed to force the puck into the back of the net, pulling the Nanooks within one. 18 seconds later, just off of the face-off at center ice, the Nanooks tied things up again and this time it was Newton. Steven Jandric played the puck from the right of Sinclair, sending the pass across the crease right to Newton on the backside of the goalie where he did not miss. Newton lit the lamp post, making it a 6-6 tie. That goal and assist also gave both S. Jandric and Newton four points on the night. This was Jandric's second four-point game of the season and gave Newton his highest scoring game of his career. 
 
After nobody claimed the win in 5-on-5 overtime, the game ended in an official tie. However, that also means the teams continued on for an extra point in the WCHA standings. The Nanooks had yet to capitalize on the extra point in their two 3-on-3 games, however this time around things were different. Only 29 seconds into the final overtime period, Tyler Cline took the puck coast-to-coast and put a backhand past Sinclair, ending the game and giving the Nanooks two points on the night. 
 
These two teams return to action tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 8 at 4:07 p.m. AKT.
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.