FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team dropped game one of their Western Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinal playoff series on Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Bowling Green Falcons at the Carlson Center. The Falcons improve to 20-13-4 overall, while the Nanooks fall to 16-14-5 on the season.

The loss puts the Nooks in a must-win situation against the Falcons on Saturday, in order to tie the best-of-three series at 1-1 and keep the 2019-20 season alive. Alaska and Bowling Green will play game three at the Carlson Center on Sunday, Mar. 8 if necessary.

Junior forward Max Newton broke open the scoring on Friday night, earning a power play tally at 18:14 of the first period. Newton picked up a loose puck in the BGSU slot and caught Falcon netminder Eric Dop out of position to earn his eighth goal of the season. Newton's goal was assisted by fellow junior forward Steven Jandric and senior forward Kylar Hope.

Only 1:58 into the second period, Bowling Green's Alex Barber tied the game with an even-strength goal. Barber's 11th on the year was assisted by Brandon Kruse and Tim Theocharidis.

The third period saw a total of four goals, as Bowling Green's Alec Rauhauser gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead at the 6:19 mark, with a helper from Kruse.

Alaska was able to tie the game at 2-2 only 37 seconds later, as senior defenseman James LaDouce earned his third goal of the season. After a battle behind the Bowling Green net, Newton fed LaDouce for a one-timer backdoor. Sophomore defenseman Chris Jandric was given the secondary.

Bowling Green earned back-to-back power play goals in the latter half of the third period, as Theocharidis (14:31) and Frederic Letourneau (16:03) sealed the Falcons' playoff victory.

Bowling Green outshot the Nooks 28-21, with Drop collecting 19 saves on the night, while Alaska senior goaltender Anton Martinsson turned away 24 shots, including 11 in the third period alone.

On the special teams front, Bowling Green went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage, while Alaska went 1-for-4.

The Alaska Nanooks and the Bowling Green Falcons will face-off again tomorrow (Saturday, Mar. 7) in game two of the best-of-three WCHA quarterfinal playoff series. Puck-drop at the Carlson Center is set for 7:07 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.