DENVER, Colo. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team responded from their 7-2 loss to the Pioneers on Dec. 31, 2021 with a 4-4 tie on New Years Day. This tie moved Alaska to 4-13-1 on the season. 
 
For the second straight night, the Pioneers hopped out to an early lead. Only 1:49 into the opening-period, Brett Stapley found the back of the net giving Denver the lead. The Nanooks had a response, however, as Brady Risk continued his impressive rookie year with his second power-play goal of the season. The freshman forward took the cross-crease pass and beat Magnus Chrona on the backdoor making it 1-1 in the first. Just before the first ended, Denver struck again as Reid Irwin took a centering-pass from Brett Stapley and beat Nanooks goaltender, Gustavs Davis Grigals, on his blocker-side, making it 2-1 heading into the first intermission. 
 
Quickly into the middle stanza, the Nanooks responded again, this time it was Connor Mylymok netting his first of two. Mylymok made his way to the slot as Eriks Zohovs played the puck behind the net and Zohovs found him for the one-timer. This equalizer was Mylymok's second goal of the season. 
 
Mike Benning, while on the 5-on-3 power play for Denver, made it 3-2 Pioneers just under three minutes later. Jack Devine added another 11:42 into the second making it 4-2. He took the puck outside the slot in the faceoff circle to Grigals' left and snuck it through Grigals' body as the puck trickled into the back of the net. Despite the two-goal deficit, the Nanooks had one more trick up their sleeve. 
 
Connor Mylymok kicked it off with a highlight reel goal. On the break, Garrett Pyke played the puck from the boards to Mylymok in the slot and the freshman did not disappoint; he went between the legs and flipped it past Chrona on his blocker side pulling Alaska within one at 4-3 Denver. That score would take DU and Alaska into the second intermission. 
 
Fellow freshman, Anton Rubtsov then tied it at 4-4 with just over five minutes remaining in the third period. After Garrett Pyke played the puck off the boards in front of the Denver bench, he found Rubtsov in the neutral zone. He entered the Nanooks attacking-zone and beat Chrona with the quick wrister, tying the game at 4-4 with 5:11 remaining. The tie took these two to overtime. Grigals, who posted 43 saves on the night, was a brick wall in the extra period, stopping all six shots-on-goal posted by Denver, including a power-play opportunity that ran until seven seconds remaining in OT. After Grigals stopped his last shot of the night, the Nanooks had one last break as time ran down. Markuss Komuls left the box following his tripping penalty and put one final shot on net with one second remaining in the game. Chrona made the stop and game two in the Mile High City ended in a 4-4 tie. 
 
Alongside Mylymok, Garrett Pyke and Brady Risk posted multi-point games. Pyke ended the night with three assists, a new career-high in both points and assists in a single-game. Risk picked up one of each, scoring the Nanooks first goal of the night as well as assisting on Mylymok's first for his second multi-point game of the season. This now pushes Risk into the top-spot in points as the freshman has 13 on the year, five goals and eight assists.
 
The Nanooks will now head to Orono, Maine for a matchup with the Maine Black Bears on Jan. 7-8 at Alfond Arena. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.