BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team responded from their 2-0 loss a night ago and shutout the Catamounts 3-0 in Vermont, grabbing their first-ever win over the Vermont hockey program. With the win, the Nanooks improve to 7-16-1 on the season. 
 
After being shutout, it took the Nanooks only 11:34 to get on the board for the first time this weekend. Anton Rubtsov's goal in the first period proved to be all they needed as the freshman forward found a rebound just outside the crease off of a Harrison Israels shot and slotted home the goal. Six and a half minutes later, the Nanooks added another. This time it was redshirt-freshman Kristaps Jakobsons. 
 
The rookie defenseman capitalized on a broken play. Vermont attempted to clear the puck out of their zone, but the blueliner was in the right spot at the right time and found the back of the net, tallying his first-career goal in the blue and gold. 
 
The Nanooks maintained the 2-0 lead through the second period and into the third as netminder Gustavs Davis Grigals saved 10 shots in the first, 10 in the second and eight in the third. Grigals ended the night with 28 saves, posting his fourth career shutout and first since Dec. 12, 2021 when the Nanooks blanked RPI 4-0 at the Carlson Center. 
 
Late in the third, with the Vermont net empty, Filip Fornaa Svensson capitalized and scored his sixth goal of the season with 38.2 seconds left. This gave the Nanooks a 3-0 win. 
 
Head coach Erik Largen was proud of his teams response after Friday night's loss, "Our group had a great bounce back effort tonight against a very strong and well coached Vermont hockey team. It was great to see Kristaps Jakobsons score his first-career goal and Gustavs was outstanding all weekend long. We need to continue to make some improvements and corrections before we go against a great hockey team in Arizona State."
 
Alaska heads to Tempe, Ariz. for a two-game matchup with the Sun Devils. This will be the first trip to Arizona for Alaska since the 2018-19 season. They fell in both games to ASU on Oct. 6-7, 2018 by a final of 3-0 and 5-0. The two teams matched up in Fairbanks during the 2019-20 season and the Nanooks picked up their first win over ASU on Nov. 8, 2019, 4-3 before falling 4-0 a night later.
 
Next weekend's games are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 5. Both nights have a 5:07 p.m. scheduled puck-drop. 
 
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.