MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team made it two-straight wins with a 4-2 victory over the St. Thomas Tommies on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. They used two goals in the first and two in the second to move to 2-0-1 on the 2022-23 season.
It did not take long for the Tommies to hold a 1-0 lead as Ryan O'Neill made it 1-0 only 25 seconds into the game. He beat Matt Radomsky for the early lead. It took only 10 minutes for the Nanooks to find the equalizer. Anton Rubtsov struck gold 10:59 into the first, taking a pass from Kyle Gaffney, giving Gaffney his second-straight game with an assist. Gaffney intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and made the pass to Rubtsov near the blue-line. After taking the pass, Rubtsov beat UST netminder Aaron Trotter with a wrist-shot, tying the game at 1-1.
Only 2:21 later, the Nanooks had the lead. While both sides played four-on-four hockey, Matt Koethe played a puck off his skate from a UST skater and went end-to-end. He beat Trotter on his blocker side, putting the puck top-shelf over his right shoulder, making it 2-1 Nanooks. This goal was unassisted and the 2-1 lead stood into the first intermission. Radomsky made seven saves in the first period, including one save during a five-minute major on a Jonny Sorenson hitting from behind call.
It took 14:57 into the second for the Nanooks to score next. Simon Falk net his second goal of the season after taking a cross-slot pass from Arvils Bergmanis and beat Trotter on the one-timer. Payton Matsui played the puck to Bergmanis, earning the secondary assist.
Four and a half minutes later, with 31.5 seconds remaining in the second period, Jonny Sorenson took a free puck in the neutral zone and battled through a slashing penalty to find the back of the net, making it 4-1 Nanooks and giving them four consecutive goals after falling behind 25 seconds into the game. The unassisted goal gave Sorenson his second of the season.
UST made it 4-2 Nanooks 6:59 into the third but the two-goal lead stood until the final buzzer.
Radomsky ended the night with 22 saves and a .916 save percentage, moving to 2-0-1 in net during his first year with the Nanooks.
These two meet again tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 8 at 3:07 p.m. AKT before the Nanooks come home for two against Michigan Tech on Oct. 13-14.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.
