TROY, New York – The Nanooks hockey program picked up a game-one win over the Rensselaer Engineers on Friday, Nov. 18. With the win, the 'Nooks improve to 5-5-1 and drop RPI to 6-6-0 on the year. 
 
Alaska got the scoring started 6:03 into the first as Brayden Nicholetts tallied his first goal of the season, picking up his third point of 2022-23. Markuss Komuls played the puck against the wall before throwing it in near the crease – Nicholetts, who settled in front of RPI netminder, Jack Watson, redirected the puck, finding the back of the net making it 1-0 Alaska in the Houston Field House. 4:20 later, RPI found the equalizer. Max Smolinski, a freshman defenseman, scored his first collegiate goal, scoring off passes from Kyle Hallbauer and Austin Heidermann. 
 
The 1-1 tie stood through the first intermission and nearly halfway into the second before Kyle Gaffney tallied his first-career goal and game-winner one a one-timer. 8:08 into the middle stanza, Gaffney took a pass from Arvils Bergmanis across the slot and Gaffney slotted the shot home making it 2-1 Nanooks. Payton Matsui earned the secondary assist after winning the faceoff leading to the goal. They maintained their lead through the rest of the game, adding one more goal 18:45 into the third when Matt Koethe beat Watson on a cross-ice pass from Gaffney, giving Koethe his fourth goal of the season and Gaffney his second point of the night and third assist of the season. A.J. Macaulay earned the secondary assist on Koethe's goal. 
 
Nanooks' netminder Matt Radomsky stopped 12 of 13 shots for a .923 save percentage and earned his fifth win of the season between the pipes. 
 
These two teams face off again tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. in the Houston Field House in Troy, New York. The Nanooks look for a sweep before heading to Penn State on Nov. 22-23 in University Park, Penn. 
 
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.