TEMPE, Ariz. - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team went into Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Ariz. and took care of business on night one of their two-game weekend with the Arizona State Sun Devils. With the win the Nanooks improve to 8-16-1 on the 2021-22 season.

It took less than five minutes for the Nanooks to get on the board. Only 4:15 in, Arizona State was whistled for a throwing equipment penalty resulting in a penalty-shot for rookie Brady Risk. Risk capitalized, beating Ben Kraws, making it 1-0 Alaska. Alongside taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, Gustavs Davis Grigals posted a 10-save first, keeping ASU off the board. That trend changed as the two teams entered the second period. Grigals was only able to make seven saves on nine Sun Devil shots as ASU's Jordan Sandhu and Matthew Kopperud scored 1:40 a part. 

With Arizona State up one, the Nanooks were able to push back, tying it with 1:13 left in the middle stanza. After Garrett Pyke played the puck to Filip Fornaa Svensson along the blue-line, Fornaa Svensson put a shot on net that was redirected into the back of the net by Harrison Israels, his first-career goal for the Nanooks. 

This knotted the game at 2-2 heading into the third period. Only 2:05 into the final period of regulation, Caleb Hite took a pass from Antti Virtanen, moved around a defender on a toe-drag and fired the wrister into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. Alaska maintained their one-goal lead for the next 13 minutes before Anton Rubtsov scored, giving Virtanen his second assist of the evening. This made it 4-2 Nanooks and proved to be the game-winner. 

Just under three minutes later, the Nanooks, while down a man and facing an extra attacker with ASU's goal empty, scored on a dash for the puck. After the puck was sent down ice near the empty-net, Didrik Henbrant proved why he's the Nanooks' fastest skater and beat the ASU skaters down ice for the tip-in goal. This made it 5-2 Nanooks with 1:21 remaining. 

The Sun Devils added their third of the night with 19.2 seconds left on the clock as Jack Jensen found the back of the net, but Alaska left Oceanside with a 5-3 win, their first ever on the road against Arizona State. 

Gustavs Davis Grigals had another stellar night in net, stopping 38 shots-on-goal. The two teams meet again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Ariz. 

Head coach Erik Largen was a fan of what he saw on the ice at Arizona State, "I really liked the way we handled the adversity of the second period. It was great to see Harrison [Israels] and Caleb [Hite] get their first goals of the season as well. It will be a very tough challenge tomorrow to beat a highly talented ASU team twice."

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.