FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks hockey team won their third-straight game with a 5-2 victory over the Augustana Vikings on Friday, Dec. 15. With the win, Alaska improved to 9-5-1 on the season.
It did not take long for the Nanooks to claim the lead as
Harrison Israels tallied his 12th goal of the season, punching in a loose puck in the crease.
Brady Risk fired a shot from the goal line and after a quick save, Israels tipped in the loose puck for the goal.
Arvils Bergmanis received the secondary assist on the opening goal. Before heading to the break,
Caleb MacDonald made it 2-0 Nanooks 19:32.3 into the first period with a power-play goal. He snapped a wristshot past AU goalie Josh Kotai to make it 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes. In the first, Alaska went 2-2 on the penalty kill and capitalized on their lone power-play opportunity.
8:13 into the second, while on the power play, the Nanooks made it 3-0 with a
T.J. Lloyd goal. After
Anton Rubtsov played the puck from Bergmanis, he found Lloyd near the face-off circle and Lloyd snapped a shot past Kotai. Less than a minute later, the Nanooks struck again. This time
Cade Ahrenholz found the back of the net making it 4-0 Nanooks and ending Kotai's night in net. Following the fourth goal, Kayden Hargraves was brought in to replace Kotai.
Just over five minutes later the Vikings struck for their first goal of the night. Ryan Naumovski got AU on the board with a power-play goal. Under three minutes later, Augustana cut the lead in half as Brett Meerman scored another power-play goal for AU with less than two minutes left in the second. The third period saw the Nanooks outshoot the Vikings 14-4 and eventually tally their fifth goal of the night on an
Anton Rubtsov empty-netter with 58 seconds left in the game.
Bergmanis and Rubtsov led the way with two points each. Bergmanis picked up a pair of assists while Rubtsov had one goal and one assist. Nine other Nanooks recorded a point in the victory while
Pierce Charleson ended the night with 22 saves on 24 shot attempts.
Both sides do battle again tomorrow at 7:07 p.m. in the Carlson Center. Bring a stuffed animal or teddy bear and get ready to participate in the Teddy Bear Toss during the first intermission.
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