TEMPE, Ariz. - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team made some noise in Mullett Arena against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday, Feb. 24. With a hat-trick from Payton Matsui, the 'Nooks powered past ASU 4-2 to move to 19-10-2 this season.

All eyes were on the ice as the Nanooks took to Mullett Arena for the first time in program history and it did not take long for Alaska to make it's presence known. Only 4:02 into the opening 20 minutes, Payton Matsui played the puck near the right face-off circle and beat ASU netminder TJ Semptimphelter. He played the puck off of a Chase Dubois shot and rebound and made it 1-0 'Nooks. Brayden Nicholetts tallied the secondary assist on the opener. Moments later, the Nanooks thought they'd struck again, but a Garrett Pyke goal was taken off the board following an ASU coaches review that proved to be worth it. Alaska was whistled for an offsides call and the score remained 1-0. 

Pyke was not to be denied, however, as 15:21 into the period while on the power-play, Pyke found the back of the net with a one-timer from the goalies left. T.J. Lloyd and Jonny Sorenson shared the puck along the blue-line before Sorenson drifted to the slot and found Pyke for the shot and goal to make it 2-0. It did not take long for ASU to answer back. Nearly three minutes later, Josh Doan put one past Matt Radomsky to while up a man on a five-minute major to pull the Sun Devils within one. While still down a man, Matsui made some magic happen and found himself all alone. After blocking a pass attempt by ASU, the puck slid out to center-ice and the race was on. Matsui beat both ASU defenders to the puck and snuck it by the ASU goalie for a short-handed goal, one that made it 3-1 going into the first intermission. 

That was only the second time this season the 'Nooks scored three goals in the first. The last time came on Dec. 10, 2022 against UAA in their 7-2 victory over the Seawolves. The second period saw no scoring as Nanooks' goalie, Matt Radomsky, stopped all nine shots-on-goal and ASU's TJ Semptimphelter stopped all 10 shots. 

Entering the third, the Nanooks had their 3-1 lead. They entered this weekend's series with an 11-2-1 record when leading after two. That trend continued as they'd grab the 4-2 victory. ASU gained some momentum in the final 20 minutes with a Jack Judson goal 9:49 into the final period. The goal was not whistled at first, but following a review, the Sun Devil goal was awarded. Down the stretch, Radomsky became a wall, stopping a total of 17 shots in the third. Payton Matsui put the icing on the cake with an empty-netter 19:51.3 into the third after Jonny Sorenson found him from the corner on a loose puck down ice. The goal gave Matsui his first-career hat-trick with Alaska and gave Alaska the 4-2 win. 

Radomsky ended the night with 33 saves and Matsui finished with three points, all goals. Sorenson added another multipoint game to his season, finishing with two assists. 

The Nanooks and Sun Devils wrap-up their season series tomorrow with a 3:00 p.m. AKT puck-drop at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Ariz. 

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.