FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team held their annual Blue/Gold scrimmage at the Patty Ice Arena on Saturday, Sept. 23 and saw Team Gold beat Blue 3-0 on a Matteo Pecchia game-winner only minutes into the second period. They'd add two more late goals to secure the victory.

Alongside the Gold team winning 3-0, the 'Nooks hosted the semifinals and finals of the fastest skater competition, the hardest shot contest and a breakaway goalie competition. T.J. Lloyd won the fastest skater contest, beating Matt Koethe in the finals. In the hardest shot contest, Braden Birnie posted a shot of 97 mph to take the crown and in the final competition, Lassi Lehti was the top goalie in the breakaway competition. 

In the game, the first period was played to a 0-0 tie after the first 24 minutes of play. T.J. Lloyd of the Gold team was awarded a penalty shot but was stopped by Pierce Charleson. On the Blue side, Harrison Israels had a look in front of the net after a Brady Risk shot bounded off a body, but he was turned away by William Hambley, who was in net for Team Gold at the time. 

Only three minutes into the second, Jonny Sorenson redirected a shot in front of the net, but Charleson was able to keep the score even at 0-0 to open the second period. With just over 18:00 on the clock, the Yellow team grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Matteo Pecchia goal. Braden Birnie played the puck to behind the goalie before Cade Neilson handled it and found Pecchia near the face-off circle to the left of the net. He fired a wrist shot into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Yellow. That lead withstood a penalty shot for Chase Dafoe and the Blue team at the 5:11 mark. Lassi Lehti made the save and maintained the 1-0 lead. Just moments later, A.J. Macaulay grew the Yellow lead to 2-0. Chase Dubois found Payton Matsui across the ice and the junior forward put a pass cross-crease and Macaulay was there to redirect it into the back of the net. 

Brayden Nicholetts capped off the night with a backhanded, falling, no-look empty-netter to make it 3-0 Gold. Head coach Erik Largen spoke on the weekend's action and was happy with the fire the guys brought to the ice, "I thought it was good, I thought they looked solid on the five-on-five. The team was moving, it was competitive, they generated a lot of scoring chances which was nice and a lot of guys played a good game individually. There were a lot of positives to take out of the weekend before we get into the exhibition next weekend."

Semifinals
Lloyd vs. A. Bergmanis
Koethe vs. Bruneski

Finals
Lloyd vs. Koethe

Lloyd wins it

Hardest shot 
Dubois - 85, 81, 83
Hilfiker - 18, 83, 85
A. Bergmanis - 27, 86, 76
Israels - 91, 92, 38
Birnie - 96, 94, 97

On night one, the Nanooks hosted a three-on-three tournament consisting of the Blue, Gold and White teams. The White team pulled out the victory, beating the Blue squad in the championship.

Alaska is officially back at the Carlson next weekend when they face Vancouver Island on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 7:07 p.m.

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