Seawolves celebrate their second goal against UAF. Photo by Justin Cox.
Despite two valiant overtime efforts, the Seawolves were unable to secure a hockey victory over the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
UAA fell to their in-state rivals 4-3 at home on Jan. 27. The Seawolves set the pace for the game from the opening faceoff. In just over two minutes, they had already taken three shot attempts.
Goalie Nolan Kent played aggressively on the other side of the ice, making four saves in less than seven minutes.
A little over eight minutes into the first period, Alex Gomez scored the first goal of the game, and his first goal of the season. Neither team was able to connect with the net for the rest of the first period and the Seawolves entered the second period with a 1-0 lead over UAF.
Less than four minutes into the second period, Kent had blocked all six of the Nanooks shot attempts. UAF's Garrett Pyke then skated into the penalty box for cross-checking. This opened up a power play goal for the Seawolves by Matt Allen.
Despite several power plays for both teams during the remainder of the second period, neither UAA or UAF scored and the Seawolves entered the final period with a 2-0 lead.
Nine minutes into the third period, UAF's Pyke missed wide on a goal, but Arvils Bergmanis secured the ricocheted puck and fired it past Kent for the first Nanook goal of the night.
UAF's Brady Risk tied the game 2-2 three minutes later with a goal off of a UAF faceoff win. Allen responded with a goal of his own with five minutes left in the game. The Seawolves led 3-2.
With only 48 seconds left in the game and a 3-2 lead, a Seawolf victory looked promising. But the Nanooks hadn't given up yet.
UAF's Jonny Sorenson fired a shot, but it was blocked by Carson Kosobud. However, Sorenson fought his way back to the puck and fired another shot… This time right into the goal. And with that, the Seawolves entered a sudden-death overtime.
The Seawolves played impenetrable defense for the first two minutes of overtime, but eventually the Nanooks fought their way to the net. UAF's Payton Matsui fired the puck past UAA to win the game 4-3.
The Seawolves flew to Fairbank the following day craving revenge. In just over two minutes, Matt Johnson connected with the net to give UAA a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, UAA's Caleb Huffman was sent into the penalty box for holding. The Nanooks capitalized on this power play and tied the game 1-1. Neither team scored for the rest of the first period.
After a scoreless second period, the Seawolves were eager to take back the lead. Only 39 seconds into the final period, William Gilson scored for the Seawolves.
Six minutes later, Connor Marritt added a third goal to the Seawolves' score. UAA led 3-1.
With seven minutes left in the game, Jarred White received a five minute penalty for kneeing. This set UAF up for back-to-back goals, which allowed them to tie the game 3-3.
Neither team was able to score again before the final buzzer and the Seawolves entered another sudden death overtime with UAF.
Despite the Seawolves winning the faceoff, UAF's Harrison Israels was quick to score and win the game for the Nanooks. For the second day in a row, the Seawolves fell to UAF 4-3 in overtime.
The overtime defeats concluded UAA's games against Fairbanks this season. The Nanooks won the Governor's Cup with a 6-0 advantage over the Seawolves.
The Seawolves head to Connecticut on Feb. 23 to take on the University of Connecticut at 3 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time. Visit GoSeawolves.com for live links and stats.
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