FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves held off in-state rival Alaska Fairbanks for a 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory, which doubles as Game 1 of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup at the Carlson Center.
The Seawolves, who never trailed in the game, improve to 3-12-2 overall and 2-7-2 in league play with the win and jump into ninth place in the WCHA standings with nine points – just four points behind the eighth-place Nanooks. UAF falls to 4-11-2 and 3-8-2 in the conference.
UAA captured the lead in the first period, before collecting a two-goal advantage early in the second. UAF cut the deficit in half at the middle point of the game, but a power-play strike in the opening minutes of the third returned the lead to two. The Nanooks pulled their netminder in the final minutes of the game, capitalizing on an extra attacker for the 3-2 final.
Starting the scoring for the Seawolves was sophomore defenseman Eric Roberts, who furnished his first collegiate tally at 16:42 of the initial frame. Roberts, who gathered his first point of the season last weekend, carried the puck into the Nanook zone and fired on net. He then easily skated around a defender and picked up the rebound for the 1-0 UAA lead.
The Seawolves' first two-goal lead came courtesy of senior forward Brad Duwe. A product of Soldotna, Duwe tallied his fourth of the season at 2:40 of the second. Assists went to the twins – Nathan and Jonah Renouf - who found Duwe stationed in front of the net. Duwe's last goal was Nov. 18 vs. Michigan Tech.
UAF's Nikolas Koberstein ended the shutout at 9:45 of the second, giving UAA a 2-1 lead at the second intermission. With just 2:02 expired on the clock in the third, senior defenseman Chase Van Allen fired a shot from the point, beating a screened David Jones on the power play. Its Van Allen's second of the season, both coming on the man advantage. J. Renouf got his second multi-point game of the season with the first helper, while freshman Aleksi Ainali picked up his fourth assist on the year.
With Jones on the bench for the extra attacker, the Nanooks struck with 1:47 left in the game, but were unable to find the equalizer with Jones pulled once again. Jones picked up the loss with 20 saves, while junior goaltended Olivier Mantha made 30 saves for the win. UAF out shot UAA, 32-23, including 16-3 in the third.
The Seawolves were perfect on five penalty kills and went 1-for-4 on the power play.
The rivals will rematch tomorrow in Game 2 of the Cup at 7:07 p.m. AST. Then the Cup returns to Anchorage to crown the winner on Feb. 24-25.
