FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves dropped Game 3 of the annual Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup to in-state rival Alaska Fairbanks, 3-2 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at the Carlson Center.
Despite the loss, the Seawolves' (11-19-3, 8-17-2 WCHA) hopes for the playoffs are still alive, but they failed to win the Cup title for the seventh straight year. UAF (9-20-4, 7-16-4 WCHA) collected the Cup with a 2-0-1 record against the Seawolves, following a win and tie in December.
With the loss, the Alaska schools are tied for No. 8 in the league with 18 points. UAA will need to win tomorrow to go on to the WCHA First Round, while the Nanooks need just a win or a tie to disqualify UAA and move on.
Tonight, the Seawolves twice came back from a two-goal deficit to make it a one-goal game, but couldn't find the equalizer. UAF took a 2-0 lead in the second after a scoreless first period thanks to a ricochet and bad bounce at 52 seconds in and 13:52. Meanwhile, the Nanooks' final tally at 14:53 of the third, was deflected straight into the goal scorer's hands.
The Nanooks' first two-goal lead was cut in half when sophomore Matt Anholt won the face off and fed the puck to senior captain Austin Sevalrud. Picking up his first goal of the season, Sevalrud fired a wrister through traffic, beating senior netminder Davis Jones, glove side, at 18:36.
After UAF's Peter Krieger made it 3-1 in the third period with a power-play goal, the Seawolves cut the lead again with a goal by sophomore forward Tad Kozun with 1:20 remaining in regulation. Freshman Wyatt Ege and senior Blake Tatchell (102nd career point) assisted on the play – which came with an extra attacker with sophomore netminder Olivier Mantha (29 saves) pulled.
UAA battled for the equalizer as the final seconds ticked off the clock, but couldn't break though. Following the final buzzer a scrum broke out, resulting in nine penalties for UAA and 10 for UAF. Combined throughout the whole night, the teams put up 124 minutes of penalties.
The fight continues tomorrow at 7:07 p.m.
