Nebraska-Omaha remained winless at the Carlson Center as Alaska-Fairbanks held on to a 3-2 win to give the Nanooks a 3-1 CCHA record, moving UNO to an even 3-3 CCHA record, putting the two teams in a three-way tie, along with Northern Michigan, in fourth place.
Wylie Rogers was in net for the second night in a row, replacing Keith Bartusch who usually splits the series with Rogers. Rogers stopped 36 shots only letting 2 in, but kept the Mavericks scoreless in the first period.
Ryan McLeod of UAF put the Nanooks on top at 14:32 of the first getting help from Adam Powell. McLeod’s shot was set up nicely and fired hard from the blue line to go past UNO goaltender Chris Holt.
Curtis Fraser put the Nanooks up 2-0. After being knocked down twice by the UNO players, Fraser was set up by linemates Kyle Greentree and Kelly Czuy and knocked the puck in past Holt right in front of the net.
Nebraska-Omaha was set to come back from the two-goal deficit and it did just that. Omaha’s Scott Parse put one in after Rogers was pulled down just feet from his net and made the Mavericks only one goal short.
Only a few minutes later, UNO’s Brandon Scero blasted a shot by Rogers, tying up the contest with almost less than half a period to play.
Things seemed to be going downhill for UAF as they were outshot and outplayed in the game’s final minutes. But then Kaleb Betts was called for a five-minute major for checking from behind and it cost the Mavericks.
Aquick shot from Kelly Czuy put the Nanooks ahead 3-2 and Wylie Rogers was able to stop several breakaway chances solidifying to one goal lead.
“It was another interesting game, very similar to last night. We took way too many penalties in the first period but we ended up getting timely goals and timely saves.” Said UAF head coach Tavis MacMillan.
“We wanted to come out hard and we expected to rebound and to be more disciplined. But we just weren’t getting it done. It all came down to discipline.” said UNO assistant coach Todd Jones.
The UAF Nanooks face Lake Superior State next weekend and the UNO Mavericks take on the Bowling Green Falcons who have the seven players who have been suspended return for that series.
