Nanooks win the Battle, but lose the War

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - This past weekend, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) had a series against Arizona State University (ASU) that won’t be leaving anyone’s memories for a lifetime.

Game one for the Nanooks against the Sun Devils is a game that could potentially go down in college hockey history, not for the goals, but for the extracurriculars at the end of the game.

The first and second period was relatively quiet on the scoresheet, but saw a few chances for both teams.

5:35 into the third, Nanooks on a four on two, and William Lawson-Body found Chase Dafoe in the high slot who buried it, taking the one goal lead.

Two minutes later, Arizona State tied it up with a pass to the back door for the wide open shot.

A checking from behind penalty would be reviewed and turned into a 5 minute major, and the Nooks took advantage of the opportunity.

Cade Nielson took the shot pass, aiming for the far post for a beautiful tight tip-in from Anton Rubtsov, taking the lead back with 1:14 left in the game.

37 seconds later, Dafoe would call “game” with his second of the night after a pass from Braden Birnie ending the Sun Devils’ chances at postseason appearance.

Then the extracurriculars would begin...

A scrum would turn into four players from each side sent to the sin bin with 16 seconds left in the game. Penalties would be 10 for 31 minutes for ASU and 9 for 26 minutes for UAF once the fracas settled.

After that, the fireworks would hit their peak for the game. With 11 seconds to go, it would become one of the biggest donnybrooks (fights) in college hockey history.

The scrum would leave Arizona State with a total of 21 penalties for 116 minutes, and Alaska with a total of 23 penalties for 131 minutes.

There would be eight disqualifications, six fighting majors, four game misconducts, three persisting in misconduct, two leaving the bench, and finally one penalty each for face masking and a misconduct called during the scrum.

The combined penalty totals for both teams amounted to 44 penalties for 247 minutes, with three players from both teams suspended.

After the crazy win, Coach Erik Largen was pensive about the team’s performance in the win. “I thought it was a little bit of a feeling out process for both teams through the first 40 minutes of the game. It wasn’t a ton of chances. They probably had the better of them, and I thought Lassi (Lehti), did a great job in net, and then the third I thought we played really well in the third. I didn’t think we gave up a whole lot...”

Largen also spoke about what happened at the end of the game and admitted things got out of hand, “You know emotions are gonna run high, but to have you know the type of altercations that happened. It’s something that you know, I got to take responsibility for and make sure that we’re a lot smarter tomorrow. You understand it, you know players... you know you feel like a player may get cheap shotted or something like that and you want to stick up for their defense, but you know there’s a right and wrong way to do it and you know I felt like it just got over the line tonight...”

After the Friday night brawl with Arizona State, the Nooks hit reload for Saturday night’s game. Compared to their first matchup at the Carlson Center, when fists flew and penalties spread like wildfire, the two teams kept calm with 12 combined penalties, rather than Friday’s 44.

But that’s not to say the contest didn’t bring its own thrills.

Harrison Israels put the scorekeepers to work just minutes into the game. The forward tipped in a shot from Payton Matsui to beat the Sun Devils’ goalie and give the Nooks a one goal lead.

Thanks to some outstanding saves from UAF’s goalie, Lassi Lehti, that lead held until early in the second period.

With the game back at 1-1, freshman forward Filip Wiberg found a way into Arizona State’s net with another tip-in to score his first career goal.

The Nooks increased their lead to 3-1 when Matt Koethe put home a rebound following an attempt from Rubstov.

Then ASU came roaring back, scoring two unanswered goals to tie the game up at three.

Seventeen scoreless minutes passed in the third period, pushing the teams to overtime. Once the extra period started, it took the Sun Devils less than a minute to break the stalemate and win the war against the Nooks 4-3, taking the season series 3 to 1.

With some players disqualified after Friday night’s skirmish, Coach Largen weighed in on the team’s performance in their absence. “I mean, you gotta have your top guys step up, and it just, it’s just been disappointing. Like, I think obviously those guys add a big dynamic to the lineup, but we have other guys that need to step up and play well, and it’s just inconsistent and as you show with the result tonight.”

Saturday did have one silver lining for the Nooks, with two freshman forwards connecting for the team’s second goal.

William Lawson-Body gave us his thoughts on being able to get an assist on Filip Wiberg’s first career goal. “He’s a great player, and it was pretty exciting to get in on a goal with him, especially being a couple guys that haven’t played as much this year, and being guys working together a lot of the times at the beginning of the year when we’re out of the lineup, and just having that moment with him was pretty special and one that we’ll remember for sure.”

After this weekend’s incident, Dawson Bruneski, of the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, will be suspended for the remainder of the season for his actions on Friday night’s game.

Alaska Head Coach Erik Largen made this statement about Friday’s actions, “We as a staff, department and university do not condone the actions that occurred on Friday night. Dawson, unfortunately, will be out for the rest of the season because of this. The incident is not a representation of Fairbanks, UAF or the Alaska Nanooks hockey program.”

The next series for the Nanooks hockey team is on the road against Augustana, this upcoming weekend March 1st and 2nd.

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