Despite a less than stellar start this weekend in Anchorage, the Nanooks seem poised to once again take the prestigious Governor's Cup.

 Friday Night

The Nanooks shot hard on Friday, but the Seawolves won the first game on excellent goaltending by freshman Nathan Lawson. Lawson collected 36 saves, allowing only two Nanook goals.

Excepting the last two Anchorage goals, scored on an empty net, the two teams were closely matched in their 122nd meeting. In the first period, UAA's Shea Hamilton scored a power-play goal, on an assist by Matt Hanson. At the end of the period, with 20 seconds remaining, defenseman Jordan Hendry went down with a serious knee injury, and was led off the ice to disrespectful jeering from many Anchorage fans. Hendry is one of the best players on the team, and, according to UAF head coach Tavis MacMillian, is probably out for the season.

Assisted by Kyle Greentree, UAF's Curtis Fraser, snuck in a shot on Lawson to even the score right at the halfway point in the game. Unfortunately for the Nanooks, Anchorage was able to score another pair of goals within the last three and a half minutes of the period, one by Brent McMann and the other by Chris Tarkir. Tarkir's goal was made off an intercepted pass from defenseman Darcy Campbell. At the end of the period, UAF was out-shooting Anchorage 29 to 17.

Within the first ten seconds of the third period, four players, two from each team were down in a pileup in the Seawolf goal. A fight seemed imminent, but no penalties were awarded. With only about two minutes remaining in the period, Nanook goalie Keith Bartusch was pulled, in hopes to even up the game. This allowed UAA's Justin Bourne to score an empty net goal. Darcy Campbell made up for his missed pass earlier in the game by scoring UAF's second goal of the game, with just over a minute to play. Never quitters, the Nanook goalie was kept off the ice, allowing yet another empty net goal by Anchorage's Charlie Kronschnabel with only twenty seconds remaining.

The final score was a disappointing 5-2 defeat for the Nanooks and the large number of Fairbanksans among the 5,337 fans in attendance.

 Saturday Night

The night brought new hopes, with UAF maintaining its lead in shooting, but managing to sneak more of them past Lawson. Bartusch sat the game out, being replaced by freshman Wylie Rogers, for his first start in goal.

Things seemed to be a repeat of Friday's game, as UAF's Kelly Czuy got a penalty at 19:36 in the first period. Fortunately, this was not a harbinger of things to come, as Nathan Fornataro, assisted by Czuy, capitalized on a power play to score at 5:54 on the clock.

In the second, after several close shots, UAF scored again after just over three minutes, this time by Troy Newton, assisted by defenseman Cramer Hickey and Czuy. At 12:20 in the period, freshman Adam Powell scored on an assist by Jared Sylvestre, adding a little more insurance. Less than a minute later, Aaron Lee found another hole in Lawson's formerly impenetrable defense, scoring on an assist by Jordan Emmerson.

By the end of the period, UAF had outshot UAA 13 to 7, and was leading the score 4 to 0.

The third period began well with the fifth UAF goal coming at 17:01, by Emmerson, assisted by McLeod and Hickey

With only 41 seconds remaining in the game, McLeod managed to score once again, brining the score to 6 to 0 over Anchorage. UAF out shot the Seawolves 31 to 21, and 25 to 11 in the last two periods.

The final two games of the Governor's Cup will be played here at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks March 4 and 5. In the meantime, the Nanooks will be hosting the Thunderbirds of the University of British Columbia for two more non-conference games on October 29 and 30.

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