The teams were so evenly matched Friday, it almost came down to the last shot.

Sophomore center Curtis Fraser made sure it didn't.

Fraser steered a pass past Northern Michigan goaltender Bill Zaniboni with 2:29 remaining in regulation time as the University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team and the Wildcats finished in a 2-all tie at the Carlson Center Friday night in the first game of their Central Collegiate Hockey Association series.

Fraser's goal, UAF's only power play goal of the night in nine opportunities, came with NMU two men short. Pat Bateman was penalized for cross-checking at the 16:40 mark of the third period, and Geoff Waugh drew a delay of game penalty 36 seconds later. Fraser then scored to tie it at 17:31 of the third period. Freshman center Ryan McLeod and sophomore forward Lucas Burnett drew assists on the play.

Northern Michigan had taken a 2-1 lead on Jamie Milam's second power play goal of the night at the 4:41 mark of the third period. Milam blasted a shot from just inside the blue line past a screened UAF goaltender Wylie Rogers.  Tim Hartung assisted.

Milam's first power play goal of the night, a blast from the top of the left face-off circle, gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with just 35 seconds remaining in the first period. Milam took Darin Olver's cross-ice pass and one-timed it into the net. Pat Bateman also drew an assist.

The Nanooks tied the score at the 12:25 mark of the second period. Fraser chipped a pass ahead to junior right wing Kelly Czuy, who broke in alone on Zaniboni. Czuy faked Zaniboni, and then fired a shot off his shoulder high into the net. Freshman left wing Aaron Lee also assisted.

"I thought I had a great seat to watch one of the best games of the year," said UAF Head Coach Tavis MacMillan. "I really liked the way we played tonight. Northern Michigan is a team that matches up very well against us, since they also play on a big sheet. We got a huge power play goal late, and we created some other chances, and, hopefully, some more of those will go in. Their goaltender played very well. I thought all four of our lines and all six defensemen did a good job tonight."

It looked like another good night for the Nanooks on Saturday.

For 40 minutes, the University of Alaska Fairbanks' hockey team had things going their way in the second game of their two-game, Central Collegiate Hockey Association series against Northern Michigan at the Carlson center Saturday evening.

But the third period belonged to the Wildcats.

NMU scored two goals in the first 4:38 to retake the lead, scored four times in the third period, and defeated the Nanooks, 5-3.

"After having the lead for 40 minutes, I was extremely disappointed with what happened in the third period," said MacMillan. "We need to stop making mistakes, and learn from them. We deserved where we were after 40 minutes, but Northern Michigan is a good team that is mentally tough and knows how to win. That's something that we still have to learn. We missed too many opportunities, we took a couple of penalties in the offensive zone, and we allowed way too many odd man rushes in the third period. I did like the fact we played with a lot of energy, and the fact that we moved the puck well on the power play. But we have to cut down on our mistakes."

The Nanooks dropped to 6-7-1 overall and 5-6-1 in the CCHA with the defeat.

UAF will take a few weeks off for final exams, and for the holidays. They will return to action when they visit Bowling Green January 7 and 8.

Photo by John Wagner
UAF's Curtis Fraser (4) shoots the puck, despite heavy Nothern Michigan University resistance. The Nanooks tied the NMU wildcats 2-2 Saturday.

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