The Nanooks hockey team returned from a losing road trip to split a two-game series against the Ohio State Buckeyes last weekend. After losing a 5-1 blowout on Friday, the Nanooks came back to win a 3-0 shutout on Saturday.

The Buckeyes took an early lead in Friday's game, as Sean Collins scored almost from the blue line on a power play at 11:55 in the first period. The goal was only the second power-play mark against the Nanooks in their last seven games. UAF had a major scoring opportunity later in the period as OSU had four penalties in the last six minutes of the period, but the Nanooks were unable to capitalize on the 5 on 3 advantage.

Midway through the second period, however, UAF tied things up briefly, when Aaron Lee took a power-play shot past OSU's Dave Caruso for a goal at 9:15. OSU returned the favor 12 seconds later when Sam Campbell managed to sneak a shot through a pileup, making the score 2-1. That goal was protested strongly by the 3,560 fans in attendance, as well as the Nanook coaches. The referee, Dave McInchak ruled that the goal would stand.

In the third period OSU piled on the goals. Rod Pelley took advantage of Tyler Eckford's broken stick to sink a shot past UAF goalie Chad Johnson at 4:33. Just over 30 seconds later, Jordan Hendry also broke his stick while trying to capitalize on a power play. The two broken sticks seemed to take a lot of the wind out of the team. "It stinks that they break that easily," said Coach Tavis MacMillian.

At 11:55 in the period, Campbell scored again for OSU, making the score 4-1. Following this goal, Johnson was pulled from the goal and replaced with backup goalie Brandon Cross. This replacement seemed to energize the Nanooks, but it wasn't enough, as Andrew Schembri for OSU tallied a final shot at 17:37, putting the seal on a 5-1 loss for UAF.

After the game MacMillian did not have much to say. "We got off to a really good start, I thought we were playing alright, but you gotta give credit where credit is due. OSU's a very good hockey club. They're a good team," said MacMillian. It's the first time in a long time that I saw them just quit. We took some selfish penalties tonight."

On Saturday night, things were different from the beginning. Despite being outshot consistently throughout the game, UAF was stronger than the previous night.

Hendry made up for his broken stick on Friday night by taking advantage of a 5 on 3 power play to score at 16:33, giving UAF its first lead of the series.

In the second period, UAF was hit with a slew of penalties for a total of 18 minutes of penalty time in a 20-minute period. Despite this, OSU was unable to capitalize on any of the lengthy power-play opportunities they were given. The Nanooks, however, were able to score. Hendry sent a ricochet off Ryan Muspratt and past Caruso on the inside to give UAF a 2-0 lead with just 21 seconds remaining in the period.

In the third period, the penalties were toned down substantially, and play went smoothly. OSU called a timeout at 1:44 and pulled Caruso from the goal for the extra attacker, but this allowed UAF's Curtis Fraser to sneak a goal in the empty net for a 3-0 lead. Wylie Rogers held on in goal to earn his fifth career shutout, breaking the team's record of four, previously held by Todd Henderson and Preston McKay.

"Tonight was as proud as I've ever been of a Nanook hockey team. When our guys play like this, they can beat anyone," said MacMillian. "We really beat one of the best teams in the country tonight."

The split series brings the Nanooks to a 6-10-2 record, 10-11-3 overall. The team is currently in eleventh place in the CCHA standings, but the remainder of the spring schedule looks promising.