The UAF hockey team lost and tied in a two-game series against the Mavericks of the University of Nebraska Omaha this weekend. After losing Friday's game 4-1, the Nanooks came back to tie on Saturday 3-3.

On Friday, UAF's Kelly Czuy scored the first goal of the game at 9:28 in the first period. Four seconds after the beginning of a UAF power play, Czuy took a pass from Curtis Fraser and fired it past UNO's Jared Kaufmann from the top of the right faceoff circle, putting UAF up 1-0.

On UAF's fifth power play of the period, UNO was able to set up an odd-man rush against the ‘Nooks and goalie Wylie Rogers couldn't control the rebound, letting Alex Nikiforuk score a shorthanded goal at 18:53.

After taking a 1-1 score into the locker rooms, UNO came out strong in the second period. Rogers weathered a storm of shots as the Mavericks dictated the pace of the game throughout the period. At 9:04, UNO took the lead, when Scott Parse and Bryan Marhsall came two-on-one into the Nanook zone. Parse set up Marhsall, who scored the go-ahead goal.

In the third period, despite a five-on-three advantage for UAF, the Nanooks could not capitalize on any opportunities to score. The Mavericks were able to score on their first shots of the period, however, adding two goals to make the tally 4-1. Parse scored a second shorthanded goal just 34 seconds into the period, and Bill Thomas added the fourth goal at 3:11.

The game was UAF's first ever loss to the Mavericks in Fairbanks. "Today in hockey, or specifically in sports, there's no secrets," said UAF coach Tavis MacMillian after the game. "We get videotape of all our opponents in conference play. We download it, we watch it, and we break it down. Everything we broke down tonight happened. That's what Omaha did to us tonight. We knew what they were gonna do, but they just did it better. Their best players were better than our best players tonight."

On Saturday's game, things got off to a similar start, with UAF taking an early lead on a power play, this time from Aaron Lee. Lee took a one-timer from Nathan Fornataro and shot it over Kaufmann's shoulder to give UAF its second 1-0 lead of the weekend at 9:46 in the first period.

Two minutes later, at 11:20, a minor fight broke out on the ice, with Czuy and T.J. Campbell squaring off against UNO's Mike Lefley and Mike Lawrence. All four players received game disqualifications for the fracas and will miss their teams' next games.

The Nanooks were able to hold onto their 1-0 lead going into the intermission, but the Mavericks struck back early in the second period. Thomas took a pass from Parse and scored UNO's first and only power-play goal of the weekend at 1:30. The Nanooks' penalty-killing unit is the second in the conference and in the nation's top five.

The Mavericks took a 2-1 lead midway through the second when Bill Bagron took the rebound from a shot by Jason Krischuk for a goal at 8:08.

UAF came out shooting in the third period when Tyler Eckford came in from the right point position giving the Nanooks the equalizer goal at 2:15. Six minutes later, at 8:22, UAF re-took the lead as Ryan Muspratt scored a power play goal after collecting a rebound in front of the net. Eckford got an assist on the goal, and his 13 total points are the most among any of the Nanook freshmen.

The Nanooks' lead didn't last long, however, as UNO's Parse struck again. During four on four play, Parse took the puck on a breakaway and snuck past Rogers low on the right side to tie the game at 3-3 at 10:08 in the third period. Rogers and Kaufmann both stood fast against a barrage of shots, as each team made 15 in the third stanza.

In overtime, the Nanooks had control of the game, and generated several opportunities to score, but were unable to capitalize on any of them, leaving the score tied at 3-3.

The team was missing several players this weekend, variously from illness, injuries and ejections. "We were short tonight," said MacMillian. "and I thought the guys acted and responded to that very well."

The tie game leaves the Nanooks with 15 game points, good for 11^th place in the CCHA. Their record is now 6-11-3 in the conference, or 10-12-4 overall.