On Friday night the Irish trounced the Nanooks 4-1 after taking a 3-1 lead in the first. Michael Bartlett led off the scoring at 4:43, followed by Evan Rankin at 13:06 and Garrett Regan at 17:55. Following this last goal, Coach Tavis MacMillian pulled goalie Chad Johnson in favor of Wylie Rogers, in a move reminiscent of the first Bowling Green game two weeks before.

In the middle of that stretch, UAF notched its only goal when freshman Steve Vanoosten took a pass from Curtis Fraser and sneaked it past ND goalie David Brown for his first collegiate goal at 11:47, tying the game at 1-1. But Notre Dame would score two more.

The 'Nooks only managed four shots on goal in the first period, and the Irish had eight, three of which were goals.

In the second period, despite several good scoring opportunities for both teams, the goalies held the score at 3-1, blocking all shots.

In the third period, despite increased pressure from the UAF offense, the Irish added another tally to the score when Tim Wallace sneaked a shot past Rogers at 3:49 for a 4-1 lead.

The loss put the Nanooks in an awkward position. Still in search of home ice for the CCHA playoffs, but now in need of outside help, UAF returned on Saturday as a more determined and forceful team.w

Saturday's game began in a similar fashion, with the Irish commanding an early lead and heavy first period scoring. This time it was Tom Sawatske who struck first, scoring on Rogers at 1:24 in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

The Nanooks did not wait long to tie the game, scoring two goals within the next six minutes. Aaron Lee took a rebound from Fraser, scoring at 6:10, and Kyle Greentree followed, scoring on a pass from Kelly Czuy at 6:58, giving UAF a 2-1 lead early in the first.

The rest of the first was scoreless, despite several minutes of power-play time for each team. The second period was scoreless, and both teams were playing more conservatively, not wanting to take chances that would risk the game.

As the third period began the Nanooks began to get nervous. To secure home ice for the first round of the CCHA playoffs and return to Fairbanks, they had to finish in 8th place in the standings. This meant that they had to defeat Notre Dame by any margin and both Ferris State and Ohio State had to lose their games; or they had to defeat Notre Dame by a three-goal margin and either Ferris State or Ohio State had to lose their game. By the third period of the UAF-ND game, Ferris State was being shutout by Michigan 3-0 and Northern Michigan had taken a 3-2 lead over Ohio State. Things looked promising for the Nanooks.

The third period was scoreless, despite UAF outshooting the Irish 14-6 and several strong scoring opportunities from both teams. The Nanooks took their 2-1 victory and hopes were still high for home ice, because by the end of the game Ohio State had lost 4-2 and Ferris State was losing 3-2. The Michigan Wolverines collapsed, blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period, giving up a tying goal with only a few minutes remaining. Only 42 seconds into overtime, FSU shattered UAF's hopes by scoring the winning goal.

At the conclusion of the CCHA regular season, the Nanooks are now tied for 8th place in with Notre Dame. UAF and ND have the same number of wins, which is the first tiebreaker, but the second tiebreaker is the number of head-to-head goals. The Irish took that point by outscoring UAF 5-3 on the weekend, the only time these two teams met this season.

The team's performance in this final series was not at all bad, however. Czuy, Greentree, Fraser, and Lee have each scored at least one point in the last three weekends, with Czuy and Greentree having seven and six points respectively over the previous six games. The Nanook penalty-killing team, the best in the conference and second best in the country, squared off against the Notre Dame power-play unit, also one of the best in the country, and held the Irish scoreless on nine attempts on the power play.

This was the final regular season series of the Nanooks, but the playoffs can last for several weeks, and, even though there will not be any more home games, all UAF hockey contests are broadcast live on the air on KSUA 91.5FM and online at www.ksua.net/