Tough one for the Alaska Aces tonight -- a 3-2 OT loss to the Utah Grizzlies at Sullivan Arena.
Never feels great to head through the gate and back to the dressing room after a loss of any kind.
Still, the Aces (13-13-2) got a point, courtesy of Tim Coffman's power-play goal with three minutes left in regulation. A win Saturday in the series finale would do the Aces wonders, especially since they are staring at a six-game road trip after that. Consider too that their schedule was been home-heavy to this point -- 17 home games and 11 road games. That means the rest of the way features 19 home games and 25 road games.
Meanwhile, UAA opened the second half of its season with a 3-2 loss at Alabama-Huntsville. That snapped UAA's three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) and also dropped the Seawolves into a three-way tie -- read: last place -- in the WCHA with Huntsville and Lake Superior State entering the series finale at Huntsville on Saturday. Of some consolation for the Seawolves, they have two league games in hand on Huntsville and four on Lake Superior State. Still, UAA needs to find its feet on the road -- it is 0-5-0 in WCHA roadies this season.
Up in Fairbanks, the UAF Nanooks took a while, but they finally cracked C.J. Motte, Ferris State's fine goalie, in a 2-1 win.
Took 40 shots for the Nanooks to beat Motte twice. UAA knows the feeling. Davis Jones made 21 saves for the Nanooks, who we'd imagine continue to play hard even though NCAA sanctions prohibit them from postseason play (like the WCHA playoffs) this season.
On the junior circuit, the Fairbanks Ice Dogs of the NAHL fell 2-0 at Keystone, which scored goals 54 seconds apart inside the last 99 seconds of the game.
Tough time too for the NAHL's Kenai River Brown Bears, who lost 5-3 at Johnstown and stretch their burdensome winless streak to nine games (0-7-2).