Through save after save after save, through precarious situations and seemingly endless peril, and on ice that seemed tilted against them by a relentless rival Saturday night, the Seawolves leaned hard on freshman goaltender Olivier Mantha.
And then Blake Tatchell delivered the overtime dagger that allowed him and his UAA teammates to reward their masked man with a bounty of hockey hugs.
Tatchell's wrist shot from the high slot 3 minutes, 7 seconds into extra time at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks gave UAA a 3-2 win in Game 2 of the annual Governor's Cup and a sweep of the first two games of the four-game series.
"It was the ultimate game of survival for us,'' said UAA coach Matt Thomas by cellphone.
The sweep doubled as a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association wins and allowed the Seawolves (7-11-4, 4-10-2) to remain tied with Lake Superior State of Michigan for ninth place in the 10-team league. Both Lake Superior State and eighth-place Alabama-Huntsville had WCHA series sweeps in hand before the puck dropped Saturday night in Fairbanks.
UAA's sweep also furnished an emotional boost for a team that entered the weekend mired in a four-game losing streak and a six-game winless streak, and owned one win its previous 13 games (1-10-2).
Still, victory was only possible because Mantha furnished a career high-tying 46 saves and savored comforting puck luck -- four Nanooks shots struck iron. Mantha's effort came on night after his 34 saves propelled the Seawolves to a 2-1 win in Game 1.
"In these games, you need your goaltender to be great, and he was,'' Thomas said. "Our goaltender won the game.''
Mantha trimmed his goals-against average to 2.39 and elevated his save percentage to .928, and continued to give UAA elite goaltending it has not regularly enjoyed in a decade.
Mantha backstopped a penalty-killing crew that burned off all six Nanooks power plays. That duty included killing two major power plays for UAF. Those came when senior winger Scott Allen, UAA's leading goal scorer, got the gate for checking from behind on the opening shift of the second period and freshman winger Tad Kozun followed after being busted for contact to the head late in the second period.
Mantha buoyed the Seawolves as the Nanooks attacked in waves, outshooting their visitors 48-16, including 17-3 in the third period. UAF tied the game on Shawn Hochhausen's extra-attacker rebound goal with 76 seconds left in regulation.
Yet Tatchell furnished the last flick of wrists in the latest bitter battle between two programs that have clashed since 1979. With a chaotic scene unfolding above the crease of UAF goalie Sean Cahill, the puck came to Tatchell in the high slot and he rifled a wrister that Cahill, diving from his right to left and extending his glove, could not quite seize.
UAA has beaten UAF four consecutive times on its home ice, dating back to March, when the Seawolves won Games 2 and 3 of the best-of-3, WCHA first-round playoff series with the Nanooks.
Games 3 and 4 of the Governor's Cup are set for March 6-7 at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and wrap the regular season for both teams.
The Nanooks came out firing Saturday, and their assault was so varied and thorough that 17 of their 18 skaters registered at least one shot on goal and 15 of them generated multiple shots on goal.
But Mantha and company held them largely in check, killing two early UAF power plays that overlapped for a short two-man advantage and keeping the game scoreless.
UAA freshmen Matt Anholt and Austin Azurdia soon changed that with a textbook 2 on 1. Anholt carried the puck into the zone on left wing and swept a pass across to Azurdia, who roofed a wrister from the right circle for a 1-0 lead.
That advantage held until nearly seven minutes elapsed in the second period. UAF's Brandon Morley found a soft spot in the UAA defense and redirected Trevor Campbell's pass over Mantha's glove for a gorgeous goal and a 1-1 tie.
The deadlock did not last three minutes. UAA sophomore winger Dylan Hubbs gathered his own rebound and flicked a low backhander inside the right post to restore the Seawolves lead at 2-1.
Mantha made that stand until UAF bench boss Dallas Ferguson pulled Cahill for an extra attacker inside the final two minutes of regulation.
The Nanooks forged the tying goal when Garrick Parry rushed in on left wing and feathered a shot-pass that Tyler Morley tipped on the way to the net. Mantha got his left pad on the puck along the ice, but could not control the rebound, which Hochhausen pounced on and wired over the goalie's glove.
Tatchell, a junior center, is much more a passer than a shooter. He assisted on both UAA goals Friday and has 54 career assists compared to 20 career goals in 96 games.
Yet Tatchell knows what to do with the puck on his stick and a gaping net in front of him -- shoot the puck and go track down his goalie to give thanks.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr