The end of the hockey season is always painful, and for UAA it was also exceptionally weird — oh-so-close to prolonging its season another few minutes, then losing on an empty-net goal, the strangest, rarest variety of overtime dagger.
Only a victory in regulation or 5-on-5 overtime would suffice to get the Seawolves to a shootout against rival UAF for the Governor's Cup, so UAA coach Matt Thomas pulled goaltender Rasmus Reijola with 61 seconds left in 5-on-5.
UAA's Mason Mitchell soon had a chance to win it at the left post, but UAF's Davis Jones delivered a fantastic save and teammate Tayler Munson scored into an unguarded net moments later to furnish a 2-1 victory at Sullivan Arena.
The Nanooks have officially won five consecutive Cups and lead the all-time Cup series 13-8. Their Cup streak would be longer, and their total advantage greater, but they vacated the three Cups they won on the ice from 2010-12 as punishment for NCAA violations.
There was something fitting about Munson authoring the decisive goal in the latest installment of an intrastate rivalry that dates back to 1979. The junior center is a Fairbanks boy.
"There's nothing better, honestly,'' Munson said.
The Seawolves' season was over regardless of Saturday's outcome. Their 4-3 loss to the Nanooks on Friday eliminated them from Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff contention and pushed their string of nonplayoff seasons to three straight. UAA (7-21-6, 6-16-6 WCHA) went 0-4-1 in its last five games.
"Man, this is disappointing,'' Thomas said. "But I'm really proud of the guys. The one thing this team did better than the previous two teams was stick together. They stuck together and competed hard.''
The Nanooks (12-18-4, 11-13-4 WCHA), who finished sixth in the 10-team league, move on to play a best-of-3 quarterfinal series at third-seeded Minnesota State-Mankato.
The game, and the Seawolves' hopes, turned on a play that developed with Reijola on the bench for an extra attacker. The puck went airborne to Mitchell, who was stationed just outside the left post. He gloved it out of mid-air, dropped it to the ice as quickly as he could and shoveled a point-blank backhander on net.
Jones (18 saves) moved left to right across his crease to seal off the post. He got his blocker on Mitchell's bid.
"He just got over,'' Mitchell said. "That was a helluva save.''
Jones said he knew there was a Seawolves skater at the post and was fortunate he tracked the puck well. That allowed him to move laterally across his crease with alacrity.
"I got over as quick as I could and chucked my blocker at it,'' Jones said.
UAF won the four-game Cup series, 3-1. They won the season series against UAA, 4-1, courtesy of a 4-1 win at Sullivan on the season's opening weekend.
For five UAA seniors, Saturday night was the end of the line in green and gold. Reijola, a one-year transfer, stopped 32 shots. Defenseman Chase Van Allen of Anchorage (assist), wingers Brad Duwe of Soldotna, Connor Wright of Anchorage and winger Dylan Hubbs played their final game too.
"It's hard,'' Hubbs said. "Waking up this morning was different. It's tough to wake up knowing your (college) career is over, win or lose.''
Van Allen said the four years seemed to rush past and he'll miss his teammates more than anything.
"You're so used to going on to the next year, still being around the guys,'' Van Allen said. "That's what I'm going to miss the most, the guys.''
After a scoreless first period, UAA opened the scoring when winger Tad Kozun made a pass from the goal line to Van Allen at the center point. Nicolas Erb-Ekholm deflected Van Allen's low wrister past Jones.
But less than two minutes later, with Hubbs and defenseman Eric Roberts each busted for cross-checking 29 seconds apart, UAF defenseman Zach Frye forged a 1-1 tie on the two-man advantage. Frye had ample time to tee up a shot from the inner edge of the left circle and blow a laser over Reijola's glove for a 1-1 tie that lingered long.
The Seawolves mustered five shots on goal in the third period and overtime, and Mitchell's bid proved the only threatening chance.
UAA again was undone by its inability to generate offense. The Seawolves' 1.74 goals per game ranks last among 60 Division I teams and their 8.3-percent power-play efficiency is also last, fractionally lower than Brown's, and is the sixth-worst percentage in Division I in the last 10 seasons.
Seawolves notes
Junior captain Matt Anholt led the Seawolves in assists and points with 5-17—22 totals in 34 games. His numbers on all those fronts were the same last season, when he finished second on the team in scoring.
Mitchell led the team with 12 goals, 10 of which came in his last 12 games.
Junior goalie Olivier Mantha's .913 save percentage is the fifth-best single-season save percentage in school history and his .910 career save percentage ranks No. 1 all-time at UAA.
Saturday's announced crowd of 3,055 was the second-biggest of the season for UAA, which drew an announced crowd of 3,223 for its 4-1 loss to UAF on Oct. 8.
UAF 0 1 0 1 — 2
UAA 0 1 0 0 — 1
First Period — None. Penalties — Thompson, UAF (interference), 12:09; Mitchell, UAA (diving), 12:09; Frye, UAF (cross-checking), 13:40.
Second Period — 1, UAA, Erb-Ekholm 4 (Van Allen, Kozun), 7:04; 2, UAF, Frye 5 (Staley, Munson), 8:40 (pp). Penalties — Hubbs, UAA (cross-checking), 7:58; Roberts, UAA (cross-checking), 8:26; Leer, UAF (hooking), 12:20.
Third Period — None. Penalties — Hubbs, UAA (tripping), 19:44.
Overtime — 3, UAF, Munson 4 (Staley, Hope), 4:40. Penalties — Hubbs, UAA, misconduct (unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:40
Shots on goal — UAF 5-13-10-6—34. UAA 8-6-2-3—19.
Power-play Opportunities — UAF 1 of 3. UAA 0 of 3.
Goalies — UAF, Jones, 6-9-3 (19 shots-18 saves). UAA, Reijola, 0-3-2 (33 shots-32 saves).
A — 3,055 (6,251). T — 2:34.
Referees — Ross Gibbs, Josh Lupinek. Assistant referees — Carl Saden, David Tise.