Seawolves skate past UAF for their first hockey win of the season

The Seawolves earned their first win of the season and evened the Governor’s Cup series with UAF with a 4-0 victory Saturday in a game that produced tremendous efforts from UAA’s young crop of players.

The win came in the team’s first home series at the on-campus Seawolf Sports Complex, where the Seawolves are playing after more than 30 years at Sullivan Arena.

“It’s always big when you have an opportunity to play your rival and even bigger when you have a chance beat your rival,” Seawolves head coach Matt Curley said. “They came out (Friday) night and stole one from us at home.”

Freshman center Nick Wicks, who scored two goals, and sophomore goaltender Kristian Stead, who made 29 saves, led the way for the Seawolves.

“They came in with the expectation to produce and perform,” Curley said. “… It’s nice to see that they did that tonight.”

Wicks had a three-point night and Stead worked harmoniously with his defenders to keep Fairbanks off the board. Freshman Alex Frye and sophomore Tanner Schachle also scored for the Seawolves, who got points from seven players, including a pair of assists from senior Tomi Hiekkavirta.

“My defenders did a great job keeping shots to the outside for me, clearing stuff in front,” Stead said. “I was just trying to field pucks early, and it helps when your team plays that well in front of you.”

The physical game got chippy at times, and UAA took advantage by scoring twice on four power plays while the Nanooks were scoreless on four chances with the man advantage.

“We (were) lucky to get some power plays and when we got those, we were able to capitalize,” said Wicks, who scored both of UAA’s power-play goals.

Fairbanks was the more aggressive team in the scoreless first period, taking 10 shots to UAA’s six. The second period belonged to the Seawolves, who outshot the Nanooks 15-7 and scored three goals, two by Wicks and one by Schachle.

“The second period was obviously our strongest of the three,” said Curley. “We do a lot of work on our power play, giving those guys reps throughout practice and (trying) to make that a focus.

"… In college hockey, it’s so hard to score, so your opportunities when they come on the power play, you got to make the most of them.”

The Nanooks, who took a 2-1 win in Friday’s game, outshot UAA 12-7 in the final period with a flurry of attempts in the final minutes but couldn’t break through.

“We just didn’t have the same intensity, the same spark, and just give credit to them. They played a really good game,” said UAF coach Erik Largen.

UAA snapped a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season to improve to 1-3-0 on the season and 1-1-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. UAF fell to 4-4-0 overall and 3–1-0 in the WCHA.

“I guess it’s a long time coming,” Curley said. “It’s been a while since we’ve won our last one but I’m certainly very happy for our players. Those guys have been through a lot these past couple months and they’ve put a lot of work in to earn this opportunity to finally get a win at home.”

The Seawolves fed off a small crowd of 581 that packed the wood bleachers at their old, on-campus rink. For more than 30 years beginning with the 1983-84 season, UAA played off-campus at the Sullivan Arena, which seats thousands rather than hundreds. Now, due to budget cuts, they are playing games on campus at their practice rink.

“It’s a lot of fun to be able to play in this kind of environment,” Curley said. “This is our home here. We have a beautiful locker room lounge area. This is where we do our day-to-day business, so to be able to walk 20 feet from your locker stall to your ice surface where you play is a real treat.

“... The Sullivan Arena has been a great venue for us for a lot of years but given where things have been at, a chance to play in front of our fans in an intimate environment is a real treat.”

Stead, who played at Sullivan Arena last season as a freshman, agreed.

“The fans were loud all night,” he said. “It’s a different feel to it for sure, but we’re going to look to get a lot of wins here this season.”

The Seawolves return to home ice Thursday and Friday for a pair of nonconference games against Nebraska-Omaha of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The Governor’s Cup, the annual series between Alaska’s college hockey teams, wraps up with two more games in February in Fairbanks.