The Alaska Nanooks men’s ice hockey team secured a 5-1 victory over the Long Island University Sharks on Friday night in Fairbanks. The win brings the Nanooks’ season record to 8-14-2, while the Sharks fall to 11-13-1.
Alaska took an early lead with Braden Birnie scoring at 6:26 in the first period, assisted by Davis Borozinskis and Chase Dafoe. Later in the period, Dafoe added another goal for Alaska, with assists from Birnie and Jackson Anderson. The first period ended with a 2-0 advantage for the Nanooks.
The second period was scoreless. Early in the third, LIU’s Anthony Lucarelli scored a power-play goal after receiving a pass from Noah Serdachny, narrowing Alaska’s lead to one. However, just over a minute later, Carson Reed restored Alaska’s two-goal margin by scoring off his own rebound, assisted by Tommy Cronin and Rylen Roersma.
Rylen Roersma extended the lead further midway through the third period with his own goal, assisted by Birnie and Misha Danylov. In the final minute of play, Cade Ahrenholz completed the scoring on a breakaway after passes from Caelum Dick and Alexander Malinowski.
“Alaska recorded 15 points in the win tonight with 11 skaters earning a point. Braden Birnie led the way with three points on a goal and two assists,” according to team officials.
Roersma contributed both a goal and an assist for another multipoint performance. Dafoe also finished with two points—one goal and one assist.
Goaltender Lassi Lehti made 22 saves on 23 shots faced during the game—seven in the first period, nine in the second, and six in the third—to secure the win for Alaska. The Nanooks registered 31 shots on net; this marks their fifth game of the season reaching at least 30 shots.
On special teams, Alaska successfully killed three out of four penalties but did not convert any of their four power-play opportunities.
Roersma now has accumulated nine goals and eight assists this season for a total of 17 points. With his three-point performance against LIU, Birnie reached double digits as well—four goals and seven assists for eleven points so far this year.
The teams will meet again Saturday night at Carlson Center at 7:07 p.m.
