Alaska edges No. 11 Boston College in hockey

It may not have been the biggest win in the history of the Alaska (Fairbanks) hockey program—but it's surely right up there with the rest of them.

The barnstorming Nanooks, who traveled over 4,000 miles to New England, overcame an early deficit and came up with two third-period goals to break a tie and edge 11th-ranked host Boston College on Friday evening. UAF improves to 1-2-0 on the nascent campaign, having been swept at home by Boston University to start the month, while BC dropped its home/season opener after splitting a pair of exhibition contests in Michigan last weekend. The Eagles were one of four Hockey East teams to fall in non-conference competition on Friday.

Independent Nanooks top NHL draftee-laden Eagles

Sophomore forward Davis Borozinskis scored both the go-ahead goal and the game-winner in the first nine minutes of the final frame for the Nanooks, breaking a 1-1 tie that had stood since late in the opening period, as an independent school with no NHL draft picks topped a nationally-ranked team with 14 such selections.

"It was an awesome effort by our guys," said UAF head coach Erik Largen to the Nanook radio broadcast afterwards. "You're in a tough environment on the road, and you have the resiliency to battle back."

BC took a 1-0 lead just two minutes into regulation, after UAF defenseman Linden Burrett was whistled off for hooking just 16 seconds after the first puck dropped. Carson Woodall set up Eagles captain Will Vote down low, and Vote passed across the crease to Teddy Stiga, who buried the puck behind UAF netminder Tyler Shea.

The Nanooks started off slow, absorbing some big hits on the boards while coming up empty on two consecutive power plays. They still knotted matters with just over two minutes left in the first period, when freshman forward Sam Elliott chipped the puck up and over fallen BC goaltender Louka Cloutier in close to tie the contest.

“It’s a lot of times not what you get, but what you give up,” said Eagles head coach Greg Brown to bcheights.com afterwards. “And we gave up those two costly mistakes.”

The first happened just over three minutes into the third period when Borozinskis connected on a power play, tipping home a shot from the point by defenseman Nathan Rickey, with forward Rylen Roersma also assisting. The second occurred at exactly the nine-minute mark, as Borozinskis got loose along the right wing boards after a turnover at the BC blueline, skated in alone, and beat Cloutier up high to make it 3-1 for the visitors.

BC's Dean Letourneau, a Boston Bruins first-round draft choice who led all players with seven shots on goal on the night, got the Eagles back within one on his power-play one-timer from the left side with a little more than six minutes left on the clock, assisted by Luka Radivojevic and Matias Vanhanen, but BC couldn't come up with the equalizer despite pulling Cloutier late for an extra attacker.

Shea, a Brown University graduate transfer, played solidly in the Nanook net while stopping 28 shots in all.

"He came up with saves when he needed to," said Largen.

Cloutier, whose NHL rights are owned by the Colorado Avalanche, finished with 26 saves. BC outshot UAF, 30-29, and finished 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Nanooks were 1-for-7 with the man advantage.

It was the third time in three games all-time that BC has lost to an Alaska school at home at Conte Forum. The first came during the 1991 NCAA tournament, when Alaska Anchorage swept a best-of-three first-round series against the Eagles. BC did defeat UAF, 3-1, in the 2010 NCAA Northeast Regional at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass., en route to a national championship that spring, its fourth of five NCAA titles all-time. It was also the lone NCAA appearance to date by the Nanooks.

UAF closed out the weekend with a 7-1 loss at Union tonight, and will next visit Michigan Tech on Oct. 16-17. BC will be idle until hosting St. Cloud State for a pair of games next weekend.