ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? Alaska Anchorage goalie Nathan Lawson made a career-high 48 saves to lead the Seawolves to a 5-3 win over the ninth-ranked UND men's hockey team on Friday.
UND's shots on goal total was nearly double that of Alaska Anchorage (51-26), but Lawson had a career night in goal to hold off the Sioux.
The Sioux record fell to 13-9-1 and 6-7-0 in the WCHA, while UAA raised its record to 6-14-1 overall and 3-11-1 in the WCHA.
Lawson made 20 saves in the second period and held off a Sioux flurry at the end of the game that featured two UND goals in the final two minutes.
The Seawolves opened the scoring 1:22 into the game with a power play goal by Shea Hamilton.
Shortly thereafter, UND killed off a five-minute Seawolves power play resulting from a checking from behind penalty on Sioux forward Matt Watkins (Fr., Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) at 2:18 of the first.
But just over a minute after the Sioux killed off the UAA five-minute power play, the Seawolves upped their lead to 2-0 with both teams at full strength. The UAA goal came on a wrist shot by defenseman Chad Anderson from the left point.
With UND shorthanded for seven of the game's first 10 minutes, the Sioux did not get their first shot on goal until there were nine minutes left in the first period. Despite the lack of early shots, UND came back to outshoot the Seawolves, 13-8, in the first period.
UAA's Chris Tarkir made it 3-0 at 6:07 of the second period, and the Seawolves had another opportunity just over a minute later, but UND goalie Philippe Lamoureux (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) stopped Billy Smith on a breakaway.
Seawolves forward Ales Parez made it 4-0 just 47 seconds into the third period, and the four-goal lead was too much for UND to overcome.
All of UND's goals came in the third period. Scoring for North Dakota were Travis Zajac (So., Winnipeg, Manitoba), Ryan Duncan (Fr., Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) and Drew Stafford (Jr., Faribault, Minn.).
The teams will conclude their series on Saturday at 10:07 p.m. Central time.
NOTES: All four UND players who played in the World Junior tournament in British Columbia were in the Sioux lineup on Friday. The four included freshmen T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.), Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.), Brian Lee (Moorhead, Minn.) and Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Oshie, Chorney and Lee played for the United States team, while Toews played for the gold-medal winning Canadian team.
