In dramatic fashion, the University of Alaska Fairbanks captured the 2022-23 Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup Saturday night in Anchorage.
Chase Dubois scored the game’s only goal with less than five minutes remaining in regulation and goaltender Matt Radomsky registered his second consecutive shutout to give the Nanooks a 1-0 victory over the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.
It was the Nanooks fourth straight win against the Seawolves in the battle for Alaska’s college hockey supremacy. This year’s six-game series will conclude on Jan. 27 and 28, but the Nanooks know they will keep the cup for the 12th straight time.
“It was a good game, but it didn’t have a lot of flow to it because of all the penalties,” Nanooks coach Erik Largen said during a postgame interview via phone. “Fortunately for us, our penalty kill was good again tonight and our goaltending was very good as well.”
The Nanooks killed off all six Anchorage power plays Saturday night and were a perfect 12-for-12 on the penalty kill during the weekend sweep.
Radomsky finished his second straight shutout with 17 saves and had 37 saves in the two-game sweep.
He has four consecutive wins against the Seawolves.
“He was really good again tonight and made some really big saves to close it out,” Largen said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve posted back-to-back shutouts.”
The win boosted the Nanooks to 9-7-2 on the season, heading into a critical four-game road trip with two games at nationally-ranked Notre Dame and two games at No. 1 Denver University.
“I think we’ve played well all year, but these last four games have given us a lot of confidence going into these next four games,” Largen said. “They will be pivotal in seeing how far we can go in the second half of the season.”
Dubois’ game-winning goal came just seconds after the Seawolves had killed off the Nanooks fourth power play attempt of the night. It was set up by Payton Matsui and Anton Rubtsov.
“Matsui made a nice backdoor pass from the goal line and Dubois finished it off with a one-timer from the left side,” Largen said.
Anchorage goalie Nolan Kent had an outstanding performance, finishing with 29 saves.
