UAA’s Max Helgeson of Anchorage controls the puck. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Victory in the season finale would have been sweet – UAA fell 5-2 to No. 20-ranked Arizona State in Saturday’s capper – but the Seawolves did pull off a dramatic 4-3 win Friday on home ice and finished the season with the program’s most wins since 2013-14.
Granted, UAA didn’t play for two of those seasons – the program was dead in 2020-21 and 2021-22 before its resurrection. Still, the Seawolves’ 15-17-2 campaign marked the program’s most wins since 2013-14 (18-16-4) and an improvement for second-year coach Matt Shasby’s club after going 8-19-1 last season upon its return to NCAA Division I play.
UAA’s win Saturday came in the final minute. Arizona State’s goaltender played the puck behind his net, but Alex Gomez picked up the errant pass in the left corner and centered to Adam Tisdale for the game-winning strike with 32 seconds left. Riley Thompson scored two goals, Tisdale added a helper and Gomez finished with two assists.
Saturday, Parker Schachle of Wasilla scored for UAA. Freshman forward Aiden Westin of Anchorage furnished a primary assist each night and finished the season with a three-game point streak.
Ben Almquist led UAA in scoring with 14-16—30 totals in 34 games, followed by linemate Max Helgeson of Anchorage (14-13—27 in 33 games) and Thompson (9-15—24 in 34 games. Schachle put up 8-8—16 totals in 32 games and Westin made an impact with 7-9—16 totals in 32 games. The Seawolves received tidy goaltending from No. 1 masked man Jared Whale, who went 10-12-1, with two shutouts, a 2.67 goals-against average and .909 save percentage.
UAA finished 41st among 64 Division I teams in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimic the formula the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Committee uses to select at-large teams for the 16-team championship tournament.
Elsewhere in D-I men’s play:
- UAF finished its season with a 9-1 and 4-1 home sweep of Stonehill to wrap its second straight winning season at 17-14-3 after going 22-10-2 the previous season. The Nanooks sit 27th in the Pairwise.
- Graduate forward Caleb Moretz of Fairbanks generated a primary assist for No. 19 RIT in Friday’s 7-0 win over Robert Morris in the Atlantic Hockey tournament. RIT swept with a 5-1 win Saturday.
- Junior center Hunter Strand of Anchorage delivered Notre Dame a primary assist in Friday’s 5-4 loss at No. 14 Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. Michigan ended Notre Dame’s season with Saturday’s 4-3 win.
- Graduate forward Josh Boyer of Wasilla assisted on the game-winning goal Friday in St. Lawrence’s 4-2 win over Yale in the ECAC tournament. St. Lawrence advanced to a best-of-3 series against Colgate.
- Junior forward Zack Krajnik of Eagle River copped the primary assist on the game-winning goal Saturday in Minnesota State’s 6-1 win over Northern Michigan to sweep the CCHA opening-round series.
- Freshman winger Bret Link of Anchorage had a primary assist for No. 10 Colorado College in Saturday’s 4-3 loss at No. 4 Denver, which is coached by David Carle of Anchorage.
In NCAA Division III national tournament action:
- The Nazareth University women’s team, which includes four Alaskans, fell 2-1 in overtime to Hamilton in the opening round. Nazareth senior goaltender McKinley Hoff gave her club every chance with 19 saves and Alexis Kindred of Anchorage assisted on the Golden Flyers’ goal.
- St. Norbert freshman defenseman Cooper Morris of Anchorage had an assist in Saturday’s 5-2 home win over St. Olaf. Next up for St. Norbert is Saturday’s men’s quarterfinal at Adrian College.
- The season ended for senior forward Cameron Knowlton of Kenai and SUNY-Cortland with Saturday’s 5-2 loss at Plymouth.