MSU freshman Andrew Conboy, who scored the lone goal of the game for the Spartans, thought his team played well enough to win the game.

“I thought we played a great first, second and the first 10 minutes of the third period,” Conboy said. “Then we just shut it down.”

Senior goaltender Jeff Lerg felt his team came out of the gates flying early on, but weren’t able to carry that intensity throughout the entire game.

“A positive from tonight was the carry over from last night in the first period,” Lerg said. “We just didn’t play for 60 (minutes) and I think they were a little bit hungrier in the third and they got rewarded with a couple goals.”

Although the Spartans (6-13-3 overall, 3-9-2-2 CCHA) weren’t able to secure their first weekend sweep of the season, MSU head coach Rick Comley said he was pleased with the way his team played for most of the game.

“I thought we came to play and worked hard and made good things happen,” Comley said. “We didn’t give up diddly for two periods. But once they got the lead, with their style of play, they can make it tough on you and they did.”

Alaska started freshman goaltender Scott Greenham, who had only played in two games prior to Saturday’s victory – earning a shutout in both of his starts.

Greenham stopped 31 shots in the game, but the Spartans ended his shutout streak at 154:05 when MSU scored its lone goal of the night.

Comley thought Greenham played well, but he credited Alaska’s defense for shutting down the Spartans in the latter portions of the game.

“They make it tough to get much,” Comley said. “They pack the front of the net. You get one and it’s hard to get much more out of that.”

Alaska struck first with 6:42 left in the second period. Lerg made a kick save on a shot from the top of the left circle but the rebound went to his right where Alaska’s Derek Klassen was waiting for it. After a quick spin move, Klassen fired a low shot that beat Lerg to his right.

Less than a minute later, it appeared the Spartans tied the game up. Sophomore forward Dustin Gazley and freshman forward Daultan Leveille were in front of the net banging away at a rebound and the puck found its way behind Alaska goaltender Scott Greenham but it didn’t have enough to get over the goal line. The play was reviewed by the officials, but they stuck with the call on the ice, no goal.

Just as in Friday night’s 2-1 victory for the Spartans, after the referees went upstairs and disallowed a potential MSU goal, the Spartans quickly bounced back and put the puck into the net – with no review necessary.

Only 53 seconds after the play was deemed no goal, Conboy deflected the puck into the net to tie the game up.

The Spartans were on the power play but only needed seven seconds of the man-advantage to light the lamp. Senior forward Tim Crowder fired a low wrist shot from the point that Conboy was able to deflect past Greenham.

“I just stood in front of the net and it hit off my shoulder and went in,” Conboy said. “It’s as simple as that. But I’ll take anything right now.”

Alaska reclaimed the lead at 4:55 in the third period on the power play when Joe Sova took a shot from the point that traveled through a slew of bodies in front of the net and found its way past Lerg.

Klassen tacked on his second goal of the night for the Nanooks to seal the weekend split. Klassen skated the puck down the left side near the boards and took a wrist shot that fooled Lerg and snuck past him on the short side.

The Spartans committed three penalties in the last three minutes of the game which didn’t give them a chance to bring the game back within reach.

MSU have this weekend off, and will take the ice in two weeks for a two game road series at No. 2 Miami (Ohio) starting on Jan. 16.

Despite the loss, Conboy said there are positives coming out of the weekend.

“We are going to take two points out of this weekend, that’s all we can take,” Conboy said. “We got a ‘W’ and we know how to win. We can find a way every game, but tonight we just didn’t do it.”