Senior Night sellout: Augustana hockey gets blanked by Alaska Fairbanks to close out regular season

SIOUX FALLS — The third-period push from the Augustana Vikings came with a fury on Saturday night, but it still wasn’t enough to knock Alaska Fairbanks goalie Lassi Lehti off his game.

Lehti made 30 saves, and the Nanooks took advantage of a five-minute major penalty late in the opening period and held on to blank the Vikings 2-0 in front of a sold-out crowd on Senior Night at Midco Arena.

Augustana (12-18-4) tallied 14 shots on goal in the opening 40 minutes of the game before putting together a 16-shot third period in which it gave Alaska (15-14-3) everything it could handle.

“Third period, that’s our guys. They want it,” AU coach Garrett Raboin said. “They wanted to find a way past that goalie and light the building on fire.

“It was a great crowd, but their kid was feeling good in there. He saw a lot of pucks. We probably needed a little better net-front presence, but it was a good hockey game, really close.”

With 5:29 remaining in the opening stanza, Lehti laid out to cover a puck as Augustana forward Luke Mobley skated across the top of the crease. It appeared to be a harmless play in real time, but after UAF coach Erik Largen challenged the play for contact to the head, officials determined there was enough evidence to warrant an infraction, sending Mobley to the penalty box for five minutes.

Raboin was rather brief in describing what he saw on the call.

“It was high in the zone,” he said. “Good challenge by their staff, I guess.”

It was the second night in a row the Vikings were whistled for a five-minute major. On Friday, they managed to kill one off without giving up a shot on goal.

But that wasn’t the case on Saturday, as T.J. Lloyd fired a shot from the right circle past Augustana goalie Zack Rose and into the far side of the net, giving the Nanooks a 1-0 advantage with 2:26 remaining in the first.

“One’s going to go in,” Raboin said. “That’s the tale of the night right there. The penalty call’s the tale of the night.”

It was Rose’s only blemish of the night after coming off back-to-back starts in which he didn’t allow a goal. The senior netminder finished the game with 25 saves, including 14 in the second period.

“He’s played well,” Raboin said about Rose. “Another Saturday, another strong performance by him. I feel like our team defended well in front of him for the most part. I think we probably had the better of the chances tonight. I’ll have to go back and watch.”

With 3:17 remaining in the game, the Nanooks were whistled for too many men on the ice, and Raboin used his timeout to add an extra attacker and set up something with the two-man advantage.

Augustana got some looks on the power but wasn’t able get any of its five shots on goal past Lehti, who got some help from the offense with a little more than 30 seconds to play on an empty-netter from Harrison Israels.

“Alaska Fairbanks is a well coached team,” Raboin said. “They play with a ton of energy, and they make it really difficult for you to find any time and space. And frustration can set in. We wanted the same game [as Friday] but just a little better. We were probably close to having the same game, but we know with our guys, if we get a goal, we take a whole new life.

“We weren’t able to get one past this kid. Credit to them and their team. They’re a really good team, and their goalie had a heck of a night.”

On Friday, the two teams played to a 2-2 tie before Alaska won the exhibition shootout. The Vikings finish the season series against the Nanooks with a 1-2-1 mark.

“All four games with these guys have been extremely close,” Raboin said. “Outside of the penalty in the first, it was a really good hockey game.”

Prior to the start of the game, the Vikings recognized their six departing players as part of Senior Night festivities.

The group includes five fifth-year players in Anthony Stark, Arnaud Vachon, Chase Brand, Ryan Naumovski, Shay Donovan and Rose.

The six transfers are the first graduating class in the history of the program, and Raboin had no shortage of words in describing their impact.

“Regardless of the score tonight, there is a touch of sadness because you feel the end is near with this group, this family, for Year 1,” Raboin said. “For the guys that will be moving on from this program, their impact, they’re never going to leave us.

“These guys are the foundation of this whole program, and this program’s going to enjoy a lot of success. There’s going to be so many great nights, and they were the ones that set us up for success right from the start.”

The group makes up for 28% of the team’s total points this season, while Rose led the team’s goalie group in wins (six), minutes (863:31), goals-against average (2.71) and save percentage (.922).

Raboin was complimentary of how they represented the inaugural program in the Sioux Falls community. He even pointed to Saturday night’s sold-out crowd as an indicator as to how that has been reciprocated.

“It’s easy to cheer for them because they do everything the right way,” Raboin said. “Blessed, fortunate, whatever word you want to use — everyone in it, from our staff to our players, has individual stories of how these guys have impacted them. They’re always going to be with us.”

The players are already working to begin the infancy of the program’s alumni base, as an annual golf event is in the works.

“I wish I could call myself an alumni of Augustana, but these guys are fortunate enough to do so,” Raboin said. “They’ve already got things going. They enjoy it here. This is their happy place, and these teammates are their brothers.”

Saturday marked the third sellout at Midco Arena and the first since its grand opening in January, with 3,097 fans on hand to take in the team’s final regular-season game of the season.

“There was a vision to bring hockey here because they felt like it could be something great. It’s proven true, and we’re just getting started,” Raboin said. “Our fan support, our students, new fans, new hockey people — the hockey community in Sioux Falls is pretty cool.

“We’re fortunate, and we’re really looking forward to the next one.”

The Vikings still have an exhibition series against the U.S. National Under-18 Team scheduled for next weekend at Midco Arena, but the regular season in their inaugural campaign is complete.

Augustana’s season ends with 12 wins and a number of signature moments. They are ranked 40th in the PairWise rankings and are ranked higher than all but three CCHA teams — Bemidji State (33), Minnesota State (36) and Michigan Tech (39).

“I didn’t have any expectations,” Raboin said. “I asked our guys not to have any expectations either because the ones that a lot of people were giving us were pretty low. That’s why we went with, ‘We hold the pen,’ because we wanted to write our own story, and we felt like if we gave our best every day for each other, we could have a chance.

“It’s been a pretty cool journey. There’s not many people who have been as fortunate as I am to go through something like this, but it’s been pretty cool.”

Alaska 1-0-1 — 2
Augustana 0-0-0 — 0

First Period
1, UAF, T.J. Lloyd (Kyle Gaffney), PP, 17:34.

Second Period
None

Third Period
2, UAF, Harrison Israels (Braden Birnie), EN, 19:26.

Shots on goal: Alaska: 5-14-8—27, Augustana: 7-7-16—30.
Power plays: Anchorage 1-3, Augustana 0-3.
Saves: Lassi Lehti, Anchorage, 7-7-16—30. Zack Rose, Augustana, 4-14-7—25.

Three Stars
1. Lassi Lehti
2. T.J. Lloyd
3. Harrison Israels