Two hockey teams with 17 wins or more a year ago squaring off.

The fact that it was an NCAA squad facing a club team almost didn't matter Saturday night.

The Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team recovered from a rough first period to put a major scare into their second straight NCAA opponent in as many nights, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The Nanooks saw a pair of three-goal leads nearly evaporate but hung on for a 5-4 victory over the Lopes in an exhibition thriller at The Big Dipper Arena in Fairbanks, Alaska, Saturday night.

Lopes' Head Coach Danny Roy had no qualms about featuring the same starting lineup as the one that battled the University of Alaska-Anchorage Friday. This time, though, the Nanooks took control of the game at the first puck drop. Most of the first 20 minutes was spent in the Lopes' zone with GCU goalie Dmytro Kubrytskyi swatting away shot after shot. UAF broke through with a pair of goals from William Lawson-Body and Luke Johnson in a two-minute span by applying constant pressure on the Lopes' backline. The Lopes got few chances to clear the puck (and had just one shot on goal themselves), which seemed to fatigue them towards the end of the period. The Nanooks took advantage right before the intermission as Broten Sabo found Cade Ahrenholz just to the left of the GCU net, who swept the puck past a lunging Kubrytskyi to give UAF a 3-0 edge.

The second period – which the night before was the period that sank GCU Friday against the University of Alaska-Anchorage - was instead 20 minutes of reinvigoration in Fairbanks. The Lopes' newfound aggressiveness paid off just three minutes in when Lopes' senior Cam Neaylon delivered a perfect setup pass to Ben Oakland, who calmly flipped the puck past Nanooks' goalie Lassi Lehti to get the Lopes on the scoreboard. Then just past the midpoint of the period, while the home crowd was cheering the end of a Nanooks' penalty kill on one end, two Alaska natives, GCU senior Jacob Cummings and sophomore Colton Gerken, combined to weave through the UAF defense to score and cut the deficit to a single goal. The momentum turned when a five-minute major penalty put the Lopes a man down, and the ensuing UAF onslaught finally panned out with a Matt Hubbarde goal and a 4-2 lead at the intermission.

The Lopes expected a Nanooks' resurgence to start the 3^rd frame, and they weren't disappointed as Peyton Platter scored a goal two minutes in to give UAF a 5-2 cushion. The Lopes weren't done yet, though. Gavin Uckele's quick response just three minutes later brought the Lopes back within two, then given a power-play chance late in the game, GCU's Shawn Spring and Anchorage native Spencer Lund set up Oakland for his second goal of the night with three minutes left. The Lopes cleared their net and desperately tried to tie it in the final 90 seconds (with the home fans holding their collective breath) but couldn't quite complete the comeback.

It was the second straight night with a loss, and a second straight night where you wouldn't know it passing by the GCU locker room after the game.

"It's hard to feel like it's a loss when the guys are in there cheering like we just won the national championship," said a grinning Roy. "It's a good game of showing how we can battle adversity – especially going down early in the first period and not crumbling. We just reset, stuck with our game plan, and the guys just found ways to just get stronger and more confident. To see us do what we did this weekend gives us confidence that we're going to start out really hot this season."

The Lopes now get a couple of weeks off to recover and prepare for their actual regular season opener at their home ice of AZ Ice Arcadia. They'll host San Diego State University on Friday and Saturday, October 10 and 11.