(Photo Prout)

St. Cloud, MN – With 66 days of near darkness, only four hours of daylight in December, and average January temperatures of 2.1 degrees fahrenheit, you must have some mental toughness to survive the winter months in Fairbanks, Alaska. Add to it the roughly 40,000 air miles traveling to and from the lower 48 states for non-conference games and you have to have some grit and resolve to be a UAF Nanooks hockey player.

Those in tune with college hockey recognize and respect the perseverance of a hockey program that was nearly left for dead four years ago amid state budget cuts and conference realignment which threatened the future of the sport at both Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks.

But, here they are three years later off a 22-10-2 record in 2022-23 that had them 15th in the final Pairwise and a near NCAA berth and 2-3-1 record after a two-week road trip to Houghton, MI, and St. Cloud. After opening the season at home with two losses to #2 ranked Denver, they’ve gone 2-1-1 after getting a win and tie at then #9 Michigan Tech and a split with the then #20 Huskies.

Brady Risk (Photo Prout)

It’s not an easy task to recruit players to Fairbanks compounded by the lack of a conference and brutal travel schedule but the coaching staff is successful in leaving no stone unturned with players from Russia, Latvia, England, and all over the USA and Canada. It needs to be an older more mature team and it is. By average age, it’s the second oldest team in college hockey, and in looking at Saturday’s roster contained six forwards age 24, and one age 25. The balance of the players in the position are 22 years or older with the youngest, Colorado College transfer Cade Ahrenholz who will turn 21 this month. On defense, the youngest is freshman Caleb MacDonald 20 years old, and the balance of the starters have an average age of 22.6 years.

But, it’s not just the age factor. They have a whole lineup of players that would fit in at any program in the country. Quality players like captain Jonny Sorenson, a transfer from Minnesota would certainly help that team this season. Leading goal scorer Harrison Israels has six points in six games and compiled 134 points in three seasons in the OJHL. Brady Risk who had two goals and an assist on Saturday produced 164 points in 230 games in the AJHL. 5th-year forward Chase Dubois netted 61 goals in 174 games in the BCHL. Lakeville’s Payton Matsui had 65 points in 56 games in the NAHL. Anton Rubtsov from St. Petersburg, Russia can absolutely fire the puck. They are all productive players for the Nanooks.

So, it wasn’t a surprise after a 4-1 loss to an amped-up Husky squad on Friday that they returned with an inspired effort and a 5-2 win on Saturday. They played like a veteran team, got solid goaltending, great special teams play, and responded every time the Huskies looked like they’d be back in the game. And, it was the 24-year-olds leading the charge with two goals by Israels and Risk and two-point efforts by Rubtsov and Latvian Arvils Bergmanis.

They’ll be a fun team to follow in 2023-24.

Veeti Miettinen (Photo Prout)

After it appeared the Huskies broke out of their scoring funk on Friday with a four-goal effort and three even-strength goals, they again struggled to find the back of the net Saturday in a 39-shot effort aided by eight power play opportunities. After scoring four power-play goals in the opening game with St. Thomas at home, they’ve gone 2/24 since for an 8.3% success rate. After six games, the Huskies have yet to find even-strength scoring with just six five-on-five goals (1.3 per game). They are a goal per game under their rate of even-strength scoring through six games to start last season. Last season they were aided by a hot start by Grant Cruikshank who netted six goals in six games.

Nationally, through six games the Huskies are tied for 43rd in goals per game at 2.3 along with Canisius, UAA, Lindenwood, and Connecticut. They are 23rd in goals allowed per game, 22nd on the power play (6/30) at 20%, and ranked 33rd on the penalty kill at 80%. The goaltending save percentage is 88.1%.

There are some bright spots. Veeti Miettinen is playing with energy and aggressiveness and leads the squad with over a point a game (3-4-7). He’s also firing the puck with 31 shots on goal. Adam Ingram is also nearly a point a game with 2 goals and 3 assists. He more than tripled his shots on goal this past weekend. Dylan Anhorn leads the squad with a +3 plus/minus and is tied for second in points with a goal and 4 assists. Kyler Kupka and Joe Molenaar are playing like veterans and both have two goals. Finally, Barrett Hall is everything we thought he’d be and is an impact freshman with 2 goals and 4 points thus far.

With the exception of Barrett Hall scoring was expected out of the group mentioned above. It’s the middle of the lineup that was the concern and beyond those mentioned above, the rest of the squad has produced only two goals.

The team was 6-0-0 through six games last season and currently stands at 2-4-0 heading into the start of the conference season. Whether it’s good or bad, it’ll be 2 weeks before they host the Miami RedHawks at the HBNHC. The RedHawks seem to have some momentum with three straight wins and a record of 3-1-0. Their only loss was an overtime loss to Ferris State on the opening weekend.

It’s a difficult schedule after that traveling to Western Michigan and then hosting the UMD Bulldogs and the University of Michigan to close out November. Despite still being early, the month of November will have serious Pairwise ramifications for the Huskies.