Nanook Corner: Ski team brings home the Alaska Nordic Cup and what to watch for as the hockey squad prepares for its first GLI tournament

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - With the ski team securing Alaska Nordic Cup victory and a first appearance in the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament just around the bend for the Nanooks hockey squad, UAF athletics is staying busy — even around the holidays.

Alaska Nordic Cup

The UAF skiing team kicked off its season with a win over Anchorage in the Alaska Nordic Cup this past weekend, thanks in large part to the women’s performance in Sunday’s 10k freestyle race.

The Nanooks trailed by a fine margin after Saturday’s men’s and women’s sprints, with combined times for their top 3 skiers falling off the pace of the Seawolves by just twelve seconds.

Nanooks skiers Mariel Pulles (for the women) and Christopher Kalev (for the men) actually finished first in the sprints, but the Seawolves rounded out the top three in either category. The Seawolves consistency was the difference in the first day, as its the composite times from each team’s top three skiers for each category that determined the score, giving Anchorage that slight edge heading into Sunday.

The Nanooks closed the gap — and then some — with Sunday’s 10k freestyle races. Kendall Kramer led the way with a great showing, crossing the finish line more than 20 seconds faster than the second place skier in the women’s race.

Her teammates also pitched in with finishes that kept up with the Seawolves, and the Nanooks combined times for both days ended up about a minute and 40 seconds less than Anchorage, handing UAF the win.

If broken down by category, the Seawolves actually beat out the Nanooks in three of the four, getting better times in the women’s sprints, men’s sprints and men’s 10k freestyle. But performances from the top three Nanooks in the women’s 10k freestyle — including Kramer, Pulles and Rosie Fordham — smashed the Seawolves times by almost two minutes, and that was enough to earn UAF the overall victory.

Next up for the team is the qualifiers for the rocky mountain intercollegiate ski association on january 2nd.

Teddy bear tossing and what to look for in the Nanooks’ GLI debut

The Nanooks split their first ever series with the Augustana Vikings last weekend, with Saturday’s loss both unexpected and disappointing for the tournament-hopeful team.

But the game did have a definite bright spot.

After the first period, fans throughout the stadium chucked stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes onto the ice, from the classic teddy bear to colorful but sometimes-unidentifiable plushy creatures.

The Nanooks team up with Santa’s Helpers for this annual tradition so that all of the tossed teddies are collected and distributed to kids of families in need.

Once the teddy bears are all squared away, the Nanooks get back on the ice for an exciting matchup against Michigan Tech in the first round of the Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 28.

The Nanooks won one and tied one in a series against the Huskies earlier this season.

Here are two storylines for when the teams meet again next week.

First up, the Nanooks’ team leaders will look to bounce back after not turning in their best performances during the loss to the Vikings.

Harrison Israels and Brady Risk, who lead the team in both goals and points, were kept pretty quiet. Risk and Israels combined for only three shots in the game, and neither added to their goal or assist tallies.

“I thought they had some chances tonight, maybe some puck luck a little bit, and maybe some decision making on some of the plays,” Head Coach Erik Largen said in an interview with Newscenter Fairbanks after Saturday’s game. “It happens. You can’t score every night. ... They want to impact the game in that way. It just didn’t happen tonight,” he added.

UAF is 6-0 this season when Risk gets on the scoreboard, so the Nanooks will hope their first game ever in the GLI against the Huskies is a different story.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on the Nanook’s power play for this game. The Huskies rank 50th out of 60 teams for penalty kill percentage this year, preventing opponents from scoring on power plays only 77 percent of the time.

On the flipside of that coin, the Nanooks capitalize on almost 23 percent of their power plays, putting them in the top 15 in the NCAA for the stat.

Plus, in their two games against Michigan Tech in October, two of the Nanooks six goals came while the Huskies were in the penalty box.

As for their mentality as they head down to Grand Rapids, Largen said the team knows they’ll have to turn up if they’re going to advance to the tournament’s next round against the winner of Ferris State vs. Michigan State.

“We know them really well and they know us really well. We know they’re a tough team ... it’ll be a good test for us, and we need to have a really good effort and a good game in order to be able to have a chance to beat that team,” he said.

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