Published Mar 7, 2023 by Paula C. Weston

The most underrated story, to me, though was Alaska, which moved into 13th in the Pairwise after sweeping Lindenwood. It looks like, barring some massive weirdness where four low seeds win their conference, that the Nanooks are heading to the NCAA tournament. Given what happened with the overall Alaska hockey conversation, how much of a major storyline is it, now that Erik Largen’s bunch is apparently dancing in 2023?

Paula: The Alaska story is enormous. I’m just hoping that this helps to write a next season – a lot of next seasons – for the Nanooks.

Alaska finished the season with a six-game win streak and have lost only one game in their last 12, a 3-1 road decision against LIU (Feb. 11). The Nanooks have played themselves into this NCAA tournament position with solid wins over Omaha, Northern Michigan, Notre Dame and Denver, plus their 22-10-2 season.

The Nanooks are averaging 3.06 goals per game and have the fifth-stingiest defense in the country, allowing 2.18 per. Senior goaltender Matt Radomsky has the sixth-best (2.05) GAA in the nation and a respectable save percentage (.916). In single-elimination NCAA tournament play, the Nanooks may do some damage.

And they would be hungry to do so. Now is not the time to discuss the future of independent teams and rant (again) about the need for realignment to accommodate independents and grow the sport, but Alaska hockey has powerful motivation to draw attention to itself in positive ways.

The Nanooks – a sentimental favorite of mine from covering the old CCHA – are the D-I sport with the potential to focus a national gaze on the University of Alaska’s flagship campus in Fairbanks.

Alaska is sitting in a good spot – as you say, barring several upsets by teams lower in the PWR – for the NCAA tournament, and now the Nanooks will wait out the next two weeks to see their fate.

Published Mar 7, 2023 by Josh Reed

On the college hoops scene, the UAA women’s basketball team’s 2022-2023 season came to a disappointing end Thursday when it fell to Seattle Pacific University for the first time in their last nine meetings, losing 69-65 in the quarterfinals. The Seawolves were led in scoring and rebounds by GNAC Newcomer of the Year, junior guard Vishe’ Rabb, who recorded 16 points and six boards before leaving the game late with an injury.

The UAA men’s hockey team is having a strong finish to its inaugural season since being fully reinstated, winning two of three games this past week. The Seawolves began by winning the final game in a three-game road series with Long Island University 5-3 on Tuesday. They followed it up by splitting a two-game home series with Arizona State University over the weekend. UAA was shut out 5-0 on Friday before bouncing back with a 4-3 victory on Saturday. The team had seven players record goals over the past week with Anchorage’s Maximilion Helgeson leading the way with four that included a pair in each victory.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s hockey team completed its regular season with an 8-0 home win over Lindenwood University on Saturday. The victory pushed the Nanooks’ record to 22-10-2 and gave them the most wins by a UAF team since 2001-02. Eight Nanooks scored, which marked the first time since 2006 that the team scored eight goals in a game. UAF goalie Matt Radomsky stopped 19 shots to earn his 22nd win of the season. As an NCAA independent, the Nanooks will not compete in a conference tournament. But UAF’s season is still very much alive.

UAF is ranked No. 13 in the Division I Pairwise Rankings, a system which mimics the process for determining the teams in the NCAA men’s tournament. With 16 teams qualifying for the tournament, the Nanooks are in solid position for an at-large bid. The NCAA Ice Hockey Selection Show will be broadcast on March 19 at 2:30 p.m. Alaska time on ESPNU.

Published Mar 7, 2023

Fishermen-led projects increase understanding of Southeast Alaska ecosystem

Published Mar 6, 2023 by Miles Jordan / UAF Athletics

The University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey team’s annual end of the season awards banquet wasn’t an end of the season event on Sunday, and that’s a good thing.

With a 22-10-2 record, to include having won 10 of their last 11 games, the Nanooks are now in a 13-day holding pattern. They’re awaiting word from the NCAA Tournament selection committee as to whether they’ll be one of the 16 teams selected for the postseason.

After Saturday night’s win, College Hockey News gave the Nanooks a “90 percent chance” of being included in the field, depending on what happens in the six conference tournaments underway. Each winner of those receives an automatic bid to the tournament.

“Our guys are so excited,” coach Erik Largen said as the banquet got underway. “There’s so much positivity from our team, not just that we can get in, but there’s a lot of belief that if we get a chance we’ll play some competitive hockey.”

Published Mar 6, 2023 by Morgan Krakow

Last month during their lunch period, Bowman elementary students handed over their finished lunch trays, complete with half-eaten bananas, bitten-into burritos, and mostly sipped cartons of milk.

Katie Cueva and her team then launched into action, scooping handfuls of leftover chicken onto scales and calling out their weight to an adjacent researcher who typed the data into a laptop. Cueva is a faculty member at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services, part of the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

The lunches make up small data points in a larger study that will track how much Anchorage students eat and move over the next four years.