UAF Wins First United Collegiate Hockey Cup

Senior captain Chase Dafoe scored 24 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime to lift top-seeded Alaska Fairbanks to a 4-3 victory over second-seeded Lindenwood in the championship game of the inaugural United Collegiate Hockey Cup on Saturday in Missouri.

Michael Citara and Peyton Platter each recorded a goal and an assist for the victorious Nanooks (15-15-3 overall), who also got 39 saves from senior goaltender Lassi Lehti in his final appearance in a UAF uniform. Jacob Fletcher scored one goal and set up another for the host Lions (15-15-0), including the tying goal with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Liam Beerman stopped 18 shots for Lindenwood, which outshot UAF, 42-22, at the Centene Community Ice Center. The Nanooks won 32 out of 58 total faceoffs.

Citara, defenseman Nathan Rickey and Lehti were all named to the UCHC All-Tournament team, while Lehti was also named MVP. Lehti also backstopped UAF to the Adirondack Winter Invitational championship in Lake Placid back in November. 

Long Island defeated Stonehill, 4-3, in the consolation game of the tournament, which featured all five NCAA Division I independent men's hockey programs. UAF, which had a first-round bye as the top seed, defeated Stonehill in a shootout on Friday to advance to the title game, while Lindenwood topped LIU on Thursday to earn its championship contest berth. Alaska Anchorage finished in fifth place after falling to Stonehill and LIU.

UAF Claims 15th Straight Governor's Cup

For the 15th straight time, the Alaska Airlines Governors Cup belongs to the University of (Alaska) Fairbanks.

The Nanooks sewed up their annual in-state rivalry with Alaska Anchorage with a pair of wins in southeastern Alaska this weekend, defeating the host Seawolves by 4-3 and 6-2 scores. UAF has won four of its six meetings with UAA this season, while also recording a tie.

On Friday at Sullivan Arena, Braden Birnie scored with three seconds remaining in regulation to lift UAF to the win. On Saturday, Birnie supplied a goal and two assists, while Chase Dafoe and Alexander Malinowski both scored twice. 

Lassi Lehti stopped 26 of 31 shots for the Nanooks over both games, which drew over 3,000 spectators each night to Sullivan Arena. Tyler Krivtsov stopped 51 of 60 shots in all for UAA, which got goals from five different skaters over the weekend.

The Nanooks (12-15-2 overall) and Seawolves (5-23-1) will close out their 2025-26 NCAA independent season series on Feb. 27-28 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Princeton Sweeps Visting Alaska Fairbanks

Princeton University men's hockey started off its 2025-26 campaign with a two-step sweep of visiting NCAA independent Alaska Fairbanks at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink this weekend. The Tigers recorded a 5-2 victory on Halloween night, and followed that up the next night by outlasting the Nanooks, 6-3. It was the first meetings between the two schools since 1985, when Alaska won two games in Fairbanks. This weekend's sweep was Princeton's first to start a season at home since 1955-56.

On Friday, Jaxon Ezman scored back-to-back goals early in the third period to break open the game for the Tigers, who also got a goal and 10 faceoff wins from Kai Daniells. Arthur Smith made 20 saves in net for host Princeton, while Lassi Lehti made 29 stops for the Nanooks, who were outshot, 34-22. 

Saturday's game was tied at one entering the final 20 minutes, before the two sides combined for seven goals. Princeton broke open a 3-3 contest with two goals 10 seconds apart in the final four minutes of play, with Jake Manfre scoring twice in that span, including the game-winning goal and an empty-net tally. Smith finished the night with 26 saves, while Brendan Gorman scored two goals and set up another for the Tigers, who also got three points from Ezman. Freshman goaltender Calvin Vachon finished with 31 saves for Alaska, while Nanook captain Chase Dafoe scored two power-play goals and Michael Citara posted three assists. Alaska, despite scoring three power-play goals in four attempts in the rematch, fell to 2-8-0 overall, while Princeton improved to 2-0-0.

Alaska finishes up a five-game road trip on Tuesday at Quinnipiac, while Princeton will visit Ivy League rivals Brown and Yale next weekend to begin ECAC Hockey conference play.