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.

Nanooks Win First Game of Season

Alaska (Fairbanks) finally has its first victory of the 2024-25 NCAA campaign, and it has goaltender Nicholas Grabko to thank for that. 

A transfer from Bentley University, Grabko made 37 stops in Saturday's 1-0 win at Notre Dame, including 20 saves in the second period alone, to gain the series split. Broten Sabo scored the only goal of the penalty-filled contest for the Nanooks midway through the game. The two former CCHA rivals combined for 22 penalties and 87 penalty minutes at Compton Family Ice Arena.

UAF improved to 1-5-0 overall, while UND fell to 3-1-0. Nicholas Kempf made 22 saves for the Fighting Irish. 

Alaska on 2023 NCAA Tournament Bubble

Alaska (Fairbanks) has climbed into the NCAA tournament conversation. The Nanooks, who swept host Arizona State this past weekend, have climbed to 12th in the Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the NCAA tournament selection process.

UAF (20-10-2 overall) has won nine of its last 10 games, and closes out its 2022-23 regular season this weekend at home against fellow NCAA Division I independent Lindenwood. Senior goaltender Matt Radomsky, a Holy Crass transfer, is 20-10-2 in net for UAF so far this season, with a 2.14 goals-against average and two shutouts 

The Nanooks last made the NCAAs in 2010, when they were a member of the original incarnation of the CCHA, while this season also marks their first 20-win campaign since 2001-02. The last independent to make the NCAA tournament field was Arizona State in 2019.

The 2023 NCAA tournament selection show and the 16-team bracket will be held on March 19. The regionals will be held in Allentown, Bridgeport, Fargo, and Manchester the following weekend, with the Frozen Four to be contested on April 6-8 in Tampa.

Alaska (Fairbanks) Wins 2022-23 Governor's Cup

The Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup continued last weekend after a two-year hiatus—and Alaska (Fairbanks) is the champion once more.

The visiting Nanooks swept Alaska Anchorage by 4-0 and 1-0 scores at the Seawolf Sports Complex on Dec. 16-17 to clinch the Cup for 2022-23. Simon Falk and Bowling Green transfer T.J. Lloyd each posted a goal and an assist for the Nanooks (9-7-2 overall) in the opener on Friday, while Chase Dubois notched the game-winning goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation in the rematch on Saturday. Holy Cross transfer Matt Radomsky earned the shutout both nights for UAF, stopping 20 and 17 shots, respectively.

UAF had swept UAA (2-12-0) at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks on Dec. 9-10 by 5-2 and 7-2 counts in the Governor's Cup renewal, the first games played between the two 49th State rivals since the 2019-20 campaign. Both teams sat out the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, while UAA stayed on the sidelines last season to rebuild, after the hockey program was dropped by the university due to budget cuts before being reinstated through a fundraising effort.

The Nanooks have now won nine straight Governor's Cups, after their titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012 were subsequently vacated due to NCAA violations. The two independent schools will close out their season series on Jan. 27-28 in Anchorage.

Nanooks Drop Bowling Green, 4-1

Anton Martinsson recorded 35 saves and Tristan Thompson registered three assists as the University of Alaska (Fairbanks) notched a 4-1 win over visiting Bowling Green in WCHA action at the Carlson Center on Friday.

Troy Van Tetering and Tyler Cline staked the Nanooks to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes, before Connor Ford scored with 4:29 remaining in regulation to pull the Falcons within a goal. Martinsson and Thompson then teamed up to assist Steven Jandric on an empty-net power-play goal just over a minute later for Alaska (6-15-2 overall, 6-10-1 WCHA), and Thompson then set up Justin Young with 2:30 left on the clock for another empty-netter to finish off the scoring. BGSU (15-6-3, 10-5-2) outshot Alaska, 36-23, on the night but finished 0-for-6 on the power play.

The two schools will close out their two-game conference series on Saturday in Fairbanks at 11 p.m. ET.

ADDENDUM: Bowling Green gained the split with a 2-0 victory in the rematch, thanks to goals by Max Johnson and Brandon Kruse, and 31 saves from Eric Dop.

Largen Takes Over Hometown Nanooks

My latest USCHO feature story, on new Alaska (Fairbanks) head coach and Nanook alumnus Erik Largen, is now online here. Fairbanks native Largen, a former UAF goaltender and assistant coach, is the ninth head coach in modern Nanook Hockey history.

Largen Chosen as New Alaska (Fairbanks) Head Coach

The University of Alaska (Fairbanks) finally settled on a new head coach—and it's now-former assistant coach Erik Largen.

A Fairbanks native, Largen, 31, becomes the youngest head men’s ice hockey coach in NCAA Division I ranks, following Matt Curley, 35, who was tabbed as the new head coach at in-state rival Alaska Anchorage earlier this month.

Largen, who was an assistant coach at UAF over the past two seasons, is also a former backup goaltender for the Nanooks (2006-2008). According to eliteprospects.com, he entered the coaching ranks in 2009 and spent two seasons as the goaltending coach for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL). He then moved on to the Twin Cities (Minn.) Northern Lights (MNJHL) for two years as head coach, before splitting the 2013-14 campaign between Janesville (NAHL) and Tri-City (USHL) as an assistant coach.

Largen then served one season as head coach at NCAA Division III Marian (Wisc.) University, before he returned to his alma mater as an assistant in 2016. His hiring completes a process that was heavily botched by UAF administrators, one that came to a head earlier this month when first choice Brent Brekke, a former associate head coach at Miami, was chosen as the new Nanook head coach but could not come to an agreement with the university on a contract.

Lance West, the other finalist for the position, withdrew from consideration after Brekke was originally selected. West served as an interim head coach of the Nanooks last season after longtime head coach and UAF alumnus Dallas Ferguson took the head coaching job with Calgary (WHL) last summer. West, a former player for Alabama-Huntsville, had served as an assistant coach with UAF for nine years prior to his one year as head coach. Since he was labeled as an interim coach, the position had to be re-opened for applications this year.

Largen becomes the ninth head coach in the modern history of Nanook Hockey, which got its start as an independent NCAA Division II varsity program in 1979. The Nanooks, now a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, moved up to the Division I ranks in the 1980s and made their only NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2010 as a member of the now-defunct Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

Fairbanks Wins NAHL Title

Brown University commit Gavin Nieto made 31 saves for the shutout as the Fairbanks Ice Dogs won their third Robertson Cup as champions of the North American Hockey League. The Ice Dogs bested the Wichita Falls Wildcats, 2-0, in Edina, Minn. yesterday to win their second Cup in three seasons.

Reggie Lutz tallied the game-winning goal on Sunday, and was named the tournament MVP after scoring five of Fairbanks' seven total goals in three games, including a two-step semifinal sweep of the Aston (Pa.) Rebels. The Ice Dogs, who also finished as this year's NAHL regular-season champion with a 48-9-3 record (101 points), bested the Coulee Region Chill in four games and the Minnesota Wilderness in five outings en route to the semifinals.

Justin Kapelmaster, who is committed to Ferris State, stopped 29 shots for the Wildcats, who were seeking their first NAHL crown, in the championship contest. Fairbanks won its inaugural NAHL title in 2011.

Nanooks Earn Governor's Cup, Last WCHA Playoff Berth

The University of Alaska (Fairbanks) Nanooks claimed their seventh consecutive Governor’s Cup with a 3-2 victory over in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Friday night at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. For good measure on Saturday night, they posted another 3-2 victory while also claiming the final Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff spot and ending the Seawolves’ 2015-16 season.

Peter Krieger's third-period power-play goal with just over five minutes remaining in regulation Friday stood up as the game-winner for Alaska (10-20-4 overall, 8-16-4 WCHA), while Davis Jones made 28 saves for the Nanooks. Jones finished with 19 stops on Saturday, and made an early third-period score by Justin Woods stand up as the decisive marker shortly after UAA (11-20-3, 8-18-2) had forged a 2-2 tie. Woods sat out last season while being treated for Ewing’s Sarcoma.

Alaska is 3-3-0 in its last six outings overall following a five-game losing skid. The Seawolves, meanwhile, lost 13 of their final 16 games to fall out of playoff contention. UAA needed just two points over the weekend to advance to the postseason, and also went 0-3-1 overall against the Nanooks this season.

Alaska will now face top-seeded and 13^th-ranked Michigan Tech in a best-of-three WCHA series beginning on Friday in Houghton, Mich. The Huskies defeated the visiting Nanooks on Feb. 26-27 by 6-5 and 3-2 scores. Alaska missed the playoffs last season due to NCAA sanctions.

Minnesota's Weiss Joins Nanooks

The University of Alaska (Fairbanks) has secured a commitment from defenseman Jack Weiss for the 2015-16 NCAA campaign, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

A 5-foot-11, 170-pound native of Bloomington, Minn., Weiss, 21, joins the Nanooks after two seasons in the North American Hockey League. In 105 career NAHL games with Minnesota and Rio Grande, he tallied one goal and 15 assists for 16 points to go along with 139 penalty minutes.

UAF begins its season on Oct. 4 with an exhibition contest against Mt. Royal university at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Alaska's Parayko Signs with St. Louis

Alaska junior defenseman Colton Parayko has passed up his final year of NCAA eligibility with the Nanooks to sign a two-year entry-level contract with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, according to alaskananooks.com. He will be assigned to the Blues' AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

Parayko was named Western Collegiate Hockey Association Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-WCHA, and a WCHA Scholar Athlete during his three years at UAF, and was also named to the NCAA Division I All-American Second Team last season.

A 6-foot-5, 224-pound native of St. Albert, Alberta, Parayko served as UAF's captain this past season. He also led the team with 67 blocked shots while recording six goals and 17 assists for 23 points, as the Nanooks finished 19-13-2 overall (14-12-2 WCHA).

Parayko tallied 17 goals and 49 assists for 66 points in 104 career games with Alaska. He also helped UAF to three straight Governor's Cup championships over rival Alaska Anchorage, including last weekend in his final collegiate games in blue and gold. He was drafted by the Blues in the third round (86th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, following the completion of a two-year junior career with Fort McMurray (AJHL). The Oil Barons, like the Nanooks and Blues, also wear blue and gold.

UAF Wraps Up 2014-15 Season This Weekend

Alaska Fairbanks faces the end of its season this weekend with two games at rival Alaska Anchorage to decide the annual Governor's Cup. UAF (17-13-2 overall, 12-12-2 WCHA), which stands in fifth place in its conference, is ineligible for the WCHA and NCAA postseason races due to academic violations from 2008 to 2012.

The Nanooks, who dropped a pair of games to UAA by 2-1 and 3-2 (OT) counts in Fairbanks on Jan. 16-17, need to win both games this weekend at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage to force a Cup-deciding shootout. UAA (8-20-4, 5-19-2 WCHA), on the other hand, sits in last place in the WCHA, and can only advance to the league playoffs if it sweeps UAF, and both Alabama-Huntsville and Lake Superior State are held pointless.

As part of its capitulation regarding the NCAA violations, UAF had to vacate two of its past Governor's Cup victories over UAA, along with its appearance in the 2010 NCAA Tournament where the Nanooks fell in the first round to eventual national champion Boston College.

ADDENDUM: UAF won, 3-2, on Saturday night and then won, 1-0, in the ensuing shootout to claim its third straight Governor's Cup.

NCAA Drops the Hammer on Alaska Fairbanks

The situation with the University of Alaska's self-reported violations and the NCAA's ban on postseason play for the Nanooks, among other penalties, has already been well-documented on other sites including USCHO.com, collegehockeynews.com, and The (Fairbanks) Daily News-Miner, so I won't go into extended detail here.

Put simply, Alaska will forfeit its men's hockey victories between 2007 and 2012, including a pair of Governor's Cup titles against in-state rival Alaska Anchorage, and will also lose several scholarships. Four more of Alaska's intercollegiate athletic teams will be taken to task in one way, shape or form, including the dual loss of victories and scholarships.

There have been been academic problems at the former UAF before – the 1991-92 Nanook hockey squad had to sacrifice a total of 12 victories because of academic "violations", including the ludicrous NCAA stipulation that a student-athlete's five-year eligibility clock begins ticking once he or she enrolls at an intercollegiate institution or even a community college. That's even if that institution doesn't field (or ice) their particular sport. The same thing happened with Scotland native Colin Shields, who lost an entire season (2000-01) at Maine that way, although the Black Bears didn't have to forfeit any games because he sat out every contest his freshman year.

The current Alaska players are the ones who will be punished for the transgressions of adults who should have kept a better eye on things. The NCAA also seems to be – wrongly – looking to make an example out of a smaller Division II school where there are transgressions all over the place, some bordering on the outright criminal, at some of its various Division I members.

You can bet this would have never happened with the Florida State football program.

Tales from the Road

Pretty good piece at USCHO.com about the trials and travails of college hockey teams traveling earlier this month, particularly the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Stuck in Minneapolis after not making their connecting flight from Wisconsin in time, the Seawolves eventually arrived home 24 hours before they swept Minnesota State—which was already in the 49th State, having played Alaska (Fairbanks) the weekend before—even though UAA had to express mail its equipment home.

Having spent my first year after graduating from Boston College at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I can personally relate that traveling from the Great White North to the rest of the NCAA hockey world had and still has its own unique challenges, even normally. Connecting flights are just a cost of doing business to compete at the Division I level with the rest of the Lower 48.

In November 1991, UAF headed east to play Army, which was an East Coast homecoming for me. The itinerary? Leave Fairbanks International Airport at midnight Alaska time (which is 4 a.m. ET). Get into Anchorage in about 45 minutes, then leave for Seattle about a half-hour later. Get into Seattle 5 a.m. Pacific time, when barely anything is open in the airport (as a long-time Seahawks fan, I probably should have gone to see the Kingdome then, before it got imploded in 2000). Then off to Salt Lake City, before flying to Chicago, and then getting into Newark early that evening.

Play at Army, sweep the series, then head up to Maine (I didn't make that leg of the trip). Then go home in reverse, again taking about 15-18 hours total with layovers. Then repeat again a few weeks later to Alabama-Huntsville. Then again to Kent State—and again. And again. (And then personally, do it one more time in Jan. 1996 with Michigan State for a three-game trip to Fairbanks.)

You don't really see NHL teams do that.

Nanooks Ranked 20th Nationally After Sixth Straight Win

Who's won six straight conference games and vaulted itself into the thick of the final CCHA race? The University of Alaska (Fairbanks), of course, now ranked 20th in NCAA Division I by USCHO.com.

The Nanooks (12-8-4 overall) have opened the calendar year by sweeping Michigan and Notre Dame on the road, and Northern Michigan at home, to improve to 10-7-3-1 in the CCHA, where they currently sit in fourth place with 34 points. They're just two points behind third-place Notre Dame, four points behind second-place Western Michigan, and five points behind league-leading Miami, whom they will visit this Friday and Saturday in Oxford, Ohio.

It’s been a bit of tightrope act this season for Alaska, which has averaged 2.71 goals per game and surrendered 2.58 goals per outing so far. The Nanook penalty kill, though, is ranked eighth in the nation, and has eliminated 100-of-113 opponent power plays (88.5 percent) while also scoring four shorthanded goals.

They're also getting things done by committee, at least scoring-wise. Senior forward Jarrett Granberg leads Alaska with five goals and 12 assists for 17 points, and had a game-winning goal with three seconds left at Notre Dame. Senior classmate Andy Taranto is right behind him with 7-9—16 points, and recently passed the century mark for career points. They're just two of nine Nanooks in double figures this season, with Trevor Campbell the highest-scoring blueliner for the Blue and Gold to date with 1-14—15 points.

In goal it’s been a different story, as freshman John Keeney has firmly taken the reins in the Nanook net, and played in 15 of UAF's 24 games. The California native has gone 8-4-3 with a 2.30 goals-against average and .914 save percentage, and has been in goal for the last six games/wins.

Following the Miami series, coach Dallas Ferguson’s club will host Ohio State at the Carlson Center, visit Lake Superior State, and host Michigan State before concluding the regular season with a home-and-home series with in-state and future WCHA rival Alaska Anchorage for the annual Governor’s Cup.

Following the last-ever CCHA Tournament in Detroit in March, the Nanooks hope to be one of 16 teams in the nation left standing, with their second-ever berth to the NCAA Tournament and second such selection in four years.

New Season Finally Underway

Following a plethora of exhibition games this past week, and a handful of non-conference (and even conference) contests, the 2012-13 NCAA hockey season kicks into full gear this weekend, a weekend when the NHL itself should have been starting regular-season play. Alas ...

The beginning of the year also means early-season college tournaments, with the most way-out one being the Kendall Hockey Classic at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. The host Alaska Anchorage Seawolves will welcome in-state rival Alaska (Fairbanks), along with Canisius College and Air Force Academy. Friday's games will pit Alaska against Air Force, and Canisius against UAA. The second night will feature Alaska against Canisius, and UAA versus Air Force.

Next weekend, Alaska (the former UAF) will do the hosting honors for its own Alaska Goal Rush, as the Nanooks will entertain UAA, North Dakota and Merrimack at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Penn State also begins its varsity sojourn this weekend when it hosts American International College, one week after the equally new Penn State women's team won their inaugural game at Vermont.

The start of the new year also marks the beginning of the end for the current men's college hockey landscape. A year from now the WCHA will have a vastly different look, the new NCHC and Big Ten Conference will both get underway, and the CCHA will be just a memory after more than 40 years of competition and eight national titles to date.

But there's six months to go between now and then, when the NCAA Division I men's champion will be crowned in Pittsburgh. Onward and upward—and drop the puck.

Nanooks Win Governors Cup Once More

The annual trophy emblematic of Alaska college hockey supremacy will remain in Fairbanks for another year.

Nic Yaremchuk's deciding goal in a tie-breaking shootout on Saturday night before a sold-out crowd at the Carlson Center lifted Alaska (Fairbanks) to its third consecutive Governors Cup over archrival Alaska Anchorage. The shootout, won by a 3-2 count by UAF, was needed after the two 49th state rivals split back-to-back, home-and-home meetings this weekend.

The Seawolves won at home by a 3-2 score on Friday at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, before the Nanooks responded with a 3-1 victory on Saturday in Fairbanks that forced the shootout immediately after. Andy Taranto kept the Nanooks alive after they fell behind by a 2-1 margin, and Yaremchuk then put it away to close out a successful Senior Night for UAF's seven seniors, including goaltender Scott Greenham. Two years ago, as a sophomore, Greenham backstopped the Nanooks to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where they were edged by eventual national champion Boston College.

UAF (sorry, can't just call it Alaska) won the very first Governors Cup back in 1994 at Sullivan Arena, also in a shootout. The Nanooks have now won 11 of the 19 Governors Cups to date, including a record five titles in a row from 2002 to 2006.

This weekend marked the only meetings of the 2011-12 regular season between the Nanooks and Seawolves, although they will face each other far more often beginning in 2013-14 when UAF joins the revamped Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Both schools now head to their respective conference playoff tournaments next weekend, with UAF visiting Lake Superior State in the first round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship, and UAA heading off to Bemidji State for the first round of the WCHA championship.

Coaching Carousel: Good Luck, Gads

The coaching carousel in NCAA Division I hockey has been a veritable merry-go-round the last few weeks, especially where the ECAC is concerned. Clarkson recently released George Roll, while Nate Leaman shifted from Union to Providence, and was replaced on the Dutchmen bench by assistant and former Friar skater Rick Bennett. Speaking of Hockey East, UMass Lowell alum Norm Bazin is now in charge of his alma mater.

The nascent program at Penn State, though, which will (finally) start intercollegiate play in late 2012, made perhaps the biggest splash of all by hiring Princeton's Guy Gadowsky over the weekend to be its first-ever varsity head coach. Gadowsky led the Tigers to both ECAC and Ivy League titles and their first-ever back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in his tenure, along with consistent Top-20 recognition, after inheriting a team that had won just five games the season prior to his arrival from Alaska Fairbanks. He also oversaw a similar reclamation effort during his time at UAF, and led the Nanooks to the brink of the big dance.

Having regularly covered Princeton from Gadowsky's second season on up until this past winter, I'll admit I have some mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, I'm genuinely happy for him. He's paid his dues and brought the Tigers some success, and deserves to have an opportunity like this at a big-name, Big Ten school. I'm sure he's gotten a bump in pay and will have more resources to work with, including a new 6,000-seat arena. Plus, how many coaches could resist the lure of being able to start a Division I program from scratch? (Although according to Monday's press conference that officially introduced him at Penn State, he doesn't consider it to be starting from scratch.)

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/042511aac.html

Selfishly, more than a small part of me wishes that he was staying at Princeton. I'm sure a lot of Tiger fans do, after what he was able to accomplish there the last seven seasons. He's always been a class act, and always been gracious with his time for post-game interviews. Heck, sometimes he'd even apologize to me if I was waiting to get a quote or two because he was busy talking to a recruit or something along those lines. Not that a D-I coach had to apologize to me, but that's the kind of person he is.

He really is a genuinely nice Guy, and having a common link to UAF was neat, even if our respective tenures in Fairbanks were about a decade apart. Most people probably wondered what we were talking about when we discussed the Governor's Cup, which took place more than 4,000 miles away from central New Jersey, but it was nice to have that kind of rapport with him. It will be weird next year to walk into Baker Rink and not see him standing on the Princeton bench anymore; but rationally, I realize he's doing what he has to do, and as I said before, he deserves this opportunity. I hope his successor at Old Nassau can do half as well.

Onward and upward, then. I wish him and the Nittany Lions much success, and hope that sometime over its first couple of seasons, Penn State can make the trek from Happy Valley to Baker Rink for a two-game set. Thanks, Gads, and good luck out there.

Taranto Article Up at USCHO

My first hockey story of 2011 is on Alaska's Andy Taranto, who scored the first-ever NCAA Tournament goal in Nanook Hockey history last March against Boston College at the NCAA Northeast Regional (a game I actually attended). It's an extra article at USCHO.com

Somewhat coincidentally, my story on the Fairbanks Amateur Hockey Association went online the same day (Jan. 11), but that's at usahockey.com under their Youth banner. It's been 15 years since I've set foot there, but I still have fond memories of Fairbanks - great hockey town where I met a lot of good friends I still have today (thank you, Facebook).

http://www.usahockey.com/Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=PL_01_20&id=297360

I'm still feeling somewhat disconnected from college hockey so far this season - I'm no longer covering Princeton men's hockey pro bono for USCHO.com, and I've only been to one of nine Tiger home games so far, with just five home dates left on the regular season schedule. Hopefully someone out there will hire me as a stringer one of these days ... Of course, I've just started watching more games on TV ...

So Long to Hockey Season (Almost)

The Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 OT win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the 2010Stanley Cup Finals tonight just about signals the end of yet another on-ice campaign - minus the Calder Cup Finals in the American Hockey League, which is currently tied at two games apiece between Texas and Hershey.

It was a season (so far) in which Chicago won it all in the NHL for the first time since 1961; Canada claimed both men's and women's Olympic hockey gold on home soil in Vancouver; the Czech Republic took home the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship; a Boston school earned a third consecutive NCAA Division I men's hockey national title, with Boston College accomplishing the feat for the second time in three years; and the OHL's Windsor Spitfires dominated their major junior competition in winning their second straight Memorial Cup.

There's two neat things that stand out about the Blackhawks winning the Cup for the first time in 49 years, among other notes such as Marian Hossa earning his first Cup in his third straight Finals with three different teams. This year's Cup-winning goal was netted by an American in Buffalo-born Patrick Kane, even if most people had no idea where the puck went after he shot it until the play was reviewed. After the goal was ruled good, the Cup was first lifted by a former collegiate player in Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. The former North Dakota Fighting Sioux also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, tying a Blackhawks playoff record with 29 points.

Toews wasn't along among ex-NCAA players who helped Chicago claim its fourth-ever Cup. Former UVM Catamount forward Patrick Sharp scored 11 goals for the Hawks this spring, including one in the Game 6 clincher, while former Michigan State defenseman Duncan Keith contributed 17 points and seven teeth to the Chicago cause this spring. John Madden (Michigan) earned his third Cup ring in his first season with his new team to go along with his 1996 NCAA title with the Wolverines, while Adam Burish (Wisconsin) can now add a Cup to his 2006 national championship with the Badgers. And in the same year that the University of Alaska Fairbanks made the NCAA Hockey Tournament for the first time ever, Nanook alumnus Jordan Hendry won his first NHL title.

The Flyers had a smaller share of contributing collegians in their amazing postseason run, as youngsters Matt Carle (Denver), Darroll Powe (Princeton), Jared Ross (Alabama-Huntsville) and James Van Riemsdyk (UNH) all saw playoff action for Philadelphia. The Flyers went from barely qualifying as the Eastern Conference seventh seed after winning a shootout on the last day of the regular season, to coming within two victories of winning hockey's biggest prize.

So that's it for the NHL this season. After the AHL gets done in the next week or so, hockey goes dark until it all starts again in September. There's 88 days until Labor Day, one night after the Blackhawks No. 88 (Kane) finally made it Chicago's year.