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, UAA Split Round One of Governor's Cup

The 2019-20 Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup is all tied up at one win apiece.

The 49th State's two NCAA Division I ice hockey teams split a pair of games at the Seawolf Sports Complex in Anchorage over the weekend, with visiting Alaska (Fairbanks) winning by a 2-1 count on Friday night before host Alaska Anchorage returned the favor on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 whitewash.

On Friday, Brayden Camrud staked the Seawolves to a 1-0 lead just under 16 minutes into the first period, before Tristan Thompson set up Max Newton for the tying score for UAF 46 seconds before intermission. Thompson's power-play goal midway through the second stanza then put the Nanooks on top for good, as Anton Martinsson made 26 stops in goal for the victory.

On Saturday, Nick Wicks paced the Seawolf offense with two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal on a second-period power play, while Tomi Hiekkavirta posted three assists. Tanner Schachle and Alex Frye also scored for the Seawolves, and Kristian Stead made 29 saves for the shutout while also backstopping UAA (1-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 WCHA) to its first victory this fall. Martinsson had 22 stops in the rematch for the Nanooks (4-4-0, 2-2-0).

The two games marked the inaugural contests of the first full home slate for UAA Hockey to be played at the sports complex since the 1982-83 campaign. Since then the Seawolves had skated at the 6,200-seat Sullivan Arena in downtown Anchorage, but were forced to move back on-campus this season due to state budget cuts. Plans call for the 700-seat facility to potentially be expanded to as much as 2,500 seats over the next few years.

This season's Governor's Cup will be determined following a two-game set at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks on Feb. 28-29, 2020. A deciding shootout will be utilized if the two schools are subsequently tied with two wins apiece following the second game in Fairbanks.  The Nanooks have claimed the last 10 Governor's Cups.

UAA will now host Nebraska-Omaha for two non-conference games next weekend, including the series opener on Halloween night, while UAF will entertain Bemidji State for a pair of WCHA contests on Friday and Saturday.

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.

Ferguson Back in NCAA with Denver

Former University of Alaska (Fairbanks) defenseman, assistant coach, and head coach Dallas Ferguson is returning to the college game as an assistant coach with the University of Denver.
He spent last season as head coach of the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, compiling a 24-37-record.

After beginning his coaching career as an assistant with the North American Hockey League's Fairbanks Ice Dogs in 2002, Ferguson served as an assistant coach with UAF from 2004 to 2008 before being elevated to the rank of head coach. He was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Coach of the Year in his first campaign, and the following year led UAF to its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament, an at-large selection. The Nanooks fell to eventual national champion Boston College, 3-1, in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass.

In 10 seasons overseeing the Nanook hockey program, Ferguson, 44, finished with a career record of 139-151-42, according to USCHO.com. In five of those seasons, he led the Nanooks to 17 or more victories. UAF also won eight consecutive Governor's Cups against rival Alaska Anchorage in his time behind the bench, although three of those Cups were vacated due to self-reported NCAA violations by the university. 

Ferguson was a four-year letterwinner on defense for the Nanooks from 1992 to 1996, as UAF played its first four campaigns in the CCHA. He tallied a career-high six goals and 31 assists for 37 points as a sophomore, according to hockeydb.com, and finished his career with 17-87—104 points and 64 penalty minutes in 138 career collegiate outings.

At DU, Ferguson will join former Nanook forward and head coach Tavis MacMillan, whom Ferguson assisted from 2004 to 2007 at UAF. The Pioneers, 2017 NCAA champions, won the NCHC playoff crown last year, but fell to Ohio State in the NCAA Midwest Regional final in Allentown, Pa.

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.

Woods Story Up at USCHO.com

My latest college hockey feature story, on cancer survivor and Alaska Fairbanks captain Justin Woods, is now online at USCHO.com.

A Fairbanks native, Woods currently has seven goals and 11 points in 16 games this season for the Nanooks, who travel to Lake Superior State for a two-game WCHA series this weekend.

Ferguson Moving on From Nanooks

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is searching for a new hockey coach.

Longtime head coach and former Nanook defenseman Dallas Ferguson, who had helmed his alma mater's flagship program since 2008, has resigned to take the same position with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.

After beginning his coaching career as an assistant with the North American Hockey League's Fairbanks Ice Dogs in 2002, Ferguson served as an assistant coach with the Nanooks from 2004 to 2008 before being elevated to head coach. He was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Coach of the Year in his first campaign, and the following year led UAF to its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament, an at-large selection. The Nanooks fell to eventual national champion Boston College, 3-1, in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass.

In 10 seasons guiding UAF, Ferguson, 44, finished with a career record of 139-151-42, according to USCHO.com. In five of those seasons, he led the Nanooks to 17 or more victories. UAF also won eight consecutive Governor's Cups against rival Alaska Anchorage in his time behind the bench, although three of those Cups were vacated due to self-reported NCAA violations by the university. The Nanooks finished sixth overall in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) last season, their fourth year in the league after the CCHA folded in 2013.

Ferguson was a four-year letterwinner on defense for the Nanooks from 1992 to 1996, when the UAF played its first four seasons in the CCHA. He tallied a career-high six goals and 31 assists for 37 points as a sophomore, according to hockeydb.com, and finished his career with 17-87—104 points and 64 penalty minutes in 138 career outings.

He was awarded the Shawn Chambers Top Defenseman Award three times, according to alaskananooks.com, was an alternate captain as a junior, and was voted the team captain as a senior. Ferguson, who hails from Wainwright, Alberta, graduated from UAF with a bachelor's degree in business administration, and also played five years of professional hockey.

At least three of Ferguson's former charges have advanced to the National Hockey League (NHL), including St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, Buffalo Sabres goaltender Chad Johnson, and 2010 Stanley Cup champion Jordan Hendry.

According to the UAF athletic website, Ferguson's last day with the Nanooks is Aug. 17. The Hitmen will open their 2017-18 WHL season on Sept. 22 at Kootenay, while UAF will begin its new campaign on Sept. 29 in Fairbanks with an exhibition game against Simon Fraser.

ADDENDUM: Longtime Nanook assistant coach and former Alabama-Huntsville player and assistant Lance West was named Alaska's new head coach on July 19.

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.

Former Nanook MacMillan Joins Denver Staff

Former University of Alaska Fairbanks forward and coach Tavis MacMillan is joining the University of Denver coaching staff as an assistant.

MacMillan, 44, an Alberta native who tied for the 1993-94 NCAA Division I scoring lead with UAF teammate Dean Fedorchuk with 74 points, heads to Colorado after serving as an NHL scout with the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets organization since the 2007-08 NHL campaign.

Prior to becoming a scout, MacMillan spent the previous 10 seasons on Alaska Fairbanks' coaching staff. He served as head coach from 2004 to 2007, and led the Nanooks to wins over three different No. 1 ranked schools in his second season behind the bench, en route to winning 46 games in his tenure.

MacMillan played professionally with San Jose (RHI), Alaska (WCHL), and Greensboro (ECHL) after graduating from UAF. In four collegiate seasons in Fairbanks, he collected 56 goals and 136 assists for 192 points to go with 235 penalty minutes, including a career-high 23 goals and 51 assists as a senior. He was inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in 2009.

MacMillan is no stranger to Denver, which last won NCAA hockey titles in 2004 and 2005. His uncle, John, won two national titles (1958, 1960) while playing forward for the Pioneers, and later earned two Stanley Cup titles with the Toronto Maple Leafs before later finishing his pro career with San Diego (WHL).

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.

Fedorchuk to Join Nanook Hall of Fame

An old friend of mine, Dean Fedorchuk, will be feted with the ultimate honor from the University of Alaska Fairbanks next month, 20 years after he played his final game for the Blue and Gold.

The Nanooks’ second all-time leading scorer with 215 points and their all-time leading goal scorer with 113 goals, the Winnipeg native will be inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in late September along with former UAF head coach Guy Gadowsky, now the head coach at Penn State after a seven-year spell at Princeton.

Fedorchuk, who played professionally in Europe for 14 seasons after North American stints with Kalamazoo (IHL) and Dayton (ECHL), was one of the most exciting players to ever appear in a Nanook uniform. I should know—I was working at UAF and had the privilege of watching him score 29 goals as a sophomore in 1991-92, including a hat trick and then a spectacular buzzer-beating marker against rival Alaska Anchorage at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

The Nanooks’ No. 3 collected a nation-high 42 goals as senior in 1993-94 when he was also a First-Team All-America selection and a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist. No NCAA Division I player has scored 40 goals in a single season since. Fedorchuk also tied for the national scoring lead with teammate Tavis MacMillan that season with 74 points as the Nanooks finished 24-13-1 and boasted one of the top power-plays in the nation. MacMillan, a former Nanook player, assistant coach and head coach, was inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in 2009.

Fedorchuk later played seven seasons in Germany, where he tallied 185 goals and 361 points in 298 games. He spent his first five years there with Neuweid EHC where he recorded back-to-back campaigns of 82 and 96 points in his first two campaigns, respectively. He later went on to play seven seasons in Denmark, and has also served as a scout with his hometown Winnipeg Jets.

Fedorchuk also coached for three years in Denmark and another in Sweden, before ultimately taking an assistant coaching position in Croatia with Medvescak Zagreb (KHL), where he remains today. He still summers in Fairbanks, where he runs the annual ALCAN Hockey Camps , and will be the third UAF hockey player to be inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame along with MacMillan and all-time leading scorer Steve Moria.

Congrats, Feds!

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.

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.