Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey

Alaska Nanooks
University	University of Alaska Fairbanks
Conference	CCHA
Head coach	Dallas Ferguson
	4th year, 63–65–24
Arena	Carlson Center Capacity: 4,595
Location	Fairbanks, Alaska
Colors	Blue and Gold
NCAA Tournament Appearances
2010
Conference Tournament Champions
GWHC: 1988
Conference Regular Season Champions
GWHC: 1987–88
Current uniform

The Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks are a member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). They play at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska.

History

Early history

Varsity hockey at Alaska-Fairbanks began in 1925. The team played four game during the inaugural 1925–26 season and finished the season 3–1–0 despite having no coach.^[1] The program returned in 1932 and for three additional seasons the team operated without a coach as an independent member of NCAA Division I. Alfred Bastress joined the Nanooks in 1937 and became the program's first head coach. Bastress led the Nanooks for four seasons. The team played the 1939–40 season again with no coach and Joe Gerlach coached the team during the 1941–42 season, splitting both games the team played that season. The program suspended during World War II and returned for the 1949–50 season.

The team went through six coaches through the 1950s before Bill Daltri took over behind the bench in 1960. Daltri led the Nanooks for three seasons, including some of the most successful seasons of the early history of the program. In 1960–61 Daltri's Nanooks finished with a record of 14–2–0 and in the 1961–62 season the team finished 10–1–1.^[1] In his final season as head coach Daltri's Nanooks won all 8 games of the 1962–63 season. The program would go through another period of coaching turnovers, going through 9 coaches in a ten year period from 1963–1973.

Division II era

Following the 1972–73 season the program moved from an independent NCAA Division I team to NCAA Division II. The team had its ups and downs after the move to Division II, the Nanooks won 14 games in the 1974–75 season after only winning a single game in the 1973–74 season, their first in Division II.^[1] Ric Schafer took over as head coach in 1980 and turned the program around from the turmoil of years past. Despite going 1–23–0 and 4–19–0 in his first two seasons, the Nanooks improved with a 17-win season in 1982–83 and back-to-back 20+ win seasons in 1983–84 and 1984–85. The 1984–85 season was Alaska's last season at the NCAA Division II level.^[1]

Great West Hockey Conference

The Nanooks re-joined NCAA Division I in 1985 and with in-state rival Alaska-Anchorage as well as U.S. International University (San Diego) and Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, Arizona) formed the Great West Hockey Conference.^[2]

The 1985–86 season marked the return of the Nanooks to NCAA Division I as well as the first season in the history of the program as a member of a conference. Shafer guided the Nanooks to a 17–7–1 overall record and finished the season second in the Great West to U.S. International with a GWHC record of 6–5–1.^[3]

Following the 1985–86 season, Northern Arizona dropped their varsity hockey program leaving the Great West with three teams. UAF finished the season with an identical record of the previous season 17–7–1 and finished third in the conference with a GWHC record of 7–9–0.^[1][3]

Don Lucia took over as head coach of the program for the 1987–88 season and under Lucia the Nanooks finished first in the Great West with a conference record of 5–3–0 and won the 1988 Great West Hockey Conference Championship.^[3] The team also finished the season with an overall record of 21–10–2, just the third 20+ win season in program history.^[1]

U.S. International ended their hockey program in 1988 for similar reasons as Northern Arizona. Historically UAF and in-state rival Alaska-Anchorage have had difficulty scheduling opponents due to the large distances between schools and increased travel expenses.^[2] All four GWHC schools required opponents to fly in and fly out. To combat scheduling difficulties, especially with out of conference scheduling, NCAA gives the Alaska schools scheduling advantage, games in Alaska don't count against teams' NCAA game limit. This advantage was not given to NAU or USIU, both schools in the Lower 48.^[2][4]

Recent history

Alaska vs. Air Force in a non-conference game.

Despite the failure of the USIU and NAU hockey programs and the Great West Hockey Conference both Alaska-Fairbanks and Alaska-Anchorage programs continued, returning to independent Division I members. Anchorage later joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) in 1994.

Don Lucia continued as head coach of the Nanooks and in the 1992–93 season. On January 12, 1992 after four and a half seasons as an independent team following the collapse of the GWHC Alaska-Fairbanks was accepted into the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) as an affiliate member for the 1993–94 season.^[5] In addition to the off-ice success, Lucia led the Nanooks to a program high 23 wins. Lucia left to become head coach of Colorado College and later Minnesota.

Dave Laurion replaced Lucia as head coach in 1993 and guided the Nanooks to a program best 24–13–1.^[1] and on May 12, 1994 Alaska Fairbanks was became a full member of the CCHA for the 1995–96 season^[5][6] Laurion was followed by three coaches over the next nine seasons, Guy Gadowsky for four seasons, Tavis MacMillan for three seasons, followed by a short one season stint from Doc DelCastillo.^[7]

Dallas Ferguson became the 25th head coach in program history in 2008 taking over from DeCastillo. Ferguson led the Nanooks to a historic season in his second behind the bench at UAF. The season marked the first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2010.^[8] UAF received an at-large bid despite losing in the Quarterfinals of the 2010 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament to Northern Michigan two games to none, losing 4–3 and 5–1.^[9] The at-large bid placed the No. 13 ranked Nanooks into the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Massachusetts against No. 1 ranked Boston College in the first round of the tournament.^[9] The Eagles ended the Nanooks season in a close game that saw UAF come up short 1–3. Despite the loss one of the highlights of the game was the UAF defense shutting down the high scoring top line of Boston College with the help of freshman goaltender Scott Greenham making 29 saves.^[10]

In the summer of 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced intentions to begin sponsoring men's ice hockey in 2013,^[11] followed by Miami (OH) announcing the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference for 2013 with and five other schools breaking from the WCHA.^[12] The realignment continued on July 20, 2011, when Northern Michigan was approved for membership in the WCHA beginning with the 2013–2014 season.^[13] On August 23, 2011 members of the WCHA and CCHA met in Chicago, Illinois in reaction to the 2011 college hockey realignment.^[14] The WCHA then sent invitations to the five remaining CCHA schools. The Nanooks quickly accepted their invitation to join the league for the 2013–14 season, followed by several other CCHA members.^[15]

Season-by-season results

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Nanooks.^[1] For the full season-by-season history, see Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses

Records as of March 23, 2011.

Coaches

The Nanooks are currently coached by Dallas Ferguson, who is in his fourth season as the head coach of Alaska. Ferguson took over the head coaching position in 2008,.^[7] the third coach in three seasons for the Nanooks. Ferguson was a defenseman and captain for Alaska-Fairbanks from 1992–1996. After four seasons at UAF Ferguson spent four years in the minors playing for the Alaska Gold Kings and Anchorage Aces of the West Coast Hockey League and the Richmond Renegades of the ECHL.He then returned to Alaska and joined the coaching staff for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs as an assistant coach before returning to his Alma mater as an assistant coach.^[16]

All-time coaching records

As of completion of 2011–12 season^[1]

Players

Current roster

As of Nov 26, 2011.^[17]

Goaltenders
#	State	Player	Catches	Year	Hometown	Previous Team
1		Steve Thompson	L	Junior	Anchorage, Alaska	Sioux City (USHL)
38		Sean Cahill	R	Freshman	Calgary, Alberta	Kindersley (SJHL)
35		Scott Greenham	L	Senior	Addison, Ontario	Oakville (OPJHL)

Defensemen
#	State	Player	Shoots	Year	Hometown	Previous Team
2		Justin Tateson	L	Freshman	Scandia, Alberta	Drumheller (AJHL)
4		Scott Enders	R	Senior	Edmonton, Alberta	Lloydminster (AJHL)
5		Aaron Gens	R	Senior	Baudette, Minnesota	Topeka (NAHL)
6		Michael Quinn	L	Sophmore	Surrey, British Columbia	Westside (BCHL)
13		Kaare Odegard	L	Junior	Red Deer, Alberta	Canmore (AJHL)
18		Trevor Campbell	R	Freshman	Kansas City, Missouri	Topeka (NAHL)
23		Nolan Kaiser	R	Freshman	Calgary, Alberta	Canmore (AJHL)
24		Cody Butcher	R	Senior	Anchorage, Alaska	Sioux City (USHL)
28		Robert Monfore	R	Freshman	Wasilla, Alaska	La Ronge (SJHL)

Forwards
#	State	Player	Shoots	Year	Hometown	Previous Team
7		Nik Yaremchuk	L	Junior	St. Albert, Alberta	Sherwood Park (AJHL)
9		Maxime Dumond	L	Freshman	Orleans, Ontario	Brockville (CJHL)
11		Matthew Gates	R	Freshman	Palatine, Illinois	Bismarck (NAHL)
12		Garrick Perry	L	Freshman	Apple Valley, Minnesota	Coquitlam (BCHL)
14		Adam Henderson	L	Junior	Whitehorse, Yukon	Spruce Grove (AJHL)
15		Justin Filzen	R	Senior	Proctor, Minnesota	Green Bay (USHL)
17		Jarret Granberg	L	Junior	Foremost, Alberta	Brooks (AJHL)
20		Ron Meyers	R	Senior	Prince Albert, Saskatchewan	Lloydminster (AJHL)
25		Nolan Youngmun	L	Freshman	Anchorage, Alaska	Sioux Falls (USHL)
26		Chad Gehon	L	Junior	Kelowna, British Columbia	Westside (BCHL)
27		Michael Hill	R	Freshman	Fort Worth, Texas	Topeka (NAHL)
29		Andy Taranto	R	Junior	Woodridge, Illinois	Fargo (USHL)
36		Colton Beck	L	Sophomore	Langley, British Columbia	Langley (BCHL)
37		Cody Kunyk	L	Sophmore	Sherwood Park, Alberta	Sherwood Park (AJHL)
39		Carlo Finucci	L	Senior	Burnaby, British Columbia	Burnaby (BCHL)

Notable alumni

Over 100 UAF alumni have gone on to play professionally, including a number of current and former NHL players:^[18]

• Lucas Burnett
• Darcy Campbell
• Shawn Chambers
• Tyler Eckford
• Curtis Fraser
• Kyle Greentree
• Jordan Hendry
• Chad Johnson
• Corey Spring
• Aaron Voros
• Dwayne Zinger

References

External links

• Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey