University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Game Notes (Game #23, 1/17/14)
Game Notes (Game #24, 1/18/14)
 
FAIRBANKS – Alaska continues its annual two-week January road trip this weekend with a pair of Western Collegiate Hockey Association games in Marquette, Mich., at Northern Michigan, Jan. 17-18.
 
The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. EST on Friday and Saturday from the Berry Events Center (4,260). Both games can be seen on WCHA TV and listened to on ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF or online at 820sports.com.
 
The Nanooks (8-10-4, 5-9-2 WCHA) will look to improve from last week's 0-1-1 mark at Bowling Green (Jan. 10-11) and manufacture more scoring to move up in the WCHA standings. The Wildcats (8-10-2, 6-5-1 WCHA) are coming off a bye week but beat Bemidji State twice on the road a couple weeks ago.
 
Alaska is currently ninth in the WCHA standings with 12 points while NMU is eighth with 13 points, but has played two or three series less than almost every other team in the league. Despite being ninth, Alaska is only two points out of seventh place and four out of sixth.
 
Earlier this season, the two teams split in the weekend set in Fairbanks with Alaska taking a 5-4 win in game one and Northern winning the second contest, 2-1. All-time, the Wildcats own a 29-9-1 record in a series dating back to 1989 but the Nanooks have gone 3-1-1 in the last five games.
 
In Marquette, NMU has been nearly unbeatable with a 16-1-7 record as Alaska's only win at NMU came back on Feb. 5, 2005 – a 2-1 victory.
 
Freshman right wing Marcus Basara (Port Moody, British Columbia/Business Administration) scored his WCHA rookie-best ninth goal of the season as he registered the equalizer 7:44 into Saturday's third period at BGSU, helping the 'Nooks earn a point out of the series.
 
Both goaltenders saw action as freshman Davis Jones (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration) made 31 saves in the loss and sophomore John Keeney (Twin Peaks, Calif./Business Administration) had 26 stops in the stalemate.
 
Senior center Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business Administration) added an assist on Saturday to be tied for second in WCHA scoring with 23 points (12-11—23) while still being tied for first in goals (12). Sophomore center Tyler Morley (Burnaby, British Columbia/Business Administration) is tied for eighth in scoring (9-11—20) while both senior left wing Colton Beck (Langley, British Columbia/Business Administration) and senior defenseman Michael Quinn (Surrey, British Columbia/Geography) are tied for a team-best and fifth in the WCHA in assists (12).
 
Aside from Basara leading the conference in goals by a rookie (9), he is also third alone among freshman scorers with 15 points (9-6—15).
 
Scouting Northern Michigan:
The Wildcats enter the week with an 8-10-2 overall record and sit eighth in the WCHA standings at 6-5-1 after being on a bye last week. NMU has won two games in a row after its sweep at Bemidji State on Jan. 3-4.
 
Northern is 4-2-1 on home ice this season and has an 8-1-1 record when leading heading into the third period, including a perfect 4-0-0 record at the Berry Events Center.
 
It is eighth in scoring this season in the WCHA, with 2.3 goals per game and rank fourth in scoring defense, allowing 2.4 goals per game.
 
Stephan Vigier leads the team with 17 points on 11 goals and six assists. His goal total is tied for third in the WCHA and has a league-best four game-winning goals. Mitch Jones leads NMU with 10 assists while Ryan Daugherty has nine helpers.
 
CJ Ludwig is tied for ninth in the conference with 12 points on five goals and seven assists while Jones is tied for 12th with 10 points. Mathias Dahlstrom is 7-8-2 on the year and is third in the WCHA with a .930 save percentage and fourth with a 2.10 goals against average.
 
Important Links for this weekend's series:
Live Stats: NMUWildcats.com
Live Audio: ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF
Live Video: America One Sports (WCHA TV)