KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The No. 16/RV ranked Alaska Nanook hockey team takes on Western Michigan in its last weekend series before Western Collegiate Hockey Association play begins. The Nanooks are coming off its second consecutive weekend sweep and tournament win, as they won the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament with victories over Air Force and Penn State last weekend.
Alaska (4-0-0) will face the Broncos (0-3-1) at 3:05 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
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The Alaska Nanooks won their third straight Brice Alaska Goal Rush over the weekend, with a pair of come-from-behind, 4-3 wins against Air Force and Penn State.
This constitutes the first time that Alaska has swept the Brice Alaska Goal Rush and the Kendall Hockey Classic (Anchorage) in the same season.
Following another 2-0-0 weekend, the Nanooks moved up in the USCHO.com poll, to #16. They are still receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polll.
Austin Vieth earned WCHA Rookie of the Week honors and was named Tournament Most Valuable Player at the Brice. Vieth scored three goals, including the game-tying and game-winning goals against Penn State.
Tyler Morley and
Colton Parayko also were named to the All-Tournament Team. Morely scored a goal in his season debut against Air Force and picked up two assists against PSU while Parayko scored the game-tying goal in the comeback against Air Force.
Sean Cahill started and won his first game of the season in the 4-3 victory over PSU. Cahill made 40 saves including all 18 in a frantic third period.
Following this past weekend's play, there are currenlty only two other teams in NCAA Division I play that have matched the Nanooks 4-0-0 start: Union College and Robert Morris.
Last season Alaska and Western Michigan met in the final game of the Brice Alaska Goal Rush. The two teams fought to a 3-3 tie, but Alaska prevailed, 1-0, in a shootout to claim the trophy.
Since 2000 the Nanooks and Broncos have met 27 times with Western Michigan holding the advantage, 12-9-6.
The two games this weekend promise to be high scoring affairs. Since 2000 there have been an average of 5.9 goals per game. The highest scoring game was an 8-5 loss for Alaska in 2000 while, since the turn of the century, the two teams have only scored less than three combined goals on two occasions.
