University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Friday's Game Notes
Nanooks Trek to Houghton - Day One
Nanooks Trek to Houghton - Day Two (coming soon)
 
FAIRBANKS – Alaska will travel to the upper peninsula of Michigan for the third and final time during the hockey regular season as it will take on Michigan Tech in Houghton, Mich., this weekend, Feb. 14-15.
 
The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. EST on Friday and Saturday from the John J. MacInnes Student Ice Arena (4,466). Both games can be seen on WCHA TV and listened to on ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF or online at 820sports.com.
 
This will be the final two road games of the regular season for the Nanooks, who come in with a 12-12-4 overall record and a 9-11-2 mark in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play. The 'Nooks sit tied for sixth in the WCHA standings with Bemidji State with 20 points as both teams have but six games left to play. The Huskies (12-14-6, 10-8-4 WCHA) are third in the league standings and winners of four in a row. The top eight teams will make the WCHA playoffs next month.
 
Earlier this season, Michigan Tech swept Alaska with a  pair of one goal wins – 3-2 and 2-1 – back on Nov. 29-30 at the Carlson Center. MTU owns a 4-1-0 advantage all-time, winning both meetings against Alaska in Houghton.
 
Alaska coming off a bye and last played Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 when they earned their first WCHA series sweep with a pair of 6-1 home victories against Alabama Huntsville.
 
Seniors Colton Beck (Langley, British Columbia/Business Administration) and Cody Kunyk (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Business Administration) both led the team in scoring with five points each as the first-line duo each scored three goals while adding two assists.
 
Junior Jared Larson (Apple Valley, Minn./Business Administration) had his best outing as a collegian, accruing a team-best three goals, including his first-career two-goal game on Feb. 1. Three other Nanooks recorded a three-point weekend in freshman Marcus Basara (Port Moody, British Columbia/Business Administration), junior Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, Mo./Mechanical Engineering) and sophomore Colton Parayko (St. Albert, Alberta/Business Administration).
Junior goaltender Sean Cahill (Calgary, Alberta/Business Administration) collected his first two-victory weekend ever after making 25 saves on 27 combined shots. His record now stands at 4-3-1 entering the weekend.
 
Kunyk continued to make a move on the program's all-time scoring list as he moved up to 17th place alone with 121 points (53-68—121), surpassing former Alaska skaters Dion Knelsen ('10) and Andy Taranto ('13), who both had 120 points. Kunyk leads the WCHA with five game-winning goals, and is also third in scoring (15-16—31), fourth in goals (15) and tied for seventh in assists (16).
 
Beck ranks sixth in assists (17) as he leads the team in the helpers category while senior Michael Quinn (Surrey, British Columbia/Geography) is also tied for seventh with Kunyk in assists (16).
 
Parayko is tied for third among defenders in points (4-15—19) while Quinn sits tied for eighth (1-16—17) in the same category. Basara continues to be one of the top rookies in the WCHA as he is tied for second in points (11-9—20) and is No. 1 in goals category (11).
 
Scouting Michigan Tech:
The Huskies enter this weekend's series with a 12-14-6 overall record and sit third in the WCHA standings at 10-8-4 with six games to play. MTU is coming off a home sweep last weekend against Alabama Huntsville, registering wins by 4-1 and 10-4 scores.
 
Tech has won four in a row and is 7-3-3 at home this season. The Huskies eighth in the WCHA in scoring, with 2.5 goals per game but rank second in goals allowed, with a 2.41 goals against average.
 
Reigning WCHA Offensive Player of the Week Blake Pietila leads the team with 24 points on eight goals and a team-best 16 assists. Alex Petan is second on the team on 11 goals and 11 assists while Tanner Kero has 21 points with a team-high 12 goals and nine helpers.
 
Phoenix Copley is 8-8-5 this season and leads the WCHA with a 2.20 goals against average while ranking third with a .918 save percentage.

Important Links for this weekend's series:
Live Stats: College Hockey News
Live Audio: ESPN Radio 820 AM KCBF
Live Video: America One Sports (WCHA TV)