MADISON, Wis. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team returns to competition after a Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) bye-week, taking on the University of Wisconsin Badgers in a two-game non-conference series on Friday, Jan. 29 and Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Puck-drop is set for both nights at 4:00 p.m. AST.
After gaining two points in a weekend split against the Northern Michigan Wildcats Jan. 15-16, the Nanooks (7-13-4 overall, 5-11-4 WCHA) are tied for eighth place with in-state rival Alaska Anchorage with 14 points each. The Wisconsin Badgers (4-12-6 overall, 1-7-2 Big Ten) sit in fifth place in the Big Ten with six points.
Where to Watch & Listen
Longtime Nanook hockey commentator Bruce Cech will be providing live play-by-play report throughout the game from the Kohl Center for this weekend's series. The program will be broadcasted live on ESPN 820 AM Fairbanks and will also be broadcasted online in the link above.
The University of Wisconsin will also be broadcasting the game through BTN2Go and the Badger Radio Network (WIBA 1310 AM).
Last Time Out
The Nanooks ended their two-week WCHA road trip with a trip to Northern Michigan for a two-game WCHA series. Thanks to a (senior forward) Alec Hajdukovich game-winning goal in overtime, the Nanooks defeated the Wildcats 3-2 on Friday, before falling 5-3 on Saturday.
All-Time Series
The Wisconsin Badgers lead the all-time series against the Nanooks 1-7-0, with the first game between the two teams coming as a 4-2 loss for the Nanooks on Feb. 7, 1989. The Nanooks are 0-5-0 in the Badgers' barn and 0-2-0 at home. The last meeting between Alaska and Wisconsin was 1-0 win for the Nanooks on Oct. 11, 2014, as the Nanooks defeated the Badgers to claim the Kendall Classic Championship in Anchorage, Alaska.
On the Road (Again)
The Alaska Nanooks must love the bus, as the boys enter this weekend's roadie with a 4-5-3 record while on the road this season. Conversely, the Nanooks haven't won at the Carlson Center since Nov. 6, 2015, posting a 3-6-1 record at home.
Additionally, the Nanooks are hot and cold on most weekends, putting up a 6-4-1 record on Friday games and a 1-9-2 on Saturday contests.
Scoresheet Famous
In the two games with the NMU Wildcats (Jan. 15-16), the Alaska Nanooks had a multi-point weekend. Senior forwards Nolan Huysmans (2G, 2A), Alec Hajdukovich (2G, 1A) and Tyler Morley (1G, 1A) contributed to five of Alaska's six goals.
Furthermore, Huysmans' four-point weekend at NMU tied him for first in the WCHA in points over Jan. 15-17. Currently, Huysmans is on a two-game point streak, posting two points in each game. The Ponoka, Alberta native has also registered at least a point in five of the Nanooks' last six contests.
In the Clutch
Senior forward Alec Hajdukovich's game-winning goal on Friday's (Jan. 15) 3-2 win over the Wildcats marks his third game-winning goal in eight games and second game-winning goal in four league contests. The Fairbanks native's scoring touch has helped the Nanooks to a 3-3-2 record over the eight-game stretch. Additionally, Hajdukovich has contributed at least one point in the last four WCHA weekend's series for the Nanooks.
#VoteTMo
Senior forward Tyler Morley is nominated for the prestigious Hobey Baker award for the second year in a row. T. Morley is currently tied for first in the WCHA in points with 22 and also leads the WCHA in shots on goal per game (4.00).
New Year, New Me
In games played in 2016, T. Morley and Huysmans are tied for second in the WCHA in points since Jan. 1, 2016 with eight each. Huysmans has three goals and five assists, while T. Morley has four goals and four assists, both playing two games left than the league leader.
65 Minutes
Per the WCHA Weekly Release, 47 of the first 94 WCHA games have been either ties (18) or one-goal decisions (31), with 28 overtime contests. Twenty-one (21) league games have featured a tie-breaking, third-period game-winning goal (including seven in the last five minutes of regulation), with an additional 10 victories coming in overtime.
Scouting the Competition – University of Wisconsin Badgers
This weekend's series is the final non-conference games of the season for both the Nanooks and the Badgers. The Badgers hosted Big Ten rival the University of Minnesota at the Kohl Center last weekend, getting swept by the Gophers 4-0 on Friday (Jan. 22) and 9-2 on Saturday (Jan. 23).
Leading the Badger offense this season is junior Grant Besse, who's posted 20 points (6G, 14A) in 22 games played this season. Besse posted a goal and an assist in the only two points the Badgers put up against the Gophers last weekend, making him only two points shy of his career-high points in a single season. Alongside Besse, freshman forward Luke Kunin broke a three-game point streak against Minnesota, after posting three goals and seven points over the course of those three games.
The Badgers are backed by freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik, who's played 21 games for Wisconsin this season, posting a record of 4-10-5 overall. Jurusik has posted one shutout this season and currently has a GAA of 3.47 and s save percentage of .891.
Ferguson's Thoughts
"Well, anytime you come off of a bye-week, you just try to keep your speed and pace up with game-like intensity. Going into Wisconsin, a place these guys have never played before, we're excited to get there and play against the Badgers. For us, I think we're still trying to build on things we've been growing on since the Anchorage series. I think there's lots of good things the team has been doing and obviously, going into the last ten games of the regular season, although these two games are non-conference, we've got to get ourselves back up to playing at the level we need to be at, so we can gather some points going into the final eight games of the WCHA season." – head coach Dallas Ferguson on this weekend's series.
