Each week, the Alaska Nanooks will be publishing blog posts from one or more newcomers from each of Alaska's 10 varsity sports teams throughout their preseason. More sports will join the blog following their first official practice.

Hockey
By #8 Jordan Muzzillo | Fr. | Defenseman | Capron, Ill.

"Hey Nanook Nation!

As I have mentioned in the previous blog, I will be the one writing these weekly journals to inform you of what the team has been up to the week prior! With that being said, the boys had an absolute blast last week, as we all went white water rafting. I will reveal all that had happened in a bit but first, I had promised you all that I would give one fun fact about me each week in hopes that you can get to know me a little better in my first year here at UAF. When I was 13, I had the opportunity to play overseas in Sweden in the 'Lion's Cup.' I lived with a host family for the week and got the chance to learn about the Swedish culture and what life was like there. It was a ton of fun and I would do it all again if I was given the chance.

Last Friday evening the Nooks went to Denali National Park to go white water rafting. Sounds like a good time, right? Well, you aren't wrong! The guys had an abundance of fun as we rafted approximately 11 miles down the Nenana River. Being that there were so many of us going (27 to be exact), we were separated into three different rafts! After we had all finally gotten our wetsuits and helmets, we were ready for the adventure. While on the river, each raft had hit some intense currents but everyone managed to stay aboard the raft! While this was taking place, we all had been getting wet due to the water towering over the raft at times and crashing down on us! By the time we neared the end of our journey our hands were freezing. The team hadn't been wearing any gloves and the water was said to be right around 34 degrees! We were instructed to hold our paddles at a specific way for safety reasons and therefore, our hands were always exposed. As our ride concluded, not a single person had fallen off of the raft but we did have a few teammates by the names of Ryker Leer, Steven Jandric and Anton Martinsson who had all jumped into the calm waters to get a feel first-hand on how cold the water really was! Needless to say, they had all gotten back into the boat pretty quickly! All in all, we had an excellent time!

This weekend, the team will be heading to our annual trip to the Twin Bears campgrounds. This is an event that allows our new group of guys to become more familiar with one another, while having a terrific time. As this weekend's activities unfold, I will be sure to share what had happened in next week's blog. Be sure to stay tuned!

Now it's time to introduce more of your Nanooks that have joined the team this season! In this week's blog, we will be presenting three new faces. Jake Gresh, Chase Ellingson and Matt Doran! First up on the list is Jake. Gresh is a 1998 defenseman from Avon, Connecticut. Last year, he played junior hockey for the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL. Jake is an excellent golfer, as he only has a 3 handicap in golf!

Next up is Chase Ellingson. Chase is a 1997 who had finished up his junior career in Des Moines for the Buccaneers in the USHL. Ellingson grew up in Blaine, Minnesota and is excited for the season to get started. Chase is big into fishing as he loves to fish for bass.

Last but not least, we have another d-man in Matt Doran. Doran played last season with the Victoria Grizzlies in the BCHL. Matt is a 1997 who is from Chesterfield, Missouri. A fun fact about him is that he has played hockey in four different countries including Russia, Sweden, Canada and of course, the United States.

Thanks for taking the time to read this week's entry. I look forward to this weekend and all it has in store for us!"

Volleyball
By #1 Zoey Keene (Fr. | S/RS | Anchorage, Alaska) & #21 Taylor Overn (Fr. | S | Portland, Ore.)

"Welcome back, Nanook Nation! If you didn't attend our Blue and Gold game last weekend, you missed out. Unfortunately for us (Tay & Zo), our team didn't take the 'dub' (aka the win), but you can see us back in action this Saturday (Aug. 18) for our Alumni game at the Patty!

During this past week, we had two lifting sessions, one of them being our first 6am session! We were smart enough to get our breakfast, as well as our 'rocket fuel' (BeachBody Energize mixed with Emergen-C and branch chained amino acids) ready the night before for optimal sleep time! Sleep is kind of a priority these days, taking naps whenever and wherever we can (aka the training room). The team has been working tirelessly on our serve-receive, offense and defense with a lot of emphasis on our blocking. Since we are all working so hard, we have definitely been keeping up on our ice baths! Yesterday, our team got all glammed up for headshots! WHOOP WHOOP! In between our practices our locker room was crazy. Girls were running around doing each other's makeup and hair, making sure we all looked good.

This past weekend, instead of going to Denali, we went to a farm! We had this massive fire and our coach specifically told us to come hungry for the hot dogs. We all showed up to this bonfire where our coach gave us these two foot long roasters. Approaching the fire, we realized we couldn't get within ten feet of it without burning ourselves. You do the math… Our team became real innovative that night, having to attach our metal pokers to five foot long branches we found lying around. It's a good thing marshmallows are still good gold :) We finished the night riding horses and playing an intense game of mafia where if your teammates didn't kill you (no volleyball players were harmed in the virtual game of mafia), the killer gnats made sure didn't leave untouched.

The next day, we had a lifting session, had brunch together and then decided to float the Chena River. Everyone on the team was in a kayak except for four of us… Well, our coach had a paddleboard, but as soon as he asked if anyone was under 120 pounds, that was no longer an option. That left us with our last option, a two-person inner tube in the actual river. Markie needed a floating buddy so we took her in on our raft, three could fit snuggly. Holly (Brian's wife) said to make sure that we got attached to a kayak. Before we were even in the inner tube, all the kayaks were gone. Not thinking much of it at the time, Markie pushed us into the current and we were off…slowly. We went into this floating session thinking it was going to be an hour long. Boy were we wrong! It took us over two hours to reach our destination in the 40-something degree water! During this…adventure… only having one paddle, we tried to keep off the banks of the river and potentially go faster but we ended up spinning around in circles. Holly had told us that if we got too cold, we could stop at the Boatel launch and have our teammates pick us up there. When we When we approached the Boatel, we yelled up to our teammates to see how much longer the float would be for us. They said it would only be another 10 minutes or so…. We thought "well probably 20 for us." Lips blue and shivering, we kept going! Unfortunately, we regretted that decision when it started pouring rain and a cool breeze nipped our uncovered legs and arms. It took us about 47 minutes instead of 10-20. Even though we felt somewhat miserable during this activity, we made the most of it; we got so much closer as friends because for one, we were enduring a two-plus hour ice bath but we also talked a bunch, and then we sang. SHOUTOUT TO MARKIE MILLER FOR ENDURING THAT WITH US.

Don't be deceived, this wasn't our only adventure of the week. Preparing for weights, we all met in the gym. As our coach was going through our workout, we were starting at it in awe. Speed, conditioning and agility… the three most important keys with any volleyball player (besides just flat out coordination). All of a sudden, he flipped the board and it said, "CHECK YOUR PHONES." In shock, no one moved, Then he repeated himself. That's when the stampede occurred and everyone sprinted to the locker room where we discovered our captains created a surprise scavenger hunt. Our items varies from asking a stranger if they believed in destiny to making a half-court basketball shot. We all went out of our comfort zones but the memories we made were unforgettable.

That's a wrap for this week's blog! Check in next time to see what's new with us and the Nanook Volleyball team! Hope to see you Saturday!

XOXO
Tay & Zo"