DENVER, Colo. - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team ends 2021 and opens up 2022 in Denver against the #8/8 Denver Pioneers. 

Live Audio
Due to snowy conditions in Fairbanks, this weekend's live audio will not be on 91.5 KSUA FM. You can find all of the play-by-play on Facebook Live as Bruce Cech will have both games from Denver covered. Links can be found in the table.

Last Time Out
The Nanooks are coming off of their hottest week all season. After losing 11-straight, the Nanooks ended their pre-holiday break schedule on a three-game winning-streak. On night one against RPI, the Nanooks fell behind early and it was over by the end of the first. Kyle Hallbauer of RPI scored 13:44 into the opening period and that's all that was needed for the game-winner. Simon Kjellberg capitalized later in the first while on the power play making it 2-0 heading into the second. Nobody scored in the second. Only 1:21 into the third, Justin Addamo made it 3-0. Garrett Pyke scored on a power play 16:29 into the third but it was too little, too late for Alaska. RPI added one more for the 4-1 win.

On night two, the Nanooks offense broke through and posted their first 2+ goal scoring night of the season. Nearly 14 minutes in, Filip Fornaa Svensson intercepted the puck and went all the way for a shorthanded goal making it 1-0. This proved to be the GWG. SIMON FALK picked up his first goal of his career, going coast-to-coast for the backhand winner making it 2-0. Jordan Muzzillo capitalized for his first career goal as well, finding a loose puck in front of the RPI net and making it 3-0. Didrik Henbrant closed it out with an empty-netter making it 4-0 for the Nanooks win. Alaska returned a few nights later and maintained their offensive seige. After taking a 2-1 lead into the second on goals from Chase Dubois and Brady Risk, the Engineers tied it up in the second, making it 2-2 going into the third. Connor Mylymok struck gold late in the third, scoring his  first-career goal with 5:23 remaining in regulation. Mylymok played the puck around the net and snuck one through RPI netminder Linden Marshall and the pipe for the game-winner.

On the final night of the four-game series, the Nanooks knocked-off RPI 4-1 giving them a total of 14 goals through four games after going the first dozen games without 2+ goals in a single game. Pyke struck first, scoring 14:45 into the opening period. RPI tied it midway through the second but only 1:40 after the equalizer Chase Dubois hit the game-winner, making it 2-1. That score stayed into the third Colin Doyle scored on a wraparound for his first-career goal and Didrik Henbrant ended it with another empty-net goal.

Looking Ahead
The Nanooks are entering the second half of the 2021-22 season after holding the toughest NCAA schedule through the first half. They will head to Denver, followed by Maine and their rescheduled series with Minnesota on Jan. 7-8 and Jan. 14-15, 2022. This is the first time since 2016-17 that the Nanooks will play on New Years Eve and New Years Day. They brought in the new year in South Bend, Indiana against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish defeated the Nanooks on New Years Eve 2016 5-0 before blanking Alaska again on New Years Day 2017 with a 4-0 win. 

Following their trips to Maine and Minnesota, the Nanooks will return home for a bye week. They'll take to the road for another east coast roadtrip as they'll go to Vermont for a two-game series on Jan. 28-29 and then come back west to face Arizona State on Feb. 4-5 in Tempe. Following a home-series, they'll hit the road one last time at Long Island University on Feb. 18-19. Following LIU, the Nanooks will end their season at home with back-to-back home series' with Arizona State and LIU on Feb. 25-26 and Mar. 4-5. Following LIU they'll head to Plymoth, Mich. for an exhibition game with the U.S. NTDP U18 team at the USA Hockey Arena.

#NookNotes

• The Alaska Nanooks are riding a three-game winning-streak into the new year. This is their first three-game winning-streak since the 2018-19 season when they knocked-off #4 Minnesota State 1-0 on Feb. 23, 2019 before sweeping the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in the Alaska Airlines Governors Cup on Mar. 1-2. 
• The Nanooks have been led by Filip Fornaa Svensson and Brady Risk all season. The sophomore forward from Linkoping, Sweden is the team-leader in total points with 10, becoming the first Nanook to double-digits on the 21-22 season. RISK is the leading scorer amongst the rookie class, posting nine through 16 games played. 
• Sophomore forward Didrik Henbrant is the top goal-scorer for the Nanooks through 16 games this season. He has tallied four alongside his two assists, giving him a tie for fourth for total-points. 
• The Nanooks power-play opportunites have thrived as of late as six Nanooks have scored goals on the PPO eight have tallied points on the PPO. Filip Fornaa Svensson has scored five of his 10 points while on the man-advantage including two goals and three assists. Brady Risk has scored five points on the power play, all coming via assists. Garrett Pyke has two goals and two assists while on the advantage. 
• There have been many firsts for the Nanooks over the past month. Colin Doyle scored his first career goal in the final game of the four-game series with RPI. Connor Mylymok also scored his first-career goal and game-winning goal in game three of the RPI series, giving the Nanooks a 3-2 win with his late-third period score. 
• Simon Falk also broke the ice scoring a breakaway goal in game two of the RPI series, a 4-0 win, for his first-career goal in the blue and gold. 
• Gustavs Davis Grigals recorded his third career shutout on Dec. 11, 2021 against RPI, blanking the Engineers 4-0 on 27 saves. He held RPI scoreless, stopping 11 shots-on-goal in the second and 13 in the final period. 
• Chase Dubois is riding a four-game point-scoring streak. He had back-to-back one-point games to open the RPI series on assists before scoring goals on back-to-back nights. Fornaa Svensson was riding a three-game point-scoring streak before the Dec. 15, 2021 matchup with RPI. 
• Jakob Breault, Colin Doyle and Harrison Israels continue to be a mainstay in the Nanooks face-off circle. Israels has won 77 matchups while losing only 48, giving him a win percentage of .616. Breault is just behind with a W% of .595 and a team-high 138 wins in the circle. Doyle is the only other Nanook over 100 wins, winning 118 and holding a .504 FOW%.

Meet the Opponents
The Nanooks are heading to Denver to face-off with the best scoring team in the nation. Denver owns the NCAA's top scoring-offense, posting 4.56 goals per game. Most of their fire-power comes from the trio of Carter Savoie, Massimo Rizzo and Carter Mazur. Savoie is the leading-scorer for the Pioneers posting 22 points through 16 games played. He has scored 12 goals and assisted on 10 others. RIZZO is the next top-scorer for the Pioneers with 21 points on nine goals and 12 assists. He is second on the Denver team in shot percentage, posting a .257 SH%. He trails only Mike Benning who holds a .318 SH% on his seven goals and eight assists.

Bobby Brink also has 21 points on the season as the team's assists leader. He has scored six goals and posted 15 assists. Finally, Mazur is the only other Pio with more than nine goals, posting nine and eight assists for 17 points. Denver gives up as many PPG as they find success in the PPO. They're holding on to a 27.1% success rate on the power-play but are also allowing their opponents to score on 27.1% of their power-play opportunities. 

Denver is a big second-period team, posting 35 of their 73 goals in the middle stanza. Their best defense comes in the second period as they've only allowed eight second-period goals. The Pioneers come into this weekends matchup at #8/8 in the USCHO Poll and USA Hockey Magazine polls. They're riding a one-game losing-streak into this weekend after taking seven-straight. During their seven-game winning-streak, Denver knocked-off Western Michigan, Miami, Arizona State and Minnesota Duluth once before Duluth ended their streak with a 6-2 win in Duluth. Denver is strong on home-ice as they're a perfect 7-0 at Magness Arena. They've outscored their opponents at home 41-13 and are averaging 5.8 goals at home while allowing only 1.85 goals per game at home.

After starting the season 0-4 against ranked opponents, Denver has taken the last three of four sweeping Western Michigan and splitting with Minnesota Duluth. Cole Guttman was named the Pioneers Captain for the 2021-22 season. Assisting him in the efforts are Ryan Barrow, Bobby Brink and Justin Lee. Magnus Chrona is the main netminder for Denver as he's started all 14 of his appearances. Through 14, Chrona has allowed 32 goals for an average of 2.33 GAA. He has made 314 saves for a .908 save percentage and holds a 10-4-0 record. Chrona is 2-0-0 in net against the Nanooks, defeating Alaska on back-to-back nights, Oct. 5-6, 2019. The Nanooks and Denver last played at Magness Arena during the 2018-19 season. Alaska fell to the Pioneers in game one on Oct. 19, 2018 by the score of 4-1 but the next night, the Nanooks managed to tie with Denver, 3-3.

This will be the third-consecutive matchup with Denver as a top-10 team. The previous two meetings saw Denver as the #9 team in the country and #2 team in the country. 

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey facebook page.