FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team and head coach Erik Largen have announced part of their 2021-22 hockey season. After opting-out of the 2020-21 season and their final season in the WCHA, the Nanooks are a full-go in their return to NCAA Ice Hockey. 

Alaska will boast a competitive 34-game schedule across different conferences with home games happening in Interior-Alaska. In what will be their first full-season as an independent school since 1993-94, the Nanooks have officially scheduled games with Arizona State, Boston University and Maine. Other game contracts are currently awaiting signature confirmation and will be released at later dates. 

Head coach Erik Largen is excited for the future of Nanook hockey, "I am very excited about the schedule we are creating for our first season going independent. We are playing some of the top programs from the NCHC, Big Ten, Hockey East, ECAC, Atlantic Hockey and CCHA. We are going to be traveling to places we have not been before as a program and our fans will be able to see new teams visiting Fairbanks every weekend. The experience and competition for our student-athletes will be second to none."

The University of Alaska Fairbanks athletic department continues to field looks for a new ice hockey conference to join full-time, however, for now, they are very confident playing as an independent as they wait for the right situation. 

Alaska hockey will officially begin their 2021-22 season the first weekend of October on home-ice. The time and opponent are yet to be announced.

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