FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Erik Largen, head coach of the Alaska Nanook hockey team, and the Alaska Nanooks athletic department have officially announced their second wave of games for the 2021-22 Nanooks hockey season. 
 
On Feb. 12, 2021, Alaska announced the first wave of games against Arizona State, Boston University and Maine, with plans to fill out a complete 34-game schedule as an independent school. The Nanooks have now added Clarkson, Denver and the Minnesota Duluth to their upcoming schedule. 
 
Clarkson
The Nanooks and Clarkson have met one time before this upcoming season. Clarkson, a member of ECAC Hockey, played their 2020-21 season and ended the year with an 11-7-4, 6-4-4 ECAC record. The Nanooks and Golden Knights will face-off in a home-and-home series with the two teams playing Alaska's home-opener on Oct. 8-9 at the Carlson Center before Alaska hits the road and heads to Cheel Arena in New York for a matchup on Oct. 22-23, 2021.
 
Denver 
The Alaska Nanooks and Denver Pioneers will see each other once again, having faced-off in each of the last two seasons for Alaska. Denver competed in the 2020-21 NCAA hockey season and 2020-21 NCHC conference season. They ended the year 10-13-1, 9-12-1 NCHC. Dates and times are TBD and the Nanooks will play Denver on the road at Magness Arena.
 
Minnesota Duluth
Minnesota Duluth and the Nanooks will face-off for the first time since 1988. UMD finished the 2020-21 season with a 15-11-2, 13-9-2 NCHC record. After dropping four of their final five games on the season, Duluth made a push to the second round of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff where they'd fall to St. Cloud State. After making it to the NCAA Fargo Regional of the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs stormed past North Dakota in a 5OT, 3-2 win to head to their fourth-consecutive Frozen Four. They fell to UMass in the semifinals, 2-3 in OT. The Nanooks will hit the road and face UMD at AMSOIL Arena, dates and times TBD.
 
When asked about the additions to the upcoming schedule, head coach Erik Largen spoke highly about the competition, "We are excited to announce early home games against Clarkson University. They always seem to be in contention to make national tournaments and will make for an exciting opening-weekend. Playing against other prominent programs, including Frozen Four participant, UMD, will help in our development of our student-athletes. Alongside those two, we are excited to, once again, play eight-time National Champion, Denver."
 
Largen is also thrilled about the Nanooks return to the Carlson Center in 2021-22, "We are really excited to be in the Carlson Center for the long term. This will provide our student-athletes and Nanook Nation with a fantastic college hockey experience, both on the ice and in attendance. We can't wait for next season and for our brand-new game experience."
 
Tickets
Alaska hockey will be sending out season-ticket renewal forms in the coming weeks. More information will be announced at a later date. Times, dates and fan information is subject to change.
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.