Matt Radomsky stops the AIC attacker in the crease.
Miles Jordan

Men's Ice Hockey Nathan Kyle Pearsall

Hockey Heads to Minnesota for Matchup with St. Thomas Tommies

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team looks to keep the momentum after their 1-0-1 start against AIC as they travel to Minnesota for a two-game series with St. Thomas. 

Friday, Oct. 7
St. Thomas Tommies | 4:07 p.m. AKT | Live Stats | Live Video ($$)
Mendota Heights, Minn. | St. Thomas Ice Rink

Saturday, Oct. 8
St. Thomas Tommies | 3:07 p.m. AKT | Live Stats | Live Video ($$)
Mendota Heights, Minn. | St. Thomas Ice Rink

#NookNotes
  • The Nanooks and Tommies will meet for the second-straight year after St. Thomas joined the CCHA in it's first year in 2021-22. Alaska knocked-off UST in both matchups a year ago 6-1 and 7-3. This two-game series was the first time the two had met as Division I opponents.
  • The two teams had met eight times prior to last year with St. Thomas holding on to a 3-5-0 advantage. The Nanooks have won every matchup as a Division I program and have won both matchups as both teams are Division I members.
  • The All-Time Series record is now 5-5-0 with Alaska holding a 4-2-0 home record and a 1-3-0 road record. 
  • KYLE GAFFNEY and CADE NEILSON scored their first-career points a weekend ago in the regular-season opener against American Int'l College. Neilson tallied his first career point on night one, assisting on the SIMON FALK goal that made it 1-0 at the time of the goal. 
  • GAFFNEY tallied his first assist and point of his collegiate career the following night. He had the primary on COLIN DOYLE'S game-winner in the Nanooks' 2-1 win over AIC. 
  • NEILSON tallied another assist that night, taking the lead in the individual points ranks. He currently has two points on a pair of assists. 
  • MATT RADOMSKY was a brick wall in net this past weekend for the Nanooks, allowing two goals on 49 shots. Given the extra five-minute OT period, he currently holds a sub-one goals allowed average at 0.96. 
  • The Nanooks are one of the most aggressive offensive teams in Division I hockey after the opening weekend. They currently sit in eighth as they average over 31 shots-on-goal per game. 
  • HARRISON ISRAELS remains a threat off the draw as the sophomore forward is 28-15 in the faceoff circel for a win percentage of .651. He is currently ranked fifth in the individual NCAA rankings for faceoff wins. JONNY SORENSON joins him in the top-60, sitting in 56th. SORENSON is 10-14 off the draw.
  • MATT RADOMSKY currently sits in ninth-place for the NCAA Division I with his .959 save percentage through two games. He is also in seventh-place in Division I with his 0.96 GAA. 
  • While only one, COLIN DOYLE is tied for the nation's lead in game-winning goals following his winner against AIC. CADE NEILSON is currently 23rd in Division I for assists per game, averaging 1.00. 
  • The Nanooks are through the first weekend of the season without a loss for the first time since the 2014-15 season when they opened up with wins over Wisconsin (W, 1-0) and Maine (W, 5-2) in Anchorage as part of the Kendall Hockey Classic.
Meet the Oppponents
  • St. Thomas is in their second year as a Division I program. They come into the 2022-23 season following a 3-32-1, 3-22-1-0 CCHA record in the 2021-22 season. 
  • The Tommies are led by ENRICO BLASI, the 26th coach in Tommies hockey history and the first in their NCAA Division I era. St. Thomas has played a total of 98 seasons, holding on to a 1172-700-119 record all-time. 
  • UST is led by CARSON PETERS who has scored their lone-goal for the season. He scored in their 3-1 loss to St. Cloud State on Oct. 1, 2022 before the Tommies were shutout by the Huskies on Oct. 2, 2022, 4-0 in the away portion of their home-and-home with SCSU. 
  • UST is 0-7 on the power-play this season, posting only five shots-on-goal during the man-advantage. 
  • The Tommies put bodies in front of the net, tallying 30 blocks during the first two games of the season. They are led by ETHAN GAUER and TREVOR ZINS who each have five blocks through two gaems played. 
  • In net, the Tommies have two goalies who have split starts through the opening weekend. AARON TROTTER and ETHAN ROBERTS shared the crease against SCSU as TROTTER posted 20 saves and three goals while ROBERTS posted 34 saves but allowed four goals. 
  • They've struggled on the penalty kill, allowing four total goals while down a man on 13 opportunities. 
  • The lone-goal this season came in the second period of the first game. They've allowed five first-period goal and two third-period goals and are being outshot by opponents 61-26. 
  • ENRICO BLASI officially joined the Tommie family in April 2021. He was the head coach of Miami (Ohio) University from 1999 to 1019 and helped Ohio to 10 NCAA tournament appearances, including one championship game berth in 2008-09 and another Frozen Four appearance during the 2009-10 season.
  • BLASI was selected as the National Coach of the Year in the 2005-06 season and has been the head coach to one Hobey Baker Award winner and eight other Hobey finalists, 10 All-American's and 25 Redhawks who went on to play in the National Hockey League. 
  • In the winter of 2022, BLASI became one of 10 Division I head coaches to surpass 400 career wins. 
  • St. Thomas will play some familiar teams this season. The Nanooks and St. Thomas share four opponents. UST will see Penn State on Oct. 20-21 while the Nanooks will see them on Nov. 22-23; UST will also play Michigan Tech in CCHA play on Nov. 18-19 and the Nanooks will see them when they return home next week. They'll play Arizona State on Jan. 27-28 in Tempe, a week before the Nanooks see ASU for the first of two matchups. Finally, they'll play Northern Michigan in CCHA play on Feb. 10-11 and the Nanooks will see the Wildcats at the end of this month in Marquette, Mich.
Looking Ahead
  • Following AIC, the Nanooks are hitting the road for the first time in 2022-23. They'll head to St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. for the first time since St. Thomas joined the Division I ranks. 
  • The Nanooks will return for a Thursday/Friday matchup with former WCHA opponent Michigan Tech. This will be MTU's first time back in the Carlson Center since the 2019-20 season in which the 'Nooks went 3-1-0 against Tech. The first game of the MTU series will be a rare 7:37 p.m. start with volleyball playing at 4:00 p.m. at home that same day.
  • The Nanooks will begin their first big road trip of the season on Oct. 21 at Omaha. They'll play two in Omaha on Friday, Oct. 21 and Sunday, Oct. 23 before heading to Northern Michigan on Oct. 28-29, RPI on Nov. 18-19 and Penn State on Nov. 22-23, another rare occurance for the Nanooks by playing on Tuesday/Wednesday. 
  • Alaska will play at home again on Dec. 9 as the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup is officially back as UAA comes to town for the first time in two and a half years.
  • After two in Fairbanks, the Nanooks will head to Anchorage on Dec. 16-17 before ending 2022 and starting 2023 in South Bend, Ind. with a trip to Notre Dame.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook. 
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