EAST MEADOW, New York - The Nanooks hockey team is set to face off with the Sharks of Long Island University for the first time ever.

Friday and Saturday at LIU
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East Meadow, New York, Northwell Health Ice Center

Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks hockey team made it five-straight with a 7-3 victory over St. Thomas at the Carlson Center. This is the Nanooks first five-game win-streak since the end of the 2014-15 season. They are now 11-16-1.

St. Thomas got on the board first tonight, capitalizing on a five-minute major power-play opportunity. Matthew Jennings started the scoring taking passes from Tim Piechowski and Joey Sofo, making it 1-0 16:51 into the opening period. That score would stick into the second until 5:55 into the middle-stanza when Eriks Zohovs found the back of the net for the first time this season. This time it was the Nanooks capitalizing on the power play. Roberts Kalkis fired a shot on net and Zohovs was able to force it in off of a rebound that left the puck free in the crease. Just over three minutes later, Anton Rubtsov checked in for the fifth-straight game, scoring on a Matt Koethe pass that tipped off Harrison Israels stick. Rubtsov, cutting to the backside of the net, was there for the redirect, making it 2-1 Nanooks. Again, three minutes later, the Nanooks struck again. This time it was Payton Matsui. The rookie put home the rebound off of a Connor Mylymok shot, making it 3-1 Nanooks in less than 10 minutes. After four minutes went by, Didrik Henbrant hopped in on the offensive fun and fired one home from the slot after a dropoff pass from Brady Risk. This made it 4-1 and under 50 seconds later, it was 5-1 Nanooks. Harrison Israels fired a shot in the crease and it caught the skate of Matt Koethe and found its way to the back of the St. Thomas net. All five goals came in just over 13 minutes.

UST added one back wiht 40 seconds remaining as Luke Manning made it 5-2 Alaska heading to the third. In the third, Henbrant and Zohovs added one more each, giving themselves two on the night and extending the lead to 7-2. Henbrant's came 11:25 into the third and Zohovs' came 13:49 into the third. The Tommies added one last goal 15:40 into regulation as Kimball Johnson scored from the slot off of a Luke Manning pass. This ended the night at 7-3 and gave the Nanooks their second-consecutive sweep following last week's sweep at Arizona State. Gustavs Davis Grigals ended the night with 19 saves, and alongside the two-goal nights for Henbrant and Zohovs, Jordan Muzzillo added a three-point night, all assists and Harrison Israels and Antti Virtanen both ended with two assists each.

Nook Notes

• Gustavs Davis Grigals was named to the 2021-22 Mike Richter Award Watch List on Thursday, Feb. 17. He joined 31 others on the "Watch List". 
• He has started in all 25 of his appearances this season. He is 11-13-1 between the pipes, posting a .920 save percentage and a 2.42 goals-against average. He has recorded two shutouts this season and enters this weekend in 12th for total saves with 681.
• The Nanooks are currently on their first five-game winning-streak since the 2014-15 season. They kicked off that season with five-straight wins with wins over Wisconsin, Maine, Air Force, Penn State and Western Michigan. They then ended that same season with a five-game streak, defeating Minnesota State Mankato, Alabama Huntsville twice and Alaska Anchorage twice.
• Anton Rubtsov is currently riding a five-game points streak. He has scored seven goals in the past five games and eight goals in the past seven games. He has 11 points in the last 10 games (3A, 8G).
• Garrett Pyke has five points in the last four games. That included a three point night against St. Thomas on Feb. 11 (W, 6-1).
• Didrik Henbrant has a four-game point streak going for himself. He has four goals in four games and five points in the four games. He tallied two goals on night two of the St. Thomas series, his second multi-point game of the season.
• Harrison Israels and Antti Virtanen had back-to-back multi-point games in the St. Thomas series. On night one Israels posted one goal and one assist while Virtanen tallied two assists. On night two, Virtanen picked up two assists again for a four-point weekend and Israels tallied two assists as well. 
• Israels is riding a five-game point streak. After an assist in the win at Vermont, Israels had three-straight games with a goal before posting his two-assist night.
• The Feb. 12 St. Thomas matchup held four season-highs for the Nanooks. They tallied 21 total points, seven goals, 14 assists and 40 shots on goal. 
• On night one, Feb.  11, 10 different players scored a point for the Nanooks. On night two, 14 different Nanooks got in the points category. 
• The final six games for the Nanooks will come against Independent DI teams. They close the season 1-1-0 against the Big Ten, 0-7-1 against NCHC teams, 2-2-0 against the Hockey East, 4-6-0 against the ECAC and 2-0-0 against the new CCHA. They currently sit at 2-0-0 against Independent teams, sweeping Arizona State.

Meet the Opponents

• Long Island University is one of the newest teams in NCAA DI hockey. They joined the NCAA at the varsity level on April 30, 2020 with an announcement from the university. They played their first season in the 2020-21 season, going 3-10-0. They won their first ever game, a 3-2 victory over Holy Cross on Nov. 19, 2020. 
• This season, the Sharks find themselves 8-16-3 and playing Independent for the second-straight season. 
• They're currently riding a two-game losing-streak, falling to #10 UMass on the road. In game one, the Sharks fell 3-6 before losing 1-3 in the finale. 
• The Sharks have played two teams the Nanooks have seen this year. They'll make it three at the end of the year with a visit to Arizona State. In October and November they faced #10 Omaha and fell 0-6, 1-7 before playing RPI on Nov. 19-20. RPI grabbed night one with a 2-7 win. The teams played to a 2-2 tie on night two. 
• LIU is led by Brett Riley, the inagural head coach for the Sharks' program. 
• Riley spent the 2019-20 season on the bench of Colgate as an assistant coach. He is a third generation coach. His father, Rob, served as head coach for Army West Point for 19 years and is currently an amateur scout for the Buffalo Sabres. His grandfather, Jack Riley, also coached at Army for more than 35 years after coaching the United States to the gold medal at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics. 
• Riley is a 2014 graduate of Hobart College. He was a three-time ECAC West All-Academic Team selection in his four-year career.
• The Sharks are led by Billy Jerry, a graduate-student from River Falls, Wisc. He has 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points. Jerry has six goals in the last five games, including a four-goal game on Jan. 30 against Brown. 
• Carson Musser leads the way for the Sharks with 53 blocks through 25 games for an average of 2.12 blocks per game. 
• Long Island is averaging 4.8 penalties per game for 14.3 penalty minutes per game. They've recorded nine major penalties this season, three 10-minute misconducts and seven game misconducts. 
• LIU will end the season on the road; following Alaska coming to town, the Sharks will head to UMass Lowell for a one-game matchup on Feb. 25 before treking to Fairbanks for a March 4-5 series. They'll head to Arizona State to end the season on March 11-12. 
• LIU plays in the Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow, New York. It is a 165,000 square-foot facility that consists of two indoor, NHL-sized skating rinks as well as outdoor rinks. It is the practice facility for the New York Islanders. 
• The Sharks first home game was this season on Oct. 22, 2021 against Assumption College, it was a 7-0 win for the Sharks. 
• LIU has played seven ranked teams this season, they are 0-11-1 against ranked opponents.

Looking Ahead

• Head coach Erik Largen is two wins from moving to .500 in his coaching career. He currently sits at 57-59-12 (.492). He is 11 wins away from 50 career wins at Alaska (39-52-9).
• He would become the sixth head coach in Nanooks history to hit the 50-career wins mark.
• Alaska will return home for to end their season series with Arizona State. Alaska won both matchups in Tempe, Az. and they'll look to keep the momentum against ASU. 
• Following Arizona State, the Sharks will come up to Fairbanks for their first trip to the 49th State. 
• The Nanooks are set to celebrate Senior Night on March 5 against LIU. The night before, they'll celebrate Parent's Night.
• Next weekend's home games against Arizona State will come during Hockey Week in Fairbanks. 
• Antti Virtanen has played in 91 games in his Alaska career, the most by a current Nanook. If he plays in the final six, he'll end 2021-22 with 97 career games.

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.