FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Nanooks hockey team is in Tempe, Ariz. for a matchup with the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Quick Hitters

• The Nanooks are ending their fourth roadtrip of the year and their third with multiple stops. A week after their trip to Burlington, Vermont, Alaska finds themselves in Tempe for the first time since the 2018-19 season. 
• Alaska will be looking for their first goal in Tempe, having been shutout 3-0 and 5-0 their only other two trips. They were swept by the Sun Devils in the 18-19 season on Oct. 6, 2018 and Oct. 7, 2018 at Oceanside. 
• This will be the Nanooks last games against ASU at Oceanside as ASU heads to their new home next year, projected to be finished in late 2022. 
• The 'Nooks are led by rookie forward BRADY RISK who through 23 games has scored 20 points. He has scored eight goals while adding 12 assists.
• FILIP FORNAA SVENSSON is next in line, recording 16 points through 24 games. The sophomore forward from Linkoping, Sweden has proven himself on both sides of the ice, also tallying the second-most blocks on the team with 28.
• MARKUSS KOMULS is leading the way in blocked shots with 33. He's averaging 1.375 blocks per game. 
• JAKOB BREAULT has tallied the most penalty-minutes on the Nanooks. Over eight penalties, he's received 38 penalty minutes. 
• GUSTAVS DAVIS GRIGALS has been a wall in net for the Nanooks. Over 21 games he's averaging 2.41 goals per game and saving .919 of shots on goal. 
• The Nanooks went a perfect 8-8 on the penalty kill over the past weekend at Vermont. With this performance, Alaska is back over the 80% threshold in penalty kill. 
• They're continuing their trend of a second-period team, scoring 25 of their 49 goals in the second while scoring 10 in the first and 14 in third. 
• They're also continuing their trend of being a "Saturday Team" winning their fourth Saturday game on the season.
• Leading up to this weekend's matchup, Arizona State has faced four team that the Nanooks will or have faced this season. Against Denver, Arizona State is 0-4. Against Clarkson, the Sun Devils picked up a pair of victories. They also picked up two wins over Cornell. Finally, they swept the newly appointed DI team of St. Thomas. ASU will play LIU a week after the Sharks make the trip to Fairbanks for the Nanooks' senior day game.

Meet the Opponent

• Arizona State has three 30+ point scorers on their team. COLIN THEISEN leads the way with 34 points while posting a .186 shot percentage. He is tied for the team-lead in goals with 16. He also has 18 assists.
• JOSH DOAN leads the way in assists, posting 20 with 11 goals for his third-best 31 points at ASU. MATTHEW KOPPERUD is tied with THEISEN for the team-lead in goals scored. 
• In net, Arizona State is led by BEN KRAWS, who through 21 games and 18 games started, holds a 10-8-0 record, a 3.18 goals allowed average and .902 save percentage. He has two shutouts on the 2021-22 season. 
• Arizona State is still one of the newest DI programs, however, they've climbed the ranks quickly, having made the NCAA Postseason in 2018-19 with a 21-13-1 independent record. 
• ASU is led by GREG POWERS. He is in his seventh season as head coach since they became a Division I program and 14th overall with ASU after spending time in the ACHA. POWERS played for ASU, qualifying for three national championships while POWERS was a player.
• ASU is coming off of a trip to #1 Minnesota State Mankato where they were swept by the Mavericks. In game one they fell 4-2 before dropping game two 5-3. In game one, MATTHEW KOPPERUD scored both goals for the Sun Devils, but four Maverick goals between each KOPPERUD goals proved enough for MSU. 
• In game two Arizona State struck first again, but four unanswered goals from the Mavericks put the Sun Devils away. They rallied, putting two more up on the board but an empty-netter secured the win for Mankato.
• Arizona State will have a few weeks off following our first round of games. Following the Feb. 4-5 games in Tempe, ASU will not play again until Feb. 25-26 when they visit the Nanooks in Fairbanks. Following their trip to the 49th-state, the Sun Devils will have a few weeks off before welcoming Long Island University to Tempe.

Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks hockey team responded from their 2-0 loss a night ago and shutout the Catamounts 3-0 in Vermont, grabbing their first-ever win over the Vermont hockey program. With the win, the Nanooks improve to 7-16-1 on the season. After being shutout, it took the Nanooks only 11:34 to get on the board for the first time this weekend. Anton Rubtsov's goal in the first period proved to be all they needed as the freshman forward found a rebound just outside the crease off of a Harrison Israels shot and slotted home the goal. Six and a half minutes later, the Nanooks added another. This time it was redshirt-freshman Kristaps Jakobsons. The rookie defenseman capitalized on a broken play. Vermont attempted to clear the puck out of their zone, but the blueliner was in the right spot at the right time and found the back of the net, tallying his first-career goal in the blue and gold. The Nanooks maintained the 2-0 lead through the second period and into the third as netminder Gustavs Davis Grigals saved 10 shots in the first, 10 in the second and eight in the third. Grigals ended the night with 28 saves, posting his fourth career shutout and first since Dec. 12, 2021 when the Nanooks blanked RPI 4-0 at the Carlson Center. Late in the third, with the Vermont net empty, Filip Fornaa Svensson capitalized and scored his sixth goal of the season with 38.2 seconds left. This gave the Nanooks a 3-0 win. Head coach Erik Largen was proud of his teams response after Friday night's loss, "Our group had a great bounce back effort tonight against a very strong and well coached Vermont hockey team. It was great to see Kristaps Jakobsons score his first-career goal and Gustavs was outstanding all weekend long. We need to continue to make some improvements and corrections before we go against a great hockey team in Arizona State."Alaska heads to Tempe, Ariz. for a two-game matchup with the Sun Devils. This will be the first trip to Arizona for Alaska since the 2018-19 season. They fell in both games to ASU on Oct. 6-7, 2018 by a final of 3-0 and 5-0. The two teams matched up in Fairbanks during the 2019-20 season and the Nanooks picked up their first win over ASU on Nov. 8, 2019, 4-3 before falling 4-0 a night later.

Looking Ahead

• Following Tempe, the Nanooks will return home for the first time in 2022. They'll welcome St. Thomas for the first matchups in program history. 
• Following St. Thomas, they'll hit the road one last time, this time heading to Long Island University for a matchup with the Sharks on Feb. 18-19. 
• Arizona State will then come to town to celebrate Hockey Week in Fairbanks. 
• Long Island will end the Nanooks regular-season with a rematch on March 4-5. 
• Following the regular-season, the Nanooks will play the U.S. National Development Team (U18) on March 9 in Plymoth, Mich. at the USA Hockey Facility.