FAIRBANKS - Hockey is back! The Nanooks will welcome the AIC Yellow Jackets to the Carlson Center for a Saturday/Sunday matchup on Oct. 1-2. 

Saturday, Oct. 1
American Int'l College Yellow Jackets | Live Video ($$) | Live Stats | KSUA 91.5 FM (Listen Online)
7:07 p.m. | Carlson Center | Tickets

Sunday, Oct. 2
American Int'l College Yellow Jackets | Live Video ($$) | Live Stats | KSUA 91.5 FM (Listen Online)
4:07 p.m. | Carlson Center | Tickets

Wear your Jerseys! 
Everyone under the age of 18 and in a hockey jersey will get in for FREE on Sunday night! Wear your best hockey jersey and come support the Nanooks on night one! 

Back in the "Flo" of Things
Never miss a minute of any Nanooks hockey home games as all 14 home events are streamed on FloHockey.tv! For a monthly subscription, you can catch all the action in the Carlson Center from the comfort of your home. Bruce Cech will have the call on both FloHockey.tv and KSUA 91.5 FM! 

Nanook 65 Golden Ale
The University of Alaska Fairbanks has teamed up with Fairbanks' Latitude 65 Brewing Company on a new beer that will boost scholarships for Alaska Nanooks student-athletes. Nanook 65 Golden Ale is described as an approachable and full-flavored ale with tangerine and floral hop notes and a nice crisp finish. It will be available at Alaska Nanooks hockey games at the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium, Carlson Center, The Pub and in the tap room at the Latitude 65 brewery. One dollar per pint will go toward scholarships for Alaska Nanooks student-athletes. In addition to supporting student-athletes, the partnership with Latitude 65 stands to increase community interest in Nanooks athletics and support of its teams, said Brock Anundson, Nanooks athletic director.

"We are excited about this collaboration with Lat 65 Brewing, one of Fairbanks' favorite local brands," he said. "This innovative partnership has the ability to engage the community, boost student-athlete scholarships and enhance the Nanook Nation experience, both at the games and when visiting the taproom."

The effort to create a Nanook brew started more than a year ago. Latitude 65 owners Zeb Mabie and Andy Roe were looking to create a new beer, and UAF was looking for a partner.

"We are always looking for ways to be involved in our community and have been longtime supporters of UAF athletics. Given my time as a collegiate hockey player, this partnership just made sense," Mabie said. "Andy and I see this as a great opportunity to support the Nanooks and collegiate athletes, as well as strengthen both organizations' ties to the community.

Last Time Out - Simon Fraser (9/24/22 Exhibition)
FAIRBANKS - While only an exhibition, the Nanooks put on a show for their fans in the Carlson Center. Alaska posted six goals against Simon Fraser, taking a 6-0 win on Saturday, Sept. 24. 

The Nanooks cruised with two goals in the first, one in the second and three in the final period. Arvils Bergmanis got the scoring started for the 2022-23 season, tallying a one-timer from the left faceoff circle. He took a cross-ice pass from Anton Rubtsov and lit the lamp making it 1-0 while on the power play. Five minutes later the Nanooks made it 2-0 on a Karl Falk goal. Jonny Sorenson stole the puck along the wall and made the pass to Falk who slotted the shot home. The Nanooks took the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. 

Matt Radomsky, who started the game in goal, made two saves in the first before Daniel Allin replaced him for the second. 

In the second, A.J. Macaulay scored the only goal. This was the second power-play goal of the evening for the 'Nooks. Markuss Komuls tallied the primary assist and Payton Matsui was awarded the secondary assist. Allin stopped all five shots-on-goal from SFU. In the third, Jonny Sorenson got the scoring started 4:32 into the period. He put home a rebound shot off of a T.J. Lloyd shot. Brayden Nicholetts and Xavier Jean-Louis added to the lead with the final two goals of the night. Nicholetts snapped a shot into the back of the net 12:20 into the third while Jean-Louis followed 13:50 into the third. 

In the third, Lassi Lehti stopped all seven shots-on-goal. The Nanooks put 48 shots-on-goal while holding Simon Fraser to only 14.

#NookNotes

• 2022-23 is officially here. The Nanooks 73rd season began with an exhibition victory (6-0) over Simon Fraser on Sept. 24 at the Carlson Center. 
• The Nanooks lost 14 players from 2021-22. KRISTAPS JAKOBSONS is now playing for Unia Oswiecim in Poland. DIDRIK HENBRANT transferred to the University of Maine, JORDAN MUZZILLO is playing with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL, MATT MCKIM is now playing for Acadia University (Canada) in USports, CALEB HITE transferred to Alaska Anchorage (NCAA), FILIP FORNAA SVENSSON transferred to UMass Lowell of Hockey East, ANTONIO DI PAOLO departed the team, RILEY MURPHY transferred to Adrian College (NCAA DIII), ROBERTS KALKIS is now playing for IPK in the Mestis League (Finland), ANTTI VIRTANEN is now playing for Chamonix in Ligue Magnus (France), NATAN VERTES is now playing for Fehervar AV19 in the ICEHL (Hungary), GUSTAVS GRIGALS joins FORNAA SVENSSON at UMass Lowell, AUSTIN RYMAN is now at Division III Bethel Univ., and JAKOB BREAULT departed Fairbanks. 
• The Nanooks welcomed in a class of 14 to fill in the missing pieces. That class includes four transfers; T.J. LLOYD joins the Nanooks after three seasons with Bowling Green, MATTEO PECCHIA joins the Nanooks from Western Michigan, MATT RADOMSKY joins the Nanooks from Holy Cross and JONNY SORENSON comes from Minnesota. 
• Alaska is fresh off of their annual Blue/Gold weekend. On night one, the Nanooks team made up of BRADEN BIRNIE, CHASE DUBOIS, ZACHARY POWER, HARRISON ISRAELS, QUINN RUDRUD, CONNOR MYLYMOK, T.J. LLOYD, XAVIER JEAN-LOUIS, RICARDS LANDMANIS and MATT RADOMSKY won the 3v3 tournament, going 3-0. The next night, the Gold squad took a 2-1 win over Blue in overtime as BRADY RISK slotted home the winner off of a MATTEO PECCHIA pass. 
• During the festivities, MATT KOETHE won the Fastest Skater award, knocking off Simon Falk. DANIEL ALLIN won the Goalie Shootout, saving all but one shot. GARRETT PYKE won the Hardest Shot contest, posting 98 mph. 
• Head coach ERIK LARGEN signed a four-year extension coming into the 2022-23 season. All of this coming after he led the Nanooks to a 14-18-2 record in their first season as an Independent team in nearly 30 seasons. 
• KYLE GAFFNEY and CADE NEILSON rejoin their 2020-21 Aberdeen Wings teammate PAYTON MATSUI in Fairbanks. The 'Nooks have three players on the roster from the 2020-21 Wings team. 
• Alaska's average age for the 2022-23 season is 22.07 years.
• This year's team is made up of 15 Canadians, six Americans, four Latvians, two Swedish, one British, one from Finland and one from Russia.

Meet the Opponents

• AIC comes to Fairbanks for the first time since the 2015-16 season. The Nanooks defeated the Yellow Jackets on Oct. 16, 2015 in the Carlson Center 7-2. This meeting came during the Brice Alaska Goal Rush. 
• Fairbanks used a five-goal second period to defeat AIC. 
• The first meeting between the two teams came back in Feb. 1982 while the Nanooks were still in the Division II hockey ranks. They fell to AIC 8-9 on Feb. 15, 1982 before falling in game two on Dec. 16, 1982 3-8. AIC leads the all-time series 1-2-0.
• AIC went 22-13-3, 17-7-2 a year ago. They are in the Atlantic Hockey Association and won the AHA Championship over Air Force on Mar. 19, 2022 7-0, advancing to the 2022 NCAA Ice Hockey Tournamnet. They fell in the first round to the University of Michigan 3-5 in the NCAA Allentown Regional Semifinal. 
• To start the 2022-23 season, AIC was selected as the AHA Preseason favorite. 
• Head coach ERIC LANG was named the AIC coach on April 13, 2016, becoming the ninth head coach in AIC hockey program history. This is his third stint with AIC after spending four years as a player before earning his degree in 1998. He served as a graduate-assistant from 2006-08 while earning his master's. 
• Under LANG, AIC has won four-consecutive AHA regular-season titles (2018-19, 19-20, 20-21, 21-22) and three AHA Tournament championships (2019, 2021, 2022; 2020 not held due to COVID).
• A year ago, the Yellow Jackets were led by junior forward BLAKE BENNETT. In 37 games played he tallied 20 goals and assisted on 14 for 34 total points. AIC was the home of former-Nanook JUSTIN YOUNG until his graduation last year. He tallied 31 points on 12 goals and 19 assists. 
• AIC's top goalies from a year ago are no longer on the roster. JAKE KUCHARSKI saw the most time in net, playing in 22 games, going 12-7-3 with a 2.39 GAA and .910 save percentage. He is now at Omaha-Nebraska. ALEC CALVARUSO saw time in 16 games, going 10-5-0 and now plays for Greenville in the ECHL. Their lone-goalie who saw time last year is JARRETT FISKE, a senior who played in one game a year ago for two minutes. 
• AIC and the Nanooks share one other opponent on the season. On Oct. 22-23 the Yellow Jackets will welcome Lindenwood to Springfield, Mass. 
• AIC's first season of hockey came in 1948-49. They've made the NCAA Tournament three times, all coming in the last four years. Their first time came in 2019. They also qualified in 2021 and 2022.
• AIC plays their home games at the MassMutual Center, a 6,866 seat venue with a 200'x85' sheet of ice. 
• American Int'l College is similar to Alaska with the rest of their sports playing at the Division II school. AIC is made up of 1,723 students and is a private school. It was established on July 18, 1885.
• Their other sports are a Division II member of the Northeast-10 Conference.

Looking Ahead

• Following AIC, the Nanooks hit 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.