FAIRBANKS - The wait is over. The 2023-24 installment of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup has finally arrived and will be at the Carlson Center this Friday and Saturday. Both nights start at 7:07 p.m.

Alaska Nanooks Media Notes (PDF)

Friday, Nov. 3
vs. Alaska Anchorage | 7:07 p.m.
Carlson Center

Saturday, Nov. 4
vs. Alaska Anchorage | 7:07 p.m.
Carlson Center

Watch Here | Listen Online | KSUA 91.5 FM | Tickets

Military Appreciation Night
Night two of this weekend's series is Military Appreciation Night. All who show an active Military ID will get free admission (plus their plus-one).
 

Hockey Season-Ticket Booklets
If you are a season-ticket holder and ordered your hockey tickets before Sept. 27, 2023, you have season ticket booklets waiting for you. The Nanooks have two options for pick-up.

Option 1: Swing by the Patty Center and pick your booklet up from the Patty Center Box Office. The ticketing window is open between 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. on weekdays, except for Tuesdays, Tuesday hours are 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Option 2: Pick your booklets up at the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup games this weekend at the Carlson Center. Games begin at 7:07 p.m. on both Nov. 3-4. Booklets will be available for pick-up at the VIP entrance of the Carlson Center.

Last Time Out
The Nanooks dropped game one at SCSU two weekend's ago before grabbing a big 5-2 win on night two. Relive the win with the game recap from Oct. 21; 

The two sides skated to a scoreless 0-0 tie after the opening 20 minutes. The 'Nooks posted 11 shots-on-goal in the opening period while SCSU posted 12; Alaska netminder Pierce Charleson stopped all shots he saw. Both sides went 2/2 on the penalty kill in the first as well. 5:22 into the second period, Veeti Miettinen scored to make it 1-0 St. Cloud State. Nearly seven minutes later Harrison Israels snapped a quick wristshot from near the faceoff circle to tie the game at 1-1 12:04 into the middle stanza. T.J. Lloyd and Anton Rubtsov grabbed the apples on the first goal for the blue and gold. Moments later, on the power play, the Nanooks and Israels struck again. This time it came just outside of the crease. Arvils Bergmanis snapped a quick pass to Anton Rubtsov on the goalies left, after a saved shot, Israels was there to clean-up, putting the loose puck into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season and second of the game for a 2-1 lead. 

The 2-1 lead stood through until the third period when Kyler Kupka found the back of the net 11:38 into the final period. That tie stood for only 1:09. Brady Risk fired the game-winner 12:47 into the third after a nifty dump-off pass from Payton Matsui. Caleb MacDonald earned the secondary assist, picking up his first-career point. The Nanooks were not done there; Arvils Bergmanis collected the fourth goal of the night 2:10 later on a one-timer from the point after taking a pass from Risk. T.J. Lloyd picked up his second assist of the night and Risk picked up his second point, adding to his earlier goal. He'd gather his third point on his second goal, tallying an empty-netter 16:53 into the third to make it 5-2. Jonny Sorenson picked up an assist on the empty-netter. 

Pierce Charleson stopped 37 of 39 SOG for a save percentage of .948 and won his second game in the blue and gold. The Nanooks ended the night 2/5 on the power play and killed off 7/8 penalties.

#NookNotes

• Alaska enters this weekend's matchup having received votes in the USCHO Poll. They received four votes while UAA picked up a pair of votes. 
• The trend of national poll appearances continues for the 'Nooks as they've now played three-straight ranked opponents and will now have faced four-straight who appear in one of the major polls. 
• Alaska is 0-2-0 when scoring first, both times came in the Denver series as the Nanooks opened up the scoring but fell. They are 2-1-1 when their opponent scores first. 
• When outshooting their opponents, the Nanooks they are 1-1-0, when the 'Nooks are outshot they are 1-2-1.
• Brady Risk and Harrison Israels have accounted for the two game-winning goals on the season. Israels raised the flag in their first win this season at Michigan Tech while Risk tallied the winner in their most-recent 5-2 win over SCSU.
• Israels' six goals leads the way for the Nanooks, two have come on the man-advantage and one has come short-handed. 
• Risk's eight points through six games is the most since Colton Leiter posted seven through six games to open up the 2017-18 season. Leiter had two goals and five assists. The Nanooks were also 2-3-1 that season after six, he went on to have 20 points that year. 
• A year ago through six games, the Nanooks were 2-3-1 through the opening six games before going 20-8-1 the rest of the season. 
• Alaska has recorded 11 multi-point games so far this season, including three two-goal games from Israels. Brady Risk tallied three points in the 5-2 win at SCSU. 
• Braden Birnie posted a four-game scoring streak from 10/08/23 to 10/20/23. He tallied an assist in four-consecutive games. The Nanooks went 1-2-1 in that stretch. 
• Pierce Charleson's save totals have only gone up each week since the end of the Denver Series. After a tough opening-weekend, he has made 22, 28, 30 and 37 saves and posted a 2-1-1 record in that four-game stretch. In the 5-2 win at SCSU, he stopped 37 of 39 shots for a .949 save %.
• Dawson Bruneski scored his first goal and point as a Nanook on 10/20/23 at SCSU, he tallied the lone-goal of the night in the 4-1 loss.
• Arvils Bergmanis has a pair of multi-point games this season as the junior blue-liner posted a two-assist game in the 4-1 win at Michigan Tech before scoring a goal and dishing a helper for a 1-1-2 point game in the 5-2 win at SCSU.
• Chase Dubois also has a two-goal performance, coming in the 5-2 loss to Denver. 
• Anton Rubtsov scored a goal in each of his first games to start the season. After going pointless in the 4-1 SCSU loss, he picked up a pair of assists, giving him four points through four games. 
• Jonny Sorenson recently cracked 30-career points with the Nanooks. He now has 30 points with Alaska and 52 on his career. Brady Risk also cracked the 50-career point line this year as he's up to 55-career points. 
• Risk is 20th in the nation with his 1.00 assists/game average. He is 33rd with 1.33 points/game adn tied with Harrison Israels for 17th in the nation with one game-winning goal. 
• Israels is 58th in faceoff wins with 53 so far. His 1.00 goals per game is good for sixth in NCAA Division I; he's also eighth in power-play goals with two and third in short-handed goals with one.
• Arvils Bergmanis continues his iron-man streak as he's played in all 74 games during his career. He suited up for all 34 games in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 season and has seen time in all six games this year. Friday's matchup with UAA could be his 75th game in the blue and gold, putting him 3/4 of the way to 100 career games. 
• T.J. Lloyd is six games away from 150 career games. He played 104 games at Bowling Green before joining the Nanooks a year ago. He has played in all 40 games in Fairbanks and is two points away from 60-career points after putting up a career-best 16 a season ago. 
• Jonny Sorenson cracked the 140-career game mark last series at St. Cloud State

Meet the Opponents

• Alaska Anchorage is led by Maximilion Helgeson with nine points through eight games and a team-high five goals. Ben Almquist follows with eight and a team-high five assists.
• UAA has split every series so far this season. They split at home with UMass Lowell, went to Lake Superior State and split, split at home with Air Force and most recently split on the road at #15 Penn State. 
• Matt Shasby is in his second season at the helm for UAA after their return to NCAA Division I hockey a season ago. 
• The Seawolves are receiving votes in the USCHO Poll alongside the Nanooks.
• The Seawolves are looking for their first Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup win since the 2008-09 season when they swept the Nanooks in the two counting games 1-0 and 3-0. That was their third in a three-year run of claiming the cup. They've had two streaks of three-straight cup wins. 
• Anchorage has lifted the cup eight times.

Looking Ahead

• This weekend's matchup with the Seawolves is leg one of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup. Leg two is on Dec. 1-2 at Anchorage. 
• After this weekend, the Nanooks hit the road for a road-trip to Stonehill (Boston) and Northern Michigan. They'll face Stonehill for the first time in program history.
• They'll rekindle some flames with their old WCHA-foe in Northern Michigan. The Nanooks traveled to Marquette a season ago and split with the Wildcats at Berry Events Center. 
• Following leg two of the Gov Cup, the Nanooks will return home for holiday hockey on Dec. 15-16 as they welcome Augustana to town for the first-ever matchup.

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