LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - The Nanooks hockey team heads east for a matchup with the Long Island Sharks, the first of two matchups with LIU this season. 

Friday, Jan. 26
at LIU | 10:00 a.m.
Northwell Health Ice Center | Brooklyn, NY

Saturday, Jan. 27
at LIU | 10:00 a.m.
Northwell Health Ice Center | Brooklyn, NY

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Last Time Out
The Nanooks are fresh off of a single game at home against Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, Jan. 13. The two sides skated to an official tie in the books while the Nanooks won the shootout in the end. A.J. Macaulay got the scoring started for the Nanooks with a goal 16:44 into the second. The 1-0 lead stood into the third period when UAA struck for two goals in the opening six minutes. They scored the equalizer only 22 seconds in before making it a 2-1 lead on the power play. 5:14 later the Nanooks scored shorthanded on a Chase Dafoe goal. 

The two sides would go into overtime and skate to a 2-2 tie. In the shootout, neither side found the win in the three-shot round sending it to a sudden-death shootout. It took an additional three rounds for the Nanooks to grab the win on a Dafoe goal. The 'Nooks then celebrated their Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup victory on home-ice. This was the 'Nooks 13th-straight cup victory. 

#NookNotes

• The Nanooks cracked the top-10 in faceoff win percentage. They are the second-best team among Independent teams, trailing only LIU who is winning 55.5% of faceoffs. That also leads the nation. Alaska is winning 54.5% of their draws. 
• Alaska scored their fourth short-handed goal of the season on Jan. 13 at home, this ties them with Lindenwood for the most in the Independent ranks and puts them at No. 10 in the nation.
• Their 19 power-play goals ranks them 18th in the nation and third among Independent teams. 
• Harrison Israels currently finds himself 21st in the nation for faceoff wins; he's won 243 bouts this season, good for a winning percentage of 60.1. He is also tied for 28th in the nation with 12 goals. 
• Brady Risk is tied for 40th in the NCAA with 25 points. His 1.19 points per game is good for 26th in the nation. 
• The Nanooks are 6-4-1 when scoring first and 4-5-1 when their opponents score first. 
• When outshooting their opponents, the Nanooks are 7-4-1, but they are 3-5-1 when being outshot by their opponents. 
• Entering this week/weekend's series, the Nanooks have a .567 Pairwise Points Percentage, ranking them 22nd. LIU currently sits at 49th. 

What's to Come
The Nanooks will be on the road the next three weekends. This week will kickstart the away games as they face LIU, Alaska Anchorage on Feb. 3 for the final game of the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup and then they'll head South to Tempe, Az. for a matchup with the Sun Devils of Arizona State. The Nanooks are currently on a four-game winning streak and have not dropped a game to the Sun Devils dating back to Nov. 9, 2019. Since that loss, they are 7-0-1.

Points Streaks
Brady Risk has recorded three points in three games dating back to Jan. 5 at North Dakota. He's tallied two assists and one goal in the three-game points streak. Payton Matsui is on a four-game scoring streak going back to Dec. 29 against Ferris State. In his four-game streak he's tallied two goals and two assists. 

Meet the Opponents - LIU Sharks
LIU comes into the matchup with the Nanooks this weekend riding a four-game winning streak. They grabbed a pair of overtime wins at home against Colgate on Jan. 12-13. Both games ended as 3-2 victories. This past weekend on Jan. 19-20, Stonehill visited LIU; the Sharks grabbed an 8-2 and 10-0 sweep.

Isaiah Fox leads the Sharks with 26 points on nine goals and 17 assists. Josh Zary follows with 24 points on 13 goals and 11 assists and leads the Sharks with a .245 shot percentage. Cade Mason is the third Sharks skater with 20+ points. He has 22 on two goals and a team-high 20 assists. The Sharks are 6-4-0 at home and 4-10-1 on the road and the Nanooks are 2-2-0 when playing at LIU. The tides changed in the Alaska/LIU matchup after they split in their first three series' ever. The Nanooks are riding a two-game winning streak against LIU after sweeping the Sharks at home last season on Feb. 17-18. The Nanooks lead the all-time series 5-3-0 against LIU. Their first-ever matchup was Feb. 18, 2022, a 4-1 loss in Brooklyn. LIU is still coached by Brett Riley. He was named the inaugural head coach in May of 2020.

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