FAIRBANKS - The Face-Off Club and the Nanooks hockey team celebrated the 2023-24 season on Saturday, March 9 at the Pike's Waterfront Lodge. The end-of-year banquet highlighted the season and student-athlete success, both on and off the ice.
"It was a great way to conclude the season." said head coach
Erik Largen, "Celebrating our seniors who have done so much for our program along with all members of our team. A big thank you to the Face-Off Club for hosting such a great event to wrap-up the year." Alaska's season came to a close last Wednesday and Thursday at the Carlson Center as they swept the Stonehill Skyhawks to wrap-up the 23-24 season with a 17-14-3 record. This gave the Nanooks back-to-back winning seasons after posting a 22-10-2 record a year ago.
This season saw the Nanooks go 7-5-1 at home and 9-8-2 on the road. They were led by
Brady Risk who finished the season with 33 points on 13 goals and 20 assists. He became the first Nanooks skater to crack the 30-point mark since Steven Jandric in 2019-20. His 20 assists was tied with
Anton Rubtsov's 20 as the team-high. They both become the first Nanooks with 20+ assists in a season since Jandric (2019-20) and also marks the first pair of teammates to post 20 assists since the 2013-14 season when Colton Beck (25), Michael Quinn (22) and Cody Kunyk (21) all hit the mark. Rubtsov finished the year second on the season in points with 28 on eight goals alongside his 20 assists.
Harrison Israels led the Nanooks in goals scored, scoring 20, and became the first Nanook to hit 20 in a season since Cody Kunyk (22) in 2013-14. His 20 goals was accompanied by six assists for 26 total points. He also becomes the 20th Nanooks skater in their Division I-era to score 20+ goals in a season. Alongside his 20 goals, Israels had eight power-play goals and three short-handed goals. His eight power-play goals is the most by an Alaska skater since Dustin Sather scored nine in 2009-10 and his short-handed goals are the most by a Nanook since Jared Sylvestre scored three in 2002-03. In the face-off circle, Israels won 355 draws and posted a .583 FO win percentage; both were team-highs.
Payton Matsui was the final skater to reach the 20-point mark this season, scoring five goals and dishing 15 assists. On the blue-line, the Nanooks were led by
Arvils Bergmanis and
T.J. Lloyd as both defensemen finished the season with 19 points. Bergmanis finished the season with two goals and 17 assists while Lloyd tallied three goals and 16 assists.
Finally, the Nanooks had five rookies tally their first-career points this season.
Caleb MacDonald led all freshmen with 14 points this season, scoring four goals and collecting 10 apples. He added one power-play goal and blocked 28 shots, good for fourth on the team.
William Lawson-Body followed with five points, four of which came in the final five games of the season, including his first-career multipoint game on March 6 against Stonehill. In the 9-1 win, he scored a goal and picked up an assist.
Broten Sabo added three points on a goal and two assists and
Derek Pys and
Filip Wiberg each ended with one; Wiberg's came on his first-career goal against Arizona State on Feb. 24 while Pys came in the form of an assist in that same game. In all, Alaska had 15 skaters score 10+ points on the year and had 24 score a point.
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