2021–22 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season explained

The 2021–22 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season was the 72nd season of play for the program and the 37th at the Division I level. The Nanooks represented the University of Alaska Fairbanks and were coached by Erik Largen in his 3rd season.

Season

After the decision to cancel their previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska returned to the ice for the first time in 40 years without their long-time rival, Alaska Anchorage. The loss of their most consistent opponent could not have come at a worse time as the Nanooks also found themselves without a conference for the first time since the mid-1990s. The only advantage that Alaska had was that the NCAA still did not count games against schools from Alaska towards a team's limit of games per year. This allowed the Nanooks to insert themselves into the schedule of their opponents on short notice.

Alaska was rather ambitious with its early-season slate, playing their first 12 games against teams that were ranked for most or all of the season. As a result the Nanooks, who were still trying to build team chemistry, began the year with a terrible 1–12 record. It wasn't until December that the players started to work together consistently, but the early season struggles forged the Nanooks into a unified group.

After winning three consecutive games against Rensselaer, Alaska tied Denver and then defeated Minnesota, both of whom finished the season as top-5 teams. The Nanooks even managed to sweep Arizona State, who had NCAA tournament aspirations, in the midst of a 5-game winning streak. After December 10, Alaska finished their season 12–6–2 and demonstrated a tremendous improvement throughout the year.

Departures

Roberts Blugers Forward Left mid-season (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Chris Jandric Defenseman Transferred to North Dakota

Recruiting

Defenseman 21 Riga, LAT
Karl Falk Defenseman 21 Värmdö, SWE
Simon Falk Forward 21 Värmdö, SWE
Payton Matsui Forward 21 Lakeville, MN
Matt McKim Forward 21 St. John's, NL
Matt Koethe Forward 21 Minnetonka, MN
Connor Mylymok Forward 21 Jackson, MS
Nátán Vertes Forward 21 Budapest, HUN

Roster

As of September 23, 2021.[1]

Schedule and results

|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

Scoring statistics

34 9 16 25 12
31 10 14 24 27
34 11 9 20 37
34 4 16 20 46
30 3 16 19 28
24 9 8 17 16
26 5 7 12 2
29 4 8 12 2
30 2 8 10 20
33 3 6 9 33
34 1 7 8 44
34 1 7 8 26
31 3 4 7 4
29 1 6 7 6
18 3 3 6 32
24 3 3 6 6
24 3 3 6 17
26 3 3 6 6
25 3 2 5 33
18 3 1 4 42
15 2 1 3 10
16 1 1 2 8
16 0 2 2 22
2 0 1 1 0
6 0 1 1 0
3 0 0 0 4
4 0 0 0 15
6 0 0 0 0
12 0 0 0 4
31 0 0 0 2
Total 87 152 239 516
[2]

Goaltending statistics

31 1792 13 15 2 72 819 2 .919 2.41
6 243 1 3 0 16 104 0 .867 3.95
Empty Net - 21 - - - 7 - - - -
Total 34 2056 14 18 2 95 923 2 .907 2.77

Rankings

See main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

PollWeek
Pre12345678910111213141516171819202122232425 (Final)
USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRbgcolor=FFFFFF-NR
USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 24.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020–21 Men's Ice Hockey Roster . University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics . July 3, 2017.
  2. News: Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks 2021-2022 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 2, 2022.
  3. Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.

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