2023–24 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season explained

The 2023–24 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season was the 74th season of play for the program and 39th at the Division I level. The Nanooks represented the University of Alaska Fairbanks and were coached by Erik Largen in his 5th season.

Season

After narrowly missing out on the NCAA tournament in 2023, Alaska entered the year hoping for another chance at postseason play. The primary goal for the club would be to replace the stellar effort of the now-graduated Matt Radomsky in goal. That task fell first to transfer Pierce Charleson but he had a tough time at the start. The Nanooks opened the year by dropping a match to Denver that saw all three goaltenders in goal. Charleson and nominal backup Lassi Lehti allowed 4 and 3 goals respectively while Will Hambley stopped all the shots he faced (albeit in only 4 minutes). Hambley got the start in the second game and allowed the Pioneers to make a fool of him as well. After the poor start, Pierce Charleson settled into the starting role with a winning road trip over the next two weeks against a pair of ranked opponents. Alaska's offense appeared to be a strength early in the year but a sweep at the hands of Northern Michigan around Thanksgiving demonstrated that the team still had some work to do.

Despite some hiccups, Alaska possessed a winning record by Christmas and had a chance to move up into an at-large berth if it performed well in the second half of the season. The Nanooks kicked off their return with an appearance at the Great Lakes Invitational. An overtime loss in the semifinal stopped the team from getting anywhere in the PairWise rankings but that could easily be rectified the following week when they faced #4 North Dakota. Anything positive could have raised the teams tournament hopes a great deal, however, the Nanooks ended up getting swept in the series. The losses did not end the team's postseason hopes immediately, however, they gave Alaska no room for error in the remainder of their schedule.

The Nanooks still had four games against Arizona State, a ranked team, but the rest of their slate was filled with average-to-bad teams that would not provide much help even if the Nanooks were to sweep every match. For Alaska to make the postseason, they would likely have to run the table or at least come close. Unfortunately, their old rival Alaska Anchorage had other ideas. Still smarting over losing the previous 10 games, the Seawolves redoubled their efforts and forced Alaska into a tie and then followed that up with their first win against the Nanooks in over 4 years. The loss started a 4-game slump in Alaska's offense and by the time the Nanooks pulled out of the dive, their postseason hopes had been shattered. With nothing to lose, Lehti was given the starting job at the end of the season and performed well over a 4-week stretch. The wins helped to lift the team's record above .500 for the season and gave a possible glimpse at the Nanooks' future starting goalie.

Departures

Daniel Allin Goaltender Left program (retired)
Karl Falk Defenseman Transferred to St. Cloud State
Simon Falk Forward Transferred to Augustana
Markuss Komuls Defenseman Graduation (signed with Trois-Rivières Lions)
Ricards Landmanis Defenseman Left program (retired)
Connor Mylymok Forward Transferred to Niagara
Zachary Power Forward Left program (retired)
Garrett Pyke Defenseman Graduate transfer to North Dakota
Matt Radomsky Goaltender Graduation (signed with Calgary Wranglers)
Quinn Rudrud Forward Transferred to Augustana

Recruiting

Cade Ahrenholz Forward 20 Lakeville, MN
transfer from Colorado College
Edvards Bergmanis Forward 21 Spilve, LAT
Dawson Bruneski Defenseman 24 Camrose, AB
graduate transfer from Maine
Pierce Charleson Goaltender 23 Aurora, ON
transfer from Michigan State
Chase Dafoe Forward 21 Beverly, MA
transfer from Providence
William Hambley Goaltender 21 Cole Harbour, NS
transfer from Western Michigan
William Lawson-Body Forward 21 Grand Forks, ND
Caleb MacDonald Defenseman 20 Cambridge, ON
Derek Pys Defenseman 21 Ayr, ON
Broten Sabo Defenseman 21 Rosemount, MN
Filip Wiberg Forward 21 Trondheim, NOR

Roster

As of September 20, 2023.[1]

Schedule and results

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

Scoring statistics

33 13 20 33 16
30 8 20 28 14
33 20 6 26 14
34 5 15 20 6
31 2 17 19 39
34 3 16 19 33
31 5 14 19 22
33 3 14 17 21
33 8 7 15 33
34 5 10 15 14
31 4 10 14 38
31 7 7 14 54
31 3 10 13 10
30 6 7 13 19
34 2 8 10 16
29 2 4 6 70
10 1 4 5 15
23 5 0 5 10
17 3 1 4 10
26 2 2 4 20
28 1 2 3 10
12 1 0 1 15
3 1 0 1 4
4 0 1 1 17
7 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 2
4 0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0 0
29 0 0 0 0
Total 110 194 304 522
[2]

Goaltending statistics

9 338:46 4 1 0 10 134 2 .931 1.77
29 1635:43 13 11 3 67 6051 .900 2.46
6 51:35 0 1 0 3 11 0 .786 3.49
Empty Net - 31:18 - - - 6 - - - -
Total 34 2057:22 17 14 3 86 751 3 .897 2.51

Rankings

See main article: 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

PollWeek
Pre 1 234567891011121314151617181920212223242526 (Final)
USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR
USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.
Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2023-24 Men's Ice Hockey Roster . Alaska Nanooks . September 20, 2023.
  2. News: Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks 2023-2024 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 2, 2022.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2023–24 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.