The 2024–25 Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey season was the 75th season of play for the program and 40th at the Division I level. The Nanooks represented the University of Alaska Fairbanks, played their games at the Carlson Center and were coached by Erik Largen in his 6th season.
Season As the Nanooks entered the season, the team's biggest task was integrating the new players into the system. With more than half of the roster changing in the offseason, coach Largen had his work cut out for him. That fact was illustrated in Alaska stumbling out of the gate. After a decent performance in a loss for the season opener, the offense bottomed out and could barely score for the rest of October. It was only through a solid defensive effort that the team was able to end its losing streak with a shutout but the season had already been dealt a blow. In November the forwards morphed itself into a credible unit and the team began to crawl back towards .500 but a few subpar games in goal kept the team on the losing side of the ledger.
When Alaska began the second half of its season at the Holiday Face–Off, the team was mired in the bottom half of the PairWise rankings and had almost no shot at a tournament bid. However, after Nicholas Grabko's play had slumped before the break, the team began to rotate the starting position between him and Lassi Lehti. The move appeared to pay dividends as the team went on a solid run from late December to late February, going 6–3–3 over the span.
After finally getting back to even, the Nanooks finished off their fairly disappointing season with a sweep at the hands of Long Island. Due in part to their limited schedule of 32 games, the lowest number Alaska had managed to play in 35 years, the Nanooks were only able to win 12 games throughout the season, tying the lowest total for the team under Largen.
Departures Arvils Bergmanis Defenseman Transferred to Rensselaer Edvards Bergmanis Forward Signed professional contract (Herning IK II) Dawson Bruneski Defenseman Graduation (retired) Pierce Charleson Goaltender Graduate transfer to Niagara Chase Dubois Forward Graduation (signed with Diables Rouges de Briançon) William Hambley Goaltender Transferred to Brock Harrison Israels Forward Graduate transfer to Omaha Xavier Jean-Louis Defenseman Transferred to Ferris State T. J. Lloyd Defenseman Graduation (signed with Savannah Ghost Pirates) A. J. Macaulay Defenseman Transferred to Bemidji State Caleb MacDonald Defenseman Transferred to North Dakota Cade Neilson Defenseman Transferred to Michigan Tech Derek Pys Defenseman Transferred to Prince Edward Island Brady Risk Forward Graduate transfer to Omaha Jonny Sorenson Forward Graduation (signed with Iowa Heartlanders) Filip Wiberg Forward Transferred to Geneseo State
Recruiting Noah Barlage Defenseman 21 Humboldt, SK Adam Cardona Defenseman 20 Beaconsfield, QC; transfer from Massachusetts Lowell Caelum Dick Defenseman 20 Sherwood Park, AB Nicholas Grabko Goaltender 24 Channahon, IL; graduate transfer from Bentley Matt Hubbarde Forward 24 Pickering, ON; transfer from Providence Luke Johnson Forward 22 St. Cloud, MN; transfer from Minnesota Duluth Haden Kruse Forward 21 Nisswa, MN Luke LaMaster Defenseman 24 Duluth, MN; graduate transfer from Wisconsin Bryce Monrean Forward 21 Anchorage, AK Fyodor Nikolayenya Forward 21 Minsk, BLR Trenton Penner Forward 21 Winkler, MB Peyton Platter Forward 20 Eau Claire, WI Cole Plowman Goaltender 21 Winnipeg, MB Carson Reed Defenseman 20 Warroad, MN Matt Rickard Defenseman 25 Coventry, RI; graduate transfer from American International Nathan Rickey Defenseman 20 New Lenox, IL Brendan Ross Forward 21 Calgary, AB Dean Spak Forward 21 Calgary, AB Tyler Waram Defenseman 21 Edmonds, WA
Roster As of August 3, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=";" |
Scoring statistics C 30 13 10 23 25 D 32 8 13 21 31 F 32 6 14 20 6 F 32 11 6 17 39 F 31 3 11 14 10 F 32 2 11 13 24 C/LW/RW 32 2 11 13 24 D 25 1 7 8 10 F 32 4 3 7 12 D 25 4 2 6 18 F 15 3 3 6 2 D 27 0 6 6 10 F 31 2 3 5 2 D 31 0 5 5 32 F 13 3 1 4 8 RW 24 3 1 4 41 C/LW 15 2 2 4 4 D 24 1 3 4 8 F 28 1 2 3 20 D 31 1 1 2 10 D 15 0 2 2 2 F 10 0 1 1 4 G 1 0 0 0 0 D 1 0 0 0 0 F 3 0 0 0 0 F 4 0 0 0 6 LW 6 0 0 0 6 D 11 0 0 0 15 G 13 0 0 0 0 F 16 0 0 0 11 G 20 0 0 0 4 Total 73 112 185 386
Goaltending statistics 1 6:57 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0.00 13 735:05 7 3 2 25 303 0 .924 2.04 20 1182:26 5 11 4 54 480 1 .899 2.77 Empty Net - 35:30 - - - 10 - - - - Total 32 1959:58 12 14 6 89 785 1 .898 2.72
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
References