By the time the puck drops Friday night inside Sullivan Arena at 7:07, UAA should know whether it is playing rival UAF solely for an in-state prize, the Governor's Cup, or also playing for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff spot.
The Seawolves, last in the 10-team league that only sends the top eight finishers to the playoffs and on the wrong side of all tie-breakers, have scant room for error to make the postseason for the first time since 2014.
They must not only sweep six points from the Nanooks to earn a playoff spot, but must also hope eighth-place Northern Michigan and ninth-place Alabama-Huntsville fare poorly in their final regular-season series. Northern Michigan's plays a home-and-home with second-place Michigan Tech and Alabama-Huntsville is on the road at fourth-place Bowling Green.
Both the series in Michigan and Ohio take place in the Eastern time zone and games there will almost certainly be complete by the time the Seawolves and Nanooks clash.
The Seawolves can be eliminated from the postseason if they lose a single point to the Nanooks — UAA must win in regulation or 5-on-5 overtime.
In the event the Seawolves take the ice Friday and know they already have been eliminated from playoff consideration, they still will have something at stake. They've lost the Governor's Cup seven straight seasons — UAF vacated the first three of those seven as sanctions for NCAA violations.
"Obviously, they don't get any bigger than this for us,'' said UAA coach Matt Thomas. "You set expectations and one of our expectations is to win the Governor's Cup, and that's what it is every year.''
Though the Nanooks have a stranglehold on the Cup, four of their seven consecutive Cup wins came in shootouts, indicative of how tight the rivalry has been in recent seasons. From 2013-16, the teams played 13 consecutive games that were decided by one goal or less.
"We know it's going to take our best effort and close to perfect to be able to go and get the Cup back," Thomas said. "We feel we're ready, and it's our time to earn it."
UAF, sixth in the WCHA and still alive to earn home ice for the first round of the playoffs, bucked that trend with a 4-1 nonconference win at UAA in October.
UAA rebounded with a 3-2 win in Game 1 of the four-game Governor's Cup in Fairbanks in December before UAF won 3-1 in Game 2.
UAA's four seniors — forwards Brad Duwe, Dylan Hubbs and Connor Wright, and defenseman Chad Van Allen — will all play the final home games of their career this weekend. They've yet to hoist the Cup, which is something they hope to remedy.
"We want to go out with a bang,'' Hubbs said.
Seawolves notes
The Governor's Cup games double as "Scout Weekend'' at Sullivan Arena, with free entry for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts 12 and under wearing their Scout uniform. The first 250 Scouts through the doors will each get a free Seawolf patch.
Any fan dressed in UAA colors, green and gold, will enter a free drawing at both games for an Alaska Airlines round-trip ticket — Alaska Airlines sponsors the Governor's Cup. One fan will win a ticket on each night.
UAF
10-18-4, 9-13-4 WCHA
at
UAA
7-19-6, 6-14-6 WCHA
Sullivan Arena
Friday and Saturday nights, 7:07