The Governor's Cup hockey series between Alaska's two college hockey teams features a bit of a twist this season: the Seawolves and Nanooks will play each other six times instead of the usual two or four.
The series begins this weekend with a home-and-home series — something that hasn't happened in the regular season since 2012-13 — with Friday's contest at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and Saturday's at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. Both are nonconference games.
Both teams are 0-3-1 and both were swept on the road last weekend. The Seawolves dropped two games at Colorado College and the Nanooks lost twice against No. 3 St. Cloud State.
UAF has won the last eight Governor's Cups on the ice, but it vacated the titles from 2010, 2011 and 2012 as part of the school's punishment for NCAA violations. The Nanooks took the Cup last season by winning three of the four games.
"We're obviously very familiar with each other," UAA coach Matt Thomas said. "I think you kind of throw out records, you throw out everything that seems to matter most of the year and it really comes down to who wants it more.
"If we can find that energy level and that desire, I think you always have a good chance. But we know it's going to take every bit of those things to get us where we want to go this weekend."
The Governor's Cup continues Dec. 8-9 with a two-game series in Anchorage and Feb. 23-24 with a two-game series in Fairbanks. Those four games are Western Collegiate Hockey Association games.
The Seawolves will likely play the remainder of the season without senior captain Matt Anholt, who suffered a knee injury in the season opener against nationally ranked North Dakota.
"He's going to need surgery so he's going to be out for what looks like the whole season," said Thomas, who declined to specify the type of knee injury.
Anholt could apply for a hardship waiver and possibly return to the ice next season, but for now he is focused on preparing for surgery, Thomas said.
Anholt was UAA's leader in assists (17) and points (22) last season.
Runners aim for more hardware
Despite UAA's history of dominance at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross-country championships, the Seawolves will enter this weekend's GNAC meet as underdogs — at least in the rankings.
The No. 8 UAA women trail No. 5 Simon Fraser and the No. 17 UAA men are behind No. 13 Western Oregon in the NCAA Division II rankings heading into the Saturday championship meet in Bellingham, Washington.
But the Seawolves aren't worried about rankings.
"Rankings are rankings, they don't mean anything, they don't help you run faster," UAA assistant coach T.J. Garlatz said at a press conference Tuesday. "You go out and run your best, and we think we're one of the better teams in the country."
The UAA men have won seven straight GNAC titles and 10 of the last 11 and the women have won two straight.
Both teams feature the GNAC's reigning individual champions.
The women are led by defending GNAC and West Region champion Caroline Kurgat, a two-time All-American who last week won the 6K race at the Division II Conference Crossover in Romeoville, Illinois. She posted a time of 21 minutes, 18.9 seconds.
The men are paced by two-time All-American Edwin Kangogo, who won the 8K at last year's GNAC championships in 24:54.8.
"We know the course, we know the competition and we know what we need to do," Garlatz said.
Dusser returns as assistant ski coach
The UAA ski team beefed up its coaching staff this week with the addition of a former All-America skier.
Marine Dusser will join the team as an assistant nordic coach, UAA coach Sparky Anderson announced earlier this week.
"It's fantastic to bring back one of our own," he said in a press release.
Dusser is a three-time NCAA All-American who finished third in both classical and freestyle races at the 2013 NCAA championships and ninth in the freestyle at the 2014 championships.
Also an accomplished mountain runner, Dusser this summer won the 3-mile Government Peak Cimb and the 5.6K Kal's Knoya Ridge Run.
Road warriors
A UAA volleyball team that has found success on the road is back in hostile territory this week.
The Seawolves are 6-2 on the road heading into GNAC matches at Seattle Pacific on Thursday in Seattle and at Saint Martin's on Saturday in Lacey, Washington.
UAA (12-7, 7-3 GNAC) has already faced both teams this season. The Seawolves beat the Falcons (10-8, 3-1) in four sets and swept the Saints (8-11, 2-8) in September.
The Seawolves remain the conference's best serving team with 154 aces (1.97 per set), an effort led by Leah Swiss (44 aces) and Keala Kaio-Perez (40).
Hoops makeover underway
Basketball junkies who have been looking at their calendars since March no longer have long to wait until the college season starts anew.
The UAA men will play a Seawolf alumni team in an Oct. 28 exhibition game at the Alaska Airlines Center, and the UAA women head to North Carolina the first week of November for a nonconference game against Johnson & Wales in Charlotte and an exhibition game against Division I powerhouse Duke in Durham.
Both UAA hoops teams are back on the court for practice, and it's none too soon for two teams with a host of new faces.
The men's team boasts 12 new players and returns only one — Curtis Ryan — who logged minutes for last season's 21-8 squad.
The women's team brings in nine newcomers and returns five players from last season's 30-2 GNAC championship team.
"It's a brand new crew this season," UAA women's coach Ryan McCarthy said at a Tuesday press conference. "It's teaching the ABCs all over again."
Both teams lost their leading scorers — the men are without Suki Wiggs' 24.2 points per game and the women lost Autummn Williams' 21.3 ppg — but both squads are hoping to reload with the help of Division I transfers.
Kian McNair, a 5-foot-5 junior guard, joins the UAA women after averaging 11.3 points per game and 2.5 steals per game at Division II Portland State.
The UAA men receive a boost from three senior DI transfers from University of the Pacific: guard Maleke Haynes, forward Jacob Lampkin and guard D.J. Ursery, as well as Malik Clements of North Dakota State.
Lampkin and Ursery both played against UAA in the 2014 GCI Great Alaska Shootout and Lampkin is a former high school teammate of Wiggs at O'Dea High in Bellevue, Washington, so they were familiar with the program before joining, UAA coach Rusty Osborne said.