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A sellout crowd is expected to watch UAA play a home hockey series for the first time in a couple of decades this weekend.
That’s because the Seawolves are playing regular-season games at their small on-campus arena for the first time in a couple of decades.
UAA takes on UAF in a Friday-Saturday series that marks UAA’s return to the 800-seat Seawolf Sports Complex, which hasn’t served as the team’s home arena since the 1982-83 season.
The games — 7:07 p.m. Friday and 5:07 p.m. Saturday — are the first two in the four-game Governor’s Cup series, which wraps up in late February in Fairbanks.
Every ticket available to the public has been sold, UAA said earlier this week. Eighty tickets for each game have been set aside for students, and if any go unclaimed they will go on sale with five minutes left in the first period of each game, according to athletic department spokesman Ian Marks.
DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT: The move of @UAAHockey games back to campus means a packed house! No public tickets remain for @AlaskaAir Gov Cup vs UAF on Oct 25-26. The Seawolf Sports Complex is going to be LOUD! Arrive early, parking only $5; plenty of free parking options too!
— Greg Myford (@GMyford) October 23, 2019
For 36 years — a run that started in 1983-84 and ended last season — the Seawolves played home games at Sullivan Arena, which seats more than 6,000 for hockey. UAA decided earlier this year to move back to its on-campus rink, which should save the school about $200,000 a year.
Once upon a time the Seawolves packed Sullivan — every game was a sellout during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons — but as victories became scarcer, so did fans. Last season, when the Seawolves compiled a 3-28-3 record, they averaged less than 2,000 spectators per home game.
A small but feisty crowd is expected this weekend.
The Seawolves and the Nanooks have battled for the Governor’s Cup every season since 1993, and the Nanooks have dominated the series for the last 20 years.
UAA last captured the Cup on the ice in 2008-09. UAF has won every series since then, although it had to surrender three straight Cups (2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12) because of NCAA violations.
The Nanooks are 3-3-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. They’re coming off a big 4-0 upset of Penn State last weekend in Pennsylvania.
UAA is 0-2 after a pair of nonconference road losses at Maine, including a 2-1 overtime loss.