Preview: An important Pairwise series awaits for UND, Alaska

Jan. 5—GRAND FORKS — Alaska was No. 15 in the Pairwise Rankings at the end of last season.

As long as there were no upset winners in conference tournaments, they were in the NCAA tournament. But Colgate knocked off Harvard in the ECAC final, dooming the Nanooks.

They were the first team out.

They missed by a single game. Go back and change any of their losses to a victory and they would have been in.

The Nanooks have taken that knowledge into this season, knowing that any game can be the difference between making it or being left out.

Right now, they're sitting at No. 20 in the Pairwise Rankings, needing to climb at least five spots to reach the NCAA tournament. Their best chance to move up will be this weekend against UND, sitting No. 6 in the Pairwise.

"It's massive," Alaska captain Harrison Israels said. "This is one of those we had marked. This is going to be a (weekend) we need to get one out of. You look last year and how close we were. . . one game. Being an independent team, we put a lot of stress on every single game. Every game is like a Game 7. That's our mentality going into this weekend. It's huge, but honestly, I think the guys are looking forward to the challenge."

After this weekend, Alaska only plays one other team in the top 30 in the Pairwise — Arizona State (No. 16).

The other matchups are against Augustana (No. 35), Alaska Anchorage (No. 49), Long Island (No. 50) and Stonehill (No. 64).

"This is massive," Alaska coach Erik Largen said. "We need to find a way to be able to get a game. If we don't, it's a hard road. We've got ASU, which is a higher Pairwise team, and that's about it. I think the guys understand it. At the same time, you take it game by game. We know how good of a team North Dakota is and obviously, we have to be firing on all cylinders to beat them."

Alaska knows what it's like to go through a stretch run on the Pairwise bubble.

"This year, the expectations are extremely high," Largen said. "I thought we played good hockey in the first half. Sometimes, it can cut both ways, right? You have that extra added pressure, knowing every game is like Game 7. We have to be able to be one of those top teams in the Pairwise, and we know we don't have a conference tournament to help push us around there, too. It's tough knowing every game, you're playing for your lives, but that's part of the situation we're in being an independent."

There are several connections between UND and Alaska.

Not only is UND defenseman Garrett Pyke playing against his old team, he'll also be going against one of his best friends in Nanooks captain Harrison Israels. Those two

have traveled the world

together.

Another unique connection is between UND forward Riese Gaber and Alaska defenseman T.J. Lloyd.

Gaber's father, Mike, and Lloyd's father, Trevor, were teammates for six years — three at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask., (along with UND legend Bob Joyce) and three with the Humboldt Broncos in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The Gaber and Lloyd families have stayed connected through the years, but Mike and Trevor haven't seen each other since they left Humboldt in 1988. They'll both be attending the games this weekend.

UND UAF

3.56 (11th) Off 3.39 (16th)

2.28 (9th) Def 2.50 (16th)

19.7 (27th) PP 20.7 (21st)

86.0 (9th) PK 80.5 (24th)

53.3 (16th) FO 54.1 (11th)

.907 (20th) SP .903 (31st)

National rank in parenthesis. Categories are offense (goals per game), defense (goals against per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.

The Nanooks have had strong goaltending this season from Pierce Charleson, a Michigan State transfer. Charleson, who has been wearing his Michigan State helmet this season, used to platoon with former UND goalie Drew DeRidder in East Lansing, Mich. Charleson has a .915 save percentage this season, including a .924 in the last two months.

Perron ended the first half with one point in his last six games. It was a nice setup for Cameron Berg on the power play at Denver. Sometimes, freshmen can hit a wall at the end of the first half and use Christmas break to recharge the batteries. Perron started the first half of the season in impressive fashion. Can he do the same in the second half, playing on a new line and with a new power play setup?

Excluding empty-net goals, Alaska hasn't given up more than two goals in regulation in the last 10 games. The Nanooks have had the expected goals edge in all 10. UND was unable to sustain much offense against a similarly defensive team in Colorado College to end the first half of the season. Alaska figures to challenge the Fighting Hawks in the same way as the Tigers.

Friday: UND 3, Alaska 2

Saturday: Alaska 3, UND 2

Scoring

9 Jackson Blake (CAR), so, f, 11-11—22

14 Cameron Berg (NYI), jr, f, 7-10—17

22 Owen McLaughlin (PHI), so, f, 4-11—15

17 Riese Gaber, sr, f, 8-6—14

7 Garrett Pyke, 5th, d, 2-12—14

28 Hunter Johannes, 5th, f, 7-5—12

4 Jake Livanavage, fr, d, 1-8—9

18 Jayden Perron (CAR), fr, f, 7-1—8

27 Louis Jamernik V, sr, f, 4-4—8

26 Dylan James (DET), so, f, 3-5—8

8 Jake Schmaltz (BOS), jr, f, 0-6—6

21 Ben Strinden (NSH), so, f, 3-2—5

29 Jackson Kunz (VAN), jr, f, 2-3—5

11 Griffin Ness, sr, f, 1-3—4

20 Keaton Pehrson, 5th, d, 0-3—3

2 Bennett Zmolek, so, d, 0-3—3

13 Carson Albrecht, sr, f, 1-1—2

5 Dane Montgomery, so, f, 1-1—2

25 Abram Wiebe (VGK), fr, d, 0-1—1

32 Ludvig Persson, sr, g, 0-1—1

15 Nate Benoit (MIN), fr, d, 0-0—0

24 Michael Emerson (CAR), fr, f, 0-0—0

10 Tanner Komzak, fr, d, 0-0—0

30 Hobie Hedquist, fr, g, dnp

1 Kaleb Johnson, so, g, dnp

Goaltending

32 Ludvig Persson, sr, 12-5-1, 2.21, .909

30 Hobie Hedquist, fr, dnp

1 Kaleb Johnson, so, dnp

Scoring

11 Brady Risk, jr, f, 9-13—22

14 Anton Rubtsov, jr, f, 6-12—18

24 Harrison Israels, jr, f, 12-5—17

38 Arvils Bergmanis, jr, d, 1-12—13

6 T.J. Lloyd, 5th, d, 2-9—11

25 Cade Neilson, so, f, 3-7—10

15 Braden Birnie, so, f, 2-7—9

26 Payton Matsui, jr, f, 2-7—9

4 Jonny Sorenson, 5th, f, 4-4—8

16 Chase Dubois, sr, f, 4-3—7

12 A.J. Macaulay, so, d, 1-6—7

40 Matt Koethe, jr, f, 1-6—7

9 Caleb MacDonald, fr, d, 2-4—6

37 Chase Dafoe, so, f, 1-5—6

20 Cade Ahrenholz, so, f, 4-0—4

28 Brayden Nicholetts, jr, f, 3-1—4

34 Kyle Gaffney, so, f, 0-4—4

13 Xavier Jean-Louis, so, d, 2-1—3

39 Dawson Bruneski, 5th, d, 1-2—3

7 Broten Sobo, fr, d, 1-1—2

8 Will Hilfiker, so, d, 0-0—0

10 William Lawson-Body, fr, f, 0-0—0

27 Matteo Pecchia, jr, f, 0-0—0

29 Pierce Charleson, sr, g, 0-0—0

1 Will Hambley, so, g, 0-0—0

35 Lassi Lehti, so, g, 0-0—0

17 Derek Pys, fr, d, dnp

18 Edvards Bergmanis, fr, f, dnp

36 Filip Wiberg, fr, f, dnp

Goaltenders

29 Pierce Charleson, sr, 10-6-1, 2.20, .915

1 Will Hambley, so, 0-1, 4.46, .750

35 Lassi Lehti, so, 0-0, 6.55, .769