Category: Alaska Anchorage Seawolves

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Posted on Posted in Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, Alaska Nanooks, Atlantic Hockey, Bentley Falcons, Big Ten, Boston College Eagles, Boston University Terriers, CCHA, Colorado College Tigers, Connecticut Huskies, Dartmouth Big Green, Denver Pioneers, ECAC, Ferris State Bulldogs, Harvard Crimson, Hockey East, Independents, Lindenwood Lions, Maine Black Bears, Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, Mercyhurst Lakers, Merrimack Warriors, Miami RedHawks, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, Minnesota State Mavericks, NCHC, North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Northeastern Huskies, Ohio State Buckeyes, Omaha Mavericks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Princeton Tigers, Providence Friars, Quinnipiac Bobcats, St. Cloud State Huskies, St. Lawrence Saints, St. Thomas Tommies, Union Garnet Chargers, WCHA, Wisconsin Badgers, Yale Bulldogs
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The content of this recap is also available in the 2020s page of our U.S. College Hockey History section of this site.

The final game played at the historic Matthews Arena in Boston occurred during the 2025-26 season. The original arena opened April 25, 1910, when the Harvard freshmen played Newton High School. Later that night, Harvard became the first-ever varsity team to take the ice at the arena when it played the Crescent Hockey Club. The first-ever intercollegiate hockey game to be played at the arena took place the following season when Harvard and MIT met December 18, 1910. A catastrophic fire destroyed the original building in December 1918. The second iteration of the arena opened a little more than three years later when MIT hosted King’s College from north of the border. The Canadian team won that January 7, 1921, game 4-3. Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University and numerous professional teams called the rink home over the years. Northeastern played its first hockey game there on January 17, 1930, and ultimately became the main tenant of the arena in October 1979. The university renamed it Northeastern Arena and ultimately Matthews Arena. On December 13, 2025, the Northeastern men hosted Boston University in the last hockey game played in the historic rink. The Terriers won 4-3, which is fitting since the first hockey game played between these programs was at the same rink in February 1931 when the Terriers defeated the Huskies by the exact same score.

Boston Arena in black and white from the early 1920s.
A photo of Boston Arena from the early 1920s.

Two hockey programs separated by 3,000 miles celebrated 100 years of hockey during the season: Alaska and St. Lawrence. Two Division I programs also debuted new hockey rinks. The Lee & Penny Anderson Arena opened on the St. Thomas campus when the women’s team hosted Providence. The men’s teams from the same schools played the second game of a debut doubleheader. In Schenectady, New York, the M&T Bank Center opened its gates September 26, 2025, when the Union women played Franklin Pierce. The Garnet Chargers previously played at Messa Rink; an arena that hosted its first Union hockey game in 1975. In the NCHC, the Miami RedHawks snapped its 26-game winless streak with a 6-4 win over Ferris State in the season opener. The team kept rolling and won its first six games of the season with the last two coming in overtime. It was the first back-to-back overtime wins in program history. Within the Big Ten, the Gopher men snapped an 11-game shootout losing streak after defeating Boston College. Going into the shootout, the team had missed its previous 28 shootout attempts, as impossible as that may seem. Coincidentally, the Gophers first-ever regular season shootout was against Boston College nearly 12 years beforehand at the same rink.

Unfortunately, two Division I programs closed their doors at the end of the season. Mercyhurst debuted its hockey program in 1987 within Division III and elevated to Division II in 1992. The Mercyhurst men played their last game March 7, 2026, against Bentley, which coincidentally was the first conference opponent the Lakers faced in 1999 after joining Division I. Note that the Mercyhurst women’s hockey team will continue operations. The Simon Fraser Red Leafs of Burnaby, British Columbia decided to discontinue the school’s Non-Conference Team at the conclusion of the season. The Non-Conference Team had operated as an independent program for three seasons with a schedule predominantly made up of U.S. Division I teams. The Red Leafs played 20 NCAA Division I and three Division III programs throughout its tenure. The first program win over an NCAA Division I team came against Alaska Anchorage in 2022. A notable 2024 game for Simon Fraser saw the Red Leafs tie the second-ranked team in the U.S. at the time, Boston University. The last game the team ever played was in Ann Arbor, which happened to be the first time the program had played the Wolverines. Note that the Simon Fraser BCIHL team will continue operations.

Changes were made to a couple of postseason tournaments in the Division I men’s world. Big Ten Hockey reduced its tournament to a two-and-a-half week single elimination tournament instead of a three-weekend tournament where the first round was a best-of-three series. On the other hand, the NCHC shifted to a setup that mirrored the previous Big Ten format. In doing so, the NCHC moved to an entirely on-campus tournament for the first time. Excluding 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, the final weekend of the tournament had previously been held in Minneapolis or Saint Paul. This change saw the conference host a three-weekend tournament for the first time, with the first weekend being a best-of-three series. The tournament trophy was also branded the National Cup, a name change that mirrored the new secondary branding of the NCHC. Denver ended up hosting UMD in its first single-elimination conference tournament title game on home ice since 1970. The Pioneers won in double overtime, marking it the second double overtime championship game in a row for Denver and the NCHC. This was the first time in the Division I men’s hockey era where a conference’s tournament title game went to double overtime in back-to-back seasons.

In the CCHA, Minnesota State and St. Thomas squared off in the tournament championship game for the second season in a row. This time a berth to the NCAA tournament was truly on the line. The Mavericks were victorious again. This marked the last CCHA conference game played by the Tommies as they are moving to the NCHC for the 2026-27 season. It also marked the fourth Mason Cup for the Mavericks in the past five seasons.

Looking east, the ECAC men’s conference title game was an Ivy League affair between Dartmouth and Princeton. The all-time hockey series between the two schools started nearly 120 years beforehand on January 9, 1907. Dartmouth won the 2026 title game and earned a trip to the national tournament. It was the first-ever conference tournament championship for the Big Green. Note that Dartmouth defeated Harvard in a one-off playoff game in 1949 for the Pentagonal League title, but that was not part of a tournament. The 23 wins this season also set a team record for a program that dates back to 1905. The Quinnipiac Bobcats won the ECAC men’s regular season title for the sixth time. And for the sixth year in a row, the Bobcats lost in the conference tournament as the top seed. Within Hockey East, Merrimack became the lowest seed (#8) to advance to the Hockey East championship game, let alone win it. This was the first Hockey East tournament title for the Warriors. Within Atlantic Hockey America, the Bentley Falcons won the men’s regular season and tournament championships. It was the Falcons first Division I regular season title. The Falcons last won a regular season title back in 1997 when the program participated in Division III.

For the first time in the Division I men’s hockey era, an end-of-season tournament was held for the independent programs. Five teams took part in the inaugural United Collegiate Hockey Cup hosted by Lindenwood in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Alaska received the lone bye and went on to become the first team to win the tournament after defeating the host Lions in overtime of the championship game.

The NCAA Division I men’s tournament included no Beanpot teams for the first time since 1981. The men’s Frozen Four was held in Las Vegas for the first time. The four teams in Las Vegas (Denver, Michigan, North Dakota, Wisconsin) just happened to be the top four teams with the most NCAA Division I men’s titles with a combined 33 championship trophies amongst them. And in addition to that, for the first time in NCAA history all four starting goalies were freshmen. Decades earlier, all four teams were WCHA division foes between 1969 and 1981. One of the semifinal games pitted Denver against Michigan. The Pioneers were victorious in overtime to advance to the championship game. This marked the fifth NCAA semifinal game in a row for the Pioneers where the outcome was decided in overtime – all since 2019. In the final game of the season, Denver came from behind to defeat Wisconsin to increase its NCAA lead with an 11th championship trophy. This marked the third title for the Pioneers in the last five seasons. It also meant that another NCHC team was crowned the champion. It’s the eighth championship for the NCHC in the past 10 seasons; the most dominant conference run in men’s hockey since the WCHA won 10 of 11 from 1973 to 1983.

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Within Division I women’s hockey, a new program debuted in Delaware. The Fightin’ Blue Hens became the first NCAA hockey team to be based in Delaware after debuting within Atlantic Hockey America. Within the ECAC, Princeton and Yale shared the regular season crown. This was the first regular season title for Princeton. The semifinals and championship game of the ECAC women’s tournament was held off-campus for the first time. The games took place at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, where the three-seed Quinnipiac defeated top-seed Yale.

The women’s Frozen Four was held at Pegula Ice Arena on the Penn State campus. The Nittany Lions had a hometown advantage after the team made it to the Frozen Four for the first time. The resulting Penn State versus Wisconsin semifinal game set an arena and Frozen Four attendance record with 5,176 fans. Wisconsin ended up winning in overtime to set the stage for yet another Wisconsin and Ohio State championship game; the fourth in a row. The Badgers won 3-2 to add to its NCAA-leading number of women’s NC championships with nine. This was also the 23rd WCHA team to win a women’s hockey championship. Wisconsin has won the championship in five of the past seven seasons. The past six championship games were all very competitive with all six being decided by one goal.

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Caroline Harvey was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award – the second Badger to earn it in a row and seventh overall. The Badgers broke a tie with Harvard for most recipients of the award that’s handed out to the top female college hockey player in the United States. Max Plante took home the Hobey Baker Award; the seventh time a UMD Bulldog was awarded the trophy. Scott Perunavich was the last Bulldog to do so in 2020. High school hockey fact: Hermantown High School in Minnesota (enrollment 612) is the first-ever high school to produce multiple Hobey Baker winners (Drew LeBlanc in 2013 for St. Cloud State and now Max Plante).

Within Division III men’s hockey, the Hamilton Continentals (Kirkland, New York) defeated Hobart 2-1 in overtime. It was the first hockey championship for a program that’s been around since 1918. The Continentals also prevented Hobart from celebrating a four-peat in the process. It was the second Division III men’s title game in a row that ended 2-1 in overtime and fifth overtime championship game in the past seven seasons.

The Wisconsin-River Falls Falcons shut out Nazareth (Rochester, New York) 4-0 to secure a three-peat in Division III women’s hockey. This is the first three-peat since Plattsburgh won four in a row from 2014 to 2017. It was the first championship game for runner-up Nazareth.

Midland University (Fremont, Nebraska) won its first ACHA Division I women’s hockey championship after defeating top-seed Liberty. The game went to triple overtime before the Warriors won 4-3. Midland won its final three tournament games in overtime.

Current and former college hockey stars were front and center in midseason tournaments in 2026. For the first time ever, the NCAA sent a select team of current college players to the Spengler Cup to represent the NCAA. The hockey tournament based in Switzerland has a history that dates back to 1923. It features club and national teams from Europe and North America. The Minnesota Gophers previously participated in 1981 and North Dakota in 1982. The schools sent their full teams to play in the exhibition mid-season tournament. This team in 2025 was essentially an NCAA all-star team – a first of its kind for the Spengler Cup. The team lost its first game to Team Canada but later defeated HC Davos and then Canada in a rematch. The U.S. Collegiate Selects surprised the European crowd and hockey community by advancing to the championship game on New Year’s Eve. However, the team fell short as HC Davos won its 17th title after a 6-3 victory. Seventeen college programs were represented on the roster with Penn State leading the way with five players. It was later announced that a select team would represent the NCAA in at least the next two Spengler Cups.

The 2025 U.S. Collegiate Selects team that competed in the Spengler Cup.
The 2025 U.S. Collegiate Selects team that competed in the Spengler Cup.

The 2026 Olympics were held in Milan Cortina, Italy. Team USA and Canada met in the women’s gold medal game for the fifth Olympics in a row. The U.S. had blanked Canada in preliminary play just nine days before. All 46 players in the women’s gold medal game had ties to NCAA hockey. Wisconsin led the way with 11 players, followed by seven from Ohio State and five from Minnesota. Overall, 16 college programs were represented that evening. The final game was decided in overtime when Megan Keller (from Boston College) scored the golden goal. Team USA scored a total of 33 goals throughout the tournament and only gave up two.

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It was déjà vu on the men’s side as Team USA and Canada met in the gold medal game as well. It was the sixth gold medal game between the two countries and first since 2010 when Canada won in overtime in Vancouver. In poetic fashion, this 2026 game was decided in overtime as well. The United States won 2-1 to secure the men’s hockey gold medal for the third time in U.S. history. Of the 25 players on the U.S. roster, 19 played college hockey. Five played for Boston University, four for Michigan, two for both Boston College and North Dakota, and one each for Colorado College, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts Lowell, Minnesota, and Omaha.

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Posted on Posted in Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, Brown Bears, ECAC, Independents
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Brown University hosted Alaska Anchorage on Black Friday in 1990. It was the first time the Alaska Anchorage hockey program had flown to Rhode Island. In fact, the November 23, 1990, game was the first time ever that Alaska Anchorage and Brown University faced off.

The Brown Bears are one of the founding members of the ECAC and remain in that conference to this day. Alaska Anchorage was an independent program during the 1990-91 season. It was in its seventh season since elevating to Division I. Heading into the Friday match up, Brown was still looking for its first win of the season after starting 0-5-1. The team was coming off a tough 7-1 loss to its cross-town rival Providence during the 5th annual Mayor’s Cup. Things weren’t going to get any easier for Brown; the Seawolves were a national tournament team the year before. And on the horizon the following weekend were the top two teams in the ECAC at the time: Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

As for the game itself, the visiting Seawolves controlled the majority of it at Meehan Auditorium that night. The third period saw numerous penalties called on both teams. In the final minute of regulation, the Seawolves were up by two goals but down two men. Chris Kaban netted a goal for Brown to cut the lead to 6-5. Derek Chauvette then tied the score to send the game to overtime. The bonus period didn’t see any scoring, resulting in a 6-6 tie.

Black and white team photo of the 1990-91 Brown Bears.
1990-91 Brown Bears men’s hockey team

The improbable comeback spurred Brown as the Bears upset Clarkson the following week 5-2. The team would go 7-5-1 in the 13 games following this game. But in the end, Yale defeated Brown in the opening round of the ECAC tournament and the Bears finished with a 9-15-3 record. Alaska Anchorage, on the other hand, went to overtime the following night against Providence College as well but ran out of gas and lost in the extra session. It was just the third game in that all-time series after Providence visited Anchorage almost a decade prior. The Seawolves finished its 1990-91 regular season with a 20-14-4 record and received an invite to the NCAA tournament for the second season in a row. The Seawolves defeated Boston College in the best-of-three opening round series after winning the first two games against the Eagles. Eventual champion Northern Michigan defeated the Seawolves in the next round en route to the NCAA trophy.

Photo Credit: Featured photo: The Brown Daily Herald 118 (1990-11-27). Brown Daily Herald. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. Secondary photo: 1990-91 Brown Bears men’s hockey team photo from the Liber Brunensis (1991 Yearbook). Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.

Posted on Posted in Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, Alaska Nanooks, Independents
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Both Division I hockey programs in Alaska have a storied history of facing one another on the ice. This shouldn’t come as a surprise because of the proximity of these two teams compared to the other U.S. college hockey programs of the contiguous 48 states. The rivalry between the Alaska Nanooks and Alaska Anchorage Seawolves began in 1979. That happens to be the year when Alaska Anchorage launched its varsity men’s hockey program. The teams from Fairbanks and Anchorage faced each other eight times during that 1979-80 season. But the hockey history between these cities goes back a lot further than that. We recently discovered photos of the first game between the University of Alaska and an Anchorage team playing one another on the ice in 1935 – likely during the Fairbanks Dog Derby and Ice Carnival (Fairbanks Winter Carnival).

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ first year of hockey was 1925. At the time, the school was known as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines. The program played that one season and then discontinued hockey until 1932. Over in Anchorage, the University of Alaska Anchorage formally began its varsity hockey program in 1979 within Division II and made the leap to Division I in 1984. This photo predates the Alaska Anchorage hockey team and even the creation of the school.

The featured photo from 1935 shows a hockey game between teams from Anchorage and Fairbanks. It appears to be played in Fairbanks on the frozen Chena River according to the description of the photograph. The Northern Commercial Company building is shown on the shore in the background. The Cushman Street Bridge is out of frame to the left. Spectators would line up on the bridge during big games. This is presumably photo evidence of the first game played between the University of Alaska and a team from Anchorage, as another photo states that the 1935 team was the first hockey team organized by the city of Anchorage.

It’s highly likely this photo was taken during the Fairbanks Winter Carnival tournament in March 1935. And if so, the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines won the game 4-1. Several months later on July 1, 1935, the Alaska Territorial Legislature changed the institution’s name to the University of Alaska. The hockey team was referred to as the Alaska Polar Bears or U of A Polar Bears. The school changed its nickname to the Nanooks in 1963. Nanook is a derivation of nanuq, which is the Inupiaq word for polar bear.

Flash forward eighty-seven years and the two college hockey programs from these cities will play one another at the Carlson Center this weekend – less than two miles away from that 1935 meeting on the river. At this point, both teams participate as independents within Division I. It’s Alaska Anchorage’s first season back on the ice since the 2019-20 season. In fact, the Nanooks and Seawolves last played one another February 29, 2020; mere days before COVID-19 shut down that season. The teams will begin play for the Governor’s Cup this weekend. This is an award given to the winner of the most head-to-head games between the two hockey programs throughout each season. While the schools formally began the rivalry on the ice in 1979 and started the Governor’s Cup in 1994, these upcoming games will be the renewal of a rivalry between cities that began nearly 90 years ago.

Photo Credit: Culhane family photographs, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.