Cornell Notes is The Sun’s weekly notebook about the Cornell men’s and women’s hockey teams. It is produced by The Cornell Daily Sun hockey beat.
Head coach Casey Jones ’90 remembers the trips.
He was an assistant coach for Ohio State for 13 years during its Central Collegiate Hockey Association days, back before the Big 10 was a collegiate hockey conference. As such, Jones’ squad would face the University of Alaska Fairbanks yearly, and would travel for the game every other year.
The journey was treacherous.
Columbus to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, Anchorage to Fairbanks. It wasn’t a trip without a lost hockey bag or two.
“That's just what you do,” Jones said. “College hockey is about that. We need Alaska to be good, we need Alaska to be in college hockey.”
He is a bit grateful that, this time around, his team won’t be doing any of the travel. Alaska is on the backend of a road trip that began right around the new year, when the Nanooks travelled thousands of miles out to Rhode Island to take on Providence. After splitting with the Friars, Alaska ventured up to Ithaca and has been practicing at Lynah Rink all week.
“They've been in our facility here all week, practicing in our facility late afternoon after the men's and women's teams are done,” Jones said. “[Alaska is] well-coached, [has a] good pace, plays physical. They're gonna make us earn every inch of the ice, that's for sure.”
Cornell will take on Alaska at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at Lynah Rink. All action will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live updates will be provided on @DailySunSports on X.
Aiden Long Named ECAC Rookie of The Week
Freshman forward Aiden Long’s play helped propel the Red past the University of Nebraska-Omaha on Jan. 2 and 3. His weekend, which included notching his first, second and third NCAA goals, highlighted the importance of the Red receiving scoring from its youth. So far, the freshman class has scored 21 of Cornell’s 43 goals (49 percent). And, in the series against Omaha, seven of the Red’s nine tallies came from freshmen. This bodes well for a Cornell team that ranks as the tenth-youngest NCAA Division-I squad.
NPI Check-In
After sweeping Omaha, Cornell sits at No. 11 in the National Percentage Index, the mathematical determinant of the NCAA Tournament field.
In order to comfortably contend for an at-large bid to the tournament, Cornell is in a solid spot. Getting closer to No. 14 and No. 15 is when things get a bit closer, as the possibility for “stolen bids” (when teams outside the top-16 win their conferences and “steal” a spot in the tournament due to the automatic bid).
Recent “bracketology” predictions by USCHO.com and college hockey insider Mike McMahon have Cornell heading to Albany, New York should it qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Cornell must continue to keep up its winning ways to maintain its strong standing in the NPI.
Scouting the Nanooks
The Nanooks (5-11-1) are set to make the 4,140 mile journey from Fairbanks, Alaska, to take on the Red this weekend. This weekend’s games will mark just the third and fourth times Cornell and Alaska have faced off against one another, the other series coming four years ago when the Red swept the Nanooks at Lynah Rink on Oct. 29-30, 2021.
Despite not competing in a conference, the independent Nanooks have had eight matchups against ECAC opponents this season. In those eight games, Alaska is 3-4-1, defeating (and tying) No. 8 Quinnipiac, Clarkson and St. Lawrence and losing twice to both No. 20 Princeton and Union. Last weekend, the Nanooks split two games with No. 18 Providence of Hockey East, winning by a score of 5-1 in the second half of the back-to-back.
“I think they’re playing their best hockey of the year right now,” Jones said. “I think that series against Providence was as good as they’ve played all year. … That game on Saturday night was not a fluke.”
Alaska can compete with ranked opponents. This should not be a surprise, considering the Nanooks have recruited heavily from top junior leagues and other NCAA clubs. The Nanooks boast four Canadian Hockey League alums, six United States Hockey League imports and six NCAA transfers. Alaska plays a brooding, physical game that should match up well with Cornell’s stingy style of play.
“They’re extremely physical. They're a team that preys on you — if you take risks in your game, you're going to pay,” Jones said. “We better be prepared to make plays under pressure, we better be prepared to get hit. … They do a great job of making it difficult to get to their net and generate scoring chances.”
Graduate forward Michael Citara leads Alaska in scoring (seven goals, nine assists in 17 games played). Citara played two seasons with Providence before transferring to Merrimack and playing two years with the Warriors. The Nanooks’ top line of Misha Danylov, Peyton Platter and Michael Citara drive the scoring, accounting for 13 of the Nanooks 38 goals, however Alaska receives contributions from all four lines and from its backend.
In the crease, Alaska’s goaltending has been solid. Finnish goaltender Lassi Lehti holds the starting role, posting a .916 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average in 12 games played. The 24-year-old senior previously played in the North American Hockey League with the El Paso Rhinos and Minot Minotauros. The Nanooks’ backup, Calvin Vachon, has also been valuable, notching a .907 save percentage and 3.06 goals against average in six appearances.
Worth Quoting
It will be a homecoming of sorts for assistant coach Chris Brown, who joined Jones’ staff this season after serving as an associate head coach for the Nanooks for four years. Though he will not be returning to Fairbanks, he will go head-to-head with the program he worked closely with.
Brown has also been pressed by Jones and the rest of the coaching staff to give some insight into his former team.
“He knows that if we don’t have a good pre-scout against [Alaska] this weekend, he might be out of a job,” Jones joked. “If we don't know them inside and out, this is strictly on him. So, lot of pressure on Chris to make sure we're prepped.”
Cornell must also not overlook this weekend despite the gauntlet of ECAC matchups it has forthcoming. After Alaska, the Red’s next four games are almost all against ranked opponents: No. 20 Princeton and No. 8 Quinnipiac on Jan. 16-17, and No. 11 Dartmouth and RV Harvard on Jan. 23-24. All five teams (including Cornell) are sitting in the top five in the ECAC standings.
“We’ve got to continue to forge our identity and make sure we're playing a full 60 minutes and kind of roll from there, but we also have four big, big games in our league coming up where the teams are sitting in the standings,” Jones said. “So we want to get well-oiled here too, so that we put ourselves in a position to be playing our best hockey here as we head into league play.”
Jane McNally is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and was the sports editor on the 142nd editorial board. She is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow her on X @JaneMcNally_ and reach her at jmcnally@cornellsun.com.
