Fewer than two months into the season, Alaska-Fairbanks has already appeared on and disappeared from the national radar.
The perennial doormat Nanooks, under head coach Guy Gadowsky, won six of their first seven games and began garnering attention from pollsters across the country.
That was until Fairbanks (6-6-0 overall, 2-6-0 CCHA) dropped five straight contests - a streak it’s trying to break at home against No. 3 MSU this weekend.
The Spartans (9-2-2, 7-2-1) and Nanooks meet tonight and Saturday at the Carlson Center. Both games start at 11:05 p.m. EST.
But maybe the Nanooks shouldn’t get their hopes up too high, considering MSU has won the last 13 games in the series, including six in a row at the Carlson Center.
“I think in all those years, we just had the better team,” MSU head coach Ron Mason said from Alaska on Thursday. “I mean, when you look at it, they were in last place and we were in first place.
“But they’re a lot better this year, especially up here.”
The series is only the second road challenge of the year for the Spartans, who failed the first exam when Nebraska-Omaha swept them in October.
“We just have to play our game,” Mason said.
“We still have a lot of young guys and this is the next test for them.”
The Spartans have been in Alaska since Wednesday, acclimating to the four-hour time difference, bitter cold temperatures, five hours of sunlight per day and other nuances of the Land of the Midnight Sun.
The Spartans must also adjust to a larger ice surface tonight, as they kick off four straight contests on Olympic-size rinks.
Senior defenseman Jon Insana said the rink, which is about 13 feet wider than the standard NHL-size sheet at Munn Ice Arena, puts a premium on speed.
“(Fairbanks has) a pretty strong skating team and they have some guys that can wheel,” Insana said. “It’s a bit of an adjustment period when you get out there. The first period is a little shaky, getting used to the width of the rink, and I think it’s important to adjust early Friday.”
Mason said the Spartans will have to be more patient and be positionally sound because Fairbanks “knows how to use the big ice better than we do.”
The Nanooks are led offensively by left wing Cam Keith (5 goals, 7 assists), defenseman Daniel Carriere (3, 9) and center Bobby Andrews (3, 5).
But their offense, despite averaging 3.42 goals per game overall, has been a noticeable sore spot during the team’s losing streak.
Fairbanks has been outscored 18-4 during the slide, which started with a loss to Lake Superior State on Oct. 27 and continued with sweeps by Michigan and Ferris State.
Couple that with the fact that in MSU’s 13-game dominance of the Nanooks, the Spartans have held them to two or fewer goals every time.
Despite the statistics and probabilities that are stacked against the Nanooks this weekend, MSU freshman center Jim Slater said MSU can’t expect a walkover.
“I guess they’re on kind of a lower level than us right now,” Slater said.
“But most teams we play have to have their best game against us to even really have a chance to win.
“They’re going to give us their best game and it should be a pretty good series out there.”
