Skating Uphill: Alaska college hockey programs embrace independence while aiming for stability.

• Author: Joyal, Brad
• Position: EDUCATION

The news became official on the last Friday of June 2019. The college hockey landscape would never be the same, and the UAA and UAF hockey programs were caught in the crossfire. Officials from both universities were surprised--stunned, really--to learn that seven of the ten schools they partnered with as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association were leaving the WCHA with hopes of creating their own conference without UAA, UAF, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the third WCHA men's hockey team that was left behind.

Although there was a transitional period for both Alaska schools--each played in the WCHA during the conference's farewell 2019/2020 season--the Seawolves and Nanooks were tasked with forging new futures without conference affiliation. That was especially challenging because college athletics schedules are often finalized years in advance, and both schools relied on their WCHA games to make up the bulk of their schedules.

"You're frustrated that your program is in that spot and that there's some uncertainty with what's going to happen next," says UAF head coach Erik Largen as he reflects on the 2019 announcement that Bemidji State University, Bowling Green State University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Technological University, Minnesota State University, and Northern Michigan University were leaving the WCHA. "You spend a little time with those feelings, but then you just have to move on and try to find solutions."

UAA and UAF faced different challenges once the WCHA dissolved, but both institutions ultimately arrived at the same decision: college hockey is essential to Alaska, so the two programs would operate independently, without conference affiliation, for the immediate future.

Schedule Shift

After the COVID-19 pandemic sidelined UAA and UAF for the entire 2020/2021 season, both programs shifted their attention to the future. Fairbanks committed to playing the 2021/2022 season as an independent, but Anchorage found itself at a crossroads and faced potential extinction. In September 2020, the UA System Board of Regents announced it would eliminate alpine skiing, hockey, and gymnastics from UAA's athletic department unless the programs could raise enough money through donations and pledges to cover two years of operating costs. UAA hockey had the biggest hill to climb, needing $3 million compared to the $880,000 and $628,000 the gymnastics and ski programs needed to...