Blue and Gold brief September 30, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in hockey.Tags: Alaska, hockey, Nanooks, UAF
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Last night was the hockey team’s blue and gold game. At first, I couldn’t figure out why the team looked different, and then it hit me: blue helmets, pants and gloves. Not a huge change, but it definitely is a new look. They’re also sporting the Nike logo not just on their gear, but on their socks as well. Check out the picture on the blue and gold page and notice the big white Nike swooshes across Aaron Lee’s knees. I’m not sure how much I like that, but I hope they at least got more money because of it.
Speaking of Aaron Lee, the Athletic Department or SRC or someone had a contest to win a car. They pulled two names (one of which was actually Aaron Lee) and you had to throw a football through the window of a new car to win it. The car was at about the hashmarks (think right in front of the goal) and the throw was from the far blue line. If you missed that throw, you got to move up to just past the red line and try again for an Xbox 360. After that it was just at the top of the circles (and I don’t even remember what that prize was for). He didn’t win anything, neither did the girl that was throwing, but they both got a hat and a foam football. I’d post some pictures of their “sweet” advertising, (anyone want to play hockey at the “Patty Center Ice Ring?”) but I can’t seem to find the USB cord for my phone right now. Those may come later.
Sibling… teamwork September 28, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in cross country, hockey, women's basketball.Tags: Alaska, hockey, Nanooks, siblings, UAF
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I found a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner article about how the Nanooks’ hockey team is unique in the fact that there are three sets of brothers this year, the Aaron and Jeff Lee, Brandon and Dion Knelsen, and Dustin and Bryant Molle. Not only does it make recruiting better, but siblings just play together. In high school we had our dynamic duos, and even though I didn’t play hockey with my brother much until my senior year of high school, we just played better together. The report says that the Nanooks have the most sets of brothers in the CCHA and possibly the most in all of NCAA. Next year we will lose the oldest half of the Lee brothers, but will gain recruits Jamie and Jordan Benn.
The hockey team isn’t the only Nanook squad with sibling power. The women’s basketball team has Lexie and Brittany Black, and the cross-country team has Julia and Anna Coulter and, although in different races, Marius and Aurelia Korthauer (although I haven’t seen Aurelia in any of the stats for this year and she was one of the top runners last year).
Some NHL brother-powerhouses, according to Wikipedia (which I know isn’t a super-reliable source, but it’s got such a nice neat list!) plus these are mostly names I recognize:
Valeri and Pavel Bure
Ted and Chris Drury
Phil and Tony Esposito (first time in NHL history one brother scored on another)
Sergei and Fedor Fedorov
Wayne and Brent…. Gretzky (highest scoring pair of brothers)
Kevin and Derian Hatcher
Gordie and Vic Howe
Bobby and Dennis Hull
Paul and Steve Kariya
Alain and Mario Lemieux
Eric and Brett Lindros
Mark and Paul Messier
Scott and Rob Niedermayer
Sean and Chris Pronger
Patrik and Peter Sundstrom (twins)
Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Rich, Ron Sutter (Rich and Ron are twins, first time four brothers played in the same game) Man, I had them confused with Bob Suter, who was on the Miracle on Ice team in 1980, also a fairly successful hockey family.
Anyways, if my bro ever actually hits the ice with the Avalanche, (he needs to stop hurting himself), I hope he would maybe be recruited here (even though he probably wants to get out of state) before I graduate, which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and may be sooner rather than later.
Volleyball pulls out of slump September 28, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in volleyball.Tags: Alaska, GNAC, Nanooks, UAF, volleyball
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The Nanook volleyball team pulled out of a conference slump, beating the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders in Idaho on Thursday. The Nanooks won in a 5-game series 26-30, 30-27, 31-33, 30-24, 15-12 after two straight GNAC losses. The Crusaders had 37 errors, which their coach said was about “20 too many.”
Alaska sophomore Megan Thigpen had a match-high 18 kills, said a press release from the Athletic Department.
Hopefully they’ll keep this up.
Here’s an article from the News-Miner before the trip.
Major athletes September 28, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in Uncategorized.Tags: Alaska, athletics, honor roll, majors, Nanooks, sports, UAF
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Since I have so much time on my hands… or maybe not, but time I’m willing to waste, I got curious about what the distribution of majors was in the UAF athletic department. This in no way is accurate, as I just went by player bios and the vast majority are just simply unlisted (a senior without a major? come on!) But here’s the breakdown I came up with. By the way, many of these are listed as “intended” majors and may have absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Liberal Arts:
Political Science-4
Business (administration, management, I kindof rolled them all into one): 20
Marketing: 1
Economics: 1
Justice: 6
Anthropology: 1
Education: 1
Physical Education: 1
Art: 1
Psychology: 4
Journalism: 2
Photojournalism: 1
Computer Science: 3
oh-so-stereotypical communication:….. 2
Youth Ministries: 1
I’m not even sure that some of these majors exist, like Youth Ministries, Physical Education… not at UAF (as far as I know). Many bios said they wanted to be personal trainers or athletic trainers or physical therapists, and last time I checked those were also not options. And stuff like Marketing, I don’t think is an actual major, although it may be a concentration within business.
I’m surprised there aren’t more education majors. A LOT of my friends are education majors and there’s only one or two in the athletic department.. wow.
On with the hard stuff:
Sciences:
Chemistry: 1
Organic Chemistry: 1
Math: 3 (including a grad student)
Geology: 2
Natural Resource Management: 1
Health Science: 1
Biology: 7
Wildlife Biology: 1
Marine Biology: 1
Engineering:
Civil Engineering: 5
Mechanical Engineering: 3
Electrical Engineering: 2
Environmental Engineering: 1
Petroleum Engineering: 3
Unknown/Undecided: 45
Now I’ve got to hand it to the science and engineering majors. I’ve seen firsthand how much of a time-suck engineering classes are; especially when someone gets really involved into the engineering events and clubs and projects. Want to see how these athletes fared on the honor roll?
Eckford named to CCHA pre-season all-conference team September 27, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in hockey.Tags: Alaska, CCHA, hockey, Nanooks, Tyler Eckford, UAF
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Junior defender Tyler Eckford was named to the CCHA pre-season all-conference second team. Eckford was last year’s fourth-best scorer (behind Kyle Greentree, Curtis Fraser and Darcy Campbell, all of whom are now playing professional hockey), and the second best defenseman (to Campbell).
The announcement was made at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich. at the CCHA’s Media Day. New Nanook coach Doc DelCastillo was at the press conference and gave a brief preview of the team.
He said that Tyler will be very valuable as he is the top returning scorer. That somewhat worries me. Not the fact that Eckford is the top returning scorer, but I don’t think a defenseman should stay at the top of the scoring list. It’s his job to prevent goals more than it is to score them. We need some of our forwards to step up and get the scoring on. I think senior Aaron Lee did much better last year and hopefully he’ll step up to the plate. Always a plus is having siblings on the team and Jeff Lee now has a year of play under his belt.
Then there’s always everyone’s favorite youngster, Dion Knelsen, who at only 17 last year (the same age as my younger brother who was still a senior in high school), wowed the Nanook fans and was simply amazing. His brother Brandon should also do well I think. Another one I think will be on the up is junior Adam Naglich. Trevor Hyatt, also a junior, played really well last year also. So we’ll see soon who will be the go-to guys now that Greentree left early (he was the top-scorer three years running), and Fraser graduated.
Wow, have I gone through the whole front line yet? I guess what I’m saying is that we need depth, but strong depth, and all these guys (and I forgot Ryan Muspratt, who was out most of last year with a bum leg) definitely have the potential.
In other awesome news, it’s getting cold outside and that can only mean the beginning of hockey season is near! This weekend, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. is the annual Blue and Gold game at the Patty Center. This game is a sort of kick-off to the season as the guys skate with little kids after the game and just have an intra-squad scrimmage. $5 for adults, $3 for students. You can bet I’ll be there.
Earlier this week, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published a story about the team’s first practice with coach Del Castillo. I’ve linked it to the copied version on the Nanook website so that it won’t get lost in the world of archives.
Rifle Team Honored by Pres. Bush September 23, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in Rifle.Tags: Alaska, Nanooks, NCAA, President Bush, Rifle, UAF
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We know we have a badass rifle team; but this time they’ve been honored not only as national champions, but by the President himself. All political feelings aside, that’s pretty cool. Last week the Nanook rifle team headed to Washington, D.C. to be honored along with eight other national champs. They’re the first NCAA champs from Alaska to be honored. (What other Alaska team has won a national championship anyway?). The Athletic Department issued a release last week about the trip, and now have posted a release with the address to read Pres. Bush’s address. There is a link on the page with the video. The White House site also has team photos.
Swimming Star September 20, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in swimming.Tags: Alaska, Nanooks, PCSC, swimming, UAF
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Last week, swimming coach Scott Lemley announced a new recruit for this season. Sarah Rockwell was a top swimmer for Service High School in Anchorage. She started her college career at University of Southern California but had to leave in her first semester due to medical reasons. She has since gotten married and wasn’t even thinking about coming back to school until Lemley, who coached her when she was 11, called her.
I think it’s interesting that she’s married, because it’s just got to be such a different view on life from just about every one of her teammates. But even cooler, Lemley pegs her as Olympic Trial worthy. She posted the fastest times in every event she was in at State her senior year (04-05) and set state records in 2002 in the 100m freestyle and 200m medley.
*Note: Alaska Junior Jacqueline VanDriessche also appears in the state results, as she won the 50M freestyle
National Letter of Intent conflict September 11, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in men's basketball.Tags: Alaska, basketball, Jesse Bean, men's basketball, Nanooks, NLI, UAF
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For those of you who didn’t know: Frank Ostanik resigned as basketball coach in mid-may. Clemon Johnson was named the new head coach in his place. Recruits Jesse Bean, an Alaskan all-star from Wasilla, and John Clark, another top Alaskan prep player, asked to be released from their National Letters of Intent when Ostanik resigned. Alaska’s Athletic Director, Forrest Karr, would not release them from their commitments, which spurred a flurry of news coverage, which seemed to take a pro-recruits turn in the Anchorage area, and a pro-University edge in Fairbanks.
In my opinion, a NLI is a contract. Welcome to the real world, kids.
Here are some Nanook Basketball-related links:
Note: I would have earlier NLI conflict links posted, but the News-Miner charges for access to their archives, and as a poor college student, I’ll have to pass.
Nanooks gain Pico, lose Hayter News-Miner Sept. 7, 2007
The latest ADN article about Jesse Bean’s new ball-playing home Sept. 2, 2007
Frontiersman (Wasilla) article on the same Aug. 30, 2007
ADN article on UAF moving ahead despite controversy Jul. 25, 2007
What is a National Letter of Intent? ADN Jul. 22, 2007
Volleyball owns Seawolves September 11, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in volleyball.Tags: Alaska, Anchorage, GNAC, Nanooks, Seawolves, UAA, UAF, volleyball
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Saturday night the Nanooks swept the UAA Seawolves in the first three games.
UAF Athletic Department Release
First Post September 11, 2007
Posted by sunstarsports in Uncategorized.add a comment
This is my first post in this blog. My focus will be on the Alaska Nanooks and their standings, and anything else that may arise this season. Last year was an interesting one both on and off the playing field.
This blog is for my “Pods, Blogs and New Media” class at UAF. I hope to basically gain a better understanding of how new media really shapes how people interact with each other in this class.
