The University of Alaska Anchorage hockey team started its 2024-25 campaign on a high note at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Friday night with a 7-1 exhibition win over visiting Grand Canyon.
“In these exhibition games, you’ve got a lot of nervous energy going into the game and that first period was a lot of feeling out, but all credit goes to Grand Canyon for the effort that they put up on the ice and made our guys earn it tonight,” UAA head coach Matt Shasby said.
The Seawolves were nearly perfect on penalty kills Friday, allowing Grand Canyon’s only goal on the final second of the Lopes’ first power play of the game.
“You give some guys some opportunities on the kill that maybe don’t have a lot of reps at it, but our group responded by getting that one late into the first to give us the lead going into the second with a kind of a sense of relief,” Shasby said. “Special teams, penalty kill and power play is going to be a big emphasis going into next weekend.”
The Seawolves had six players record a goal in their season opener and broke the game open in the second period, outscoring the Lopes 4-0 during that frame.
“(We) were able to get some odd man rushes and execute on them,” Shasby said. “That needs to be part of our game more consistently but I thought our group had a nice response in the second.”
Leading the team was senior forward Porter Schachle of Wasilla, who scored his first two goals of the season during the team’s second-period flurry.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “I had a blast. It was super fun playing with everyone and seeing all our young guys get out there and tear it up. It was really incredible.”
Schachle credited those around him for putting him in a position to capitalize on his scoring opportunities far more often than not.
“I think playing with guys that can put the puck on my stick and in places where the goalie doesn’t expect it makes it really easy,” he said. “Our coaches here tell us to shoot the puck, shoot the puck, shoot the puck, and eventually it is going to go in. I don’t think I’m doing anything special, I just play with special players.”
This year’s team is made up of 14 newcomers and 15 returners, and Shasby likes the “good mix” of carryover and new blood.
“I’m excited to see how those returners and new guys gel here over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Some of the core leaders on this year’s team are forward Connor Marritt, who is the team captain, and his three alternate captains are fellow forwards Jarred White, Schachle and Anchorage’s Maximilion Helgeson.
“Those are guys that have been here from the rebirth of the program,” Shasby said. “We look forward to having those four lead this group to accomplish the things we want to accomplish.”
Schachle’s older brother Tanner played for the Seawolves the year prior to the program being defunded and was an alternate captain. Their family still has his jersey with the alternate captain’s “A” on it hanging up in their house.
“My dad played for Fairbanks, and we’re looking forward to playing them this year and turning the tide in that one so I can talk a little smack to him,” Schachle said.
The win over the Lopes gives the Seawolves some much-needed confidence heading into their biggest challenge of the season: They’ll host reigning Division I national champion Denver University on their home ice next weekend for a two-game series.
“It puts us in the right process moving forward,” Schachle said. “You want to come in and win your first game. We played the Green and Gold game to get ready for this one, and we played this one to get ready for Denver, so hopefully we can keep that going.”
The team is extremely excited for the opportunity to to test its mettle against the top-ranked team in the nation in its first nonexhibition contest of the season.
“It’s something that very few teams get the honor to do every year, especially independent teams,” Schachle said. “They’re a very good team, and it’s exciting.”
Early on in his tenure as the head coach of the Seawolves program, Shasby and Pioneers head coach David Carle of Anchorage put the plan in motion to play each other down the road.
“He reached out about some games and they were three years off in the distance, and now we’re here and they just happened to be the reigning national champs and the preseason No. 1-ranked team coming into that weekend,” he said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for our group and a great opportunity for us to see the best team in college hockey.”
The Seawolves are hoping for a huge turnout at the Denver University games, which will take place at Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Saturday night and Sunday evening with puck drop times of 6:07 p.m. and 5:07 p.m.
“It’s a great opportunity for our city to see the best team in college hockey compete against your hometown team,” Shasby said. “Hopefully people come out and we’re able to shock the hockey world. I think our guys have it inside of them and we’ll see here come Saturday night.”