Alaska

Alaska is an American state that lies in the northwest extremity of the North American continent. Alaska has 17 boroughs and a total population around 736,000 and is 663,268 square miles making Alaska the nation's 48th most populous and the largest state in the US. The state name derives from the Aleut "alaxsxaq" meaning "the mainland.

History of hockey in Alaska

Organized hockey in Fairbanks dates back to the early 1900s. On December 20, 1906, it was reported that the local hockey teams were getting a lot of practice in and that a schedule of games would be arranged after Christmas. On December 15, 1909, a hockey game was set to be played at the indoor skating rink in the Gordon Theater Building. Captain Cathcart's Team: Kavanaugh, N. Paull, J. Norman, G. Kennedy, C. Creamer, Mayhood. Captain Naether's Team: Matt Allen, Roy Porter, V. Taylor, F. Larson, J. Cummings, F. Johnston. There was a meeting on January 5, 1920, for the purpose of organizing teams. On March 31, 1924, it was reported a pickup hockey team of Skagway had recently defeated a team from the crew of the Canadian steamship Princess Mary.

The Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, later the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, began playing hockey in 1925-26. They faced the Fairbanks town team in a four game series for the Crosby E. Keen Trophy, winning three of them. The Nanooks then lay dormant until 1932-33, when they played a seven game series against the Fairbanks Exploration Company. The team played annually until 1941, when they went dormant for 10 years. The Nanooks were active most years from 1951-2020, and had their 2020-21 season cancelled due to COVID-19. The University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves began play at the Division II level in 1979, and jumped to Division I five years later. They also had their 2020-21 season struck.

The Alaska Gold Kings were founded in 1975 as an amateur senior ice hockey team in Fairbanks as the Alaska Teamsters. The Teamsters hockey team were the brainchild of Gary Atwood, father of hockey playing sons, and then head of the Fairbanks Teamsters Local 959. Wanting a higher level of ice hockey for local youth to aspire to, and to provide Fairbanks with a sports institution that could compete with Anchorage, Atwood helped form the team in 1975. In 1977, the stockholders met and formed the Fairbanks Gold Kings. The name was created by Joe Jackovich of Jackovich Tractors and Equipment Co. in homage to the gold mining history of Fairbanks, the Alaska Goldpanners baseball team, and his favorite NHL team the Los Angeles Kings. The team's name was again later changed to the Alaska Gold Kings. Between 1983 and 1995 the Gold Kings won five national championships at the senior men's level, and routinely played the powerhouse teams from the Lower 48 and Canada.

While in Fairbanks the Gold Kings once hosted their own international tournament, the Alaska Cup, facing the likes of Team Japan and Team Austria. They also were the American representatives in the 1990 Tournoi du Mont-Blanc, a traditional tournament played around Christmas in several French Alps resorts. During the 1994–95 season the Gold Kings played in the short-lived Pacific Hockey League, winning the league's only championship.

In 1995, the Gold Kings along with two other former PHL teams, the Fresno Falcons and Anchorage Aces (now Alaska Aces) became members of the newly formed professional West Coast Hockey League. The Alaska Gold Kings made their only WCHL playoff appearance during the inaugural 1995–96 season, losing in the first round to the eventual champion San Diego Gulls. The team suspended operations after a last place finish in 1996–97 and did not play in the 1997–98 season.

The Anchorage Aces were established in 1989. They were originally a semi-professional club organized by Dennis Sorenson, as a senior men's ice hockey team to compete against the established Alaska Gold Kings in Fairbanks.

The Aces played four unofficial games during the 1989–90 season. During the 1990–91 season, Keith Street led the team on a 22–game schedule, which included 20 games against teams registered with USA Hockey. The 1990–91 season ended with the Aces winning the Senior Men's Open National Championship held in Fairbanks. In 1993 and 1994, they won the National Amateur Championship. They finished second in 1992 and 1995.

The Aces joined the Pacific Northwest Hockey League (PNHL) for the 1991–92 season, playing six of their home games at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and eight at the Central Peninsula Sports Center in Soldotna. The Aces finished second in the PNHL with a 16–12–2 regular season record, and were the runners-up in the national USA Hockey tourney after a 0–4–1 tourney run.

In the 1992–93 season, new head coach Mike Ashley led the Aces to a 19–3–0 regular season record. In the USA Hockey Senior Men's Open Tournament, the Aces finished second for the second year in a row after compiling a 4–1 record in the tourney, losing the tiebreaker to the Chicago Chargers. Ashley resigned following the season.

For the 1993–94 season, the Aces played as an independent team. Steve Gasparini took over as head coach, and led the Aces to a 22–9–1 regular season record. The Aces also won their second championship in the USA Hockey Senior Men's Open National Tournament with a 5–0 run highlighted by the 6–0 rout of the Fresno Falcons. In 1994–95, the Aces joined the Pacific Hockey League (PHL), formed by a merger of the Pacific Southwest League and PNHL. The team went 27–9 and lost in the championship game to the Gold Kings.

The Aces became a charter member of the professional West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) in 1995. When the WCHL was absorbed by the East Coast Hockey League in 2003, the team joined the merged ECHL. They were renamed the Alaska Aces in 2003, and won the ECHL title three times, in 2006, 2011, and 2014. In 2017, the ownership group announced that the 2016–17 season would be the team's last, after which the franchise would cease operations. The owners cited the struggling Alaskan economy, and sagging ticket sales among the reasons for the club's financial downfall. In June 2017, the franchise was sold and relocated to Portland, Maine, for the 2018–19 season.

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs are a Tier II junior team in the North American Hockey League, having played in it since 2003. Previously, the Ice Dogs played in the Western States Hockey League (1997-1999), the Northern Pacific Hockey League (2000-2001), and the America West Hockey League (2001-2003). The Kenai River Brown Bears are a Tier II junior franchise based in Soldotna, that has competed in the North American Hockey League since 2007.

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