The Seawolves were a member of the WCHA before the eight Midwest schools, including NMU, broke away and re-formed the CCHA last season. Now an independent, UAA hasn’t played for the past two seasons, largely because of the coronavirus pandemic and budget cuts at their state level.

The returnees now playing for UAA are junior Connor Marritt, who played two years at NMU, and Nolan Kent, a goalie over four seasons at Northern who is listed as a graduate student on the Anchorage roster.

The Wildcats themselves are also coming home after spending two weeks on the road with mixed success. After a season-opening CCHA split at home against Bowling Green State on Oct. 1-2, Northern swept Colgate in Hamilton, New York, 3-2 and 4-1, before losing a pair to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, last weekend, 3-1 and 5-4.

NMU is 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the CCHA, while Alaska-Anchorage is 1-3 after a home split against Western Michigan — a 3-1 win and 4-1 loss — and being swept at Colorado College 6-2 and 4-1. Both of the Seawolves opponents are members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which is also home to defending national champion Denver.

Northern Michigan University goalie Nolan Kent, center, tries to cover up the puck as Alaska-Anchorage's Marcus Mitchell, second from left, and Tanner Schachle, right, look to score in the third period of their WCHA game played Jan. 11, 2020, at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. Defending for the Wildcats is Rylan Yaremko. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Anchorage has also played three exhibitions, losing to Simon Fraser of Canada 1-0 and sweeping the Nevada-Las Vegas club team 8-0 and 2-1.

Game times this weekend are 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday. The following weekend will sound quite similar to Wildcats fans, as Alaska-Fairbanks comes to the Berry for games at the same times on the same days.

In last weekend’s series at Notre Dame, Simon Kjellberg scored NMU’s only goal in Friday’s opener, his first as a Wildcat after transferring from RPI in the offseason.

Then on Sunday, two more players scored their first goals for Northern — Kristof Papp and Connor Eddy — as Andre Ghantous and Artem Shlaine also scored. Papp is a first-year transfer from Michigan State, while Eddy is a freshman.

Senior captain AJ Vanderbeck and the Wildcats are among national leaders in multiple individual and team offensive categories.

Northern Michigan University goalie Nolan Kent knocks the puck aside with his stick after an Alaska-Anchorage shot during the first period on Jan. 10, 2020, at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Shannon Stieg)

Vanderbeck is tied for second in goals with four and game-winning goals with two, while his one shorthanded goal is as many as anyone else in the country. He also has the most shots taken in the nation with 34.

Teamwise, NMU is tied for first in power play goals with seven and sixth in both points with 50 and assists with 30.

In the polls, the Wildcats are receiving votes in both USCHO and USA Today-USA Hockey Magazine balloting.

Anchorage is back playing back hockey for the first time since the 2019-20 season, probably the reason why the Seawolves have brought in quite a few players from other colleges through the now-popular transfer portal.

They not only have ex-Wildcats Marritt and Kent, but players from Alaska-Fairbanks, Western Michigan, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Arizona State, Massachusetts-Lowell, Clarkson, Sacred Heart, Canisius, St. John’s and Lindenwood.

Marritt shares top goal-scoring honors on UAA with two and is tied for the best plus-minus rating of plus-2, while Kent has played in all four Seawolves games and has the majority of minutes in goal with a 3.54 goals against average and .895 saves percentage.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.