Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's ice hockey

The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Seawolves were an original member of the now defunct men's division in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). They played at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to the Seawolf Sports Complex on campus at the start of the 2019–20 season.
==History==
UAA began its ice hockey program in 1979, playing 8 of its 31 games against Division II Alaska–Fairbanks (winning all) before beginning a full D-II schedule the following season. The Seawolves rose quickly in the Division II ranks, narrowly missing out on the NCAA tournament in 1984 but promoted the team to Division I that summer when the entire D-II division collapsed.
Anchorage played as an independent for a year before being a founding member of the first west coast conference, the Great West Hockey Conference. The league was very short-lived, lasting only three seasons before the two non-Alaska schools dropped hockey entirely, but it did provide UAA with its first league title in 1987. The Seawolves were once again without a conference in 1988–89, but a year later they posted their first 20-win season at the D-I level and were selected to the NCAA Tournament.
The Seawolves dropped both games to Lake Superior State but returned the following year after another 20-win campaign and this time they were able to win their first NCAA round, defeating the Boston College Eagles. 1991–92 provided UAA with its best record, with the team going 27–8–1 and garnering a third consecutive NCAA berth (the last such for UAA as of 2019). After one more winning season the Seawolves joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
The stability of their new conference came as a double-edged sword, however, as the Seawolves would spend the next 20 years finishing with losing records. To make matters worse the team would lose both games in the opening round of the WCHA tournament most of the time and only twice could manage a First Round series win.
The college hockey world changed in 2013 when the Central Collegiate Hockey Association collapsed due to the formation of the Big Ten and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. This caused the WCHA to replace many of its departing members with weaker teams but even in the new WCHA UAA was still a bottom-half team. After making the conference semifinals the first season the Seawolves missed the playoffs each of the next five years.
In 2020, the university announced plans to cut the hockey program, along with skiing and gymnastics, due to sharp reductions in state funding. The University of Alaska Board of Regents offered the hockey team a chance at reinstatement in September if they could raise 2 seasons worth of expenses, approximately $3 million by February 2021, so the hockey program as a whole went on hiatus and did not compete for both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons as its future was being determined. The fundraising was divided into 2 parts: $1.5 million in cash and the remainder in firm pledges. As of December 2020, the team began fundraising for the needed money. On August 31, 2021, the university announced that enough donations had been received to save the program. The team returned to the ice for the 2022–23 season.
==Season-by-season results==
==Head coaches==
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record 	Pct.
1979–1996 	Brush Christiansen	17 	287–229–30 	
1996–2001 	Dean Talafous 	5 	50–108–22 	
2001–2005 	John Hill 	4 	39–89–21 	
2005–2013 	Dave Shyiak 	8 	80–177–33 	
2013–2018 	Matt Thomas 	5 	48–105–21 	
2018–2021 	Matt Curley 	2 	7–53–10 	
2022–present	Matt Shasby 	1 	8–19–1 	
Totals 	7 coaches 	42 seasons	519–780–138	
As of completion of 2022–23 season. Records includes regular season and playoffs games.
==Statistical leaders==
===Career points leaders===
Player	Years 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
 	1989–1992	 	63	137	200	
 	1981–1984	 	70	127	197	
 	1984–1987	 	76	93 	169	
 	1989–1992	 	74	91 	165	
 	1985–1988	 	54	107	161	
 	1988–1991	 	75	73 	148	
 	1989–1992	 	50	96 	146	
 	1989–1991	 	76	70 	146	
 	1990–1994	 	73	61 	134	
 	1992–1995	 	45	88 	133	
===Career goaltending leaders===
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Minimum 30 games
Player	Years 	GP 	Min 	W 	L 	T 	GA 	SO	SV% 	GAA
 	1998–1999	30 	1692	11	13	5 	65 	1 	.920	2.31
 	2014–2018	122	6973	28	77	14	350	3 	.908	3.01
 	2010–2014	71 	3850	21	39	2 	198	5 	.888	3.09
 	2010–2014	82 	4499	24	41	10	236	1 	.886	3.15
 	1990–1993	48 	2688	29	11	6 	142	2 	.883	3.17
Statistics current through the start of the 2018-19 season.
==Roster==
As of September 20, 2023.
==Olympians==
This is a list of Alaska Anchorage alumni were a part of an Olympic team.
Name 	Position 	Alaska Anchorage Tenure	Team	Year 	Finish
Mat Robinson	Defenseman	2005–2009 	CAN 	2018, 2022	, 6th
==Seawolves in the NHL==
As of July 1, 2022.
Player 	Position 	Team(s) 	Years 	Games	
Jeff Batters 	Defense 	STL 	1993–1994	16 	0
Jay Beagle 	Center 	WSH, VAN, ARI 	2008–2022	646 	1
Rob Conn 	Right wing	CHI, BUF 	1991–1996	30 	0
Curtis Glencross	Left wing 	ANA, CBJ, EDM, CGY, WSH	2006–2015	507 	0
Justin Johnson 	Right wing	NYI 	2013–2014	2 	0
Nathan Lawson 	Goaltender	NYI, OTT 	2010–2014	11 	0
Gregg Naumenko 	Goaltender	ANA 	2000–2001	2 	0
Mike Peluso 	Left wing 	CHI, OTT, NJD, STL, CGY	1989–1998	458 	1
Duvie Westcott 	Defense 	CBJ 	2001–2008	201 	0
File:Jay Beagle 2016-04-07 1.JPG|Jay Beagle
File:Curtis Glencross.JPG|Curtis Glencross
File:Peluso with Devils.jpg|Mike Peluso
Source:
==References==
==External links==
*Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's ice hockey
 
Alaska Anchorage
Category:Ice hockey clubs established in 1979