The colors on the leaves may be turning to brilliant crimsons, deep blues and radiant gold, but there were only two colors UAF fans cared about Saturday -- blue and gold.
The Nanook hockey season officially started Saturday with the annual Blue & Gold Game in the Patty Center.
The Blue and Gold teams made up of the 'Nooks hockey players were divided fairly evenly, according to team members. Wylie Rogers, Chad Johnson and Erik Largen rotated duties as goalie for both teams. But the thing that brought in fans more than anything was the skills competitions.
Asked what was her favorite part of the night, Kaitlyn Collins, 12, said, "Probably the races because there was lots of tie breakers."
Between periods, fans enjoyed the much-heated skills competition comprised of three different contests, the fastest skater, the hardest shot and the breakaway.
In the fastest skater race, players blazed a lap around the rink trying to edge out their fellow teammates. With seven races, Darcy Campbell had the muster to guster the fastest laps on the ice.
Next up was the hardest shot. 'Nooks lined up and hit the puck as hard as they could at a radar gun trying to get the top speed.
Kyle "Greener" Greentree owned the hardest shot competition, nabbing the first, second and third place spots with an impressive 98-, 99- and 100-mph shots.
"I've been training all summer and trying to work on my shot everyday," said Greentree on what his secret was to getting such high speeds.
Last up was the breakaway competition. Two players started at the redline and attempted to score a goal on the two goalies.
After the skills competition, things heated up with three scores in the final seven minutes. Freshman Jeff Lee broke the ice with a goal on Chad Johnson, the goalie for the Blue Team at the time.
Next up was Nathan Fornatoro with an assist by Greentree to score on Gold, guarded by Erik Largen.
With a 1-1 tied game and just minutes left on the clock, Lucas Burnett scored the winning goal for the Gold team by juking around goalie Johnson
After the match fans were treated to a meet and greet by the hockey boys on the ice.
"The smaller venue of the Patty Center is great for meeting fans," said Curtis Fraser.
The meat of this match was a chance to see what the hockey boys have in store for us this year. Still, several team members commented that what fans will see is not much different from last year.
"I think we'll be a big physical team that's a little bit quicker," said UAF junior Brandon "Growler" Gawryletz.
Some line change ups and the introduction of seven new freshmen should make this an interesting year.
Unfortunately, one 'Nook sat out this match among with many to come. Ryan "Ratter" Muspratt is still recovering from a torn ACL and MCL knee injury that ended his season last year. In spite of his injury, Muspratt is upbeat and maintaining a positive attitude.
"The goal is to be playing somewhere around Christmas time," Muspratt said.
Asides from injury and the Blue and Gold game, this year matches will be a full burning rivalry and sitting directly in the skillet is Michigan and UAA.
"The Anchorage games are obviously important (but) we definitely want to take out Michigan for taken us out of the playoff last year," Gawryletz said.
"Last year, I felt we could have done better and we're look to rectify that," said teammate Fraser about the Michigan matches, "We owe them."
Fans are looking forward to this balefire.
"I probably won't miss a single one," said Matt Giani, a junior justice major. "I really like it when Growler beats people up."
