Last spring, Nanook head coach Tavis MacMillan resigned, surprising the Alaska hockey community. His replacement is head coach Doc DelCastillo. While DelCastillo may be a newcomer to the Nanook athletic department, he’s not as new to the ‘Nooks as one might think. DelCastillo served as the assistant coach for the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, the Nanooks’ clustermates in the CCHA, for 5 years.

CCHA clusters are made up of four teams each season, which means that the teams in each cluster will play each other four times each.

DelCastillo said that coaching against a team doesn’t necessarily bring familiarity with specific players, it is still helpful. “It gives me a little bit of an idea s far as tradition, what the program is about,” he said in an interview last week.

“I like where we’re at, I like our team,” DelCastillo said.

He got an even better picture of where the team is this weekend, when the Nanooks took on the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Trojans. The Nanooks went away with a 4-2 win standing on two goals each from junior Tyler Eckford and freshman Landon Novotney.

Novotney scored the first goal in the intrasquad Blue and Gold game two weekends ago, and the first goal in Saturday's game as well.

“If they can contribute, it’s a nice surprise,” DelCastillo said of Novotney and the other freshmen last week.

The Nanooks barraged Trojan goalie Reese St. Goddard with 52 shots throughout the game. St. Goddard turned away numerous scoring attempts by the Nanooks that seemed a sure thing.

Novotney’s opening goal came in the second period off of a pass from senior Aaron Lee. The Trojans weren’t beat down by the goal though, with less than two minutes remaining in the second period, Alberta capitalized on a powerplay from a penalty by Alaska captain T.J. Campbell.

In the third period, the Nanooks had to battle to hold onto their lead. “Tyler Eckford really came through at the end of the game,” Coach DelCastillo said. With just under seven minutes remaining, Eckford put the puck past St. Goddard after a scramble in front of the net. “He made a shot that most guys probably couldn’t make off their backhand,” DelCastillo said.

The Trojans once again came back and just 36 seconds later scored off of a bad bounce from the Nanooks.

Near the end of the game, the Nanooks took advantage of a power play and Eckford put the game-winning goal away off of a pass from Campbell. The Trojans pulled their goalie, and Novotney sealed the deal with an empty-net goal again from Aaron Lee.

“It was a good game, we played a good game,” Coach DelCastillo said Sunday, “We really dominated the game, their goaltender played just fantastic.”

The win was a good one for the team. “It’s almost bragging rights,” Campbell said last week of the victory. Many of the Nanooks are from Southern Alberta and have played with or against some of the Trojan players in other leagues. Novotney’s success is a surprise, but also something coaches and teammates hope for. “I’m actually really impressed with what the coaching staff brought in,” said Campbell, “they’re fitting in really well.” According to Lee and Rogers, the freshmen have both the speed and the puckhandling skills that they’ll need to contribute.

Rogers added that the rookies, especially his defenders, are learning fast and quickly becoming a part of the team. “It’s new members of your family out there.”

Building a team doesn’t only rely on players though. Starting a new season with a new coach obviously brings with it new experiences. “He’s pretty intense, he demands a lot from us,” said senior Aaron Lee. This year the team has been doing dryland plyometric training every day before practice, he said.

“So far it’s been a great change, everyone’s been working really hard on and off the ice,” said senior goalie Wylie Rogers, “the more we do [the training], the easier it gets.”

“It’s been better so far,” Campbell said of the season. The team is doing different systems than before, and for the seniors, that means changing up their routine of having the same practice for three years under MacMillan. “I come to the rink every day like nothing’s changed,” said Lee.

The Nanooks now have two weeks off before they face in-state rivals UAA in Anchorage on Oct. 19 and 20. Until then, Coach DelCastillo says the team still needs to refine their game some more and get even better in the defensive zone and at taking care of the puck.

“We need to just focus on the next two weeks of practice and getting better and improving every day.”