Picture this. You are a freshman on the Michigan hockey team. Before the season begins, you take a look at your schedule to see the first few games. You glance it over and spot Lake Superior as your first conference game.
But wait! No! You see the asterisk on the bottom of the schedule and realize it's a non-conference game. So you scroll down the schedule a bit more to see your first conference battle.
You think it may be a duel with Bowling Green, Michigan State or maybe Miami (Ohio). You figure that your first game at Yost Ice Arena is sometime within the first five games.
Then you see that your first true home game is Nov. 8 against Ohio State due to the renovation of the arena.
So you point your finger up to the beginning of the schedule and find out that the first game in your CCHA career is against none other than ... Alaska-Fairbanks.
Alaska-Fairbanks?!
That's right. In addition to playing a team that is not in the lower 48 states, you will be going there to play the game.
That's the position the Wolverines find themselves in for the next two nights.
You might as well be in Russia. The Wolverines will be closer to Asia than the U.S. mainland.
In their second year in the conference, the Nanooks (0-3 CCHA, 0-5 overall) host the Wolverines in a pair of games, tonight and tomorrow night, at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. Both games begin at 7 p.m. Alaska time, which is midnight, Ann Arbor time.
Kevin Magnuson, Andrew Merrick and Sean Peach can say that they will be the first Michigan freshmen to play a conference game against Alaska-Fairbanks in Alaska.
No. 1 Michigan (3-0) is outside the mainland for the second time in team history. The only other time the two teams met in Alaska was in the first two games of the 1993-94 season when the Nanooks were not part of the CCHA.
The Wolverines won both games, 6-3 and 4-3.
This season's nine-man senior class was there. But it's not only the games the seniors remember - it is the entire Alaska experience.
"It was a real different lifestyle and culture up there," Michigan's Harold Schock said. "There were huge stuffed bears in every restaurant."
The only things on this trip that are stuffed is the players' and coaches' luggage. Michigan took the half-day flight to Alaska on Tuesday morning, packing plenty of warm clothes and school books.
When the Wolverines wake up in Alaska today, it will be a shock to their systems. The players and coaches will walk outside to feel below-zero temperatures, which will rise to a whopping 15 degrees today and 12 degrees tomorrow.
"I'm not too concerned about the weather," Michigan's John Madden said. "If I have to hibernate before the games, I will do that."
Schock may just do that in between the games. The senior defenseman, who said that he was glad that his first career-game was in Alaska, as far away from Ann Arbor as possible, had to bring along his biochemistry exam with him.
Yet it's not as if he is missing anything. Let's just say tourism is not too high in Fairbanks.
"We asked someone the last time we were there - since we figured that we're in Alaska, there's got to be some cool things to do," Schock said. "He said, 'Well, you could go visit the pipeline.'"
When the Wolverines are not debating whether to go see some oil, they will be trying to notch their fourth win in as many games.
Madden comes into tonight's conference duel as Michigan's hottest player. The senior center scored two goals in the Wolverines' 3-0 victory over Maine one week ago. He is tied for the team lead in goals (3) with Bill Muckalt and in points (7) with Brendan Morrison.
The Wolverines' goaltender, Marty Turco, is also on a roll. He has a 1.13 goals-against average.
Michigan has been solid on the power play. The Wolverines are 8-for-23 on man advantages. And they have killed 22 of 24 penalties. Still, the Wolverines have looked sluggish at times.
Michigan coach Red Berenson said he knows how to fix that.
"The thing we've been stressing is to play with a little more intensity," Berenson said. "We need to play a little smarter and finish better offensively."
On the flipside, nothing has gone right for Alaska-Fairbanks. It was a nightmare even before the season started.
Sophomore defenseman Erik Drygas was paralyzed chest-down two weeks ago when he crashed into the boards during practice. After surgery to remove fragments in his injured vertebra, Drygas remains in stable condition at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
While the players have grieved Drygas' injury, Alaska-Fairbanks' offense hasn't produced. Pat Williams and Sean Fraser have led the Nanooks' attack with two goals apiece, but Alaska-Fairbanks is a measly one-for-26 on the power play.
The Nanooks also haven't fared well between the pipes. Sophomore goaltender Ian Perkins has been charged with all the team's losses and has a 4.30 GAA.
On the other hand, Turco is riding high into Fairbanks, allowing no goals in the last 103:54. He said he is looking forward to the game and the state.
"I've never been (to Alaska) so I'd have to say I am excited," Turco said. "It'll be fun to go up there. I'd rather go to Anchorage than Fairbanks, but Alaska is Alaska to me."
Turco should talk to Schock about the pipelines.
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Captain Brendan Morrison will lead the Michigan hockey team into a battle against jetlag and boredom in Alaska - and two games against the Nanooks.