The flight to Fairbanks took 12 hours, the temperatures were below zero, Michigan coach Red Berenson got sick, the ice was too large and the biggest tourist attraction was a bus trip to the Pipeline.
It's a good thing the Michigan hockey team won two games this weekend against Alaska-Fairbanks, because if it hadn't, this might have been the last trip to Alaska for a long, long time.
It still might have been.
The Wolverines shook off jet lag, illness, cold temperatures and the Nanooks en route to a tougher-than-anticipated two-game sweep this past weekend, winning a pair of games, 6-4 and 5-3.
Michigan (2-0 CCHA, 5-0 overall) came into Fairbanks a heavy favorite, even if the game was played in territory familiar only to polar bears, Eskimos and Nanooks. But Fairbanks (0-5, 0-7) stood up to the Wolverines, and had the defending national champs on the ropes Friday.
The Nanooks led Michigan for much of the game, building leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, before Dale Rominski's first goal of the season pulled the Wolverines into a 3-3 tie.
The score remained knotted at three until the middle of the third period. Then, for the second night in a row, the Wolverines scored two shorthanded goals on the same Fairbanks power play.
Naturally, one of the goals was scored by - who else? - John Madden, who now has three shorthanded goals this season. The other came when Warren Luhning converted on a beautiful no-look, behind-the-back feed from Matt Herr.
The twin killing put Michigan ahead to stay, and the Nanooks never recovered.
"I was worried when the score was 3-3 going into the third," Berenson said. "The next goal was huge. We were obviously on our heels, and we scored two shorthanded goals. That was a big moment.
"It was fortunate for us and unfortunate for them. It helped us regain our senses, and then we scored a power play goal."
Jason Botterill's goal, with the Wolverines on the power-play, put them ahead 6-3. All Fairbank's fourth goal - scored with 4:45 left in the game - did was inflate Michigan goaltender Marty Turco's goals-against average a little bit.
Turco had some trouble both nights, and he cited the unusual size of the ice surface at the Carlson Center as one of the reasons.
"All week since we've been up here, I've hated the angles," Turco said. "It's hard to adjust. I don't have time to get comfortable. There were three times, for sure, that I got caught while trying to judge the boards."
The Carlson Center ice surface is Olympic-sized, which means that the skating surface is 15 feet wider than regulation. The length is the same, but the added width means that a stray puck off the boards - especially deep in the corners - takes longer to get to the net than usual. As a result, Turco was off-balance all weekend.
Thursday's game saw assistant coach Billy Powers as the lone Michigan coach on the bench. Berenson was sick and unable to coach, and assistant Mel Pearson was on a recruiting trip.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the eight-minute mark of the second period. Two of the goals, by Luhning and Herr, came 28 seconds apart during the same Fairbanks power play.
On the fourth goal, Fairbanks goaltender Ian Perkins was bowled over after the play. Even if he hadn't suffered a concussion when his head smacked the ice, he probably would've been lifted in favor of freshman Chris Marvel. As it was, the injury provided Fairbanks coach Dave Laurion with a convenient reason to pull his starting netminder.
Marvel came in and rejuvenated the Nanooks, making several spectacular saves and stoning Michigan sophomore Justin Clark on a breakaway.
The Nanooks forged back in the final minute of the second period, scoring first during a five-on-three advantage, then 19 seconds later on the power play.
"We started out great," Powers said. "We went up 4-0, (and) everyone was sticking to the game plan. But when we got up 4-0, we began to back off. We looked for shortcuts, we took a few dumb penalties ... and (they) got back into the game.
"The next goal was huge. They got it, and it turned into a dogfight the last 10 minutes."
After Fairbanks' Cody Botwell scored to pull the Nanooks within one, Michigan's Brendan Morrison responded with a power-play goal at 11:32 of the third. Jason Botterill assisted, and the Wolverines killed the clock to hold on for a 5-3 victory.
In two games, Madden (2 goals, 2 assists) and Morrison (1-3) each tallied four points, and Bill Muckalt scored three goals.