Nanooks Hockey Team Captain Achieves Sought-After Hat Trick

By Autumn McPherson

Photo by Autumn McPherson

On January 26th, 2024, the Nanooks Hockey team played against the Long Island University Sharks.

Harrison Israels, the team captain, achieved his first NCAA hat-trick, meaning he scored three goals in the same game. In the first period, #14 Anton Rubtsov passed the puck to Harry, giving him his first goal and leading to many more successful passes to help Harrison achieve the hat-trick.

Harrison notes, “[it] definitely felt good to get one! Sometimes, you have some games where the bounces go your way, and it just happened that was one of them. [I] had to thank my teammates for a couple of nice passes to me.”

Not only was the hat trick itself an impressive play, but this game made UAF an 11-9-2 overall, and Harry is now tied for 7th in the nation for goals scored. With much penalty time in this game, UAF with twenty-seven minutes and LIU with forty-two minutes, the Nanooks continued to give it their all and blocked a total of twenty-nine attempted goals by LIU thanks to #29, Pierce Charleson.

To keep the team motivated, especially with long hours of training and travel, Harrison states, “I just tell them to stay focused and just try and to remind everyone what we’re playing for on any given weekend. At the end of the day, it’s a privilege to be doing what we’re doing, and we gotta make sure we have fun with it.”

Continuing into the season's final stretch, the team strives to do their best. With their next home game, on February 16th, 2024, against LIU, the Nanooks prepare for battle and are planning to achieve more wins for UAF.