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Anchorage Wolverine’s Hockey Team Is Going Out, Which Means Their Coach Is Getting A Family Reunion

 


The Anchorage Wolverines are on the road for the first time in franchise history, making Coach Mike Aikens feel right at home.

The Wolverines, a Tier II junior team that plays in the North American Hockey League, open their inaugural season this week on the NAHL showcase, a four-day tournament in Blaine, Minnesota.

Blaine is less than two hours from Rochester, Minnesota, where Aikens grew up and currently feeds a family. He lives in Anchorage during the hockey season, but his home remains in Rochester, where his wife and youngest daughter still live.

After the long journey from Anchorage to Minneapolis, Aikens went to Rochester on Monday afternoon to surprise his wife Hope and their 16-year-old daughter Brianna. The Sydney and Shea family dogs, named after NHL players Sidney Crosby and Shea Weber (Sydney the dog is a female, hence the alternate spelling) met him at the door.

I’ve been in Anchorage since August 11, so I’m going to continue for a month now, Aikens said. With all the technology and Facetiming and everything, it sure helps, but it doesn’t replace the real thing. It was good for everyone to see everyone again.

Aikens spoke on Tuesday afternoon as he drove back to Blaine to rejoin the rest of the Wolverines, who open the season on Wednesday with a game against the Texas El Paso Rhinos.

He was driving an SUV loaded with equipment. To save on shipping costs, dozens of new Bauer hockey sticks for the Wolverines were sent to Rochester instead of Anchorage, under the care of Aiken’s parents.

After the Showcase ends on Saturday, all the Wolverines will head to Rochester, which will serve as their home base for the final two weeks of their three-week, season-opening road trip.

It worked out well for the organization, Aikens said. Got a good price for a hotel here and the ice rink is actually across the street so I didn’t have to pay the $800 to $1,000 a day cost to just leave the bus there.

So before he even coaches a game, Aikens makes his living with the Wolverines.

Aikens, 50, has been involved in hockey for most of his life, especially junior hockey. This is his fourth round as head coach, serving in that capacity for the USHLs Omaha Lancers (2010-13, the first two seasons as an assistant) and Rochester Mustangs (1998-99), and for the NAHLs Billings Bulls (2001-04) .

After leaving the Lancers in 2013, Aikens took a break from full-time coaching and settled in Rochester, where he grew up. Hope works as a nurse there, Brianna is in high school and his other daughter, Maren, has just started her freshman year at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Originally, the reason I got out of the coaching business eight years ago was to feel like the girls were at a point where we didn’t think it was fair for them to get hired and fired and move across the country and all that, Aikens said.

He stayed connected with the game by working as a head skating and hockey coach at Rochesters Olmsted Medical Center. For the past three years, he also worked as an assistant coach for the Rochester Grizzlies of the United States NA3HL, a level just below the NAHL. Last season, Aikens helped the Grizzlies reach the NAHLs Fraser Cup which they lost to the North Iowa Bulls and Rochester was named the NA3HL organization of the year.

It was his work with the Grizzlies that took Aikens on the 3,000-mile trail to Anchorage.

Keith Morris, the director of hockey operations for the Wolverines, called Aikens a few months ago to ask about some Rochester players the Wolverines were interested in. During the conversation, Morris told Aikens about the new Anchorage team, but they never talked about the coaching position.

Not long after, Aikens heard from his friend Dallas Ferguson, the former UAF coach and current assistant coach at the University of Denver. Ferguson told Aikens about the Wolverines, said they were looking for a coach and asked if he could give Aikens’ phone number to the new team owners.

My first reaction was, oh man, Anchorage is a long way off, it’s an expansion team and I didn’t know much about it, Aikens said. As I learned more about Sullivan Arena and Anchorage and the ownership group, I started to get excited about the opportunity.

He took the job but left his family in Rochester. He didn’t think it was fair to transfer Brianna to a new high school.

He gets housing and a vehicle as part of his contract with the Wolverines, and I now consider myself a full-time resident of Anchorage, he said (even though he lacks the pierogis).

Who knows? I might be with the Wolverines for 10 years, he said.

Or maybe not.

After leaving the Omaha Lancers and returning to Rochester, Aikens went back to college and completed the degree he started at the University of Denver in 1990.

I went back thinking that if an opportunity for coaching at a university arose, I would go that route, he said. I’ve been to schools in the past (interested) and I had to tell them I didn’t have my college degree.

So I completed my degree to get a job in college, and to get a job in college, I had to go back to junior hockey as a springboard. I enjoy junior hockey and enjoy coaching at this level. If the right college opportunity presented itself, I’d look into it.

Aikens said he did not apply for the UAA coaching job. For starters, he doesn’t think he’s qualified to be the NCAA head coach yet. Second, he is committed to guiding the Wolverines as they establish themselves in the NAHL.

The Wolverines played two scrimmages within the squad four times and two exhibition games before hitting the road. In the exhibition games against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Fairbanks won the first game 7-1 and Anchorage won the second game 6-3.

Game 1 we were very competitive except for eight minutes into the second period, Aikens said. We were not very good and conceded some bad goals. We just gave Fairbanks too many chances.

We came back the next day and won 6-3, and it was a step in the right direction. We left the rink feeling, hey, we can compete in this competition.

The Wolverines will get a better idea of ​​how they compare on their long road trip. After four games in four days at the NAHL Showcase, they will play a two-game series from September 24 to 25 against the Minnesota Magicians and a three-game series from September 30 to October. 2 against the Chippewa Steel.

They return to Anchorage for an October 15-17 home opening series against the Springfield Jr. Blues from Illinois. The site of those games has not yet been determined.

Wolverines at NAHL Showcase

Wednesday El Paso Rhinos, 11:45 a.m. CDT

Thursday Danbury Jr. Hat tricks, 5 p.m.

Friday Wichita Warriors, 4.30 pm

Saturday Johnstown Tomahawks, 9:30 a.m.

Sources

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2/ https://www.adn.com/sports/hockey/2021/09/14/anchorage-wolverines-hockey-team-hits-the-road-which-means-their-coach-gets-a-family-reunion/

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