60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Alaska Anchorage

Alaska Anchorage

2018-19 Record: 3-28-3 (2-23-3, 10th in WCHA)
Head Coach: Matt Curley, 2nd Year
Top returning scorer: Carmine Buono, D (3G-6A)
Top returning goaltender: Kris Carlson (Jr.) and Kristian Stead (Jr.)

Let's start this "60 Teams. 60 Days. 600 Words (or Less)" series at rock bottom. Make no mistake, Alaska Anchorage is sitting at college hockey's version of rock bottom.

The Matt Curley Era in Anchorage could hardly get off to a worse start. A national-low three wins, a last-place finish in the WCHA for a fourth consecutive season, and a spot near the bottom of nearly every major statistical category. Even with UAA's recent struggles, 2018-19 was a new low. Over the past six seasons, only Alabama Huntsville in 2013-14 had fewer wins than the Seawolves did last season. In that case, the Chargers were essentially reviving a program thought to be folding.

What really stands out among the statistics is a lack of offensive output. In WCHA play, the Seawolves averaged 1.04 goals per game. (The next-lowest team nearly doubled UAA's total.) No player scored more than seven goals. No returning forward had more than two goals in 2018-19, which is remarkable given 42 different players in college hockey scored a hat trick.

If there's one positive to latch onto, it's defensively where Alaska Anchorage finished last season 49th in goals against. Not perfect, but something to work with. The Seawolves do not graduate any of the three goaltenders who played. The team's top three returning scorers are all on the blue line.

Simply, there's a lot to unpack with Anchorage, who finished with a single win outside the state of Alaska and whose signature victory came a night after losing 10-0 to Colorado College.

What's New: The biggest change on the ice is just that: Ice. Alaska Anchorage will be moving from the Sullivan Arena downtown into the much smaller, 750 seat Wells Fargo Sports Complex on campus.

Curley's second season also brings 11 freshmen into the program. For a team desperate for any goal scoring, several first-year forwards will be more than welcomed for scoring in juniors. Rylee St. Onge finished last season scoring 26 goals for Des Moines (USHL) and Marcus Mitchell averaged a point per game with Nanaimo (BCHL).

Among those freshmen is also one of the great stories in hockey. Brayden Camrud was one of 13 people injured in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash that claimed 16 lives in April 2018. Camrud returned last season to Humboldt, one of two who did and helped lead a completely rebuilt team with 27 goals in 48 games.

Closing Thoughts: No team wants to be the one to kick off this series because it means things went horribly, horribly awry. That's been the case in Anchorage, where the Seawolves finished six of the past eight seasons with single-digit wins. Add last month's news that seven WCHA schools plan to leave UAA and two others without a home, along with financial uncertainty of the Alaska university system, and the Seawolves program, despite some uplifting stories, is in an uncertain spot for 2019-20 no school wants to be.

The only good news about being at rock bottom is that, on the ice, there's nowhere to go but up.

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