Fairbanks Ice Dogs

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs are a Tier II junior ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's Midwest Division. The Ice Dogs play home games at the 2,200-seat Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks, Alaska.

History

Originally started in 1997 in the Tier III Junior B Western States Hockey League (WSHL) as a hockey program to replace the Alaska Gold Kings and give Alaskan players a chance to play after they finished high school and/or midgets. The Ice Dogs won the Northern Division its inaugural season, but lost to the Southern champs the following year in exhibition games. In 1998–99 season, they again won the Northern Division but lost to the Southern Division champions, the Ventura Mariners.

In 2000, the Ice Dogs became a member of the Tier III Junior B Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac) and also played sixteen games in the Tier III Junior A America West Hockey League (AWHL) to help fill out their schedule in the 2000–01 season. The team would go on to win the NorPac championship in that season before leaving for the higher level AWHL full-time for the 2001–02 season.

The Ice Dogs were named the 2001–02 AWHL Organization of the Year in their first full Junior A season. The team moved to the NAHL in the AWHL-NAHL merger that took place in 2003. The Ice Dogs were upset in the West Division Finals in the 2008–09 season after winning the West Division regular season title. The Ice Dogs lost in the 2010 Robertson Cup final to the Bismarck Bobcats 3–0. The following season the Ice Dogs won the Robertson Cup for the first time in a come from behind win over the Michigan Warriors 4–2. In the 2013–14 season, the Ice Dogs once more won the West Division regular season title (fourth time in six years) and proceeded to win the Robertson Cup for the second time.

The Ice Dogs had continued success, leading their division in four of the next five seasons and winning a third Robertson Cup in 2016. They were again the division leaders when the 2019–20 season was cancelled midseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to travel restrictions in the state of Alaska and the rest of the United States during the pandemic, the Ice Dogs temporarily relocated to Marshall, Minnesota, for most of the 2020–21 season before returning to Alaska in mid-April 2021.

During the 2021–22 season, longtime head coach Trevor Stewert resigned to pursue an associate head coach position in the NCAA Division I and was replaced by former NHL player Dave Allison.

25 year playoff streak

Starting from before the Ice Dogs joined the NAHL, when they were in the AWHL, the Ice Dogs were in the playoffs every year from 1997-2022. That included 3 Robinson Cup(the NAHL's version of the playoffs) Championships in 2010, 2013, and 2015. However, the Streak finally ended on April 8, 2023, when the Ice Dogs hosted the Chippewa Steel. All Chippewa needed was a win that weekend and they would be in. The Ice Dogs did take game 1 the night before(3-0), but they needed to keep winning to keep the playoff streak alive. Which did not happen as the Steel beat the Ice Dogs 4-1 to take the final remaining playoff spot and slam the door on not only the Ice Dogs playoff hopes, but their neighbor, the Anchorage Wolverines playoff hopes as well.

Season-by-season records

References

External links

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NAHL website

{{Alaska Sports

1997 establishments in Alaska
Sports in Fairbanks, Alaska
Ice hockey teams in Alaska
North American Hockey League teams
Ice hockey clubs established in 1997