Alaska Anchorage Reinstates Hockey Program for 2022-2023

The long, troubled history of Alaska Anchorage hockey appears as if it will sputter on for at least a small while longer. After announcing that the program would cease operations just over a year ago, the Anchorage hockey community underwent a massive fundraising effort to save the program.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the Save Seawolf Hockey campaign had raised the necessary $3M for the school to re-instate the program.

The Seawolves will not participate in the 2021-2022 college hockey season. They still have no coach—former head coach Matt Curley resigned earlier this summer when his contract ran out and there was no more program for him to run—no roster after losing nearly all of their players while in limbo, and no conference to play in after the majority of the WCHA left to form the CCHA. But the goal is to begin play for the 2022-2023 season as an independent.

Anchorage had just one winning season in their 27 seasons as a member of the WCHA, and posted single digit win totals in each of their final four seasons in the league. The problems the program faced in terms of geography, funding, and the murky future of the program aren’t likely to be any different this time around, with the added challenges of trying to cobble together an independent schedule that doesn’t guarantee any home dates. Even with today’s news, it appears to be a long and difficult road for the Seawolves.