Three years ago, when he was a freshman, Travis Turnbull faced a dilemma: What do you do when you’re more than 3,700 miles from home?

That’s how far Turnbull and the rest of the Michigan hockey team traveled for a weekend series against Alaska.

The seventh-ranked Wolverines (3-1 CCHA, 6-2 overall) return to Fairbanks to play the Nanooks twice this weekend. This is Turnbull’s third trip to The Last Frontier, and the senior forward plans to spend his free time immersing himself into the local culture.

“We usually go curling and stuff like that,” Turnbull said.

Despite temperatures that hover around zero in the fall and the jet lag that results from playing four time zones west, Turnbull relishes the journey.

“I love the trip to Alaska, even though it’s a long, hard trip,” Turnbull said. “It’s a good time for the team to get together, bond and to get to know each other a little bit better.”

Friday’s game will be the first time Michigan’s 15 underclassmen have played the Nanooks in Fairbanks. In addition to the harsh weather and lingering effects of the long trip, the Wolverines will have to make another adjustment when they take the ice at the Carlson Center.

Alaska (2-2, 4-3-1) is one of two CCHA teams that plays on an Olympic-sized rink, which is 15 feet wider than the NHL-sized rink at Yost Ice Arena. Michigan played two games last month at Northern Michigan, home to the conference's other larger rink. That early-season experience should be useful, especially for the underclassmen.

“It’s harder to get to the net because you find yourself coming up wide,” Michigan assistant coach Mel Pearson said. “You have to give a conscious effort to get to the net and go to that area just because when you come down, you’re a longer ways away from it."

Alaska's team defense hasn't made things easier either. The Nanooks have the nation’s fifth-ranked scoring defense, surrendering just 1.38 goals per game. The Nanooks’ penalty kill is largely responsible for that low number. Alaska has given just three power-play goals in 43 chances this season.

Pearson said there’s no science behind the Nanooks’ success on defense.

“They’re not beating themselves,” Pearson said. “They’re not running around out of position. They’re playing very good positional hockey and blocking a lot of shots.”

Michigan will have to find cracks through the CCHA’s top defense by limiting turnovers in the neutral zone and maintaining puck possession if it wants to force the Nanooks into making mistakes.

“You’ve got to be more aggressive,” Pearson said. “You have to play in their zone more. When you’re playing in the other team’s defensive zone more, they have a tendency to take more penalties."

But the Wolverines have been in the penalty box a lot this season. Michigan leads the CCHA with 177 penalty minutes. Two of the Wolverines' top defensemen, junior Chris Summers and sophomore Tristin Llewellyn, have combined for 50 of those minutes. Their extended time in the box, along with serious injuries to three other blue-liners, has hampered a penalty-kill unit that ranks 11th in the conference.

The Nanooks haven’t proved themselves capable of exploiting power-play opportunities this year. Alaska is converting an anemic 5.8 percent of its man-advantage chances. But Michigan can’t dwell too much on that statistic, because every trip to the box takes the Wolverines out of their flow.

“We need to stay out the box more and play 5-on-5,” Turnbull said. “We’ve been wanting to do (that) each game already, although it hasn’t happened yet.”