Following a weekend in Bowling Green, the Alaska-Fairbanks hockey team has been enjoying life in Ann Arbor. With back-to-back losses to the Falcons, the Nanooks now have a chance to clear their heads as they attempt to right the ship.

Without classes to worry about as their winter break drags on, the Nanooks had 24 hours a day to eat, sleep and breathe Michigan. The team made a trip down to Cabela’s on Monday, took in Wednesday’s hoops contest at Crisler and saw a movie, all the while preparing for the Wolverines.

“The guys have had some time to do different things,” Alaska-Fairbanks coach Tavis MacMillan said. “The guys, I’m sure, have shopped the mall pretty hard.”

While the vast number of tourist opportunities can keep a visitor’s mind busy, the Nanooks’ ability to focus most of their attention on hockey while their Michigan counterparts sit in class can provide a distinct advantage. MacMillan’s squad will spend some time on the ice today as part of the preparation.

For the Wolverines, class will be followed by a pre-game meal to help get focused for the night’s contest.

“I’ve seen our team with the same circumstances come out and put another team right on their heels,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “So you never know.”

The lack of travel for the Nanooks shouldn’t be much of a boost. For a team that routinely logs extensive air miles, traveling — or this week not traveling — is not a factor.

“Once you’ve done it, once you’re on the road, it doesn’t matter if you’re traveling an hour down the road or ten hours on a plane,” MacMillan said. “Our guys are pretty resilient to it. A lot of them have done it for so long, it’s not that big of a deal to them.”

With a roster featuring 17 underclassmen making their first appearances at Yost Ice Arena, the Nanooks should be in for a unique experience. MacMillan — the rookie coach and former Alaska-Fairbanks standout who said that Yost was one of his favorite rinks to play in — knows that, despite having a week to familiarize his team with the storied arena, it all comes down to how the team plays when the lights go on.

“I think the real test for them will be when this place has 6,700 fans in here,” MacMillan said. “That will be the real test — to see how they can handle that. In an empty building, it’s very easy to practice and play in. When you get all those fans in here — especially students — I think that’s a different story.”

Berenson insists that his team will focus on its own play rather than worry about this week’s opponent. After a sluggish start to the week, Berenson was happy with his club’s energy level leading up to the faceoff of tonight’s 7:35 p.m. matchup with Alaska-Fairbanks.

“It was slow getting going,” Berenson said. “They looked better yesterday, and they looked like a Thursday team today.”

Michigan will be without junior forward Andrew Ebbett for at least the first of the two weekend games. Berenson cited some mistakes in the last few games, most notably a penalty that led to a goal against Western Michigan.