Andy Taranto, who will more than likely receive CCHA Player of the Week honors by the end of Monday, leads not only the team but the entire conference in scoring.  As of Monday, Taranto leads the conference with 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists), just one point ahead of The Ohio State Buckeyes' Zac Dalpe, who was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Nanooks are on the road this weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan taking on a Western Michigan Broncos team looking for ways to get out of the CCHA cellar.  WMU is dead last in the conference standings with just six points, just three points back behind their in-state rival Michigan Wolverines.

Alaska, however, is looking at aiming towards the other side of the standings.  By the end of next weekend, there is a strong possibility that the Nanooks may take over sole possession of first-place in the CCHA standings.  That's because they stand in third-place with 19 points, just one point ahead of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and three points behind CCHA leading (and the nation's top-ranked team) Miami University Redhawks.

If the Nanooks sweeps Western Michigan in regulation / overtime and no shootout, these are the minimum scenarios that must happen this coming weekend:

1)  Notre Dame must sweep both games to Miami University in regulation / overtime (6 points = 24 points)

2)  Miami University can beat Notre Dame via shootout but must lose either game in regulation / overtime 

3)  Michigan State can beat Northern Michigan in regulation / overtime but must lose via shootout in either game

Keep in mind that if the Nanooks and Irish end in a tie points wise after this weekend, Nanooks own tiebreaker based off of better win total in the conference standings.

Here are this weekend's games in the CCHA:

Friday's schedule

Saturday's schedule

Schedule courtesy of CCHA.com

LZV