No dog in this fight, but actually it makes sense. UC-Berkely are the "California Bears". UM TC (U of MN Twin Cities) are the Minnesota Gophers. Just two I can think of; maybe some others will possibly have more examples.
UAF simply decided to use Alaska Nanooks as their team name just like the above two examples. As far as I know none of this has to do with the name of the university, just branding of the team. It seems like a good idea to me, and I wonder if the athletic dep't at Ua Anchorage thought "crap, why didn't we think of that?" I wonder if the Univestity located in Ann Arbor MI is just "University of Michigan" or "University of Michigan Ann Arbor" (to distinguish it from the others in the U Mich. system)?
I wonder if those two examples somehow have to do with whatever campus in the state was the original in the system? The largest? There's no doubt that in MN, the TC campus is the largest, and my guess is also the first campus in the system. But is that also the case in CA (original and/or largest)? Which is largest in AK? My guess would be Anchorage. Is Anchorage also the original "University of Alaska"?
Just curious to see if there's any "pattern". But, anyway, it seems like no big deal, it's just a team name. At least from my perspective. The team has chosen it's name, it seems kind of petty and bush to have a problem with it.
Sounds reasonable. I wonder if that's what they do in CA and MN?
By the way, I'm following this and every WCHA thread these days because WHAT A FASCINATING LEAGUE AND RACE. Good times the next two weekends! Good luck to both Alaska teams, maybe a split all around and both make it to the final 5? would be great