This weekend’s opponent will have traveled farther than any other to Gutterson this weekend.

By quite a lot.

UVM men’s hockey hosts the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for a two-game set that begins Friday. The two schools are separated by over 3,000 miles through the air.

Fairbanks, which plays independent from a DI conference, has already played its share of games in the northeast this season. UVM head coach Todd Woodcroft still thinks there will be some jet lag to take advantage of.

“I think fatigue is something there, so the first thing is you want to get to your game as fast as you can,” Woodcroft said. “I think we just have to skate them early, skate them hard, make their goalie work right off the bat.”

It will be the teams’ first-ever meeting when puck drops on Friday, Jan. 28 in Burlington. Game time is set for 7 p.m.