FAIRBANKS — Justin Tateson didn’t wait for NCAA Division I hockey to jump out and bite him like a snake in high grass.
The 6-foot-4, 212-pound defenseman wanted to make sure he was comfortable in his first season with the Alaska Nanooks of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
The native of Scandia, Alberta, is the team’s leading scorer among rookies heading into Friday and Saturday’s conference series against the Bowling Green State Falcons in Bowling Green, Ohio.
“So far, it’s a really nice transition,” Tateson, who spent the past two seasons with the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, said Tuesday by telephone.