FAIRBANKS - When the Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame hosts its induction ceremony on Saturday, Melissa Dianoski and Randi Motsko will be among the five people being honored.

The two women will have their names added to the College Hockey Honor Roll, which recognizes individuals who played youth hockey in Fairbanks and went on to play college hockey at the NCAA Division I level.

The ceremony is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Hall of Fame area of the Big Dipper Ice Arena.

Dianoski played at North Dakota and Mercyhurst, while Motsko played at North Dakota.

Melissa Dianoski

Dianoski was born and raised in Fairbanks. The youngest of six siblings, all of whom played hockey, she started playing the sport at age 2.

“I played on comp teams for FAHA and Arctic Lions as I moved up through youth hockey,” she said. “At one point, Rod Avery was my coach for four straight years. He taught me a lot.”

Dianoski was recruited to play for the Firebirds comprised mostly of players from the Anchorage area, when the USA Hockey Women’s National Championships were in Anchorage.

After playing two years for West Valley High School, she spent her senior season at the North American Hockey Academy in Vermont.

“That was a good school for both hockey and academics,” she said.

Dianoski’s performance at NAHA brought scholarship offers from Yale, Harvard, Boston University, Minnesota and North Dakota. She eventually accepted the offer from North Dakota.

“I played two years there, but I was looking for a different experience,” she said. “I decided to transfer to Mercyhurst. That was working out real well, until my health problems started.”

Melissa developed an extra electric signal in her heart which caused an accelerated beat whenever she exercised. She returned to Fairbanks and underwent a surgical procedure to correct the problem.

“During that period, I decided to switch emphasis from hockey to academics,” she said.

“Hockey was great fun. It was a wonderful experience and took me a lot of places,” she added. “I wouldn’t change any of that, but it was time to move on.”

Dianoski, now lives in Phoenix, where she is pursuing a nursing degree at Mesa Community College.

Randi Motsko

Motsko, began playing hockey in the Fairbanks Amateur Hockey Association house leagues when she was 8 years old and then moved on to the Alaska Icebreakers girls program.

“I began playing with the Icebreakers program a couple years later, where Shannon Winner moved me from defense to forward,” Motsko recalled. “She also instilled the work ethic that pushed me to get better.”

Motsko played for Team Alaska, an Anchorage-based all-star squad and West Valley High School before spending her senior year at NAHA in Vermont.

She also attended numerous summer camps in Minnesota and Vermont along the way.

“Those camps helped me improve my skills,” she said. “It also gave coaches a chance to see me play.”

By playing for NAHA, Motsko was noticed across the country and finally chose North Dakota as her college destination.

“It was pretty rough my freshman and sophomore years as the team struggled to find success,” she said.

Brian Idalski took over as head coach in her junior year and that changed everything.

“Everything was better after he took over,” Motsko recalled. “Both the team and I improved over those last two years.”

Motsko served as a summer intern with the Alaska Department of Transportation during her college summers. After graduating with a business degree, she now has a full-time job with DOT.

In her spare time, Motsko serves as an assistant coach for the Icebreakers 14-U team.

“I’m really enjoying the chance to share some of the knowledge that I’ve gathered over the years.

she said. “We’re having a successful season.

“We’re going to the district tournament in San Jose later this year,” she added. “We feel that the team has an excellent chance to advance to the national tournament.”