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FAIRBANKS — Dallas Ferguson seemed to be right at home in the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Sept. 30 for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Media Day.

It was his first media day as head coach of the Alaska Nanooks, but he was no stranger to the 11 counterparts gathered at the podium.

It seemed like a surreal reunion for the 35-year-old native of Wainwright, Alberta, who spent the past four seasons as a Nanooks assistant coach and was a defenseman for the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ hockey team from 1992-96.

As a Nanooks blueliner, Ferguson played against Michigan and Ferris State programs who still have the same head coaches — Red Berenson, who’s entering his 25th season for Michigan, and Bob Daniels, who starts his 17th season this weekend for Ferris State.

Also, current Michigan State coach Rick Comley was guiding Northern Michigan when Ferguson was patrolling the blue line for the Nanooks, and present Miami (Ohio) head coach Enrico Blasi competed against Ferguson when Blasi was a Miami player from 1990-94.

“There’s a lot of experience up there when you’re sitting at that podium,’’ Ferguson said in his office Tuesday afternoon. “That’s a lot of experience you can learn from.’’

One thing the 2008-09 Nanooks have learned about their new head coach is he allows creativity in the offensive end of the ice. It helped the Nanooks post a 2-0 preseason record and it could benefit them in the regular season-opening Kendall Classic at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage this weekend.

The Nanooks open the tournament at 5:05 p.m. Friday against the Northeastern Huskies of Hockey East and they take on the Connecticut Huskies of the Atlantic Hockey Association at 4:05 p.m. Saturday.

Ferguson’s generosity could come in handy this season for an Alaska squad that last season, under then head coach Doc DelCastillo, averaged 2.18 goals per game to rank 10th in the 12-team CCHA. The Nanooks finished 9-21-5 overall and 8-16-4 in conference play for ninth place.

Center Adam Cardwell, one of a CCHA-high 12 freshmen among 26 players this season for Alaska, was impressed with the UAF campus and the Nanooks program when he visited during last season, when he was skating at the junior level for the Wichita Falls (Texas) Wildcats of the North American Hockey League.

Cardwell showed plenty of creativity last season with an NAHL-high 91 points from 32 goals and 59 assists in 56 games.

“It means so much that I could come to the team,’’ Cardwell said after a recent practice at the Patty Center, “and I can do what I’ve been doing since I’ve been playing hockey, as opposed to coming to a team and being locked in a three-set of rules.

“I could do the 25 or whatever things that have been successful for myself as a player and I can bring it to the team.’’

While Ferguson encourages offensive creativity, he cautions that the Nanooks aren’t going to play an up-and-down-the-rink, pond-hockey style this season.

“I don’t think that’s productive ... working from our net out is very important to me,’’ Ferguson said.

The Nanooks, said Ferguson, will play a more-detailed game in the defensive zone. He views the neutral zone as a gray area, but as an area where turnovers can occur, too.

“It’s probably the place where I need to trust them and they need to know that we have a philosophy in that area of the ice,’’ said Ferguson. “To me, that’s probably been one of the biggest emphasis — for them to understand what the right play is and making good decisions.”

Ferguson doesn’t see the neutral zone as a place to generate a lot of scoring chances, so he wants the Nanooks to neutralize their creative juices there.

“I think you have to be responsible, you have to make good decisions and you have to understand the situation that you’re in,’’ he said. “If it’s a 3-on-2 going through the neutral zone, obviously we want to take advantage and attack on it. If we don’t have numbers, and it’s 3-on-3 or a 1-on-3, we have to be responsible; that’s not a time to be creative.’’

That time comes when the Nanooks enter the offensive zone.

“I think it comes down to trusting them,” he said. “I want to be able to set some guidelines on how they need to create offense, but at the same time I want them to be individuals. I want them to be independent but within a team philosophy.”

The philosophy helped in the preseason with a 4-0 win over the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team at the Patty Center on Sept. 27 and a 3-2 victory over the University of British Columbia last Friday at the Carlson Center.

Ferguson subscribes to an old philosophy of hockey — good defense leads to good offense.

“They know my passion and my focus is playing good away from the puck and playing strong defense,” he said, “and once we take care of our zone, that’s when we’re going to create good offense. I just don’t think that you can score from 200 feet away.

“... Having the players know that I trust them to make good decisions is important for their mental make-up as far as how to approach playing offensive hockey.’’

The Nanooks seem to have had a positive mentality since their first practice under Ferguson on Sept. 15.

“In practice, there’s a time to learn and there’s a lot of hard work, but it’s a lot of fun, too. I don’t think there’s a guy on our team who doesn’t enjoy coming to the rink,’’ said junior center Dion Knelsen, Alaska’s leading scorer last season with 33 points in 35 games.

The positive nature of Ferguson, the eighth coach in the 28-year history of Nanooks hockey, has been contagious to this season’s squad.

“He’s positive all the way throughout,’’ Knelsen said. “Even when we make mistakes, he’s stays positive and it keeps everyone else positive.’’