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19 J A N / F E B 2 0 2 1 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M motivating and made me feel like I'm not the only one in this," Weiss said. An unsung hero in his corner was friend and former Nanooks teammate Justin Woods, who could relate to Weiss's plight like no one else. Woods missed his sophomore season at Alaska after being diagnosed with Ewing sar- coma, the same bone-related cancer which sidelined the Philadelphia Flyers' Oskar Lindblom for most of the 2019-20 season. When Weiss received his diagnosis, the next scheduled flight home was still a week out but that's when Woods, a Fairbanks native, and his family stepped in. "His family just took me in and took care of me," Weiss said. "You know they had been through the whole thing with Justin and I can't thank them enough for every- thing they've done for me." When asked what drove him through all he endured, Weiss paused for a moment and said while it would be easy to say hock- ey was his driving force, he found inspi- ration in those who fought alongside him while he received chemotherapy. "I would constantly see the same people there and get to know these people and you talk to them and you figure out what they're going through," Weiss said. "I would say that put a lot of things in perspective and … made me feel like I could get through it." Francis finished up the final tough phase of his treatment in November with just maintenance treatments remaining spread out over the next year on his path to a com- plete recovery. He says he couldn't have done it with- out the love and support of his family, his friends and the Centennial hockey commu- nity, particularly Centennial coach Ritch Menne, former Centennial assistant, and current Henry Sibley boys' head coach, Ted Cheesebrough and Centennial strength and conditioning coach Steve Alford. Francis also credits his former USHL coach, Mark Carlson, with preparing him for this battle. "(Carlson) is a tough guy to play for, so I think that helped me a lot but also just, my whole way up, you know, nothing 's been easy," Francis said. "My mental toughness has grown for sure through this entire little chemo phase here." That's a trait that has not gone unnoticed by his coach-in-waiting, Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin. "He's a hard-nosed player and he's com- petitive and I think that shows in the bat- tle that he's gone through," Sandelin said. "Obviously, we're excited that he's doing well and look forward to getting him here." After all he's gone through, no one is looking forward to it more than Will Francis himself. "I'm going to have quite the big cheering section of family and friends that come up to Duluth," Francis said. "It's going to be something probably pretty emotional as well." WHAT'S NEXT? Weiss, who completed his MBA in December, remains unsure what the future holds for him professionally, but he wants to stay involved in hockey in some capacity. "I think coaching would be something I'd be good at," Weiss said. "Being a part of helping kids develop and understand the game and grow." Francis, meanwhile, is currently unde- cided on a major but, not surprisingly, is leaning toward a career in business entre- preneurship and/or management. But the 2019 sixth-round pick (No. 163 overall) by the A naheim Ducks would like to stay in the game of hockey as long as he can as a player, scout, coach or even in a front office capacity. After completing his senior season at Bloomington Jefferson, Jack Weiss spent two years developing in the NAHL before earning a spot as a walk-on at UAF. "He's battled his way through, whether that's junior hockey, coming in as a walk-on, fighting through different injuries and now the ultimate thing with cancer. He wasn't going to be beaten by anything, including that." - UAF Head Coach Erik Largen