Apparently Mavericks don't like cold. A possible trend happening here? Well, these Mavericks didn't quit and leave, they played hard definitely had to work for and earn the goals that they got. But despite getting their first goal just 17 seconds in, the Nanooks answered with 4 goals back to back, unanswered, 3 of which were scored in a span of 90 seconds.
I gotta say, I was pretty impressed with the defensive play tonight. A lot of big saves by either Greenham, or a number of our players, including the Molle brothers, Sova, Gens, Enders, Odegard. Did I just mention our entire defensive line up tonight? Yeah, I did. They all played outstanding tonight. I was on my heels a little bit tonight when we stopped actively pursuing the puck and attacking. We got up 4-1, and we clamped down with the lead defensively. In games past, this strategy has come back to bite us a time or two, but we had a big enough gap that their last two goals weren't enough to win it.
Can't get away without talking about our offensive stand, though, as we really poured it on. Throughout post-game conferences, and general chats with the coaches, they all talk about our depth, and that is exactly what you saw tonight. We have a lot of offensive weapons across all 4 of our forward lines, and all of them can score. We had two rookies notch goals tonight, one of which earned Player of the Game honors (Chad Gehon). Looking at the box score, you'll notice that our first line didn't score tonight. I'm sure UNO prepared as much as they could for our first line guys, and they did a great job containing Nik, Andy, and Dion, so it fell to our other lines to put the pucks in the net, and the 3rd and 4th lines did it for us. Granberg, Sather, Gehon and Meyers all tallied goals, all of them pretty sweet in their own right. Just after Sather's goal, I think Ronnie Meyers got a good look at Dupont and noticed how fast he dropped to the butterfly, and with a little hesitation, he picked the puck up as Dupont went down and found twine. Different angle and a different shot, but kind of the same move he put on Ferris State in OT back in October.
Props to Scottie Greenham tonight. He stood real well in net, and aside from that first period fluke, he had a stellar game. He didn't let that first goal get to him and shake him up, and hey, that's hockey, its a game of bounces. Fortunately, he has a short memory.
Tonight marked our first Friday win since October 30th, and our first actual win since the 21st of November, a night we defeated Lake Superior 3-2 in OT.
Following the game tonight, the players came on the ice for the Skate with the Nanooks tradition, complete with Santa hats. It was good to get out there and talk to a lot of the players again. Haven't had much of a chance to chat with any of them since the Blue/Gold game. Dion pretty much stole the show with the crowd, attracting the attention of teenage girls all over, who got him to sign everything from Converse shoes to a cell phone. Good guy though, turns out he's a regular reader of the blog, which makes him better in my book. I'm still loving our freshman. All of them are playing some outstanding hockey, and I talked to most of them about it tonight.
Tomorrow, we'll look to defend our unbeaten Saturday streak, going in at 5-0-3, and donning the now-famous Gold jerseys, which we have yet to lose in. We've only lost once at home, going back to the Notre Dame series, which makes us 5-1-3 on the season thus far at the Carlson Center.
Remember your Teddy Bears too for the annual Teddy Bear Toss.
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