Saturday, March 13, 2010

Nanooks Drop Game One to Northern, 4-3

When the plane I was on was on approach into Florida, I realized "Hey! I can get cell phone reception now". So naturally, I pulled up the CCHA scoreboard, and saw the 4-3 final. Then, the plane touched down hard, which is exactly how I felt inside.

The Wildcats were able to hold off the surging 'Nooks after jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Somehow, the Wildcats got 3 past Greenham with just 9 shots on goal in the first period. Very uncharacteristic, but, not having  seen the game, I have no idea how those shots looked.

I got an email from a fan who watched Andy Taranto limp off the ice. Word is, he got hit square in the ankle with a slap shot. No word yet on the severity of the injury, though. He got some ice time further into the game, but sounds like he was very limited. Kudos to coach Ferguson, he replaced Taranto with Petovello on that first line, which is exactly who I would have promoted.

NMU's Mark Olver decided in favor of penalty minutes instead of points was a good idea. Heh. Good thinking. At the end of the night, he was the most penalized player in CCHA hockey for all games on March 12th. 0-0-0 with 3 minor penalties, for 6 minutes. Sounds like a first team forward to me...

Although the 'Nooks were able to rally for 3 unanswered goals, including 2 from the power play, they weren't able to bag the 4th to tie it. Goals from Sather, Yaremchuk, and Bryant Molle weren't quite enough to take care of business.

The Nanooks will have a chance to tie the series and force a game 3 today at 7:35PM Eastern Time. Northern knocked us back to 12th in the PairWise rankings, staying in the top 14 will be essential, since Bemidji State is no longer in the running for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. I, for one, am rooting for Alabama-Huntsville.

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