I hope so. I am. Watching football preseason only reminds me that hockey season is right around the corner. Looks like the roster for this season is pretty close to finalized. The Nanooks website now has the rookies listed, and the numbers for everybody. Cody Kunyk will wear 37, Erik Slemp will wear 10, Michael Quinn will wear 6, and Colton Beck will wear 36. Our sophomore transfer student, Adam Henderson will put on number 14.
I know I've raved about Cody Kunyk before, and fairly soon I will have pieces written for the others. I've only been promising them all summer, but between now, and the Blue/Gold game (which is is now 30 days away, by the way) I'll have write-ups.
I'm really psyched for this season to start. I know a lot of the team has really been putting the hours in to keep getting better. I know Joe Sova has stayed in town, and from the sound of things, he's putting in a lot of time getting ready for this season. Although I haven't heard for certain, but I'm sure all of the guys are putting in the reps to excel this season.
For those of you that aren't familiar with Nanook hockey (I can tell by how people are finding their way to this blog), last year was the program's first stint in the NCAA national tournament. After an unfortunate loss to Northern Michigan in the second round of the CCHA playoffs, The 'Nooks got a second chance to make a run for the national title. Alaska was pitted against 4th ranked Boston College. The team fared very well, giving the eventual national champion Boston College Eagles their biggest challenge in the tournament. Although Boston College prevailed with a 3-1 victory on the scoreboard, the Nanooks kept it to a 1-1 hockey game before a shorthanded breakaway and empty net goals ended their national tournament hopes. After that game, Boston College went on to win the next three games, including the national championship game, outscoring top ranked opponents by a score of 21-8 in that time.
Once again, this season I'll be tweeting during every game from my Twitter account. The feed is embedded on the right hand side of this page, and you can also follow my tweets @nanookhockey. I'll be travelling to Anchorage in October, for the Kendall Hockey Classic. I'm also going to try to make it to another game this season outside of Alaska, but I haven't decided on where or when yet.
If you're still not pumped yet, check out this video.
