Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Black Hole Gets Blacker, Nanooks Tie NMU, Win Shootout 2-1

The Nanooks, now 0-6-5 in their last 11 games against Northern, and 0-1-4 in their last 5 regular season games. I don't know what it is about Northern, but they always seem to have our number.

Regardless, our guys skated a good game. The first few minutes were a little rough, got down in some penalty trouble early and had to battle out of it. Shots were 7-1 in favor of NMU at one point in the first, but the 'Nooks dug deep and got things started offensively, and it paid off with a power play goal from Joe Sova off of a good feed from Kevin Petovello to go up 1-0 with about 6 minutes to go.

The 2nd period was a lot tighter, a lot faster, and a lot cleaner than the first. Passes were clicking and the flow of the game really picked up. Neither side could really bury any chances though. Greenham had a few spectacular saves (as per usual), but so did Reid Ellingson, including a real close chance between Carlo Finucci and Nik Yaremchuk on a 2 on 1. Ellingson had to be incredibly sharp with that glove, and he stood on his head and made the save.


The third opened up a bit, but both defenses were really keeping tight pressure, keeping the puck to the outside and staying in the lanes. The Wildcats were able to take advantage of a bad change on the 'Nooks part, and NMU leading scorer Tyler Gron took a centering pass from Kyle Follmer to tie the game at 1-1, which would be the eventual final heading into the shootout.

The Nanooks would take the shootout as well, with goals from Petovello and Beck to seal the deal, earning the extra point in the CCHA standings, keeping them in 4th place for the time being.

For those watching or listening to the game, you likely recall Andy Taranto skating off the ice early in the first period and into the locker room. Coach Meisner indicated a lower body injury for Andy that doesn't sound serious. He may be good enough to get back in it tomorrow.

As an update on the status of Quinn and Daigle, coach Meisner indicated that they were taking it week by week. "[Michael] has been skating on his own this past week. Hopefully that means he'll be back soon." Coach said that Daigle "...will be a little further out". Best of luck to these guys. Coach Meisner pointed out and said that a lot of guys aren't playing 100%, with Kaare Odegard just to his left, who look like he had shoulder pads made out of ice bags.

The 'Nooks hit it again tomorrow at the Carlson Center at 7:35PM. Don't forget about the Teddy Bear toss, either!

1 comment:

mmf said...

I thought we played a pretty sloppy and lack-luster game. However, we did have stretches where we played Nook hockey and somewhat controlled play. NMU had seven SOGs the first five minutes of the game, then didn't get another one until a minute or so into the 2nd.

A shootout win in conference play doesn't hurt you much, but a tie against an unranked team in your own barn doesn't help your NCAA chances. Credit to the Cats for working hard and staying in position to win it.

Hopefully the Nooks play a much better game tonight.