Game Day - Nanooks vs Cougars

Game Day

Regina Cougars vs. Alaska Nanooks

6:15PM - Carlson Center

Play By Play Audio (Bruce Cech / KCBF)

Live Video (AmericaOne.com - $7)

Live Stats (Sidearm Stats via AlaskaNanooks.com)

Live Blog (CoverItLive via AlaskaNanooks.com)

Twitter (Your's truly, @NanookHockey)

Today is an exciting day as we all get set to embark on another season of Alaska Nanooks hockey. If you're fond of the whole preseason polls thing, the Nanooks are not expected to finish anywhere near the top of anything. The CCHA coaches and the media picked the Nanooks to finish 10th and 11th, respectively. And for the first time since Dallas Ferguson took over as head coach, the Nanooks did not even receive a single vote in the USCHO's pre-season top 20. But at this moment, that means exactly nothing. The season hasn't even really started yet, and some sites have already decided our fate.

Hopefully that drives the motivation for this talented group of guys to step up and prove everyone wrong. The 'Nooks lost a lot of very close games last year, and were a few bounces away from a much different record. 

This week, coach Ferguson named senior forward Adam Henderson the team captain for this season, with Colton Beck, Kaare Odegard, and Andy Taranto along side of him. From what I've seen, this group should be good leaders for the rest of the team to look up to and for consistency. Each of these guys are great at their positions and will be there to help bring the team up and improve over the course of the season. 

On the Cougars side, it's still pretty early in their season as well, coming off of a home series loss and a shootout win against the University of British Colombia. Their leading goaltender in Andrew Hayes leads the way with a 3.43GAA and a .902 save percentage facing 41 shots in his lone game of the season, stopping all 8 shootout attempts in last Saturday's win. 6' 1" 210lb forward Troy Hunter comes in off of a good 5 point weekend, netting two goals and three assists. Matt Strueby and rookie Tyler Henry are close behind with 3 points each, Henry with 2 goals, and Strueby with 1. 

This should be a good tune up game for the 'Nooks as they look to find their stride before the Kendall Classic next weekend in Anchorage. Will also be a good chance to see the freshman fit in to some special team roles in a true game setting under the lights at the Carlson Center.

Note that the game starts at 6:15PM tonight, so a bit earlier than the usual 7:05 start time due to the Ice Dogs game. So come early, get some good seats and get pumped up for some Nanooks Hockey!

Lines

Alaska Nanooks

F1 26 Chad Gehon - 14 Adam Henderson (C) - 7 Nik Yaremchuk
F2 36 Colton Beck (A) - 37 Cody Kunyk - 24 Nolan Huysmans
F3 27 Tyler Morley - 17 Jarret Granberg - 29 Andy Taranto (A)
F4 9 Maxime Dumond - 20 Matt Friese - 11 Alec Hajdukovich

D1 13 Kaare Odegard (A) - 18 Trevor Campbell
D2 6 Michael Quinn - 4 Colton Parayko
D3 22 Josh Atkinson - 2 Justin Tateson

G1 38 Sean Cahill
G2 39 John Keeney

XF 25 Nolan Youngmun
XD 23 Nolan Kaiser

----------------------------

Regina Cougars

F1 29 Matt Strueby - 10 Tyler Henry - 22 Troy Hunter
F2 24 Ward Szucki - 14 Craig Cuthbert - 17 Carter Selinger
F3 16 Brayden Nargang - 15 Tyler Murray - 19 Sanfred King
F4 12 Liam Brennan - 21 Skyler Hladun - 11 Tanner Lange

D1 7 Mark Schneider - 4 John Sonntag
D2 13 Brock Appleyard - 5 Jordan Reeve
D3 6 Matt Sawa - 2 Ryan Dech

G1 30 Andrew Hayes
G2 Mitch Kilgore