First Impressions - Thoughts Post-Scrimmage

First of all, it was standing room only in the Patty tonight. I love seeing this much interest, and honestly, I have never seen a line like this clear out into and around the parking outside of the Patty Center like you see in the shot to the left. Truly a great site, and you know that the fans are excited to get this season underway.

That being said, what a great start of the season, getting things rolling in style. Highlighted by quite a few strong scoring plays and some great offensive flow. I do have to come out and say this now though, Cody Kunyk will flat out make things happen this year. Picking right up where he left off after his high scoring freshman campaign, Kunyk is looking as sharp as ever. His stick skills continue to dazzle, and just the playmaking ability of this sophomore forward makes me a bit worried for our opponents this season.... Kind of...

Speaking of worried for opponents, how about the play of Justin Tateson tonight? Outside of a miscue or two, this kid gets it done. Winning battles in the defensive zone going against guys like Andy Taranto is no joke. But his offensive mind is also quite impressive. With 3 assists tonight, he can find the open guy and get the play started. Should be an interesting play with him on the blueline this year, especially if coach Ferguson is planning on working him into the special teams units.

Overall, I thought this years Blue/Gold was one of, if not the best that I've seen in recent memory. Great pace, and not a whole lot of mistakes for this time of year. A few, but nothing that jumps out and makes me worried about anything.

If I had to use one word to describe the team that I've seen thus far, that word would be "balanced". Since Dallas took the helm, the team has been very defensive focused and opportunistic offensively. Tonight, I saw more players trying to create plays, and trying to open up the offensive zone, as well as taking chances keeping a forward back in the defensive zone trying to create breakaways, which Ronnie Meyers got a chance at one, and some good looks at another breakaway or two.

After the skate with the Nanooks was winding down after the game, I had a chance to follow up with two of the Nanooks upper classmen. Junior assistant captain Andy Taranto, and senior goaltender Scott Greenham (click on their names for audio of the interview).

Skills Competition Results

This year's skills competition was quite exciting. After the banquet last night, freshman Matt Gates claimed for the world to hear that he was packing a 97mph slap shot. Needless to say, expectations for him were high. Unfortunately, failing to crack the 90mph barrier made way from some other big shooters, but taking the fastest shot title this year was Kaare Odegard, with a 97 mph blast.
After trailing at the half-lap point, senior captain Ronnie Meyers was in danger of giving up his fastest skater title to a freshman. Nolan Youngmun put up a very good fight, but the Cowboy turned on the jets and cruised to the win. His official time isn't known, but according to my stop watch, I clocked him at 13.58 seconds, .12 seconds faster than his last years outing if it holds up.   

The Blue squad took the shootout 3-2 with goals from freshman forward Garrick Perry, junior right wing Andy Taranto and sophomore left wing Colton Beck. Kunyk and Enders each tallied goals  for the Gold. Steve Thompson was the winningest goaltender of the trio, only allowing one goal while Greenham and Cahill each allowed a pair.

New Jerseys Unveiled

And lastly, thanks to Taranto and Meyers for modelling this years new home and away jersey designs. Check them out.

Front

Back

 

 

I really like these new designs. They look a lot simpler, and more elegant than the old designs. I think they're fantastic. Agree or disagree? Weigh in in the comments.

Getting Underway

The captains have been named, the freshmen have had their shining moment, and the consensus is clear; we are ready for the start of hockey season.

I had a chance to check-in with head coach Dallas Ferguson earlier this week. Check out the Interview

As I write this, we're just a few hours away from the annual Blue/Gold scrimmage. Just a few hours from the first real look at this years team in a competitive setting. Not to mention, getting a peek at who the fastest skater is, as well as who has the hardest shot. Should be a fun night.

The Nanooks have named 4 captains this year, 3 assistants and a true captain. Junior winger Andy Taranto and seniors Cody Butcher and Aaron Gens will back up Ron Meyers, who will don the C on his chest. After all of the talk about nicknames last night, I'm penning a new one in for Ronnie: Captain Cowboy.

Also revealed last night, but much more subtly was the design of the new jerseys. A bit more of a simple, yet elegant design make for a cleaner look. Compared to last year's jerseys, these definitely have my vote. I like them a lot. I will post pictures of them to my Twitter account just before the Blue/Gold game tonight for all of you to check them out.

Should be an interesting weekend, I'm certainly looking forward to getting this season underway. Go 'Nooks!

Back To Hockey

It's that time of year when the leaves start to change colors, windows are frosting over in the mornings, and freshly sharpened skates meets freshly made ice to begin my favorite time of year. That's right, hockey season is here, and in a mere 5 days the annual Blue/Gold scrimmage will draw an eager crowd to the Patty Center to catch the first glimpse of the new team. And that's just the culmination event of a full weekend of Nanook Hockey events.

Alaska Nanooks Possibly to Join the WCHA (UPDATED: Not True (UPDATED AGAIN: True after all))

Sources have indicated that Alaska may be close to striking a deal to join the WCHA effective 2013-2014, in the wake of the announcement of the Big Ten and the aforementioned CBHA (or "Super Conference", depending on how politically correct you want to be). Dispelled.

College Hockey News is also reporting that Northern Michigan is in a similar situation, meaning that the new conference--if everything pans out--would be:

Alaska

Alaska-Anchorage

Bemidji State

Mankato

Michigan Tech

Northern Michigan

St. Cloud State

I would suspect that 8th seat may be held for Western Michigan, should they need a home.

UPDATE: Thanks to Forrest for spending a good half hour on the phone with me this evening. I know he has a family, and I'm thankful for that time he spent on this well outside of business hours.

That said, the first topic of conversation was pretty obvious. UAF is NOT in talks to join the WCHA. It's likely that the information was confused before it got to me. After a conference call this past Friday between the CCHA member schools, Forrest made a point that intentions are to meet with WCHA representatives in person, but plans have not been made yet. WCHA AD's and officials are converging in St. Paul to hammer a lot of this out. After that, I would expect the two groups to come together.

The sad part is, a lot of conversations are happening one on one. School officials including our own are having one on one meetings with the head office. What this means for the league, who knows. Forrest is committed to his peers at the CCHA, and is actively searching for the best possible place to be. Whatever it is, I know he's not sitting around on his hands.

Regardless though, this new 6 team conference isn't realistic. A 20 game conference schedule leaves 14 games to look for. I would expect that these games initially will be scheduled among the Big Ten teams, who will also be searching, but the bigger teams are just going to use the smaller ones to schedule home games, it only makes sense. Forrest did say that we would be hearing another team moving next week, although he declined to mention which. Certainly the obvious choice is Notre Dame, apparently Northern Michigan, and possibly Western Michigan considering their panic attack of a marketing campaign. While the website and slide show are notable, it's all about the program's value that they bring to the table. Certainly the Nanooks should have a seat at the proverbial table.

With a very high caliber coaching staff, and competitive play that has averaged 17 wins per season since Dallas took the helm, that's very respectable. The only mark against our program is travel, which again I believe is negated with the exemption. With an 8 team conference, 7 2-game series would be played in Fairbanks with a 28 game schedule, exempting 2 games from each conference members' schedule to capitalize on however they see fit. Games at home, TV coverage to generate ad revenue, etc. A 6 team conference would be a 20 game schedule with 14 games to fill. That just doesn't seem realistic to me. If they played 6 games against each other, that's 30, also not very realistic...

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2ND UPDATE:  8/24
Several sources have received word that the talks in Chicago between the WCHA and CCHA have reached "a conclusion". Doesn't seem like a conclusion as much as it looks like a hostile takeover by the WCHA.

Adam Wodon, the man behind College Hockey News has reported that all 5 of the remaining CCHA schools (Notre Dame excluded, since they've already said they're leaving, but not sure where yet) have been extended official invitations to join the WCHA beginning with the '13-'14 season.  Teams have been given a 30-day window in which to accept said invitation.

I don't anticipate that our school will decline this invitation. I'm sure it will have to be discussed, and likely the travel arrangements may be an issue, but I'm sure that can be all worked out later. Exciting times!