Nanooks Earn Series Sweep of Ferris State

Ferris State Goaltender C.J. Motte after Saturday's loss

Gotta love some "Motte's" applesauce! CJ Motte was exposed yet again between the pipes in Fairbanks as the Nanooks rolled 8 goals on the senior on 71 shots through the weekend. Good offensive showing for the Nanooks, but the Bulldogs did not play a very good defensive game. The Bulldogs play very aggressive, and the Nanooks played a strong enough possession game and had the speed on the big ice to expose them. Friday seemed like it took a bit of time for the Nanooks to get their wits and get their passing game together. It started to come back in the 3rd period pretty quick and guys were making plays. Defensively, the Nanooks clamped down on Ferris State pretty hard. Their only goal, scored on the power play, was off a deflection in front of the goal by a Nanook defensemen. The puck would have went wide, but it slowed down enough in flight and found a Bulldog forward's stick, then the back of the net. From there, the Nanooks bagged 8 unanswered goals through the weekend and controlled play.

The highlights can speak for themselves to the scoring.

For those that watched the game, what is up with C.J. Motte? Seriously? That's the second time on our ice that he's come 40+ feet out of his crease to take out Garrick Perry. You can see the best angle of it in Joe Cook's KTVF highlights -- I even linked it right to the time that the play starts. Garrick comes up the ice on a turnover by the defenseman at the blue line. Perry streaks ahead and gets clocked by C.J. Motte trying to make a play. Feel free to slow that down (YouTube is awesome for that) and tell me if you see Perry ever make contact with an elbow. Perry made every effort to be cautious with the circumstances, and the puck is still at his feet at the time of the collision. How the official calls elbowing is beyond me. Anyone care to enlighten me? I know goalie safety is an issue, but he's not a goalie at the point. He forfeits all goalie protections at that point in the eyes of the rulebook. But hey, if he wants to end his career prematurely that's one way to go about it. One of these days someone that doesn't like him very much is going to see him coming when he pulls another stunt like that.

A strong defensive effort this weekend from the Nanooks. After shaking the rust off, they played complete games. It's going to be a really good series in Bowling Green. I'm looking forward to it.