Game Day - Nanooks vs. RedHawks

Game Day

Alaska Nanooks vs #4 Miami RedHawks

7:05PM AKST - Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska

Live Stats: AlaskaNanooks.com | Live Audio: KCBF 820 Sports

Live Video ($7): AmericaOneSports.com | Radio: 820 AM Fairbanks

Twitter: @NanookHockey

I feel as if I've neglected you this week, my loyal readers... Again, sorry for the lack of a pre-series post but life always seems to find a way to interfere. But I think this series is one that doesn't need much of an introduction. The RedHawks come into this game ranked 4th in the country, sporting one of the most dynamic offensive forward lines in college hockey today. Reilly Barber, Austin Czarnik have combined for 29 of the 85 total points that Miami has amassed thus far through 12 games. Coming off of a bye week over Thanksgiving, you have to wonder if the turkey will take its toll.

Historically, the 'Nooks have always fared pretty well against this team. Despite the scoring that Miami has dazzled the country with in recent history, only twice has Miami beaten Alaska in what I would consider a blowout (7-2, 5-0). The Nanooks have a history of splitting with Miami, so time will tell.

The Nanooks will don the gold jerseys tonight for the first time all season. Which is great, because I for one prefer them. The whites are a very nice sweater too, don't get me wrong, but the golds are just awesome.

John Keeney will also get the start in goal tonight. This will be a great challenge for him against Miami's offense. Colton Parayko is out for tonight's game, so Justin Tateson will be in the lineup as well. Watch my Twitter (@NanookHockey) for the full lines a bit later.

Go 'Nooks!

Lead Swallowed in 3rd Period, NMU Edges SO Win

Dallas Ferguson elects to go with John Keeney in goal tonight as the Nanooks look to avoid another loss in the Black Hole... And Coach Ferguson looks for his first win against the NMU Wildcats in his career on his 40th birthday no less. What a great birthday present that would have been.

The first period had some chances as the Nanooks seemed to have the flow of the game in their favor, although the shots were tilted a bit in NMU's favor.

A lot of those shots weren't top quality scoring chances, but with 3 first period penalties on Alaska, all of them called on Tyler Morley. The Wildcats would capitalize on their first of three chances on what turned out to be a nice play as Reed Seckel made a no look backwards pass to the side of the net where Stephan Vigier was waiting. Keeney moved to the other post to cover the wraparound, but wasn't able to swing back to cover Vigier in time.

The Nanooks would answer right back 48 seconds later to tie it though as a strong 3 on 2 rush created by Chad Gehon up to Nik Yaremchuk. Yammer fed Nolan Kaiser who came up to fill the right wing spot and Kaiser rifled it for his first career goal. If you recall, we thought Nolan had his first goal last week in the Western Michigan series in the first game, but it turned out to be Huysmans. That's the downside when you have three Nolan's on the team all numbered sequentially (Kaiser, Huysmans, Youngmun as 23, 24, 25, respectively). This time, no question about it.

Then on NMU's lone penalty of the first period, Jake Baker goes to the box for holding, and just 8 seconds later, Tyler Morley who is well rested at this point gets one on the board from Trevor Campbell (his 3rd point of the series) and Josh Atkinson as the puck cycled the point after the initial faceoff.

Tyler Morley would get his 3rd penalty at 18:24 of the first period, as the Wildcats would get the remainder of that penalty call to start the 2nd period.

Into the second, no scoring came around but certainly some scoring chances on each side. The Wildcats had a strong showing against the Nanooks 4th line with a good extended possession. The Nanooks had some chances of their own with some quality chances on the rush. The Nanooks however unable to extend any of their possessions.

Then with 5:05 remaining, senior captain Adam Henderson puts a big hit on Jake Johnson, which was eventually ruled a 5 minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind. That opened the door for the second coming of the Wildcats infamous second period from a day previous, but the Nanooks definitely did not lean back on that kill. They pressured the Wildcats the entire time and held NMU to just three shots on goal that entire penalty. Taranto had a glorious shorthanded chance that Coreau wasn't able to contain. The rebound popped way up and came right to Tyler Morley who effectively had a wide open shooting lane, but Coreau came WAY out to make the save.

In the 3rd, NMU got a goal right off the faceoff after a media timeout as a defensemen blasted a shot in from the point. Reed Seckel got a stick on it midair and deflected it through the five-hole.

Into OT, the Nanooks had a chance to even the score as Andy Taranto butied what he thought was his 100th point. The goal was initially waved off due to contact with the goaltender. After a lengthy review, it looked like they couldn't get enough evidence to overturn it. From the broadcast replay, it looked like Taranto was pushed into the goaltender, but the officials only have the camera above the goal to look at. Shortly after that, Taranto was called with an extremely weak roughing call on a clean check against the boards. Regardless, the Nanooks were able to kill it off.

In the waning seconds of the Overtime period, Jarret Granberg had the Wildcats dead to rights as he connected with Cody Kunyk on the backdoor with a beautiful pass, but Jared Coreau made the save of the game right there. I couldn't believe that puck didn't go in the back of the net.

Into the shootout, Coreau stopped both Colton Beck and Tyler Morley, and Keeney was unable to make the save on either shooter for NMU.

The Nanooks return back to the Carlson Center for two straight back-to-back home series against Miami and Bowling Green. The RedHawks currently sit in 1st place in the CCHA as the Nanooks only close the gap by 1 point, and are back by just 2 points out of 1st place.

2 Goal Lead Erased By the Black Hole

For the second game in a row, the Nanooks hockey team let a 2 goal lead slip away. A sad but unfortunate truth as the Nanooks let the Wildcats right back into the game in Steve Thompson's first start in goal since the loss against Ferris State. A strong first period put the Nanooks up 2-0 with goals from Henderson and Granberg, but a poor defensive showing in the 2nd period allowed the Wildcats to surge ahead with 3 goals in just 5 shots on goal.

In the first, the Nanooks tilted play heavily in their favor for most of the period. The Wildcats top line logged a lot of minutes, probably 11 or 12 minutes in that period, but the 'Nooks wore them out. At 7:19, the Nanooks had some good cycling and got a shot to the front of the net that found Jared Coreau out of position. The puck found the stick of Henderson, who puts it in to an empty net.  Later at 15:43, looked like Trevor Campbell kept the puck in against the wall above the faceoff circle, and just threw the puck on net, that Jarret Granberg was able to deflect in. I didn't get a good look at the play but that's how it looked to me...

Down 3-2 in the 3rd, the Nanooks turned up the pressure, but a costly penalty at the end by
Morley had me biting my nails. Turns out it didn't matter as Taranto went beast mode and scored shorthanded on a play created by Jarret Granberg with strong defensive play, getting it back to Trevor Campbell with good vision to find Taranto streaking up, who buried the goal shorthanded to tie the game 3-3 with less than a minute to play.

A few seconds later, Daugherty took what Walt Kyle later described as a "dumb penalty" with just 5 seconds left in regulation gave the Nanooks an early start to a power play with Morley out of the box. However, a costly turnover to NMU captain Scott Macaulay caught Steve Thompson on a bad angle, leaving the side open, and Macaulay buried it for the shorthanded overtime game winning goal. Talk about a back breaker.

Aside from a few miscues in the second period, the Nanooks controlled the game. They held Northern to just 18 shots on goal through nearly 61 minutes,  but the four goals allowed mark is what sticks out.

The 'Nooks seek revenge tomorrow, and deserve a better fate. Would love to see the tide change...

How To Win In the Black Hole

The barn in Marquette will be known as "The Black Hole" until the 'Nooks can sweep the Wildcats, and this weekend presents a very good chance for that to happen. Dallas Ferguson in his post as head coach has faced Walt Kyle and the NMU Wildcats 13 times since 2008. The Nanooks are 0-7-6 in that time period. The Nanooks have won 4 of the shootouts, but nearly every game was close. Aside from one game, each of the Wildcats' win was by one or two goals. The only game that wasn't close was last season when the Nanooks surrendered 7 back in Marquette in a 7-3 loss.

But this is a new season, a new roster, and a new beginning. The 'Nooks are off to a great start, but not so much for NMU. The Wildcats are 1-5-2-0 in CCHA play this season, good for 5 points and last place in the conference. To add more turmoil, the Wildcats will miss Erik Higby on Friday's game serving a mandatory one game suspension due to the game disqualification he received for a contact to the head penalty against Ohio State. But, that's just the start...

Junior forward and the team's leading scorer Matt Thurber was ejected from Friday's game for contact to the head, but while he wasn't disqualified, coach Kyle pulled Thurber out faster than a Lamborghini peeling out at a traffic light. Citing a violation of team rules, Kyle said to the press "[Thurber is] out until I say he's back in." Wow... The curious side of me wants to know what exactly happened, but the other sympathetic side of me understands what its like to not have things going your way. Five of NMU's top nine offensive players will be out for this series, and one other player (Higby) will miss Friday.

You can tell their frustrations seem to be mounting as well, Northern has 176 penalty minutes so far this season, or 14.7 minutes per game. Now I know the Nanooks have their fair share too, but the part that hurts the Wildcats is that they're 57th in the country in the penalty kill at 74.5%, averaging out to about two power play goals allowed per game. From an overall defensive perspective, NMU averages 3.08 goals allowed per game total, 2nd worst in the CCHA. This series could be a good chance for the Nanooks 15.5% power play, which has started to click recently, to really find their stride and burying the puck.

Now as far as the actual game is concerned, the Nanooks should have the edge in zone play. Watching tape from the NMU/Ohio State series, the Wildcats have suffered from a poor passing game in the offensive zone. I don't know if its just a lack of vision, or good defensive reads by the Buckeyes. Probably a combination of both, but the Nanooks defense as solid as it is, I don't have too many worries about these guys wreaking havoc offensively, especially with the aforementioned lineup issues.

Where NMU excels is the transition game. Walt Kyle's teams over the years have always been good at controlling the neutral zone, and that's still true with this year's team. They will take advantage of mistakes and turnovers and start it back the other way. A number of their goals this season have come on odd-man rushes created on the backcheck, so making smart decisions with the puck, and clean passing in transition are keys to watch for.

Despite the history between these two teams especially in The Black Hole, the Nanooks are the better team. And if the 'Nooks play their game and keep their offense going, good things are going to happen.