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Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

S

Squarebanks

New member
New AD? Check.
New Assistant? Check
New Goalie? TBD

I think we can safely retire the 2011 thread now that the leaves are starting to turn in 2012. Our last CCHA season sees the likes of Miami, WMU, Sparty, and Ohio State make their last Carlson Center appearances in games that don't have "Goal Rush" in their heading. The Kendall slate should be fairly easy, but the Brice will test our mettle early on with games against Merrimack and North Dakota.

The biggest question mark has to be in the net. That's not a shot at any of the current guys, but more a reflection on the rock called Greenham, who has moved on to more lucrative pastures.

I think we will know after the Brice games how good this team is or isn't. But the pieces are all there, and I'm betting that last year's struggles will pay some dividends for this year's squad.

GO NOOKS
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Ordinarily early-season volleyball may not be exciting, but if you've ever had a desire to see freshman hockey players as cheerleaders for a volleyball team, tomorrow is your big chance!

 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Squarebanks said:
Ordinarily early-season volleyball may not be exciting, but if you've ever had a desire to see freshman hockey players as cheerleaders for a volleyball team, tomorrow is your big chance!

Click to expand...

UAA hockey players have been doing this for years at the UAA volley ball season openers. Is this a new thing for the Nanook hockey players?
 
Suze said:
UAA hockey players have been doing this for years at the UAA volley ball season openers. Is this a new thing for the Nanook hockey players?
Click to expand...

First I've heard of it, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened before.

It should be particularly interesting to see 6'5 Colton Parayko bust out some cheer leading moves.
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Suze said:
UAA hockey players have been doing this for years at the UAA volley ball season openers. Is this a new thing for the Nanook hockey players?
Click to expand...

They've been there before - chanting "What the hell's a Seawolf?" :D
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

I'm not sure Air Force will be easy, new goalie and first game could be difficult. Hopefully we will have more than one line that can consistantly score.
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Suze said:
UAA hockey players have been doing this for years at the UAA volley ball season openers. Is this a new thing for the Nanook hockey players?
Click to expand...

No. They have been doing it for awhile.
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Hockey is in the air…you can almost smell it.

20120902-1181920-L.jpg


This should be an interesting season. It's everyone's last chance to etch their names somewhere in the annals of the final season of the CCHA, and for the "have-nots" to set expectations for success in the nWCHA. As far as I can tell, everybody thinks they’ll dominate the nWCHA.

But back to the season at hand. I really don’t know the finer points of the game, so I’ll just make observations.

1. The Nooks are fairly young, with 9 freshmen, 7 sophomores, 3 juniors, and 7 seniors.
2. The Nook’s roster lists 16 forwards, 7 d-men, and 3 goalies.
3. D-corp is young, including 2 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 1 junior, and 1 senior.
4. Forwards include 6 freshmen, 3 sophomores, 2 juniors, and 5 seniors.
5. We have 3 untested goalies. 1 senior, 1 sophomore, 1 freshman.
6. The roster includes players from the AJHL (10), USHL (6), BCHL (5), NAHL (3), SJHL (1), and CJHL (1).
7. 15 are listed as 6ft or over. Only 5 are 200lbs or heavier.
8. 5 are from Alaska, 16 from Canada, and 5 from the lower 48.
9. 16 are Business related majors, 5 Engineering majors, and then assorted Psychology, Geography, and Communication majors.
10. The Nooks are undefeated in 2012-13. That won’t last very long.

The boys better be on their game right out of the gate if they don't want to get embarrassed in the Kendall or Brice. We need the new AD to generate more support and excitement on campus and in the community. We really need production from the Taranto, Kunyk,& Beck line, or variations thereof.


- Sept 29 – Blue/Gold Scrimmage
- Oct 5 – Regina, Exhibition
- Oct 12 – vs AirForce @ Kendall in Anch
- Oct 13 – vs Canisius @ Kendall in Anch
- Oct 19 – vs Merrimack @ Brice
- Oct 20 – vs UND @ Brice

Go Nooks!
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

No goalie experience, wow that is going to be entertaining. Let's hope some of our freshmen can score, and what's left of last years freshmen class has got to be better then they were last year. Worse freshman calss we have had in a long time, no production no impact on the ice.
 
birdman said:
No goalie experience, wow that is going to be entertaining. Let's hope some of our freshmen can score, and what's left of last years freshmen class has got to be better then they were last year. Worse freshman calss we have had in a long time, no production no impact on the ice.
Click to expand...

Goalie spot has to be Thompson's to lose at this point. Time will tell how well he does, but the situation is eerily similar to Chad Johnson's senior season as The Man. I don't see us trotting out Keeney as a freshman.
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Obviously, I hope Thompson does well. He looked a little rattled whenever I saw him in net, but that was so sparingly that it may not be fair to judge him based on the little game action he has seen. The coaches see him daily. It will be telling if he doesn’t get the nod right out of the gate. But if our inexperience is going to cost us throughout the season no matter what, then we might as well give experience to the ones that will here for two or three more years.

I hope Thompson is given the chance, he steps up, the team has confidence in him, and we are pleasantly surprised by the quality and depth of our goal tending. It’s been a few years since goaltending has been our worry. Now it’s right in there with no offense and a young inexperienced defense. Other than that, we’re good to go. :)


Go Nooks!
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

A couple of good youtube videos, one from the first day of practice on the 17th and one from this weekend (the 21st):


 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Squarebanks said:
A couple of good youtube videos, one from the first day of practice on the 17th and one from this weekend (the 21st):
Click to expand...

How are they able to start official practices one week before everyone else?
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

Suze said:
How are they able to start official practices one week before everyone else?
Click to expand...

I believe the Nooks get to start early because they lose so many practice days to travel throughout the season. I‘ve heard that total practice days need to be scheduled out and approved. But I recall this from years ago and it could all be BS. If the Seawolves are having full practices now you probably have a similar deal. We probably lose more days than you guys do. I guess those five or six trips outside of Alaska each season gives our Alaska teams a big advantage (unless of course you count grades, fatigue, and financial considerations). :rolleyes:

Go Nooks!
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

mmf said:
I believe the Nooks get to start early because they lose so many practice days to travel throughout the season. I‘ve heard that total practice days need to be scheduled out and approved. But I recall this from years ago and it could all be BS. If the Seawolves are having full practices now you probably have a similar deal. We probably lose more days than you guys do. I guess those five or six trips outside of Alaska each season gives our Alaska teams a big advantage (unless of course you count grades, fatigue, and financial considerations). :rolleyes:

Go Nooks!
Click to expand...

UAA started official practices yesterday, a week after UA_.
 
Re: Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

birdman said:
... Worse freshman class we have had in a long time, no production no impact on the ice.
Click to expand...

Considering that two of last year’s more highly regarded freshmen never suited up, you might have something there. But I would say that we under-performed across the board, probably more so than any other team in the CCHA.

On average we out-shot opponents (we all know how important that is ;)) in every period last year and ended up overall with a 1,070 to 935 advantage. But we got out-scored 94 to 84 overall. We consistently lost the 2nd period, even when we seemed to dominate the 1st, and lost a lot of close games and games late in the third. So it appears the coaches also underperformed last year.

We only lost 14% of our “goal scoring machine” to graduation. Our top 4 goals scorers, and the only four in double digits are back: Kunyk(15), Taranto(12), Beck(12), Grandberg(10). We lost about 30% of total point production to graduation, with Finucci and Gens accounting for most of that. We should be better offensively than we have been in a while. Defense will be young. Goaltending is an unknown.

I think we will be a tougher team then early season polls will show. But I say that almost every year. Law of averages are in my favor this year. Can’t wait for the puck to drop.

Go Nooks!
 
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