Alaska Nanooks 2012-2013: Going Out With a Bang

[Squarebanks]

How we do against OSU this weekend should go a long way in determining what was more of an aberration: the undefeated January or going O-fer against Miami.

I think we'll bounce back, personally.

Okay, HOPEFULLY just a little bump in the road. Game was a 2-1 game Friday with two empty netters scored to make final 4-1. Nanooks tied Saturday game at 2, only to give up the lead for good 90 seconds later. Keeney did not look good on the games final three goals. He gets his mulligan and will be MORE than ready for Ohio State this weekend. Nanooks need to take care of business in the final six league games and things will be good. The teams below them have wins and points to make up and if Alaska plays like they should, they will be OK

 

[UAFHockeyFan314]

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

Well if that was any indication, the 'Nooks rebounded well. Colton Beck told Jaime Schwartzwald after the game how excited he was, but "...we have to put it behind us and get ready to go tomorrow night."

Well put, sir. After getting the hat trick, he still has his priorities straight. I hope he at least celebrated a little bit. Kunyk also played a phenomenal game last night. A lot of us have mentioned he's exhibited some laziness over times, but his passing is spot on. All Beck had to do on those goals was just get the tape on it and its in the back of the net. Unreal last night.

The 'Nooks torched the 2nd ranked defense in the CCHA, #10 in the country in goals allowed per game for 6 goals last night. An unbelievable showing for that Nanooks team, especially rebounding the way they did. Should be a great second game as they look for the sweep.

Also of interest, over on my blog I took a look at next years WCHA composition and tried to analyze how strong that conference would be. Give it a read if you're interested. http://nanookhockey.blogspot.com/2013/02/another-look-at-new-look-wcha.html

Long story short, the Nanooks should be number 1 in that conference.

 

[West Texas Wolverine]

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

Bummer tonight. 110 minutes of awesome hockey this weekend. Go 'Nooks!

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Buckeyes deserved that one. We took some bad penalties in the 2nd and made a couple of bad mistakes in the 3rd that made it 3-1. Keeney looked bad on the last two goals.

Drygas alluded to this on the radio broadcast, but I wouldn't be too surprised if we shake up the goaltending situation at Lake Superior. If history is any indication I think Keeney gets a shot at redemption on Friday but if we drop another one Friday I bet Thompson gets some time Saturday.

Tough loss; we really needed at least a tie tonight for a variety of reasons. Unless OSU and Ferris really stumble this loss pretty much eliminated any chance at a bye. It also knocks us to #15 in the PWR. If we drop much more than one game the rest of the way we can forget about going to the tourney.

 

[UAFHockeyFan314]

Buckeyes deserved that one. We took some bad penalties in the 2nd and made a couple of bad mistakes in the 3rd that made it 3-1. Keeney looked bad on the last two goals.

Drygas alluded to this on the radio broadcast, but I wouldn't be too surprised if we shake up the goaltending situation at Lake Superior. If history is any indication I think Keeney gets a shot at redemption on Friday but if we drop another one Friday I bet Thompson gets some time Saturday.

Tough loss; we really needed at least a tie tonight for a variety of reasons. Unless OSU and Ferris really stumble this loss pretty much eliminated any chance at a bye. It also knocks us to #15 in the PWR. If we drop much more than one game the rest of the way we can forget about going to the tourney.

I don't know about eliminating the chances at a bye. Ferris lost to NMU Saturday so 4-5-6 are all one point apart. The other side to that coin though is the games in hand situation. Ohio State has a tough schedule left with WMU, a recovering Michigan team, and at Miami. Ferris State has a tough BGSU team to deal with before visiting Yost. Definitely not out of a bye yet by any means. Remember top 5 get byes, but ideally not being in the 5th seed would mean home ice second round.

 

[Squarebanks]

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

I don't know about eliminating the chances at a bye. Ferris lost to NMU Saturday so 4-5-6 are all one point apart. The other side to that coin though is the games in hand situation. Ohio State has a tough schedule left with WMU, a recovering Michigan team, and at Miami. Ferris State has a tough BGSU team to deal with before visiting Yost. Definitely not out of a bye yet by any means. Remember top 5 get byes, but ideally not being in the 5th seed would mean home ice second round.

What hurts us is the "games in hand" that the other teams have, unfortunately. 5th isn't out of the realm of possibility but I think 4th is very unlikely unless Ferris and OSU both start losing.

Not sure what to expect from the PWR going forward. I do think we are going to have to rely on some of the other teams ahead of us stumbling a bit down the stretch, and also hope that Niagara wins the AHA tournament; if there's a Cinderella champion in AHA and Niagara is still in the top 16, somebody is getting screwed. Ideally we would sweep LSSU next week (hard to do in their barn) and then somehow they would sneak up into the TUC at the end of the season, but that scenario is a stretch. Assuming we don't get the CCHA bye, we would also have to sweep whoever comes up for the first round of the playoffs.

Bottom line...just win. And especially don't let the seapups screw us out of the NCAA's by laying an egg against them, much like they did in 2009.

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Nolan Youngmun was tagged with a one game suspension for his CTH penalty on Saturday against OSU.

And, Odegard was the CCHA Defensive POW.

 

[mmf]

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

Hope the boys are ready for this weekend. We need another road sweep to stay in the hunt. Shouldn’t be a problem since America-One Sports shows LSSU playing Alaska Anchorage tonight also. I sure hope we get them the second game of tonight’s double header. Or maybe Anchorage is playing their JV team.

I also note that LSSU is coming off a bye week. It seems like we have read that a lot this season. It looks like we will have played four series against teams coming off a bye week (BGSU, Miami, OSU, LSSU). Seems like a lot. But no excuses. Just get’r done.

Go Nooks!

 

[Suze]

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

Hope the boys are ready for this weekend. We need another road sweep to stay in the hunt. Shouldn’t be a problem since America-One Sports shows LSSU playing Alaska Anchorage tonight also. I sure hope we get them the second game of tonight’s double header. Or maybe Anchorage is playing their JV team.
[/COLOR]

Too funny. I think they just get the Alaska schools mixed up. Not excusing them, I think it's kinda funny.

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Saw on Woody's blog there will be a UAF-UAA alumni game on March 2 before the GC finale at Sully. That has the potential for some entertainment...

 

[Squarebanks]

Need a split or a tie/win, at least. Abel Arena is only slightly less unkind to us than Marquette, so we'll see.

If we get through this weekend relatively unscathed and take care of business against Sparty and UAA we should be in good shape come playoff/selection time.

Hope the boys are ready for this weekend. We need another road sweep to stay in the hunt. Shouldn’t be a problem since America-One Sports shows LSSU playing Alaska Anchorage tonight also. I sure hope we get them the second game of tonight’s double header. Or maybe Anchorage is playing their JV team.

I also note that LSSU is coming off a bye week. It seems like we have read that a lot this season. It looks like we will have played four series against teams coming off a bye week (BGSU, Miami, OSU, LSSU). Seems like a lot. But no excuses. Just get’r done.

Go Nooks!

 

[UAFHockeyFan314]

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

Well perhaps last night didn't go so well... I'm a little disappointed as the team didn't seem ready to play at the start of the 1st period. I wasn't able to watch or listen to the game, hence no blog or Twitter updates. But the box score and some of the other recaps around the net certainly tell a story. According to the line charts tonight, John Keeney will ride the pine pony and senior Steve Thompson will get his first start since the 3-4 OT Loss up in Marquette back in November. Just hoping that goal that he allowed last night on the first shot he faced doesn't waver his confidence any.

On the other side of it though, 47 shots on goal with 7 power play opportunities, and the only tally on the board is a Morley Shorty (that has a bit of a ring to it... I like it...!)? That doesn't equate to any of the recent offensive success that we've had, and frankly I don't understand it... Murdock isn't super human...

Needless to say, hoping for a better showing tonight.

 

[PerkyforPrez]

Well perhaps last night didn't go so well... I'm a little disappointed as the team didn't seem ready to play at the start of the 1st period. I wasn't able to watch or listen to the game, hence no blog or Twitter updates. But the box score and some of the other recaps around the net certainly tell a story. According to the line charts tonight, John Keeney will ride the pine pony and senior Steve Thompson will get his first start since the 3-4 OT Loss up in Marquette back in November. Just hoping that goal that he allowed last night on the first shot he faced doesn't waver his confidence any.

On the other side of it though, 47 shots on goal with 7 power play opportunities, and the only tally on the board is a Morley Shorty (that has a bit of a ring to it... I like it...!)? That doesn't equate to any of the recent offensive success that we've had, and frankly I don't understand it... Murdock isn't super human...

Needless to say, hoping for a better showing tonight.

I think the Nooks did not play all that bad this weekend. The Lakers just made excellent use of their week off.

As far as Murdock not being super human that is what some of the Miami fans called him earlier in the season when he stoned them down there.

 

[LSSULaker889294]

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

Nanooks played well again, but got some shaky goaltending from Thompson tonight. I thought two of the goals he gave up were on the weak side.

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Well in addition to getting swept we may have screwed ourselves out of the NCAAs. I guess I'm glad they seemed to enjoy their trip to Sault Ste. Marie in Steve Thompson's YouTube collection.

UAF always seems consistently inconsistent, but this year has been a Jekyll and Hyde of epic proportions. Played great the first six weeks into mid November, then awful the rest of November. Unbeatable in January (literally and figuratively), can't hardly buy a win in February. I guess if this pattern holds we will sweep through the playoffs in March and go to the NCAAs after all. So we have that going for us.

Other than that, really disappointed right now. Two weeks ago I thought a strong finish and Governors Cup win was in order, now I am not too sure about either of those things.

 

[Squarebanks]

Nanooks played well again, but got some shaky goaltending from Thompson tonight. I thought two of the goals he gave up were on the weak side.

Goaltending has been a question mark for us all season and I think it is finally catching up to us. Keeney has played well but seems to have hit a wall in February. I wouldn't be surprised with a Cahill start next weekend against Sparty. Something needs to get shaken up.

 

[UMICH]

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

Things could be worse guys, you could be Michigan fans. Wow, this is a baaaaaaaadddd year. I don't get it. Sweep sparty out of your rink next week.

 

[Squarebanks]

Things could be worse guys, you could be Michigan fans. Wow, this is a baaaaaaaadddd year. I don't get it. Sweep sparty out of your rink next week.

There's a good chance we will get then again two weeks later in the playoffs. I wonder if Anastos will pitch as big of a hissy fit as Comley did a couple years ago.

 

[LSSULaker889294]

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

There's a good chance we will get then again two weeks later in the playoffs. I wonder if Anastos will pitch as big of a hissy fit as Comley did a couple years ago.

Michigan could be in Alaska for the 1st round of the CCHA playoffs as well. .

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Michigan could be in Alaska for the 1st round of the CCHA playoffs as well. .

I hope not. I don't care how bad they are, I want nothing to do with Red Berenson in a CCHA playoff series.