The New York Rangers announced today that they have recalled Chad Johnson and sent down recent backup goaltender Matt Zaba.

The former Nanook, who was last season's Central Collegiate Hockey Association Player of the Year, posted two more wins for the Rangers' American Hockey League affiliate, Hartford Wolf Pack, this past weekend. 

The Wolf Pack won on Saturday night in come from behind fashion, 3-2 over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Hartford won again on Sunday, a 2-1 shootout win over the Syracuse Crunch.

In Saturday's win, Johnson saved 23 of 25 shots as the Wolf Pack were down 2-1 entering the third period.  On Sunday night, he saved 30 of 31 saves including stopping all three shots in the shootout as the Wolf Pack were down 1-0 entering the third.  They would tie the game with under 9 minutes remaining in regulation.

The Rangers hosts the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday at 3 pm Alaska Standard Time.

It was worth the wait, but he was finally needed.

And as always, the New York Rangers are still looking for answers on winning hockey games.

Despite the fact that the Rangers were blown out 6-0 by the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, I was excited to hear what was happening as I was listening to 1050 ESPN's (WEPN-AM, New York) game coverage feed on SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio during my drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas earlier this evening.  After browsing thru the channels and noticed that the Rangers were down 4-0 in the 2nd period, I had a funny feeling that Rangers head coach John Tortorella finally decided to pull starting goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and go with former Alaska Nanook Chad Johnson.

When I flipped it on to XM 206, that's exactly what I heard from Rangers' radio play-by-play announcer Kenny Albert.  Chad Johnson making his National Hockey League debut.

Enough said.

Lundqvist would play the entire first period and give up the game's first three goals.  But Chad would start the second period and played the rest of the game.

On his very first NHL shot on goal, Chad gave up a goal to veteran Flyers LW Simon Gagne to make it a 4-0 Flyers lead.  It would be 5-0 after another Gagne goal and that's how it would end the 2nd period.  When the stats came out, it was impressive...16 of 18 shots saved.  And that's just the second period!

The Flyers didn't get their first shot on goal in the 3rd period until 11:30 into the final stanza, which ironically, that shot on goal was scored by none other than Gagne himself, giving him the hat trick.  Chad would only see two shots on goal in that period, so overall he went 17 of 20.  

Not bad for his first NHL experience.  At the post-game press conference, Tortorella felt bad for putting Chad out onto the ice in a position that the Rangers have experienced these last few weeks.

"It's a tough way to start when Dubi (Brandon Dubinsky) turns it over," said Tortorella. "The guy (Gagne) walks in on a breakaway - pretty good player.  But I thought he settled in and made some good saves.  

"You know, its a tough position for a kid to come into his first game, into this storm or whatever you want to call it.  But I like the way he settled in and made some good saves along the way there.  So we'll see how we go about our business there, and we'll go tomorrow."

On a side note, there are now two former Nanooks on the current Rangers' roster, Johnson and Aaron Voros.  Anchorage native Brandon Dubinsky is also on the team.

Lorenzo

It took only 17 seconds for our Nanooks to receive a huge wake up call.

Literally.

After the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks stunned a sparse crowd of 2,833 by taking a 1-0 lead, Alaska wanted to get out of that situation soon.

After going scoreless in three power plays (one of them resulting a two-man advantage), the Nanooks finally tied the game on their fourth power play and exploded from there, erupting with four unanswered goals (three in the first) and never looked back. 

The Mavericks attempted to make a comeback, getting to within one at 4-3 after two...and stayed that way for good.

Now comes an opportunity for the Nanooks to overtake second place in the conference standings after tomorrow night.  A win in regulation / overtime by the Nanooks, plus a combination of both regulation / overtime losses by both Michigan State and Ferris State would give the Nanooks a chance to be at least four points behind the Miami University Redhawks.

After the game, I had the opportunity to talk to some of the Nanook players on the ice.  I gotta admit, I have never seen a huge group of first class players giving us fans the first class treatment tonight...it was 'Skate with the Nanooks' after the game and a little of bit of refreshments on the side.  I even talked to Adam Cardwell for a bit.  It was really cool to talk to a fellow Southern California native on the ice.  Aaron Gens was really cool, Scott Greenham, Brandon Knelsen, just to name a few I had the chance to hang out with tonight.  An amazing experience in my first year as a Nanook season ticket holder.

Now I can't wait to get to the game tomorrow night.

Go Nooks!

LZV 

Andy Taranto, who will more than likely receive CCHA Player of the Week honors by the end of Monday, leads not only the team but the entire conference in scoring.  As of Monday, Taranto leads the conference with 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists), just one point ahead of The Ohio State Buckeyes' Zac Dalpe, who was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Nanooks are on the road this weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan taking on a Western Michigan Broncos team looking for ways to get out of the CCHA cellar.  WMU is dead last in the conference standings with just six points, just three points back behind their in-state rival Michigan Wolverines.

Alaska, however, is looking at aiming towards the other side of the standings.  By the end of next weekend, there is a strong possibility that the Nanooks may take over sole possession of first-place in the CCHA standings.  That's because they stand in third-place with 19 points, just one point ahead of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and three points behind CCHA leading (and the nation's top-ranked team) Miami University Redhawks.

If the Nanooks sweeps Western Michigan in regulation / overtime and no shootout, these are the minimum scenarios that must happen this coming weekend:

1)  Notre Dame must sweep both games to Miami University in regulation / overtime (6 points = 24 points)

2)  Miami University can beat Notre Dame via shootout but must lose either game in regulation / overtime 

3)  Michigan State can beat Northern Michigan in regulation / overtime but must lose via shootout in either game

Keep in mind that if the Nanooks and Irish end in a tie points wise after this weekend, Nanooks own tiebreaker based off of better win total in the conference standings.

Here are this weekend's games in the CCHA:

Friday's schedule

Saturday's schedule

Schedule courtesy of CCHA.com

LZV

It was so good to see Brandon Knelsen in his first home weekend series with the Nanooks since his ankle injury prevented him from playing the Notre Dame series and the team's first road series with Bowling Green State. 

And what a way to end this weekend with the Northern Michigan Wildcats...closing it out with the game-winning shootout goal.

Now we can say that he gets the spotlight other than brother Dion.

After two weeks away from the Carlson Center ice, the Nanooks came back home and won in a surreal game with the Northern Michigan Wildcats, 4-3 in a shootout tonight.  So surreal that I thought the Blue & Gold would give this game away. 

I think we can thank Andy Taranto for keeping the team in the game the whole night.  The freshman from the Chicagoland area scored two goals (both in the second period), then secured the night with the go-ahead shootout goal before NMU's Erik Gustafson missed his shot on net to secure the victory for the Nanooks.

After witnessing this win, a few things I noticed:

1)  Two points is better than just earning one point and losing it in the shootout.  Any way to not only win but to earn more than one point is a better way to increase your chances at moving up in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings.

2)  The quick timeout in the early portion of the second period by Dallas Ferguson.  I don't think the Nanooks were communicating on the ice, but whatever Dallas told them during the timeout worked.  The Taranto goals, including a power-play goal after the Wildcats were caught with too many men on the ice midway through the period, gave Alaska a major boost to carry into the third period.  That gave them the 3-2 lead after two.

3)  Terrible penaties that were not recognizable by anyone in the crowd.   Bryant Molle was whistled twice for holding and interference in the third period.  It did cost the Nanooks a penalty kill as the Wildcats tied up the contest at 3-3. 

It was back and forth scoreboard wise, but the Nanooks were very slow picking up any offensive threats.  Especially in the overtime period, I noticed that the Nanooks were rarely in the Wildcat zone, barely making attempts at any shots.  NMU were all over the place, especially Ray Kaunisto, NMU's 6'4" forward who scored the game's first goal.  He was very tough to defend against.

The Wildcats had players who handled the puck very well.  Walt Kyle's hockey club were very disciplined tonight.  I think this team will come back much tougher on Saturday night.  As for the Nanooks, they need to come out firing on all cylinders.  If they can get an early lead within the game's first five minutes, I believe they will stay in the game the rest of the evening and just keep attacking the net.  Alaska outshot NMU 40-27 in regulation play (41-28 overall).

One last thing:  with both Miami (Ohio) Redhawks and Michigan State Spartans playing non-conference games this weekend, the Nanooks have an opportunity to be tied with Michigan State for second-place in the CCHA by Saturday night.  A win within at least overtime tonight, and a win tomorrow night would have propelled Alaska into sole possession of second-place in the conference going into next weekend's road trip at Western Michigan. 

Saturday's face-off is scheduled again at 7:35 pm on Saturday.

LZV

After capturing the Kendall Hockey Classic at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, the Brice Goal Rush at the Carlson Center last month, and going 3-1 to open up the 2009-2010 Central Collegiate Hockey Association season, the Alaska Nanooks will finally show their real test on the road this weekend at the BGSU Ice Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio, taking on the Bowling Green State Falcons.

The Nanooks have proven that they can play like a top-10 team these past few weeks.  After splitting their series with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish last weekend, the Nanooks are finally in the lower 48 for the first time this season, seeking and determining their next challenge...how to continue their fantastic play away from the state of Alaska.

The Nanooks enter the weekend as the ninth-ranked team in the nation, but we real sports fans know that rankings really doesn't mean anything.  Its a great recognition.  But what matters most is that win-loss-tie-shootout win record.  Head coach Dallas Ferguson, and assistants Brian Meisner and Lance West have worked very hard to get these players to where they need to be in the CCHA standings (for now).  The goal of course is to capture the conference title.  What it will take to continue this trend will be determined by the team's efforts.  Look for Derek Klassen and Andy Taranto to continue to put the puck into their opponent's net this weekend.

Goaltender Scott Greenham has been outstanding for the Blue & Gold.  October's CCHA Player of the Month enters this weekend's series with an amazing 1.35 goals-against-average (GAA).  He was a bit rusty in Friday night's 3-2 loss to the Irish, but the defense will have a strong presence around the net with him.

Now let's keep in mind that the Falcons have yet to win a game so far this season.  Just because they are winless does not mean this will be an easy two-game sweep for Dallas' club.  The Nanooks will need to shut down Falcons freshman forward Jordan Samuels-Thomas, who leads the team in scoring (3 goals, 6 points), but is tied with senior forward Tomas Petruska in assists (3).

Nanook junior forward Ryan Hohl transferred to UAF from Bowling Green State during the early portion of the 2007-2008 season after being redshirted the previous season.  This will be Hohl's second appearance to the BGSU Ice Arena since the transfer.

All in all, this will be an interesting series.  What can be more interesting is the look at the standings after this weekend.  If the Nanooks sweeps BGSU, plus CCHA leader and national title runner-up Miami (Ohio) RedHawks getting swept by Ferris State, and at least a Michigan State loss to Michigan, the Nanooks will enter next weekend's series at Lake Superior State tied for first-place in the conference standings with the RedHawks.

Now that is something worth talking about it.  We will see how it goes when it all starts at 3 pm Friday.