FAIRBANKS, AK -The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announced today that Alaska Nanooks freshman right wing Andy Taranto (Woodridge, IL) has been selected as the conference's rookie of the week, for the week of November 23.
The 21-year old forward notched three goals and an assist for the then-ranked No. 12 Nanooks in their pair of shootout wins over Northern Michigan. Taranto had the shootout-winner on Friday as well.
Friday night he lit the lamp at 9:50 of the second period to tie the game 2-2 and then struck for his second-power play tally of the night at 19:07 to give the Blue and Gold their first lead of the game. Although the Wildcats responded with an equalizer in the third period, and neither team was unable to score again through the end of regulation and five minutes of overtime, Taranto notched a third marker in the deciding shootout that sealed the victory.
In the first round of the shootout NMU's captain Mark Olver beat the Nanooks Scott Greenham (Addison, ON) on the first shot, but junior Ryan Hohl (Northville, MI) answered back for Alaska. In the second round Greenham stopped the 'Cats' Greger Hanson, setting up Taranto's heroics. He beat NMU's netminder Brian Stewart to give the home team the 2-1 advantage and Greenham stopped the visitors' third shooter and the tying attempt to help Alaska earn the extra point.
On Saturday, he notched the first goal of the game at 13:18 and set up sophomore Carlo Finucci (Burnaby, BC) for Alaska's third goal of the period at 18:02. Alaska held on for the tie and rallied for their second shootout win in as many nights.
Taranto is riding a five-game scoring streak and has notched two points in each of his last five outings. He also leads Alaska skaters with 12 points (5g, 7a) in the last eight games. He leads Alaska in scoring with 7-11-18, leads the CCHA in rookie scoring, and is second in NCAA among Division I rookies; his five power-play goals this year rank him second (three-way tie) in CCHA and fifth (tied with multiple players) in the nation.
For Taranto, it is his first conference player of the week award. It marks the second straight week a Nanook rookie garnered the honor and the fourth time this season for an Alaska Nanook.
No. 13/12 Alaska returns to action on the road this weekend, when they visit Kalamazoo, MI, for a two-game CCHA series at Lawson Ice Arena against. Opening face off for both games is at 7:35 p.m. EST/3:35 p.m. AKT and links for all live game coverage can be found at alaskananooks.com.
