It's a Beautiful Day

Nothing quite like a stretch of great weather in Anchorage. Those of you who live here know that. I don't crank up my iTunes as often as I probably ought to but a day like this needs music. It's a doubly-beautiful day. Sunny in the mid-70's and Sarah quits. And luckily for you readers this will probably be the last time I ever rant about the shrill freak here.

Don't bother reading any other analysis about why she is a quitter. I've got the skinny here of course.

Sarah started out as a typical young married housewife. Her husband worked hard on the slope and fishing; and he pulled in some pretty typically decent cash for that sort of thing. Enough to partner up with some buddy and open a snowmachine shop. It was a classic American story; he was gone a lot and she got bored and lonely. So naturally what happens?

She sleeps with his business partner. No doubt when she explained and apologized to Todd that he told her to do something with her life. So she got on the school board or whatever and eventually got to be mayor of Methsilla. I'm sure that impressed her boob of a hubby but it didn't make him stay home any more than he had. So she gets lucky in a divisive three-way governor race and later McCain knew everyone would like her ass as much as he did so he trotted her out and the "celebrity-politician" was born.

See what fucking around on your spouse creates? That's some seriously unintended consequences. The core of her current character (the parts that aren't the invented "pose queen") has been defined by that affair. She is who she is because of it.

I don't really know or care if this twit is done with national politics or not. She's done in Alaska politics. She's deluded if she thinks she can convince anyone other than the people that already are fascinated with her to vote for her for anything. What a nutbag.

In her announcement, she reminded us that Independence Day was a day to reflect on the service that so many in the military have given on behalf of their country. Funny, I thought Veterans Day and Memorial Day were for that and Independence Day was for celebrating the formation of this fine country.

Best Independence Day EvAH for me!! First Billy Mays takes the dirt nap and now she quits? Maybe there is an omnipotent being above. Hallelujah! Testify!

And by the way, that millions of dollars that she's talking about would be 450,000 less if she'd just provide the emails they're looking for. That's how much they've spent trying to recover them because SHE won't provide them. It'll be sweet if we find out real soon that there is some dirty laundry behind all this. Who knows? I'll be smiling all weekend.

McCain called her nutty. OMG. Too funny.

Hockey coverage is next. Not until August but it is next.

UAF? Money Maker. UNO? Not So Much.

I have a belief/assumption that there are three teams in the WCHA who put extra butts in home team arenas. Minnesota, Wisconsin and UND have active followers living in every other WCHA city. So ... when those three show up, you'll see a fair number more folks in your barn than you did when Mankato visited last weekend. Let's test that belief by comparing the average attendance for non-premier opponents to the average attendance for premier opponents:

UAA
Big Three Average: 3613
Everyone Else Average: 3240

Colorado College
Big Three Average: 7284
Everyone Else Average: 6563

University of Denver
Big Three Average: 6019
Everyone Else Average: 5450

Michigan Tech University
Big Three Average: 2890
Everyone Else Average: 2499

Minnesota State University, Mankato
Big Three Average: 4989
Everyone Else Average: 4512

University of Minnesota Duluth
Big Three Average: 4955
Everyone Else Average: 4652

Saint Cloud State University
Big Three Average: 6097
Everyone Else Average: 6006

I used the last three home series where Minnesota, North Dakota or Wisconsin was the opponent to calculate the "Big Three Average". The "Everybody Else Average" was calculated using the remaining home conference games only. It's not scientific in the least. If someone else wants to use figures for the last "x" number of years versus to make it statistically valid then feel free. I have doubts it would make a big difference ... nevertheless the disclaimer stands.

St. Cloud looks to be an exception to the rule. They pretty much pack em in for anyone that comes to town. Good on them! But for the rest there is from a low of about 300 to a high of over 700 per game less. Note that CC and DU show the biggest variance. At CC this means additional revenue of $21,500 during a weekend when either Wisconsin, Minnesota or North Dakato play. Under the unbalanced schedule, CC gets 2 of those 3 opponents in their rink every year. This is all together less significant that I originally thought. I'd estimate that any likely configuration of 12 teams would not create much more than about $10,000 less per year on average for CC or DU since essentially those losses are spread out during the time it takes to "balance" the schedule. Such a loss wouldn't be a vote maker. I was wrong about that.

I still believe the bottom line is the primary vote maker in this situation. So let's look at the split from the Final Five pie first. Those revenues are spread between 10 teams today. In the future they'll be spread between 12 teams. I don't have the figures unfortunately. so I'll just plug in an arbitrary number that is easy to divide in my head. So for example; if we assume that it's a million dollars. A ten team split obviously equals $100K each; a 12 team split equals $8333.33.

So based on the example of a million dollars ... a twelve team league (regardless of the choice between UAF and UNO) means a semi-significant loss of around $20,000 dollars a year on average for each program. Obviously, that number is different depending on the exact amount of the Final Five revenue share. Again, that loss is there regardless of which 12th team is included.

The next thing to consider is any potential revenue increases that would offset those losses. Playing a hockey game against the host team in Alaska provides an exemption for the visiting team against their maximum limit of 34 regular season games. This means that such visiting teams can host an additional home game. As it stands, 7 WCHA teams each season receive 2 exemptions each year. With UAF in the league all the other WCHA teams would be able to receive the 2 exemptions each year. Let's see what an exemption is worth at each school based using $15 dollars per ticket. Note here; the Alaska schools are locked into the 34 game limit.

Colorado College ----- 7343 seats times 15 dollars = $110,145
Denver University ----- 6026 seats times 15 dollars = $90,390
Michigan Tech ----- 4200 seats times 15 dollars = $63,000
Minnesota ----- 9700 seats times 15 dollars = $145,500
Minnesota St. ----- 4832 seats times 15 dollars = $72,480
Minnesota-Duluth ----- 5233 seats times 15 dollars = $78,495
North Dakota ----- 11500 seats times 15 dollars = $172,500
St. Cloud ----- 5763 seats times 15 dollars = $86,445
Wisconsin ----- 15237 seats times 15 dollars = $228,555

Those numbers represent the potential revenue from one additional home game. I have to apologize for not being 100 percent sure here but in my reading of the NCAA bylaws pertaining to exempted contests, I did not find any mention of any limits on Alaska exemptions per year. That helps explain why WCHA schools were regular attendees at UAA's tournament in years when they weren't otherwise scheduled to come up here. In any case, those are significant revenue additions to most of the WCHA schools. With UAA and UAF in the league the other member schools would maximize the number of additional home games they could schedule. I'm thinking 2 extra home games every year is something that both fans and administrations at every school would get behind. A minimum of 2 exemptions EVERY year.

Now the travel costs. UAF is definitely more expensive for 9 out of 10 WCHA teams than UNO. No point in calculating miles and all that eh? Fairbanks is way farther than Omaha ... I'll stipulate that. But there is an existing offset that could easily be adapted as necessary. Currently, UAF subsidizes the travel for it's CCHA opponents with 25 airline tickets. UAA apparently still provides 12 tickets for it's WCHA opponents. I have no reason to believe that UAF wouldn't happily provide the same 25 tickets to WCHA opponents. In fact, UAF's inclusion in the WCHA is actually so beneficial to the UAA program that I'd imagine UAA would happily buy everyone that comes to Anchorage 25 tickets as well. Ok so ... in that scenario travel to Alaska probably costs about the same as travel to Omaha.

Time to travel? DU and CC would face an 8+ hour bus ride to Omaha. Flying time from Denver to Fairbanks? Less than 7 hours. If DU and CC wanted to fly to Omaha; will UNO pay for 25 of their tickets? Similar story for the Gophers and Bucky. 380/370 miles to Omaha. 6 hours on a bus? Or 7 hours in an airplane? Duluth? 529 miles. 8+ hours on a bus for them. It seems to be almost a push. Though it is easier to get on and off a bus with your gear than it is with all the airport rig-a-ma-roll that you have to go through. Travel to either place certainly has it's downside. But no doubt, for a majority of WCHA schools UNO is objectively a more convenient destination. I could argue otherwise subjectively ... but I won't.

So if it's a choice between adding a school that will increase your bottom line significantly or adding a school that is a little easier to get to ... UAF is clearly the better choice. The relative inconvenience is not significant compared to the potential revenue. $200,000+ (or so) year to offset the $25,000 (or so) loss of going to 12 teams? I think the expansion decision at each WCHA institution would take that number into account. One choice is expand and lose 25K a year or expand and make 180K+ a year ... come on. It's got to be a "slam dunk" eh, Ciskie? That pays for 2 assistant coaches. Or a skating treadmill. Or an upgraded weight room. Or on and on and on ...

Someone please speak up if I'm missing some revenue that Bemidji or UNO brings with them as members.

The question in my mind today is whether UAF is desirous of and/or receiving real consideration from the WCHA. Bruce McLeod certainly seems to want UAF to wait in the wings pending UNO's decision. If UAF is interested then they should certainly not stand by while UNO decides whether or not it will apply.

UA Nanooks Considering WCHA Move

Thanks to this posting on USCHO by 'Wondering' and 'AKJD' from Fairbanks, I learned today that it appears UAF is indeed giving due consideration to changing it's conference affliation from the CCHA to the WCHA.  In a University forum called "Grapevine", Athletic Director Forrest Karr acknowledged the situation.  

The question posed on May 22nd was;

Rumors have circulated around the Internet, as well as the UAF community, that the Alaska Nanooks hockey team may be moving from the CCHA to the WCHA. Is this true?

Forrest Karr answered the query;

We are working with both conferences to explore affiliation with the WCHA for a number of reasons including the potential to increase revenue, reduce team travel costs, reduce team travel subsidies and the opportunity to play four league games each year against our natural in-state rival.

Chancellor Rogers will be briefed on May 27. If he decides to move forward, students, faculty, staff and the greater Fairbanks community will all be invited to open forums for discussion and input.

This is certainly interesting and adds a dimension to the WCHA's exploration of expanding.  I'm sure wondering what Bruce McLeod thought when he got that phone call.  As I've been saying there are some advantages that UAF brings to the table as a conference member that UNO simply cannot match.  UNO doesn't necessarily even practice on the same rink from day to day. They're mired in a contract with the 15,000 seat Qwest Center that doesn't serve the school particularly well.  Their athletic department is still recovering from the kerfuffle of the only coach they've ever had resigning and the hiring of a somewhat controversial A.D. that admits he knows NOTHING about college hockey.

UAF brings the possibility of maximizing the number of exempt games that WCHA opponents could use to schedule additional home games.  There is a limit on the number of exempted games a school can possess but currently WCHA teams don't reach that.  UAF brings a longstanding rivalry with WCHA member UAA.  Schools visiting Alaska would have the opportunity to schedule back-to-back series and minimize the travel expense.  It's the internet age so student-athletes shouldn't suffer too much from any missed classes on a 10 day road trip. UAA and UAF have managed to make travel and school work out so I'd assume it isn't beyond the capability of other WCHA schools to figure out.  

And finally, UAF is in the WEST ... they belong with UAA in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as opposed to the CENTRAL Collegiate Hockey Association.  UNO is a natural for the CCHA.  That's why the WCHA didn't show any interest when they applied years and years ago. 

I'd hope Steve Cobb is on the phone early and often these days selling this idea to his WCHA peers.  Don't let anyone use the old argument about how horrible it would be to make two Alaska road trips every year Dr. Cobb.  Tell them your school makes at minimum 7 such trips a year.  Don't be afraid to use the word "fairness" eh?

UAF Nanooks to the WCHA

The University of Alaska Nanook hockey team should immediately begin considering moving to the WCHA. An opening for a 12th team in the WCHA is available because the CHA has folded and existing college hockey conferences are making attempts to save faltering programs. Two schools remain without a conference; Alabama-Huntsville and Bemidji St. Bemidji State is the only school to have applied during the WCHA's filing period. They presented their case at the recent NCAA meetings in Florida.

WCHA commish Bruce McLeod made it clear that the WCHA considers a 12 team league the goal of expansion. Much talk had been focused on Northern Michigan or University of Nebraska Omaha as the 12th team. Northern has officially (for the 2nd time) said they are not interested. UNO just hired a new Athletic Director within the past few days.

I believe the WCHA could find a UAF bid very acceptable. But first, would it be a good move for UAF? There are a few things to look at but overall I can't see much if/any negative. The WCHA has plenty of elite opponents to help fill the Carlson. Over the past decade the WCHA has proven to be slightly superior in non-conference action versus the CCHA. Most observers give the nod to the WCHA as "the premier" conference in college hockey.

By joining the WCHA UAF would instantly gain a 4 game per year series with UAA and the rivalry could fully blossom again. UAF's tournament would continue to be a going enterprise along with it's participation in UAA's tourny. Trips to WCHA cities would cost about the same per season as trips UAF takes to CCHA cities; perhaps a little less but not significantly so.

Why would the WCHA like it? Three words "The Alaska Exemption". Currently, everyone in the WCHA (except Mankato) comes to UAA only every other year. Mankato is the one WCHA team that gets the financial benefit of having the extra home games every year. Everyone else only gets it once every two years.

In some cases, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of extra dollars in the coffers of WCHA teams. UND, Minnesota and Wisconsin in particular would see the biggest $$$. But having those exempted games gives St. Cloud, Duluth, CC, DU and MTU the ability to host their own tournament every year or perhaps do something else creative with their schedule.

With UAF in the WCHA along with UAA, every team in the league would be able to travel to Alaska every year. Putting money into someone's pocket is the quickest way to get their vote. UAF to the WCHA puts money into everyone's pocket. Why wouldn't the WCHA like it? UAF has the sort of stability that the WCHA purports to be necessary for inclusion. They have a long tradition and excellent community support.

Why would the CCHA like it? They wouldn't. Quite frankly, it would be a bit of a blow. But it would be a bit of a blow no matter who they lose. If UNO goes, it's not best for the CCHA. If UAF goes, it's not a good thing either. But it really looks like if Huntsville is to find a home, the only place that makes sense for them is the CCHA. It's not a bad regional fit.

UAF should jump into the pond before the new AD at UNO figures out exactly how warm the water is. They currently play to 6,000 folks in a mostly empty 18,000 seat arena. Do you think that place would be mostly empty when Minnesota, UND or Wisconsin show up? Nope. Again, UAF should immediately make an overture to the WCHA. They have more to offer than either Bemidji or UNO. But I think Bemidji's membership in a 12 team scenario is all but given. If UAF doesn't move then they risk the future growth of their hockey program. If UNO jumps in before UAF, they could likely grow into a premier program. The fact that UNO folks don't know that today is to UAF's benefit. Get on it Forrest.

UAA Takes 1st Step To Improve Attendance

Former Seawolf Derek Donald has been hired by UAA as Assistant Director of Marketing and Promotions. This press release from UAA announced to move earlier in the week. This article in the Anchorage Daily News expands some on Derek's new role.

First, welcome back to Derek. He was one of the most tenacious players to ever don a Seawolf sweater. He knew how to get the puck on somebody else's stick for a goal and he knew how to put the puck in the net. His skills on the ice earned him a spot in the Seawolf Hall-of-Fame; one of seven hockey players to be so honored.

For several years Seawolf fans on the Internet have been calling for the University to do something specific with regard to putting more butts in the seats. Hiring Derek is the 1st (and perhaps biggest) step toward achieving that goal.

We fans today are lucky enough to have the most talented group of Seawolf hockey players in the schools history. Yet, we go to the rink every other weekend and are lucky to see 4,000 other fans there?

Derek will have to be creative and apply the same tenacity as a player to improve attendance. In the early 90's the team had no competition for the hockey entertainment dollar. But then former Seawolf players hungry to continue playing competitive hockey started the Anchorage Aces. 15 years later Seawolf hockey plays second fiddle in this town.

I think there are two reasons for that. The biggest reason is that the ECHL is a fighting league. A quick reference to a random selection of Aces home boxscores shows an average of nearly 2 fights per game (some had as many as 5 fights). The casual fan can toddle over there and watch gong-show hockey pretty much any night. Sure there are some good players and not every game is filled with goonery. But the possibility that goonery will happen is there and casual hockey fans respond to that. Who is one of the most beloved Aces of all-time? Chad Richards. I know Chad. He's told me more than once exactly what his job was with the Aces and every other pro team he played for. Pretty much every ECHL team has 2 of that sort of player. But that isn't what college hockey is about.  The 2nd less important reason is the availability of alcohol.

These days the alcohol issue shouldn't be a factor. You can get beer in your seat now at Seawolf games. You have to sit in a specific section but that's the case at Aces games as well. The UAA beer section is small compared to the Aces "wet side". But I see no reason that the Seawolves can't expand the section. Other WCHA rinks allow it arena-wide.

The bigger problem is what faces Derek. I don't think you are going to attract the Carhart-wearing beer-drinking crowd to UAA hockey games. I don't think we want those yahoos at our games anyway, do we? But there is a large group of hockey fans that don't come to UAA games; the folks whose kids play hockey in this town. There is a strong hockey culture in Anchorage that spans the gamut from house leagues to comp hockey at every age group. On any given night during the high school season you'll find 1,500 fans right next door at Ben Boeke. If Derek can find a creative way to involve that part of the Anchorage hockey community then the days of full houses at the Sully could return.

It is a daunting task but focusing on people that appreciate hockey for the beauty and excitement of the game and forgetting about Joe-Sixpack is the perhaps the first way to proceed. I hope every Seawolf fan gives Derek their support in filling up the Sully. As Derek told the Daily News ... "The players deserve it."

An Important Off-Season for WCHA

My plan is to spend as little of my summertime as possible in front of this thing. But on my way out the door, I thought I'd take one last look at some of the issues with WCHA expansion. The WCHA will be holding it's annual meetings in Florida beginning April 27th. WCHA Commish Bruce McLeod made a fairly extensive set of comments earlier in the week to the Bemidji Pioneer Press when he was touring their facilities.

I think he's said some pretty nuanced things which are certainly worth analyzing. I'll start with the least interesting part, when asked "Does the WCHA have a strong application from BSU?" McLeod said, "Yes, we do,” and then added,

"Quistgaard emphasized and showed us in black and white of the commitment that the institution has to the program, both men and women, and I’m sure that message will be loud and clear to all of our constituents in their presentation on the 27th.”

Far out; pretty much just garden variety political nice-speak . I don't think anyone reasonably familiar with College Hockey would doubt whether Bemidji "fits" with the other programs in the WCHA. They're as good a "fit" as anyone already in the league.

McLeod makes the challenge clear with his observations about scheduling saying,

“I have put together an 11-team 28-game schedule for three years out. You can put it together. … But there’s no model to it. I have yet to figure out a way – I’ve been in NHL offices, every place I can to try to find some model that works with some fairness, some balance to it and I have yet to come up with it. It’s not fair to the institutions that are in the league right now, that they have no idea what their opponents' schedule is going to look like from year to year. It has no recognition of traditional opponents we have in the league.”

The important stuff here are the last two sentences. Conventional wisdom says that when Minnesota, Wisconsin or UND come to your barn then you're likely to sell more seats. More than one WCHA school actually increases their ticket prices when these programs come to town to play. An extra team in the league means that Minnesota, Wisconsin and UND ain't coming to any rink as often. McLeod is recognizing that schools like DU, CC, SCSU and Mankato don't want to lose that "prime" date. They will lose money. McLeod is publicly recognizing the fairness issue in scheduling here. He knows that cluster-fucked unbalanced schedules that use faux-rival set-ups aren't a good solution.

So the next thing that Bruce talks about is a 12 team league. And here's where he gets all subtle. He said,

“Obviously the answer to an 11-team league is a 12-team league. We are doing a lot of homework in that area. … There are some interests. I can’t mention them, but there are definitively possibilities for us but we have to come up with the right circumstances, the right way to approach, etc. etc.”

I think nobody should underestimate what this means. I think McLeod is clearly saying that a solution which results in 12 teams is the preference. Bruce goes on to intimate that pushing back any decision to a later time is probably an option that everyone will agree to while they figure it out. It's a bit of an assumption but perhaps the "approach" of dropping the league schedule from 28 games is in play? With a 12 team league you can drop the number of league games down to 22 instead of 20 and leave it up to the individual schools to maintain their rivalries as they see fit using the extra non-conference games. I think there are measurable positives for pretty much every WCHA program to favor reducing the schedule when considering expansion.

Don't be surprised if it all turns out pretty much like that. It just as easily might not, they'll have to lure another school into joining or perhaps some other entirely different creative solution will pop up. Folks down in Fargo/Moorhead think they have a solution. They've apparently got alumni with big bucks just waiting in the wings to fund a hockey program at Minnesota State-Moorhead. The catch is that they want in the WCHA. These rich alumni aren't interested enough to start a hockey program and join Bemidji in the CHA. But if they can opportunistically swoop in and get in because the WCHA is trying to do it's part for college hockey then they step forward? They're even waving Dean Blais' name around as their coach. He's currently coaching a USHL team across the river so they must have got him onboard.

I'd hope the WCHA would find Alabama-Huntsville a more suitable team than Minnesota State-Moorhead. UAH has a long standing firm committment to the college game. They have as good a fanbase as Bemidji. They deserve to find a conference home just as much as Bemidji. I find the Moorhead proposal distasteful for it's opportunism.

A twelve team league with a 22 game conference schedule would be a great thing. An 11 team league with a 20 game conference schedule would be fine. Either 11 or 12 team league with a 28 game conference schedule is fully beyond even being unappealing.

As a UAA fan I don't want to play Mankato four times a year much less Bemidji. Every UAA fan would rather have the flexibility to play our only real rival 4 times a year. The UAA and UAF tournaments would be more than happy to invite a couple of WCHA schools that otherwise wouldn't get the NCAA exemptions. Playing each opponent in the league only twice would enhance the competitive nature of those games. Every fan of every school would get to see every team once every two years in their barn. Completely and totally fair. And wouldn't it be nice if the Seawolves could travel to some tournament outside? Reduction of the league schedule MUST be part of the expansion debate.

I'm sure there are some legitimate concerns for certain schools in a reduction. Mankato, SCSU, UMD and CC in particular might have a more difficult time finding non-conference games than UAA, Tech, Minnesota, Wisconsin, UND, and DU. Tech can easily pick up the majority of the extra 8 games with Michigan schools. They already use pretty much their entire non-conference schedule on in state "rivals". Minnesota, Wisconsin, UND and DU are "premiere" opponents for any rink to host and always juicy non-conference opponents for an eastern team that wants an RPI boost just by having them on the schedule. UAA has the exemption. Plenty of non-WCHA schools would love to get a series up here and get the gate from the two extra home games they'll be able to schedule.

The Minnesota schools could easily set-up something like a "Beanpot West/Governors Cup/Dairy Queen Cup" tournament which would help fill UMD, SCSU and Mankato's schedule. They've all been dying for something like that down there for years. They could do that with a 20 or 22 game conference schedule.

Don't think for a moment that I don't know I've been droning on and on about this subject the last few weeks. I know I have. I just wanted to make one more effort to put out there what I believe is a solid workable soltuion for the scheduling problems.

Now here's a reward for everyone that read this far down.

Sunday Potpourri: Leave it to the Beavers

I played my first game of cash poker in many many many years this past week. While I'm sure the winners (I spread it around ya know) enjoyed or at least appreciated raping a virgin, let me assure you that this victim didn't. I won't do that again for a very very very long time. All their exhortations that I didn't play badly are nothing more than pleas for me to step up and spread em again. I won't though. Be assured dear readers that your favorite blogger is safe from such future harm. Seriously, it sucked.

We're a couple of weeks into the off-season today. There hasn't been any real jonesing moments for me. A couple of times last weekend while watching the NCAA regionals, I was envious of teams that I knew weren't as good as the Seawolves. But hey, I know my team didn't get there honestly so I accepted it gracefully and cheered for UMD and Bemidji. The Bulldogs didn't have enough interest in satisfying my need to see someone do well. But the Beavers did.

Bemidji State's success in the tournament this season shows that the talent margin is thin enough in Division 1 hockey to allow just about anything to happen come tourney time. Certainly, it tells us all that any WCHA team could get to the Frozen Four in pretty much any year. Getting to the tournament is a whole other problem of course.

Good on Bemidji, here's hoping they give a good enough showing to keep any naysayers quiet. The excitement of their fanbase doesn't deserve to be diminished by negative nellies. They're there and they got there honestly. I find nothing compelling enough about the other participants so next weekend I'm a Beaver fan.

I don't think their success will have much if any bearing on the admittance to the league issue. Their success against WCHA teams the last few years has been enough for the WCHA to realize they'd compete well. But the quality of Beaver hockey isn't the issue. There are probably still four "no" votes. DU and CC don't want to lose dates with teams that pack their arenas. League expansion advocates will use "clustering and designated rivals" to appease those Colorado fears. You can count on DU and CC being named primary designated rivals (or some such term) with the biggest draws which are typically Minnesota, Wisconsin and UND. Only a guarantee that Magness and World Arena attendance numbers wouldn't suffer will get CC or DU to vote yes.

MTU and UAA have valid questions about how adding Bemidji benefits them. Neither MTU or UAA have to worry about attendance. In UAA's case there aren't big changes in attendance that are connected to the opponent. And they're both "state" schools so athletic department budgets don't feel the same pressures as at private schools like DU and CC. I don't see any tangible benefit to admitting an 11th (or 12th) team for UAA unless it comes with a reduction of the league mandated 28 game schedule.

I continue to advocate that measure because it would be very positive for UAA as well as a positive for the league come tournament time. The "Alaska exemption" provides UAA with a strong advantage when it comes to scheduling. It's one that UAA hasn't been able to really use to it's advantage because of the overwhelmingly obtuse rule of playing 28 league games.

With 8 additonal non-conference games the WCHA's perennial domination of other leagues would become a strong RPI/PWR determining factor. Note to WCHA: Play only 20 league regular season contests and you'll see 5 teams from the WCHA in the NCAA tournament every year. Yes, it might dimish the shine on winning a WCHA regular season title by some small amount. Small price to pay to get more league teams into the bigger NCAA show.

Yes, coaches will have to make more phone calls in the off-season. Yes, you can still play your rival four times a year. Two of the games won't count in the regular season standings. Big deal. You still beat them 4 times. Does it really matter that it isn't reflected in the standings? Isn't playing every team once a season more fair than some subjective preconcieved regional designated rival cluster-fuck? Duh ... of course it is. Then lets not have some bullshit 3 or 5 year rotation with 11 teams and 28 games. Keep it simple stupids.

I've got a good lead on someone to add alumni content to the blog. In case you haven't heard me say it, I limit the content to current Seawolves because it works for the amount of time I desire to put into the blog. If this association comes to fruition you can expect regular updates about all your former Seawolf hockey favorites.

And as always, if you've got something to contribute then send me an email and we'll work out getting it onto the blog in post form. Next season is going to be a good one for the team and I anticipate more traffic here. I'll start with "please" but I'll also do whatever I can to encourage those of you with knowledge and/or information and/or quality opinion and analysis to share that here with a growing community of Seawolf fans. As always psuedonyms will be perfectly acceptable.

Red Line Report: Bennett "rising" on Sleeper List

Kyle Woodlief's Red Line Report on March 20th placed UAA Seawolves 10-11 recruit Spencer Bennett in the "rising" section of their listing of possible sleepers in the upcoming NHL draft. Bennett was one of only two current Junior A players so mentioned out of a total of 16 other so-called sleepers. The blurb on Spencer says:

Spencer Bennett— Had a quiet finish to the season, but has been Surrey's best player early in the BCHL playoffs. Has great touch around the net, we just wish he'd use his 6-3 frame more aggressively.

Another year in the BCHL should prove hugely beneficial for UAA when he comes for 10-11. If he has a good year next season with Surrey then I'd expect he's a threat to become an impactful freshman player of the few and far between variety.

I don't see a realistic opportunity for Spencer to accelerate his committment purely due to UAA's current roster size. If somehow there were dramatic unexpected departures then perhaps. But in terms of chances I'd say they are pretty low.

Expect to see 09-10 Seawolves recruit Wes McLeod's name called at the NHL draft as well somewhere in the 4th or 5th rounds as the mid-term rankings had him listed at 119 out of 200.

Sunday Potpourri: The Putz Edition



Bobby Jindahl or not there is a quality system of volcano monitoring going on over at the USGS. Those folks have been on top of the Mt. Redoubt eruption situation pretty much from day one. And combined with the weather peeps they've given everyone up here good accurate information about ash fall. In a week's worth of blow ups Anchorage has only seen a miniscule dusting that lasted about an hour.

So can anyone tell me why putzes are running around with masks on the next day? Anchorage has been through a much heavier ash fall. And it was nothing compared to the ash that St. Helens spewed. Yet, if you look in the paper or listen in on other people's conversation you'd think that armageddon had come. What a bunch of putzes Anchorage has.

I don't remember any of this sort of chicken little arm waving hysteria when Mt. Spurr let go and we ended up with about a half an inch of ash. Yesterday evening tons of businesses closed. Not just for the hour or so when the ash fall was active (around 5pm), but for the day. Putzes all.

I suppose I can stand listening to Bob Norton and/or Barry Melrose just once a year. But I don't wanna really. Bob Norton is proof positive that a person can be around a sport forever and still be a putz. Barry Melrose is just a putz all-around. Learn just one thing about teams that aren't in your area code eh Barry? It wouldn't be that hard; it's the "information age" ya know?

Duluth got dicked on a goal review call (oops ... no they didn't ... see comments) against Miami of Shitcinnati. The NCAA changed the "in the crease" rule this year clearly spelling out that just having a skate in the crease isn't an infraction you have to actually "interfere" with the goaltender in some way. But some putz ref looked at a replay over and over and said that a UMD player was "backing into" the goalie? What? No. He was standing there screening the goalie and flinched when the puck went past. Worst call of the weekend.

Ohio State's goalie has a marijuana leaf painted on the chin of his mask? I know someone will come here and explain that it's a Buckeye leaf. Ok. That's why college students at Ohio State paint it on their masks. Because it's the venerated Buckeye leaf. Sure. If you say so.

Latest SarahPutz news? When up in Nome to congratulate her hubby on his 6th place (did more than 7 teams finish?) finish in the Iron Dog, Sarah donned her snazziest Arctic Cat gear for the cameras. Arctic Cat apparently sponsors Mr. Sarah's snowmachine team. Dunno if she already had the jacket in her closet or if the AC corpories handed it to her when she got to Nome. Anyhow, someone like me, a dirty-biased-liberal-commie-Sarah-hating-blogger (DBLCSHB) filed an ethics complaint wondering if she pimping out the governorship to advertisers etc. The bitch has no sense at all. She really doesn't. Not just no sense. No brains. How stupid do you have to be to not realize that some DBLCSHBs are just waiting to find ANYTHING we can to criticize and/or embarrass you. There is no denying there is but one person responsible. You Sarah ... you putz.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Gustav Bengtson

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Gustav Bengtson (5'10" 175lbs) has 2 goals and 9 assists in 28 games this season split between the Topeka Roadrunners and the Kenai River Brown Bears.

In 37 games last season with the Texas Tornado he scored 9 goals and had 13 assists.

Gustav's junior career has been a bit of a mess with stints on 4 different teams in the last 2 seasons. He began with promise on last seasons Cedar Rapids squad in the USHL. But a winning team in that league depends on veterans and Gustav didn't crack the lineup on a regular basis. Cedar Rapids was one of the most talented teams in the league. Gustav asked for and was granted a trade to Texas where he performed well and played regularly.

Texas suspended operations for a year and Gustav found himself with an opportunity in Topeka to begin this season. Topeka is one of the top teams in the NAHL this season and Gustav found himself in a similar situation to his stretch in Cedar Rapids, unable to crack the lineup consistently behind returning Topeka veterans. Since being traded to Kenai, he has played regularly and virtually all his points have come in a Kenai sweater.

I've followed his junior career as much as any recruit. I'm convinced he is a top six kind of player. I'm not convinced he has shown his coaches what they've needed to see in order to skate on either of the top two lines. There are more questions than answers at this point and I think he'll have a lot to prove next season.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Matthew Bailey

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Matt Bailey (6'1" 185lbs) has 9 goals and 14 assists in 54 games (4 games remaining) for the Tri-City Storm in the USHL.

The Storm are in last place overall in the 12 team league with 23 points on 11 wins.

Matt is still 17 years old (turns 18 on April 5th). Originally, he committed for the 10-11 season but has shown enough in his 2nd year of Junior A for the Seawolves staff to bring him in a year early.

As a true freshman Matt will perhaps have the biggest challenge in adapting to the WCHA game. I've greatly anticipated Matt's arrival since Heisenberg first announced it.

I'd classify Matt as an overlooked gem. He was selected to the Canada West U-17 squad and his numbers at Neepawa as a rookie were pretty nice. His coach at Tri-City said,

"Matt is a strong power forward that skates very well and is good along the walls"

When UAA announced his LOI signing Coach Shyiak said,

“Matt is a typical forward we like to recruit here at UAA. He has good size, can skate, and really hounds the puck. He is one of the younger players in the USHL and has demonstrated good offensive abilities. We think he has very good top-end potential and will develop into a solid two-way player for us.”

Playing as a 17 year old in a league loaded with 20 year olds and getting good comments like that encourage me to belive that Matt could adapt fairly quickly to the WCHA.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Chris Crowell

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Chris Crowell (6'2" 205lbs) finished his regular season with 12 goals and 31 assists as Captain of the Vernon Vipers for 5th best on the squad.

This was Chris' 4th season in a Vipers uniform. So far in the BCHL playoffs he has scored 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 games.

The Vipers are currently tied 2 games each with Salmon Arm in the Interior Division finals.

The 21 year old forward is well liked in Vernon for doing whatever it takes to help his team win. Chris doesn't back down from a fight.

With only modest numbers throughout his career, Chris is clearly a recruit being brought in for his character, maturity and toughness.

Don't be surprised if at some point in his Seawolf career that he becomes a Captain here as well. The one comparison that occurs to me is Regg Simon. We shouldn't expect anything flashy from Chris but I'm guessing that he will put out 115% on every shift he takes.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Wes McLeod

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Wes McLeod (6'1" 185lbs) finished the BCHL regular season with 6 goals and 24 assists for the Prince George Spruce Kings.

The left-handed defenseman added 3 assists in 5 playoff games before being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by Penticton.

The 18 year-old Kamloops native was rated as a one of only three BCHL players projected to be drafted by the NHL in the upcoming draft. One of the other three is UAA 10-11 recruit Spencer Bennett.

Wes is currently listed at #119 on the list which projects where players might be drafted. He also played in the annual CJAHL prospects game in which the 40 best Junior A Canadian players were showcased for NHL scouts.

Upside and potential are the two most frequently used adjectives/descriptors you'll read when researching Wes. He'll join a set of UAA blueliners that is already deep and talented.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Mickey Spencer

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Mickey Spencer (6'1", 185lbs) finished the BCHL regular season tied (with Wisconsin recruit Mark Zengerle) as the 7th leading goal scorer in the league.

The left-handed forward from Gibbons, Alberta scored 31 goals and added 23 assists for the Cowichan Valley Capitals.

In 10 playoff games he scored 5 goals with 4 asissts. He turns 20 on June 11th this year. 10 of his 31 goals came on the power play.

The Capitals season is done after they lost a 7 game series to the Victoria Grizzlies last week.

The "Mick" as I'm calling him, seems to be at his best with the puck on his stick somewhere in front of the net.

I've done as much research on him as anyone coming to UAA. And other than game reports there just isn't much describing exactly what sort of player he is.

My best guess by looking at his performances in the BCHL though puts him in a similar category as Josh Lunden and/or Craig Parkinson.

Photo Credit to Shane Power of Lasting Images Photography.

UAA 09-10 Recruit Update: Lee Baldwin

UAA Seawolves 09-10 recruit Lee Baldwin (6'3", 210lbs) finished the BCHL regular season as the leading scoring defenseman in that league.

The left-hander scored 13 goals and added 41 assists for the Victoria Grizzlies who finished the season with 90 league points for the best record in the league at 43-13-4 (overtime shootout losses not listed).

In 9 league playoff games so far Lee has registered 4 assists. The Grizzlies wrapped up a 7 game series with Cowichan last week taking 4 out of the 7 games.

This week the Grizzlies began their 2nd playoff series facing the Powell River Kings and have run into a hot goaltender losing the first two games in OT.

Victoria will be hosting the RBC this season (May 2nd - 10th) regardless of their finish in the BCHL's Fred Doyle Cup playoffs. Obviously they'd like to do that as the BCHL Cup winners.

Click here for past updates on this blog regarding Lee. There's some good stuff there like comparisons to Rob Blake and one of Victoria's assistants noting that other players in the league are scared to play against Lee.