I've looked at results from the 2nd half last year and I've looked at the 2nd half this year. They're not identical. But damn, it sure feels like they are. 10th place. 10th place? 10th place!?!? With all the promise that we've witnessed, with all the potential I've seen and with all the misery supposedly behind us? WTF ... over?
I'm probably the biggest idiot purveyor of overly optimistic bullshit about a hockey team as exists on this big series of tubes. Go back and look. I stupidly predicated, prognosticated and expected much more than another 10th place finish from this squad. That's what a fan is supposed to do. Yet when a fan blabs his bullshit all over the internet he ends up feeling like "big dummy" ; especially when none of what he said would happen ... actually happens. Don't get me wrong. I still feel good about this particular team. I love the effort I saw tonight from some guys. But dayum ...
I'm a fan. I want to be an unapolegitic fan. I love my team; but I haven't written simply because the performances (and quite honestly my expectation of upcoming performances) haven't inspired me to write.
When you write this shit weekly and people honestly give you their thanks it's very gratifying. I've had nice emails but meeting someone and sensing their sincerity doesn't compare. No doubt about it. I had the chance last weekend to meet a couple of parents that I hadn't met before and I'm always very happy for that. I also know at least one set of parents that was looking for me that I didn't manage to connect with and I regret that. It honestly humbles me. But (and this is THE big "but") I find it hard to write negative things when I see them happening. Combine all the above with this fan's loyalty to the program (and primary mission here to support UAA Hockey) then what results is a blogger that is reticent to say what must be said.
There'll need to be some big changes in the next two weeks if the Seawolves have any hope of doing something other than watching the WCHA Final Five on TV. Big changes. Not little ones. Not medium ones. Big ones. Like what? Like finding an offense. Like finding some defense. The biggest thing that needs finding is some confidence and belief. Last year I during the second half I could see the shoulders drop. I saw that same thing on Saturday night. It didn't take 4 or 5 goals. It only took 2 and there didn't appear to be anyone on UAA's bench that believed they could come back. And if you don't think you can win you won't. So who's supposed to find this offense, defense and belief? The staff. They're supposed to pull those things out of their asses. With two weeks before the playoffs they'll at least have some time to dig. The "work hard and execute the systems" mantra is officially defunct in my book. How about a little "kick ass and take names" instead?
I'm probably the biggest idiot purveyor of overly optimistic bullshit about a hockey team as exists on this big series of tubes. Go back and look. I stupidly predicated, prognosticated and expected much more than another 10th place finish from this squad. That's what a fan is supposed to do. Yet when a fan blabs his bullshit all over the internet he ends up feeling like "big dummy" ; especially when none of what he said would happen ... actually happens. Don't get me wrong. I still feel good about this particular team. I love the effort I saw tonight from some guys. But dayum ...
I'm a fan. I want to be an unapolegitic fan. I love my team; but I haven't written simply because the performances (and quite honestly my expectation of upcoming performances) haven't inspired me to write.
When you write this shit weekly and people honestly give you their thanks it's very gratifying. I've had nice emails but meeting someone and sensing their sincerity doesn't compare. No doubt about it. I had the chance last weekend to meet a couple of parents that I hadn't met before and I'm always very happy for that. I also know at least one set of parents that was looking for me that I didn't manage to connect with and I regret that. It honestly humbles me. But (and this is THE big "but") I find it hard to write negative things when I see them happening. Combine all the above with this fan's loyalty to the program (and primary mission here to support UAA Hockey) then what results is a blogger that is reticent to say what must be said.
There'll need to be some big changes in the next two weeks if the Seawolves have any hope of doing something other than watching the WCHA Final Five on TV. Big changes. Not little ones. Not medium ones. Big ones. Like what? Like finding an offense. Like finding some defense. The biggest thing that needs finding is some confidence and belief. Last year I during the second half I could see the shoulders drop. I saw that same thing on Saturday night. It didn't take 4 or 5 goals. It only took 2 and there didn't appear to be anyone on UAA's bench that believed they could come back. And if you don't think you can win you won't. So who's supposed to find this offense, defense and belief? The staff. They're supposed to pull those things out of their asses. With two weeks before the playoffs they'll at least have some time to dig. The "work hard and execute the systems" mantra is officially defunct in my book. How about a little "kick ass and take names" instead?
8 comments:
It's sad to see this happen again, but i'm still looking at a very improved team. Last year we won 6 games total. This year we have 12. We also lost alot of close games. The team needs to figure out how to win more of those for next year. I'm confident in Shyiaks next recruiting class as well, and only see the team getting better year after year.
I want to get excited about the progress that I thought we were making, but the collapse in the second half is disturbing. First, where was the senior leadership? Second, what happened to the confidence that we had early on? I am a bit frustrated that Shyiak and his staff weren't able to get these guys on the same page or get them up for games that we desperatly needed. What's the answer? I don't know, I am fresh out of them.
There has been a lot of parity in this years league race. Although, UAA is not playing as well like they did in the first half we can see the progress they made on a nightly basis. The fact of the matter is the second half is tough as I have witnessed. The parity is there so UAA should feel good they are making thr correct steps. Congrats on a job well done!
Part of it is a tougher sked in the second half. In the first five weeks after the new year, we get St. Cloud, ND, Minny and Wisco. Guys wear down, travel adds up and the snowball starts rolling down hill.
I still think we're a team no one wants to play in that first round. We have the potential for Lawson to get hot, for our physical game to knock the snot out of people and, who knows, maybe we'll even score some goals.
Season's not over yet...
These guys haven't showed me that they can step it up as of late. Too much bad play and not enough "Seawolf Style" doesn't give me any confidence that they can take a game from the Gophs in the 1st round, let alone make a game of it.
More league parity and a tougher schedule doesn't make any of it easier to swallow.
What is hard is that I honestly thought we had a chance at .500 or better on the year. That would have gone a long way to getting the casual fans in Anchorage to start to take notice of the Seawolves. Instead all they will see is 10th, last place, any improvement made by the team is lost in the stats.
malainse
It's nice to see I'm not the only one who posted a "Feel sorry for us" article.
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