I took a couple of days off. It isn't that SCSU doesn't inspire me to write. If you've read me for almost any length of time you'll have seen me disrespect them pretty much more often than any other school UAA plays. On Monday I spent some hours working up a post directed to Morris Kurtz (the AD at SCSU) in which I gave various rationale for him to dump Motzko and hire me as head coach. It was all obviously tongue-in-cheek but I didn't like the way it turned out, so I bagged it (hence the reason for a couple of days off).
Sure ... the fact that I wear Levi's short pants instead of stuck in the 80's Guess "designer" jeans is reason enough to gain Kurtz's preferential treatment but it just wouldn't be fair to do to the guy. I know I'm not a member of the "Coaching Fraternity" and so pulling a "Troy Ward" on Motzko wouldn't really be against the unwritten rules. But I have to assume that all my reasons to Morris Kurtz would have been positively received and I'd get the job immediately. And then I would be a member of the "Coaching Fraternity" and I'd feel guilty. I'll wait to apply for the Motzko job; he'll bail and return to UofM as an assistant when Guentzel thinks he's ready and takes the head coaching job at MSU-M. I'm sorry to say that when all that comes to fruition (btw ... Pope Skeeterman will be my only bench assistant and Bobby Knight will do my recruiting) I'll no longer be writing this blog.
Looking at CHN's Tale of the Tape this week and UAA versus SCSU looks to be a real nice college hockey matchup. Both teams have 3 wins. SCSU has scored 21 goals in 6 games and UAA has scored 20 in the same number of games. St. Cloud has been a bit stingier in giving up just 11 to UAA's 16. They've got a nice looking PP% and PK%. UAA is about 3/4 of an inch taller on average and more than 5lbs heavier per player. They've gotten the majority of their scoring from the freshman and sophomore classes: same for UAA. Hopefully, this means entertaining fast-paced competitive hockey on the telly and/or puter. So no matter how you're watching the games, put a half-rack on ice and enjoy. Hopefully, a good effort by our guys this weekend will mean an end to the "never won at the NHC" stat.
From all indications, UAA will continue to use the offensive philosophy that we saw was effective in the first 4 games. I've speculated a bit in some comments about the likelihood of seeing another trapping strategy by this weekends opponent and I'd say that Motzko is real unlikely to employ that on his home rink unless UAA throttles them on Friday night. There's just as much uncertainty in St. Cloud about whether their team is good or perhaps just average as we've been having up here. Motzko will definitely want to gauge his team's abilities this weekend and having UAA as an opponent will be a good test. Similarly, Dave Shyiak will be looking at how his team performs during it's first road series. This all sounds a bit obvious perhaps but it's better than my (not as funny as I wanted it to be) application for Motzko's job.
The UAA Coaches Show is archived on the web so those of you without access to GCI Channel 1 can now view them. I have to warn that these archives aren't exactly small (80meg+ each) but if you've got broadband access it shouldn't be a long download/stream time. I've only watched one for test purposes for about a minute. In any case, here is the link and much thanks again to Glen Coulson for providing the information. They're doing a great job producing this program and as a Seawolf fan I have to say a weekly coaches show is long overdue. So all the rest of the credit to Dave Shyiak for doing it.
Sure ... the fact that I wear Levi's short pants instead of stuck in the 80's Guess "designer" jeans is reason enough to gain Kurtz's preferential treatment but it just wouldn't be fair to do to the guy. I know I'm not a member of the "Coaching Fraternity" and so pulling a "Troy Ward" on Motzko wouldn't really be against the unwritten rules. But I have to assume that all my reasons to Morris Kurtz would have been positively received and I'd get the job immediately. And then I would be a member of the "Coaching Fraternity" and I'd feel guilty. I'll wait to apply for the Motzko job; he'll bail and return to UofM as an assistant when Guentzel thinks he's ready and takes the head coaching job at MSU-M. I'm sorry to say that when all that comes to fruition (btw ... Pope Skeeterman will be my only bench assistant and Bobby Knight will do my recruiting) I'll no longer be writing this blog.
Looking at CHN's Tale of the Tape this week and UAA versus SCSU looks to be a real nice college hockey matchup. Both teams have 3 wins. SCSU has scored 21 goals in 6 games and UAA has scored 20 in the same number of games. St. Cloud has been a bit stingier in giving up just 11 to UAA's 16. They've got a nice looking PP% and PK%. UAA is about 3/4 of an inch taller on average and more than 5lbs heavier per player. They've gotten the majority of their scoring from the freshman and sophomore classes: same for UAA. Hopefully, this means entertaining fast-paced competitive hockey on the telly and/or puter. So no matter how you're watching the games, put a half-rack on ice and enjoy. Hopefully, a good effort by our guys this weekend will mean an end to the "never won at the NHC" stat.
From all indications, UAA will continue to use the offensive philosophy that we saw was effective in the first 4 games. I've speculated a bit in some comments about the likelihood of seeing another trapping strategy by this weekends opponent and I'd say that Motzko is real unlikely to employ that on his home rink unless UAA throttles them on Friday night. There's just as much uncertainty in St. Cloud about whether their team is good or perhaps just average as we've been having up here. Motzko will definitely want to gauge his team's abilities this weekend and having UAA as an opponent will be a good test. Similarly, Dave Shyiak will be looking at how his team performs during it's first road series. This all sounds a bit obvious perhaps but it's better than my (not as funny as I wanted it to be) application for Motzko's job.
The UAA Coaches Show is archived on the web so those of you without access to GCI Channel 1 can now view them. I have to warn that these archives aren't exactly small (80meg+ each) but if you've got broadband access it shouldn't be a long download/stream time. I've only watched one for test purposes for about a minute. In any case, here is the link and much thanks again to Glen Coulson for providing the information. They're doing a great job producing this program and as a Seawolf fan I have to say a weekly coaches show is long overdue. So all the rest of the credit to Dave Shyiak for doing it.
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