The USHL Blog is reporting that Bryce Christianson "appears to be headed" to UAA. I've exchanged emails with Ryan at that blog and his source for this information has an unimpeachable past record with such information so I'm going with this. I'd noticed the rumor mill on the main BCHL fan forum was pretty active today regarding this situation so with both of those sources I'd have to guess it's true. Expect an announcement from the school fairly soon.Bryce (6'2" 195lbs) comes to the Seawolves from the Vernon Vipers (15-7-1 with a 2.92gaa and .905sv%) of the BCHL after spending last season in the USHL with Tri-Cities (5-1-0 with a 2.67gaa and .899sv%) and Lincoln (10-3-0 with a 3.1gaa and .893sv%). Prior to those gigs he'd played the previous two seasons with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the NAHL (14-13-7 with a 2.92gaa and .912sv% in 36 games in 2005-2006 and 7-7-1 with a 2.99gaa and .907sv% in 2004-2005). I'd expect that Bryce will be a solid backup for Jonny-O and if given the opportunity could very well challenge for starting time. Bryce is the son of UAA alumnus Todd Christianson who skated for the Seawolves in the early to mid 80's. Welcome home Bryce.
28 comments:
Nice to see him come back, mike
newsflash, kyle okposo just left the gophers if u wanted to know donald
punk
Great news for UAA, and I am thrilled to have Bryce on board. Welcome Bryce! (And get well Matt!).
I'd like to see him start challenging for ice time sooner than later.. Johnny O. needs to have the competition..
Welcome Bryce, keep working hard Johnny O., and let's keep positive thoughts for a full recovery for Matt.
punk:
I was aware. No big loss. An average player since Hirsch left. They migh miss his neutral ice play or even his backchecking but with Carman coming back it's pretty much a wash.
The shit talking about the guy from gopher fans is fun to read. Once again they live up to my assertion that they're the worst fans in college hockey. I can imagine Jeff Dubay is leading another chorus of "the end of the world is nigh".
Good job Donald! Beating Woody to the news first, sweeeeeet. Good to see the Shyiak got this kid. We need him to step in and see what he can do.
To the best of my knowledge Bryce split time between Lincoln and Tri-City in 2006-2007. He spent the two previous years with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL). He was 14-13-7 with a 2.92 GAA and .912 save percentage in 36 games in 2005-2006 and 7-7-1 with a 2.99 GAA and .907 save percentage in 2004-2005. If he'd played juniors past January 23 when he turns 21 without being in school, he would have lost a year of college eligibility, so assuming this happens, it's a fortuitous move for him. I don't know why he never ended up anywhere else though.
Eric:
Thanks for the corrections. I shouldn't have rushed through the post.
Maybe after spending several years away from "home", Bryce was ready to come back and play for Anchorage. Playing for a WCHA team is the #1 criteria for a lot of players.
The worst fans in college hockey are the fans that don't come out and really support their team. I'm sure you are all too familiar with that up at UAA. Selling out 11,000 seat Mariucci on a regular basis = "worst" fans? Or is your criteria different? It usually is.
Mariucci hasn't been selling out. I watch the games on TV and there are a ton of empty seats. The fans who are there are too busy talking on their cell phones to cheer for their team. :rolls eyes:
anon @5:43
I could easily turn this into a full post. The number of gopher fans on the internet throwing Kyle Okposo under the bus is spectacularly high. GPL was crashing with Rubes who were dying to get on so they too could demean his character. One day the kid is viewed as hopefully leading the team out of the doldrums in the second half and the next day he isn't worthy of ever wearing the M. There is example after example of it not only on that site but on USCHO as well (and I haven't even looked at RubeChat!).
Now before you cry foul and whine that Internet fans don't represent the feelings of the whole fan base, I'll say here that they are a valid subset. And when that valid subset only has about 10% of the fans expressing a reasonable viewpoint about the situation then it can be quite simply extrapolated to the fanbase as a whole. If only 50% of the entire fanbase feels remotely like the 90% on the Internet then yes ... the Gopher fanbase is the "worst" in college hockey.
I love to see the wheels falling off the Gopher program this year. They might have to pull from their Junior varsity team to field a full line up.
anon@9:43
But transfers from St. Cloud would have to sit out for a year.
Ba-Da-Bing!!
Bryce Christianson is the real Deal..I watched him play a few times and Johnny o will have a serious threat to the num 1 spot..Is it for sure that they have him????
I heard it's not a done deal. We'll have to wait and see what happens in January.
Bryce was absent from the Thursday practice at Vernon. USHL Blog's source has pretty much never been wrong in the 7 or 8 years I've seen.
UAA's athletic department is probably one of the tightest mouthed in all of NCAA sports. They'll make an announcement when ALL the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted and not before.
I'm not saying that there is zero possibility that I made a bad call by going with the story but I wouldn't have done so without feeling very very secure that it was accurate. For whatever that is worth.
He Donald, we trust you more than that tool, Woody
G:
LOL. Thanks. I doubt that any newspaper would "go to press" with this info based on the sources I have but I don't mind taking the chance. In the unlikely event that this is wrong I'll say "oops" and move on.
Doyle would get hung out to dry. I'm dry already.
It seems like Bryce would do well to come to UAA with a lot of experience and playing time THIS season. It's got to be hard for any goalie to have a summer off and then try to pick up at the WCHA level.
Lets look at reality. He gets thrown into Wisconsin or CC for his first Game with no easy teams like Robert Morris to warm up on..He struggles then barely plays.Gordon comes back then what? 3 goalies no wonder the other Goalies wouldnt come. would UAA have any respect for the situation hes coming in to. I mean tough,tough,tough.Is he a band aid or is he going to get a shot..Gordon played 1 game?? How is Gordon doing ?Is Bryce coming for sure??
Gordon's condition won't be known until the swelling goes down. He is for sure done for this year, and next year is pretty iffy as well.
So they Goofers are playing .500 hockey and lose one underachiever to the NHL and the wheels are falling off? Talk about the worst fans...making a statement like that is all I need to know aqbout the dumbest fans, that's for sure.
We at the "Junior College" (thanks for stealing a UM fan chant...you sure you're not a closet Goof fan?) have players coming to us instead of the U, or tranferring to State from there. Motz has made the SCSU "junior college" chant irrelevant since he pulled in most UM recruits...now he's doing that at SCSU against the U. Welcome home, coach Motz.
Helloooooooo, Bryce! I think I have a new future favorite Seawolf. HOT DAMN!
Let's say a prayer for Matt that his second surgery is successful and he is back in the line-up soon. Johnny O. deserves a pat on the back for stepping up after matt's injury. I know that was traumatic for the kids to see. It will be good for Johnny to have the support of Bryce when needed, if in fact Bryce is on board. Well, Merry Christmas to all and safe travelling to all the boys as they have to be back on boxing day. yikes... early flights!
Merry Christmas to the UAA players, staff, and fans!
amusing to read the startribune news about gopher coaching and Okposo. But then the islanders record of late says a bunch for their development record.
Welcome Bryce.
Merry Xmas to 'Wolves players, coaches, and fans.
Dan
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