"Oh no you don't ... that's my puck!"

No that's not Todd Anderson either. That's a fairly typical looking bulldog and of course by "fairly typical" I mean butt-ugly. And that hyphenated compound word is a good description for the weekend the UMD Bulldog hockey team is coming off. They had the exact same result with Chuck Wepner U as the Seawolves. Only 1 point out of 4. Losing that many points to the SCSU rejects doesn't sit well with any fandom in any WCHA city. UAA on the other hand is coming off a weekend where they proved they could skate with one of the best teams in NCAA and had to gain a lot of defensive confidence through their quality performance all weekend in their own zone. The Bulldogs had a nice start to their season except for the bump in the road last weekend.

So I wouldn't think that UAA's gameplan for this weekend would be much different that what we've seen. Going down to play on the DECC mini-rink isn't going to encourage any coach with a lick of sense to try to "open it up" or get "creative". I think it's probably old-time hockey this weekend in Duluth. It's going to be a muckfest. Lots of hitting eh? Most physical series of the year I'd imagine. The Seawolves emotional play can ofttimes feed off a big hit and it's always something they're looking to accomplish. And we here in Anchorage don't get to see a single lick. Blame some BS with some backassward Duluth broadcaster and/or cable company. The was a time when Duluth was crazy about hockey but recently ... not so much.

The Seawolf scorers are going to have to contend with the best goaltender they've faced so far this year. Stalock is in another universe of talent compared with Frazee or Bachman or Rogers or Welosky or anyone else that UAA has faced. If the Seawolves can apply the same pressure they mustered against CC the difference could very well be that the UMD defense isn't quite as adept as CC's. They don't have the hands or the foot speed of CC and UAA should be able to win many more of those little battles that determine the big things. I rewatched portions of last weekend's series; I came to the conclusion that the Seawolves could very well have scored 7 or 8 goals on Friday night. In those circumstances where chances emerged, the goal didn't come as a result of a fortunate or good defensive play by the opponent. UAA needs to try to use it's quickness and agility in traffic to get to pucks first this weekend. Everyone needs to keep their feet moving. They need to skate through checks and always finish the checks they're dishing. Those are two critical things needed to get to the puck first. Own the puck. Be the puck. Think positive. Visualize World Peas. Become one in a Zen sense with the puck. So .... a Mantra for the series? "Oh no you don't ... that's my puck!"