No More Screwing Around

This is it. Tomorrow night the regular season begins. There is no more screwing around. Each and every game the Seawolves will either take a step forward or a step backward. I'm obsessed enough to have read somewhere around 99% of what anyone on Uncle Ted's Big Series of Tubes has said about the team over the past few years. Much of it of course is written by other fans like me. Pretty much anything written by those sorts of blowhards is easy to overlook. Virtually all of those folks spent about a minutes worth of time actually learning about the Seawolves. None of them believe anything I have to say about the team's chances. That's a product of my execessive optimism and proclamations each year that the Seawolves will be a better team than the year before. None of those people matter.

The average college hockey fan doesn't read what they (or me for that matter) have to say. The average college hockey fan looks to Sarah Palin's favorite ... the Mainstream Media. In the college hockey world that means three websites and whatever local hockey writer is employed by the various rags in each city. In my eyes what they have to say doesn't matter either but you know what? It matters to other people. So let's take a look at what those media folks have had to say this season about the Seawolves.

Inside College Hockey, Jess Myers:
Jess is one of the more respected college hockey writers in mainstream-land. He wrote this EXTENSIVE WCHA preview for INCH. It is Three-thousand five-hundred and fifty words long; a grand total of one-hundred and forty-nine of them reference the Seawolves. Ok, so Jess picks UAA to finish tenth with this smarmy passage:

The trio of Lunden, Crowder and Clark combined for 73 points last season. Beyond them, well, did we mention that you can see Russia?

His other insightful commentary was to ask if UAA could do better in the 2nd half this coming season. Chew on that a bit and make your own judgements. Don't bother emailing Jess and expressing any outrage at the slight. He picked UND to finish 7th and by the reaction in Grand Forks you'd have thought a nuclear (pronounced NU-KLEE-UR not NU-Q-LUR... ok Sarah??? ... get it right you hayseed) bomb had blown up Uncle Ralphies legacy.

College Hockey News, Dan Myers:
I have no idea if Jess and Dan are related. For the sake of separating them I will say that Dan at least devoted about an equal number of words for each team in the WCHA that he previewed. On his own blog he admits to not being up to speed on the Seawolves. Of course he could have gotten up to speed with about 30 minutes of reading here. Dan picks UAA 10th as well. Nothing surprising there of course since pretty much everyone outside of Alaska with an opinion picked the same thing. Dan also thinks that Clark, Lunden and Crowder is all we've got.

USCHO, Absent:
In typical crappy fashion for USCHO the day before the opening of the college hockey season and there is NADA on the WCHA preview front. I say typical because week in and week out over the last 10 years they've consistently published WCHA articles (other than breaking news) much later everything else they write. Did you know that there are actually fan forum users there who pay real money to that website? Too funny. I'm not sure if Theresa Spisak will once again be do ing the WCHA writing there. Theresa could be considered the opposite of Jess Myers as she is pretty much a noob to the college hockey writing world with last year being her first for USCHO other than writing game recaps as one of their legion of rink reporters. Anyhow, at least Theresa doesn't take herself overly seriously. She'll pick UAA for 10th. If she doesn't, then I'll buy her a beer one day.

So what is the point of all this mainstream media review action? Well, if you don't point out what people have said then it really isn't as fun to rub their smug little noses in it later. And this season I am all about seeing that happen. I want the Seawolf players to take note of it all. I want them to play each and every game this year with a chip on their shoulder. Play every game as if the entire Internet spit in your face. I'd like to see the guys play with the same sort of Napoleonic zeal that a man with a little penis puts into his big 4x4 truck or gun collection. I think every moment of every shift each and every Seawolf should be almost desparate to prove wrong all those who think they can't succeed. Because they are all wrong. This Seawolf team can succeed. Watch out for each other, be disciplined, play YOUR game and do it with enthusiasm then you'll be winners (and not just in my book).

None of those people see the skill and potential evident throughout the Seawolf lineup. Dear Brian Bales, not a single writer anywhere mentioned your name. Hey Brad McCabe, you were overlooked by everyone. Mr. Daychief, you didn't even rank as an after-thought to any of them. Hey Bryce and Jonny, neither of you got any respect. Um ... Tommy, nuffin pard; they never mentioned your name. Robbie, they don't know your name bud. And Shane, they didn't mention you either. Parkie, you got on the "Players to Watch" list so show them why my friend. DJ Powers at Hockey Future did remark on Curtis Leinweber's potential. Good on ya DJ. Prove him right Curtis. Hey Trevor, Nils ... make your presence on the ice known. Kane, make them sorry they overlooked you. Luka, you know the drill; Slovenia is underrated and so are you. Get it on fellas. Be world shakers. I know you can.

UAA fans, listen to me now and believe me later. This team will succeed by creating offense from the blueline. They'll transition with speed and more than just Clark, Lunden and Crowder will show some flair. The team will be very strong on the penalty kill and do the job on the power play. 5-on-5 the Seawolves will block shots and have one of the lowest opponent shots on goals averages in the league with their now excellent defense.

All it takes is 15 minutes of reading on the Internet to see that none of these people really have even the slightest clue as to UAA's abilities on the ice this year. Get out there fellas and do what you and I both know you can do. Then I'll be happy at the end of the season to rub their noses into the excrement that they've spewed.