Sunday Potpourri: Autumn Wrapping Up

Though it is falling weakly I cannot deny the semi-frozen white conglomerate coming down outside my window. Tire change-over day is tomorrow for me, I won't be waiting ... sure there's probably some time before we see any significant snow requiring snow tires but I'm getting it done before "Joe Six-Pack". We've yet to see that annual windy day or two which strip the trees of their remaining colors, but it ain't far off. But when it does wouldn't you love to have that rake? I can't imagine using a conventional rake ever again after seeing that contraption. Who could? The chance to get out into your yard and crank a series of leaf-shots into the upper corner would seem to doom the ordinary rake to permanent oblivion. That's an idea with an insane amount of "Hockey-Cachet" (or should I say "Hockey-Kitsch"). Maybe it'll be as big as intermittent windshield wipers eh?

So as we are all waving buh-bye to Fall we are welcoming the regular season. No more bullshitting around. Each and every hockey game the Seawolves play mean something important from now on. The four non-conference games approaching (UConn, Northeastern, Maine and Mercyhurst) must be played as if the team is fighting for an NCAA playoff birth. Yep, you have to think about April and it's only October. Interconference games are a huge factor in determining NCAA playoff participants. Obviously a team has to perform well-enough in it's conference to warrant a possible bid; but the important factor today is what is coming in the next two weeks. Lots of other teams in college hockey sprinkle thier non-conference games throughout their schedule. But with the tournament arrangement with UAF both Alaska teams get the majority of their non-conference games right out of the gate. I'll definitely preview both UConn and Northeastern this week (not like last week where I said I would and then didn't).

I regret not mentioning Winston Daychief's exchange with a couple of UBCers last night. It was the only real "mini-rumble" of the night during what was a pretty physical game. Two of them apparently took exception to Winston's intense play around the crease. Winston took a couple of hard shots (a cross-check and a head shot) before explaining to the Thunderbirds that he was merely playing to the whistle. Winston's explanation earned him a trip to the sin bin for cross checking along with his two new friends. I expect Winston to make many new similar friends this year across the WCHA. I'm adding "rugged" and "hard-nosed" to my list of adjectives for him; I'm also considering calling him Mr. Daychief here. That sort of passion will serve the team well overall.

For whatever reason there still is no boxscore available on collegehockeystats.net for last nights game. There is useful information to be gleaned so I'm a little disappointed by whatever glitch in that process caused it. Mostly, I'd like to see the exact number of penalty minutes that UAA killed off and how much of that was 5-on-3. UBC heads down to St. Cloud then Mariucci next weekend. I don't know if we'll be able to learn much about this season's Gophers from comparing their results to UAA's but the results will be interesting nonetheless. George Gwozdecky "went off" on 4 DU players this week and suspended them for 1 to 4 games for undisclosed violations. I suspect they found his cache of stupid looking ties and were making fun of them. UND fans are having their predictable hemoraggic reaction to having been picked in the preseason as anything other than future Galactic Champions. Pretty much everyone agrees that CC is the team to beat this year. Pretty much everyone agrees that UAA will finish 10th. I know there are AT LEAST two major variations that crop up versus the insipid preseason conventional wisdom. Seawolf fans should feel assured knowing that UAA's finish will be one of those unforseen variations. What will be the other? Will all the Gopher freshman turn out to be channeling Phil Kessel or Tomas Vanek or Mike Crowley or Jordan Leopold and lead that team to something other than a rebuilding year? Will DU's Joe Colborne turn out to be exactly as soft as some people think he is? Will Troy Jutting's mind games sustain Mankato with the same sort of inspired play as they showed at the end of last season or will they fizzle? What about St. Cloud? Who cares? Duluth? The Sandelin watch begins. Wisconsin? The Badgers are likely unchanged dramatically but who knows? The tired old cliche "that's why they play the games" is upon us. Let it be said that referencing a tired old cliche is not actually using said tired old cliche.