Seawolves 3 - UAF 0

A second consecutive shutout for the Seawolves tonight gave them their 3rd straight Governor's Cup. Tonight was a much more defensive oriented game yet it generated 3 times as many goals. College hockey is crazy sometimes. The Seawolves had half as many shots as last night. They hit twice as many posts as last night. There were two breakaways for UAA compared with none for either team last night. Two Seawolf players missed the net on WIDE OPEN chances. UAA could have had 6 goals ... but they weren't exactly dominant. Credit UAA's power play for both wins this weekend. They controlled the puck well and moved it well both horizontally and vertically while keeping their feet moving. They got many more good looks on the power play because of the puck and foot movement. Nice job.

I wasn't able to get to the game but I was glad to hear it was a good crowd. Coach Shyiak emphasized the crowd support twice during his post-game interview. On a night when I couldn't make it to the rink I'm glad lots of other people did too. I'd echo Shyiak's sentinment when he noted that the atmosphere tonight was what it SHOULD be every night for this Seawolf team.

This series sweep confirms a couple of things for me. For one ... WCHA 9th place is> CCHA 4th place. The second is ... the rest of the WCHA teams seriously SCREWED THE POOCH when it came to non-conference action. I'd been mentally debating for some time whether this was a so-called "off year" for the WCHA. I never bought the hopeful bullshit from writers outside the WCHA that somehow the league had less talent than other years or that other leagues were catching up. It simply isn't the case. It is true that more than a few WCHA teams fumbled, stumbled and bumbled their non-conference games. But it isn't true that other leagues are somehow catching up. I don't know how many WCHA teams will ultimately get into the NCAA playoffs but if they get the courtesy of not having to face each other in regional playoffs then I'd put 20 bucks today on 2 WCHA teams reaching the Frozen Four.

Congrats to all the Seawolf players; look for Bryce Christianson to be named WCHA defensive player of the week this coming Tuesday. I thought they played a strong game overall. There were mistakes here and there but the Nanooks were so inept at goal scoring that those few mistakes never cost UAA anything. All weekend the Seawolves looked stronger shorthanded than UAF looked with the man advantage. If the series had been played 5-on-4 the whole weekend I'm pretty sure that UAA would have still won. Dean Talafous the 2nd up in Fairbanks has some young players that were big time scorers in juniors. If he continues with the trapping strategy he used this season those offensively minded players and the STUDS he has coming in (and they do have some hella good looking prospects coming into their program) aren't going to be happy campers.

I just about sent an email to Erik Drygas last night when I listened (though his incessant "uhhhhs") to his obtuse and inaccurate description/analysis of the Seawolves WCHA season. Erik was a good defenseman and showed a lot of promise before his horrible injury and he's an integral part of the Fairbanks hockey community. I'm sure he's well-liked and respected. But if someone is paying him ANY amount of money to do color commentary they are pissing their money down the toilet. The fact that he's coached High School hockey and continues to be so involved in the game is a credit to his character as a person. But really Erik ... get off the air buddy ... the Seawolves were competitive in 90% of their WCHA games and had home playoff possibilities until very recently.

Thanks especially to the "Hockey Mom" Governher for not showing up. Once I knew I wasn't going to the game I figured my seat mates would at least be glad that I wouldn't be there to heckle that bimbo.