Sunday Potpourri: Koyaanisqatsi

I really get sick of hearing the stupid 6 months of darkness comments from lower 48 types. Today's number of hours of daylight in Minneapolis is 11 hours and 12 minutes ... daylight hours for Anchorage today? 10 hours and 24 minutes. Before the week is out Anchorage will likely have more daylight hours than Minneapolis. OK?

Dear loyal readers. I know you want to read about the Seawolves. I know you'd prefer to keep the focus here on that subject. But, I'm not always going to restrain myself and shit is going to come out of my mouth that isn't relevant to that focus. It generally isn't the rule of the day. In fact I'd tend to think historically about 95% of the words on this blog ARE directly focused on the Seawolves or their opponents. I'm not a journalist. I wouldn't want to be one. I'm here to express myself about Seawolf Hockey and anything else that comes to mind. So ... now; blame a commenter for the following.

Sarah Palin is a whoring bitch with nary a working brain cell. Her hubby is a zero-integrity cuckolded wimp. I forgive dimwitted idiots for voting her into the Governorship. You were duped into believing this broad was something more than a smiling waving pose-queen. It isn't your fault. She looks good on TV and since TV is your GOD you believe what you see. I get it. Exercising any reasoning faculties between your ears gives you a headache. I get it. Why bother to think for yourself when John Tracy at KTUU is showing you pretty pictures and laying on the bullshit? I get it and I forgive you. Now that said, if you support the Seawolves and can't separate my disdain for the aforementioned slut then quit reading here. I'm going to attack her personally and professionally in any manner I see fit whenever it occurs to me to do so. Get it?

I think she's an embarrassment to Alaska and too many people around the country actually think that everyone in Alaska loves this bimbo. So if my derision for her has the possibility to open up just one person's mind in Timbuktu to the possibility that her infidelity is a sign of poor character then I'm going to do it (not withstanding all the other stupidity that she spews). Get it? I could care less if she is some fantasy Mother You'd Like to Fuck because unless you're partnered with her hubby in a snowmachine business it ain't going to happen.

Perhaps you look at her and see something of yourself in her. Perhaps you imagine that with different circumstances in your own life that you could have been her. Well, if you really want someone governing you that is "just like you" then vote for her. Personally, I'd prefer that the people who govern me be somehow superior to me. And the bitch we're talking about here simply isn't. That's right ... I'm smarter, have more integrity and am generally an all around better human than that trollop.

Nice weekend by the guys. I'm not like many other Seawolf fans who take great satisfaction in seeing the team beat UAF. I'd trade the two wins this weekend for two wins against any other WCHA team. 4 WCHA points > Governor's Cup in my book. Yes the program has bragging rights for another year and a threepeat. Good stuff. But really, beating up a little sister doesn't do that much for me.

I think losing the Governor's Cup 3 times on stupid shootouts has a lot to do with my attitude about it. Seeing UAF fans dance all over the Internets with their "We have the cup" bullshit made me realize how little it actually means. Three times UAA split the series with UAF but because they won a shootout they got to proclaim dominance? Nonsense. You won't see me jumping up and down celebrating the Governor's Cup record. I prefer the actual head-to-head record. Know what that is? 80-48-11 ... including a 34-29-6 record in Fairbanks.

You can't begin a review of the weekend without the first mention being the play of Bryce Christianson. Bryce was "ON" again. He made more than a few spectacular saves. He gave the team in front of him exactly the sort of performance they need to win a game on both nights. I think that two other Seawolf players stood out from the rest this weekend. Not to take anything away from anyone else but Paul Crowder and Kevin Clark were very effective in my opinion. I'm not even paying attention to their stats for that assessment. If they'd both finished with 0 points on the weekend I'd still say the same thing. Clarkie was as energetic as I've seen him all year and Crowder played with an edge that isn't necessarily always there.

I think it's obvious that the blueliners were in good form. Their stats do tell that story. 4 of the 11 scoring points came from defenseman this weekend including 2 of the 4 goals. Nils Backstrom had a monster weekend in terms of his all-around play. He dominated in his end time after time dispossessing Nanook puck carriers and putting them on their asses and his intelligent 4-on-4 play gave UAA the goal that put the stake in UAF's heart on Saturday night.

I think Kane Lafranchise turned a corner within the last few weeks. He has taken his level of play up a notch and right now I think he and Nils are playing the best of all the defenseman. Trevor Hunt always delights me with his sharp play and this weekend I thought he was great both keeping the puck in the zone at the point and carrying the puck on the rush. He always seems to deke someone out of their breezers and who doesn't love to see that. Robbie of course was sharp and effective. My failure here to praise him shouldn't reflect poorly on him.

This weekend was an exercise in role playing and every forward on the team filled their role well. Moir, Portwood, Selby, Smith, Haddad, Parkinson, Lunden, Lovdahl, Aiken and Bales all played well. They all contributed effectively to keeping UAF from scoring. Bryce noted to the ADN that the shutouts were team efforts and I'd agree. The forwards worked hard in all three zones both nights.

The Seawolves can't climb out of ninth place. They'll almost certainly be heading to DU or UND for the playoffs. Having already won games this season against those two teams on their ice should give us some measure of hope for an upset. This coming weekends games against UMD have almost no real meaning for the Seawolves. Lose 'em both and you go to DU or UND. Win 'em both and you go to DU or UND. UAA's fate in that sense is out of their own hands.

However, there are some potentially very interesting things that could come from a couple of Seawolf wins this weekend. Right now the team's RPI has them sitting in 28th with a score of .5033. Beating UMD twice could put the Seawolves (it depends on other results also) into a TUC (Team Under Consideration) position with an RPI of .5124. This would mean that every team the Seawolves have played this season would see some benefit from UAA's wins this weekend. This could be especially helpful to Minnesota in particular if I'm interpreting things correctly. They can't help themselves much by beating MTU twice in their last two games so expect Gopher fans to be hoping for UAA wins this weekend. 3 other WCHA teams are likely also to benefit from a couple of UAA wins ... Wisconsin, CC and SCSU are in a position to benefit though they all need to win their remaining games more than they need UAA to win.

And oh yeah ... Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance". You can watch the entire film here on Google Video. It's worth it if you haven't seen it. It contains some of the most beautiful cinematography you'll ever see and the Philip Glass soundtrack is one of the greatest American musical compositions ever.