The most important thing about tonights game was that the Seawolves won. So why am I a bit disappointed with the final score? A 5 spot most any night isn't anything to sneeze at. I guess I just feel like UAA had enough other good chances that they should have scored at least a couple more goals. Or is it that I just don't dig that they gave up three goals? Mercyhurst went 0 for 7 on the power play. The Seawolves power play went 2 for 5. Both of those numbers are excellent. They're a good sign.But somehow, I just don't think that was as dominant a performance as it could have been. Don't get me wrong. I thought all four lines contributed positively at times. The first two lines (Grant, Haddad, Clark and Lunden, Naslund, Bruijsten) were a step faster and a step stronger than their opponents all night. Spencer, Gellert and Wiles created chances and showed some grit in the corners and hinted at good things to come. Sean is looking very confident in his wheels and the more chances he gets to go wide and cut back to the net the more he'll get rewarded.
Crowell, Parkinson and Portwood were just excellent. Crowell should smart positioning all night long. Jade Portwood looks to have found another gear in my eyes. His skating and puck handling were both sharp. He's dying to score a wraparound goal I think. Parkinson's goals were both nice.
The defense was solid. I thought Lee Baldwin really stood out. My assessment last week that he was comfortable and good to go etc ... was confirmed tonight. He looks like a veteran. There were a couple of defensive breakdowns that could have been corrected. Drew Darwitz looked good for the most part. I'd guess that as he develops more confidence that we'll see him come up to speed. He did show me that he knows how to join the attack. Nothing came from his couple of forays but he showed promising signs. Leinweber, Lafranchise and Vidmar all had strong games in their own end and all contributed positives in the offensive end as well. Jared Tuton did what he does ... he was steady and strong and lead by example.
Awesome for Grant and Parkie to notch a couple of goals apiece (Parkinson's 2nd was a shortie, his 1st was the game winner). Everybody was ready with the hats. And I think the team was trying to feed Grant during one of the late power plays but it wasn't to be. I did make a mental note during the 3rd when the score was 5-2 that the Seawolves seemed to be looking to make a pretty goal.
I thought the 3rd period was a dominant one for UAA. At one point late in the period I noticed that the Lakers had only manged 3 shots. We saw some good possession/cycling in fits and spurts throughout the game. I think we'll need to see more of that as the season goes along and the opponents are a cut above Mercyhurst.
And that isn't to take anything away from the Lakers. They gave it a pretty gritty effort. They didn't ever look resigned to losing. And they whole-heartedly celebrated their 3rd goal with 3:35 left in the game. It was a shame for Jonny O that they got the 3rd goal. He was solid between the pipes all night. He came up big on several good power play chances that Mercyhurst generated. Credit him for a big part of that 0-fer on the PK. But as I said to open this post ... The most important thing about tonight's game was that the Seawolves won. Am I being to unenthusiastic?
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How about them 'nooks? One of the shortest and fattest team of donut eaters shutout the ugly helmets 2-0? It always surprises me to see Seawolf fans cheer for UA_. I know ... I know ... cheer for the "Alaskan" teams when they're playing someone else. Sorry. I can't really do it. It isn't that I would cheer for Michigan.
But indifference to them doesn't equal supporting our rival. If they get to the National Championship game against UND one day ... I'll cheer for UA_ ok? Not before. I guess Greenham was the difference for them tonight. I got there late so I can't offer any other insights. I imagine what it means is that Michigan will come at UAA really hard tomorrow night.
19 comments:
Good job Seawolves. The stats keeper does need to do a better job though. A few mistakes.
i agree donald, as a life long seawolf fan i refuse to root for uaf.
the Gci.net coverage was pretty good, except in the first 7 min or so when we had no audio. The JPC students did a better job of following the puck, but they occasionally zoomed in to much. But I am happy with it overall. I don't know if its "camera weight" but it looked like Haider gained a few pounds.
Even though the first few rows were empty, as always, it still seemed like it was pretty empty. The box score said there were 3,712 fans, but it didn't seem like it. Didn't hear like it.
We need to get the announcer a drink before the game. He didn't make me want to stand up and cheer from my computer, nor did he do that with the fans in the stands.
Glad to see some of the veterans get some goals, we will need them to get off to a good start, and they have done that. However, they all managed to make it to the box in the first. Not to mention, bad move on Haddad's part near the end of the game.
We defiantly had the size advantage, watched Portwood push people around all night. Good warm up game, but it will be harder to do that once WCHA play starts.
It was nice to see Parkinson get a shortie, and it was even nicer to see Wiles create that opportunity. Lastly, I hope Selby gets some ice time tonight!
I just hope this team never let's up till the final buzzer.
Good teams want to finish of there opponets. Penalty killing was great. Power play is coming along.
Let's not take michigan lightly.
Every win and every point is important.
Let's fill the sully and rock.
I still don't understand why we always take the "cupcake" team on Friday night. It put us in a horrible position tonight and gave UA_ part of our home ice advantage. Part of the advantage of being at UAA is that teams have to travel, so usually the visiting team is tired, especially the first night. It is now going to be really hard to win our own tournament. If UA_ wins, which it probably will but we shall see, we have to beat Mich by more than they beat Mercyhurst.! So, hopefully Mercyhurst actually comes out with some gusto and their goalie reverts to a .934 save percentage like they did last year and they can put a few past Greeneggsandham.
Fan......come out of hiding. We need and want your posts
I don't think Mercyhurst is a "cupcake" team, but you have to have a showcase, and most fans are going to be at the Saturday game.
Looked like a new dj last night thank god!!! Music was much better. Couldn't stand the goal music from the last several years "that's the way uh huh uh huh I like it" F that!!! Props to the new dj for playing music that didn't make me want to kill myself.
I agree. I liked the music selection and i think we have a good announcer. he sounded a little rusty, but he got the crowd into the game a little bit. Last years announcer was a filler for the guy who left. he used to be one of my jpc professors at uaa. good professor. terrible announcer. Hey Donald are you going to interview players after the game tonight?
Totally agree!!!the music was legit and the announcer was way better than last year. I think it will get better with time when the crowd responds with a little more force. That will come with WINS! Fans had some good attempts but also need numbers to rock the place. More fans should show tonight with the Michigan game. Bring your voices and cowbells.
I don't understand the team salute after a game. UA_ saluted after their win but UAA did not. ??? Maybe UA_ decided that would be their only win this wknd so they might as well take advantage of it then and there????!!!!!!
I was surprised that UAA didn't salue the fans too. Maybe they only do it after the Saturday game, but I thought they did it after every game. Something the captain should address if it was supposed to be done last night.
I liked the new music but it was way too loud. Even louder than Aces games, and theirs is very loud. It did seem like they toned it down after the first two periods though.
The announcers are not there to be cheerleaders, I didn't care for his Bob Lester style antics. He needs to learn how to pronounce the players names. And maybe annouce the scoring lines sooner than a couple minutes after the goals. (I still miss Lyle).
Jeff:
I dunno. It's not like Doyle isn't going to be there getting the quotes. Wouldn't my presence there be redundant?
My other problem is I have no sort of voice recorder (I"m not using my cell phone), my memory is teh suck and if I were to take handwritten notes even I wouldn't be able to read them.
So all in all ... I guess I didn't see a big benefit for my recap.
Opinions otherwise?
i thought the crowd was awful. announced 3700. Again it looked under 3000 in the building. They make a statement if the team beats mich. tonight. But Donald had some good points. That was not a dominant performance against a team that works but is not very good. The level of play hits the accelerator tonight. Again watching UND and Denver on TV the Seawolves better elavate there play.
Well, when reporting about a teams performance, a journalist typically interviews the coach top performers, and team captain. You could take a different approach and interview a few of the freshmen and see how they felt playing their first weekend against division one opponents. Woody didnt get any quotes from Baldwin last night. I would have liked to hear what he had to say. That's my take :)
Jeff:
Those are valid points. I tend to view the process of writing this blog as more one of analysis and commentary versus reporting. So I often overlook the reporting. Maybe I'm just lazy? It's simple to pontificate ... it requires some work to report.
I'll get squared away and go down after the games tonight.
Sounds good to me. I look forward to reading your next post
Way to go Nanooks! Off to a great 2-0 start and another title in the bag. Too bad Seapuppies.....
Bubba,
This season started out just like last season ... with UAA losing their tourney to UA_, and vise versa. Of course, we all know the rest of the story, when UA_ failed to win a game against UAA (and haven't now for the last ten games).
Did UA_ even score any goals against UAA last year?
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