UAA Seawolves 9 - SAIT Trojans 0

Jon Olthuis and Bryce Christianson combined for a 17 save shutout of the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Trojans tonight in front of a decent sized crowd at the Curt Menard II Memorial Arena in Wasilla. The Seawolves first goal by Craig Parkinson at 15:28 of the 1st period was the game winner in a penalty filled game. SAIT was whistled for 17 penalties and UAA tallied 12. The Seawolves converted on 6 of their 14 power play chances.

I missed the first five and a half minutes of the game but I'd characterize the 1st period as generally messy. But after Parkinson made a sweet little tip of a low shot thrown in from the point things got going offensively for the Seawolves. Craig added a power play goal at 18:46 on a nice tic-tac-toe play from about 10ft in the slot when he roofed a pass from Kane Lafranchise. At 19:10 Curtis Leinweber held the puck well in the SAIT zone, waited for an opening and buried the puck to make it 3-0.

Sean Wiles made it 4-0 at 3:01 of the 2nd when after a bit of a scramble the puck popped out to him in a good position and he nonchalantly put it home. Jade Portwood finished a nice stint of possession with a goal at 18:29. Following the goal things started getting a wee bit chippy.

Tommy Grant scored a nice goal at 6:45 after Curtis Leinweber owned the ice carrying the puck from behind his net leaving a forechecking Trojan in the dust, skating past two more opponents and laying a sweet pass for Tommy to finish. Just 40 seconds later Luka Vidmar took advantage of a ton of traffic in front of SAIT's goalie and found a fairly big gap on the far side to make it 7-0. Daniel Naslund added two power play goals at 14:16 and 19:21 to close out the rout.

I wouldn't say the Seawolves were impressive. They certainly outplayed the overmatched SAIT squad but the Trojans were gritty in spots and definitely had a few chances both early in the game and in several spots during the 3rd. Coach Shyiak used several different line combinations but honestly there was so much special teams play that it was hard to get a sense of what might work well and what didn't.

I was most interested to see the freshman play. I'd say that Daniel Naslund looks to be the player most likely to adapt the fastest. He has excellent hands and made more than a few real sweet passes. He also showed solid abilities to handle the puck under pressure and knew where his linemates were on the ice. I'll bet he'll see lots of power play time. I'm thinking he might have some chemistry with Kevin Clark and make us all forget that Paul Crowder left a year early.

Lee Baldwin looked completely at home. His skating was excellent. His positional play was solid. He blasted a couple of nice shots fromt the top of the umbrella on the power play. He closed out attackers nicely and blocked shots smartly. I think we'll see him featured on the power play early on and if he start cranking the first timers then he'll stay there. No flies landing on him.

Mitch Bruijsten looked good to me in spots and should develop over time. Mickey Spencer and Alex Gellert were most noticeable for their scrappiness; but here and there at critical moments they idn't quite click and/or the puck would jump off their stick. I'd say Alex had a bit of a better game overall. Both guys didn't look out of place but there is some development needed to happen before they make any big impact.

Chris Crowell looked very mature to me and wasn't shy about stepping into the fray when needed. I expect he'll find a regular spot on the 4th line. Tyler Currier was enthusiastic in the corners and along the boards and showed some giddy-up. Drew Darwitz played well on both ends of the ice and looked capable. He made a minor mistake or two but I could see him contributing offensively with time. He got off a wicked snap shot from the blueline that was dangerous. He'll challenge for regular playing time.

SAIT played with more intensity during portions of the 2nd period and put out an even better effort in the 3rd. They didn't really like getting their hats handed to them ... ya know? And the Seawolves weren't going to back down to any physical challenges. All that equals chippiness when the refs really have no sense how to control that sort of thing. If you look at the boxscore, you'll see lots of roughing, charging and a couple of checking from behinds. All in all it was a worthwhile exhibition game in the sense of getting guys ice time against a team that didn't play passively in any sense. Coach Shyiak likely saw a few things he liked and some things he didn't like.

It's late and I've got to get up early so that's it for tonight. I hope the chatroom was a good thing.