Sunday Potpourri: Updates Edition

The first thing to talk about today is the hip-check that Kane Lafranchise put on Patrick Wiercioch.  The idiot zebras we had decided it was a penalty.  That was their first mistake.  Their 2nd was to initially hand out (as announced at the rink) a DQ.  There is ONE source to trust with regard to statistics in NCAA college hockey games.  That source is the official boxscore.  This isn't the boxscore from a newspaper nor is it the boxscore from an SID at a school.

Those two sources can contain mistakes for one reason.  WCHA referees (and I imagine all other leagues as well) are allowed to adjust their scoresheets prior to signing and submitting them.  Newspapers and SID's want to get their stories out as quickly as possible.  So it's understandable that from time to time they'll have discrepancies versus the official boxscore. So what does the official boxscore show about the Lafranchise/Wiercioch incident?  It shows that Kane was called for a 5 minute major for "Clipping" and a 10 minute game misconduct.

Kane will NOT be missing the next game.  There has to be a DQ for that to happen.  There was no DQ.  The likely explanation (and there is lots of precedent for this) that the referees reviewed video of the event after the game was over.  They adjusted their initial call.  It happens all the time in the WCHA.  You will never see them take a penalty completely off the board.  They have to defend their initial call on some level.  So even if they thought it was a completely clean hip-check after reviewing it (and that's likely the case) they couldn't take it off the board.  And since they'd sent Kane off they had to defend that.  But they did so by going with the smallest misconduct available.  The official boxscore reflects that.

Kane did not foul Wiercioch.  It's that plain and simple.  Assertions made otherwise come from people who did not witness the event.  Wiercioch played effectively after the event.  No doubt the hit stunned him somewhat initially.  Getting flipped end-over-end will do that to you.  But his knee WAS NOT INJURED as it simply wasn't involved; any inury would have been evident in his skating.

I watched closely anticipating all this sort of hoohaw.  He was not injured.  He was ready and willing to play immediately after the referees sorted out what they were calling.  The referees however did not allow him to making him take a seat on the bench.  When the trainer comes out to attend to you ... you have to go to the bench before playing again.  In any case, the next shift change saw Wiercioch hop over the boards nimbly and play a large portion of the 5 minute power play.

Any assertions made otherwise you may or may not see from George Gwozdecky are  P R O P A G A N D A .  DU has a bye week.  Gwoz may or may not choose to "play this up" by claiming (as he did post-game) that Wiercioch knee was involved.  There's little to no risk for Gwoz in doing so.  He knows Wiercioch will be ready for their next series against UND in two weeks.  But why let the UND folks know that.   Coaches in this league love to play fast and loose with injury reports when it suits them.  Gwoz is the master manipulator by which all others are measured.

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Let's take a brief (it was going to be brief .. I swear it was) look at some of the performances of some future Seawolves.  Matt Bailey with the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede is pretty much tearing it up.  He currently is #3 on the league scorers table with 7 goals and 10 assists in 11 games.  Of the league leading scorers with more than 25 shots this season he has .280 shot percentage.  That's (in 90's parlance) "hella good" folks.  He is also has an overall +9 for plus/minus rating.  Matt will be joining the Seawolves next season.  Not sure why he was snubbed for the Canadian Jr. A Challenge but perhaps just playing in the U.S. makes him ineligible?

Sam Mellor with the Trail Smokeaters in the BCHL is far and away the best 16 year old (he turns 17 next week) in that league (maybe in all Junior A hockey).  Amongst all rookies (17, 18 and 19 year olds) he is #4 in scoring and he is #35 overall in the league with 10 goals and 11 assists in 24 games.  Those are damned impressive numbers.  I sure don't want to give anyone any sort of ideas here but I can't help but think WHL managers will be noticing him.  No panic here but there is likely to be some pressure for him to take the Major Junior route versus coming to UAA.  The one thing that may be in UAA's favor is if they can bring him here next season instead of waiting another year.  Dion Knelsen enrolled at UAF as a 17 year old.  I hope Mellor's schoolwork would allow him to do the same.  If not, then unless he and his parents are wedded to the idea that a college education is valuable ... well ... I hate to think it.  I'm sure the UAA staff is "on it like Donkey Kong".  At least I hope they are.

Wes McLeod spent the last week with the Canada West Jr. A Challenge team.  In Friday night's 9-1 semi-final victory for Canada West, he got a record 4 assists in the game.  Canada West lost the gold medal game today to the U.S. 2-1.  Wes picked up his fifth assist in the 5 games on the lone Canada West goal.  Following the game he was named to the tournament All-Star team (Connor Jones, Cody Kunyk, Wes McLeod, Sean Bonar, Shane Berschbach and Mac Bennett).  So far in the BCHL season Wes the 5th leading scorer amongst defensemen with 5 goals and 13 assists in 18 games which is good enough for 3rd overall in scoring on the Prince George squad.

Over in the AJHL future UAA stud goaltender Rob Gunderson is currently 3rd in wins on the league table.  He has been the winning netminder for 12 of the Brooks Bandits 13 wins.  He has only 4 losses so far this season with one shutout.  His save percentage is a very nice .921.  Brooks is currently sitting at 28 points for 2nd place in the somewhat more competitive South Division.

Staying in the AJHL but moving up the road to Spruce Grove; Scott Allen is tied for 2nd in number of goals with 15 and is 17th overall in points with his additional 11 assists.  Spruce Grove is the clear #1 team in the AJHL so far with 43 points in the North Division.  Scott's teammate and fellow UAA recruit, Brett Cameron has been inactive since October 17th after suffering a concussion.

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That's it for today.  Unless there's some hot breaking news, expect the next post on Wednesday.  This coming weekend is the most important of the season.  I say that almost every week and almost every week it's the truth.  Wisconsin has 5 league points.  UAA has 4.  They're in 7th and UAA is in 8th.  They only managed a split at home versus Minnesota.  UAA only managed a split at home versus DU.  I think it's a good matchup and should turn out to be a couple of very competitive games.