I've got a ton of stuff on my plate in the coming month or so. I'll do my best over that time to keep the posts here as regular as possible but don't have expectations for daily posts of any great length. I say that now but my nature tends to keep me at the keyboard until I've excreted whatever is on my mind.
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There was a bit of a hue and cry calling for Jade Portwood's suspension after the hit he laid on Nick Leddy broke the kid's jaw in last Friday's game versus the Gophs. Coach Don Lucia went so far as to make a formal request to the WCHA that some action be taken. A complete lack of any communication on the matter from WCHA offices seems to indicate that no action against Portwood will be taken. Common sense justice prevails for once.
As someone who experienced a substantial inury as a result of a cheap shot (Mercyhurst's Captian Ryan Toomey took out Jade's knee at the end of the game in last season's Brice Goal Rush tourament), Jade would be the least likely player to ever try to injure an opposition player. Hopefully he doesn't let any of the subsequent falderal affect his play.
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GCI finally put up the archived UAA/UND games in the last couple of days. Well sort of ... they actually put the Saturday game up twice. I guess they wanted to forget about the Friday night loss too? Anyway, I grabbed the goal highlights and posted them on my YouTube account. Additionally, I posted a video of the Best National Anthem Singer in the WCHA as well. Having listened to zillions of anthem singers over the last 30 years I've got to say that Steve Dickson (I hope I spelled it right Steve) is without a doubt the best I've heard in the WCHA. I'm always bummed when it isn't him singing. Here's the embed so you don't have to click the link (note: I got the audio issues corrected).
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DU blogger Damien Goddard is promoting the concept that DU is going to skate circles around the Seawolves this coming weekend. I like figure skating as much as any Winter Olympics fan so hopefully we'll get to see lots of Rhakshani Triple Lutz's and Salazar Toe Loops and Rugsegger Double Axles and so on. Apparently, the fact that they have 8 guys under 5'10" is going to be a huge advantage for the Pios this weekend.
The Pios are even coming to Anchorage a day early in order to allow them to adjust to the .3lbs per square inch difference in atmospheric pressure here at sea level. Or maybe they need it to recover from the big bad plane ride? Gee Damien, you think the 12 tickets that UAA buys for DU has anything to do with them being able to afford to stay an extra night in a hotel here? When are you going to step forward and demand that your school pay it's own way?
It's sort of funny that Damien takes this tact when at the same time the plethora of excuse making is underway. Their propaganda machine has H1N1 running rampant through the DU squad and Marc "2nd Coming" Cheverie is out hurt so they have to rely on a rookie backstop with grotesquely bad stats are the main excuses so far.
What's next? Joey Colborne's gotta hangnail? What happened to this being the greatest assemblage of college hockey players to ever hit the ice? Make up your mind DG ... you gonna sandbag or stay with the original hyperbole?
"Flu" is the most overused inaccurate term in hockey. Let's see some confirmation that it was H1N1 eh? I know it's going around but 38 confirmed cases (most in May of 2009) in the Denver metro area tends to negate this suspicious sounding report of it going through the DU hockey team.I'm not saying here that Gwoz wasn't feeling well or that some players didn't have something ... but don't be parading H1N1 around without being able to back it up eh? Click the links to investigate for yourself if you think I'm bullshitting here. TV news assholes do anything for ratings; seriously, isn't that report a solid example of the worst sort of gleefully delivered local fear mongering evAh? I guess I've been up here too long ... I forget how the real world works I suppose.
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I'll have a reasonable preview tomorrow. I think there is a solid opportunity this weekend for the Seawolves to come away with some wins. Obviously there's never any guarantee of such a thing but circumstances certainly seem to point to an opportunity. The team is in the middle of the toughest 8 game WCHA opening schedule they've ever faced. 2 points in the last 4 games though is hardly satisfying to anyone (players and fans) so a weekend at home against a flu weakened, injury riddled squad ought to be a good thing right? Come back tomorrow and see what I think. Now here's your reward for not bitching about me not posting for 3 days.
And yeah ... one day I'll suck it up and reward my female readers with some pic of a hunky guy. Maybe. Such a thing will be difficult to do though. I'll lose tons of male readers if I do.
49 comments:
Let's all vote no if you haven't:
http://www.westerncollegehockeyblog.com/2009/11/3/1113134/suspension-coming-for-uaas-portwood
The sweep by the Gophers has made you extra grumpy this week.
With two Anchorage players on the roster and other one on the coaching staff, DU should be wearing the Home white jerseys this weekend.
Give me a student playing or singing the National Anthem any day of the week. I want to see the student section, the band, the mascot & the cheerleaders. That's what separates college hockey from minor league hockey. Schools that embrace the concept draw huge crowds. :-)
If those DU players have the flu, they would be better off to stay home and rest, and forfeit. UAA is gonna win anyway. :)
Dontcha know you aren't supposed to be flying on airplanes with the H1N1 virus?
I hope each of the UAA players is carrying around hand sanitizer.
dggoddard said...
Give me a student playing or singing the National Anthem any day of the week. I want to see the student section, the band, the mascot & the cheerleaders. That's what separates college hockey from minor league hockey. Schools that embrace the concept draw huge crowds. :-)
I been to DU.... I saw no band, saw a mascot no cheerleaders but a bunch of students getting vodka orange juice drink..limit 2... a reason for the 2 limit and I enjoyed a crown and coke myself that I took back to my seat and no it was not a big crowd they must of been at the swim meet
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/2009/11/fiona-quick-says-portwood-wont-be.html
Lucia is a laughing stock, no respect from any fans out there.
The hit happened 20 feet from where I was sitting. You'd of thought the kid hit a brick wall. In a sense I guess he did. Nobody likes to see a kid get hurt. (I suppose he should have just skated circles around the check. Apparently that's what a DU skater would have done.) -30-
The game is against denver friday nite, we will quickly forget minnesota once we beat denver and pass minnesota in the standings.
fan
DG:
It has nothing to do with the Gophers. It's just that there's been an excess of neighborhood brats on my lawn all week.
I'm offended by that photo.
Bitch's buttcrack is airbrushed out.
Donald! You are perpetuating an unachievable standard in women's beauty! Now we are supposed to be so perfect as to not have buttcracks? MISOGYNIST!
I hadn't noticed something else weird about that pic ... but when I clicked on it just now to see the full size version ... the chick in the back with the stick ... her face is like six inches in front of where it should be.
You can't see it much unless you go full size ... it's almost like some horror movie thing. And then when it's full size you can see all the hair on the foreground chick's back.
Eek ... it might be the worst hockey chick pic eVaH!
And oh yeah DG:
It's lovely and heartwarming that you're supportive of the Magness' usual crappy national anthem singers just because they're students.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=101627
prospect
and another
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=101658
Dennis Rix - Grand Prairie Storm
Currently the leading scorer in the AJHL with 17 goals and 27 assists in 22 games for 2 points per game. Nice stats ... Interesting that only three of his goals have come on the power play. He had better production as an 18 year old than as a 19 year old. But this year he's doubled his ppg average.
Bryce Williamson - St. Albert Steel
Currently the #3 leading scorer in the AJHL with 15 goals and 24 assists in 21 games for a 1.9 ppg average. Also has only 3 power play goals. 1 ppg as a 17/18 year old ... 1.2 as an 18/19 year old last season.
She's too skinny. I couldn't tell her apart from the stick...
The only way DU is going to skate circles is if they channel Alexander Mogilny from this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9eXH86ABrY .
That ain't happenin'.
Rhett Rhakshani
I liked the guy who ended the anthem with the high pitched "freeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEE". I haven't seen him sing at any games for a while though.
No love for posting a clip from the 1989 World Juniors held in Anchorage?
Dennis Rix is going to Michigan Tech.
Note on above prospects mentioned. Heisenberg is reporting this morning that Dennis Rix has committed to Michigan Tech.
6:58 -- Jinx ... you owe me a coke.
I'm going to make the same argument that I’ve made many times before: Shyiak can't recruit. He brings in big Canadian kids who can hit but aren't highly skilled. They're mostly kids who knock in a few garbage goals in the BCHL or AJHL. This is important. I doubt that, Lunden and Tommy aside, there is a single kid on the team who can hit the corner of the net while on the move, not to mention a simple tape to tape pass.
This is not a knock on the Wolves skaters, it’s not their fault that their skills (being big) don't translate to American college hockey.
We need a coach who understands that to win in the WCHA you need skill guys, not big guys. The USHL is rife with kids who can actually pass the puck, so why doesn't Shyiak recruit there? Three. Three guys on the roster from the country’s premier junior league? One of whom isn't yet on the team.
Maybe Shyiak doesn't think Americans know how to play hockey... But if I'm not mistaken no Shyiak team has ever finished above 9th place in the WCHA, so he must realize that what he's doing isn't working.
Four plus years is enough to know what you have in a coach. And what we have is a guy who refuses to recruit Americans (or anyone else) who can actually skate, pass, and shoot, in favor of Canadians who can do none of the above, but are big. Shyiak has previously stated that he tries to recruit Anchorage kids, but they don't want to come to UAA... really? Because UAeffingF is having no trouble recruiting Anchorage kids. They have 4, 3 of whom played in the USHL. UAeffingF is ranked 11th in the nation. How is it that they can recruit USHL guys up there but we can’t get them to come to Anchorage?
Look at the speed disparity in the Wolves first four conference games, it is truly amazing how much faster the other teams were. Speed, not size, is the main ingredient for winning in the WCHA.
Enough with Shyiak's nonsense. He doesn't recruit the USHL/Americans not because they won’t come, but because he doesn't want them. Many Canadians think the USHL is a league for sissies, I assume Shyiak agrees. Maybe it is, but “sissies” who can actually play translate much better to the WCHA than do big Canadians. I am thoroughly fed up with these garbage teams UAA keeps throwing out there, then hearing them complain that the Sully is empty. It’s empty because the team is lousy. And the team will be lousy until we get a coach who understands the college game.
No more lumbering BCHL/AJHL recruits Dave, get your ass out to the Midwest and find some talent.
Buy American? Get your head out of your ass. When they get the green light, these Canadian kids can skate with anybody in the WCHA--witness games 2 against ND and Minnesota. The Sully is empty because mouths like you will only get on the bandwagon when the Ws pile up. And maybe the great state of Alaska can pool some dirty oil money to build a rink on campus. Now that is an example of people who can't skate. -30-
I'll stay out of the 'which country has better hockey players argument', but I think On Wolves does have some valid comments about the questionable effectiveness of the size strategy.
Obviously Shyiak is pinning his hopes on the notion that having enough bigger players can offset the obvious disadvantages they have in speed/accuracy/passing. I would say judging by the results so far this year, that hasn't exactly panned out in favor of UAA.
To Shyiak's credit, he is trying to give UAA some kind advantage, as we all know it's a challenge recruiting top talent to UAA. I think players go to UAF because in general it is considered a better school than UAA, IMO.
If indeed the Seawolves continue to get outscored, passed and skated, hopefully Shyiak will reevaluate his recruitment strategy. I would have to say that in the long run it is not a viable route to success in the WCHA.
I'd have to agree with Wolve, What Shyiak is doing isn't working. I'm not sure though, if it is the talent level or his coaching ability. Maybe he can't motivate them, I dunno. It's not working, that's all I know, nothing better than a 9th place finish in 4 years. Truthfully, what Anchorage kid wants to play in a 1/3 filled arena?
Hay anonymous at 9:12, when exactly have these W's you speak off piled up???
On Wolves....I resent your derogatory comments on the Canadian players. It is a fucking knock on the Wolves players, don't fool yourself. The only thing I will agree with you on..THE ONLY THING is that Shyiak is not coaching many of these players to their potential. They are DIV.1. players from all over and can skate and play with any other player in the league. To knock the bchl and ajhl recruits as lumbering??? Idiot. The fact is, many of these boys had several other div. 1 offers because of their speed, skill, strength and yes, even size. They chose UAA. It is not relevant why as many factors are considered when choosing a school, but what is relevant is that coaching needs to also be at a Div. 1 level. Shyiak has lost the boys confidence in him and themselves. There are players working their asses off game in and game out. Frustrating.
Relax everyone we play denver tomorrow the number 2 or 3 team in the country depending upon the polls.
This team will win as a team, clark, lunden and grant will score tomorrow night, keep things tight on defence and we will be find.
Split this weekend or win both and everyone will jump back on the gandwagon. 10 games till the break, win 5 or 6 and we are in the hunt.
Fan
Hey Ogie: Obviously the Ws haven't piled up. To become a winner, a team needs support. Has Anchorage given it lately to the Wolves? No. Have the powers that be supported the program with a rink? No. The Seawovles don't have any NHL picks on their roster. That is not becasue of a lack of recruiting--it's becasue of a lack of facilities. The only way they win is if they pull together. As with the latter part of last year, adversity is one way. I guess one way to get the boys to play as a team is to attack them as a team. Some writers here are doing a good job of that. I pray they shove it down the nay-sayers' throats this coming weekend. -30-
How do we know if Bryce Williamson is really a Seawolf prospect/recruit?
I think that there are some good local kids that get passed up for Canadians of the same talent level.
That mentality needs to change. UAA has some mending to do when it comes to the hockey families in Anchorage, and putting more locals on the roster is a good start.
Anon: "these Canadian kids can skate with anybody in the WCHA--witness games 2 against ND and Minnesota. The Sully is empty because mouths like you will only get on the bandwagon when the Ws pile up."
First off, no... they can't. They can't skate with anybody in the league, which is why we finish at the bottom every year.
Secondly, I haven't missed a game (when I'm in town) in years. Though arguing with you is clearly useless, as you can't even see that there is a massive talent gap on the ice.
Anon: "To knock the bchl and ajhl recruits as lumbering??? Idiot."
Nice use of multiple question marks, you are verrry inquisitive. And our players are lumbering, or have you not watched a game this year???
And I wasn't making derogatory comments about Canadian players. Canada has better players than the US. They play major juniors and are therefore ineligible to play NCAA. I said the USHL is where the top colleges recruit flight talent talent. Fact.
Bandwagon? Where is this bandwagon everybody keeps talking about? I wish there were one for me to jump off of. But I keep going to games (again, when I'm in town) and I don't see any fans, bandwagon or otherwise.
And finally Anon: "To become a winner, a team needs support."
Wrong. To get support from the vast majority of Anchoragites (not those of us who bang out diatribes on this blog, but most Anchoragites) we need a winner. And some home grown talent would help a whole lot...
On Wolves, stay out of town please. We don't want you at a game to watch our "lumbering garbage team".
I don't know how your comments--one being - He brings in big Canadian kids who can hit but aren't highly skilled etc..
Another being--recruiting anyone else who can can actually skate, pass and shoot in favor of Canadians who can do none of the above etc... is not derogatory to Canadian players.
Find the bandwagon, jump off and let that be the end of you.
This team is the closest team we have had in four years that will have a shot at 5 to 7th place.
It is early in the season, a split this weekend or a sweep will calm down the doubters.
We have three weekends at home before the xmas break, win four of six, we are back in the hunt.
We have the seniors who can score.
The defense is getting healther each day. The freshman have played und and minnesota now. Between those teams they have close to 30 or more top end drafted players.
We can knock off any team during a two game series. This will be our year, the plan is in place. Support your team, they play in the best league in college hockey.
Fan
OnWolves:
Want to know why we don't get kids from the USHL?
It has nothing to do with not trying. I don't talk about it on the blog because it would only antagonize the situation and/or bring heaps criticism that I'm whining.
If you take the time once to speak with Regg Simon, I think he'll confirm much of what I'm going to tell you.
USHL coaches guide their players to other schools. They do so because of regional biases. Those biases come into place because USHL coaches and WCHA/CCHA coaches often live nearby one another and find themselves in close association more often than coaches in far flung areas. They become buddies.
I have heard reputable people tell stories of USHL coaches specifically being derogatory about UAA to their players. The last two UAA recruits to ply their trade in the USHL both got fucked over in their rookie seasons in favor of American players that frankly weren't as good.
Why does that happen? Because Mommy and Daddy of "not so good kid" live close enough to Sioux City or Omaha or Lincoln or wherever to be in the coaches ear. If a kids parents are in the Netherlands, Alaska, Sweden or Canada they can't lobby the USHL coach as effectively to get their kid ice time.
Plus the more kids a USHL coach puts into Minnesota, Wisconsin etc the more local parents are hyped to get their prospect onto his USHL team. It's a self-reinforcing system.
The best players in Canadian Jr. A are clearly as good and better than the best USHL players. Note Canada Wests record thus far in the Jr. A Challenge tournament. It is exactly the same as the U.S. record.
You certainly noticed an issue. I'll give you credit for that. But you've badly missed the reasons. It has nothing to do with UAA's staff not trying.
UAA's recruiting grounds are therefore what they are ... Alaska and western Canada. They compete well with WCHA schools in the BCHL and AJHL because those Jr. A coaches aren't favoring schools in the way that USHL coaches do.
It's all part of the set of geographic disadvantages that UAA and UAF face just because we're not in the real world. If you live in Alaska then you've seen these regional biases for yourself in other aspects of our culture.
It's such a pervasive bias that Alaskan parents even fall victim to it. They send their kids out to play midget AAA instead of staying in Alaska and playing midget AAA. There are excellent midget coaches in this town running excellent programs. But parents know USHL coaches aren't coming-a-calling unless your kid plays at Shattuck or Russell Stover or Little Ceasars or whatever IN THE STATES.
If BCHL and AJHL players weren't good enough then why does EVERY other WCHA team also recruit there? Why don't they just fill their rosters with these great USHL players? Look outside the WCHA ... you'll see lots of USHL players in the CHA, Atlantic Hockey, the EZAC ...
The U.S. Armed Services considers Alaska an "Overseas" assignment. So getting a kid to come up here has a lot of weird connotations to kids playing hockey in the lower 48.
Putting any of this on Shyiak is short-sighted. Any coach at UAA has in the past and would in the future face the exact same situation.
OnWolves Part Two:
The Seawolves aren't lumbering. They're big but other than Daniel Naslund there isn't a player on this squad that would look out of place skating on any other team in the league.
I've watched hockey all my life including watching nearly every game my nephew played from squirt through midget and his first two years of high school before heading out to play juniors in the old NAHL which at that time was the premier Junior A league. His Michigan coach at that time was full of the same biases that I've described for USHL coaches now.
My point is that if I know anything about hockey it's that I know when a kid can skate. Clark, Grant, Lunden, Parkinson, Gellert, Leinweber, Spencer, Selby, Backstrom, Lafranchise, Wiles and Vidmar all have "speed". The rest of the team are typical WCHA skaters ... i.e... they get up and down the ice well against their competition. In other words, they're "good" skaters.
This IS the best skating group that we've had at UAA ... EVER.
Answer a question OnWolves? Please?
Where did you move to Alaska from and when?
Lastly ...
Needing a winner to support one's local team makes one a Bandwagon fan. It's the very definition. On the Bandwagon when all it well ... off the Bandwagon when things aren't well.
I actually don't like it when the rink fills up more just because the team is winning. Frankly, I look around the Arena on such nights with resentment.
But at the same time, I recognize that is the way people are and that they'll turn out for a winner. Look no further than the Aces for proof of that. When they weren't so good they were up for sale on Ebay because nobody came to the rink. Sports fans everywhere are mostly Bandwagon fans.
I support the Seawolves because they're amateurs and because it's my local university. That should be enough reason for more people. I'm thankful that it is enough reason for about 3,500 other folks. They're all real UAA fans in my book. Don't come because the team is losing? Then you're not a real fan ... you're not there to support the team. You only go in hopes of getting that vicarious thrill of winning. Real fans go in the hopes that they can help spur their team on to be their best.
Well said Donald. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Bravo! Lets hope the guys play with as much passion as you have for them! Go Seawolves.
First off DD, hahaha. Moving on.
"If you take the time once to speak with Regg Simon, I think he'll confirm much of what I'm going to tell you."
I would never take the time to speak with Regg Simon, first off I have no idea who that is, nor do I care to. I have a small amount of time in my day for nonsense, writing on this blog a couple times a year is one takes a few of those moments, I won't be calling UAA SIO guys to fill the rest of them. But as for your "reason" why UAA can't recruit the USHL, that garbage regional argument would work alot better if UAF wasn't able to. Last I checked Faribanks was further away from the Midwest than Anchorage.
Putting this on your buddy Shyiak is not short sighted, as Hill recruited far better players than any group Shyiak has come up with.
And "[add UAA player here] is a typical WCHA skater" eh? I may not know anything about hockey, but I know when I see guys who are so outmatched on the ice its laughable. They can't keep up with WCHA talent, fact.
DD, your 'real fan' paragraph was stirring, but wrong. Nobody goes when the team is losing (except maybe you and I, when I'm in town), not because they aren't fans, but because they have better things to do than go watch their local university with a roster filled with a bunch of kids they've never heard of and don't care about get stomped by Minnesota-Duluth or some such embarrassment.
Further, I'd rather keep personal questions out if it, but I'm a lifelong Alaskan, born and raised, if you must know.
Oh, how I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Wolves start lighting it up, finish first in the WCHA, win the Frozen Four, and graduate every senior on the team Summa Cum Laude. I just don't think any of that will happen under this administration. I guess one of us will be proven wrong eventually, eh DD?
The rest of you threatening and running your mouths about how great my beloved Seawolves program is, settle down. Stop with the internet tough guy act, its just sad.
OnWolves is your name and you don't know the name of one of the assistant coaches who spent years as a head coach in the USHL?
My buddy Shyiak? LOL.
I've exchanged no more than 20 words with him since he's been head coach. I don't communicate with the coaching staff at all ... on purpose.
Here's all UAF's USHL recruits (as listed on Heisenberg)...
2001 - 2 - 1 never played
2002 - none
2003 - none
2004 - none
2005 - none
2006 - none
2007 - 2 - 1 of which was a transfer from UAA
2008 - 3 - 1 which never showed up
2009 - 2
And UAA?
2001 - 3 - 1 never played
2002 - 2
2003 -1
2004 - 2
2005 - 3
2006 - 1 never played
2007 - 2
2008 - none
2009 - 2
So my friend ... what you're doing here ... some people would call "talking out your ass".
Are you "birdman"? If you are why not just use "birdman" as a tag?
Also, how many of UAF's players were recruited from the AJHL. I respect a persons opinion, but not their blatant meanness and ignorance.
Birdman cannot speak so fluidly, obviously not him...
"blatant meanness and ignorance"
Wow, nothing mean about calling someones opinion ignorant. And I don't recall any discussion about how difficult it is for Alaska teams to recruit the AJHL. So your point, if there was one, misses the mark.
Nice use of "meanness" though, I'll try using monosyllabic words from now on so I don't lose you.
Huge waste of time DD. You said its so difficult for the UAA to recruit to the USHL. UAF has 6 players from the USHL on its roster. Period. Getting all historic with it doesn't actually prove anything. But thanks for the history lesson.
"I don't communicate with the coaching staff at all ... on purpose." Yet yesterday you made clear that you communicate with Regg Simon.
So what you're doing here, Donald, is "talking out of your ass"
But that's okay, we appreciate it. Because god knows nobody else is going to run a website dedicated to my beloved Wolves.
Anyway, why does it have to get contentious? I simply argue that our coach can't recruit. You disagree. One of us will be proven wrong by the end of the year, right? I hope its me.
I didn't say I communicate with Regg Simon ... Take a reading class before you accuse me of talking out of my ass. I said, "If you take the time once to speak with Regg Simon, I think he'll confirm much of what I'm going to tell you."
You interpret that implying that I speak with the coaching staff? As I explained to you when you admitted that you didn't know one of the assistant coaches for your "beloved Seawolves" (a vacant claim if you ask me), Regg was a head coach in the USHL for years. That was the only implication in my original statement. Your name and previous statements led me to believe you'd have known that.
You asserted that Shyiak and UAA couldn't recruit USHL players ... you used UAF as an example.
I provided a lengthy and reasoned explanation of the realities of the recruiting situation. None of which you even attempted to refute. That is the substantive part of this whole discussion. And in it ... you've got nothing.
No you say I'm talking out of my ass because you got caught talking out of yours? That sort of turn-around BS might work in politics. Here, it's just funny.
Take a reading class? Nice retort.
I though about responding to your post, but no one would read it so there's really no point.
I'll reserve further posts for after the game against DU tonight. Unfortunately I have to watch on the computer. But I'm sure the Sully will be full of riotous fans cheering the Wolves on to victory...
Also that we would do without your very good idea
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