Spring is beginning to tease us here in Anchorage. A slow melt has been underway for just over a week or so. It's always welcome. With the time change, it's light enough now until around 8:30 to drive without turning on your headlights. Most main streets are completely clear of snow and ice (except for the ice that forms overnight from the melt) and side streets should be clear soon.
It's almost "breakup". I always liked breakup but we don't seem to have that 2 week period where everything melts at once anymore. It is transformational when it happens more quickly. But for at least the last decade it seems, the melting takes a month or more to happen. Maybe we'll get lucky this year and get a really significant warm up? I hope so.
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Not to be dramatic but, I'm seriously considering giving up this blogging thing. I have been for quite a while. There are definitely some things I need to weigh and consider in that regard. It's really just a matter of personal priorities and not necessarily reflective of anything else. As with anything else in life I suppose it's a matter of finding the proper balance.
But as an imperfect and less than most successful human being such a consideration is necessary. We'll see. I'm not promising anything either way. One decision or the other will make some people happy I suspect. But I'll base my choice on what makes me happy. That's right ... you're all secondary. Blogger has no emoticons or you'd see me sticking my tongue out after that last sentence.
I still plan to get to the last two posts I promised. Look for the coaching evaluation and recruit updates to come out soon. How soon? I dunno. When I get around to finishing them? Not a great answer I know but that's the way things are at the moment.
With all that, some sort of partnership with another dedicated Seawolves fan would encourage me to continue. You don't have to have some great flair for writing. Just a dedication to supporting the program and some knowledge of the game is pretty much all I'd require. And no, your opinions and/or views wouldn't have to line up with mine. And you wouldn't actually have to put your real name anywhere on the blog. Though I suppose, I'd need to know it. So um .. email me if you think you've got some Seawolves blogging in ya. Or you could start your own excellent Seawolves blog.
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I grabbed (and uploaded to YouTube) Kevin Clark's 1st AHL goal from his 1st game with the Manitoba Moose. The goal came on his 1st shot and on his 1st shift. It's always a good sign for a guy to get one like that. Curtis Glencross scored a goal on his 1st shot in the NHL. So, good luck to Clarky on continuing success. He was awarded the 3rd star of the game. You can see the full game highlights as well as post game press comments by clicking here.
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Congrats to UA_ for getting into the NCAA's. Does it matter that they sort of backed in? Not really. There was a crapload of stupidity with this year's Pairwise calculations mainly because Alabama-Huntsville won the final CHA tournament and the autobid that goes with it. Without that UA_ wouldn't have been waiting until the last minute to know if they were in or not. They would have been in.
Good on UAH for getting in. They got pissed on by the CCHA not letting them into their conference. So to go out and grab one of the autobids is ironically pleasing to me. Those poor bastards will have to play an independent schedule next year. That sucks. Getting into the dance this year is a small reward but one which I'd assume they treasure.
The 'Nooks will get an NCAA opponent familiar to those up on UAA's own NCAA history: Boston College. In the Seawolves first appearance in the NCAA's, UAA dramatically beat B.C. in what is often looked at as the biggest upset ever in college hockey. In a best of 3 series, the Seawolves took the first two games to advance.
I know lots of you will be mustering some home state pride and wishing them the best. Expecting any of that sort of thing from me would be a mistake. UA_ is our one and only true rival. I will not be wishing them good luck. Congratulations to them is all I've got.
37 comments:
Congrats to clarky and all uaa grads and seniors.
fan
it has to be tough to be so passionate for your team and it lets you down each year with the results.
Clark and Schroeder together could be VERY interesting!
Donald, do what's best for you, but I have to say if you decide to take early retirement, I will miss your acerbic wit.
UAA and DU always seem to raise the blood pressure "barometer" in both the Rockies and the Frozen North.
Sadly Official:
Finally posted on NY Rangers website
http://rangers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=522240&navid=DL|NYR|home
Clarky will be playing hamilton in winnipeg tomorrow, good matchup moose vs hamilton ahl.
Chad anderson plays for hamilton.
all the best to both of them.
clark was on a radio show monday nite in winnipeg, said a lot of postive comments about anchorage and uaa.
all the best tomorrow to clarky and chad.
Donald,
Can you at least just take the summer off before you decide to retire the blog? :o(
You put so much time and effort into this place, but you're also appreciated more than you'll ever know.
Can't you at least decide whether or not you'll continue on with this sometime next Fall?
I don't want to see you get burned out, but I'm just one of MANY who will sorely miss the UAA Fan Blog.
Pretty Please... decide later? :o(
xoxoxoxo
Just a couple of points.
Kevin, Wow, It must've felt great playing
and scoring your first professional goal
in front of 12,000 screaming fans. You
are still making us proud. Keep them
coming!!!! We'll be cheering for you from
home.
Donald, I would hope that you don't stop
the UAA FAN blog. It is a place where many
of us go to get information and to share
our thoughts and opinions. I for one am
not interested in looking for a new blog to
go to if you stopped posting. Take a break
and come back refreshed, just like the
team. We look forward to seeing you
right back here next season, just like
the team.
A big Fan
"LetsGoDU" might be interested in making a hostile takeover bid for "UAA Hockey Fan Blog."
Alaska has become a fertile recruiting region for the Pioneers. We'd be willing to offer Donald a 4.75% stake in the LetsGoDU Family of Blogs.
You could still post whenever you liked, but the day to day management of the blog would be run out of our Houston office. Editorial content and fact-checking would be done in New York.
Whenever you didn't feel like blogging we could run stories about America's Hockey Mom Sarah Palin and DU recruits, players and alums from Alaska.
Our first move would be to buy UAA a Seawolf Mascot named "Anchor."
Think about it.
Woof,
For now, it's an open question for me. We'll see. I appreciate the platitudes and all but I'll decide based on a number of things. Don't fret too much about it. K? I'm not deciding now.
DG,
Yeah .. uh ... um ... no.
Thanks
What if we sweetened the offer and named the new mascot "Anchor R. Rage" after you?
DG,
Perhaps you'd find a counter offer interesting? I provide original content for LetsGoDU for a fee we can negotiate while you continue to cut/paste from your usual external sources.
Just think of it as a chance for analysis without having to rely on Mike Chambers to write something. You know, a perspective on DU things that isn't dictated by the marginally interesting (i.e ... boring) journalistic ethic.
You'd be surprised at my price, try me. I could write there under a pseudonym even ... how about ... Mean N. Fulcontent ???
Appeal to you? Let me know brother.
DG,
Also, what do you hear on the rumor that Adam Murray is entirely nonplussed with his first year at DU and that due to ongoing bashing of him by the DU fanbase and the clear lack of faith show in him shown by Gwoz is considering coming home.
Surprising how often that happens with Alaska-based kids you know? Hear anything about all that?
UAA fan or not - we all enjoy the original content found here. I hope someone steps up for you - it's sounds like you just want some help...
Also - PU sucks - their blog sucks - when they post on other blogs it sucks... and their fans suck!
Go Tigers (I'll cheer for the RIT Tigers this weekend).
Let Murray stay right where he is. We have all seen what happens when Chevy isn't playing sharp, DU is gonna suck next year. We need a goalie that has a save % of better than .866.
ahl moose beat hamilton ahl, chad anderson may have got a concussion in the game, hope he is alright.
clarky playing on fourth line with 2 big bruiser, looks good. Had a big hit on a hamilton defenseman.
moose 4 hamilton 3, 2 game winning streak
Sounds like AJHL goaltender Sam Brittain wants to come to DU next season and Chevy is going to be sticking around for his Senior year.
Wow. Rough for Murray. Dayum. A kid plays USNDT for a couple of years is highly regarded and never gets to play hockey in his collegiate career? What a sham. I mean shame.
Oh well, add him to the long list of recruits from Alaska that were bamboozled for the sake of keeping them from playing for UAA only to be disrespected and overlooked by the coach of the outside team they picked.
He is a TRUE FRESHMAN! He will be fine as a collegiate goaltender. You people simply want him to fail because he decided to attend a better school than UAA.
He is failing on his own merits, UAA fans have nothing to do about it. And if you think UAA fans are being mean, have you read even a small portion of what Denver fans have said about Murray? It's brutal. They make UAA fans look like angels.
Anon@833:
I wish Murray no ill will. On the contrary, I'm expressing concern over yet another Alaskan kid that is getting disrespect by another outside program. There's a long history of it. Connelly @ CC, Bales @ BGSU, Gorham @ Ohio State are recent examples.
Before then Fournier was dicked by UND and if I felt like using more than just my memory, I could come up with plenty of other examples. Oh yeah, Canady @ UND never skated on anything but the 4th line if I recall correctly. And Crabb @ CC was never properly utilized either.
There are so few Alaskan players that reach elite status that it's a sound strategy by other WCHA teams to recruit these kids in order to keep them out of UAA's hands. Then they just cache or warehouse them essentially. When Matt Carle went to DU, all the hype wasn't about him. It was about a kid named Skinner and for two years all you heard was how great Skinner was until he left and Carle finally got the chance to show what he had because DU was thin on the backline.
So don't begin to think that me (and plenty of others) don't have Alaskan kids best interest in your minds. Personally, I'd take being a hometown hero over being a hero to 4500 hardcore DU fans anyday. Denver is a big city and the vast majority of it has no idea that DU has a hockey program.
If Alaskan kids stayed home and helped make UAA more successful, they'd be the toast of the whole town.
And oh yeah, don't think for a second that Sam Brittain isn't going to DU with an expectation of getting the vast majority of the starts once Chevy leaves.
Pro scouts and orgs are already drooling over Brittain. Gwoz will HAVE to play him a bunch. Murray will most likely be left on the outside looking in ... just as Connelly was when Matt Zaba got to CC.
Murray should leave DU, go back to JRs. That way he can play and get his confidence back up (because he is a good goalie, just needs to strings some starts together to build it back up) and try again at a different school! That way he can play at a high level during his transfer year. I'd be happy as a fan to have him come back home.
Kevin clark will be in the lineup for his third ahl game tonite.
Hamilton vs moose.
all the best to clarky
Good article on clark found on the AHL homepage,
http://theahl.com/clark-makes-triumphant-return-home-p141610
Things went pretty well for Todd Smith at tUMD. And Mike Curry, while not an Alaskan by birth, well... he made his own bed.
Hunter Bishop is another example of UND not utilizing Alaskan talent. Boy the Sioux have quite a history don't they?
Anyone know if Clark, Lunden and Hunt are going to graduate?
I'm surprised grant hasn't signed a pro deal yet. I figured with his age he would have taken the rout of paul crowder
There are without a doubt Alaskan kids that have success stories and/or even just nice college careers at other schools.
I'm just doubting whether Murray will be one of those. I hate to see him get "Connelly'd" is all. Trupp is doing ok at UND. Probably should have been a 1st liner before now but his performances lately are getting him a legitimate shot at quality minutes finally.
Hunter Bishop was at Ohio State and seems to have gotten a fair shake by Markell. I believe he just signed an AHL ATO after his sophomore year? So he progressed there anyway. I'd call that success.
Clarky started on fourth line last nite, moved up to third line in the second than up to second line in the third. Than in the third clark was put on the power play.
Hard work pays off. Kevin is enjoying his time with the moose, off to abbotsford this weekend for games monday and tuesday.
Kevin is still saying many postive comment about Uaa.
All the best on your road trip.
Thanks for keeping us up to date on Kevins success. It's nice to hear.
D is the money raiser for UAA or you?
well any chance at Summerhays is gone. Signed at Notre Dame this week.
The "Chip In" Fundraiser is for the blog ...
Just wondering.....
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