Seawolves 4 - CC 1

Two things you need to win a hockey game; goaltending and scoring.  Both were in place for the Seawolves tonight.  Rob Gunderson put in another strong performance to add to what has been excellent play over his last 6 games.  Colorado College threw 22 shots on Gunderson but could only manage the single tally.  Rob was sharp all night and downright bandit-like on at least 3 occasions to preserve the win.

On the other end of the ice Tommy Grant had a strong first period scoring twice.  The first time at exactly the 10 minute mark on the power play.  Daniel Naslund took the puck off the low boards and turned with it to drive to the slot, he saw Grant coming down the right side and laid off a sweet little pass which Tommy blasted home.

Three minutes and thirty-eight seconds later he scored shorthanded.  Grant broke in on the right wing with Wiles racing to catch the play down the center.  Tommy got wide on his man a fired a sharp cross intended to Sean to tip ... the puck instead went off the CC defenders skate and in.  That turned out to be the game winner.

Craig Parkinson added ripper of a goal from a Jordan Kwas feed at 6:10 of the 2nd period for the Seawolves 2nd power play goal of the night.  Mitch Bruijsten finished the Seawolves scoring with their 3rd power play goal of the night with 5:02 remaining in the game with a well timed tip on a nice feed from Matt Bailey.

UAA was 3 for 3 on the power play.  CC's lone goal was also on the power play (they went 1 out of 5) meaning neither team scored 5 on 5. 

It's a nice win and an important two points.

I think the squad can play better hockey than we saw at times tonight.  Some passes were errant and there seemed to be a few more puck handling errors than one usually sees.  The effort was good all night from all the skaters.  I'd expect CC to come out hard tomorrow night.  Joe Howe should be motivated to play his best game and so UAA shooters are going to have to really hit their marks again tomorrow night.

Andrew Pickering was in the lineup tonight.  He was energetic and effective in the corners on the cycle and got back into position well on the defensive end.  Good to see him get some minutes and hopefully build some confidence.  Alex Gellert joined Tommy Grant and Jordan Kwas on the first line and played perhaps his best game of the season.  

Mark my words here; Daniel Naslund will get a pretty fair amount of assists in power play situations as time goes by.  He's got perhaps the best hands on the team and is looking more and more confident with the puck.  His set up of Grant's first goal tonight perfectly executed.  

We were happy to see Jade Portwood up to his stellar disruptive play and the PK and his dominating play along the boards.  And speaking of goals made by the set up, Matt Bailey showed his mettle coming off the boards with the puck between two CC players and delivered the pass for Mitch Bruijsten to bury.

Defense was solid all night as well.  Wes McLeod played one of his best games of the season distributing the puck on a string as well as take a couple of opportunities to carry the puck deep into the CC end.  Scott Warner blocked gawd on knows how many shots tonight.  Quinn Sproule was solid and had a mistake free game.  Luka Vidmar didn't put a foot wrong all night and was infuential moving the puck forward.  Brad Gorham was dependable and solid.

Here's the boxscore.