Seawolves 4 - UAF 1

The Seawolves tonight came out with the fire and emotion that is necessary to win a game against their biggest rival.  For the first 20 minutes of this game they were super sharp.  They executed pinpoint passing and scored three beautiful goals to leave no doubt as to which team would come out with the W.

Post Game Interviews 2-19-11 vs Alaska Fairbanks

Interviews 2-26 vs Alaska Fairbanks
Uploaded by Jimjamesak. - Discover the latest sports and extreme videos.
Shootouts suck, they're a horrible way to decide things. And to the UAF fans, I'm sure if UAA had won you'd be saying the same thing (I'd bet a few UAF fans are saying the same thing anyway). I'd just like to see it decided on the ice, a 20 Minute OT? Take the guys off, zam the ice, play a 20 minute OT, it gives the teams a chance to decide it on the ice instead of a glorified breakaway drill. I'd be saying the same thing if UAA had won, it's just a bad way to do it.

Seven Seconds Determine Outcome

No doubt Brad Gorham would trade his first goal in a Seawolves uniform for a win tonight.  But after he tallied just 25 seconds into the game, the team was unable to find the twine again.  Couple that with a meltdown of sorts in the third period and at least the misery of riding home on an airplane after a loss was pretty short.

Senior Tribute: Sean Wiles

This is the final of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

Senior Tribute: Luka Vidmar

This is part four of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

Senior Tribute: Craig Parkinson

This is part three of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

Olds Grizzlys D-Man Corbin Karl Commits to UAA

High scoring defenseman (12g, 27a in 56 games) Corbin Karl  (March 30, 1990) from the Olds Grizzlys in the AJHL has committed to join the Seawolves for the 2011-2012 season.  His 12 goals this season ties him for second in goals amongst that league's blueliners.  

His total points for the season place him third on the Olds squad.  Karl is listed at 6ft and 200lbs and is from Foremost, Alberta.  Great name for a town.

The Grizzly's press release characterizes Corbin as having superior leadership abilities.  Coach Kevin Willison is quoted saying, 

"The short time that I have known Corbin he has certainly shown his leadership qualities. Through any kind of adversity, Corbin would be willingly to sacrifice himself for the benefit of his team. Playing multiple roles and always coming to the rink with a positive attitude and a great work ethic were traits that made Corbin a consistently positive leader."

Welcome to the Seawolves Corbin.  You're joining a team that is on the rise and which looks to be on the backend one of the better future group of blueliners in the league.

His addition to brings potential blueliners to next year's Seawolves to a total of 9 which I think opens up more possibility for the F/D listed Curtis Leinweber and/or Brad Gorham to move up to the forward line.  It also provides depth on the backline as insurance against injuries.  The Seawolves this season have had a relatively injury free year but planning for such inevitable things is certainly prudent.

Thanks to an alert commenter for this information.  I'm pretty busy today writing Senior Tributes and may not have noticed but for that.

Senior Tribute: Nick Haddad

This is part two of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

Senior Tribute: Tommy Grant

This is part one of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

All Things Butterbean

Just a sampling of various Butterbean stuff.  Enjoy.  Click the links in the last section.  They may not be that interesting but when the website owners see a bunch of hits from Alaska they're gonna say WTF? 

Extemporaneous Monday Night Rivalry Rant

It's rivalry week.  Though in the WCHA the Seawolves primary rival has been and always will be UAF.  Geography dictates that.  Unless and until the Big Ten Hockey Conference happens and there is some sort of reorganization of college hockey conferences UAA and UAF look destined to be forced to maintain this rivalry from their respective conferences.  It is what it is.  I don't like it much.

Sunday Potpourri: Enjoy Your Tacos, On The Road Again, Statistics

How many years have the Seawolves and 'Nookies been rivals?  Like forever right?  The clearly literacy challenged school up north has me quite concerned for the future of Alaska's children.  How many times do we in Anchorage have to answer the "What's a Seawolf?" question for them?

Dean "Goon" Blais Outsmarts More Referees

Color me completely and utterly lacking in surprise that a Dean "Oggietorp" Blais coached hockey team would be the stick happiest, slashingest hackers that I've seen on a WCHA hockey rink this season.  I thought Friday night's game UNO initiated a fair bit of chippy bullshit ... but tonight that was doubled.

Post Game Interviews 2-19-11 vs Nebraska Omaha

Just one interview tonight with Coach Shyiak. Frustrating night all around with the Seawolves out shooting UNO but only scoring once, UAA just never seemed to get a real quality chance. A good goaltending effort by the UNO goalie and the ability to finish their chances gave UNO the win.

The night will be marred by UNO player Ryan Walter's blantant cross check to the head of Tommy Grant that was given only a 2 minute roughing penalty. I'll leave others to comment on it but it does have to be mentioned.

The Governors Cup is next weekend so let's get the smack talk started...

Post Game Interviews 2-18-11 vs Nebraska Omaha

Seawolves win it 3-2 over Nebraska Omaha. Interviews tonight from Daniel Naslund, Sean Wiles, and Coach Shyiak.

Not much more from me. Need sleep.

Seawolves 3 - UNO 2

The Seawolves tonight hit nearly all the targets in their gameplan that were necessary to get an important win over UNO.  They got the scoring they need from Tommy Grant and Sean Wiles who both hadn't been producing at expected rates.  They held UNO to under 25 shots for the game by blocking shitloads (20) of shots.  They got solid goaltending from Rob Gunderson.  They won the face off battle 33-27 led by Craig Parkinson who went 16-11 on the night.  Their penalty kill delivered.  And finally their execution was mostly solid in all areas of the ice.  When you put all those factors together you get success.

Austin Coldwell Named USHL All-Star

(photo credit ... Bryce Loshman USHL Website)

UAA Seawolves recruit Austin Coldwell (Des Moines Buccaneers) was named today to his 2nd straight USHL All-Star team for the western confernce.  The Vancouver, Washington born defenseman (6'1" 190lbs) is in his 2nd season with Des Moines and in 97 games has 18 goals and 45 assists.  He currently leads all defenseman in league scoring with 6 goals and 21 assists this season.

How To Play UNO

Skip-Bo > Uno ... just sayin.

Shasby Issues Clarion Call To Hockey Fans

Hockey fans in Anchorage have been issued a call to action from UAA Seawolves Alumnus Matt Shasby today in an ADN commentary on the sports page.  We here at the blog are overjoyed to see that the ADN editorial staff chose embrace this comment piece.  

Crowell, Sidor and Warner WCHA Scholar Athletes

(Left to Right ...) Chris Crowell, Dusan Sidor, Scott Warner

On Thursday February 10th, 2011 the WCHA announced it's sixth annual Scholar Athlete awards.  For the Seawolves, Chris Crowell, Dusan Sidor and Scott Warner.  To receive the award an athlete must have completed at least one year of residency at their school prior to the current academic year.  They must also have a GPA of at least 3.5 for the previous two semesters or may qualify if their GPA is at least 3.5 for all terms at their current school.

All three players will be recognized and publicly honored this coming Friday night at the Seawolves game versus UNO.

Dusan is a Marketing and Management major, Chris and Scott are both Civil Engineering majors.  Sidor is a repeat honoree and Crowell and Warner are both first time recipients.  Congratulations to all three of these fine young men.  Maintaining high grades while playing hockey for UAA requires dedication and hard work considering the huge travel schedule of the program.

Seawolves 1 - UND 6

The Seawolves were hoping to get a foothold on the inside track to a home ice playoff bid but instead they were downed 6-1 in a game who's score both did and didn't reflect the quality of the play on the ice.  UND fully deserved all the goals they scored.  The Seawolves however probably deserved to have gotten a couple more.  Dell came up real solid for UND on multiple scoring chances in the first period.  And UND finished theirs.

Friday Game Day: Seawolves at UND

Friday, February 11th 2011

UAA Seawolves vs. University of North Dakota

Ralph Englestad Arena::Grand Forks, North Dakota

4:37PM (Alaska Standard Time)

Importance Quotient: High This Weekend

I often prattle on here about how important the upcoming series is.  Same thing this week.  Even moreso.  If the Seawolves want to remain contenders for a home ice playoff series then they will benefit that goal by coming home from Grand Forks with some points.  Plural.  Remember my "step one" and "step two" posts last week?  Well there's another step to be taken this weekend.

Curtis Leinweber Named Defensive POTW

Curtis Leinweber's stellar play over the weekend has been honored by the WCHA who named him the co-Defensive Player of the Week today.  Curtis recorded a 3 point weekend from the blueline this past weekend versus MTU and was an overall +5. 

On Friday night he scored two goals including his first shorthanded goal, first game winning goal and first multi-goal game.  On Saturday he assisted on Sean Wiles goal.  Curtis' play all weekend was both crucial to the Seawolves two wins and overall worthy of praise.  His point production wasn't the only indication of that excellent all-around play, but instead just the most easily quantifiable.

Over and over on the weekend, Curtis contributed to positive situations during a shift that either changed the momentum of the game to UAA or kept it in the Seawolves hands.  His on-ice leadership was a big part of the series sweep. He was stellar on the offensive end of the ice, excellent along the boards and owned MTU players in his zone.  It was an all around great performance.

Congratulations to Curtis for receiving this accolade. It's fully deserved.

There's Gold In Them Thar Hills

Fly away on my Zephyr,

I feel it more than ever,

And in this perfect weather,

We'll find a place together.

I figured I'd go with somewhat of an historical exposition of the the many and varied UND takes that I've presented on the blog over the last few years.  The posts below represent lots of the non-hockey talk that's gone on.  It's pretty damn long.  Sorry about that.

Grand Forks Herald: Seahawks nip Gophers

Is it necessary for me to add any commentary here?  Perhaps not; but, this is both funny and pitiful.  More importantly though, it is a near perfect exposition of exactly how provincially minded casual UND hockey followers really are.

Helping The Humorless in North Dakota

How about we start this week off with some light humor prior to getting around to the two important games this weekend.  Hopefully, this will get the week off to a fun start.  I didn't write these jokes.  I adapted some of them slightly for thematic purposes.  Some you may have heard, some not.  If you're from the polite end of society then I'm thinking not.  Yeah, some of them are pretty offensive.

Sunday Potpourri: Eating Babies, Pat Tillman And UND Zephyrs

In case you hadn't noticed I've got some problems with capitalism.  Somewhere buried in the dearth of hockey observation, analysis and purposeful optimism on this blog I've mention this guy named Edward Bernays.  Eddie is considered the father of the public relations industry but he's so much more than that.  He is the one person who had more to do with why America is like it is than any other single person.  He made this joint.  Just about every preeminent aspect of culture you witness today owes it's existence to Eddie's theories put into practice by modern marketers.

Step Two: Tied For 6th Now, Eh?

Sean Wiles scored a couple of pretty goals tonight for the Seawolves.  It was a nice way for him to get back into form after a fairly long goal scoring drought.  Wrapping up the sweep and getting the 4 points was good news for the Seawolves.  Again, tonight's game was an all-around team effort.  Everybody on the ice for UAA contributed positively.

Post Game Interviews 2-5-11 vs Michigan Tech

The Seawolves pick up the sweep tonight versus Michigan Tech extending the Huskies to 24 games winless and 4 in a row at home for the Seawolves. Sean Wiles was the #1 star tonight with 2 goals, while Jordan Kwas got the Game Winner and Mitch Bruijsten added an empty netter.

Step One: 2 Points On Friday Night

Curtis Leinweber put two pucks home tonight to lead the Seawolves in a 4-1 win over Michigan Tech.  Wes McLeod and Craig Parkinson both added goals to round out the scoring.  The Seawolves had multiple scoring chances early in the game including a Vidmar shot that rang loudly off the crossbar.

Post Game Interviews 2-4-11 vs Michigan Tech

The Seawolves continue Michigan Tech's winless streak, now at 23 games, with a 4-1 victory over the Huskies. Curtis Leinweber scored two goals, Chris Kamal got his second straight win, and Wes McLeod got his second goal of the season.

Beating The Huskies: Reader Contributed

It would be an exaggeration to use the phrase exponentially more important when talking about this upcoming weekend as compared to last weekend.  It isn't like points in February have any more real value than points in October.  But when there are so few remaining chances to get those valuable points then it sure seems exponentially more important than last weekend.

Western Michigan: Latest Victim Of CHN TOTW

Following a one week unexplained hiatus, College Hockey News has announced it's latest victim of Team of the Week honors.  Western Michigan has been so deemed.  Apparently a NINE game unbeaten streak before last week's games wasn't quite enough to designate Western with this "honor" as the (at that time 12-6-8) Broncos were facing a relatively good (at that time 11-11-4) Northern Michigan team last weekend.

Bobbleheads and Special Deals Galore

I've got three important things to notify you regarding upcoming Seawolves games.  Click on any of the pics to the left to see full sized versions. First is a newly announced ticket package.  

As the flyer shows ... for just $49 you can get 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs and 4 sodas for on any of the remaining home game nights versus Michigan Tech, UNO and the Governor's Cup game versus UAF.

That's a pretty nice deal compared to what it costs at other WCHA venues to watch a game

If you are one of the first 1,000 folks through the Sullivan Arena doors this Friday night (February 4th, 2011) for the game against Michigan Tech you will be handed perhaps the most anticipated Seawolf promotional item of the year; the Seawolf Bobblehead.

I know there are collectors out there for this sort of memorabilia, so if you're one of those or know one of those types then you should make sure you get there early enough to snag one of these bad boys.

For fans interested in flying to Squarebanks to watch the Seawolves thrash the global warming endangered white bears; you can now go to the Alaska Airlines website and get 20% off your tickets.  

To receive the discount you must enter promotional code EC7406.

I don't know what the regular price is and what 20% off that exactly would be but hey, if you were planning on going then it'd be silly not to take advantage of this fine offer.

Chris Kamal Named WCHA Rookie of the Week

Coming off his stellar Saturday night performance, Chris Kamal today was named the Western College Hockey Association's Rookie of the Week.  Chris' performance keyed a 1-0 victory over the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and was the first shutout of his career.