Saturday Live Blog Versus Da Gophs

Seawolves Zero - Gophers Way More

There's not a lot I need to say here tonight/this morning.  Is there?  The Seawolves pretty much got a good ole butt-kickin.  I would hesitate to use a word like dominated but the score is reflective of such.  The boys had their chances here and there but when opportunities arose, the response was lacking.  Shooting the puck wide when the net is open ain't gonna cut it in any league.

That isn't to take anything away from the Gophers.  Kent Patterson came up with a couple of real nice saves to earn the shutout and their offense was a machine-like.  Is there really anything else to say?

To make it a game tomorrow night the Seawolves will have to do two things better than they did tonight and those things in general are called offense and defense.  They'll have to finish and they'll have to find a way to keep the Gopher snipers from finding their spots.  I know ... it's obvious.  Nevertheless, it's true.

I didn't find it to be an ugly game.  I found some bright spots; Leinweber looked good up on the wing but perhaps not quite fully comfortable.  Nice to see Eric Scheid get his first ice time along with the first chance to see Kory Roy.  Both did ok under the circumstances.  The Seawolves did block a lot of shots but I think the better game plan might be to test the opponents goalie a bit more than they did tonight.  Eh?

All the lines had their moments.  If our boys had finished their best chances it would have been a much closer game.  Fuck having to say "if" though.  Sorry to be blunt.  But it sucks to write "if" in that context.

Nights like tonight remind us why the two-game series in college hockey is special.  Saturday is another day.  That's all I have.

Game Day: Seawolves v. Gophers - Certain Retribution Edition

Watch/Listen:

TV: GCI Channel One (Live Statewide - 10:30pm tape-delayed in Anch/MatSu)
Live Blog: Here ...
Live Audio: KTZN 550AM (Kurt Haider) pay-per stream available at GoSeawolves.com
FREE Video Stream: uaahockey.nmtvsports.com

Other Stuff to read:
ADN Story: Da Gophs-r-gud (Doyle Woody)
Star Trib: Nate Schmidt Feature (Roman Augustoviz)
Star Trib: Big Series (Roman Augustoviz)
GopherSports.com: Q & A with Kurt Haider

It's getting to be a regular motivational quote factory over in the Minnesota hockey program.  Last season after the UAA's Friday night victory Gopher player Jake Hansen said, "We knew that we are a better team than they are and we didn't take advantage of it [Friday]." This time around the quote torch has been passed to Gopher radio man Wally Shaver.  Click this link to hear what he had to say at the end of his program "The Goal Line" for Gophersports.com.

2011-2012 Seawolves Intro Video

AKSWF alerted us in the Chatango to the release today of this new Seawolves Intro on their Facebook page.  Pretty nice.  I like it lots.  Best one yet.  Christopher Hargrave gets the credit for producing this.  Well done Christopher.  The 36 Crazy Fists music is great.  A fine job all around.

How Many Dead Gophers Does It Take To ...

The Seawolves were the first WCHA playoff opponent to win a game at Mariucci Arena.  That wasn't last year.  On March 10th, 2007 the Seawolves broke that Gopher unbeaten streak. Last year they became the first team to win 2 games at the Mariucci Arena during the WCHA playoffs.  Then the next night they became the first team to win 3 games at the Mariucci Arena.  The Seawolves are 6-8-2 against the Gophs since.

Already Time To Get Over It

I can imagine that before this weekend a few of us Seawolves fans were harboring unrealistic expectations and/or even wild hopes for remaining undefeated for a nice long time.  Come on now ... admit that some transient "7-0-1" imagery went through your head.  There were lots of good signs from the first 4 games to lead to such hopes.  But psst ... there was going to be a 2 in the L column at some point this year.  Obviously though, these two losses aren't the end of the season. 

Getting your hats handed to you early in the year is better than late in the year.  And it's pretty clear to me (despite not seeing the games) that the Seawolves got their first real taste this year of getting outplayed.

This weekend it was UNO's turn to dominate all the categories.  They attempted 75 shots on Saturday night.  The Seawolves blocked TWENTY and still 40 got through to Kamal.  They won the faceoff battle on Saturday 39-28 as well.   Quite the turnabout when that was the Seawolves modality the first two weekends.  I come back to the theme that the bad taste in their mouths from this weekend should be a very useful reminder and spur some good hard practices this week.

For us hardcore Seawolves fans this coming weekend has about a hundred times more excitement so I know I'll forget about these two losses pretty quickly.  No matter what you read this week on the internet, I promise you there are Gopher players fired up about getting a chance at some payback wins up here.

Game Day Post: Seawolves vs. Red Cows

I fell down on the job here a bit this week.  Sorry I didn't get to a preview.  I will not be hosting a chat today or tomorrow.  You have only one choice for viewing this series; webcast on AmericaOne (formerly B2 networks).  The cost is either 8 dollars for a single game or 30 dollars for a 30 day UNO hockey pass.  I cannot discern which is the case without registering.  I will be listening to Kurt Haider on the radio.

No TV From Omaha; Big Surprise or No?

Why is there no TV this weekend?  Future college hockey national powerhouse Nebraska-Omaha cannot even interest an Omaha TV station to broadcast it's home games? WTF?  I thought this was an elite program that was going to help give the Butt-Hurt Hockey Conference a national spotlight and they can't even get their local broadcaster interested?  Well, no doubt in two years NBC Sports will be begging them for the rights.  Right?

Seawolves 6 - Mercyhurst 2

Congrats on another pretty dominating performance resulting in a quality win.  The Seawolves again pushed the pace of the game and played some damn smart hockey throughout.  Mercyhurst showed some heart in the 2nd period and worked hard to get the score to 4-2 early in the 3rd and for a moment or two it looked like a dangerous 2 goal lead.  Then in a quick span of 1:14 the Seawolves put it out of reach.

Seawolves 3 - Red Mavs 0

In a penatly-free 60 minutes for both squads, the Seawolves (the 4th time ever being unpenalized for a full game) needed just 5 minutes and 41 seconds during the 2nd period to build a 3 goal lead and chase Uno's goaltender to the bench.  After writing about my concerns that the fun-filled family card game would get chippy, the zero penalties result is a big surprise to me.  That the Seawolves won wasn't a surprise.

Brice Goal Rush: Game Day - Seawolves v. Card Game

Watch/Listen:

TV: GCI Channel One (Statewide in Alaska)
Live Blog: GoSeawolves.com
Live Audio: KTZN 550 (Kurt Haider) pay-per audio stream available at GoSeawolves.com
Live Video Stream: America One (formerly B2)

Other Stuff That's Worthy of a Link:

Jordan Kwas Feature (Doyle Woody Anchorage Daily News)
Josh Archibald Feature (Chad Purcell Omaha World-Herald)

Notes:  I'll add UAA's lines when I receive them.  I will not be hosting a chat for either game this weekend.  I do not have GCI Channel 1.  I recommend the GoSeawolves.com Live Blog.  I trust that Nate or Dallas (whichever is moderating) will provide much better updates than I do anyway.  I plan to check in there from wherever I end up watching the game. EDIT: I do not see a chatroom installed on the site for this game.  Perhaps it will be up later? 

I hope that you don't have to watch this game via America One.  At least UAA's home games are webcast for free on a platform that doesn't REQUIRE you to install some proprietary plugin.  Too bad Alaska's other D-1 hockey program is more interested in selling their webcast rights for some minor pittance versus providing a usable free stream that enhances the visibility college hockey.

Lots of good stuff to be on the lookout for in this afternoon's game.  Hopefully we'll see some/all of the guys play that we haven't seen yet.  It'll be fun to see who nabs the goals of course.  It's also a real good preview of next weekend's first series for WCHA points since a trip to Omaha is next on the itinerary.

Go Seawolves!!!

Brice Alaska Goal Rush Preview

The Seawolves will be off to the Banks of the not-so-Fair for this weekends games.  I used to think Fairbanks got it's name because someone thought the banks of the Chena River were somehow fair.  They most assuredly are not however.  They are muddy and nasty in Fairbanks.  Icky even. 

INCH National Player of the Week: Mickey Spencer

In what is most likely just a first weekly award for his 4 goal and 2 assist weekend Inside College Hockey website has named Mickey Spencer it's National Player of the Week.  It seems fairly obvious  to expect at minimum for Mickey to also be named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week.  So congratulations to Mickey for this nice national recognition.

One Tourney Down, Uno To Go

Today I'd like to eschew my propensity for verbosity in favor of being concise. The Seawolves played some pretty damn good hockey this weekend.  They pretty much dominated Clarkson; we all saw it.  The Golden Knights have a couple of nice players but overall the Seawolves imposed themselves on them all night.  Karpowich earned that tie for the team.  

Seawolves 4 - St. Cloud 3

The Seawolves wrapped up the 2011-2012 Kendall Classic championship on the strength of Mickey Spencer's 3 goal night.  Spencer had been a healthy scratch quite often last season but came on late and ended the Gopher's season scoring the game winner in the 2nd game of the WCHA playoff sweep at Mariucci.  The Mick was awarded Most Outstanding Player of the tournament with his 4 goals in 2 games.

Kendall Classic: Seawolves 4 - Clarkson 4

Perspective is a really interesting psycho/sociological trait.  We only develop perspective as a result of our experiences; Hume describes all that very well.  How you feel about tonight's tie is all about your own perspective.  For me ... I'm a bit nonplussed.  Perhaps a wee bit frustrated.  But hey, it's the first real night.  Lot's of guys played well.  The three rookies in the lineup all looked good.  The Seawolves outshot Clarkson 41-23 on the night with a margin of 13-4 in the first period.

Post Game Interviews vs Clarkson (Kendall Classic) 10/7

Hey everybody, Jimjamesak here with the post game interviews from tonights game against Clarkson. Interviews tonight are from Mark Pustin, Derek Docken, and Coach Shyiak. Unfortunately I'll be on my way out of town during tomorrow nights game and I won't be doing them tomorrow, most likely the only game I miss all season. Please to click on the video to go to the YouTube page and bump the number of views up for me!

Kendall Classic: Game Day 1

Friday, October 7 2011

UAA Seawolves vs. Clarkson Golden Knights

Sullivan Arena 8:05pm (AST)

On The Fly WCHA Teleconference Synopsis

The WCHA held it's teleconference this morning at 8 a.m.  Here's how it went ... They all said some version of ... "guys worked hard in off-season ... excited to get going ... not sure how good our team will be ... and there's no i in team .. give a hundred percent".  Ok ... so I took some liberties with my paraphrasing.  But yeah the theme was established and pretty much adhered to.

Kendall Classic Preview: Clarkson and St. Cloud

UAA's opponent's this weekend for the Kendall tournament are Clarkson and then St. Cloud.  The Seawolves have never played Clarkson.  They play in the ECAC.  Every player but one on the roster has eastern ties.  I only troll BCHL, AJHL, MJHL, USHL and NAHL junior leagues so I only know something about one Clarkson player.  I do know a thing or two about St. Cloud though.  So I'll save them for last.

DU Students Are Kyle's Mom

Some 400+ University of Denver students attending the Pioneer hockey team's preseason exhibition game versus McGill University from Montreal, Quebec were stupid enough Saturday night to regale their opposition with "U-S-A  U-S-A  U-S-A" chants.  Um ... hint-o-rama here future DU alumni ... when an American University plays a Canadian University it isn't like the Olympics .. um cos .. THERE are Canadians on your team.  Morons.

One long time anonymous DU fan said this on the internet ...

"Disgusting display by the Students tonight chanting USA! Led by a student wearing a KE hat - that E was a Greek E for Sigma - sadly these students have no idea of the great Canadian players that have come through this school and given us our greatest moments - time for someone(DG?) to teach them some history. I was disgusted with their chants and singing American anthems."

Some people are believed to be saying that what's even more troubling are the unconfirmed reports of unrestrained nationalistic zealotry advocating violence: shrill cries of "Kill The Fucking Canadians!" were said to have allegedly been heard.  

So just like Kyle's mom; it seems the DU student body has lost whatever minimal semblance of rational thinking they ever had before enrolling in that sorrowful pocket-emptying diploma-factory.

DU's three Canadian born players Joey Laleggia, Shawn Ostrow and Sam Brittain were said to have been heard to simultaneously utter "WHAT THE FUCK?" at one point.

Some people are also now saying that DU might not be such a safe place for Canadian players.  I can't say I disagree with that.  They've recently formed the "National" conference.  It's not called the "International" conference, is it?  Perhaps this "National" conference will indeed have benefits for other schools in the future.  If the 8 ultra-elite butt-hurt schools that formed the league all swear off recruiting Canadian players it's got to be proportionally good for the rest of US college hockey.

2011-2012 Freshman Class

Scott Allen, Austin Coldwell, Derek Docken, Corbin Karl, Sam Mellor, Andrew Pettitt, Kory Roy and Eric Scheid are the eight new Seawolves this season.  Perhaps the best thing every season about analyzing the freshman is that I don't really know what they bring to the party.  So it's all pure anticipation.  And I'm full of positive anticipation regarding these guys.