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.

Credit must first be given to Clarkson tender Paul Karpowich for his 37 save night.  More than a couple were flat out excellent and one in particular about 10 minutes into the 2nd on Chris Crowell from high in the slot was straight up robbery.  I was counting it as a goal and then Karpowich flew back across the crease and stacked his pads for the save.

I really thought the first period was dominating for UAA.  They controlled the puck well, had long spates of possession and generated lots of scoring chances.  The best of which unfortunately went wide.  I counted 3 clean passes to open back doors on the power plays and three wide shots.

Both of Clarkson's first two goals came from scrambles in the UAA crease; the first was even strength and the 2nd during a power play.

Mark Pustin's goal to get the Seawolves back to within one was a damn pretty one.  He created a turnover just inside the UAA line and skated the puck to center ice with just one defender covering.  I think it was Naslund and Leinweber that joined him on the rush creating a 3 on 1; Mark skated with the puck into the slot and before the defender could even decide what to do he fired a wicked hard low shot to beat Karpowich on the stick side.

The Seawolves 2nd goal came on the power play goal (off the rush into the zone) from Mickey Spencer who also added an assist on Daniel Naslund's goal a few minutes later when they took advantage of a defensive breakdown of epic proportions to make 4 or 5 sweet little passes until the puck was on Naslund's stick at the edge of the crease and he smartly flipped it in.

Up 3-2 I sure felt a sense of relief expecting the Seawolves to have control of the game but the Golden Knights didn't come up here on the longest road trip in the school's history to give up halfway through the game; and then another two goals came out of the blue.  Or at least they seemed to come out of the blue.  Maybe that was just my perspective.

Matt Bailey's goal to tie it up was a nice one.  It was pretty much how you'd draw that up; a nice lead pass followed with short cross-ice pass to Bailey who cut across traffic and found the opening.  It was a very solid finish. 

UAA owned the overtime spending near 4 minutes of the session in the Clarkson zone.  The shot chart is full of notations in the Clarkson end with the Seawolves attempting 13 shots.  Clarkson blocked 4, 5 went off target and 4 were saved.  Give credit to the Clarkson players taking one of the team as well as the goalie.  

It was my first look at some of the freshmen.  Only three dressed tonight; Sam Mellor, Austin Coldwell and Derek Docken.  I was impressed with Docken's poise.  He looked comfortable, showed good sense and kept his positioning very well.  Austin Coldwell fired 4 shots on UAA's first power play ... I'm pretty sure three of them were first timers.  They were all well taken and heavy.  He had a total of 7 shots on the night.  He looked good on both ends of the ice.  Sam Mellor showed good ice sense getting into scoring areas at good times.  He was in on a couple of scoring chances that didn't pan out but I'm expecting some to do so sooner than later.  I look forward to seeing all three of them play again.

I thought Daniel Naslund had a very strong game.  He skated on the penalty kill and did well.  His foot speed has improved from last season when it was already improved.  Mitch Bruijsten had a good game as well.  I think I could say that about everyone.  Jade Portwood looked like a man amongst boys at times not only with his strong physical play along the boards but also showed good control and strength on the puck especially deep in Clarkson's zone.  Tyler Currier was effective physically and showed some quickness creating a couple of 2 on 1s that almost clicked. Warner, Leinweber, Sproule and Gorham all contributed well on both ends of the ice.  Matt Bailey had the best faceoff stats winning 10 draws and losing only 5.  The Seawolves led that category overall 36-30.

So all in all.  A bit of a mixed bag.  Lots of good stuff but no win.

Other Notes: I'm completely rethinking the need for me to do a live chat from the game.  With the UAA folks providing the same feature I'm thinking that me doing so is redundant.  And nobody showed up to tonight's featured chat so I bagged it after a while.  Honestly, unless there is some outcry from you guys I'll be happy to pass on ever doing it again.

I'll post the pics as soon as I can.  Check back if they aren't up.