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.
The domination of St. Cloud was to a somewhat lesser level as they have more than just a couple of nice players. But you're getting the drift here I'd assume ... mostly domination. Shots attempted by UAA on the weekend = 135 with 73 getting through -- shots attempted by opposition = 96 (41 for Clarkson and 45 for SCSU). On Friday night UAA's total shots on net was equal to the total number of shots attempted by Clarkson.
I thought the possession game this weekend was a thing of beauty. Seawolf forwards worked the deep zone of both opponents time after time. The necessary physical play to accomplish that was nothing short of stellar. Passing was really crisp and controlled which benefited the power play. The offensive play we saw from the team was straight up excellent. If not for a couple of quality performances by opposing goalies the Seawolves might have put 14 goals on the board. There was really only one problem offensively ... how many clear scoring chances to seemingly open nets were missed wide?
The backend was solid ... rookies Derek Docken and Austin Coldwell both looked at ease. Wes McLeod didn't see any action this weekend but we already know he can play. Leinweber, Gorham, Warner, Sproule all had good weekends on both ends of the ice. Looks to me like barring injury this team will have some undressed talented blueliners sitting in the stands. Competition for playing time should bring out the best in everyone.
So that's a whole heap of a praise I've just laid out with just two games played in the season. I have to think the guys are brimming with confidence. And if they play with confidence and up to the level that they played this past weekend then who knows? Another test awaits Friday and I'll preview that in the next day or so. The red Mavericks got beat by toothpaste over the weekend in their own tournament so they'll be looking to rebound. And as with any team coached by Dean Blais they'll likely have his green light to get chippy.
Concise? Hey ... I tried.
4 comments:
Good god, I hate toothpaste...
Nobody gets chipper than a Dean Blais team. What a shame. Hopefully we don't see too much of that when the Seawolves take them on.
I don't think our guys will mind mucking it up with UNO. The only problem with it is someone gets carried away a little too much and gets suspended for fighting. We don't need that. BTW I was impressed with our discipline this weekend overall. Really in the past we would wear out the hinges on our P. Box door by the middle of the 2nd.
Nice observation Mike. Last year untimely penalties would kill us. It was good to see our penalty "leader" Gorham have only a two minute minor the entire weekend! Keep out of the box Seawolves and we will have a season in the top half of the league.
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