Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Bowling Green This Weekend


It's #whatsaseawolf weekend according to the BGSU Atletic Department. Well, at least we Seawolf fans know what a Bowling Green is. 

With only 34 games on the schedule, each subsequent night in college hockey is more important than the preceding night/weekend. That's always the deal. This weekend's series against BGSU is therefore the most important series of the year to this point. There's a number of interesting items to talk about in regard.

Last year, Bowling Green missed getting into the NCAA's by some tiny sliver of a percentage. There was one game more than any other that put them out of the tournament. Losing 6-1 to UAA on February 28th last year was pretty much the straw that broke their NCAA Camel's back. Yay for us. 

It's on their mind. Not in the sense that they're obsessed with that one loss. But instead, their overall theme in preseason and early this season is to not forget what happened last year when they had to start their golf game at pretty much the same time as anyone else.

Being so close to the tournament last year has the poll voters in quite the frenzy to proclaim BG as #12 team in the nation. They aren't and I doubt their coaching staff really wants to mention or talk about that. Polls are stupid and useless and BG's staff recognizes that I'd guess.

BGSU returns a team that has a similar class breakdown to UAA though their sophomore class is a bit bigger. Anyway, they've got a solid group of returning veterans backed up by a veteran goalie. Youth led their scoring last season and those same guys look to lead it this season. They are probably a better team than they were last season. 

Their brown and orange color scheme bothers me. So we'll definitely be the better looking squad on the ice.

This weekend has got to be one in which the Seawolves build on what they've done so far. Anything less than a continuance of point accumulation is a step backward that will have to be overcome at a later time. Better to get the points now than chase them later.

So how will UAA accomplish that? We play our game, in our barn knowing that we are going to win. Each individual player on the squad challenges himself to play their best game for the sake of their teammates. Every guy needs to be able to go off the ice at the end of the game Saturday and Sunday afternoon with the ability to look their teammates in the eye knowing they gave their best and their all. Nothing less will get the points we need to get.

Of course, the staff will have watched films of BG's games. They opened the season against Ohio State with two wins. Ohio State is 0-6-0 going into this weekend. Then they lost a single game to Western Michigan. Then beat Canisius and tied RIT. Whatever footage the staff managed to see should have given them some ideas about how best to match-up. And this week it's a matter of translating those needs to the players and the players owning what the coach wants them to do.

Mantha will be a key (as he's going to be every week) component for Seawolf success this weekend. After that, the Seawolves need to continue to get somewhat balanced scoring from throughout the lineup and hopefully one or two guys will shine with some more POTW-worthy performances. And we'll need to be solid on the backend while pressing offensive opportunities when they arise.

The line-up should continue to be somewhat fluid with more guys getting opportunities to show why they should be on the roster sheet throughout the season.

Also, Ohio is just not a hockey state and I resent 30 years of living up here 150 miles from the tallest peak in North America named for (quite frankly) a bit of a douchebag President from Ohio. Nice that's changed. 

See ya the Sully.

14 comments:

Suze said...

Orange and brown colors? Then let's SQUASH those pumpkins. Pun intended! :)

Donald Dunlop said...

Suze,
Stay away from Reddit ... it's a pun-gangbang there everyday.

Anonymous said...

What the fuh? Spamming in the blog?

Suze said...

From the USCHO website:

"Anchorage is averaging 3.5 goals per game, which leads the WCHA."

When was the last time we saw that? May the scoring continue!!


Anonymous said...

Before the games, like or dislike the idea of a sat/sun afternoon game? I know it is Halloween so that kinda works a bit for the fans who have kids, but I thought these games has to do more with bowlings travel schedule. Should we be concerned that more teams will want to play afternoon games due to travel? Just some questions as I have no answers or opinions at this time.

Anonymous said...

Coach explained among many other things the why Sat/Sun 2pm games at Coaches Corner last night at the Varsity Sports Grill.
Coaches Corner is every Thursday prior to home games at 6pm at the Varsity Sports Grill in the Alaska Airlines Center. It's open to the public, free and Coach shares many insights into the team and what's going on. And he answers any questions anybody asks. Also has a player there. Last night it was Matt Anholt who spoke very impressively and answered questions.
Icing on the cake: a game worn jersey (last night

Anonymous said...

game worn jersey given away as a door prize. last night it was a green away jersey #33 worn by Gunderson.

Anonymous said...

So anon, since you were there, tell us what the coach said about the games being played on a Sat and Sun afternoon.

Donald Dunlop said...

Attendance on Halloween always blows goats. So switching to 2pm is an attempt to see if that's a better time for people since it seems like everyone in this town goes out to Halloween parties in the evening.

Anonymous said...

Coach said the same thing as Suze about Halloween night. They think by doing this early, kids will still have time to do all the Halloween things they want to do at night. He says his kids are going to be dressed as Mounties. On the Sunday game, there is going to be "Skate with the Seawolves" right after. Some of us were talking about no Friday game and we thought that there wouldn't be enough recovery time if they did a Friday night and Saturday afternoon game but we don't know if that was the plan.

Anonymous said...

And coach explained about Mantha's puck in the mask. At the UAH game, we thought Mantha had done a glove save and then put the puck in his mask as a joke but it turns out his mask saved him (or as the coach said, the mask was doing what it was designed to do, stop the puck from hitting the eyes).

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Well, it would be helpful if you'll share something on the existing golf teams. I would like to join one of them.

http://proofreading-services.org/proofreader.php said...

I don't understand why their brown and orange color scheme bothers you. I like its original combination.

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