Huskies and Huskies and Bears, Oh My!

50% of the participants in this years Kendall Hockey Classic are named after a breed of dog made famous in Jack London's excellent book Call of the Wild which coincidentally takes place in Alaska. Both UConn and Northeastern are nicknamed "Huskies". Don't UAA fans see enough Huskies watching our conference counterparts Michigan Tech's (original) Huskies and SCSU's aptly-named Bluffskies? Did Iditarod champ Lance Mackey have something to do with scheduling these teams?

In any case, the Northeastern Huskies and the UConn Huskies are certainly not comparable beyond the nickname. Preseason wisdom has NU coming into 08-09 as perhaps one of the top teams in the Hockey East conference. UConn looks to be one of a number of struggling-to-succeed teams in the generally weaker Atlantic Hockey conference. Of the four teams in this weekend's tournament only Northeastern has managed to get any respect in any preseason poll. The premier (FWIW) preseason poll has NU ranked at #21. Last year the NUskies finished with a 16-18-3 record and this year's roster this year has 17 skaters returning as upperclassmen. Leading scorer from last years team Joe Vitale (6'1" 194lbs .... 12g-23a) returns. Former BCHL standouts Wade MacLeod (5'11" 175lbs ... 11g-16a) and Tyler McNeely (5'10" 175lbs ... 11g-12a) return after a stellar freshman campaigns as the 2nd and 3rd leading scorer. Several UAA players will be quite familiar with both of them. Senior Ryan Ginand (5'8" 184lbs ... 10g-10a) rounds out the primary scoring threats. There is some slightly muted excitement about freshman Steve Quailer (6'3" 184lbs) who was described by some NU fans as being fast. In net the NUskies will be looking to another former BCHL player as former Merritt tender Brad Thiessen returns after with reasonable numbers (2.64gaa ... .912sv%). On the whole this NU team is slightly undersized as compared to UAA (the Seawolves are more than an inch taller and almost 7 pounds heavier). The Seawolves face the NUskies on Saturday night in the late game (11:07 EST).

UConn fans will get to listen to their team lose to UAA early Saturday morning their time (00:07EST). The Connskies return to play after a 13-21-3 record in 07-08. They return 10 of their top 10 scorers from last season with 6 of those 10 entering their 2nd year of college hockey. Atlantic Hockey Coaches picked the Connskies to finish 8th out of the 10 teams. There is an Anchorage connection on UConn's roster; former Merritt Centennial goaltender Brad McInnis from Anchorage looks to perhaps be in a backup role this year but don't be surprised if he gets a start here in his hometown. At least the other UConn players will have a bit of a tour guide with them to help them navigate around town. Forward Andrew Olson (6'3" 200lbs ... 14g-10a) returns as their leading scorer. The Alexandria, Minnesota product came to UConn from Des Moines in the USHL. Junior Chris Ochoa (5'8" 170lbs ... 10g-13a) ranks as the 2nd leading returner. Playmaker Justin Hernandez (6' 200lbs ... 2g-15a) is entering his 2nd year in a UConn sweater after playing in both the BCHL (Langley) and the NAHL (Springfield) in his two previous seasons. Michael Coppola (5'8" 185lbs ... 8g-6a) and Jason Krispel (5'11" 180lbs ... 7g-7a) round out the primary scoring threats for the Connskies. The Seawolves face UConn on Friday night and have a similar size advantage over the Connskies as they do over the NUskies.

It is useless as far as I'm concerned to preview the Nanooks (that's a Bear thingy) since UAA doesn't face them in this fixed tournament format. The tournament winner will be determined by win/loss record. That shouldn't be an issue since UAA will likely be the only team to win both of it's games. Here's why; while NU looks to be a quality opponent they haven't played an exhibition game yet nor have they had as much practice time. UConn doesn't look to be an especially strong opponent (but then look at Robert Morris's success last year) and they are in the same situation as the Nuskies with regard to practice and playing actual games.

Unlike many tournaments this format (with UAA and UAF not playing) provides fans here with something to cheer for in both early and late games. In the early games we UAA fans can cheer for UAF to lose then of course cheer for our Seawolves to win in the late games. This has the potential to put more butts in the seats. Steve Cobb and Forrest Karr are to be congratulated for this agreement. There are UAA fans in Squarebanks and likewise there are UAF fans here in Wankerage. Add those to whatever fans travel for to the other city for the tournament and we should definitely see MANY more seats filled than in previous years. I sat in a virtually empty rink (less than 500 people) last year and watched Robert Morris upset BU. It was a shame the joint was so empty. I expect many Seawolf fans to show up and watch the UAF games this year. Many will actually be cheering for UAF. There is this whole provincial philosophy of cheering for UAF by UAA fans that I frankly don't understand but it is what it is. Obviously, I won't be there cheering for UAF. So for Northeastern and UConn fans ... I'll be cheering for your team (against UAF) just like I did for Robert Morris in the BU game last year.

Sunday Potpourri: Autumn Wrapping Up

Though it is falling weakly I cannot deny the semi-frozen white conglomerate coming down outside my window. Tire change-over day is tomorrow for me, I won't be waiting ... sure there's probably some time before we see any significant snow requiring snow tires but I'm getting it done before "Joe Six-Pack". We've yet to see that annual windy day or two which strip the trees of their remaining colors, but it ain't far off. But when it does wouldn't you love to have that rake? I can't imagine using a conventional rake ever again after seeing that contraption. Who could? The chance to get out into your yard and crank a series of leaf-shots into the upper corner would seem to doom the ordinary rake to permanent oblivion. That's an idea with an insane amount of "Hockey-Cachet" (or should I say "Hockey-Kitsch"). Maybe it'll be as big as intermittent windshield wipers eh?

So as we are all waving buh-bye to Fall we are welcoming the regular season. No more bullshitting around. Each and every hockey game the Seawolves play mean something important from now on. The four non-conference games approaching (UConn, Northeastern, Maine and Mercyhurst) must be played as if the team is fighting for an NCAA playoff birth. Yep, you have to think about April and it's only October. Interconference games are a huge factor in determining NCAA playoff participants. Obviously a team has to perform well-enough in it's conference to warrant a possible bid; but the important factor today is what is coming in the next two weeks. Lots of other teams in college hockey sprinkle thier non-conference games throughout their schedule. But with the tournament arrangement with UAF both Alaska teams get the majority of their non-conference games right out of the gate. I'll definitely preview both UConn and Northeastern this week (not like last week where I said I would and then didn't).

I regret not mentioning Winston Daychief's exchange with a couple of UBCers last night. It was the only real "mini-rumble" of the night during what was a pretty physical game. Two of them apparently took exception to Winston's intense play around the crease. Winston took a couple of hard shots (a cross-check and a head shot) before explaining to the Thunderbirds that he was merely playing to the whistle. Winston's explanation earned him a trip to the sin bin for cross checking along with his two new friends. I expect Winston to make many new similar friends this year across the WCHA. I'm adding "rugged" and "hard-nosed" to my list of adjectives for him; I'm also considering calling him Mr. Daychief here. That sort of passion will serve the team well overall.

For whatever reason there still is no boxscore available on collegehockeystats.net for last nights game. There is useful information to be gleaned so I'm a little disappointed by whatever glitch in that process caused it. Mostly, I'd like to see the exact number of penalty minutes that UAA killed off and how much of that was 5-on-3. UBC heads down to St. Cloud then Mariucci next weekend. I don't know if we'll be able to learn much about this season's Gophers from comparing their results to UAA's but the results will be interesting nonetheless. George Gwozdecky "went off" on 4 DU players this week and suspended them for 1 to 4 games for undisclosed violations. I suspect they found his cache of stupid looking ties and were making fun of them. UND fans are having their predictable hemoraggic reaction to having been picked in the preseason as anything other than future Galactic Champions. Pretty much everyone agrees that CC is the team to beat this year. Pretty much everyone agrees that UAA will finish 10th. I know there are AT LEAST two major variations that crop up versus the insipid preseason conventional wisdom. Seawolf fans should feel assured knowing that UAA's finish will be one of those unforseen variations. What will be the other? Will all the Gopher freshman turn out to be channeling Phil Kessel or Tomas Vanek or Mike Crowley or Jordan Leopold and lead that team to something other than a rebuilding year? Will DU's Joe Colborne turn out to be exactly as soft as some people think he is? Will Troy Jutting's mind games sustain Mankato with the same sort of inspired play as they showed at the end of last season or will they fizzle? What about St. Cloud? Who cares? Duluth? The Sandelin watch begins. Wisconsin? The Badgers are likely unchanged dramatically but who knows? The tired old cliche "that's why they play the games" is upon us. Let it be said that referencing a tired old cliche is not actually using said tired old cliche.

UAA 6 - UBC 2

Tonight in Wasilla the Seawolves played solid team-oriented brand of hockey for 50 minutes or so. The first 10 minutes? Not so much. A transitional miscue and the failure to man-up defensively deep in their own zone allowed the UBC Thunderbirds to jump out to a fairly early 2-0 lead. The Thunderbirds played UAF on Friday night losing 3-2 before making their way down to Sarahville to face UAA. Anyhow, just as I was imagining what sort of colostomy Shyiak would be giving the guys between periods the Seawolves began to look sharper and finally finished two of their chances to tie the game.

Josh Lunden fittingly got the Seawolves off the schnide with a well earned goal coming on a hard charge to the net. Jade Portwood notched the game tying goal and showed some soft hands with a sweet tip to redirect; it was a pretty goal just before the end of the period. In the 2nd period Kane Lafranchise charged deep onto the weak side of the UBC defense and buried a cross ice pass for the game winner. It was just like you'd draw it up. Winston Daychief tallied a shorthander before Josh Lunden scored his 2nd of the night to make it 5-2. Kevin Clark finished the scoring with just less than 10 minutes to go off a nice feed into an open net. I thought there were as many really close chances for UAA as actual goals they scored. So while I'm generally happy that they bagged 6 goals, I believe they easily could have had more.

It was an interesting game. Tight calls by the referees meant 4 separate 5 on 3 chances through the game against UAA. Ultimately, the calls were a blessing; the penalty killing practice was very useful. And the PK was perfect, shutting out UBC completely. There were several interesting exchanges between players and overall I'd say it was a very physical game. Tonight's game should serve as a reminder to the guys that with the new 2 referee system comes a focus to call the game more like the NHL i.e... tightly with no leeway on things like hooking and the various interference/obstruction calls. Buck up and get used to it boys. Let's not see any horizontal sticks across an opponents path eh?

Curtis Leinweber is a name that I think will be on a lot of WCHA tongues in time. He plays smart, he's quick as hell, he's got great instincts, he can stickhandle at speed ... the tools and potential are all there to be great college hockey defenseman. It's exciting to see a recruit come in and know right away that he'll be a contributer. He made his presence felt in both preseason games and got significant points.

The Lunden-Bales-Clark line looks to be perhpas the only solid lock as a combo. They showed good chemistry last week and tonight as well. I'd say they looked as if they were trying to play hard for each other. That can't be a bad thing. They each had multiple chances tonight which were all results of great set ups for their linemates. The chance of the night wasn't the closest to scoring (that was two clear backdoor open net chances) was when Clarkie carried the puck in deep on the left wing (and while carrrying a checker on his hip) spun 360 degrees and fired a sharp backhander straight across a crowded slot 5 feet from the goal. The tip never came off but wow, what a pretty setup. On the same sequence Kevin fired two shots that missed by centimeters. I'm happy with the way all three of these guys played and I'm hopeful for what could be a high scoring trio.

Paul Crowder had a strong game tonight. Regardless of who skates on his wings he'll get pucks to them for chances. He saw lots of time on the PP and the PK and was effective all night. Mat Robinson was ... Mr. Everything. I'd be hard pressed to name a way that he didn't contribute. He did take out one of his teammates with a long sweeping hip check but that's forgivable. Kane Lafranchise scored a nice goal. Everything else about his game was solid. Kane, Robbie and Curtis Leinweber all show great skill creating and/or joining the rush; I'm nearly dumbfounded imagining the good that will come from that as the season progreses. And it isn't like the other blueliners don't step up ... they do! Trevor Hunt looked good pushing the puck up in transition more than once tonight. Luka Vidmar wasn't about to be outdone in the skating department and showed how good his wheels are more than once. Nils Backstrom played strong in his own zone and reminded me that he can lay on quality passes.

Though both UBC goals came while Bryce was in net neither were due to any error of his. He looked solid coming up with some big saves to bail out his teammates. Jonny O performed much the same as the pair split the game down the middle. I didn't see anything in either goalies performances in these exhibition games to expect anything other than some sort of rotation to begin the season. But quite honestly Coach Shyiak wouldn't surprise me if he left the assignment open and decided on a game by game basis. Who knows? It will be interesting to see how all that develops.

Click here to go to the Photobucket folder for the 13 decent (relative judgement) pictures and 2 avi files. I'm still figuring the quality will improve over time. But there are a couple of decent looking shots. I took this picture just milliseconds before Kevin Clark buried the puck for goal #6. If you look closely you'll see the puck coming to his stick slightly hidden by his right knee. I was a little quick on the draw. There is a "continuous action" feature that would have captured the goal had I been smart enough to have had it enabled at that moment. Here's the downside. In taking the picture I basically missed the goal; but I hope I can correct that problem with an adjustment or two. PS ... the lighting at the SarahLand House of Ice sucks.

Summa Dis and Summa Dat

Dave Shyiak signed a new 4 year contract last week. The school announced the transaction in this release. Dr. Cobb said something important in the release that I want to talk about. His mention of getting the contract in place for the sake of "stability and recruiting" caught my eye. These are the two most important reasons for re-upping Dave. Let's face a couple of things here straight on. On the face of it, finishing in 10th for the last three seasons is nothing which would engender any pride.

Since UAA joined the WCHA they've gone through three head coaches with Dave being the fourth. Conventional thought in Anchorage was that Brush didn't have what it took to take the team he founded to the next level. He was forced out and the school hired the best D3 coach. Talafous stayed the best D3 coach in D1 by installing his rigid "system" (neutral zone trap) while telling the players that they didn't have any talent. The guys didn't dig all that and essentially revolted ... bye bye Tally. Then an alumnus with a solid winning resume told us that being UAA Head Coach was his dream job. We got a nightmare 1 win season out of that hiring before Johnny went marching home and tried to take at least one player with him. Both Talafous and Hill were given new contracts during their tenures. Now here is the important part. It takes at least 5 years to build a team from the ground up; with "at least" being the important phrase in that sentence.

Dave is beginning his 4th year. The players in the program now are his players. There are only two players on the squad that Dave didn't recruit. Dave now understands the geographic challenges in recruiting and how to overcome them. I've said over and over this preseason that next year has the potential to be the best year the Seawolves have ever had in the WCHA. There is a chance that this year could turn out that way but that will take some good bounces. The thing is ... maturing young athletes prefer consistency. Keeping the same coach in place is an absolute necessity in order to acheive that consistency for the players. Everything that Dave has done with this team has been purposeful. His philosophy of building a fast-skating, hard-hitting team is beginning to pay off and we should see some of the fruits of that effort this season. We all know last years team was better than it's record so when fans throughout the league express surprise about the successes that the Seawolves have this year make sure you tell them that you knew it was coming. I'm satisfied so far with the job Dave has done. I reserve the right to a more complete judgement of Dave's performance following the 11-12 season. Until then he should have EVERY Seawolf fan's full support.

I don't normally discuss rumors but I'm going to here. I've had a couple of lindications that Campbell Blair would be leaving the program. I'm obviously not the only person that has heard this rumor since I keep getting hits from Google searches like "blair leaving UAA". It's been at least a week since the first time I heard this and in that time I have found no indication that it's true. Today I got the confirmation I needed to call this rumor bogus. Like every rumor there were details included which seemed to give it weight. But a rumor doesn't survive if it doesn't sound plausible. I'm not going to include the details I've heard since I'm trying to dispel the rumor. End of story as far as I'm concerned.

I'd intended to wait until this weekend or next to talk about incoming UAA recruits and how they're all doing early in their junior seasons. But an astute commenter noticed that Mickey Spencer was named BCHL player of the week after a 7 point weekend. Congrats to Mickey, he seemed to have a bit of slow start; so putting up those kinds of numbers over two games is certainly sweet to see. Mickey had 27 goals and 12 assists in his rookie season in the "B" which would lead me to believe that he is a goal scorer first. In some earlier commentary I noted that Mickey's scoring was a bit streaky. As the season goes along let's all hope that he continues to bag goals but develops more consistency in doing so. Gustav Bengtson has 2 assists in Topeka's first 5 games. I think I'm seeing a bit of a preference for the older players from the Topeka coaching staff so I think Gustav is going to have to step up his production to gain some confidence from his coach and move up to the 1st or 2nd line. Topeka looks to be a very competitive team with their 6-0 start. In Tri-City's first three USHL games Matt Bailey has a goal and 2 assists and seems to be on track to a productive season there.

I'll have a reasonably extensive look tomorrow at what we can expect from the University of British Columbia this coming Saturday.