Friday Game Day: Seawolves vs. Pioneers

Friday November 6th, 2009
University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves vs. University of Denver Pioneers

Game Time: 7:07 PM (Alaska Standard Time) - 9:07 (Mountain Time)

Sullivan Arena - Anchorage, Alaska

Links to Other Articles/Previews

Anchorage Daily News Preview: Three Pasty Redheads Come Up To Go Down

CU/CSU ACHA Hockey outdraws DU

Seawolvers Examiner Preview

Facebook: Stupid Pioneers Page

Theresa Spisak's USCHO WCHA Weekly Preview
Boring USCHO Fan Forum Thread
Even More Boring LetsGoDU Fan Forum

Jess Myers INCH Preview: Rakhshani to skate circles around Seawolves

Pioneer Indicted for Brutal Serial Rape and Murder Spree

DU Clarion's  MESS of a Preview: Pioneers look to drown Seawolves

"Even though they Alaska Anchorage is are 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the WCHA, this series cannot be looked at as an easy weekend."

"This weekend the Pioneers will have to make the long trip to Alaska to play the Seawolves on Friday and Saturday night."

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Did you see the ADN article?  Take a look at those three pcitures?  WTF is wrong with their hair?  All three of these allegedly "Anchorage" guys wear their hair like that?  Did they plan it that way?  How did that convo go?

David Carle, "Hey guys go to my stylist with me.  He'll give you this fabulous ducktail."
Adam Murray, "Awesome, I want to look like I'm from the 50's."
Billy Wrenn, "I've got Marlboro's rolled up in my tshirt sleave!"

No self-respecting Anchorage kid looks like that.  If you're going to pretend to be from here then at least try to look like people from here.  It's creepy that they must have planned it.

Take a look at the new Alaska Anchorage Seawolves Hockey Examiner, Tyler Durrell.  Cool Beans!  Maybe he'll email me and take over this blog so I can quit.  Maybe I'll email him and ask him to.  Notice his picture.  No stupid fucking ducktail.

The "old school" chatroom will be here later today.  I'll fire it up just before I head out to the game.

Go Seawolves!  Don't let the figure skating speedsters skate around you too many times!  Don't forget you're all just a bunch of big slow lumbering hockey players with no skill.  Why are you guys even in this league?  Lookie ... they have 2 rookies from Anchorage!  How the fuck do you expect to compete with that?  I mean ... they're from Anchorage ferchrissakes!  2 of them!  They lived here in 2004 and even went to a whole year of high school here.

Nuff said Seawolves?  Let's see some good old fashioned carnage tonight eh?  Here's some historical visual inspiration.

How To Beat A Pioneer

Much is made of the spirit of the westward going 18th and 19th century American Pioneers.  They fought through many obstacles on their quest to acheive their Manifest Destiny.  God wanted them to go and get what was theirs.  And enough of them sacrificed their lives in the effort that eventually they conquered the west.  DU honors them with their nickname, logo and unofficial mascot. 

But let's face up to something here.  Many (if not most), "Pioneers" were greedy, unsociable bastards trying to get something they couldn't get in the civilized society of the time.  Lots of them were frankly stupid.  They set off greatly underestimating the challenges ahead and paid the price with their lives.  Some of them were righteously killed by aboriginal people.  Many more were killed by Ma Nature.  And when they got to their promised land ... many of them killed each other over the limited resources available.  The romanticized "Pioneer" is more myth than truth.  And the University of Denver honors that?  Ok.

Most of all that applies directly to this years University of Denver hockey team.  They really don't know what they're facing.  Just like their namesakes, they are in search of their Manifest Destiny (God wants DU to win doncha know?) and they're coming to the wilderness unprepared for reality.  They've been annointed this season as the greatest assemblage of talent ever to grace an NCAA rink.  As strong a consensus #1 preseason pick as has ever existed.  Their fans think that these Pioneers are going to skate circles around the Seawolves.  Only one said it, but there's plenty of other ones that think it.  That's right ... I can read their minds.

Beating them this weekend is simple.  A little thunder and lightning will have them scurrying for cover.  In other words, hit the prairie monkeys early and often and they'll retreat to the wagon.  Throw up an obstacle or two and they'll circle the wagons while they figure out how to cross the river.  That means if you own your end of the rink you can keep them from scoring.  Wait for them to lumber into your valley and then ambush them and their wide-eyed last defender will surrender.  That means counterattack and transition hard and you'll put more than enough pucks past their rookie goalie.

Seriously, these guys are sitting ducks.  They've come up here a day early to rest up from the big bad plane ride.  They're out enjoying the mild weather and beauty of our fine state.  No doubt they think they're team bonding.  On Friday night, they'll be lax.  They won't be expecting what they're going to face.  Come at them wave after wave, be on them at every turn.  Disrespect them openly. 

Their coach has probably tried to tell them it will be a tough weekend.  But I'd bet dollars to donuts he used phrases like  "could be a tough weekend" and "if you don't play" and "they might be" when talking to his players.  They don't really know what they're getting into.  Show them a buzzsaw, a whirlwind, a tornado.  Throw everything you've got at them from the opening whistle Friday night to the horn at the end of Saturday's game and you'll come away with 4 points.

Be aggressive, aggressive and then be aggressive again.  Puck the Fioneers.

Wednesday Potpourri: Justice, Skepticism and Rewards

I've got a ton of stuff on my plate in the coming month or so.  I'll do my best over that time to keep the posts here as regular as possible but don't have expectations for daily posts of any great length.  I say that now but my nature tends to keep me at the keyboard until I've excreted whatever is on my mind.

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There was a bit of a hue and cry calling for Jade Portwood's suspension after the hit he laid on Nick Leddy broke the kid's jaw in last Friday's game versus the Gophs.  Coach Don Lucia went so far as to make a formal request to the WCHA that some action be taken.  A complete lack of any communication on the matter from WCHA offices seems to indicate that no action against Portwood will be taken.  Common sense justice prevails for once.

As someone who experienced a substantial inury as a result of a cheap shot (Mercyhurst's Captian Ryan Toomey took out Jade's knee at the end of the game in last season's Brice Goal Rush tourament), Jade would be the least likely player to ever try to injure an opposition player.  Hopefully he doesn't let any of the subsequent falderal affect his play.

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GCI finally put up the archived UAA/UND games in the last couple of days.  Well sort of ... they actually put the Saturday game up twice.  I guess they wanted to forget about the Friday night loss too?  Anyway, I grabbed the goal highlights and posted them on my YouTube account.  Additionally, I posted a video of the Best National Anthem Singer in the WCHA as well.  Having listened to zillions of anthem singers over the last 30 years I've got to say that Steve Dickson (I hope I spelled it right Steve) is without a doubt the best I've heard in the WCHA.  I'm always bummed when it isn't him singing.  Here's the embed so you don't have to click the link (note: I got the audio issues corrected).

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DU blogger Damien Goddard is promoting the concept that DU is going to skate circles around the Seawolves this coming weekend.  I like figure skating as much as any Winter Olympics fan so hopefully we'll get to see lots of Rhakshani Triple Lutz's and Salazar Toe Loops and Rugsegger Double Axles and so on.  Apparently, the fact that they have 8 guys under 5'10" is going to be a huge advantage for the Pios this weekend. 

The Pios are even coming to Anchorage a day early in order to allow them to adjust to the .3lbs per square inch difference in atmospheric pressure here at sea level.  Or maybe they need it to recover from the big bad plane ride?  Gee Damien, you think the 12 tickets that UAA buys for DU has anything to do with them being able to afford to stay an extra night in a hotel here?  When are you going to step forward and demand that your school pay it's own way?

It's sort of funny that Damien takes this tact when at the same time the plethora of excuse making is underway.  Their propaganda machine has H1N1 running rampant through the DU squad and Marc "2nd Coming" Cheverie is out hurt so they have to rely on a rookie backstop with grotesquely bad stats are the main excuses so far. 

What's next?  Joey Colborne's gotta hangnail?  What happened to this being the greatest assemblage of college hockey players to ever hit the ice?  Make up your mind DG ... you gonna sandbag or stay with the original hyperbole?

"Flu" is the most overused inaccurate term in hockey.  Let's see some confirmation that it was H1N1 eh?  I know it's going around but 38 confirmed cases (most in May of 2009) in the Denver metro area tends to negate this suspicious sounding report of it going through the DU hockey team.

I'm not saying here that Gwoz wasn't feeling well or that some players didn't have something ... but don't be parading H1N1 around without being able to back it up eh? Click the links to investigate for yourself if you think I'm bullshitting here.  TV news assholes do anything for ratings; seriously, isn't that report a solid example of the worst sort of gleefully delivered local fear mongering evAh?  I guess I've been up here too long ... I forget how the real world works I suppose.

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I'll have a reasonable preview tomorrow.  I think there is a solid opportunity this weekend for the Seawolves to come away with some wins.  Obviously there's never any guarantee of such a thing but circumstances certainly seem to point to an opportunity.  The team is in the middle of the toughest 8 game WCHA opening schedule they've ever faced.  2 points in the last 4 games though is hardly satisfying to anyone (players and fans) so a weekend at home against a flu weakened, injury riddled squad ought to be a good thing right?  Come back tomorrow and see what I think.  Now here's your reward for not bitching about me not posting for 3 days.

And yeah ... one day I'll suck it up and reward my female readers with some pic of a hunky guy.  Maybe.  Such a thing will be difficult to do though.  I'll lose tons of male readers if I do.

Seawolves 1 - Gophers 4

Overall the game wasn't what I'd call a bad loss. Much better effort than Friday. Friday night Shyiak seemed to emphasize a defensive effort particularly at their own blueline. But tonight he let the guys skate and I think they showed him that is the way forward. It's been the way they've played best so far this season, so deciding to clamp down and focus defensively on Friday was probably a mistake.

1st Period:

I thought the Seawolves got outworked and the Gophers did a good job possession-wise in the Seawolves end. The score reflected it but the guys did generate a couple of chances and I think with a couple of bounces it could have certainly been 2-1 instead of 2-0. They definitely didn't get it going forward very much though. Overall they didn't play badly. It occurred to me that they were half a stick and/or half a puck away from making something happen. The difference was one stellar save from Kangas and one odd man rush for the Gophers.

2nd Period:

A much better period. The half a puck/half a stick difference was essentially eliminated. The difference was that when the Seawolves generated chances they weren't getting the puck onto the net. Too many missed shots. Kangas made at least one more good save to deny them in that period as well. All the Seawolves lines though did seem to be a step quicker than they'd been in the 1st. They also won more battles to loose pucks in the period. It was really one of the better periods of hockey they've played so far this season. You can't depend on the scoreline necessarily to tell you how the guys did. That was the case in the 2nd.

3rd Period:

Very comparable overall to the 2nd period. The guys generated chances. Worked the puck deep. Showed up very nicely on the power play as well. Kangas was the difference for the Gophers in much the same way he was in the 2nd. Most importantly I think, the guys never let up in their effort to compete and play hard. Good on them all for that.

Summary:

I think Friday night was for Shyiak to learn a lesson about strategy and how his team can respond if he allow them to. And today contained some good lessons for the players. Shyiak's lesson is to let the guys skate and learn what they need to do to compete. Don't fall back on conservatism in the hopes of keeping it close against what is a more talented team on paper. I also think he may have learned that Bryce is the man. He played well both games and I think was very very good today despite the score and stats. A lot of guys were good today. They just didn't get rewarded.

I think the players learned a lot more about themselves today than they would have on Friday. When they get a chance to watch the game I think they'll like what they see themselves doing. They cycled well in places making the possession game work. They skated well in all three zones and battled more successfully for loose pucks. They certainly have nothing to hang their heads about. Their minds and bodies now have two solid examples of what it takes to compete in the WCHA with the 2nd game against UND and the game today. In that sense it was a valuable mark in the loss column.  Good game fellas.  Forget Friday night's game and remember today's.

And oh yeah ... Frank Mazzocco is complete fucking dimwit.  I'll have something Wednesday but not before then.