Linkages: The Joe Cocker Edition

UAA Athletic Director Steve Cobb is expected to release information on Tuesday regarding the Shyiak "job opening". Why am I writing this late tonight in advance of that announcement? I'm impatient and didn't want some of the things I have to say to be overshadowed by that news.

So let me link to some friends of the UAA program that graciously shared their views about the whole matter. Any regular readers here will already know that I'm enamored with the musings of RunninWiththeDog's UMD blog. Last week I sent emails to several bloggers asking them to "help a brudda out" and RWD was the first to share an opinion (with her usual irreverence). Nicely done "Run". You're officially "The Shit" in my book.

Up the road a bit from Duluth is Dave Shyiak's former stomping ground. New blogger and NMU Student Newspaper editor Kyle Whitney has also got Dave's (and UAA's) back with his views about the situation. I've been reading Kyle's blog from time to time and the kid probably has a future writing about sports when he's done with school. I wish I'd figured out what I wanted to be way back when I thought computers would be a good career. Rock on Kyle. You're "The Shit" too. And let Matt Butcher know that Josh Lunden is doing well would ya?

Lastly, are my heroes at College Hockey News. Adam Wodon has a look at the situation with some exclusive information. Read the whole article. Adam got Troy Ward's comments and reasoning while crafting a comprehensive article that gets to the root of the matter. It is exactly the sort of article (notice I never call anything that I write here an "article"?) that separates CHN from the fluff and hoohaw that USCHO's latest Wisconsin-based WCHA writer (Eric Schmoldt) spewed recently when he inferred/asserted that Troy Ward was a "qualified" applicant. Jess Myers at INCH ought to buy Adam Wodon a couple of beers the next time they come across one another (wanna guess where Jess lives? ... um could it be um ... Wisconsin?). Dropping to his knees while saying "I'm not worthy" wouldn't be a bad idea either. His most recent mention of the matter was "pretty thin" as he too asserted that Ward was "qualified".

Ron at the College Hockey News blog (like me) has a nice pat on the back for his "boss" Adam while wondering if

"making sure Anchorage doesn't erupt into a riot of epic proportions"

is a qualification for the job. Nicely put Ron. I'm not sure yet if you're also "The Shit" but Adam certainly is. No worries though ... you're stock is rising on "The Shit" ladder.

Here are some good excerpts from the only section of USCHO worth reading; the Fan Forum and this thread discussing all this junk.

12/27/06
Dirty -- Cobb better sit by the phone as he'll be getting a call from the Dahlie Llama. Oh wait, it said qualified.

ecbrevik -- I'd think it would be considered something of a professional no-no for another coach to go after Shyiak's job.

AlaskaRox -- I'd take Coach Shyiak over 10,000 Coach Hill's any day of the week!

Puck Swami -- This way, by doing it now, after Cobb's seen what a good coach Shyiak is, it probably makes Shyiak's case for residency stronger.

scsutommyboy -- come on, nobody in their right mind would apply for this job when they know their employer would be pissed as hell at them and the fans would hate him.

Dirty -- If I was a player and some guy came in and "stole" the coaching job from Shyiak, I'd tell him to stick it where the sun don't shine.

UAA Fan in Florida -- UAA IS NOT LOOKING FOR A NEW COACH !!!DO NOT APPLY IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU!!! We'll find out where you live, and send mean postcards to you.

01/23/07
dggoddard -- Any serious candidate who applied would be risking getting blackballed in future gigs ...

dude -- Why anybody would apply is beyond me. They should realize that by applying they are going to scorned upon. This would be a pretty lame way to try and land a job. I think the rest of the hockey community would not look kindly on this.

01/24/07
dggoddard -- Wait til UAA does the background check on Ward and calls Mike Eaves...

UAA: What can you tell us about Troy Ward.
Eaves: I fired the guy and we immediately won the National Championship the next season.
UAA: Thank you very much for your time.

aparch -- Who would want to be known as the guy hated by all for taking Shyiak's job? Coach "I got a guy deported?" Mr. "A legal loophole got me this job."

con1977 -- He (Ward) was fired because he was perpetually sniffing around for another job.

dggoddard -- In a profession where, on average, around three jobs open up each year, you don't want to have too many enemies.

01/25/07
Wolfman -- I would just like to say that I hope Coach Shyiak is not forced out of UAA. He has done such a great job for our program, best thing to happen to UAA hockey in a long time. Hang in there Coach, we are all behind you.

Wisconsin Wildcat -- Man, this whole deal sucks. I don't think I can stress how much respect and admiration I had for Shyiak during his days at NMU. I too think it's below the belt to apply for the man's job knowing that he's in a position where it's hard to defend himself.

And what has Doyle Woody had to say about this situation in his blog? Um ... Squat. Too busy planning for the big ADN/Aces weekend I guess. Hooray for the Aces in making a Co-Marketing agreement with the ADN ... good marketing is important to the success of any business. Shame on the ADN for doing so ... is that what "journalism" has come to? Is Doyle's blog becoming a traveshamockery? It's called "Woody on Hockey" ... should be "Woody on Aces" or would that more appropriately be "Aces on Woody"? I used to think he was "The Shit". I'm not too sure anymore.

America's Team: Gophers/Cowboys

The Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Dallas Cowboys. Same difference? When Howard Cosell christened the Dallas Cowboys with the "America's Team" label thousands of football fans across the nation cringed. In an era when the Pittsburgh Steelers had dominated championships was it appropriate to adorn the Cowboys that way? They were pretty damn good back then and through the decades have risen and fallen. Fans of other NFL teams didn't like it much but at the time Dallas dominated marketing and TV time. I don't think anyone could make a valid argument that their team was "America's Team" and so that terminology stuck.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are without a doubt the college hockey equivalent of the Dallas Cowboys. Sure there are teams with more NCAA championships. There are more than a handful of teams that have had the same sort of dominating consistent success that the Gophers have shown decade after decade. So yeah ... a case could be made for other teams being "America's Team" but look around any hockey rink and you'll see more sweaters with "M"s than any other university sweater. It's been that way for a long long time. Before UAA was even a college the Gophers were winning national championships in hockey. So I thought today I'd parallel some of the similarities between the two.

There was a time when the Cowboys roster was almost exclusively players that had never played for anyone else. While it's much more common these days for an NFL team to have players from other teams back in "the day" there was nary a Cowboy that had played for another NFL team. The Gophers are and have been made up of almost exclusively Minnesotan's. There have been a few recent exceptions since Don Lucia took the reins from The Woogmeister but not this year. The only non-Minnesotan on the roster is Briggs who is from Colorado Springs.

Texas Stadium's signature feature is it's open roof which it is said was left that way so that God could watch his favorite team. The Mariucci arena is named after the Minnesota God of Hockey, John Mariucci.

Don Lucia = Tom Landry
I think there are many good comparisons between Donnie and Jimmie Johnson (especially the fixation fans have with their hair) but Landry and Lucia resonates more for several reasons. Landry was insular and mostly emotionless. Lucia guards Gopher privacy closely and has only freaked out once in his career that I can remember. They both spend a lot of the time on the bench with their arms crossed. If Donnie would just get a cool hat then he could be a clone. In his early career Tom Landry learned coaching with legend Vince Lombardi for the New York Giants. In his early career Don Lucia learned to coach with American Hockey Coaches Association 2001 "Snooks" Kelley Founders Award winner and legend Brush Christiansen at UAA.

Jeff Frazee = Jackie Smith
Down 21-14 to the Steelers in Super Bowl 13 Roger Staubach threw a perfect pass to a wide open Jackie Smith in the end zone. Smith made one of the greatest non-catches EVER and Jeff Frazee lived up to that this weekend when UND's Robbie Bina made a perfect pass to him and he couldn't catch it either.

Kellen Briggs = Craig Morton
Before Craig Morton became a legend in Denver leading them to the promised land he played for the Cowboys and led them to a Super Bowl. Craig isn't much remembered in Dallas even though Tom Landry thought enough of him to rotate him in the lineup equally with Roger Staubach. Morton threw an ugly interception in the Cowboys first Super Bowl appearance causing them to lose 16-13 to Baltimore. Briggs let in four goals against Holy Cross who knocked the Gophers out of the NCAA's last year. Briggs toils under the shadows of John Blue, Rob Stauber and even Adam Hauser. Plenty of Gopher fans like Briggs but over time Blue and Stauber will be reminisced about while Briggs will remain a forgotten also ran.

Lou Nanne = Jerry Jones
Lou never played for the Gophers. Jerry never played for the Cowboys. Yet both are famous for their interference with on ice/field activities. Obviously nobody "owns" a college hockey team but if there was ever anyone close to doing so it would be Lou Nanne. When Jerry called Parcell's picked up the phone. When Lou calls Lucia has to answer as well. Lou is perhaps most famous for his attempt to get Minnesota born Zach Parise to play for the Gophers instead of North Dakota where he'd already committed without the knowledge of the Gopher program. Jerry Jones interference with his coaching staff is well known.

Doug Woog = Barry Switzer
Neither Doug or Barry could pronounce a players name correctly if their life depended on it. Barry's excuse was he was raised in Arkansas. Though Barry did manage to win a championship he (like Doug) was considered incapable of doing so by the pundits of the day and was sent packing.

Just sayin ...

Gophers: Post Tyler Hirsch

Back on December 30th Gopher's Head Coach Don Lucia gave Tyler Hirsch his walking papers. After the 05-06 letdown losing in the first round of the NCAA's to Holy Cross (BTW ... UND fans favorite Gopher game of all time even with this weekends sweep at Marucci) Coach Lucia entered this season determined that drinking scandals and other off-ice distractions weren't going to be a problem this year. I mentioned in my Very Early WCHA Thoughts that was going to be Lucia's biggest challenge. And since the season began he took a much tougher stance with his team regarding discipline; much of that focus ended up on Tyler Hirsch.

Tyler had been a bit of an enigma after his 03-04 meltdown at the Final Five. Rumored to have "issues" with regard to his mental state Tyler took a year off to get his stuff together. He returned at the beginning of this season and was welcomed back into the fold. His impact was immediately felt. He anchored the #1 line and contributed 13 assists to Okposo (8) and Stoa (5). But he continued to be somewhat of a distraction for the Gophers though as Lucia had to bench him several times. Both for schoolwork as well as rumored laziness on the ice. I called Hirsch The Best Player in College Hockey about 3 weeks before Lucia booted him. I called him "elegant".

Since Hirsch's departure the Gophers are 5-4. In those 9 games, Ryan Stoa has scored 2 goals and Kyle Okposo has scored 1 goal. Coach Lucia has struggled to find line combinations that work in Hirsch's absence. Stoa and Okposo have had five different linemates during this stretch (Carman, Flynn, Howe, Bostrom once each and Bariball 3 times).

While supporters of the Gopher program will point to any number of other factors as causes of the Gopher's current stuggles; it's clear to me that Hirsch's removal hasn't been the positive for the program that fans and experts trumpeted that it would be. Sure the kid was probably a bit flaky. No doubt he was a bit of a primadonna. But I don't see how anyone can argue that his contributions on the ice aren't missed. 5 wins and 4 losses following 16-1-3 run with him on the roster make that case strongly. Think Tyler has a little grin on his face today?

I'll have a couple of other preview's coming in the next few days focused on the Seawolves/Gophers series on Feb 2nd and 3rd.

Dear Bretti and Ward: An Open Letter

Dear Frank and Troy,

Thank you for showing your interest in becoming UAA's new Head Coach for hockey. But, you're definitely not welcome.

The intent here isn't to be rude but to let you know exactly how UAA fans feel about your potential hiring. If you have any familiarity with the University of Alaska Anchorage's program then you know that since our founder Brush Christiansen left the program we UAA fans have been saddled first with a D-3 numbnuts and then we got an out and out liar as coach. We finally have a coach who is making the program go in the right direction.

Coach Shyiak is doing a great job and has the complete support of the school and it's fan base. I can't imagine why you've actually submitted an application under the current immigration related circumstances but you should know you won't have the support of this blogger and/or the UAA fanbase. Best of luck with your future endeavours that don't include stabbing an existing head coach in the back.

Most Sincerely,
Donald