Great Expectations

Chris at WCH calls the UAA/UAF rivalry the best in college hockey. If I'm not mistaken Chris is a Michigander so putting UAA/UAF over UM/MSU probably hurt as much as passing a kidney stone. As he notes there are a lot of great rivalries in college hockey; Minnesota vs Wisconsin, BU vs BC, DU vs CC and he righteously places UAA/UAF in their company. Naturally, there are arguments for any of those matchups to be considered the best rivalry. I doubt anyone in Boston would agree with him. But there are Dickensian plots and subplots throughout the UAA/UAF history. As independant's both UAA and UAF could have been considered David Copperfield. This year there was a little bit of a Fagin-esque turn with the great goalie pad controversy. Dicken's socialism is also alive and well. UAF gets more money from the state than UAA. In what world other than one described by Dickens would that be the case? The same sort of thinking put the capital city in Juneau. These cities wouldn't survive in anything like their current situations without all the money that the people of Anchorage allow to flow their way. We'd feel bad if that weren't the case. See ... in Anchorage we respect Dickens. In Fairbanks ... not so much. Have you ever visited the Ulu factories in Fairbanks? They're full of little boys and girls toiling away covered in sweat for 50 cents a day. Someone should look into that.

At one point in this series history the Seawolves and the Nanooks played as many as 8 times a year. Records have never seemed to matter. One year UAA only won a single game the entire season; that win came against UAF. My most painful memory comes on the second night of first series 3 years ago. UAA had won the first night in a game that it really didn't deserve to win. The second night UAA looked great. The line of Glencross, Kootenay and Bourne created chances every shift for UAA. With around a minute to go in the game I grabbed my friend to start walking to the exit. UAA was up by two goals. By the time I got to the other end of the Carlson Center UAA had lost the freakin game. I'd imbibed enough alcohol the night before that I didn't pay attention when Jacob Marley said something about ghosts. I fondly remember the "...chuk" years when every player on UAF's name ended with "...chuk" and if they didn't we added it. Fedorchuk, Pittachuk, Streetchuk, Klippensteinchuk, Ullrichchuk ... this year it's Greentreechuk, Knelsenchuk, Eckfordchuk and Rogerschuk.

There are number of things about Fairbanks that perplex us normal folk who visit. First is the fence along both sides of Airport Way. This street is the main drag and running parallel on each side are frontage/access roads (where the businesses are) that you can only get to at 3 or 4 major crossing roads. This stupid configuration means that you often have to travel in the opposite direction than you need to in order to get to the road that will take you where you want to go. No doubt if you live there more than a week, negotiating this stupid maze wouldn't be a big problem; unless you're walking. For first time visitors its got to be confusing as hell. Along that lovely road is another cause for confusion and consternation. Alaskaland. I'm still trying to figure out the concept and reasoning behind the development of that joint. I've lived in Anchoage for 22+ years and I'm still shaking my head about those two.

Coming next? Actual hockey content.

Still Stretching

The Sports Information Department at UAA has posted the weekly release (PDF). In case you're not familiar, they do this every Wednesday during the season. The release always contains tidbits of news and up to date information. One section this week mentions that the UAA Coaches Show will be airing tonight on GCI channel 1 at 8pm. David Tuttle will again host Coach Shyiak in a review of this past weekends games. It says the show each week will be 30 minutes and will also feature a player. I called the JPC office and they told me the player to be featured this week is Josh Lunden.

Coming up with new and unique ways to talk trash about UAF isn't as easy as you might think. I've given them a rash of crap about their new boat a few weeks ago. Last year before the first two games I went all Dickens (at least with my post titles) and did some comparing both fictionally and non-fictionally. This past summer I wrote a letter to UAA's incoming freshman that included the following:

We hate Fairbanks ergo you hate Fairbanks. OK? Seriously, we never want to lose to them again. You don't either. On board with that? The "Governors Cup" is a big deal to UAF fans and denying them it, is why you're here. Following the the general trend now? Seawolf > Nanook. It's just that simple. Ingrain it on your psyche. Burn it in your memory. Never forget. They hate freedom. We love freedom. Fairbanks bad. UAA good. The ticket is free to get on the "Hate-FBX" bus, so jump on it and stay on it. Comprende? Ok then ... the less said about Fairbanks the better.

So the problem here for me is to give readers something fresh while still not letting Fairbanks off the "you guys suck" hook. But the reality is that I don't know much about this years version of the Nanooks. They've got a new coach, Doc Delcastillo and so will likely have a new personality as a team. The one tidbit that has managed to make itself known is that he has the squad focused on taking as few penalties as is possible. The word is that if you get your stick horizontal across a teammate in practice, then you're skating some penalty drills. So perhaps he's a rigid disciplinarian? Perhaps its a bit early to make that call but if any program ever deserved to have a control freak at it's helm I'd have to say it's UAF. Like I said though, it's a bit early to make such characterizations. You can be assured though that the minute he smells like Dean Talafous to me I'll be all over it.

I'll do some more research and have a real preview of the 'nooks tomorrow.

Sunday Potpourri

Warning: Not clicking on the links I'm providing here means you'll miss out on the context of my smartassery. It was an interesting week or so here on the Interweb for this blogger. I'd thought the MMOTW (metaphysical moment of the week) was when Clarkson's Hockey blog was infected mysteriously with my powerful kung-fu through the ether, when a post they'd made turn up with an identical post title which I'd made the day before. I promised I'd make the effort to secure my obviously growing psychic abilities so as not to infect other innocent folks using UTBSoT (uncle teds big series of tubes). Apparently I failed; my regular use of the tag Potpourri apparently snuck out while I wasn't paying attention. I know it's my responsibility to redouble my efforts to enable other folks on the internet to blog without the aforementioned psychic interference. I'm trying, I really am.

More than a few UAA fans weren't enamored with this article from a (he who shall not be named) local hockey writing guru/maven. We expressed our displeasure and were met with that always deeply meaningful Jungian mantra, "Why can't we all just get along?". Um ... because some of us are miscreants?

Big weekend coming up for those of us obsessed with the all-important question of which school in Alaska has hockey bragging rights. The Anchorage portion of the 4 game series to determine who'll possess the redesigned and and MILF awarded Governor's Cup takes place at the Sully; Heretofore to be known as TJWHWSNBNIWBOTF (the joint where he who shall not be named is welcomed by only the few). I think I've been infected with a dose of CUOAF (creating unwieldy obtuse acronyms fever). Thanks Donna. Must have something to do with the fact that UMD played NMU over the weekend. Maybe RWD can make the same commitment as I'm trying to make to ensure these things aren't spread. In any case, look for a series of posts this coming week to illuminate why this series matters so much to us. I'm not saying I'll be channeling Dickens ala last season but hopefully there's a snicker or two in your future.

As to this past weekends games; Luka Vidmar on Friday night, Shane Lovdahl on Saturday night. With excellent depth on the blueline I can only guess that we'll see some regular shuffling among the defensive corp from game to game. Rookies Vidmar and Lafranchise showed this weekend they can get the job done at this level. Lovdahl reaffirmed his abilities and I thought played an impactful game on Saturday vs. BU. He had two good rushes taking the puck to the net. He ripped the hardest shot of the night on an absolutely beautiful one-timer that went just wide at about 1000 mph. He masterfully broke up a dangerous 2-1 and the rest of his play in the game was stellar. Coach Shyiak is to be envied because no matter who he decides to sit for a game there is someone to step in and play very well. It should give him the ability to keep the blueline very fresh week in and week out. I thought Josh Lunden, Paul Crowder and Kevin Clark played very well together this weekend. Enough so that it isn't going to be long before they really have a big target on their backs. 17 goals in three games (yes yes ... i know one of them was an exhibition vs. an underpowered Canadian college) is a stat worthy of note. Take the exhibition out of the picture and 4.5g/game still looks nice. If the team can maintain that sort of output in WCHA play then they'll be a force to be reckoned with. It's early to get too excited but after just the first two games 3 rookie forwards have already gotten the first NCAA goal monkey off their backs. Congrats to Daychief, Parkinson and McCabe on that milestone; may there be many many more to come in your careers! Tommy Grant was a close but no cigar on the weekend. He'll get his though (soon), of that I have no doubt. We almost saw freshman Sean Wiles. He dressed for the warmups but didn't make the gametime lineup. Jonny O played well both nights. No. Sorry. He played well Friday night. Saturday night he played great making a couple of highlight reel game-saving stops. It might be a while before we see Matt Gordon in a game.

UAA's lone announced recruit (for 09), Gustav Bengtson has finished his first three regular season games with the Cedar Rapids Roughriders. He's picked up one assist thus far and his plus/minus rating is 0. It's his first season playing junior hockey. He did well in preseason picking up 2g and 2a in 6 games. Cedar Rapids looks to be one of the top teams in the USHL this season and are off to a good 3-0 start. I'll have a more in-depth look at him in coming weeks.

Finally, use the "Bitty Browser" on the right hand side of the page to access the UAF Hockey Blog. Eric Carlson has forgotten more about the game than I'll likely ever know. His insights about our rival in the interior are not to be overlooked. Hopefully, somone can pick up some useful scouting info there.

Not Dickens Part Two: Reality

In Part One we learned that 2006 Fairbanks Compost > 1960 Anchorage "anything". But you may ask how that makes Fairbanks better than Anchorage? What relevance is there in comparing 1960 Anchorage to modern day Fairbanks? I suppose it's only relevant to show that comparisons between the cities are hard to make. Lemme 'splain; when coming up with "livability" rankings I'd guess that most sociologist's use categories like "Culture", "Health and Welfare" and "Recreation" etc ... The problem with making use of that sort of data is that it isn't fair to Fairbanks and I'm all about fairness. It isn't fair because there are virtually none of those classic categories where Fairbanks might possibly come out ahead. It's a size thing. We're big. They're little. So does that mean bigger is always better? Plenty of people in Fairbanks would argue it isn't necessarily true. And you know what they'd be pretty much right. I think we all know that intuitively. It's really just about what makes sense to each resident. People who like Anchorage enjoy all the amenities that come with having 40 percent of Alaska's total population brings. People who like Fairbanks enjoy the quieter existence that they are afforded by their size and locale. But what fun is all that reality? None.

Preferred monikers for Fairbanks by Anchorageites? Squarebanks clearly comes in at #1. It's a dig at the lack of sophistication and general backwoodsyness up there. After Squarebanks its a mishmash of lesser (but descriptively revealing) names like Mudbanks*, Golden Fart City, and C.O.A.R. (Craphole On A River). Preferred moniker for Anchorage by Fairbanksans? Los Anchorage is #1 reference. But from what I can tell by doing a bunch of research on this thing called the Internet, Fairbanksans gave up after coming up with that one. Seriously, nobody up there ever thought of Wankerage? I've waited years and years and never once have I seen or heard anyone up there refer to us as Wankerage. I can only guess the laid back rural lifestyle is a complete and total drain on even a basic level of literary creativity. Maybe the heat from the gigantic compost heap has dulled their wit?

*I'd always incorrectly assumed that Fairbanks was named in a similar fashion to Anchorage. Anchorge is a pretty straightforward description of origin of the city. So I stupidly thought it was a reference to the "fair" banks of the Chena river. So "Mudbanks" is a complete and total farce it seems. In the effort to be thorough I did a whole bunch of research and I'm pretty sure I've found the guy for whom Fairbanks was named. And I'm not even going to touch the whole "transvestite" thing as it relates (or doesn't) to the Golden Heart City.

A Tale of Two Cities: Part One

Charles Dickens I ain't. Nevertheless, (this week) I shall attempt here to throroughly examine, contrast and compare Anchorage and Fairbanks. There is a history of discordance in the discussions about which of Alaska's two biggest cities is the best. One problem is that there are so few "fair" comparisons that can be drawn. The lack of such equitable comparsions means that it's not possible to say definitively that one city is better than the other. Or is it? I'm gonna give it a shot, naturally. In order to do so I find it necessary to retard Anchorage's economic and cultural development to about 1960 while leaving Fairbanks in the 21st century. In 1960 the population of Anchorage was about 50,000. Depending on whether you count certain outlying areas around Fairbanks one can say that their current population is about the same.

Now we can make a more fair and balanced comparison between the two cities. In 1960 Anchorage didn't have anything nearly as cool as the Fairbanks Compost Facility. In 1960 (I'm pretty sure) there was no Fred Meyer in Anchorage. But Fairbanks has 3 Fred Meyer locations today (ok ok ... one of them is just a pharmacy). In 1960 Anchorage had one High School. If you count the one in Santa's hometown (North Pole) then Fairbanks has three. But to be fair lets not count NP. Fairbanks has 2 high schools. I don't even know if UAA was around in 1960. If it was then it was about as noticeable as a freckle on Conan O'Brien's ass. And today's UAF offers 163 different degrees which would no doubt far exceed the number of degrees that UAA offered in 1960.

So it's looking pretty grim for Anchorageites. When you examine both cities at common population points then it becomes clear that Fairbanks is a vastly superior town to Anchorage. I'll do my best the rest of this week to find other common comparators that will allow us to equitably judge which of Alaska's two biggest cities is really the best. Maybe by the time the hockey games get here I'll have established the answer definitively.