Friday, December 01, 2006

A Bulldog Heartbreaker

Before tonights game I was running an errand and stopped at a convenience store. When I parked the car I thought I noticed a wallet in the space. After buying some smokes I came out and took a peek under the car and sure enough there was. I grabbed it as I was in a hurry to pick up my daughter and turn around to go to the game. Once she was onboard we debated about the best thing to do. I was concerned about giving it to the convenience store person but remembered that the guy in the store looked honest enough and other options seemed like they would require effort on my part. So I shoved a dollar into the empty wallet (for Karma's sake) and stopped back by the store which was on my way to the arena anyway.

I'm glad I did. Because that Karma was clearly the only reason for UAA winning tonights hockey game. Obviously, Kevin Clark's rebound goal and Chad Anderson's nice wrister from high in the slot actually accomplished the win. But I don't think there was anyone in the arena that really believed UAA "deserved" the victory. For the first two periods tonight the Seawolves looked like they hadn't played a game in months instead of just a couple of weeks. In the first couple of minutes Nathan Lawson looked shaky with a couple of brutal falls behind his net. He wasn't the only player falling down on his own so I don't really want to single him out. Nobody looked particularly sharp for UAA. As the game went on it was clear to me that Stalock's puck handling abilities were responsible for UAA never really getting in deep to work the puck. When Eagle River's Mike Curry scored on a big rebound (his 1st of the year and only 6th of his career) it seemed that fate was going to be on UMD's side. UAA was pressing in the 3rd and finally applying good pressure and Alex Stalock absolutely ROBBED Kevin Clark on a chance that would have been buried 999 out of 1000 times. It was game over man in my mind and I had to find the Tums.

UAA left the door open all night for UMD. But the Bulldogs continued their season long love affair with not scoring. Nathan Lawson did look better as the game went on and made some good saves but it sure looked like Stalock was going to rewarded for his efforts. When Clark tied the game I think everyone in the Sully breathed a collective sigh of relief. And when Chad Anderson stepped into the slot with the puck and fired a hard wrister into the top right corner I just shook my head in happy disbelief. So often in the past this was a game that UAA would have lost. The sort of heartbreaker that UAA fans have seen so often but for once it turned out to be a heartbreaker for the opponent. All credit to the Seawolves as they just kept plugging away and grinding it out.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

If we are gonna make any waves in the WCHA this year, we are going to have to win ugly games like this. I hope this games gives a boost for tomorrow night. Hey Donald, how do I email you?

Anonymous said...

Yeah I am going to say that UAA deserved to win this game. In saying that though, it is only because they did what Shyiak seems to have said about a million times already this season, "win third periods in our barn". That is what they did tonight. I will agree that if the game ended after the second there was not way that UAA deserved a win, but that is why the third period is so crucial. And it was excellent to see that they are still playing with grit and and determination all game, they are definately playing for Shyiak a way that they haven't played in a long while.

Anonymous said...

Hey an ugly win is a win, you just lie to your friends she was a lot hotter and the lighting in the picture just makes her look ugly. :p Man that was ugly but we won the 3rd period and the game and took 2 points. That's what counts.

Anonymous said...

hey ugly games make a good team great, if a team has an off night and still has enough hart to step up and pull it out. This team is the frist seawolve team in a long time that has been ble to pull ugly ones out. good for them.

Donald Dunlop said...

dude:
uaafanblog@yahoo.com

The address is also on the "profile".

Anonymous said...

Kevin Clarkwas the only player that was playing better than UMD players the first two periods. I knew it was just a matter of time before he would be rewarded for his extra hard work.

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