Saturday, October 04, 2008

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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Much better. very good game I thought. I like the Recruits they will be able to contribute this year and Both Goalies looked real good Sat night. The only Negative was a sluggish start and some bad penalties and Donald your right on as far as the Penalties and Enforcement.The boys need to get used to the new style and stay out of the Box because if you give that many 5 on 3s Early in any game you stand NO CHANCE against the big boys. But Theres POTENTIAL for a Damm good Season here. MUCH BETTER!!!

Kris said...

Donald, you didn't do a bad job at all taking those pics.

I really want to see what a McCabe/Lunden/Clark line could do. I think Bales is doing really well up there but I have been thinking of that line since last season and seeing it on the PP just makes it all the more interesting. The only problem might be a few too many goals given up. We shall see what Dave does he is the man getting paid not me and the McCabe/Portwood/Wiles line looked like a solid second scoring line that is also quite large and can skate. Basically that line seemed like it could do pretty much anything you would want a line to do with maybe the exception of totally shutting down the other line. Even then there was some strong defensive plays coming from it especially Portwood.

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed with Leinweber and Portland's contributions. Jade is fast for such a large player, very deceptive speed. Also strong on the puck and a nose for the net.

Nice to see Clark scoring goals, I hope this is his year. He's due.

Hopefully the U is doing something to get the students to the games. Are the Cruisin Coolers going to be in action this weekend?

Post a Comment