... You're Gonna Have a Bad Time; UAA 1-4 Ferris State

Ugliest sweaters in Division 1. They could be minimalist cool, if the red didn't come off looking so orange but they just look awful to me.

It was a pretty quiet first 10 minutes with generally equal play. The highlight might have been Mantha tgrying to get away with a demi-check behind the net on a forechecking Ferris player. The referee quite rightly called him for an interference penalty. 

Some decent chance for the Seawolves but nothing on the scoreboard. Ferris had some equally decent chances but I'd have to give UAA the nod for having slightly more/better scoring chances. Motte was tight in goal when he needed to be using his stick well to control the play around in his crease.  The Seawolves mounted some extended posssesion in the last couple of minutes of the period. Credit the pressure with gaining the late power play.

Getting a power play at the beginning of a period should be a beautiful thing. The Seawolves had decent control and managed to work the puck on the early opportunity but didn't manage any threatening. Credit Ferris for good play in their zone while shorthanded.

I was thinking earlier that play hadn't been sloppy but so far in the 2nd there have been more than a few instances of poor execution at times where a scoring chance depended on good execution.

Blake Leask picks up the first goal off a decent rush when Brett Cameron managed to shove the puck off the boards and through a couple of Ferris players to Scott Allen who drove a backhand from the high slot which Motte stopped but Leask was right on top of the crease and managed to poke it home. Good presence of mind from Blake to find that puck and push it under Motte.

Credit to Ferris on their goal for a nice passing play to make it happen. There wasn't any bad breakdown on UAA's backend and Mantha couldn't have done anything different.

If you leave a guy standing alone in the slot you're gonna have a bad time. Forgive the South Park meme but it's fully appropriate on the 2nd Ferris goal. No worse way to open a period than to ALLOW your opponent to score. 

The Seawolves have looked like shit in the first seven minutes of the period. Ferris is still playing hockey but I'm not sure what we're doing now. Thomas is as animated on the bench as I've seen him and clearly not happy. 

It seems to me that when we do generate something with smart play that inevitably someone makes a poor choice with the puck i.e... breaking into the zone and faced with advancing the puck deep or being slightly patient and finding the late guy trailing the play that we've more often than not make a choice that leads to Ferris gaining the puck. Granted, you can't know how the future is going to work out and you have to do something with the puck but you'd think once ina while we'd make the choice that works out in our favor.

3-1. Ferris player wanted that puck and no Seawolf was going to deny him. He was covered but not taken out of the play as he needed to be. Again, there's no substitute for getting things right and at this level if you don't quite get it right you're gonna have a bad time.

Zero energy on the Seawolves bench at this point (4:22 to go).

This.Is.So.Painful.

Late Edit: I was remiss in mentioning that Blake Leask played a very good game at center tonight between Allen and Cameron. He was excellent on the goal with a nice touch; the goal was well deserved for his effort and effective (he did everything a good center should do) play all night. He was my player of the game even if he hadn't scored.