Seawolves Take Game One 4-3 Over Gophers

Tonight's game had a little bit of everything for a Seawolves fan.  A great opening period and a half where they built a 3-0 lead by playing a great defensive game had me pumped and full of confidence for a win.  Then 16 seconds changed everything and I was about as anxious regarding an outcome as I have ever been.  When the Gophers tied it at 3-3 that anxiety ramped up another notch.

Seawolves Sweep Mankato With 4-1 Saturday Win

Tonight's game looked much like last nights in terms of energy and flow.  The Seawolves though overcame a poorly played 2nd period tonight.  Chris Kamal came up big more often tonight than on Friday in my view.  He may have given up a goal tonight but at least there's a nice backstory on that one.  I'm posting this now and will continue to update as the outcome of the DU and SCSU game is still in question and UAA's playoff trip is still in doubt.

Senior Tribute: Sean Wiles

This is the final of five tributes which I'm publishing today highlighting the careers of each of the five graduating UAA Seawolves senior class.  The members of the class in alphabetical order are Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles.

Seawolves 3 - UNO 2

The Seawolves tonight hit nearly all the targets in their gameplan that were necessary to get an important win over UNO.  They got the scoring they need from Tommy Grant and Sean Wiles who both hadn't been producing at expected rates.  They held UNO to under 25 shots for the game by blocking shitloads (20) of shots.  They got solid goaltending from Rob Gunderson.  They won the face off battle 33-27 led by Craig Parkinson who went 16-11 on the night.  Their penalty kill delivered.  And finally their execution was mostly solid in all areas of the ice.  When you put all those factors together you get success.

Step Two: Tied For 6th Now, Eh?

Sean Wiles scored a couple of pretty goals tonight for the Seawolves.  It was a nice way for him to get back into form after a fairly long goal scoring drought.  Wrapping up the sweep and getting the 4 points was good news for the Seawolves.  Again, tonight's game was an all-around team effort.  Everybody on the ice for UAA contributed positively.

November 4th, 2006 Is Last Win Versus Badgers

There isn't a single UAA Seawolves player on the current roster that has experienced beating the Wisconsin Badgers in a hockey game.  The last win against the Badgers came on November 4th, 2006 more than four years ago.

Seawolves Take 1st Game With Bemidji 5-4

Naslund looks for a rebound ... photo credit BSU Website ...

Don't let the score fool you.  The Beaver's scored two goals tonight.  A crazy fluke goal just 27 into the game gave the Beaver's their first goal of the night.  Just 15 seconds later they scored their first goal of the night.  Thirty-five seconds later the Seawolves scored their 2nd goal of the night to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Beaver.  Um ... Whut?

INCH A-Z Profiles Sean Wiles

As part of Inside College Hockey's preseason run-up each year the website profiles a player from each of College Hockey's 59 teams.  This year's UAA selection is senior forward Sean Wiles whom I profiled in my senior class preview.  Here are some highlights from the Jess Myers authored article;

Blessed with abundant size and a long reach, Wiles has become a versatile commodity for the Seawolves especially as his offensive numbers have improved.

Shyiak has more things planned for Wiles as a senior, like using his “widebody” size in front of the net on the power play to tip and screen and bang home rebounds. Wiles has also shown some past effectiveness on the penalty kill, using his reach to keep the puck away from opponents.

And Coach Shyiak is quoted;

“Sean is a senior now and we need him to chip in offensively. If he can duplicate last year’s season and maybe do even a little bit more, and chip in on the [defensive] side of the puck, he’ll be very effective for us.”

Sean's steadily increasing production through his career gives us all hope for a big season from him.  His experience over the summer attending the Washington Capitals Summer Development Camp should benefit him as well.  The goal he scored on the video below is exactly the sort of thing that Coach Shyiak mentioned and will be looking for.