Goaltender to UAA: Matthew Gordon

This past season 19 year old Matthew Gordon (6'2" 190lbs) was 28-20 in 51 regular season games with a .905 SP and a 3.08 GAA for the Burnaby Express of the BCHL. In 14 playoff games he was 7-7 with a .909 SP and a 3.52 GAA.

During Burnaby's 05-06 season long run to the RBC Jr. A National Championship Matt was Bryce Luker's backup playing in 17 games with .897 SP and a 3.42 GAA. He did not play in the playoffs.

There doesn't appear to be a lot of scouting information about Matt so if any reader has seen him play please feel free to let us know in the comments section what you've seen or know about him. He obviously played well enough on one of the top teams in the league to take the team to the BCHL finals.

Seawolves 07-08 Schedule

I'm not sure what to think about the timing of such things but coincidence is second to irony in my book. UAA released the 07-08 schedule today.

For the first time in a number of years the Nye Frontier tournament doesn't include a WCHA team. I think that's a good thing. It isn't exactly what I'd call a strong field though with Robert Morris, Wayne State and Boston University. It is also a continuation of the match-up system instead of a true tournament format. That situation could have caused an embarrassing problem last year. If UAA had lost their second game then Colorado College would have been awarded the trophy in abstentia since they bolted for the airport right after their afternoon game.

The schedule continues the 4 game series against UAF for the Governor's Cup with the second series on Dec. 28th and 29th in Fairbanks. Expect that this will be the last year for that 4 game series which will be a good thing for UAA scheduling possibly making them available for a Holiday tournament; something I've been advocating for a few years. Lastly, I don't see any back to back weekends on the road. In the past such scheduling meant that UAA would stay in the lower 48 for an extended "team building" opportunity. It's best that student-athletes get as much time as possible in their actual classes so that is a good thing as well.

Home games are in Caps:
Oct. 5 SOUTHERN ALBERTA INSTITUTE OF TECH. (ex. @ Wasilla)
Oct. 12 WAYNE STATE
Oct. 13 BOSTON UNIVERSITY
Oct. 19-20 ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Oct. 26-27 MINNESOTA STATE
Nov. 2-3 at St. Cloud State
Nov. 16-17 at Minnesota
Nov. 30-Dec.1 COLORADO COLLEGE
Dec. 7-8 at Minnesota Duluth
Dec. 14-15 DENVER
Dec. 28-29 at Alaska Fairbanks
Jan. 11-12 at Colorado College
Jan. 18-19 WISCONSIN
Jan. 25-26 at North Dakota
Feb. 1-2 MICHIGAN TECH
Feb. 8-9 at Minnesota State
Feb. 15-16 ST. CLOUD STATE
Feb. 22-23 at Denver
Feb. 29-Mar.1 MINNESOTA
Mar. 14-16 WCHA First Round Playoffs (in Anchorage eh? ...)
Mar. 20-22 WCHA Final Five

First 09 Recruit: Gustav Bengtson

Since ignoring off-season stuff isn't working out quite the way I wanted, I figured I might as well post something that's interesting to me (while we continue to wait for an official announcement from Coach Shyiak regarding the 07-08 and/or 08-09 signees). Chris Heisenberg has added an 09-10 recruit for the Seawolves.

Gustav Bengtson is a 17 year old center (5'9" 165lb from Stockholm) who played this past season with the Northwest Regulators (Salt Lake City Midget AAA). He was just taken in the recent USHL draft by the Cedar Rapids Roughriders for next season. Gustav was the leading scorer for the Regulators with 36 points (17g-19a) in 34 games. In reading through their website it became apparent that the team was fairly competitive in some Midget tournaments. No doubt the next couple of years in the USHL will be telling in how much potential Gustav has to contribute to the Seawolves but here are some comments from his Coach (and the full article from the website):

“What sticks out for the scouts when they watch him are his tremendous skills”, stated Gronborg. “Gustav can be a dynamic player with his skating and stick handling at a very high speed."

"Mixed with being a very ‘coachable’ athlete you can consider him a ‘dream player’ for our staff. His commitment also shows in his approach to school where he is an honor student”

“Gustav was a pretty accomplished player when he came over to the US. However I would like to commend his work ethic on and off the ice especially in areas such as his defensive play, his play in traffic, and keeping a consistent high level of play, which he needs to continue to improve in order to make the next step. There is always a transition period for an European player to come over to play North American hockey and I think that Gustav has handled it great”

UAA's New Arena Takes Shape

Ok then ... this is the first off-season breaking of my self-pledge to not post anything here until August 1st. I don't think there's a lot of commentary I need to add since a picture is worth a thousand words right? That being the case here's four-thousand words you won't have to read from me. Click your mouse on the pictures to get full sized versions. It's a good looking plan at first glance. And it's sure nice to see this process moving forward. This new arena will make UAA a perennial powerhouse in the WCHA!


My understanding is the hockey seating is 10K. I don't see any balcony so the sightlines should be very good for everyone in the rink. I looked for me on the entrance picture and while lots of the people are in short sleeves there sure isn't anyone wearing short pants. Sigh.

Lastly, all credit for acquisition of these pictures goes to UAA's biggest fan in Shreveport, USCHO's "Wolfman" (pictured below ... left).