Colton Beck Not a UAA Recruit

Forget what I said in my last post about Barry Beck's nephew coming to UAA. He ain't. Chris Heisenberg emailed me this morning to apologize for the mistake. Of course I accepted his apology because I understand his grandfather's "Uncertainty Principle" (ok ... I don't really understand it ... even real Quantum Physicists have a hard time with it and just learn to accept it).

I considered deleting the post. But that might be construed as being nice to the folks in Fairbanks.

BCHL Langley's Colton Beck to UAA

The current 4th leading goal scorer in the BCHL has committed to UAA for the 2010-2011 season. 5ft 10in 175lb, 18 year old Colton Beck has been added to Heisenberg's list for UAA.

In Colton's first season with Langley (07-08) as a 17 year old, he managed 4 goals and 6 assists in 46 games. So far this season he has netted 33 goals and 24 assists in 53 games for #12 on the BCHL overall scoring chart. Colton turns 19 on June 10th of this year.

Colton is the nephew of former NHL'r Barry Beck (#2 overall in the 77 NHL draft) who started his career with the old Colorado Rockies the 2nd year I started watchng them at McNichols Arena in Denver.

I didn't see it but the way I heard the story, in a preseason game a veteran trying to make his team decided he'd try out the Rockies rookie defenseman's fighting skills. He failed to tie Beck up ... and Beck leveled him with a single punch. Seeing the destruction didn't stop another opponent from squaring up. Beck used the same overhand right to dispatch that guy too. Bubba only went on to score 22 goals that year. Unfortunately for Barry a guy named Mike Bossy began his career the same season otherwise he would have been a shoe-in for the Calder Cup.

The Little Volcano That Could

100 miles west/southwest of Anchorage lies Mt. Redoubt. It's part of the famed Pacific Rim "Ring of Fire" which is a continental subduction zone that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. One tectonic plate subducts (or is forced under) the various continental plates. This creates a geologic situation that gives birth to volcanos. Click on the image above that I grabbed from Google Earth to get an idea of the geographic relationship between Anchorage and Mt. Redoubt.

For a couple of weeks now Redoubt has been rumbling. Geologists thought they had this particular volcano pegged. An eruption in 1989 provided them with a template for predicting any future eruption. A certain level and pattern of seismic activity was noted in conjunction with that earlier eruption and they saw a very similar seismic signature recently prompting them to raise the alert level. Unfortunately, Mt. Redoubt isn't following the template.

As it stands, the volcano literally could erupt at just about any time. Recent flyovers show active fumeroles expelling typical pre-eruptive volcanic gases. The activity right now appears to be something the volcano-types call dome building. A large pocket of magma is moving up inside the mountain accounting for a myriad of what are called shallow earthquakes. At some point it is likely that increasing pressure inside this lava dome will reach a critical point and some sort of explosive eruption will follow.

Here's the important part: Nobody really has any clue what sort of explosive eruption will happen, when it might happen and frankly whether or not it will reach that point. If an eruption does occur, two things will be important for residents of Anchorage (and/or visitors): the scale of the eruption and the prevailing winds. If the eruption is large enough and the winds are in the right direction then Anchorage could see some ashfall.

In 1989 a KLM 747 unwittingly flew through a Mt. Redoubt ash-plume and suffered engine loss and a couple of minutes of horror for it's passengers before the crew restarted the engines and returned to the Anchorage International Airport. The KLM flight was outbound from Anchorage and using an atypical flight path. Typically, approaching airliners come into Anchorage from the east/southeast. With Mt. Redoubt 100 miles to the west/southwest there should be little concern for any inbound flights. The constant vigil by the Alaska Volcano Observatory in conjunction with airport operations in Anchorage means that any such future incident is all but eliminated.

With the St. Cloud Huskies travelling north this week for games in Anchorage there really shouldn't be too much to worry about. But then again ... who knows? This picture below was taken on January 31st and along with many others can be found at the Alaska Volcano Observatory website.

image credit: Christina Neal, Alaska Volcano Observatory/USGS

Curtis Leinweber: WCHA Rookie of the Week

Congrats to Curtis Leinweber for being named the Rookie of the Week in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The 5'8" 170lb defenseman from Calgary scored the game winning OT goal with 18 seconds left against the University of Denver on Saturday night while playing on the wing.

Stationed alone in front of the DU net Curtis received a sweet pass when Craig Parkinson fought for the puck along the half wall and dished it squarely to the waiting Leinweber. Curtis deked the DU goaltender left pulled the puck to his backhand and shoveled it home. It was a not to be denied moment ... and he certainly wasn't going to be.

Curtis' skill and versatility has given this years Seawolf team an additional facet. He is deft with the puck, flat out speedy and always knows exactly where the net is. His numbers on the year (2 goals and 7 assists) don't reflect the whole contribution he makes to the team; in my mind he lost the moniker "rookie" in the first half of the season. Over the next four years if the team can have some moderate success then we'll see Curtis on some All-WCHA lists: impossible to say whether that will be a list of defensive players or offensive players.