Saturday: UAA 2 - St. Cloud 1

An overall team effort by the Seawolves was responsible for salvaging a split tonight. With Tommy Grant and Paul Crowder in the stands and Kevin Clark providing color commentary for Kurt Haider the Seawolves repeated their effort from last Saturday night and got the well-deserved win. The work ethic through the whole game was good for UAA but it wasn't until they tied the game that they began to dominate. The 2nd period was all Seawolves but they could only manage one goal to tie the game. Same story in the 3rd. Sometimes the ice was even tilted in UAA's favor. It wasn't until about 7 minutes had passed in the third that SCSU even registered a shot.

There was no real issue with St. Cloud forcing/trapping in the UAA zone tonight as the Seawolves were didn't sit back with the puck but instead moved it forward right away. Having Mat Robinson back in the lineup contributed to a better transition as he is always strong carrying the puck out.

I thought the referees did everything they could to help St. Cloud win the game. The last 3 or 4 penalties called on UAA were pretty much bogus calls. If an SCSU Skating Angel did happen to go to the box you could guarantee that a Seawolf was going to join him. Nevertheless, the Seawolves capitalized on a bad defensive error while killing one of those many penalties and from behind the net Josh Lunden found Craig Parkinson barrelling up the middle. Parky found a way to get the puck in. On the replay it looked to me that the puck crossed the line by all of about an inch before it came back out.

The Seawolves fully, wholly and totally deserved the win. Bryce was sharp in net which after Jonny O's sharp play last night means we're likely to continue to see a rotation next weekend in Minneapolis.

Everyone on the ice tonight deserves a pat on the back for their effort. Congrats to August Aiken for his first collegiate goal. He finished it well and since he's joined the team I've noticed he has a good nose for the net and he has a dangerous shot from the top of the circle on down. Craig Parkinson will do whatever it takes to win a face-off or at least make it a push. Tonight he did that and much more. He was strong on both ends of the ice and deserves some recognition for the number of shots he blocked this weekend. Karma loves a committed shot blocker and rewarded him with the game winner.

Tonight was the result that Coach Shyiak was hoping for by disciplining the team. Coupled with last Saturday's win this team now has to have learned that they can win when they play as a team no matter which players are on the ice.

SCSU 3 - UAA 1

I've got what I believe to be some relevant but perhaps strongly critical things to say tonight. Before I do though, I'm going to watch the rebroadcast to help me confirm what I think was the problem for the Seawolves tonight. So I'll write more in a couple of hours.

Well. The rebroadcast appears to have been dropped as GCI goes with the "Jewlery Television" instead. Irony ... I love you. Thanks a lot GCI. Oh well ... I hope the folks that didn't go to the game are pissed off that they can't see the game now. They don't deserve to see it. What a ridiculous crowd. Anchorage sports fans are the top of the shit heap.

So here's my deal. Shyiak got outcoached by Motzko tonight. Motzko smartly utilized a high zone trap to hem the Seawolves in their own end. I saw no indication of Shyaik trying to counter it. Instead I saw players again and again trying to work the standard breakout only to be met by forecheckers at the half-wall again and again and again.

There were a few times where UAA blueliners realized the situation and skated through the trapping or even went over it. But that was the exception to the rule.

Down by two goals with a bit over two and half minutes left in the game Shyiak had two chances to pull the goalie ... Jonny O was trying to come off and got sent back. That led to a waste of a good 30 seconds where the team could have had an extra attacker on the ice. That certainly wasn't to blame for the loss. But a coach has got to do the right things from the bench to give his team a chance to win. Dave Shyiak didn't do that tonight in my mind. I should repeat my criticism of him in the Friday night loss to MTU during the last home series. With a one goal lead and a power play and under 1:30 to play Shyiak doesn't call a timeout and tell his team to protect the lead. Instead he sends out guys that are keyed up to score a goal. Then Leinweber gets a shot blocked and MTU goes on a counterattack and scores to tie the game. They Shyiak blamed the mistake that Leinweber made? Nope Coach ... that one was on you too.

It's time for Dave Shyiak to stand up and take some responsibility for this teams performance. Again and again during his tenure we've seen a team in a position to win a game only to have it frittered away by a mistake. You get a timeout for a reason ... use it once in a while to motivate your team or to teach instead of just holding onto it in case you might need it to set up a play from a late faceoff at the end of the game. Tonight the trainer had to run off the ice to get a board so they could diagram the play. What sort of preparation is that?

The Seawolves had enough good chances to finish and win the game. The Wiles breakaway, the Grant penalty shot etc. Jonny O played perhaps his best game of the year if not his career. He made at least three great saves and one that could easily be labeled as the NCAA save of the year. Seriously, it was ESPN Top Ten saves of the year kind of stuff. I really would love to have seen it again.

Dear UAA Bleacher Nazis:
If Mr. Suze and I decide to start a "BULLSHIT" chant in response to a horrible call by the referee don't even think about coming anywhere near me to attempt to stop it. Seriously. We'll end up in court. If a thousand students in Michigan can chant "Fuck You State" for 5 minutes then Bob and I can chant bullshit three times.

An Opportunity Arrives

image stolen from College Hockey News "Tale of the Tape"

I note here often how it seems that each new series in the WCHA is the most important series of the year. Once again, this weekend the Seawolves face a very important series.

UAA is 3 points behind this weekends opponent the St. Cloud Huskies and only 5 points away from the 3 teams currently tied for 4th place. A 4 point weekend (something the Seawolves haven't had this season) will position the Seawolves for that sniff of home-ice for the playoffs that I've mentioned.

But with opportunity comes risk. Underperform this weekend and you can pretty much kiss dreams of a home-ice playoff series goodbye. St. Cloud faces much the same scenario as UAA this weekend. Get some good points up here and they continue to have a chance at home ice. Lose all 4 points and they'll be in a bit of a hole.

I think that last weekend's benching of Tommy Grant and Josh Lunden should have sent a strong lasting message to the whole team. The proper effort must be given by each and every Seawolf player to hit the ice. Anything less at this point is unacceptable. I have to applaud the coaching staff for ensuring that their team understands the importance of putting out that 110% effort.

Lots of guys had their best games of the year last Saturday night. But let's not forget that more than a few had one of their worst games the night before. In this league, at this level and with so much on the line there can be nothing less than maximum effort both nights this weekend.

It will be interesting to see which of the multiple line-ups we've seen recently take the ice Friday night. I'm not about to try to predict it. I'm also not bothering to check team stats etc... and assign any importance to same here today. I just don't care. Regardless of PP/PK percentages, number of penalties, height/weight differentials and whatever else might be enlightening in the usual sense, the most important thing to know is that a quality WCHA opponent who is just ahead in the standings is coming to the rink. Beat them twice and you have a bit of something going. Fail to beat them twice and it's pretty much time to start talking about upset wins in a playoff road series.

This Seawolves squad is every bit capable of sweeping the Huskies. They just have to believe that and give the proper effort. Not really much else to say. For me, I'd like something other than beating UA_ for the Governor's Cup to hang my fan hat on.

AJHL Okotok's Quinn Sproule to UAA

Defenseman Quinn Sproule of the AJHL Okotoks Oilers has committed to the UAA Seawolves for 20110-2011. Really.

Chris Heisenberg highlighted this listing using upper-case ANCHORAGE. He also emailed me to confirm. Thanks Chris. I had a nice little laugh about the whole thing. Unlike the mis-listed Beck kid I've found enough background on Quinn so I won't have to fill with crappola about his relatives.

The 5ft 11in, 181lbs, 18 year old Hussar, Alberta native has 11 goals and 15 assists in 52 games this season. Quinn turns 19 on May 5th of this year. He is another converted defenseman having played forward until this season. He spent last season with the UFA Midget AAA Bisons and his performance garnered some interest from QMJHL teams after his All-Star performance at last years Macs tournament. Quinn rejected their advances in favor of keeping his NCAA eligibility.

Okotoks coach, Dan McDonald has praised Quinn's versatility saying,

"Some guys might say: There are scouts out there and I’m a defenceman, I don’t want to play forward, but he plays where we need him.”

Sproule's addition to UAA's incoming players list continues the trend of nabbing guys earlier than in the past. With a couple of 16 year olds and 3 18 year olds the Seawolves staff are getting ahead of the usual curve. For now I'll assume that Quinn is pegged as a blueliner for the Seawolves but who knows where he'll end up at this point. It looks like to me that Quinn will be happy to fill whatever role the UAA staff asks of him. I know that one of the primary things that UAA looks for in a recruit is positive character. Quinn seems to fit that definition in spades. Welcome to UAA Quinn.