The 09-10 Seawolf Senior Class

Nils Backstrom - 6'1" 203lbs, Defenseman
Nils Backstrom was a late addition to the 06-07 UAA freshman class. We first learned he'd be coming to UAA on August 26th, 2006. Just in enough time to get fully enrolled in school and get fitted for a helmet. Over the course of his first three years Nils has matured and improved steadily. Last season he stepped up to the role of shutdown defensemen and fulfilled it very nicely. He sees the ice as well as anyone. His skating is top notch; he can often be seen gaining steps on opposition forwards and dispossessing them.

He is more than strong enough to handle pretty much any opposition forward. He continuously shows his smarts on the ice with good breakout passes and/or taking the responsibility to move the puck up on his own. His career 6 goals and 21 assists are perhaps less than many of us expected but the 4 goals he scored as a junior could be a nice sign for the season to come. He did miss 18 games as a sophomore due to injury. His plus/minus for this past season was a stellar (team best) +10.

Nils experience and maturity will serve him well as a team leader this season. His positives on the ice will contribute to overall team success. Last year, I said that he played virtually mistake free hockey. I'd assume that will be the case again.

Kevin Clark - 5'9" 171lbs, Forward
Kevin Clark is plain and simply the most dynamic player for the Seawolves. At times, it seems that he can make things happen by sheer force of will. Over his first three years Kevin has netted 28 goals and 43 assists. He's almost certain to reach the 100 point career plateau this season.

Kevin will be responsible for much of the team's success this year via his playmaking, scoring and mental play. Kevin can be a bit of a pest and seems to play better when he's jawing a bit with the opposition.

Kevin is both an emotional leader and a leader by example on the ice. He can make magic with the puck and make his linemates better. He is not intimidated by physical play and even likes to mix it up. He will be counted on to play smart this season and while I won't judge him on his 236 career penalty minutes; taking a penalty or two less would be positive. The team will need him to put up his best season stats ... both goals and assists.

Trevor Hunt - 5'10" 190lbs, Defenseman
Trevor Hunt has become a beast during his first three years in a Seawolf uniform. It wasn't that this guy wasn't tough as a freshman. He was. But last year he really came into his own as a college hockey player. He's always shown his physical abilities and flashes of offensive prowess. But as a junior he put every facet of his game together in positive ways.

He substantially dropped his penalties/game average. He tied for the lead in goals from blueliners. He continued his punishing physical play with opponents. He showed over and over that he's got a real nice set of boots.

His vision moving up the ice is as good as anyones. He can dynamically either dish the puck smartly or deke the opposition out of their breezers as required. He's both quick and strong. His play along the boards is a bit reminiscent of Darren Meek who never came away from the boards without the puck in his possession.

Josh Lunden - 6'2" 202lbs, Forward
In every year as a Seawolf Josh Lunden has scored double-digits in goals. 11 as a freshman, 14 in both his sophomore and junior years. Josh is a hard charging power winger who plays the cycle game as effectively as anyone. He knows how to put himself into scoring positions.

He's been very consistent over his career in terms of his style of play. He knows how to use his size against opponents and possesses enough speed to skate with anyone.

Josh is capable of putting up bigger numbers if he is allowed to focus more on scoring. He is a very responsible player always trying to make opportunities for his linemates. If he could perhaps focus a bit more on scoring then I see no reason he couldn't bag 20 goals. As with the other seniors his maturity and experience will be strong contributors to the team's overall success.

Jon Olthuis - 6'4" 200lbs, Goaltender
Jon Olthuis is unflappable. Hockey mouthpieces love to say that about a goalie. In Jonny O's case it happens to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Jon is a great big guy and covers a lot of the net. He played in 10 games as a freshman and as a sophomore was asked to take on the number 1 role when Nathan Lawson turned pro early. He had a bit of an up and down season but learned a lot and improved steadily.

Last season saw a number of games where he flat-out stood on his head. His career numbers don't look impressive but he's often not recieved the support necessary to have great stats. Jonny will likely earn a fair amount of playing time this season competing with the more talented junior Bryce Christianson. If he gets those starts at the right times he'll be an awesome alternative. He'll also bring a strong leadership presence on the bench during the game.

Ken Selby - 6'1" 195lbs, Forward
I always try to be fair and balanced with my comments regarding the individual Seawolves. I doubt any regular reader though wouldn't have noticed my fondness for Ken Selby. Why do I always pine for him to get more ice time? Because he's got jets in his boots. He can fly.

I can't help liking a hockey player that motors. To be fully honest there's a somewhat legitimate debate about Ken's hockey instincts. In other words, some people don't think he knows where he ought to be when he ought to be there. It's a tough argument to counter when over his career the guy has played in a total of only 43 games.

Last season he dressed for 23 games. He didn't necessarily see major ice time in those games. I can't begin to guess how many games Ken will play this coming season. But I will guess that the more ice time he sees the more he'll contribute. He's an excellent stick handler with great wheels. At minimum he could be a very effective penalty killer who perhaps creates shorthanded scoring chances.

Jared Tuton - 6'1" 202lbs, Forward/Defenseman
If there is another reason Ken Selby hasn't cracked the lineup as often as I'd have liked, it is Jared Tuton. This year's Captain is quite simply the epitome of a coaches player. He's got a wide range of quality skills and not only understands what his coach wants/needs, he fulfills those for the coach without hesitation.

Jared has played virtually every position on the ice at some point during his career. He's played on the #1 line and contributed; he's been an ultra-responsible defensive forward; played in all special teams situations and led by example on nearly every shift he's taken as a Seawolf. That is exactly why he's the Captain this season.

Note: Yes, I chose pictures with WCHA opponents with their sticks on these profiled Seawolf players. All their fans complain endlessly about "clutching and grabbing". I just thought I'd show some clear examples of their own players doing exactly that. The favored WCHA check appears to be the cup check. What is up with that? All these opposition players are fixated on Seawolf crotches?

Look for a Junior Class profile in a few days time.

Let's Talk Schedule

I thought a bit of discussion concerning the 09-10 schedule was in order. Most of us obsessed fans have seen it long before now and had some limited discussion in a couple of the off-season posts I made. Those of you that are less obsessed may be just getting around to look at it. Before I get to some of the interesting aspects of the schedule please allow me to once again decry the 28-game mandated WCHA schedule.

With the addition of two teams and pressure from the Big Ten Television folks I'm betting we'll only have to live with it for at most 2 more years. Minnesota and Wisconsin will have a number of financial reasons to want to play Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State more often than they currently do. At the same time, they aren't going to want to limit their opportunities to play traditionally less powerful teams in their 8 non-conference games (don't forget that UAA never gets 8 non-conference games). If they are to cash in on Big Ten TV money they'll want more flexibility in scheduling than being forced into the currently restrictive WCHA mandate. You guys all hate unfunded mandates right?

With the advent of 12 teams it will make a lot of sense to just play every other opponent twice and have a 22-game conference schedule. That would be perfect for the Gophers and Badgers. They could simply fill in the extra six games with 3 series each against the other Big Ten teams. There are rumblings (not big ones ...) in the CCHA for this to happen. Such a reduction would be a major benefit to UAA. They could resume the 4 game series with UAF ... perhaps attend an outside tournament ... and even play an additional series at home. There could be some resistance from other WCHA schools who'll be biting their fingernails trying to figure out how to fill their schedule. A simple solution for them would be to play each other in non-conference tilts. Now onto the real purpose of this post.

UAA opens with one exhibition game in Wasilla versus SAIT on Friday October 2nd. It's nothing more than an opportunity for the coaches to see who can do what against mostly reasonable competition. Then the next weekend (as usual) comes UAA's tournament. This season the Seawolves will face Mercyhurst on Friday and Michigan on Saturday. Mercyhurst finished 3rd in Atlantic Hockey last season. They return 8 of their top 10 scorers from a team that gave UAA a bit of a scare last season in Fairbanks. The Seawolves shouldn't overlook them. The 2nd game of the tournament will be against the ugly helmets with the pretentiously named color "maize". Obviously, they'll be good. It'll be a tough contest for UAA. The advantage the Seawolves have is they'll be at home and they've typically played good hockey early in the season.

The next weekend the boys go up the street to FBX and play RPI and Robert Morris. Both are games I expect UAA to win. RPI finished 11th in the EZAC last year. Robert Morris kinda stunk it up in the CHA. Losing either of these games won't be a good sign for things to come.

The next weekend starts the WCHA schedule. And we've got a DOOZY of a beginning. The four teams I picked to finish higher than UAA are the first four opponents; 1st is UND here in Anchorage, then Da Gophs at "the john", then DU here, then Bucky in MADtown. This will be a very telling opening 8 games over 4 weekends for UAA. VERY telling. .500 won't be a bad result but hopefully the usual early season good form will see the guys end up with better than 8 of those 16 points. Personally, I'll be more anxious about this part of the schedule than any other stretch.

Following those 8 games the Seawolves will face 4 very winnable games. Mankato visits on November 20th and 21st then UAA goes to World Arena in Colorado Springs to face the 3rd best team in Colorado. On December 4th and 5th, UAA finishes it's first half of the season hosting St. Cloud twice on December 4th and 5th. I'd really like to see the Seawolves go into their month long break with at least 15 points. Anything more than that bodes well proportional to the number of points above 15 they can get.

The guys return to the ice on January 8th and 9th against DU in Denver. The next weekend they go to Houghton to face MTU. I'm guessing they'll just stay in the lower 48th after the DU series. If so, then I'd think staying in Denver would be a good idea. An extra week at altitude working out can't be a bad thing. One temporary result of high altitude training (in the short term) is the addition of oxygen carrying red blood cells.

The 3rd and 4th weekend in January see the guys at home. 1st against CC and then against Da Gophs. Two weekends on the road follow (maybe this is when they stay in the lower 48?) with visits to the National Concrete Center in St. Cloud and then Mankato. The Seawolves have never won at the NCC. That will end this year. The Saturday game in St. Cloud has an odd start time. I don't know what that's about.

Friday February 26th sees the 1st game of the Governor's Cup against UAF here in Anchorage. The next night the Seawolves clinch another Cup in Squarebanks and continue their recent domination of the mighty mites.

The regular season ends against the same opponent as they ended with last season against. UMD. Be nice to watch them sweep the drooling dogs live versus that B2 crap we had to watch last year.

The following weekend is the WCHA playoffs. I really really want to see UAA playoff games live this year. Really. Seriously. It's likely going to take damn near 30 points to get that accomplished as the parity in the league might very well be as it was last year. UAA got 23 points last year and finished in 9th ... Minnesota got 6 more points and finished 5th.

Annual Players Meet & Greet Set

Set aside any and all other social obligations you might have for Sunday September 13th from 2:00pm until 4:30pm. The Seawolf Athletic Association announced the Annual Meet & Greet will take place that day at the Cuddy Hall on campus. The announcement notes that parking is free and attendees are encouraged to bring a side dish, salad or dessert to add to the hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, water and "fixins" that are provided courtesy of the Hockey Committee. Kids are reminded to bring their autograph books.

If you're the volunteering type then you might want to contact Richard Leary (mleary at gci.net) to help with setup etc for the event. The announcement also notes that those who have already purchased season tickets can pick them up at the Sullivan Arena box office starting yesterday. Click on the screen shot below to read the announcement.

Aiken Not On Roster

One of the truths of college hockey is that you can't be 100% sure about the roster until after school starts. Yesterday I noticed that August Aiken appears to not be returning for his sophomore season. My short investigation turned up no obvious explanation. Best of luck to August regardless of the story behind this. He could have grown into a pretty nice offensive contributor. His absence shouldn't be hurtful to the squad. There are still 15 forwards on the roster with an additional 2 players listed as F/D.