So I had forgot to mention that I would not be able to attend the chats (congrats to Alaskana for finding a new chat site since tinychat was down last night), but I was at the 2013 Annual ANSEP Banquet. Seeing and listening to Buzz Aldrin twice in one day was amazing, as I am a member of ANSEP and without them I wouldn't even be where I am in college. I would upload some of my own photos of him at ANSEP talking but my SD card is being a jerk. I forgot my camera at the banquet and I regret that but here's one from the ADN, courtesy of the ADN and blah blah blah.
And another:
Guy is pretty funny, told his life story and all around was a class act. But enough with the self promotion and promotion of ANSEP, back to hockey.
Getting home at 10 meant I had to change and put all my stuff away so I missed the news, so I have no idea how our team did last night. We lost, don't know if we can come back tonight to win, but I hope we can. Again, here at UAA I can view all the ADN articles and photo gallery's, but at home I cannot. Is this happening to anybody else? Round-Ups
We must absolutely split with Wisconsin. I don't care how we do it, tie and tie or win and loss. We need something, anything to put some pep into our boys skates. I don't want our team to finish in last place and we are running out of time. This is the first home game for Bucky in over a month, it will be loud but our boys seem to feed off from it. Game starts at 4:07 AKST and at 5:07 Saturday night.
Well this seems familiar, I was saying to myself after MSU scored the first goal of the game. But then fate reared its ugly head and we just got outplayed. Moving on. Our best bet to finish in 11th place is to sweep Michigan Tech later this season and at least gain an additional three more points than MT. So in ten league games left we would have to go at least 5-4-1 against Bucky, CC, MT, UNO and Denver, and this would be assuming MT goes 2-7-1 ( against UNO, UAA, MSU, SCSU and CC). Could we still do it? Ummmm.........yes? This season's version of the Seawolves is not consistent, I would like to think we could pull off a split with Bucky, maybe even CC, then if we could sweep MT that would leave us a record of 1-2-1 against UNO and Denver assuming of course MT falters and goes 2-7-1 to end the season. Looking at Bemidji's schedule, it is fucking rough: UNO, SCSU, Bucky, MD, ND, and Minny. Now I feel a little bit better, looking at MT's schedule and Bemidji's we have hope. [Bold and italicized indicates home series] Must have goals • Split with Bucky, either win and loss or tie and tie • Same with CC • Sweep MT • Then coast a win and tie out of the UNO and Denver series Simple right? But alas, even with the best of laid out plans, something very unexpected arises. Maybe Brett Cameron will come back and lead the charge from out of the cellar. Maybe Robby or Kamal will steal the end of the season with some fantastic goal keeping. Maybe Matt Bailey will go on an absolute scoring spree and catapult our team, we all know he is capable of this. With Bemidji and Michigan Tech, surely one team must royally screw up right? If I had all of King Midas' gold, I would bet on Bemidji. That is an absolute hell of a way to end your season, unless of course they can somehow split there way to a .500 record here down the stretch. And if Bemidji does do poorly, we could potentially end up in 10th or tied for 10th. I don't think we could catch up to CC (currently in 9th place), they have the easiest of schedules between these four teams and are at 15 points. On a side note, the 2013 Division I Rulebook has been passed and there seems to be a lot of money now available to student-athletes, whether it be financially, performance based, or medically based. I think it's in the right direction, this will help some less fortuante student-athletes and will help cut down on illegal payments made to student-athletes across the board. Link is here.
At times we showed some real grit and heart, but sadly it wasn't enough for the win. I'm feeling pretty lazy, tomorrow's a big day for me. Finally seeing a show at the Anchorage Museum with a friend and watching my Minnesota Vikings hopefully beat the Packers again tomorrow afternoon. But I would like to point out some things, that darn Michael Mersch played pretty well and Mark Zengerle did as well for the Badgers. Kudos though to Matt Bailey for putting one in the back of the net and getting his 25th career assist. Interesting to see if Kamal gets the start again tomorrow night. There won't be another post until a series wrap-up. To my eyes, the boys needed a little time to really get warmed up but this same effort for 60 minutes tomorrow night should guarantee a win.
Tonight we entertain the Wisconsin Badgers at 7:07 AKST via the Sullivan Arena. The Friday night promotion is still on. From goseawolves.com: Green & Gold Fridays: Wear Green & Gold to Seawolf hockey games on Friday nights this season and get up to two free general admission tickets for kids 12 & under when accompanied by a paying adult. Available only at the Sullivan Arena NW student desk up to 1 hour prior to the game.
Yes, the Wisconsin Badgers have had problems scoring but they also have second-stingiest defense. Their third leading scorer Jake McCabe is busy playing for Team USA in the World Junior Championship, he is the Captain. Wisconsin's leading goal scorer Michael Mersch (11-4-15 in 16 GP), has numbers of 2-4-6 in his last four games. Nobody on UW has had more than three goals this season besides Mersch. Also, Justin Schultz who last season torched us for 1-4-5 and +7, and Mark Zengerle who totaled up 1-4-5 with a +5 in a series up in Madison. The departed Curtis Leinweber had a goal against UW, Austin Coldwell had the other goal for our Seawolves. Warner, Sproule, and Bailey had the assists last season. Bailey looks snake bitten, sooner or later he will get pucks into the back of the net, he's only had two this season. Joel Rumple of UW, and Chris Kamal started and finished both games last season. Brett Cameron is still out (shoulder surgery), and Morgan Zunlnick (leg) will be out for tonight's game. As far as I can tell/remember that is maybe it on the injury front. The only Seawolves skaters not to register a point are Brett Cameron (9 GP), freshmen Ben Matthews (1 GP), and fellow freshmen Chris Williams (13 GP). Again, Rob Gunderson as secured another assist this season (3 for Career), but will Chris Kamal finally break his dry spell? Freshmen D Blake Leask has yet to been whistled for a penalty, he stands alone among UAA skaters. Daniel Naslund and Matt Bailey are one assist away from their career 25th. Alex Gellert is two away.
16 games into the 2012-13 season and we are in last place in the WCHA. In league play we are 1-8-3, which is good for five points. Looking up to two teams directly above us, they have nine points each. We could very well catch up to those teams, surprisingly one of those teams are the Wisconsin Badgers. Who we can say are on the downswing right now, last season they finished 11-15-2 in league for 24 points which saddled them with a tenth place finish. And, the season before that finished one point ahead of us for 8th place. Which means they have reacted negatively to the addition Bemidji State, and Nebraska-Omaha, who would have thunk it? Even more surprising, they only have two more league goals then us in league play this season (23 vs. our 21). Speaking of them, we play them at the Sullivan Arena at 7:07 AKST Friday and Saturday night.
Courtesy of the wcha.com website, current as of 1/2/2013
There has been some legitimate concerns for us Seawolves fans that we might once again finish last. There are various reasons, but I think we all know what these are so I will not mention them. I have hope that is blind, unfiltered, and what some sane people would describe as a fool's paradise. But we all have to be a little crazy to be a Seawolf fan. I have stated before that being a Red Sox fan is easier than being a Seawolves fan, and this is true. Well, pre-October 2004 to say before the 2009 season for being a Red Sox fan. Both of these respected teams have easily snatched away defeat from the jaws of victory on such a regular basis that it has hardened me both mentally and emotionally.
From the past three seasons, 28 points or more have resulted in home ice for the playoffs. This includes the pre-Bemidji and UNO WCHA. Which means we would need 23 points to finally boo and badger (see what I did there!?) a fellow team in our Sullivan Arena. This is asking a lot, considering we have 16 league games left. Let's take a look at our upcoming schedule:
Shamefully ripped from goseawolves.com
Looking to this weekend, I project a series split with Wisconsin. I'm looking out for Wisconsin to come out guns blazing Friday night looking for some "easy" points, and our boys shaking the rink rust off Saturday night. This would leave us with 21 more points to take from seven more WCHA weekend affairs. To accomplish this from a split with Wisconsin, it would require us to at least win and tie every weekend to close out WCHA play. This is a tall order, but I look amped to see we face Minnesota next weekend. This might be our last hope of home-ice in the dominate WCHA. Now of course this is all under the premise that the 28 point ticket to home ice is still in force. Upon further inspection, only once since the 2006-07 season has this not been the case, St. Cloud State in 2008-09 missed the playoffs by one point, they had 28.
At times we have look liked a home-ice team, but other times we have looked young and maybe in awe of our opponents. Most of our freshmen have at least got their feet wet, we can still do this. We have to believe. The emergence of Blake Leask, kid has got numbers of 3-7-10 to lead the team in points, and the goal-scoring of Scott Allen 7-2-9 have got to be corner stones of our offense. Bailey, Gellert, and Kwas have put up some nice numbers so far too. Where are we? Well, were down looking up. Is it time to just give up? No, a 8th or 9th place finish would still please me. But I want more. I need more. Feed me more!
Imagine sitting in your seat at the Sullivan Arena and you hear this song come on, and out come the Seawolves at out at the 25 second mark. Next, hold up the visiting team until the 1:10 mark when the lyrics go, "You're so damn weak...". Would that not pump you up? It would pump me up, and the music at times is not much worse that this. So why not? It would certainly give us an identity, my absolute dream is to have this song come out before we play this season's Governor's Cup against UA_. This song hits, we win the game, and win the shootout, or OT, or goal differential, or whatever the hell actually decides the Governor's Cup. That folks is my dream. After that happens, this song will live on and follow us into the watered down WCHA. Where we will very well eat our opponents because face it, what else do the Seawolves actually eat?
Friday morning/afternoon I put up another post, regarding other people's write-up's. Hope everybody had a great holiday season, and I look forward to MOAARRRR hockey!!
