November
18 , 2004
Northern
Lights
By
Jess Myers
The calendar
reads “November” in Alaska, but for those who know
the economy of sunlight the region gets in the winter, and for
those who follow Alaska Anchorage hockey, it might feel more like
January. The early days of every new year are the days when things
finally start to look a little brighter in Alaska, and the days
get a little bit longer. The natives know that even in January
there’s still some nasty winter weather to be had, but there
is promise of better days on the horizon.
It’s
much the same for the Seawolf hockey program today. The worst
(namely that one-win disaster of a season they experienced two
years ago) is clearly in the past, and while the team probably
isn’t as good as that spot in the national rankings they
earned two weeks ago, it certainly isn’t as bad as 10th
place in the WCHA, which is where most who follow the league (INCH
included) had them picked.
In this
time when retro sports are hot, some have said that the Seawolves
have set the clock back a decade to the time when they first joined
the WCHA and were almost unbeatable in Alaska, but rarely won
road games. With the team beating Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth
at home, but falling to Michigan Tech and Minnesota State, Mankato
on the road already this season, that theory might hold water.
Seawolves coach John Hill notes his team is very young, especially
on defense where he commonly has two freshmen and three sophomores
manning five of the six blueline roles. That youth was in evidence
early last Friday in the team’s 6-3 loss in Mankato, where
defensemen coughing up the puck in front of the Seawolf net helped
the Mavericks grab a quick lead.
“One sign of a team not being mentally ready to play is
turnovers, especially in your own end, and we had some costly
turnovers right away,” Hill said afterwards. “In the
defensive zone, we were horrible, and we got what we deserved.
We just weren’t intense and focused defensively.”
Offensively, the team is just as young, but somewhat deeper, than
on defense. Thus far it’s been sophomores Justin Bourne
and Brett Arcand-Kootenay, as well as freshman Chris Tarkir, who
have led the way. Barely a month into his WCHA career, Tarkir
– who came to Anchorage from Fresno, with a stopover in
the British Columbia junior leagues on the way – has seen
some dramatic highs and lows for his team.
“This is a good conference, and we’ve seen already
that you can win or lose every night,” Tarkir said, noting
that the travel to and from Alaska has taken a bit of getting
used to. “But we can’t use the long trips and jet
lag as any kind of excuse, because it’s going to be that
way all season.”
It quickly becomes clear in talking to other Seawolves that this
is a team that isn’t going to make excuses despite the rash
of injuries, early defections, graduations, facility problems
and in-house trauma they’ve seen since last March. The goal
is simple: stay focused, keep improving, and win the games they
should win.
“Offensively, we’ve been getting a lot of chances,
and everyone has been pumped up in the locker room,” said
sophomore forward Charlie Kronschnabel, the team’s top returning
scorer from last season. “We’ve just got to get better
every game and stop relying so much on goaltending, because we
know that only works for so long.”
Despite the Seawolves' relative youth, the team speaks like a
veteran crew that knows hard work will bring brighter days to
southern Alaska’s favorite college hockey club.
SEEN AND HEARD IN THE WCHA
Finally,
Some Rewards in Mankato – Nobody, with the possible
exception of Gary Bettman, had a worse month of October than the
Minnesota State, Mankato Mavericks, who started 0-5-1 with one
of the nation’s toughest early schedules.
Mavericks
coach Troy Jutting doesn’t believe in moral victories, but
credited his team for playing well in a tie and a one-goal loss
with North Dakota, and felt his team had a chance to win at Minnesota,
before a controversial overtime goal gave the Gophers a 3-2 victory.
But
since that slow start, the Mavericks have won four in a row and
have a good chance to get back to .500 this weekend with a home
series against Alabama-Huntsville. The confidence and the victories
have come as a result of the Mavericks enjoying the comforts of
home, and getting some diversity in their offense. The notion
that if you stop David Backes you stop the Mavs was dispelled
last weekend when Backes contributed some offense, but left sophomore
Travis Morin to do the heavy lifting. Morin scored four goals
over the weekend, including his first career hat trick on Friday,
to earn WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors.
“David’s
a great talent, but we have some other kids that can play,”
said Mavericks coach Troy Jutting, sporting just a hint of a sly
grin, after his team beat Alaska Anchorage last Friday.
It’s
worth noting that those other kids who can play have contributed
to the Mavericks out-shooting their opponents in eight of the
10 games they’ve played – a sign that the team didn’t
give up even when the pickings were slim.
“Even
early in the season, we’d played very well for the most
part,” said Jutting. “I don’t think we’d
ever lost our confidence.”
|
Great Weekend Getaway |
 |
Wisconsin
at Alaska Anchorage
(Fri.-Sat.)
It’s the classic “who’s for real”
series this weekend at Sullivan Arena when Wisconsin visits
Alaska Anchorage. The Seawolves are 4-1-1 at home, but just
1-3-0 in road games thus far, while the Badgers are 7-1-0
at home but were swept at Minnesota in their only road trip
of the season. Wisconsin clearly has the more talented forwards,
with the trio of Robbie Earl, Joe Pavelski and Ross Carlson
putting lots of goals in the opponents’ net, and Badgers
goalie Bernd Bruckler has been solid, as expected. As for
the Seawolves, what they lack in skill they make up for in
size, with rookie Chris Tarkir proving to be a nice surprise
for hockey fans in Alaska. One wonders if the Seawolves have
worked their way back to where the program stood a decade
ago – deadly at home, and roadkill when they’re
the visitors.
While
You’re There: If you believe that the only
thing better than a hockey game is two hockey games, you’re
in for a treat Saturday. The Badgers and Seawolves play
at 2 p.m. AST in order to facilitate a hockey doubleheader
at Sullivan Arena. The nightcap is an ECHL battle between
the Alaska Aces and the Victoria (B.C.) Salmon Kings. The
Aces are coached by Michigan Tech hockey alum Davis Payne
and feature former collegians Chris Heisten (Maine), Vladmir
Novak (Alaska Anchorage), Mike Jones (Bowling Green) and
Mike Scott (Alaska Anchorage). And, thanks to the NHL lockout,
New Jersey Devils star Scott Gomez (who was thisclose
to playing for Colorado College at one time) is lacing them
up for his hometown’s Aces, for the time being, as
well. |
| Stick
Salute |
|
We’re not even at
Thanksgiving weekend, and already Michigan Tech finds itself
in the WCHA cellar – a spot that’s all too familiar
to the Huskies. But their on-ice struggles have come despite
the stellar offensive efforts of senior Colin Murphy.
While the Huskies are off to a 1-8-1 start and junior Chris
Conner has thus far failed to replicate the magic of his
breakout sophomore season, Murphy is leading the WCHA offensively
with 18 points in 10 games. |
| Bench
Minor |
|
College football teams are
legendary for eating up resources and personnel in athletic
departments, but since the University of Denver
doesn’t field a football team, we thought they might
be a little more organized than some other schools where
athletic resources are stretched thin. That’s apparently
not the case when it comes to keeping track of trophies,
after Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky admitted to the Denver
Post last week that he doesn’t know the whereabouts
of the Gold Pan – the traveling trophy his team battles
Colorado College for each year. One would think that forcing
the Pioneers to either find it or pay for a new one would
be all the incentive the Tigers need to win it back later
this season. |
PUCKS
TO PICK UP AFTER PRACTICE
•
They may be thinking what a difference a season makes
in Grand Forks these days. About this time last year,
the Fighting Sioux were an unparalleled offensive powerhouse,
with questions to be answered in goal. Today, North Dakota’s
defense of the MacNaughton Cup is struggling due to the fact that
the offense has faltered despite stellar goaltending from rookie
Phillipe Lamoureux. While the team has averaged just a little
better than two goals per game, and heads into a home series with
St. Cloud State on a 1-5-1 streak, Lamoureux is among the league’s
top goalies statistically with a .940 saves percentage.
•
According to the Minneapolis-based news service Quick Facts, video
replay boards will be installed at Mariucci Arena in
time for the WCHA Playoffs and the NCAA West Regional, to be held
there in March. South Dakota electronics giant Daktronics has
won the bid to install the video screens at the arena, contingent
to approval by the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. WCHA
fans are already familiar with Daktronics equipment, as the company
has installed video boards at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul
and the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. If approved by the
Board of Regents at their December meeting, the Mariucci video
screens are expected to be installed and operational by February.
• In
the “strange injury of the week” department, Kevin
Allenspach of the St. Cloud Times has informed us of
the outrageous (bad) fortune of St. Cloud State sophomore
forward Nate Raduns. After a freak badminton accident
last week, Raduns was left with blurred vision in his left eye
and had to miss the Huskies’ home series versus Michigan
Tech. Apparently, a hard-hit shuttlecock hit Raduns in the eye
and left him with vision problems. The good news is he’s
expected to make a full recovery.
•
Before a series in Anchorage a few weeks ago, UMD coach Scott
Sandelin was recounting to UAA coach John Hill the story of Bulldog
fans serenading the home team with the “OVER-RATED”
at the DECC during a loss to Vermont. Hill joked that his
team had never been ranked high enough to be considered overrated.
Sure enough, after the Seawolves swept UMD and rose to 15th in
the national polls, Hill’s team was the subject of an “OVER-RATED”
chant courtesy of fans at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center during
a loss to Minnesota State, Mankato last weekend.
•
Want to make your office or computer room sound like the
DECC? Some members of the renowned UMD Bulldog Pep Band
are maintaining a web
site featuring band photos, schedules of upcoming games, and
mp3 files of the UMD fight song and the band’s popular rendition
of “In Heaven There Is No Beer.” Anyone who went to
the right bars in Boston during last year’s Frozen Four
knows all of the words to that one by heart.
• There
was a kind of WCHA détente on the ice of the Xcel
Energy Center this week, with a Bulldog, a Gopher and
a Husky working together to try to get a win. The Minnesota Wild
hosted a hockey fantasy camp for members of the media, with the
team’s coaches playing a scrimmage alongside members of
the Twin Cities press. One team featured Wild assistant coach
Mike Ramsey (a star for the Gophers), Wild goalie coach Bob Mason
(a star for the Bulldogs) and KMSP-TV news anchor Jeff Passolt,
who was one of the leading scorers in St. Cloud State history
when the Huskies still played at the Division III level.
