Showing posts with label UAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UAA. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Teenage Angst

A wild Friday evening at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena, filled with penalties and much whining by the U-18 Team. They supposedly have some of the best talent in junior hockey, but they sure as hell don't have the sportsmanship or class. I guess that's what happens when you put a bunch of prima donnas on the same squad.

Tech started strong out of the gate, picking up an early PP goal off a rebound that was buried by freshman Brett Olson, with assists from Alex Gagne and Deron Cousens.

John Kivisto made it 2-0 early in the second period with an awesome shot from the inside the top half of the left circle. Who knew the guy had it in him? Olson and Geoff Kinrade picked up assists on the play.

RPI recruit Jerry D'Amigo cut Tech's lead in half on a shot that evaded Robinson with just over five minutes left to play in the second, but the Huskies regained the two-goal lead when sophomore Eric Kattelus wristed a bullet over Haxwell's left shoulder. The goal again came on the powerplay, with assists from Drew Dobson and Eli Vlaisavljevich (yes, I looked up the spelling).

The third period scoring began with Gwilliam capping off Tech's scoring, apparently poking in a puck that Haxwell mishandled (my interpretation from what I could see sitting in Section N). That turned out to be the game-winner, when UNH commit Ryan Bourque scored twice in the final two minutes of regulation to bring the U-18s within a goal, but not close enough.

Haxwell? He's not just a goaltender, he likes rough play too! He hauled down a Tech player (once again, I didn't see who it was from my end of the ice) and held him there for a good five seconds while the refs stared off into space and didn't call anything. Of course, a makeup call came a bit later on, but still, pretty funny shit. I'm sure Jerry York will approve of such play when he shows up at BC. (/sarcasm)

The game was a penalty-fest, with the high schoolers acting like a bunch of little pussies once they had dug themselves into a big hole, hacking it up all over the ice. Of course, Russell wisely did not allow the Huskies to throw any serious punches (for obvious reasons), though I was pretty sure Ryan Bunger would've been more than happy to rearrange BC commit Kenny Ryan's face, after he jumped on Bunger's back and started cheapshotting him without even taking his own helmet off.

*sigh*

Kids these days...

Anyway, exhibition hockey is finally over with, and next week we're hosting the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves for a pair of WCHA games in Houghton. UAA is 4-1-1 through their first six regular season games, including a 3-1 defeat of Maine, and a 3 pt. weekend at home against the Bulldogs of Duluth. This is shaping up to be a tough Anchorage squad that MTU should not take lightly, like they did last season. Coming out flying and playing a consistent, strong 60 minutes of hockey should be the goal for both nights.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Rank-a-Rama

So Michigan Tech is making an appearance on a few well-known college hockey polls...

USCHO.com/CSTV Poll

October 22, 2007

No. Team (First-place votes)
Points
Last Poll
1. North Dakota (42)
991
1
2. Miami (7)
950
2
3. Michigan
794
6
4. Colorado College
777
10
5. Boston College
747
4
6. Denver
723
5
7. New Hampshire (1)
700
8
8. Michigan State
653
9
9. Clarkson
645
7
10. Minnesota
677
3
11. Wisconsin
515
13
12. Notre Dame
470
11
13. Maine
293
17
14. Michigan Tech
242
NR
15. St. Lawrence
197
15
16. Massachusetts
194
20
17. Minnesota Duluth
190
NR
18. Cornell
165
19
19. Ohio State
156
12
20. Alaska Anchorage
106
NR

Also receiving votes: Air Force 86, Nebraska-Omaha 59, Boston University 47, St. Cloud State 44, Quinnipiac 33, Vermont 33, Union 24, Western Michigan 24, Dartmouth 21, Rensselaer 13, Merrimack 9, Harvard 7, Niagara 6, Colgate 4, Northeastern 3, Holy Cross 2.

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USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll

October 22, 2007

No. Team (First-place votes)
Points
Last Poll
1. North Dakota (24)
499
1
2. Miami (9)
482
2
3. Michigan
378
6
4. Colorado College
376
10
5. Boston College
353
4
6. New Hampshire (1)
350
8
7. Denver
303
5
8. Clarkson
295
7
9. Michigan State
254
9
10. Minnesota
189
3
11. Wisconsin
182
T-13
12. Notre Dame
151
11
13. Maine
53
NR
14. Ohio State
47
12
15. Michigan Tech
37
NR

Also receiving votes: Minnesota Duluth 33, St. Lawrence 27, Massachusetts 20, Alaska Anchorage 16, Cornell 16, Air Force 9, Boston University 3, Merrimack 2, Niagara 2, Nebraska-Omaha 2, Union 1.

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Michigan Tech also made #17 on the INCH Power Rankings Poll, but I don't like INCH, so I'm not going to post that poll.

They made a pretty nice jump on the polls. If they want to stay up there longer than a week, they're going to have to do something really cool against North Dakota this weekend. Coming out like they did against NMU won't cut it either. I'm still confused as to what happened there. That game will be a thorn in my side all season long, I'm sure.

It's also nice to see UAA on the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll. I don't know if that's happened since I've been a college hockey fan. The WCHA as a whole has a nice representation in the polls. That always makes me happy to see. This weekend in college hockey should prove to be another interesting one.