Subject:  Superstitions of UAA Players
 
I hope no one gets upset about this.  I thought that it would be interesting
for some of you out there.  It was printed in the January 30th edition of the
Anchorage Daily News.  Thanks to Doyle Woody, we have an inside idea of what
happens at Sullivan Arena before they let the fans in.
 
Superstitions get an assist:  UAA skaters reveal secrets
 
From our Truth is Stranger Than Fiction File - also known as Some Guys Have Way
Too Much Free Time On Their Hands - comes tales of Seawolf superstitions.
 
Some of the superstitions held by some members of the University of Alaska
Anchorage hockey team are ordinary enough - always putting the same skate on
first, taping your stick the same way, that sort of mundane thing.  But plenty
of them are way over the top, going beyond the trivial and curious and brushing
right up against an obvious need for professional help.  Or at least a hobby.
 
Like the time two seasons ago Jeff Batters accidentally spilled his Dr Pepper
onto Derek Donald's skate.  Donald promptly went out and scored a hat trick,
including the game winner, in an overtime victory against powerful Maine.
Needless to say, Batters subsequently needed a Dr Pepper before every game so
he could splash some on Donald's skate.
 
Hence, Batters once found himself at a concession stand, before a game, asking
if there was any Dr Pepper around.
 
Or take Jim Tobin. Please.  Tobin has almost as many superstitions as he has
career points, but at least he can laugh about them.  That doesn't sound like
much until you find out that some guys guard their superstitions like they were
national security secrets.
 
Tobin last year took to rubbing smokeless tobacco on the blade of his stick for
good luck.
 
This is the same guy who user to write GW, as in game-winner, on his stick
blade.
 
"That never worked," said Tobin.
 
The Seawolves eat their Friday pre-game meals at a local restaurant that
features an indoor fountain.  Tobin is one of the superstitious Seawolves who
always throw coins in the fountain.
 
"I used to make wishes, but they never happened," he said.  "So now I just do
it for luck."
 
And to think Keith Morris calls Tobin "different."
 
Like Morris should talk.  This is a guy who has his yin and yang all lined up.
He always wears one sock inside out.  Not just when he's playing hockey.  All
the time.
 
"To keep me balanced, " Morris explained.  Of course.
 
Before games, Morris and Mitch Kean sit in the same seats in Sullivan Arena
while they tape their sticks.  They've done that ever since they sat in those
seats before Kean scored two goals against Kent State on Dec 6.
 
"Just dumb stuff," said Morris, laughing.  "It's important, but other people
don't understand.  The security guards think we're nuts."
 
That's not nuts.  A story Kean told is nuts.  In junior(s), he had a teammate
who had a solution when he was slumping. He'd take all his sticks out on the
ice, line them up on the boards and take out one stick.
 
He'd break that stick over the boards, then yell at the other sticks,  "That
could be you!"
 
Speaking of sticks, Donald, Troy Norcross, and Trent Pankewicz share the Power
of the Pyramid, a superstition passed on by former Seawolf Rob Conn.  Using
pieces of tape, the players make a pyramid on the locker-room wall and keep
their sticks underneath the pyramid.
 
"Maybe it's just something that gets you confident or in a groove, " said
Donald, who has worn the same T-shirt and shorts under his uniform for three
years.
 
Rather than be a slave to superstitions, Steve Bogoyevac says he avoids them.
"My superstition's not to have any superstitions," he said.  "I think it messes
you up."
 
This from a guy who always has to be the last one off the ice after pre-game
warmup.  Of course, that's a "tradition," said Bogoyevac, not a "superstition."
 
As for Trent Pankewicz, pay attention and you'll notice that when the Seawolves
huddle around their net before every period, he doesn't join them.  He prefers
to stand several feet away in the slot, bend over with his stick across his
knees.
 
No superstition, claims Pankewicz, just personal preference.  "I don't listen
to that rah - rah stuff," said Pankewicz.  And you wondered why he's called The
Jerk.
 
But hey, at least Pankewicz will answer some questions.  He's no Troy Norcross.
Norcross, Batters, Pankewicz, and Paul Williams apparently have a secret
handshake they use before every period.
 
So, um, what's the handshake, Troy?
 
"If I told you that, " he said, "I'd have to kill you."
 
No thanks, I have a superstition about death.
 
Doyle Woody
 
Disclaimer:  This column is the opinion of Daily News assistant sports editor
Doyle Woody.  His column appears on Thursdays.
 
Melanie Daniels
asmjd@alaska
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