SUMMARY
 
Minnesota did a repeat performance of last year when they rolled into town
tonight and shutout the Seawolves 7-0 in front on a sellout crowd.  To my
knowledge, they remain the only team to have shut the Wolves out at home in
something like five years.
 
Actually, in the first period, UAA definitely had the intensity of play that it
takes to win, or to be reasonable, at least to put up a very good fight.
Unfortunately, they failed to capitalize on three very very good opportunities
to score, whereas the Gophers came through on every defensive mistake that the
Wolves dished out.  One such mistake came when the Wolves were on a power play;
Craig Johnson got the puck on a break away, gave Gravistin the fake like no
other and easily slid the puck in to move the Gophers up 2-0.  It was quite
impressive looking never the less.
 
After that, it only got worse until about the middle of the third when UAA
seemed to come back to life; Gravistin was apparently injured as he
attempted to stop a shot through his pads by Charlie Wasley, and Lee Schill
stepped in to relive him.  Of course, being up 7-0, Minnesota didn't really
have to worry about putting the pressure on anyway I suppose.  hehe
 
 
WHATS GOING ON?
 
The Seawolves started out the season great going 5-1 against conference teams,
and it looked to be a very very good year.  However, I have not seen them play
to the level that they did in those games since those games.  The first ten or
fifteen minutes of tonight's game was close intensity wise, but that's about
it.  UAA is now 10-5-2 overall which isn't all that bad I suppose, except that
they have a long way to go, and unless things change real quick, with teams
such as Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, Lowell, and Fairbanks coming to town, they
are going to have a tough time pulling off a .500
 
1)  I will admit that I have never played hockey, so maybe I don't know what
it's like to be down there on the ice, but after watching them for several
years and comparing that to this year, it seems that they are not taking enough
shots.  You can't wait until the perfect opportunity arrives because nine times
out of ten, it won't.  Sometimes ya got to shoot and rely on maybe getting a
bounce or two here and there.
 
2)  The Seawolves have the skill and ability to put up good defense.  I have
seen it, though not recently I might add.  :(  Anyway, Minnesota didn't have to
really work for their goals tonight.  All they had to do was sit back and wait
for a simple mistake.  Shot, goal.  Being a team of the caliber that they are,
it was easy to capitalize on those errors.
 
3)  The last and biggest problem in my humble opinion, which actually kind'a
tips off the first two is that team discipline has gone all to hell.  Sorry for
the language, but that's about it.  The Wolves started off the season and have
actually in the past been very good about it, but lately it seems that many of
the players, especially the younger ones are much more interested in provoking
little squirmishes then putting the puck home.  Both the games the UAA was in
during the Nissan Jeep were messy, yet the other two games with the other three
teams were good clean hockey.  Minnesota played good basic hockey tonight, and
although they were pulled into a few of UAA's little outbursts, it was easy to
see who was provoking it all.  It's hard to score when you're a man down all
the time, and additionally hard to keep your opponents from scoring when they
seem to always be a one up on you.
 
 
Sorry for all the negativity here tonight, but it's finally gotten to me.  All
of these things have been becoming more and more prevalent as the year goes
on, and ironically (?) the less exciting and worse the games have gotten.
Minnesota looks to be (and has been in the past) a very good team, and it could
have been a fun game tonight even if they Wolves has still lost.  Humm.  The
only thing that one can hope for (unless you're from Minnesota ;-) is that the
Wolves have never lost a second game in a series yet this year.  We'll see.
 
Night.