The NTDP U18 team beat Alaska 5-3 in Anchorage tonight. Team USA got out to 5-0 lead and was able to hold on for the win. Alaska goalie Wylie Rogers got off to a slow start which put Alaska behind early. He was eventually pulled for back-up Chad Johnson.
Team USA was able to utilize one of their biggest advantages, which was that they had been playing for a couple weeks while this was Alaska's first game of the season. The Nanooks struggled with their special teams all night, while the U18's were a little better with their passing.
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To be fair I'd have to say that I think Johnson would have come in no more than 2 minutes later anyway. But Rogers did get beat 5 hole 3 times.
Why doesn't the WCHA get rid of Alaska and put in Bemidji State? It's the same competition and eliminates the hassle and expense of travel to Alaska.
Why do backward's dumbasses ask that stupid question year after year? The member WCHA schools had almost their ENTIRE travel to Anchorage paid by UAA for the first 10 years UAA was in the league. The member WCHA schools ALL received exemptions for playing in Alaska that allowed them to schedule extra games in their arena. That means EVERY school in the WCHA makes more money with UAA in the league than without. UAA inclusion in the WCHA has been far and away a beneficial arrangement for WCHA member schools and inferences that suggest otherwise are ignorant.
I have heard that Nebraka Omaha and Bemidji are teams that the WCHA would love to have in and Move UAA out of the league. Less travel and up and coming programs and UAA has not got it done on the ice and in the seats to be a solid member. They did win some playoff games a couple of years ago but have had issues with players leaving the new coach and i am sure the power players in the league are sick of UAA's leadership.
You have heard? LOL. That's an effing riot. Where'd you "hear"? "I have heard" is the most convenient way to try to make one's fantasies appear to be reality.
I have heard that anonymous people that post on the internet are impotent obsessive trolls? Reality?
UAA's attendance is a problem for UAA. It has no bearing on the league. And just like any other rink in the country, it'll fill up as the team's success improves. Your last assertion about league "power players" being sick of UAA's "leadership" is so totally incongruous that I can't determine what you could possibly mean.
But if the WCHA is stupid enough to invite a school with an arena that holds 2000 people then they deserve the problems they'd bring with such a move. The WCHA already has a school that is revenue challenged enough to schedule home games in St. Paul instead of their own rink. It's called MSUM ... maybe they should join Bemidji in their league and UNO could join the WCHA.
UAA will be moving if they cannot get it together. The members in the league are sick of your A.D. He is the biggest poor UAA. We need this we need that. How about when you have a home series have more than half the rink filled. Donald you can't be that much of a homer to see these issues with UAA hockey. When there is other options for the WCHA that are cheaper and less travel even you have to be worried. Only time will tell.
Worried? Not at all. The only thing that worries me is that people's perceptions not be framed by idiots purporting that they have "heard" this or that and which all inetivably turn out to be fantasy.
Does UAA have challenges to overcome? Yep. Just like many many other D-1 programs. As I already made clear UAA's attendance issues have ZERO effect for the league. It's a UAA problem. And Anchorage is just like any other town. It's fans are fickle and tend to support a winner. Do you have any idea the revenue that having just a single extra home game in the WCHA means to UND or Bucky or da gophs? The exemption gained by other WCHA schools is ENOUGH reason for the league to kiss UAA's ass.
real wcha schools? Ok so how many schools in the Wcha are in the "real" west i can think of maybe 2 DU and CC can actually be called western states. the fact that people dont understand is that the chemistry is alot better then it has been in the last 4 years and the team is excited so you in the WCHA best be ready for brake out.
The WCHA was founded the same year Alaska became a state, so don't act like the name makes you a more legit member than other schools.
The fact that you guys paid for everything doesn't make it beneficial for other teams, just not as detrimental. There's still the fact you have to spend an entire weekend out of town in an extremely different time zone just to play a team that's consistently at the bottom of the league.
Attendance problem effects other teams in the league because inevitably they will have to play you at home, and not as many people are going to want to see it. It's not like those games just disappear, they can be used to play better teams.
Michigan occasionally schedules home games at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, and they're not exactly revenue challenged..
zypdfUmmm.......excuse me, but "Alaska" is not in the WCHA. The article was about Alaska-Fairbanks (now known as "Alaska"), not Alaska -Anchorage. The game was played in Anchorage so that the NTDP team could play both schools without having to travel so much (much to the dismay of the good folks of Fairbanks).Feel free to bash AA as you wish, but don't confuse them with the "Alaska Nanooks".
Kevin:
"Just not as detrimental" ... what exactly is so detrimental in travelling to Alaska for a weekend. When a CCHA team jumps on the bus from lets say Miami or Notre Dame and drives up to Ann Arbor how long does that take? 5 or 6 hours? More you say? A flight from pretty much any WCHA city to Anchorage takes about the same amount of time.
Time Zone change? Wow. It's really hard to sleep in an extra couple of hours the first day. What a detriment!! OMG!! Does Miami and Notre Dame stay in Ann Arbor when they go there? For the WHOLE weekend? Hmmm ... sounds about exactly the same thing that teams do when they come to Anchorage. The travel argument about Alaska is specious ... nay ... it's completely and utterly BOGUS.
Attendance affects other teams because they have to play on the road in front of a half filled arena? LOL. That's pretty close to the most ridiculous defense I've ever heard for this whole stupid UAA doesn't belong in the WCHA argument. OMG. Use the games to play better teams? LOL. Ever look at WCHA non-conference schedules? The so called power teams schedule PLENTY of cupcakes.
I just want to know when the WCHA will finally be rid of the Big 10 teams. They truly don't belong in the WCHA.
Actually it takes closer to 3 hours to go from Ann Arbor to ND or Miami, which would be 6 hours total travel time (Pretty sure they'd just drive back after the Saturday game). When you go to Alaska, you have half an hour to the airport, we'll be generous and say half an hour for loading stuff/security/whatever, 6 hours in flight, another hour post-landing to get luggage and to destination, plus same thing on the way back makes for at least 16 hours. Plus you have to leave (and miss class on) Friday, and usually sometimes there are additional activities added for the special trip up North, which eats away even more time. It's really not worth all that effort and time to play a team that hasn't presented any considerable threat in a long time.
Time zone changes matter when you have to get back to class early on Monday. College students' sleep schedules are never normal, and I'm pretty sure spending a weekend 6 hours behind doesn't help things much.
What I said was when UAA comes to play in the Midwest, people in the Midwest are less likely to care about the game and show up, hurting their home attendance. And even if the extra games might not necessarily go towards top-tier competition, it gives the other WCHA teams a chance to play other schools from out East they might not get to play very often.
"I just want to know when the WCHA will finally be rid of the Big 10 teams. They truly don't belong in the WCHA." You chastise people for poor arguments about why UAA shouldn't be in the WCHA and then you just throw this out? What connection is there between the WCHA and the Big Ten (other than the Big Ten originally being called the Western Conference and their similar origin, making it seem quite natural that there's some overlap)? Especially when you consider almost half of the original WCHA teams were in the Big Ten.
So yeah I just got done watching the UAA team lay it to the U-18ers and am wondering how an article that is about Squarebanks becomes a trash UAA fest. And just for the record why isn't poor UAF going to get kicked out of the CCHA they just lost to the U-18, while UAA beat them like it was no one else's business. Ok so UAA has had some tough times lately but we have a coach who has been a winner everywhere he has been. No more Hill, he was an alumnus and all but his coaching and tight control over the team was not doing good. People keep bringing up all the transfers of the offseason. The rest of the team couldn't be happier. The are happy to be here and now we have a team that wants to play for Dave and are having fun and excited, so watch out snotty "real" WCHA teams. And of course I do believe that Mankato and Mich Tech are real strong members too. Maybe the WCHA should boot them too???
What top team doesn't pretty much sell out regardless of the opponent? If UAA doesn't attract the same turnout if they were to visit UAH as Minnesota would does that surprise anyone? It was your argument that UAA was a detriment. So far I'd say you haven't proven much. I used a bad example with Miami to Ann Arbor. How about to Northern? That's a little longer drive eh? On a bus? At least airplanes have more than one toilet.
In the history of UAA and UAF hockey not a single Coach that's been here has EVER said anything negative about their travel schedule. In fact, most of them have focused on some of the advantages.
And players ought to have better scheduling priority if they have classes on Friday.
And the time difference between anywhere in Alaska and the east coast is 4 hours. UAA's most distant WCHA opponents are 3 hours distant. So I got no idea what the "6" you refer to represents.
Umm...yes, top teams don't always sell out when you play crap teams, and significantly less people show up. I've seen it happen. That's being detrimental.
But Northern doesn't suck year in and year out. That's the whole point. The point is it's not worth the hassle to go play a team nobody wants to play.
And what do you mean players should have better scheduling priority? Have you scheduled classes anytime recently? Sometimes there are certain classes you have to take that aren't offered any other day. For example, Michigan math/physics classes run MWF (and for some 4 credit math classes also Tu). Are players just supposed to entirely avoid these subjects so they can do weekend road trips?
It's coach's job to be diplomatic.
UAA student athletes don't have classes on Fridays. Maybe other colleges should follow suit.
Michigan Tech has done consistently worse than UAA the past 10 years, but nobody is shouting about kicking them out of the WCHA.
The fact is, the U-18 team was predicted (on this blog) to beat UAA. Instead, we saw the same team U-18 who manhandled Alaska Fairbanks get decimated by UAA. When is the article going to be published about the UAA win?
I am sick of this bashing UAA and the basing of th people of Anchorage. They have seen UAA go from and extreamly strong team when I first started to watch them in the late 80'2 early 90's (I was born in 83 and my first UAA game i can remmber is when i was 3) to a team that was desimated by bad couching. The type of couch you have means everything. Telfious was an arigant ass and most of the teams core quit. Hill only got the job because he was alum and he mismanaged the team and played to many mind games and didnt want to be there. UAA has a couch commitied to bringing the school to its former glory and behond so damn it all u anti UAA people shut up Wisconsin and minisotia and CC didnt start o we are going to play colege hockey and the next season become thebest in the country no they had good couches and good development it was just so long ago no one remmbers Badger football sucked the whole time my parents went there in fact my mom never thought they would go to rose bowl but they finily did. UAA is not a national power house but damn it it is still young in the wcha and they look like the puzzle is coming togeather. This artical is UAF the team every picked to be strong in the CCHA got beat by a team UAA crushed and to travle to fairbanks is longer then to travle to Anchorage and the weather is worse on the players body but no one is bitching about UAF they have had lots of growing pains as well so should we deny any hockey in the state of alaska well maybe alaska should deny you in the midwest The natural gass and oil you desprately need and see how that goes. stop the hating
Good job basing your argument on one preseason game and making your conclusion somehow related to oil.
Alaska should seperate and join Canada.
Chris, when writing about "Alaska", please be sure and write Alaska Nanooks. We don't want people thinking that UAA got beat by the U-18 team, when we know they blew them out 9-2. When will we see a write up of that game, BTW?
Gee, do you think that the U-18 team was suffering from jetlag last night? That would be the justification that a lot of you seem to need. If these student-athletes have pro ambitions, then they had better get used to jumping a few time zones. I don't hear them complaining though .... just the "fans". Granted, one exhibition game doesn't mean a whole lot. I do think that AA will be better this year ... not great by any stretch of the imagination ... but better. These things take time. I wish them well. The bottom line though .... AA got the job done against the U-18 team and Alaska (UAF) didn't. And as a Nanook fan it hurts to have to say that!
Hey, if I can interupt the bickering for a moment, I have a question about the original article {remember it ... the one about Alaska (Fairbanks) playing the U-18 team .... and had absolutly nothing to do with AA?}. Does anyone know if Rogers was using the new smaller goalie pads that are required this year or not? As of last week the new equiptment hadn't arrived yet, so if it did arrive, he hasn't had long to adjust to it (not that that justifies giving up 4 goals, but sometimes size does matter!).
I saw Eric Carlson (Alasks Nanooks Blog) mention that Rogers pads had somehow been mistakenly delivered to UAA and that they'd been returned but still hadn't made their way back to them. The U-18's OK'd him wearing the old ones.
anon @ 4PM:
Alaska should secede from the U.S. I totally agree. Then we could BUY Canadia.
UAA should have kept the pads and Rogers could have picked them up when he was in town! Is FedEx delivering the darn things by dogsled or what? So if he gave up 4 goals with the bigger pads, then he really was having an off night. (No doubt tired from that long trip to Anchorage) Thanks Donald
rogers had a long trip to Anchorage I will beleave that when they hve to use the Richerdson Hiway. so the bus ride would be 5 hours and a plane ride an hour an half. Man you people from the lower states really have no clue. The University of alask Fairbanks lost To the U-18 team The University of alaska anchorage beat the U-18 team. The post is about how UAF lost so why did this become a whole post about the WCHA and UAA when UAF plays in the CCHA so confused.
It turned into a UAA thread because someone mistakenly took a comment about "Alaska" to mean UAA. People need to differentiate between Alaska Nanooks and Alaska Seawolves.
I'm well aware of how long it takes to get to Anchorage from Fairbanks. I've made the trip many, many times. The remark was a sarcastic (look the word up if you have to)jab at the other posters that feel burdened by having their teams have to travel to a remote Artic outpost (just to be clear, that was sarcasim again).
It appears that UAF is going to have a real identity crisis this year. Calling themselves Alaska is going to confuse a lot of people. (Obviously, it's confused a lot of posters who thought this artcle was about UAA).
that remark was not at you there was another remark about the long trips, earier in the posting, I have grown up with more sarcasim then you will ever know but we should not take shots at eachother we argue the same thing.
I'd love to see Wisconsin and Minnesota leave the WCHA to join Michigan and Michigan St. The only teams that I would miss seeing would be North Dakota, CC and Denver. The rest of the WCHA is garbage.
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