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Denver goalie Marc Cheverie deflects a shot off the stick of a Minnesota State player in the second period of an NCAA college hockey game in Denver on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
The Seawolves schedule doesn't get any easier as the 2nd ranked University of Denver Pioneers come to the Sullivan Arena this weekend for a pair of games. This will be the second time in only four WCHA series so far this year that the Seawolves have faced the 2nd ranked team nationally. In the regular season last year the Seawolves managed to get a split with the Pioneers, then faced them again in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and lost both games by a single goal. Denver has been an extremely tough team for the Seawolves to face recently as they are 1-9 against Denver in their last ten meetings. The Seawolves haven't beat the Pioneers at home since January 29th, 2000.
The good news for the Seawolves is that Denver's starting goalie, Marc Cheverie, will most likely not play. Cheverie suffered a deep laceration in his calf last weekend and had to be rushed to the hospital where he received 30 stitches. Article Cheverie, a junior, has a record of 4-0-0 on the season and currently leads WCHA in GAA (1.27) and save percentage (.959). Before going down with the injury, Cheverie had just broken Denver's all-time shut-out minutes streak of 223:51. The likely replacement for Marc Cheverie will be a freshman from Anchorage, Adam Murray. Adam has spent the last two-plus seasons playing for the US National Team Development Program (USNTDP) where he posted a record of 22-10-1. Adam Murray's bio
Other notable players the Seawolves will need to keep in check for them to have a chance at points this weekend are:
- Senior forward, Rhett Rakhshani, a Huntington Beach, CA native who leads the team in points with 9 in only 8 games. Last season Rhett was named to the thrid team all-WCHA. Drafted by New York Islanders in the 4th round in 2006.
- Senior forward, Tyler Ruegsegger, who is second on the team in points with 8. Led the WCHA with 12 power play goals last season. Was recipient of Dr. Art Mason Award for University of Denver's top scholar athlete in 2007-2008. Drafted by Toronto in the 6th round of 2006.
- Freshman defenseman, William Wrenn, a hometown boy from Anchorage, AK who was Adam Murray's teammate at the US National Team Development Program the previous two seasons. Wrenn has only 3 points on the season but leads the team in +/- with a +6. Wrenn was drafted in the 2nd round (43rd overall) by the San Jose Sharks in the 2009 draft.
All in all, Denver is a very good hockey team with balanced scoring, play sound defensively, and has few weeknesses. They come into Anchorage posting a 17.5% power play and a stingy 86.8% penalty kill. One weakness may be their below average faceoff percentage (49.1%).
The Seawolves will look for continued offensive production from Senior forward Kevin Clark and Junior forward Tommy Grant. Clark leads the team in goals at 4 and is tied for the team lead in points with Grant at 6 apiece. The Seawolves welcomed back Swedish defenseman Nils Backstom from injury last weekend. Nils, the only UAA player to be drafted by the NHL, looks to see increased ice-time in his first home games this season. It will be interesting to see who gets the start in net for the Seawolves this weekend. Junior Bryce Christianson has seemingly claimed the starting job, but with a pair of disappointing losses to a struggling Minnesota squad, Senior Jon Olthuis may see a game in net.
Taking a look at the WCHA rankings one can see the two Colorado schools (Colorado College and Denver) on top with identical 3-0-1 records. North Dakota is sitting at 2-1-1 with their only loss coming on the road to the Seawolves. Sitting in a tie for 9th with only two points apiece are UAA and Michigan Tech. UAA is 1-3-0 in the WCHA and has an embarrasing -11 in goal differential in only 4 games played. On the season they are a combined 3-5-0 with a -13 goal differential.
Now taking a look at the national rankings one finds Miami (Ohio) on top of the rankings with a record of 6-1-1. They also received 41 of the 46 first place votes. Denver saw 4 first place votes come their way. The WCHA holds 5 teams in the top 20, half of the conference. Although the Seawolves have struggled to start the year, some credit must go to their difficult schedule. The Seawolves have already faced 3rd ranked North Dakota, 5th ranked Michigan, and will now face 2nd ranked Denver this weekend. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is unbeaten on the year at 5-0-1 and sits at 13th in the rankings, an impressive start for them. One last interesting note, to anyone who thinks the upcoming WCHA expansion will weaken the depth of the conference, just look at the rankings of the two future WCHA teams, Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State. They both sit still unbeaten on the season and in 10th and 11th in the rankings. UAA's future schedule doesn't look any easier.
