Monday, January 14, 2008

Monday Q&A

Here's a question from Jeff Y.:
Smack in the middle of the third period Friday, Alaska-Anchorage pulls the goalie while down 3 or 4 goals. Although I can't imagine why it was done, I love it! I've never seen such a thing before. Any insight?

My answer:
The Seawolves cut the score to 3-1 with six minutes to go in the second period Friday. CC left wing Scott McCulloch's power-play goal 1:12 into the third put a huge damper on any comeback hopes for Anchorage. But when the Seawolves got an offensive-zone faceoff with about eight minutes left, I think coach Dave Shyiak decided to quit playing it safe. If you remember, Anchorage was continually icing the puck because they had trouble dealing with CC's pressure, so offensive-zone faceoffs were rare. So, Shyiak pulled goaltender Jon Olthuis to create a 6-on-5. Anchorage won the faceoff, but lost possession two passes later and Anchroage's Shane Lovdahl had to make a diving block to keep CC at bay on the resulting rush. Shyiak put Olthuis back on during the next stoppage of play, which I believe was an icing call after Lovdahl saved the day.

Submit questions via comments (I'm working on that Civitarese interview) or e-mail (kate.crandall@gazette.com).

4 comments:

Zamboni Driver said...

Although rare, pulling the goalie when down by 3 or 4 goals does, indeed happen. I know of two coaches did it on ocassion; former Lake Superior coach Frank Anzalone and the late Shawn Walsh at Maine.

Kate Crandall said...

Hey, thanks for signing in to comment! I know that's kind of a pain. Hopefully we'll move to a different system soon.

Zamboni Driver said...

Hey Kate...after admitting their mistake in the Friday DU-Wisconsin game, did the WCHA even consider playing the overtime period that should have been played, before the start of the Saturday DU-UW game?

JimO said...

Yo Kate, ncaa hockey has a long way to go before it presents a threat to Cdn major juniors ability to attract the majority of the worlds top young players. Focusing on opportunity alone, the whl features 22 teams in an area that might produce 10 college programs. Economics also are a obstacle as small Cdn towns like moose jaw and prince albert Sask have vested interests in their jr programs and no need to contend with ncaa title 9 issues. I would pay to see an annual holiday tilt with CC/DU/AFA vs the UofS Huskies and the UofA GBears though!! Cheers, JIMO