The 2007-08 edition of the UAA hockey team skated to a 7-21-8 overall record, while achieving a 3-19-6 mark in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play. For the second consecutive season the Seawolves won the Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup by disposing of their intrastate rivals in the teams' annual four-game series. UAA extended its non-conference unbeaten streak to two seasons as well by going 4-0-2, including a 3-0-1 record against UAF. The Seawolves also enjoyed wins over conference foes Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Michigan Tech, while recording a program-high eight ties during the season. Sophomore Josh Lunden emerged as the team's most prolific offensive producer, scoring a career-best 27 points, including a team-best 14 goals. Sophomore goaltender Jon Olthuis, who recorded the lowest single-season goals-against average in eight seasons (2.89) and became the first Seawolf to earn WCHA Scholar-Athlete honors in the three-year history of the award. UAA also placed nine student-athletes on the All-WCHA Academic Team, while also earning WCHA Player of the Week accolades four times during the season.
LUNDEN NAMED TEAM MVP: Josh Lunden, who led the Alaska Anchorage hockey team in points during the 2007-08 season with a career-high 27, was named the Seawolf hockey team's Most Valuable Player at the annual UAA Blueliners Booster Club award banquet. The only Seawolf to register double-figures in all three scoring categories, the Coquitlam, B.C., product tallied a team and career-best 14 goals and 13 assists in 36 games this season. Lunden was named the 2007 Nye Frontier Classic Most Outstanding Player after recording a tournament-high five points, including a two-goal outing in UAA's 4-4 tie with then-No.8 Boston University. Tied for the team lead in power-play goals with three and tied for second in multiple-point games with six, Lunden's season goal total was the most by a UAA skater since 2003-04.
OTHER TEAM AWARD WINNERS: Six other Seawolves were honored at the end-of-the-year banquet. Freshman Kane Lafranchise was recognized as the Rookie of the Year, Most Improved was given to freshman forward Brad McCabe, junior defenseman Mat Robinson was the recipient of the Most Inspirational award, senior forward Blair Tassone collected the Corner Man award, the Jack Peterson Student-Athlete award was garnered to senior defenseman Luke Beaverson and sophomore forward Kevin Clark received the Leon Thompson Fan Favorite award. All the awards, including the Team MVP honor, were voted on by members of the team, while the Fan Favorite honor was conducted by an online poll at GoSeawolves.com
SEAWOLVES RETAIN GOVERNOR'S CUP: UAA won the battle for the 15th Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup, owning a 3-0-1 advantage over rival UAF in the four-game series. The Seawolves, who are unbeaten their last six meetings against the Nanooks (6-0-2), hold a 24-18-6 overall edge in the series since the inception of the Cup in 1993. UAA, which has won seven Cup titles overall, will face its northern rival just two times a season beginning with the 2008-09 campaign. Since 1999-2000, the two Alaska schools have faced one another four times a season.
OLTHUIS EARNS SCHOLAR-ATHLETE HONORS: Sophomore goaltender Jon Olthuis earned recognition as a 2008 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Scholar-Athlete Award recipient, becoming the first Seawolf to garner the accolade in its 3-year existence. One of 36 men's players to earn the distinction, Olthuis started in a career-high 31 games this season, owning a 6-17-8 record, 2.89 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. To earn recognition as a WCHA Scholar-Athlete, a student-athlete must have completed at least one year of residency at his or her present institution prior to the current academic year and must also have a GPA of at least 3.50 on a 4.0 scale for the previous two semesters, or may qualify if their overall GPA is at least 3.50 for all terms at their present institution.
NINE SKATERS EARN ACADEMIC RECOGNITION: Nine Seawolf hockey players, including four repeat honorees, earned recognition on the 2007-08 All-WCHA Academic Team. A total of 80 student-athletes representing the 10-league member schools received the academic honor. Garnering the honor from UAA were senior Luke Beaverson, senior Peter Cartwright, sophomore Paul Crowder, sophomore Trevor Hunt, junior Shane Lovdahl, sophomore Josh Lunden, sophomore Jon Olthuis, junior Mat Robinson and senior Chris Tarkir. The honor is the third straight for Beaverson, Cartwright and Tarkir, while Robinson received the accolade for the second consecutive season. Crowder, Hunt, Lovdahl, Lunden and Olthuis are all first- time honorees.
?WOLVES ELIMINATED BY CC: UAA's season came to an end at the World Arena in Colorado Springs as league champion Colorado College earned 4-1 and 3-2 (OT) wins to down the Seawolves in the teams' WCHA first round playoff series (Mar. 14-15). In the opener freshman Brad McCabe scored a power-play marker 2:15 into the second frame knotting the game at 1-1, but the Tigers would tally three unanswered goals to claim the Game 1 victory. UAA outshot CC 28-20, but Tiger goalie Richard Bachman thwarted 27 shots to help seal the win. In Game 2 the Green & Gold struck first on freshman Kane Lafranchise's tally at 6:05 of the first, giving UAA a 1-0 lead heading into the second period. The teams would swap scores in the second, with CC tying the game at the 4:22 mark before the Seawolves would regain the lead at 2-1 on a goal from sophomore Josh Lunden at 16:37. The Tigers would force overtime with a game-tying score from Mike Testwuide at 5:54 of the third, before going on to clinch the series in overtime with another tally from Testwuide 2:58 into the extra session. Sophomore Jon Olthuis stopped 27 shots in the loss.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: The Seawolves held conference opponents to an average of 26.2 shots on goal per game this season?their lowest average in 15 seasons of WCHA play. Overall (including non-conference games), opponents averaged 25.8 shots a game, which ranks as the second-lowest average since allowing 25.7 in 1999-00. UAA has allowed fewer shots on goal in each of Dave Shyiak's three seasons, going from 37.3 in 2005-06 to 29.8 in 2006-07. The most shots the 'Wolves have allowed opponents to average in the WCHA era is 38.7 in 2004-05. UAA currently has the second-lowest opponent shots on goal average in the WCHA. The Seawolves also held league opponents to the second-lowest goal total in program history, allowing 89 in 28 WCHA contests, two short of the all-time best mark of 87 (1999-2000).
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves allowed 26 power-play goals during the conference season, their lowest total since surrendering 25 in 2002-03 ... UAA scored an equal total of 26 goals during each period played this season ... the 2-2 tie Feb. 29 was the 8th of the season for the ?Wolves, establishing a new single-season record ... the six WCHA ties matches a program-best mark (2002-03) ... the Seawolves have not been shut out for 25 consecutive games, marking the longest such stretch since 2004-05 when they scored at least one goal in 33 straight contests ... the Green & Gold were unbeaten at 7-0-3 when scoring four or more goals, but went 1-21-5 when scoring three or fewer goals ... 28 different players saw at least one game of action in 2007-08, while 23 produced at least one point ... UAA's team GAA of 3.05 was the lowest since posting a 2.86 in 1999-2000, and third lowest all-time since joining the WCHA ... the 112 goals surrendered was the lowest allowed since the 1999-2000 season (92) and ranks as the third-lowest total (tie) given up by UAA all-time since it moved to the NCAA Division I level (1984-85).
PLAYER NOTES: Sophomore F Josh Lunden ended the season with a team-best four-game point-scoring streak, tallying 1-4--5 totals. Lunden began the season by scoring points in UAA's first five games (5-4--9). The Coquitlam, B.C., product is tied for 42nd on UAA's all-time career goals list with 25 ... freshman D Kane Lafranchise netted points in both of the Seawolves' first-round playoff games (1g, 1a), marking the second two-game point-scoring streak of his career ... five skaters (Kevin Clark, Merit Waldrop, Mat Robinson, Blair Tassone, and Lunden), played in all 36 games, while three (Paul Crowder, Jared Tuton and Peter Cartwight played in all but one contest (35) ... three UAA players registered over 20 points (Lunden-27, Crowder-23, Clark-23), marking the second consecutive season at least three skaters eclipsed the 20-point plateau, including the second straight for both Lunden and Crowder ... sophomore G Jon Olthuis left his mark on UAA's single-season goaltending list, ranking in a tie for 4th all-time with a 2.89 GAA, tied for second in games played (32) and 11th overall in saves (722). Olthuis also owns a UAA career-best GAA of 3.08.
UNDERCLASSMEN LEAD THE WAY: UAA's freshman and sophomore classes combined to produce 151 of the 224 total points accumulated in 2007-08, including scoring 59 of 81 total goals. Six of the Seawolves' top 10 leading scorers were underclassmen, including the top 3 (Josh Lunden-27, Paul Crowder-23, Kevin Clark-23). The younger skaters also contributed 16 of 20 power-play markers.
WOLVES ON HOME ICE: The Seawolves finished the 2007-08 season 4-9-5 at Sullivan Arena, and are 13-17-6 the last two seasons combined, including a winning 9-8-1 mark in 2006-07. Since its opening, UAA owns a 230-192-48 (.542) overall record at the Sully.
UAA ?OUTSIDE' OF ANCHORAGE: The Green & Gold registered a 3-12-3 road record in 2007-08, with wins occurring at rival UAF, Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth. The three tie games matches the second-best single-season effort in school history.
AGAINST RANKED FOES: UAA went 2-20-5 against ranked opponents this season, including a 2-12-2 road mark and 0-8-3 home record. The ?Wolves faced 13 ranked foes their last 15 series, and played 27 of 36 total games against teams in the national poll. Seven of UAA's eight WCHA series since Jan. 1 were against ranked opponents. Conversely, the Seawolves went 5-1-3 against non-ranked opponents. UAA showed up in the national rankings for one week during the season (Oct. 22) at #20 in the USCHO.com/CSTV poll.
UAA UNBEATEN IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: For the second consecutive season the Seawolves registered an unbeaten 4-0-2 mark in non-conference games, including a 3-0-1 record against rival Alaska Fairbanks. UAA is unbeaten in its last 12 non-conference games at 8-0-4 dating back to the beginning of the 2006-07 season, including a 6-0-2 mark against the Nanooks. The Seawolves are 10-4-4 outside of the WCHA under Dave Shyiak.
THE CAPTAINS: Wearing the captain “C” during 2007-08 for Alaska Anchorage was senior defenseman Luke Beaverson (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) ... the assistant captains were senior forward Peter Cartwright (Anchorage), junior defenseman Mat Robinson (Calgary, Alberta) and senior forward Blair Tassone (Castlegar, B.C.)
COACHING STAFF: Finishing their second seasons on Dave Shyiak's coaching staff are associate head coach Campbell Blair and assistant coach Damon Whitten. Blair came to UAA after serving as an assistant at his alma mater Maine for five years, while Whitten spent two seasons as an assistant at Wayne State prior to joining the Seawolves. In his second full season as a volunteer assistant was former UAA standout Brian Kraft.
SENIORS SEND OFF: The athletic eligibility of five Seawolf seniors came to an end at the conclusion of the season as Luke Beaverson, Peter Cartwright, Chris Tarkir, Blair Tassone and Merit Waldrop all played their final games at UAA Mar. 15. The senior class tallied a combined 47 points during the 2007-08 season, including 15 goals and 32 assists.
ON DECK: The Seawolves return to the ice competitively with a pair of exhibition tilts Sept. 25 against the U.S. National Under-18 Team and Oct. 4 against British Columbia before officially beginning the 2008-09 season Oct. 10 at home against Connecticut at the Kendall Hockey Classic.
