THIS WEEK: The ninth-seeded Alaska Anchorage Seawolves will head to Madison, Wis., to face the No. 3 and second-seed Wisconsin in the WCHA First Round, best-of-three playoffs on Friday through Sunday. The games are scheduled to commence at 4 p.m. AST each night.
THE SERIES - UAA vs. UW
OVERALL: UW leads, 44-13-9 AT UW: UW leads, 26-7-3
LAST MEETING: Nov. 14, 2009 (UW won, 6-2) STREAK: UW 6
NOTES: The two teams met earlier this season at the Kohl Center with UW sweeping UAA, 5-1, 6-2 on Nov. 13-14 ... the last time UAA won at UW was March 12, 2005 (2-1), while the last UAA win against UW was on Nov. 4, 2006 (2-1) at the Sullivan Arena ... UW enters the playoffs with a six-game winning streak against UAA ... in the First Round, the Seawolves have met the Badgers three times ... UW holds a 5-3 record against UAA in the playoffs ... during the 2003-04 season, the Seawolves won the best-of-three series against UW and made it to the WCHA Final Five - UAA's only appearance at the tournament ... out of 35 playoff games, three of UAA's four wins came against Wisconsin ... since head coach Dave Shyiak took the reins, the Seawolves are 1-12-1 against the Badgers ... Shyiak has never posted a win at the Kohl Center.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN: The Badgers host the Seawolves after splitting a league series with Minnesota on March 5-6 ... UW on Friday, 3-2 before falling to the Gophers, 6-1 on Saturday ... since their last meeting with the Seawolves, the Badgers have swept Michigan Tech (twice) and Minnesota State ... UW has registered 41 power play goals this season for a .211 percent efficiency and is 85 percent on the penalty kill ... offensively, Wisconsin has 3 of the top 7 point producers in the WCHA, all with 40+ points ... senior F Michael Davies (15-30-45) is tied for 2nd in the conference for point scoring, sophomore F Derek Stepan (8-33-41) is 5th and junior D Brendan Smith (15-25-40) is tied for 6th ... in goal for the Badgers is junior Scott Gundmanson (23gp,14-3-4), who is ranked 3rd in the league in both goals-against average (2.41) and winning percentage (.781) and 7th in save percentage (.910).
LAST TIME OUT: The Seawolves concluded the regular season with a league split against Minnesota Duluth ... UAA won its first conference home game on a Friday night this season, defeating the Bulldogs, 3-2 ... netting two goals was senior F Kevin Clark, including the game-winner with 29 seconds remaining in the game ... picking up his first collegiate goal was freshman Tyler Currier ... on Saturday, after a scoreless first frame the Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead, before Clark scored his first goal of the night ... junior F Tommy Grant chipped in with a shorthanded strike in the second, bringing the Seawolves within one goal, but UMD responded with two power play goals for a 5-2 lead ... with an extra attacker, Clark tallied his second goal of the night and UMD recorded an empty net goal for the 6-3 final.
WCHA PLAYOFFS - FIRST ROUND: MacNaughton Cup champion and No. 1 seed Denver will host No. 10 Michigan Tech at Magness Arena, No. 3 St. Cloud State will host No. 8 Minnesota State at National Hockey Center, No. 4 North Dakota will host No. 7 Minnesota at Ralph Engelstad and No. 5 Minnesota Duluth will host No. 6 Colorado College at the Duluth EC Center.
SECOND MOST LEAGUE WINS: The Seawolves ended the regular season with a 9-17-2 conference record for a 36 winning percentage - Dave Shyiak's second-best season ... the nine conference win's ties Shyaik's best season, which was 2008-09 (9-14-5, 41 winning percentage).
SCORING BREAKDOWN: The junior class (6 skaters) is producing 40 percent of UAA's scoring with 33 goals and 55 assists, while the senior (6 skaters) class produces 27 percent and the freshman class (7 skaters) comprises 23 percent of the scoring ... the sophomores, with only three representatives, bring in the final 10 percent.
SHYIAK CLIMBING AHEAD: With the win against Minnesota Duluth on March 5, head coach Dave Shyiak (5th season) became the second-winningest coach in UAA history with 51 career victories ... program founder, Brush Christianson is out of reach with 287 career wins over 17 seasons.
SUITING UP FOR THE GREEN & GOLD: As the season wraps up, three seniors continue to advance in the all-time games played list ... leading the pack with 139 career games under his belt is senior F Kevin Clark ... Clark currently sits tied at No. 12 ... with a guaranteed two games remaining, Clark could advance as high as No. 8 ... captain D Jared Tuton is tied for No. 16 with 136 games, F Josh Lunden (124) is tied for No. 43 ... Justin Bourne (2003-06) leads the board with 149 games played.
CATCHING UP WITH CLARK: Senior F Kevin Clark continues to lead the Seawolves this season in multiple categories, while advancing in the all-time UAA lists ... Clark currently paces UAA in six categories - points (37), goals (23), power-play goals (7), shots (108), penalties (34) and penalty minutes (79) ... the Winnipeg, Manitoba, native leads the league overall standings with 23 goals - the most for a Seawolf since Derek Donald posted 23 goals in 1991-92 ... Clark's 108 career points rank him No. 18 on the all-time scoring list ... Clark became just the 22nd Seawolf skater to join the 100-point club ... on the all-time penalties list, Clark is 5th and 2nd for penalty minutes ... Jeff Batters (1989-92) easily holds down No. 1 for penalty minutes with 411.
PRODUCING FROM THE BLUELINE: Junior defensemen Kane Lafranchise and Luka Vidmar have registered their best season with the Seawolves ... Lafranchise posted a goal and an assist in the UAF series, improving his totals to 3-11-14 - four more than last season (3-7-10) ... in the WCHA overall standings, the Albertan is tied for No. 19 for defensemen scoring ... with one season left with UAA, Lafranchise currently ranks No. 27 on the all-time defenseman scoring board with 32 career points ... Vidmar, from Ljubljana, Slovenia, registered his first multi-point game of his career on March 5, picking up two assists-including an assist on the game-winning goal ... since missing 10 games due to an injury, Vidmar was posted 1-6-7 totals in the last nine games ... he currently holds a career-high four-game point streak (2/26-3/06) ... Vidmar has doubled his prior best season-freshman season (1-5-6)- with 2-10-12 totals this season.
WITH LUNDEN IN THE LINEUP: Since missing 11 games due to an injury, senior F Josh Lunden has returned in full force, posting 3-7-10 totals in the last 11 games ... the Coquitlam, B.C., local has registered eight goals and assists this season for a career total of 47-36-83 ... Lunden has 47 career goals, good for No. 17 on the all-time goal list ... with one more goal, Lunden will be tied with Tony Catani (1985-89) at No. 16 ... with three more goals, Lunden will be just the 14th Seawolf to reach 50 career goals.
OLTHUIS UPRISING: Following the win against Minnesota Duluth on March 5, and with at least two playoff games, senior G Jon Olthuis has claimed the No. 1 position for UAA, suiting up in 25 games this season, including 12 straight ... Olthuis is currently tied with Jeff Carlson (1986-89) at No. 6 on the all-time UAA career wins list with 23.
LAST MEETING WITH BADGERS: The Seawolves were handed their second road sweep of the season, falling to Wisconsin, 5-1 on Nov. 13 and 6-2 on Nov. 14 ... on Friday, the Seawolves fell behind early and couldn't come back, allowing three UW goals in the first period ... scoring UAA's lone goal was junior F Craig Parkinson on the power play ... assists were credited to freshman forwards Mickey Spencer and Daniel Naslund ... on Saturday, senior F Josh Lunden posted both of UAA's goals ... Lunden put the Seawolves on the board first, but UW added four goals in the third period for the Seawolves' fifth loss in the last six outings ... senior F Kevin Clark, junior F Tommy Grant and junior D Luka Vidmar each were credited with helpers.
2009-10 CAPTAINS: The Seawolves will be led by senior D Jared Tuton who sports the "C" ... backing Tuton up are seniors D Nils Backstrom, F Kevin Clark and F Josh Lunden as assistant captains.
