Try as he might, David Carle couldn’t pinpoint the last time he skated on the Avis Alaska Sports Complex ice. He knew it’d been a while.
“I don’t remember playing a lot of games here,” said Carle, Anchorage’s own who kicked off his seventh season as top-ranked Denver University’s head coach Saturday night in his hometown. “But I practiced quite a bit with the Alaska All-Stars. A lot of youth hockey, whether it was squirts, pee wees, bantams, I couldn’t tell you. All of the above.
“But it’s great to be back.”
This is especially true for Carle because he got to witness his squad’s prolific power play. DU opened defense of its NCAA Division I-record 10th national championship by scoring four times with the extra attacker in a 6-2 triumph over UAA.
The Pioneers and Seawolves conclude their two-game, nonconference series Sunday at 5 p.m.
As we all might expect with a reigning national champ, DU’s Saturday lineup boasted 12 NHL draft picks. The talent was on full display throughout the evening, and especially in the first period. The Pioneers needed only 20 seconds of power-play time to score their first two goals. Aidan Thompson, Sam Harris, Jack Devine and Zeev Buium have all been drafted by NHL franchises. The quartet accounted for DU’s first six points of the evening.
Devine, a 2022 seventh-round selection of the Florida Panthers, finished with four assists in the game. Only a sophomore, Buium, the Minnesota Wild’s first-round selection a few months ago, totaled three assists. He looked every bit like someone we’ll see in The Show in the future.
“I expect to see more 5-on-5 hockey (Sunday),” said Carle, who earned his 149th career victory Saturday. “I figure that’ll be a point of emphasis for UAA, and it got more like that in the third period. But certainly, the power play was the difference.”
DU outshot UAA 38-11 and enjoyed nine power-play chances to the Seawolves’ two. As good as DU clearly is and was – there’s a reason why the Pioneers are the defending champions – it’s difficult to come away with an accurate assessment of either team, it being one game and all.
UAA scored one of its two power-play chances – Anchorage native Aiden Westin scored his eighth goal in his 30th career game in the opening period. Seawolves sophomore goaltender Greg Orosz was credited with 32 saves, including 10 in the second period.
“It’s pretty obvious what we did wrong,” said UAA sophomore Joey Potter, a transfer from Union. “You have to win special teams, that’s how you win games. We know what to work on, but 5-on-5, it was kind of a tight game.”
Potter notched his first collegiate goal in his first games with the Seawolves and 22nd overall when he scored at 19 minutes, 13 seconds of the third. He said UAA wasn’t awestruck by DU’s skill level, while also being respectful of the obvious.
“It’s still a hockey game,” Potter said. “In a baseball game, if their pitcher is throwing 100 and yours is throwing 40 miles per hour, it can be pretty lopsided. But in hockey, anything can happen.”
The Seawolves sound eager to get back on the proverbial mound Sunday afternoon.
ONE-TIMERS
- Original UAA coach Brush Christiansen was in attendance Saturday. Christiansen is the Father of Seawolves Hockey. The Mother is no doubt Kathie Bethard, who spearheads the Seawolf 5th Line non-profit organization that makes the program go. She is always in attendance.
- A West Coast Hockey League reunion of Anchorage Aces favorites took place in the AASC hallways after the game. Dallas Ferguson, a DU assistant coach and former Aces defenseman, met up with George Wilcox, one of the WCHL days’ grittier players.
- Midway through the second period during the officials’ time out, Orosz skated to the UAA bench and took a few hits of water. He also guzzled down a few squirts out of a mustard squeeze bottle. The condiment shots are believed to help keep cramping to a minimum.
- DU senior Devine’s four assists were one shy of the program record of five set by Matt Carle in a 2006 game versus Minnesota State. Matt Carle is David Carle’s brother, also an Anchorage kid and winner of the 2006 Hobey Baker Award, college hockey’s Heisman Trophy. Matt Carle played 857 NHL games in 12 seasons.
- UAA coach Matt Shasby started his third season by visiting a barber a few days ago. He was freshly coiffed with a little high-and-tight haircut. Kudos.
- Penn State handed UAF a 4-3 overtime setback in the Golden Heart City on Saturday night.