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UAA faces CC in WCHA quarterfinals

Men's Ice Hockey UAA Media Relations

'Wolves post historic season in 2010-11

2010-11 SEASON RECAP: The 2010-11 Seawolf hockey team completed the season with a 16-18-3 overall record, marking its most victories since becoming a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association ... the Seawolves also posted their second-best conference record to date at 12-14-2 ... UAA completed the conference season tied for 8th with St. Cloud State with 28 points and received the 8th-place seed in the WCHA First Round ... the Seawolves went on to sweep Minnesota on the road in the First Round, earning themselves UAA's second-ever berth to the WCHA Final Five ... throughout the season, the Seawolves posted upsets over nationally ranked Wisconsin, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota.

SENIOR SEND OFF: The Seawolves will say goodbye to five seniors – Tommy Grant, Nick Haddad, Craig Parkinson, Luka Vidmar and Sean Wiles ... combined, the group led UAA in scoring with 39 goals, 55 assists and 94 points – good for No. 28 in the nation, averaging 2.54 goals per game ...  throughout their careers, the five seniors dressed in 628 games and registered 266 points.

TEAM AWARDS: Senior Tommy Grant was selected as the team's Most Valuable Player at the end-of-the-season banquet on April 12 at the Hotel Captain Cook ... also recognized were Matt Bailey (Rookie of the Year), Craig Parkinson (Most Inspirational and Leon Thompson Fan Favorite), Chris Kamal (Most Improved), Mitch Bruijsten (Most Improved), Jade Portwood (Corner Man) and Luka Vidmar (Jack Peterson Student-Athlete).

NATIONAL RANKINGS: The Seawolves wrapped up the 2010-11 season with 12 votes (23rd) in the final USCHO.com Div. I poll (see complete poll on page 7) ... UAA was No. 17 in the final KRACH rankings, No. 20 in the PairWise and No. 21 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) ... the Seawolves finished the year with the nation's second-toughest schedule behind St. Cloud State ... UAA was also No. 5 in the nation for shots against, allowing just 26.16 shots per game.

GRANT GOES PRO: UAA senior Tommy Grant agreed to a two-year contract with the New York Rangers of the NHL, announced by the team on March 26 ... Grant is currently dressing with the Rangers' American Hockey League affiliate Connecticut Whale ... to date, the North Vancouver, B.C., native has recorded one goal and four assists, including a goal and an assist in the playoffs.

WCHA FIRST ROUND: The Seawovles advanced to the WCHA Final Five for just the second time in UAA history after sweeping the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the WCHA First Round at Mariucci Arena on March 11-12 (4-3, 2-0) ... the First Round sweep was the first ever for UAA an the first time the Gophers have been swept at home.

WCHA BED BARON FINAL FIVE RECAP: UAA's season came to an end at the Xcel Energy Center on March 17 with a 4-2 loss to Colorado College ... the Seawolves, who outshot the Tigers 23-16 for the game, owned territorial and shots on goal advantages early on, but found themselves in a 3-0 hole by early in the second period ... CC went up 1-0 at 7:30 of the first period on a power-play goal by William Rapuzzi, who stuffed home a deflected puck ... Tim Hall put the Tigers up 2-0 at 16:30 of the first after gathering in another deflection and beating a screened  Chris Kamal ... CC went up 3-0 at 4:39 of the second after a wide shot by Joe Marciano from the point went off the back of UAA's Craig Parkinson and into the net ... coach Shyiak opted to call timeout and replace Seawolf starting goalie Kamal with fellow freshman netminder Rob Gunderson ... the move appeared to jump start the Seawolves as Mickey Spencer tipped in a Quinn Sproule drive from the point at 14:57 of the second to make it 3-1... Marciano made it 4-1 as his shot from the point found net with just 18 seconds left in the second ... the Seawolves had some high-quality scoring chances in the third period, including a 5-on-3 power play, but were unable to cash in until Luka Vidmar's shorthander at 18:59 of the third.

UAA IN THE POSTSEASON: UAA is 6-35 in the WCHA First Round, having picked up five of those wins against Wisconsin and Minnesota ... at the WCHA Final Five, UAA is 1-3 ... the lone Seawolf win came against Colorado College on March 18, 2004 in the play-in game, ... the Seawolves advanced to the semifinals, where they fell to North Dakota (4-2) on March 19 and then to Minnesota Duluth (4-2) in the 3rd-place game on March 20.

SEAWOLF BITES: The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 2010-11 season came to an end on March 17 in the quarterfinals of the WCHA Final Five. UAA fell to then-No. 13 Colorado College, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in just UAA's second appearance at the tournament ... at the end of the season, UAA posted a 16-18-3 record, and wrapped up league play with a 12-14-2 record (.464) – the best under head coach Dave Shyiak and second best since the Seawolves joined the conference ... the best league record was in UAA's inaugural season (1993-94) with a 14-16-2 (.468) mark ... the 16 wins is the most overall victories since becoming a member of the league in 1993-94 ... UAA advanced to the WCHA Final Five for just the second time in UAA history after sweeping then-No. 17 Minnesota  on March 11-12, 4-3, 2-0 in the WCHA First Round, best-of-three series – the First Round sweep was the first in UAA history ... the sweep was UAA's fourth of the season, and second straight on the road after sweeping Minnesota State on March 4-5 ... the 2-0 shutout on March 12 was UAA's third of the season and fifth straight win ... the Final Five loss to CC broke UAA's five-game winning streak ... the last time the Seawolves put together a string of five wins was in 1998-99 ... the Seawolves were stellar in the second half of the season, posting the fourth-best winning percentage in the WCHA at .610, trailing only UND (.800), Minnesota Duluth (.650) and Denver (.640) ... on Feb. 18, UAA defeated Nebraska Omaha, 3-2, running its Sullivan Arena winning streak to five games – the longest such string since winning six straight on home ice from Dec. 4, 1998 to Jan. 16, 1999 ... the win was UAA's first time winning five straight WCHA home games since joining the league in 1993-94 ... UAA picked up at least one point against all WCHA opponents this season except Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota ... the Seawolves swept four opponents (Colorado College, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State and Minnesota) and were themselves swept three times – against UMD in their season opener and at Denver and UND ... UAA also split five league series – Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, CC, Wisconsin, UM and UNO ... UAA picked up one point in the series against MSU and DU ... the Seawolves played six overtime games this season for a 2-1-3 record in extra minutes ... eighteen of UAA's 37 games were decided by one goal or ended in a tie ... the senior class (5 representatives) led the Seawolves in scoring and in power-play goals (10) and were tied for second in game-winning goals (6) with the sophomores ... the freshmen were second in points (23-50–73), followed by the sophomores (20-30–50) and the juniors (7-20–27) ... throughout the season, the Seawolves averaged 5,027 fans per game, ranked No. 15 in the country, and averaged 3,319 fans per game at the Sullivan Arena, good for No. 22 in the nation.

PLAYER NOTES: Freshman G Chris Kamal's five-game winning streak came to an end at the Final Five on March 17 ... throughout the winning streak, Kamal posted a .963 save percentage (126/131) and 1.00 goals-against ... Kamal dressed in 15 games during his rookie campaign, posting an .896 save percentage – tied for 4th on the all-time UAA goaltending list ... the Alpharetta, Ga., native's 2.62 goals-against average also ranks second on the UAA all-time list ... Kamal's shutout on March 12 marked the first by a UAA goaltender in a WCHA playoff game, covering 44 games dating back to the 1992-93 season, when UAA became an affiliate member of the league and made its league playoff debut ... Kamal also became just the fourth UAA goaltender to record three or more shutouts and first since Doug Teskey (1996-99) ... senior F Tommy Grant finished college with a career- and team-high eight-game point streak with 6-3–9 totals in the span ... Grant led UAA in goals with a career-high 16 and in points with a career-high 32 ... on the all-time UAA lists, the North Vancouver, B.C., local is tied for No. 25 in points (90), tied for No. 19 for goals (45) and No. 42 for assists (45) ... Grant also led UAA in game-winning goals (5) and shots (114) and was second in assists (16) ... freshman Jordan Kwas completed his rookie season leading UAA in assists with 20 – the most for a Seawolf freshman since Ales Parez posted 22 in 2002-03 ... Kwas also tied for 37th on the all-time freshman list with four goals ... the freshman class was also paced by Matt Bailey ... Bailey, who missed six of the last seven games with a knee injury, recorded 10-10–20 totals in 30 games prior ... the Winnipeg, Manitoba, native finished tied for the second-most goals this season (10) and scored the most goals for a UAA freshman since 2006-07 ... Bailey is ranked in the top 30 of the all-time freshman list in goals (t-No. 17), assists (t-No. 29) and points (t-No. 24) ... senior Craig Parkinson recorded career-high 8-13–21 totals in his final season with the Green & Gold – good for third among UAA skaters ... the Victoria, B.C., native also dressed in a team-high 137 career games and was one of four Seawolves to suit up in all 37 games this season ... along with Kamal, freshman Rob Gunderson saw plenty of action in the crease, dressing for 23 games ... Gunderson recorded a 7-13-2 record throughout the year with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage ... Gunderson ranked tied for No. 5 on the all-time single-season list for GAA and tied for No. 8 for save percentage ... overall, eight Seawolves recorded career-high points this season – joining Grant and Parkinson with a career-best season were senior Nick Haddad, juniors Brad Gorham and Jade Portwood, and sophomores Mitch Bruijsten, Chris Crowell and Alex Gellert.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Seawolves (16-18-3) posted a .472 winning percentage - the best since joining the league ... Dave Shyiak's club registered 12 conference wins this season, the second-most since UAA joined the WCHA ... long-time head coach Brush Christiansen holds the record with 14 WCHA wins in 1993-94 (.468) ... UAA's conference winning percentage this season ranks second at .464 ... the Seawolves' all-time record stands at 443-553-91 ... since joining the league in 1993-94, UAA is 140-318-63 ... UAA played its 500th game as a WCHA member this season when it faced St. Cloud State on Nov. 20.

WCHA STANDINGS: In the overall WCHA stats, UAA tied for No. 8 in scoring defense (2.86) and No. 8 in penalty minutes (13.6), No. 10 in scoring offense (2.41) and No. 11 in power play (15.1)  ... senior F Tommy Grant ranked in the top 35 in six categories – tied at No. 31 in points, t-19 in goals, t-31 in PPP, t-31 in PPG, t-15 in SHG, and t-4 in GWG. ... freshman F Jordan Kwas tied for No. 10 among WCHA freshmen and t-29 in assists ... freshman G Chris Kamal ranked No. 8 in gaa, No. 12 in save percentage, and No. 4 in winning percentage (.679), while classmate G Rob Gunderson ranked 10th in goals-against average, and No. 11 in save percentage and No. 12 in winning percentage.

WCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Throughout the season, four Seawolves were named WCHA Players of the Week ... freshman G Chris Kamal (rookie) received UAA's last weekly accolade on March 8 ... Kamal netted the award after posting 66 saves on 67 attempts in the series against Minnesota State (March 4-5) ... Kamal also received the same award on Feb. 1 ... senior F Tommy Grant received WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors on Jan. 18, while freshman goaltender Rob Gunderson (Jan. 18) claimed WCHA Rookie of the Week honors and junior D Curtis Leinweber was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week on Feb 8.

CHN TEAM OF THE WEEK: The Seawolves were named the College Hockey New's Team of the Week after sweeping then-No. 17 Colorado College at home on Jan. 14-15 (4-1, 2-1).

2010-11 CAPTAINS: The Seawolves were led this season by senior co-captains Tommy Grant and Craig Parkinson and junior Brad Gorham and sophomore Chris Crowell.

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Players Mentioned

Tommy Grant

#16 Tommy Grant

F
6' 2"
Freshman
L
Nick Haddad

#28 Nick Haddad

F
6' 2"
Freshman
L
Craig Parkinson

#17 Craig Parkinson

F
6' 0"
Freshman
R
Luka Vidmar

#23 Luka Vidmar

D
6' 1"
Freshman
R
Sean Wiles

#27 Sean Wiles

F
6' 3"
Freshman
R
Brad Gorham

#RS Brad Gorham

F/D
6' 1"
Freshman
R
Curtis Leinweber

#11 Curtis Leinweber

D
5' 8"
Freshman
L
Jade Portwood

#36 Jade Portwood

F
6' 3"
Freshman
L
Mitch Bruijsten

#12 Mitch Bruijsten

F
6' 4"
Freshman
L
Chris Crowell

#17 Chris Crowell

F
6' 2"
Freshman
R
Alex Gellert

#20 Alex Gellert

F
6' 1"
Freshman
R
Mickey Spencer

#10 Mickey Spencer

F
6' 0"
Freshman
L

Players Mentioned

Tommy Grant

#16 Tommy Grant

6' 2"
Freshman
L
F
Nick Haddad

#28 Nick Haddad

6' 2"
Freshman
L
F
Craig Parkinson

#17 Craig Parkinson

6' 0"
Freshman
R
F
Luka Vidmar

#23 Luka Vidmar

6' 1"
Freshman
R
D
Sean Wiles

#27 Sean Wiles

6' 3"
Freshman
R
F
Brad Gorham

#RS Brad Gorham

6' 1"
Freshman
R
F/D
Curtis Leinweber

#11 Curtis Leinweber

5' 8"
Freshman
L
D
Jade Portwood

#36 Jade Portwood

6' 3"
Freshman
L
F
Mitch Bruijsten

#12 Mitch Bruijsten

6' 4"
Freshman
L
F
Chris Crowell

#17 Chris Crowell

6' 2"
Freshman
R
F
Alex Gellert

#20 Alex Gellert

6' 1"
Freshman
R
F
Mickey Spencer

#10 Mickey Spencer

6' 0"
Freshman
L
F