A couple of things. (Monday Links)

Here was an article that I thought was interesting UAA is one of the bigger teams in the WCHA as well as the NCAA. That's fine and dandy if the Seawolves can skate and keep up the opposition without clutching, grabbing and interfering up and down the ice. The NCAA refs are going to focus on protecting the puck carrier and did so quite well last night during the game between Manitoba and UND. If they call the games like that I don’t know if UAA will be able to keep up with fleet footed teams like DU, UND and Minnesota. If the Seawolves end up taking a bunch of penalties against these teams could get buried.

While some want to make outlandish predictions about the Seawolves finishing in the top five of the WCHA, I just don’t see it happening. To the UAA Seawolves; I beg you to prove me wrong. Personally, I think it’s going to be more of the same and predict that the Seawolves will be a big, slow, lumbering team with mediocre goaltending that will end up 9th or 10th in the WCHA yet again this season.

With no shortage of small, dangerous forwards dancing around the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, UAA has hit upon a tactic aimed to squash such skill: Knock the shiftiness out of them.

"If we play physical and finish our checks, it wears teams down and they get tired and make mistakes,'' said Seawolves coach Dave Shyiak. "As a staff we demand our guys finish their checks and play physical.''

Toward that end, Shyiak and company have assembled a roster that embraces the notion size matters and bigger is better. Goalies aside, the Seawolves average 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, which means it will be rare for them to come across a bigger opponent.

Shyiak, in his fifth season, has recruited size to counter the skilled players that traditional league powers like Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Denver routinely attract.

"You're looking for talent and skating, and size is always a bonus,'' he said. "We're fortunate with being able to find guys who have good size and can still get around the ice. We're strong along the wall and that really levels the playing field against more skilled teams.''

UAA last season went 14-17-5 overall and finished ninth in the 10-team WCHA with a 9-14-5 record in league. That marked an improvement over the previous season, in which they went 7-21-8 overall and 8-19-1 for last place in the league, and the Seawolves flourished most when they banged bodies consistently. [ADN.COM]

Check out Ben Pherson and Jason Feldman's WCHA predictions, yet people give Sioux7 a hard time about his predictions.

Ben Pherson's predictions
1. St. Cloud State.
2. Denver.
3. North Dakota. I'd like to push Feldy's Sioux down this list a little bit, but looking at the rest of the teams, I don't see anyone else with the talent to jump into this spot (Gophers included). I like how good Brad Eidsness was down the stretch for the Sioux ... especially with how shaky the goaltending was early in the season. If he plays well, the Sioux can compete for a top spot. Oh yeah, and Chay Genoway is a stud.
4. Minnesota.
5. Minnesota State.
6. Colorado College.
7. Wisconsin.
8. Minnesota-Duluth.
9. Alaska-Anchorage.
10. Michigan Tech
The ones by Jason Feldman seem a little more reasonable.
1. Denver.
2. Minnesota.
3. Wisconsin.
4. North Dakota. The Sioux lost a lot after last season, but there is a buzz in Grand Forks about this freshman class. Still, relying on 10 freshmen is a lot to ask. Plus, the Sioux need to find out if goalie Brad Eidsness is more like his first three-quarters of the season, or more like the guy who (didn't) show up in the postseason. They should be decent on the blue line, with senior Chay Genoway a possible top-10 Hobey candidate. Watch out for sophomore forwards Jason Gregoire and Brett Hextall, too. They quietly had really good freshman seasons.
5. St. Cloud State.
6. Minnesota-Duluth.
7. MSU, Mankato.
8. Colorado College.
9. Alaska-Anchorage.
10. Michigan Tech
[props]

I have to admit that I miss former Fighting Sioux coach Dean Blais and will enjoy seeing how his team progresses this season. There will be the interesting quotes/zingers in the paper. There was an old song by Cinderella, "You don't know what you got till it's gone." [props] to RWD for pointing that out for me. I also must admit that I saw them in concert at the Boston Garden with ACDC in 1990.

Dean Blais' approach to the UNO hockey team's season-opening exhibition against Lethbridge is simple.

The Mavs' new bench boss sees it as part tuneup and part tryout.

The puck drops on a new chapter in University of Nebraska at Omaha hockey history tonight, when Blais, the two-time NCAA championship coach, makes his Mavericks debut.

The game won't count a lick for NCAA purposes. But it will mean a lot to Blais, who wants to see his players set an aggressive tone for the season. And he expects every person who sets foot inside Qwest Center Omaha to be impressed with his skaters' tireless work ethic.

“It's a dress rehearsal, although the guys, when they put those jerseys on, they're competing for jobs,” said Blais, who was the leader among active NCAA coaches in winning percentage when he stepped down at the University of North Dakota in 2004.

“This community and our fans aren't going to tolerate half (hearted) effort, and we're not going to give it to them. If a kid even takes one shift off, he won't get another one.”

Of course, in addition to sizing up his roster, Blais wants UNO to win.