Here's one way of looking at how UAA performed in its six nonconference games this season: The Seawolves only lost once.
And here's how coach Matt Thomas this week reminded his team of its nonconference work: The Seawolves have only won once in their last four games.
Either way, UAA's 3-1-2 record in nonconference games is strong, yet bigger opportunities await it: Every game the Seawolves play from here on out is a Western Collegiate Hockey Association match, and excelling in league play matters most.
UAA begins its WCHA schedule Friday night when it entertains Lake Superior State of Michigan in the series opener at Sullivan Arena.
"The nonconference games, those are nice to start the year, good to get going, good for rankings, but when it comes down to it, playing in your conference gets everyone excited,'' said UAA junior center Blake Tatchell. "We're ready to play for points.''
The Seawolves are coming off a loss and tie at Maine last weekend. One week before that, they tied Penn State and beat Air Force at a tournament in Fairbanks. They opened the season with victories over Maine and Wisconsin in their own tournament.
They've outscored opponents (18-13), been good on the power play (20.0-percent efficiency), solid on the penalty-kill (84.4) and received stellar goaltending from freshman Olivier Mantha (1.96 goals-against average, .943 save percentage). Yet they have also been marginal when it comes to discipline – opponents average one more power-play chance per game than the Seawolves – and they yielded far too many shots (89) in the series at Maine.
"Every game, we've come out and competed well,'' said senior defenseman Derek Docken. "It's early in the season and we've played teams we don't know well, so we had some lapses in focus and made mistakes.
"But those are all correctable mistakes. We're pretty solid in every area, but that doesn't mean we can't get better and improve every day.''
Thomas likes his established lineup on the blue line, but still is uncertain which players best comprise his second power-play unit and is tinkering with his forward lines.
"Our questions are: Who should be on what line?'' Thomas said. "Do we create a lineup and say, here's what we have, let's go with it for six to eight weeks?''
The Seawolves last season finished sixth in the 10-team WCHA in their first season with Thomas behind the bench. Lake Superior, which last season finished tied for eighth, already is 0-4-0 in conference and is 0-8-0 overall under first-year coach Damon Whitten, the former UAA assistant.
Tatchell said the Lakers' difficult start has the Seawolves' attention because they need to get off to a strong start at home – UAA went 9-3-2 in WCHA home games last season.
"They'll be hungry,'' Tatchell said. "Any team off to a tough start will come at you hard early, so we have to be ready for that.''
Plus, the Seawolves would do well to pocket points before a two-week road trip against tough teams.
UAA next week plays at Michigan Tech, currently ranked No. 17, then stays Outside for a series at Ferris State of Michigan, currently ranked No. 14.
Seawolves notes
Sophomore winger Brad Duwe, who suffered an upper-body injury in a collision last Friday, has not played or practiced since, which almost certainly makes him a scratch for the series.
Lake Superior has scored just 11 goals in eight games and has particularly struggled with the man advantage – the Lakers have converted on just 3 of 35 power plays (8.6 percent).
The Fairbanks Ice Dogs connection is strong with the Lakers. Four current Lake Superior players – junior defenseman Peter Spratte, sophomore forwards Garret Clement and Jayson Angus, and freshman goaltender Kevin Aldridge – all played for the North American Hockey League team. Aldridge backstopped the Ice Dogs to the Robertson Cup last spring and Spratte was a member of Fairbanks' Robertson Cup-winning club in 2011.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr