Halfway through his sophomore season, Olivier Mantha owns a better save percentage and better goals-against average than he generated as a freshman, and he already has equaled his wins as a rookie.
Those numbers please UAA's No. 1 goaltender, but they do not satisfy him.
"There's always room for improvement,'' Mantha said. "We've had success, and I've been part of that. Now, we just have to keep it up.''
As the Seawolves open the second half of their season by entertaining Bemidji State of Minnesota in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series that opens Friday night, coach Matt Thomas was hardly surprised to hear his goalie wants more.
"He's so driven,'' Thomas said. "He doesn't do anything part-way.''
Thomas cited Mantha's 4.0 grade-point average through three semesters as a math major. The coach was unsurprised Mantha knows the Seawolves have already matched their win total from last season, matched their WCHA point total, have four games in hand on some league teams and, statistically, have a friendlier schedule ahead than in the first half of the season. After all, Thomas said, Mantha is a player who pays attention to detail in team meetings, even though goalies don't really need to understand systems.
"He could tell you what the left wing is supposed to do off a lost face-off in the defensive zone,'' Thomas said. "(Not all our) left wing could.''
Thomas has leaned hard on Mantha this season. Mantha has started 17 of the team's 18 games, logging 89.9 percent of minutes in net. Only 15 goalies among 60 Division I teams have played a higher percentage of their team's minutes.
Mantha is 7-7-3 with a 2.48 goals-against average and .917 save percentage after posting a 2.90 and .914 a season ago. UAA as a team is scoring .44 more goals per game (2.50) than last season and surrendering .59 goals per game fewer (2.56), a combined difference of about one goal per game. Hence, the Seawolves are 8-7-3 overall after going 8-22-4 last season.
Part of Mantha's evolution hinges on experience. He played 76.8 percent of UAA's minutes as a freshman.
"I think it's maturity,'' Mantha said. "I've got some games under my belt, and I feel more comfortable and composed.''
Again, that's no surprise to his coach. Thomas finds his 22-year-old goalie as mature as any player on the team.
"I've come across very few people that age who are that mature, that professional, and ready to deal with everything that's thrown at them,'' Thomas said.
Seawolves notes
UAA last played Dec. 12 — a 1-1 tie with UAF — so the Seawolves will have gone 27 days between games.
Bemidji State is coming off a three-point road weekend against UAF. The Beavers beat the Nanooks 6-5 in overtime and tied them 1-1. Bemidji won the first game when Brendan Harms scored the game-tying, extra-attacker, power-play goal with 11.3 seconds left in regulation and Myles Fitzgerald bagged the game-winning strike with 7.1 seconds left in extra time. The Beavers in that game trailed 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4.
Gerry Fitzgerald (No. 21) leads the Beavers in goals and points with 8-7—15 totals in 15 games. Bemidji's special teams have been strong — the Beavers' power play converts at 20.5-percent efficiency overall and its penalty-killing crew negates 88.5 percent of opposing power plays.
The Beavers have gone 5-4-2 in their last 11 WCHA games after starting 0-4-1 in league.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockeyblog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
Bemidji State
6-9-4 overall, 5-8-3 WCHA
at
UAA
8-7-3 overall, 5-5-2 WCHA
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