When Cam Amantea stepped off the ice at UAA's practice Thursday morning, he asked equipment manager Patrick Robertston the drill for getting his skates sharpened in preparation for Friday's game against visiting Alabama-Huntsville.
Write your number on the white board, Robertson told him.
"It's been awhile," Amantea said, grinning.
Well, yeah. Almost exactly a year has passed since Amantea last played a hockey game for the Seawolves. The winger skated in five of the team's first eight games as a freshman last season and earned 1-2–3 totals and a plus-one rating before shoulder surgery shelved him for the season.
He expected to be good to go for the start of this season four weeks ago, but then needed a loose screw removed from his shoulder. And just when Amantea was ready to join his teammates for last week's road trip to Bemidji, Minnesota, he came down with the three-day flu from hell and did not travel.
Little wonder Amantea was all smiles Thursday.
"I'm super excited," he said. "It's been a long, frustrating process."
Amantea won't be the only new addition to the lineup Friday, when the Seawolves open their Western Collegiate Hockey Association home schedule with the first of two games against the Chargers at Sullivan Arena.
Senior winger Brad Duwe of Soldotna, coming off preseason knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, will also make his season debut. Amantea will man the left wing and Duwe the right side on a line with junior center Matt Anholt, UAA's captain.
"I just want to be an energy guy," Amantea said. "It's hard to have huge expectations coming off this layoff. Do what I can, and what I can control, and that's working hard, staying positive and being a leader."
Amantea praised coach Matt Thomas' patience with him, the rehab work furnished by assistant trainer Michael Dhesse and the support of his teammates.
Amantea finds some comfort in playing with Anholt — he played all five of his game's last season with Anholt and right winger Dylan Hubbs, who is out with a sprained knee. He said he needs to play under control Friday, when he expects to be amped.
"I'll have to keep my emotions in check, calm myself down," Amantea said. "After a couple shifts, I'm sure the nerves will settle down."
Duwe, Amantea's roommate, has played 86 career games. He scored seven goals in 31 games last season yet knows he has to perform to stay in the lineup.
"It's different this year because we're competing for a spot, where last year we had so many guys injured there wasn't this kind of competition," Duwe said. "So anyone who is in the lineup is playing for their spot, and fighting not to give it up.
"I've been in that spot before, so I know what to do, and doing it is on me."
New faces in the lineup likely can't hurt UAA's effort to snuff its well-documented scoring slump to start the season — four goals in six games.
"We're excited to get those guys going," Thomas said. "One luxury we have this year is depth. People don't play well, there's opportunity for other people to go into the lineup."
Seawolves notes
This series should deliver two teams desperate for success. UAA (1-5-0, 0-2-0) is coming off two WCHA losses at Bemidji State and Alabama-Huntsville (2-7-1, 2-3-1 WCHA) is burdened with an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) after a season-opening, WCHA road sweep of Ferris State.
Hubbs will miss his second straight series and Nathan Renouf is also out with an injury. Freshman defenseman Mason Anderson of Anchorage, who has yet to play, is out with a wrist injury.
The Seawolves and Chargers have opposite problems. UAA hasn't scored — its 0.67 goals per game ranks 59th of 60 Division I teams, behind Brown, which is without a goal in its two games. The Chargers, who have surrendered 4.30 goals per game, rank 54th in the country in defense.
Alabama-Huntsville (2-7-1, 2-3-1 WCHA) at UAA (1-5-0, 0-2-0)
Friday and Saturday, 7:07 p.m., Sullivan Arena