Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Reality Check

Now that the Everblades have a coach, it's time to think about next seasons roster. As much as I'd love to see everyone from last year come back it's not going to happen. This is because of a rule the ECHL has regarding veteran players (you may remember this from my IHL rant last month). The league has a rule in place that places a limit on the number of veterans a team is allowed to have on their active roster. The ECHL defines a veteran the following way...
"A veteran shall mean a player, other than a goaltender, who has played in at least 260 regular season games of professional hockey."
Why is this important? Well, the ECHL limits their teams to only four veterans at a time on their active roster. I've gone ahead and sorted through the team's roster at the end of the year, checked them through Hockey DB, and used my trusty calculator to see which guys qualify as a veteran. Junior hockey and college hockey don't count toward their status as those are played under armature status (that means NCAA, WHL, OHL, etc.). Playoff games don't count either so I've not included them in my calculations. I've put it all in a nice, easy to read, spreadsheet for you (I'm such a hockey nerd). The link to the sheet itself is here if you don't like the squished version.



I went ahead and highlighted the players that would be considered veterans in that lovely blue color. I took the liberty of adding Peter Metcalf, because I choose to hold out hope that a new coach may change his mind and bring him back (a girl can dream). I didn't include players with AHL/NHL contracts as the league doesn't count them, and I also didn't include goalies as they are exempt from veteran status.

As you can see, there are six players that qualify as veterans. I think it's no secret that I'd like to see Ryan Lang and Peter Metcalf next year, but beyond that I really have no opinion on who should make the cut. Ernie Hartlieb is definitely a given, the season ticket holders would mutiny if he didn't come back. I hope the team starts announcing signings soon, the wait is killing me.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

YouTube Tuesday

I'm making a minor change to these Tuesday posts. For the rest of the off season I'm posting only Everblades related videos. Let's start off with a goal from this year courtesy of Ross Carlson.



October can't come fast enough.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Honestly?

With all this fuss and excitement over the Everblades naming our new head coach the news of a new team entering the league during the 2011-2012 season flew under my radar. Now that I've had time to read up on it I'm pretty sure it's the dumbest move the ECHL has made in a while.

Why?

The ECHL has decided to grant membership to a team in Chicago. I know you're all thinking "don't they have a hockey team?" They do. In fact Chicago is home to three hockey teams already. Aside from the Blackhawks, they also have the Wolves of the AHL, and the Steel of the USHL. I've gone ahead and made this map of all the hockey teams in Chicago to make the stupidity all pretty.


View Chicago Hockey Teams in a larger map

I don't have to tell you how much I love hockey. I really don't think I can ever have too much, but  even for me that's a lot of hockey. It's almost too much. I understand why the Chicago Wolves have been relatively successful, they offer an affordable alternative to seeing the Blackhawks (obviously the Steel are an even better deal). The problem is, how can one city support four teams? I really have my doubts that this can be done. Now, I understand the Hawks have managed to capture the attention of Chicago sports fans with the Stanley Cup win, but really, are all the people who just jumped on the bandwagon going to really care about a team in a developmental league? Why would you really care about players who might be a star someday when you can watch Patrick Kane and Johnathan Toews now? Why care when you can watch players that are one step from the NHL? Someone just getting into hockey (or someone who has just jumped on the bandwagon) doesn't want to see the Donati twins. They want to see the Sedins.

Sadly, the ECHL is making a huge mistake, one they're going to regret. There are plenty of cities that could better support an ECHL franchise. Heck, the brand new, shiny arena in Orlando would do well with hockey tenant. Baltimore is another option that tends to come up anytime I get into a conversation about the league expanding. It may also be a good idea for the ECHL to look into expanding in the West more. The conferences are very lopsided (12 vs. 8). It's just such a waste to grant this franchise to a city that already has three professional hockey teams. There are so many better cities out there, that can fully support a team.

I guess there is a bright side in all of this. The team is running a name your team contest. Chicago Redundancy anyone?

Friday, June 25, 2010

Friday Links

Happy Friday! As always, I have some great hockey links to get your weekend started.

-Your Wikipedia hockey page- "Offer Sheet"

- $295 for a game worn, Jordan HenryEverblades jersey? Seriously?

- I'm so in love with this blog, AHL in Photos. My personal favorite so far, the 6/11/10 post of Anton Khudobin.

- My inner yinzer loves this article.

- All of the NHL teams released their schedules, including the Lightning and Panthers. So, who's in for a trip East (or West)?

- Youngblood is on my "I won't go out of my way to look for it, but if it's on, I'm watching it all the way through" list. I think wearing this jersey to Everblades games this year might be a good idea.

- I'm totaly a crazy cat lady in the making.

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

We Have a Coach!

As mentioned in the post yesterday, the Everblades held a big press conference today. They finally named the new coach for next season. Greg Poss is the new head coach for the Everblades (player and coaching stats here). He's spent the last 10 years or so coaching in Germany, and as you can see, his German is pretty good.



Because I was forced to take Spanish in high school, I had to google translate his German wikipedia entry, which is pretty interesting...
"By the early end of his playing career was Greg Poss has 25 years coach of the Swedish clubs Olofström IK. Then he came to Germany, where he trained first Sonthofen and the EC Timmendorfer beach. With the Iserlohn Roosters, which he coached from 1997, it rose to 2000 in the DEL. In spite of the smallest budgets in the league by far, the Roosters under Poss 2002/03 narrowly missed the entry in the play-offs. Then he was voted Best Coach DEL ". In 1996 he was Iserlohn, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Coach of the Year. In the following season of Americans switched to the Nuremberg Ice Tigers. With them he won the 2003/04 and 2004/05 respectively fifth place As the successor of Stéphane Richer, he took on 14 December 2005, the Adler Mannheim. Now after you missed the play-offs 2005/06, 2006/07 Poss reached with the eagles from the double cup final and championship. After a poor start and a bust series, he was on 22 December 2007 in Mannheim dismissed and replaced by Dave King."
"Since 1 October 2004 Poss managed in a dual role, the German national ice hockey team. After completion of the 2004/2005 season, he resigned his post at the Ice Tigers. The German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB), finishing it in early February 2005 from a permanent contract, although the recent results were not as positive. When Germany's Cup in 2004 we lost four times in four games and a four-nation tournament in Budapest was subject to Canada and the Slovak Republic. A disgrace was prevented by a tight 4-3 against the hosts Hungary. In preparation for the World Cup in 2005, it ran better against the U.S. you just missed with a 2:3 a surprise victory in Belarus as one even 4:1. At the World Cup could be on the other hand celebrate any victory in the preliminary round, so we moved into the relegation round. The German national team got there three points from three games and went off as the second last Relegation in the B group. Subsequently, the criticism in the media is greater and there were rumors of a detachment of Poss. Poss, however, remained, despite protests from the DEB national coach. The former assistant coach Ernst Höfner and Bernhard Englbrecht were replaced by Uwe Krupp and Klaus Merk. On 14 December 2005 his contract was terminated, a day later, Uwe Krupp announced as his successor." 
I'm pretty excited about the new coach, his coaching stats are pretty decent. It's of course too early to get really excited, and we won't know how good of a coach he really is until the season starts. October can't get here fast enough.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

YouTube Tuesday

The Everblades announced they will be having a press conference on Wednesday at noon. I would put good money on them announcing the new coach.

Either way it's exciting news!



The press confrence is open to the public. I'm pretty sure I won't make it, but if anyone goes please shoot me an e-mail with your thoughts and or pictures.

The funny thing is, I had a really vivid dream last night that they announced the new coach was Jim Paek (more info here and here if your interested). It would be pretty cool to have an ex-Penguin, and a three-time Stanley cup winner(two as a player and one as an assistant coach) lead the Everblades. Here's the most awesome thing, his only playoff goal was the cup winning goal against the Blackhawks in 92. If you're not going to score often, you better score big I guess.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

ECHL Affiliations

(enjoy this quick post between my double shifts, hopefully it makes sense)
With nothing newsworthy going on in the Everblades universe, I've had a lot of free time on my hands. Because of this, I present a lovely spreadsheet of affiliations for all ECHL teams. The full sized version can be found here (the blogs templates likes to shrink things).




At the bottom you'll notice I've included the NHL teams that are without an ECHL affiliate. The Rangers lost theirs when the Checkers moved to the AHL (and became our affiliate), and the Wild lost their affiliate when the Johnstown Chiefs folded. Also interesting is the Lightnings choice to use a CHL affiliate instead of an ECHL one (which is just another reason to cheer for the Panthers in my opinion).

The new team in Greenville will be announcing the winning name from the contest they held later this month. I'm hoping they announce their NHL affiliate at the same time. I don't like all the red at the bottom.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Friday Links

Another Friday, another serving of some Friday links.

- Blah, blah, blah, season ending roster. When are we going to get some real news?

- I watched Murderball yesterday, and I highly recommend it. It's an awesome documentary about quadriplegic athletes playing wheelchair rugby. It was very inspiring, but not in a Pollyanna life is sunshine and rainbows way.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page- "First indoor ice hockey game"

- Lets Go Amerks has a great look at what happens when teams move to a new town. Poor Rowdy.

- The Panthers and Lightning both announced their preseason schedules. It would be fun to check out at least one game since I've never been to a preseason game and it's pretty much the same distance to Tampa and Sunrise.

- This photograph is gorgeous, and I may just have to buy a print.

- I honestly don't know what to say beyond this mother built an indoor ice rink addition on to her house because she was tired of driving her son to practice.

- This is my new response to any complaints...

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

YouTube Tuesday

Now that the Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup over the Texas Stars last night hockey season is officially over. As much as I'd like to switch my attention to the World Cup, I can't. There's just too many bad memories from the 9 years I played goal for the worst competitive soccer team in South Florida. Anyhoo, enjoy these YouTube videos...



And here's the full top ten with the Rags that got shortened in the clip (it's really not funny, but none of the humor on The Late Show is)...





I don't think the Blades will be announcing anything major this week. There's some kind of ECHL convention in Las Vegas.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Friday Links

This is going up a little late, but here's some Friday links to end the work week on a high note.

- Now that the Blackawks have ended their Stanley Cup drought, it's time for a new team to take the mantle of team with the longest drought. Step right up Florida Panthers!

- Here's a really interesting look at what the Stanley Cup means to a hockey player.

- Here's a direct link to the Everblades latest schedule.

- I'm trying to read this biography of Ken Dryden (and it's pretty good so far), but life's getting in the way. I still recommend it.

- Zamboni watch!

- This has nothing to do with hockey at all, but this sign duel between a Catholic church and a Presbyterian church is hilarious. Part one, and two.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

YouTube Tuesday

This video never gets old...



The Everblades should be announcing the schedule for next season some time today, and the new coach should be named some time this week. Unfortunately, I'll be in Venice for the next two days and won't really have time to post anything until Thursday. If anything really major happens I'll find some way to get something up here.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Friday Links

Happy Friday everyone. As always, here are some links to get you through the day...

- Having a new GM in Sunrise may mean good things for the Amerks and Panthers relationship.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page today is really interesting- "List of family relations in the NHL"

- These vintage Bobby Orr skates are pretty cool.

- This is a really cool set of Flickr photos. I love the Kazakh and Slovenia jerseys.

- The Blackhawks have been in Chicago how long? Why go over the basics of hockey in an original six city?

- This little girl is so adorable(even though she's a Flyer's fan).

- One last giggle...

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Cameron Lands Coaching Job

(No news in forever and then suddenly I have enough for two posts in one day, sheesh)

It didn't take long for Malcolm Cameron to find a coaching job. It's not in Houston (darn rumors), nor is it for any AHL position.

Ladies and gentlemen, Malcolm Cameron is the new coach of the Elmira Jackals. He honestly found a team to coach that fast. Same conference, same league, different team. I love how the Jackals are playing up his record like everything that went on down here never happened. Honestly, do the Jackals think their fans don't have Internet access? Whatever, Jackals fans will learn soon enough, and we'll have a new (hopefully better) coach.

I'm sure I'm not the only Blades fan looking forward to our first home game against the Jackals. May I propose we start chanting "Cameron, Cameron, Cameron" whenever the Blades score a goal on the Jackals? It would be so wonderful and mean.

This has nothing to do with the story, it's just funny (and I'm delirious from doing homework all day).

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Protected Lists Announced

The Everblades haven't made any formal announcements as to who they put on their protected player list. Luckily the ECHL was kind enough to post all the teams on one page. There are a bunch of rules on who can go on this list and who can't, but they're really confusing so I doubt I can explain them. The basic point of this list is the team is calling dibs on these players.

Of course, this list doesn't guarantee that they will be playing for the Everblades next season. Only that they can't be approached by any other ECHL team.

Adrien Lemay

Dominic D’Amour
Scott Hotham
Mitch McColm
Phil Paquet
A.J. Thelen
Brad Zanon
Kevin Baker
Mike Bayrack
Patrick Bordeleau
Benjamin Breault
Matt Caria
Shea Guthrie
Ernie Hartlieb
Brad Herauf
Mike Hoffman
Eric Lampe
Ryan Lang
Colin Nicholson
Ahren Spylo
Dominic Osman
Alexandre Parent
Mathieu Roy

You may notice players who were assigned from the AHL are missing. Their rights belong to the NHL club they have a contract with so the Everblades can't protect them, that's why you don't see guys like Brandon Buck, Chris Beckford-Tseu and Matt Duffy.

You may also notice, guys who have a contract in Europe (Zanon, Spylo, and Hotham for example) are on the list. That's to make sure if they decide their not happy and want to play stateside that the team will still have the rights to them.

 It's really good to see Phil Paquette, Shea Guthrie, Eric Lampe, Dominic Osman, and Mitch McColm on the list. I really liked their contributions for the most part and I can't wait to see them play next season. I'm not sure how I feel about Adrien Lemay being on the list. Even though my first reaction to any goalie is to fall in love, I only saw him play once (and it wasn't pretty). It's also good to see some reliable vets like Kevin Baker, Ryan Lang (wooohoo!), and Colin Nicholson on the list.

Most importantly it's good to see Ernie Hartlieb on the list. It's an unwritten rule that he has to be on the team. Plus, I'm pretty sure the arena would crumble to the ground if he wasn't on the roster.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

YouTube Tuesday

I don't know about this being the worst call ever, but it is an amazing save.



If the commenter's on this video are to be believed the goalies name is Kevin St. Pierre (stats here). In a funny coincidence this is the Ft. Wayne Komets (yes, the ECHL is not good enough for us Komets), who may be in the CHL next year if this story is to be believed. Sigh, so much for new teams coming to town.