Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Gladiators (3/30/12)

After pulling themselves up from the basement and climbing all the way to fifth in the East, the Blades were just one win away from knowing who they would play in the playoffs.

It's hard to say which team was the better team. Both squads played at their best. When all was said and done, the Blades walked away with the win.

After not being able to get a puck past Glads goalie Marc Chevrie on Wednesday the Blades came out on a mission. Cedric McNicoll opened up scoring at the 5:21 mark (assists to Marquardt and Salters). Brayden Irwin followed that up with a power play tally in the later half of the period tomake it 2-0 (assists to Marquardt and Murray). The period ended with that score and a 12-4 lead in SOG.

The second saw the Glads score two power play goals about two minutes apart to tie things up abot halfway though the period. Luckily, Matt Marquardt gave the Blades the lead yet again with a power play goal (assists to Raymond and Galiardi). The Blades left the ice with their 3-2 lead in place.

The Blades extended their lead about 11 minutes into the third with a weird bounce off of Chevrie to make it 4-2. About a minute after that (and the usual rough stuff the Glads like to dish out when their losing) the Glads made it 4-3 with a short handed goal. The Blades were able to make it 5-3 with an empty netter from Matt Beca (assist to McNicoll and Piché). The game ended and the Blades had wrestled a hard won victory from the Gladiators.

Three Stars:
3. Hadad
2. Marquardt
1. Irwin

Some thoughts:
- It wasn't fun to see the old rough and tumble Gladiators decide to make a reappearance. I did not miss them at all.
- Pretty classy for your captain to get a game misconduct for physical abuse of the officials. The league better hand something down for that. It was very uncool.
- The Blades did okay in the discipline department but could have done better. It was obvious Hadad was doing what he does best: being the biggest pest on Earth.
- Fun fact: since the 12th, the Blades haven't given up more than 3 goals in any game.
- Time to get ready for Greenville people.

Friday Links

Another Friday, another dose of awesome links to keep you busy until the game tonight. Enjoy.

- No re-cap from Wednesday's game because I hate writing re-cap and a loss makes me hate writing them even more. I did get some pictures, you can check them out over on the blog's Flickr stream.

- It was pretty easy to pick the Tweet of the Week since Muse has been on quite a roll. The only challenge was picking my favorite.

- The ECHL has released all of the team honors. You can click any of these links but I'll save you time. Not one Blades made any of the teams despite a Blades player appearing in the top 20 of almost every stat league wide.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Matthews Arena"

- This isn't really a hockey link but it is pretty cool. A Brief History of Foosball.

- How awesome is this old school table hockey game?

- Kitty time (since hedgehogs appear to be bad luck).


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

YouTube Tuesday

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still pretty pumped about that home series with the Stingrays.

What better way to remember last week's great effort than remembering Senbastien Piche's great turnaround this week. He went from suspended to three goals in three games and a Gordie Howe Hat trick. Here he is earning the final step.



I might be biased (Who am I kidding? I'm totally biased), but I think I'm going to have to give Piche the win.

Last week of the regular season and Gwinnett's in town. Time to get more points you guys. Giddy up.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Stingrays (3/24/12)

Unfortunately, I couldn't track down a radio broadcast of the game. Sounds like it was a doozy officiating-wise.

It doesn't matter though. The Blades swept the team they could only afford to give one point to. I imagine they all curled into balls and qietly cried on the bus ride home to Charleston last night.

The Rays opened the scoring in the first the Blades didn't have any answer right away.

The Blades responded in the second by having the kind of second period they've been having all season. Four goals? Piece of cake for the Blades.

Matt Beca started things off with an unassisted goal at 3:55. Cedric McNicoll gave the Blades a lead on the power play at 4:40 (assisted by Piché and Bress). He added another because let's be honest, McNicoll isn't capable of only scoring one goal, he has to score two (assisted by Pitt and Fischer). Finally, Sebastien Piché extended his goal scoring streak to three games with a power play tally late in the period (assisted by McNicoll and Fischer).

The Stingrays netted another in the third, but I'm pretty sure that was just because John Muse felt bad for them. Who wouldn't? Your leading scorer is arrested for stealing a cab and you just dropped two spots in the standings? It's all kind of sad.

Anyway, Blades win it 4-2.

Three stars:
3. Fischer
2. Piché
1. McNicoll

No thoughts for you guys. Let's all just bask in the warm glow of the Blades incredible turn around.

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Stingrays (3/24/12)

After struggling for a better part of the season, the Everblades find themselves in an enviable position. They found their groove at the best possible time. Just a month ago there was the threat of missing the playoffs. Not something the perpetually playoff bound Blades organization is used to. Now, the Blades find themselves in the middle of the playoff pack. Quite the turnaround.

After a close game Wednesday it seemed Friday's game was going to be a close one. It was, at least for the scoreless first period.

Then, the second period happened. Trevor Bruess opened up the scoring on the power play to make it 1-0 (assists to Fischer and Beca). About three minutes later, Brayden Irwin notched another power play tally to make it 2-0 (assists to Qick and Roy).  Shortly after that, Scott Pitt notched the Blades only even strength goal of the night on a rush from the faceoff (assists to MacLean and Murray) to make it 3-0. South Carolina was able to get one past Blades goalie John Muse to ruin his sht-out. Luckily, the Stingrays hadn't learned the lesson of staying out of the box and gave the Blades another power play. Obviously, the Blades converted. It was just one of those nights. Cedric McNicoll made it 4-1 with a pretty shot right over Stingrays goalie Billy Sauer's shoulder (assists to Beca and Fischer). Two minutes later the Stingrays continued to shoot themselves in the foot and Sebastien Piché scored his second goal in as many games to make it 5-1 (assists to Beca and Fischer). That score remained at the end of the period. The Blades had gone a perfect 4 for 4 on the power play.

Aside from a second goal from South Carolina (which really should have been disallowed in my opinion), the third was as quiet as the third. Brayden Irwin dropped the gloves with a Stingray, but it wasn't really what I'd call a fight. The period ended with the Blades up 5-2.

Three stars:
3. Irwin
2. Fischer
1. Beca

Barring a miracle, no pictures until Monday.

Some thoughts:
- The game sheets in the last month or two are really proof that scoring is coming from the entire team and that's a nice thing to see.
- If I remember attendance statistics correctly, the Blades hit 150,000 fans for this season last night. 5,857 is not too far off of full capacity. Good seats for playoffs are going to be hard to come by.
- Thanks to Wheeling losing, the Blades are suddenly fifth in the conference. Crazy.
- The Stingrays have been trying to get to Muse. They've been clipping and running him every chance they get. His reaction is to make anyone who comes near his crease pay. Awesome.
- I vote David Fischer and Matt Beca be on every power play so they can set up all the plays. We'll have a perfect power play record!

Friday Links

After that big win on Wednesday, the Everblades have a chance to jump all the way to fifth in the conference standings. A win tonight, coupled with a Wheeling loss will give the Blades 79 points to the Nailers 78.

It's kind of a huge deal guys.

- Obviously, my preference for the Penguins makes me biased, but oh man, this print is too cool.

- It took me a bit to pick the Tweet of the Week. I couldn't find anything laugh out loud hilarious, but this tweet from Ratchuck was pretty funny:

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Montreal Victorias"

- Here's your weekly link to Third String Goalie. This time, a wonderful post on Lanny McDonald.

- Here's a great story on the Blades AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals are getting great support from their local fans thanks to their 18 game win streak.

- It's not Friday without a kitty.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

On another note, I checked Ticketmaster this morning and good seats are going very fast. Don't get stuck with cruddy seats guys. Too bad going to the pre-season games and all the empty Wednesday games at the start of the season don't get you special treatment at the end of the season.

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Stingrays (3/21/12)

It was no secret that the Everblades have a tough series on their hands. The Stingrays sit just above them in the standings. They had to show up and play their best. Aside from an unfortunate bounce and the usual horribly unbalanced ECHL officiating, the game went pretty well.



The Blades started the game strong. Two goals in the first four minutes of the period. The first, from Scott Pitt (assisted by Donald and Irwin), and the second, from Matt Marquardt (assisted by McNicoll and Galiardi), gave the Blades a quick lead.

 

Unfortunately, a few minutes later the Stingrays made a rush down the ice. A pass made right in front of the net bounced off Brayden Irwin's skate and right into the goal to make it 2-1. About four minutes later, Blades goalie John Muse made a pad save that served up a juicy rebound and a Stingrays forward had no trouble scoring the goal. There was no further scoring in the period. When the buzzer sounded, the teams left the ice to a 2-2 score.

The Blades opened up the second by scoring an early goal yet again. That goal, Sebastien Piche first goal of the season (assisted by Landry and Beca), gave the Blades a 3-2 lead. The Stingrays answered back four minutes later and made it a tie game yet again. That score remained when the period ended.



Throughout most of the third, both teams traded chances with neither coming out on top. Then almost 13 minutes into the period, Rylan Galiardi gave the blades their third lead of the game (assisted by Donald). Things were a bit tense toward the end of the third when back to back penalties on th eBlades led to a pretty extended period of 5 on 3. Thanks to some of the best hustle I've seen, the Blades were able to kill both penalties. The fans gave them a huge round of applause and a standing ovation. Shortly after that, the final buzzer sounded and the Blades had won 4-2. They now are tied with the Stingrays for 6th and one point behind the Nailers for 5th.

The game sheet is here.

The game photos:



The three stars:
3.Galiardi
2. O'Brien
1. Donald.

Some thoughts:
- I don't think I can rave enough about that last penalty kill. It was a thing of beauty.
- Allow me to play armchair coach for a minute: Why not, when you have an extended 5 on 3 and you're down by only one goal would you not pull your goalie for an extra attacker. Is your power play so terrible they could defend when they have six players to the opposing teams 3?
- It's not like the Stingray players couldn't handle protecting an open net. Mathieu Roy was absolutely robbed of an empty net goal thanks to one of the Rays' hustle.
- Seriously guys, that penalty kill. Sigh.

A quick note, it looks like the usual end of the season attendance spike has finally happened (if you're just showing up to games now you suck by the way). If, like me, you haven't been smart enough to secure season tickets, you might want to pay ticket master a little extra to secure the seats you like. I show up before gates open and the good seats are becoming harder to come by.

YouTube Tuesday

The Everblades 12 day road trip was pretty successful. They won five out of seven games and the games the ones they lost were only one goal games. On top of that, two games in a row saw the Blades score an impressive eight goals. It seems like all the early struggles this season have been shaken off.

Right now, the Blades sit just two points behind the South Carolina Stingrays in the standings and six points ahead of the Cyclones. Oddly enough, the Rays roll in to town for three games with the Blades. Honestly, can you believe the coincidence?

While I feel like I've been saying every single game is a must win, these next few games really are. The Blades have to win every single game with the Rays to take sixth in the conference. They can barely afford to give them more than a point.

It's pretty easy to assume that the next three home games are going to be intense. Luckily, the Blades proved they could bring intensity and go toe to toe with the toughest the North East had for them.

That was a slightly cruddy segue, my apologies. 

First, Trevor Bruess being Trevor Bruess



Next, everyone's favorite Everblades vs. everyone's least favorite former Everblade!



I can't blame this Royals player for not wanting to face the true wrath of Ryan Donald's fist.



What's the best thing to do after you come back from a two game suspension for boarding? If you're Sebastien Piche you humiliate one of the most irritating players in the Atlantic division.



Finally, some bonus video from the Blades last home series. Brayden Irwin starts quite a rucus and the K-Wings goalie gives an Oscar worthy performance.

Friday Links

The Everblades have a big game tonight (who am I kidding? Every game from here on out is a big game). Here's a serving of piping hot links to keep you busy until 7:30. Not like anyone actually works on Friday. Right?

- Let's start out with the Tweet of the Week. Sometimes the best humor needs words and visuals. Also, hahaha Elmira sucks!

- This jersey is a little pricier than I usually like for eBay finds, but I'm a sucker for the Blades jerseys with teeth down the sides.

- I don't think I've linked to Third String Goalie in a while and that makes me sad. To make up for it, please check out one of my favorite posts of all time.

- I'm not sure how I'll be able to continue to live my life without this Le Magnifique doll.

- Along those lines, your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "50 goals in 50 games"

- Kitty time!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Re-Cap: Everblades vs. Royals (3/14/12)

After watching the Everblades struggle all season, it feels like things may just be changing. After scoring eight goals in Trenton on Sunday the Blades rode in to Reading to face a team just a few points back in the standings. Add in a goalie,  Toronto prospect Mark Owuya, with a 10-3-3 record, and the situation looked a bit scary.

Luckily, the Blades were up to the task.

The first period was a bit of a wash. Perpetual bane of my existence, Yannick Tifu, scored two goals in the space of about a minute and a half. Matt Beca narrowed the Royals lead to 1 goal around the 12 minute mark (assists to McNicoll and Roy). When the period ended, the score remained 2-1.

I'm going to assume that either Beca's goal lit a fire or Coach Poss used his angry voice between periods. Either way, the Blades decided to explode in the second. In the span of about three minutes, they scored three goals. Matt Marquardt opened up the scoring frenzy with an unassisted goal. Brayden Irwin notched one on the power play (assists to Roy and Ratchuck). Scott Pitt added one of his own shortly after that (assists to MacLean and Donald) to make it 4-2. The Royals managed to notch one of their own to make it 4-3. Unfortunately for them, Mathieu Roy scored a short handed goal with about three seconds left in the period to make it 5-3.

Crushing opposing player's spirits is just what he does

One had to wonder if the Royals would come out with all cylinders pumping for the third.

Well, they kind of did. Unfortunately for them, the Blades notched two quick goals in a little over 30 seconds to take the 7-3 lead. Bruess tallied the first of the two by going top shelf (assist to Beca). Mike Ratchuck decided that since everyone else was scoring, he wanted to as well and notched the second (assist to Marquardt). At that point, the Royals finally took mercy on Owuya and pulled him. Delightfully, he decided to try and fight the Everblades bench as he left the ice.

Perhaps he should change his name to Boohooya

At this point, the Blades could have sat back and just let the score stay 7-3. Unfortunately for the Royals, there no fun in that. Bobby Raymond made it 8-3 at the 10:41 mark of the period (assists to Marquardt and Roy). The period ended with the Blades handing another eight goal defeat to them in front of their home crowd. It felt good.

The game sheet is here.

The three stars:
3.Beca
2. Marquardt
1. Roy

Some thoughts:
- The Blades are 5-1 so far this month. Me gusta.
- Good lord, the Blades love scoring a lot of goals on goalies with good records.
- The Blades are only three points behind South Carolina right now. They're four points ahead of Cincinnati.
- Roy's short handed goal was all because of his hard work. He blocks a shot then takes it down on a rush.
- So, Matt Marquardt? Yeah, the dude quietly gets stuff done. His goal, a slap shot from the top of the circle was awesome (he's on Twitter by the way).
- The newest Blade, Brandon MacLean is pure hustle. I like him.
- The Royals spent the entire game targeting David Rutherford. Too bad for them he plays harder and meaner in those situations.
- He also scores major points with me for fighting Tifu



The Blades have a day off today. They then play Elmira Friday and Saturday and return to Reading on Sunday. After that, they'll be home for two weeks.

YouTube Tuesday

Is there anything more adorable than sad puppies that need a home? Oh wait, there is. Ladies and gentlemen,  sad puppies that need a home and hockey players who need haircuts badly and give horribly awkward intervews:



The Blades really need to do something like this. Leigh Salters holding a sad puppy would probably kill me.

Friday Links

Another Friday another serving of links.

- The Jr. Blades are currently at Nationals. They've won both of their games so far and are leaving massive amounts of jealous teenage hockey players in their wake. Way to go boys.

- You may have heard about the arena football team we were getting. Well, it looks like their season started. I'm not making the haul all the way to Estero for anything less than hockey, but if you're interested, you can check out their site.

- I have no idea what to say about this tweet of the week. I will say that any liquid in my mouth at the time I read this tweet ended up being sprayed all over my phone.

- I'm not a Red Wings fan in the least, but oh man. I like this little travel checkerboard.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "The Big Chill at the Big House"

- I can't decided if the Everblades getting name dropped in this Wall Street Journal article is a good thing or a bad thing.

- It wouldn't be Friday without a kitty, would it?


see more

YouTube Tuesday

I'm still slogging through all the photos I took on my little jaunt up North. While I don't miss the weather, I certainly do miss the fun I had.

That's why this video, from the second game the Blades played against the Express brings back good memories, and reminders of my new found hatred of Devin Didiomete. Seriously, he's such a punk.



Didiomete was later fined, but not suspended. I guess sitting on top of someone and punching them in the head repeatedly isn't that big of a deal in the ECHL's opinion. Live and learn.

Re-Cap: Everblades vs K-Wings

It's no secret that the Blades have had a rough year. As they enter into the last few weeks of the regular season every single point counts if they're going to make it into the playoffs. The team that showed up last night proved that maybe, just maybe, they finally realized that.

Aside from a loan tally, a power play goal from Mike Ratchuck (assists to McNicoll and Quick), the first period was rather uneventful. The period ended with the Blades up 1-0.

The Blades made it 2-0 around eight minutes into the second with a second power play goal from Ryan Galiardi (assists to McNicoll and Quick). About four minutes later, Trevor Bruess made it 3-0 (assists to Roy and Fischer). The K-Wings ended golden goalie Pat Nagle's shut-out in the closing minutes of the period to make it 3-1.

It didn't matter though. Minutes after a power play that had carried over from the second ended, David Rutherford made it 4-1 (assist to Galiardi). The K-Wings responded with two goals, one of which was shorthanded, over five minutes to make it 4-3.

That's when something happened that I can't really recall happening too much throughout the rest of the season.

The Blades sucked it up and decided to win the game. Honestly, the feeling of "hell no, we are not losing this" was palpable. Rutherford made it 5-3 30 seconds later on the power play (assists to Beca and Piché). About 20 seconds after that, Brayden Irwin made it 6-3 (assists to Fischer and Pitt). Galiardi netted his second of the night about two minutes after that goal (assists to Pitt and Irwin) to make it 7-3.

The K-Wings finally decided to pull ECHL goaltender of the month Riley Gill after that. That tactic worked for a while and the K-Wings put on tons of pressure. Too bad for them Ratchuck decided he wanted a second goal too. He made it 8-3 at 18:18 completely unassisted. Not to be outdone, Galiardi made it 9-3 about 20 seconds later to earn his hat trick (assists to Irwin and Pitt) and make it 9-3.

SOG were pretty even at 39-40 with the Blades getting the very slight edge.

It was a great game. A really great game.

Some thoughts:

- What is about the Blades that makes them show up against goalies the ECHL has given a weekly or monthly award to? Can the league just pass out weekly honors to whomever the Guys are playing against that week?

- 3/6 on the power play. Awesome.

- I could have lived without giving up a shorthanded goal.

- The penalty killing was pretty great, I wish there hadn't been so many 5 on 3 kills though.

- Bobby Raymond: +6. Forgive me while I pat myself on the back for my excellent taste in defensemen.

- On the other hand, I'm just shaking my head at the players who managed to be a -2 in a 9-3 game.

- Great game from Pat Nagle. He looks much more confident and bounced back after the K-Wings goal. I guess he could have done a bit better on the short-handed goal, but I'm not going to complain about a goalie who stopped 36 of 39 shots.

-Sweet Mother Mary those Pink in the Rink jerseys were terrible.

The Blades play the K-Wings again tonight. I'm hoping they can keep up the energy they had last night. The K-Wings are not going to go down without a fight. Also, it's the second night of Pink in the Rink. It sounded like a lot of the tickets have been bought up. It should be a good showing.

Friday Links

I'm back from the frozen tundra Chicago. Thankfully, I thawed out in time to give you your weekly serving of links.

- There were a few interesting roster moves in the last few days.

• The Lightning assigned Sebastien Piche, a player they recently acquired in a trade, to the Blades.
• Alex Hutchings was called up to Norfolk and Ryan McGinnis is getting a chance with the Syracuse Crunch.
• John Muse was sent down for Wednesday's game, and was slated to return to the Checkers for their weekend series, but it looks like he'll be sticking around since Justin Peters was returned to the Checkers. Bobby Raymond was sent
• Bobby Raymond has been sent down by the Binghamton Senators.
• The Blades signed forward Brandon MacLean (he's on Twitter).

- Back to the usual stuff. I have a coat rack similar to this one (although I think mine is a bit nicer). Still, this one is pretty cool.

- The Jr. Blades spent the morning reading to kids at Tanglewood Elementary. You can check out the pictures from the event over on their Facebook page (and maybe subscribe while you're there). You'll also be able to see the amazing third jerseys they'll be wearing to Nationals.

- It was hard to pick the Tweet of the Week. I finally narrowed it down to two.

- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament"

- I took a ton of pictures in Chicago. I'm going to get the Everblades photos (and videos) up first over on the blogs Flickr page. They should be up later this afternoon.

- Don't forget that tonight is the first night of Pink in the Rink. I'm not a fan of this years jerseys, but it goes for a very good cause.

- You guys know Friday means kitties.


see more