Goodbyes and Affiliation News

There has been lots of little bits and pieces of news over the last few days. Since I'm feeling oddly productive today (I never feel like this on a Monday), I thought I'd do a round-up of everything that's been going on.

First, some Goodbyes.

Two more players have left for the Elite Ice Hockey League. Both Mike Bayrack and Mike Hoffman have signed with the Belfast Giants (All the logos in the EIHL are super hideous for some reason). I'm not going to miss Hoffman, he played for one game before signing with the Syracuse Crunch. I will miss Mike Bayrack though.

He's was probably one of the most experienced hockey players in the entire ECHL last season (he should hit 1,000 regular season games while playing for the Giants).  He was a great presence on the ice, and he was a pretty nice dude.

Eric Lampe has also signed an agreement with the Syracuse Crunch (they love poaching our players I guess). I don't blame him for opting for an AHL contract, and I don't blame the Crunch for signing him. He was one of the best players  in the playoffs, and deserves to get noticed. I just wish one of our affiliates had done the noticing.

Now, on to affiliations!

This of course means it's spreadsheet time!

As you can see, the Greenville Road Warriors have announced two new affiliations. They'll be receiving players from the Rangers and Flyers. This leaves the Canadiens and the Wild as the last two NHL teams without an ECHL affiliate (that had one last season at least). I'm still holding to my belief that the Wild will sign with Bakersfield (the only team without an affiliate). My best guess is that the Canadiens will sign with Kalamazoo Wings. It makes sense location wise, and really, what player wouldn't want to wear these awesome jerseys (and helmets) during warm-ups?

Goodbye Times Two

I guess you can scratch two veterans off the list. Both Ryan Lang and Kevin Baker are off to Europe. Kevin Baker will be playing in the top tier of Italian hockey for Sportverein Ritten-Renon, in Ritten. A translation (courtesy of google) from the team website...

"After a few weeks ago with Erwin Kostner has assumed a new coach at the helm Winners and runners-up, now some movement in the transfer activity at the front Rittner player. And like the first new addition comes with a promise to Curriculum's high plateau.
It is at the 31 - year-old goalscorer Kevin Baker. Baker was on 15 June 1979 Born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and began his career with the Belleville Bulls in the Ontarrio Hockey League.
Already there he could do with performance ausseroredentlichen attention to himself and was consistent in 1999, drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round.
Overall, it brings the physically strong (186 cm / 87 kg) and as a cold-blooded enforcer force on 83 missions AHL (36 points) and 249 games in the ECHL, where Kevin Baker outstanding 297 points (141 goals / 156 Assist) won in his account could.
Peak of his career is certainly the 2008/09 season, where he was reached by 102 points for the top scorer at 57 goals and thus to the MVP, so the best players throughout the ECHL, was elected. A Einbrufung was the first ECHL All Star Team of the result."

Ryan Lang is off to play in the Netherlands for Eindhoven Kemphanen in the top tier of the Dutch hockey league, in Eindhoven. A translation from a dutch hockey website...

"Travis Banga long after the second new addition this week for the ambitious team from Eindhoven. Long begins his seventh season and was previously elected to the all-star team of the ECHL. Last season, the center sixteen goals and eighteen assists in 56 games with 59 penalty minutes. That was the number six on the score list of the team.
Lang is from Regina in Canada as a junior and chose the route through an American university. Four seasons, the 1.78 big forward from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He was several years including a teammate of former Trapper Aaron Grosul. After graduating, he moved to the ECHL, the league where he spent most of his career has played.In between came a call a few times looking for different teams in the ECHL, and he made a trip to Italy, where he came Alleghe. His most successful season in 2006-07 when he had it for the Augusta Lynx in 61 games 25 goals and 48 assists to his name released. He was the top scorer of the team.The new Ruff is known as a very fast attacker. "Ryan will be a revelation to the Dutch skating rinks. His tremendous speed and focus are a scourge to our opponents, "said Tommie Hartogs behalf Eindhoven."

I'm really sad to see both guys go (and maybe really really sad to see Lang go). This, tied with the list of player given qualifying offers, seems to hint at the team going for a younger look. As exciting as that is, I'm definitely going to miss these two veterans.

Friday Links and a Goodbye

This is definitely not a happy Friday, Woody over at the Blades Blog broke the news (click the link to see intelligent commenter's on the Blades Blog for once) yesterday that Scott Hotham is off to Norway to play for Lillehammer IK. It's sad to see him go, he was one of the players I was most excited about seeing come back next year. Unfortunately, players make more money in Europe, and can sometimes get the attention they're not getting here. I guess I'm going to have to get comfortable with google translate to keep you guys updated on how he's doing. 

On to the Links!

- I found this blog during one of my (many) google searches for ECHL fan blogs (seriously, if you know of one or want to start one drop me a line). It's pretty interesting to get a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes in an ECHL team's front office.

- Your Wikipedia Hockey page- "Ice Hockey in Africa"

- This is a really great article on Tara Black, the Chief Operating Officer of our new AHL affiliate the Charlotte Checkers (that still feels odd).

- This is another awesome article from greatesthockeyegends.com- "Is Hockey Fixed?"

- I love old school hockey masks, I'd love to buy this and hang it on my wall.

Goodbye Brad Zanon

(I'll post the Friday links later this afternoon. Right now, we mourn the loss of Big Red)

I'm not going to gloat about being right about one of the players I suggested may not return signing with another team. Sadly, I was right about Brad Zanon. He's off to England to play for the Coventry Blaze.

You can check out these stories (here and here). Basically, the coach liked what he saw when Red was playing college, they love his numbers, and he'll have the opportunity to go to college. You have to be proud of the guy choosing to further his education, at some point every hockey player has to retire and find a normal job. I'm a little upset that this team can offer a deal like this and we can't, even though we have a university pretty much across the street!

I'm happy for him, but I'm sad we're losing one of the most dependable defensemen on the roster for the last two seasons. It is also bit sad that the Zanon/Thelen line has been split up.

The only thing I have left to say is this- You have been blessed with the greatness of a Zanon Coventry, you better appreciate it. (You need to come back Metclaf. I'm not putting up with a bunch of rookies and Thelen)