YouTube Tuesday

The Everblades announced their latest signing today and I'm pretty happy with it. You really can't beat a 6' 4'', 209 lb defensive defenseman.



His stats:



He might be familiar to you if you've been to the College Classic tournament the Blades hold every year. In seven games in Germain, he notched three assists, not too shabby.

You can follow him on twitter here.

Blades Receive Players

Things are starting to shape up in Everblades land. Last night the Charlotte Checkers assigned four players along with Evan Stephens and Scott Pitt. Both Stephens and Pitt had been invited to take part in the Checkers training camp. Some familiar names are amongst the players sent down. Both Kyle Lawson and Matt Beca will be back this season. Defenseman John Murray and goalie John Muse are the newcomers. You may remeber that Muse being sent down to the Everblades was a pretty sure thing  when the Checkers signed him. Chris Murray has spent much of his career bouncing between the ECHL and AHL.

John Muse's stats:

Chris Murray's stats:


The Blades also had three players from Norfolk assigned today. Familiar face Alex Hutchings will get another chance to get under the skin of the entire Eastern Confrence. Joining him will be rookie forward Philip-Michael Devos and rookie goaltender Pat Nagle.

Stats for Philip-Michael Devos:


Stats for Pat Nagle:


The updated roster:



Not counting the training camp invitees the roster stands at 21 skaters and 2 goalies. From the sounds of things, the Checkers may need to make one more cut to get their roster to a manageable size. If that happens, it means that the Everblades will probably have to make cuts as well.

News and Notes

I'm working on a post on the K-Wings for later this afternoon. Until then, here's a round-up of all the latest Everblades bits and pieces.

- Pictures from Friday's game:



- If you are interested, I've also posted all of the pictures I took at the Penguins/Lightning game. You guys think I overdo the Everblades photos? You ain't seen nothing.

- Another day another Everblades post on Puck Daddy. This time Tim Spencer is featured for that insane bout he had on Friday.

- We signed another Mercyhurst player. This time, it's goalie Ryan Zapolski. His stats:



- The ECHL announced the schedule for the conference quarterfinals. The match-ups in the East:

• Greenville vs. Elmira
• Reading vs. Cincinnati
• Kalamazoo vs. Florida
• Wheeling vs. South Carolina

- I'm predicting Greenville, Cincinnati, Florida and Wheeling make it to the next round. How about you guys?

News and Notes

Let's get right to it.

- The Blades clinched a playoff spot thanks to the Cyclones beating the Walleye last night. I guess it works for them that they didn't have to put any effort in to earn it. The upcoming series against the Stingrays simply decides playoff position and home ice advantage.

- The team hasn't made an anoouncement yet (they'll probably wait until I hit the publish button), but the ECHL transactions is showing the team signed defenseman Evan Stephens. His stats:



- The Blades made Puck Daddy again this weekend. Not for jerseys or line brawls though, it's finally for something good. Big congrats to Drew Larman for being an awesome dude and having it recognized.

- The pictures from Friday are up you can head over to the stream or enjoy a neat feature I just discovered from Flickr. Slideshow!



- The video of the shoot-out is also up. Enjoy. You may want to turn down the volume first.



-

Friday Links

Happy Friday everyone! The Blades play the first of a very important three games in three days against the Gladiators tonight. Cross your fingers and send good vibes to our boys. They need it.

- Let's get this out of the way first, Jaroslav Janus has been called up to Norfolk. Again. The team also signed defenseman Deron Cousens. His stats:



- Weird find on eBay, a game worn Everblades helmet. I wish I could remember the last few #20's to play.


- Love this post from Greatest Hockey Legends on my favorite player of all time, Mario Lemieux.

- This cake is so awesome. I'll take one with an Everblades theme for my birthday guys.



- Your Wikipedia hockey page for today- "Hockey Homicide"

- Although I find this... well I guess it's artwork... unique, I don't find it $110 worth of unique.

- Poor pup.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our

News and Notes

With all that's been going on lately, it's definitely time for a round-up of all the news.

- Hockey Broad has an interview with Bobby Goepfert and it's awesome.

- I tweeted that Chris Beckford-Tseu was released from the Salmon Kings (yesterdayish?) as well as Ed Snetsinger. Well, today the Greenville Road Warriors picked CBT up.



I mentioned this to someone earlier on Twitter, how much would you look forward to CBT in net for Greenville in the playoffs.

- The Tampa Bay Lightning have released Mitch Fadden. Reports are slowly leaking out that there are some issues going on, including a possible DUI.

- Some roster news: Evgeny Timkin was released (consider me not surprised),the big reason for Timmy being dropped. Roster room had to be made for new forward Scott Pitt.



- Dusty Collins was signed by another AHL team. Although I wish him luck, I still hate seeing our roster get raided by non-affiliates.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our

News and Notes

It's time for a quick round-up of Everblades news.

- Last night was pretty awesome. My seats were amazing and the Penguins scored two shorthanded goals in one penalty. Too bad they lost, but I will have pictures up sometime Friday or Saturday for those who are interested.

- At least the Everblades won last night. You can see the game sheet here.

- Fun fact: The Blades have given up the first goal in 6 straight games.

- Fun fact: Alexandre Imbeault has now had three games in which he's scored at least two goals. I'm calling him as the first non-AHL contracted player.

- Reports from last night are that a Kalamazoo's Mitch Versteeg slew-footed Mike Kennedy. Apparently, Kennedy lay on the ice for a bit and had to be helped off.

- You may remember Elgin Reid was called for this last season and was suspended for it (one game I think). The ECHL should hand down any suspension, if it's going to happen (and it should), later today.

- The Everblades traded Vladimir Nikiforov to the Bakersfield Condors.

- The Charlotte Checkers assigned Defenseman Ethan Grahm to the Everblades.

Blades Sign Fischer

The Blades announced another signing yesterday. Defenseman David Fisher was the 20th player selected in the first round of the NHL entry draft by the Montreal Canadiens. He spent the last four seasons playing for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. First, links to his prospect report and at Hockey's Future and a (poorly) translated story about the source of some of his struggles. Now, his stats:



Now, an interview after his first collegiate goal:



I have to admit I was very surprised by this signing. If you remember Craig Brush said in an interview that he was done signing players, so this signing was obviously a shock. My guess is either he wasn't on the radar until the Canucks cut him from their prospect camp or one of the prospects Brush was expecting from our affiliates won't be coming.

Of course, there is also the possibility that he doesn't expect one of the players we have under contract  to return from the AHL camps they were invited to. The Norfolk Admirals, our new AHL affiliate, invited several players to camp. Shea Guthrie, Phil Paquet, Mitch McColm, Alexandre Imbeault, Francis Lemieux, and Bobby Raymond, all received invite. Also, Mike Egener and Kevin Deeth received invites to the Oklahoma City Barons and Chicago Wolves respectively.

I know I seem  to say this a lot, but we really won't see until the season starts. Camp and the upcoming alumni game on Tuesday should at least give us a good idea.

Blades Sign Deeth

I'm really loving the regular signing announcements from the Everblades. Today they announced the signing of rookie forward Kevin Deeth. He's spent the last four years playing for Notre Dame, and before that spent some time in the USHL and Shattuck-Saint Mary's. A quick look at his stats:



He's definitely not the biggest guy, the team lists him as 5'7'' and 170. Actually, he's the shortest (Nikiforov has an inch on him) and tied for the lightest. I did find some of the quotes I found on him pretty interesting, especially this post from Hockey's Future. In it, he was named as one of the 2007 top 20 NCAA prospects (scroll down to # 14). It looks like he's got the feisty intelligent playing style that's great to see in s smallish forward. 

I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning, but his brother, Brian Deeth, may be familiar to some of the Everblades fans. He spent three seasons bouncing around the ECHL, playing with the Chiefs, Roadrunners, Grizzlies, and Checkers before finally spending the majority of last season in the SPHL.

For those of you who are interested it looks like he did make a Twitter account. He made a grand total of 1 tweet, but I'm hoping some interest might bring him back.

5-2! Blades Win!

 (I swear this has not been photoshopped)

The Blades finally won a game in regulation last night, beating the Wheeling Nailers 5-3 (I took a picture to prove they actually won in regulation).

It was a good game, and the Blades had it together for once. Goalie Cris Beckford-Tseu was awesome last night only allowing two goals on 32 shots, earning the second star of the night.

(Come back soon Becks!)

The Nailers did score the first goal. Cleve Kinley, who was traded earlier this year, got it past Becks during a power play.

The Blades were able to come back  and tie it up on a lovely goal by Ross Carlson, which I just happen to have video of (with slo-mo instant replay action)...

A.J. Thelen and Colin Nicholson also got tallies past the Nailers goaltender sending the Blades into the second intermission up 3-1. There was a new intermission activity that is more entertaining than watching the minnie mites play... Goalie Race! Three laps around the rink and no passing unless you take the dude in front of you out...



The Nailers were able to get their second goal of the night early into the third period to make it 3-2. The Blades didn't panic though, and Brandon Buck notched one on the power play to make it 4-2. An empty netter by Carlson made it 5-2.

(Buck doing his best Jordan impression)

                                                  (I love this picture, spot the puck!)

It was good to see the Blades play to their abilities, there was some mistakes and a bit of sloppy play, but all in all they were good. They looked a lot better than they did last Saturday, and the score proves it.

There was also a fight between Benn Olson and Ryan Schnell in the first period...



And some great pictures from last night...

                                                       (I'm liking the new guy, Guthrie)

(To quote what the old man in my section yelled "Cut your hair Lang")

(I have no idea why those guys did that)

(Roy is back by the way)

(I think this is Duffy)

(No matter how much trouble he causes I can't help but love McJannett)

(The Nailers had the Pens logo on their jerseys!)

I'm not sure If I'll be going to tomorrows game, but there should at least be some more videos from last nights game uploaded to the youTube channel some time today or tomorrow, including McJannet being robbed by the Nailers goalie.

What A Fiasco!

The game last night was horrible, I had a ponding headache by the time I left. The only upside were my seats for last night game were awesome As you can see in some of my pictures). I really have to thank you season ticket holding neighbor of my friend! Unfortunately, the Blades didn't play that awesome. They looked sloppy, and undisciplined. The second period had to be the worst, and I was really annoyed by the end of the game.

The Royals players were a bit dramatic with their falls, Steiner even received a penalty for diving (I honestly can't remember the last hockey game I saw that penalty assesed). But some of the stuff that went on last night was just dumb. The guys looked like they had no idea how to play together. It was very upsettng to watch them make dumb mistake after dumb mistake. The epitome of the stupidity happened in the second period, Hoffman, doing his job, got into a fight (and won). McJannet then decides to get into a fight 19 seconds later! Then, 26 seconds later Paquet got into a fight too! I'm sure this would have kept going on if the Royals coach hadn't yelled at his players to stop. I'm all for hockey being physical but this isn't Slap Shot, being a buch of goons isn't the way to win a game. That to me was the best example of what went wrong last night, everyone wanted to be the hero but no one wanted to actually work hard at it. Of course the penalty box was pretty full at this point, so of course Thelen decides to cross check a Royal  a few minutes later(I have more to say about Thelen later). The stupid crap continued into the third period, there was no glimmer of hope at all.

As you can see from the gamesheet, penalties were handed out left and right. There was also a goalie change to start the third with Beckford-Tseu taking over for Brusty. Woody from the NDN Blades' blog later reported that Brusty had experienced a minor injury. He has also reported that coach Cameron was pissed with the guys aftwer the game, and honestly I don't blame Cameron, I was pretty pissed too.

I  feel the need to call out two players after last night. I may be off base on this, but Thelen and Lang are starting to irritate me. I've noticed Thelen taking a lot of dumb penalties lately. He has been very undisciplined. That's dissapointing because I thought he was an important part of the team last year, and was happy to see him re-sign this year. Lang, on the other hand, has been playing without any heart. He has always been my favorite player, and if you look back in this blog you can see how long I waited for the announcement he was playing this year. I could be wrong, maybe last night has me looking for someone to blame, but those two have been catching my attention lately.

 Now that I feel better after getting all of that off of my chest, some odds and ends...

-The team passed out the first trading card set last night. The card included were Metcalf, Gajic, Mcflikier, J. Morrison, M. Morrison, Hennigar, Buck, Hotham, Reid, and Baker.

-Morrison has been called  up to the Albany River Rats as another Hurricanes goalie has been injured.

-Breault has decided to leave the team and go back to college

-If anyone can clue me in on what the little notebook Beckford-Tseu and Brusty were writing on I'd appreciate it. One of my friends at the game, who has played hockey his whole life, had no idea. There was a grid and x's, and some of the guys coming off the ice would tell CBT and Brusty something, which would then be written down.

-The blog is starting to average a pretty decent amount of visitiors which is a really good sign. It's nice to know people are actually interested in the Blades.

-And some awesome shots of our goalies, Brusty pics on the right CBT on the Left (I blame my goalie fixation on Tom Barrasso, by the way).

I did get all four of the fights from last night on video, althought two are pretty blurry and I'm debating if I should upload those two to YouTube. Either way I usually can't get video up until Saturday, but if it's sooner I'll you'll hear about it. And, I'm not sure yet on if I can make the Friday game, althought I'll try. I'm also heading over to the east coast to see the Pens take on the Panthers on Monday, you might have suffer through a post about that, sorry.

Almost There...

A lot of roster news was announced over the last few days so this is going to be a long post, and here we go.

-The team signed rookie forward Jason Reese, stats here, and this will be his first professional season. He has played in the WHL for the last few seasons.

The Albany River Rats sent a couple of guys down from their training camp to the Everblades. They are as follows...

-Goalie Mike Morrison, stats here. He was already announced a while ago.

-Forward Milan Gajic, stats here. I'm so glad he's back, he was totally in my top five favorites last season.

-Forward Jacob Micflikier, stats here. Also happy to have him back.

-Forward Rob Hennigar (It's embarrassing how much trouble I had spelling his name, especially when I've already typed Gajic's and Micflikier's names), stats here.

-And, Defenseman Elgin Reid, stats here. He played for the Wheeling Nailers last season, I'm going to be very tempted to ask about whether he had an urge to punch Luca Caputi, I'm pretty sure a lot of guys do.

The team also announced some training camp invites as well...

-Goalie Nate Zervos, I can't find his stats at HockeyDB so no stats here.

-Forward Richard Rochefort, stats here. His HockeyDB stats don't show that he spent the last two seasons in Japan playing for the Seibu Prince Rabbits, the name is real and you have to check out some of the other names listed at the bottom of the Wikipedia page (seriously, paper cranes?).

-Defenseman Anthony Aiello, stats here. He's just out of Boston College, and if he is offered a contract this will be his first season of professional hockey.

-Finally defenseman Frank Grzeszczak, stats here. Interesting fact, he was born in Plantation, Florida. Not that it really matters, He just needs to skate.

Now, I'm totally exhausted from writing all of that, and I'm sorry you read all of that. I hope to have a really special post up next week, at some point, in honor of the season finally getting underway. If you don't want to keep checking back you can always follow the blog on Twitter!

Make it 18

I'm proud for actually being on top of posting on time. The Blades have announced the signing of defenseman John Wessbecker. This will be his first season playing professional hockey, he spent the last four years playing for University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His HockeyDB atats are here.He was also named to the Hockey East All-Academic team. This means that for all four years he played, he maintained at least a 3.0 GPA, and I'm geeky enough to be impressed by that.

Sadly, I could not find any videos of him on YouTube. Apparently some dude named John Cena is more important, (on a side note, does anyone still believe wrestling is real? It looked fake the first time I saw it, and I was six).

I'm still predicting one more signing, no hockey team can exhist with one goalie. And, it looks like our old friend Anton Khudobin is compeating with three other goalies for a roster spot with the Houston Aeros. It would be awesome to get him back, he was pretty dependable. Plus, he's from Kazakhstan, and thats just cool.

Now I'm Excited

As always I'm a little late on this, but I've been trying the whole healthy lifestyle thing. Instead of cuddling up with my dogs on the couch and watching re-runs of Meerkat Manor, I'm actually going to cardio classes and trying to get outdoors more.

So, anyway... the Blades announced the signing of forward Lee Jubinville (HockeyDB stats here). He has played for Princeton for the last four years and was a Hobey Baker nominee for the 07-08 season. He's also racked up a ton of other awards while at Princeton, but I don't feel like listing them. I do feel like embedding this YouTube video of him getting a shorthanded goal back in December of 2008. This guy can move!



We only have 15 more days until we get to see the Blades in action! And if the rumor I've heard is to be believed, there will be no open tryouts this year. Apparently the roster is set and they don't need want anyone else. They will have to announce the signing of a second goalie, there is no way any hockey team can get by with only one goalie. I'm thinking that is going to be announced sometime next week.

Paquet Full of Sunshine

(I apologize for my sense of humor)

The Blades announced another signing yesterday. Defenseman Philippe Paquet played for Clarkson University for the last four years, and this will be his first professional season. His HockeyDB stats are here. He is now the fourth rookie to be signed this year. Things are certainly going to be interesting once season starts...

Also, if you are heading to the BBQ Saturday the box office will be open and selling tickets for the season. You can also meet a few current and former players. And, there is a ton of stuff being raffled off, it's just too much to list here. I can't go, but if anyone sends me pictures I will put them up (make sure to include your name please).

Figures...

I should probably apologize for not posting this sooner, but I'm pretty sure there are only 3 regular readers. My Grandma was visiting and I barely had enough time to do my homework, let alone post here. But, we sent her back to Vegas yesterday(yes my Grandma lives in Las Vegas).

The Blades announced a signing and a trade (at least I think that's what you call what happened). They chose to do this after I had to post filler, and after I complained nothing was happening.

First, the Blades signed Forward Dylan Stanley, he played in Germany last year and although he played with the now defunct Grrrowl it was only for three games. His stats at HockeyDB.

Second, defense man Michael Grenzy was sent to the Wheeling Nailers. It's sad to see any player go. But, as the Nailers are the Pittsburgh Penguins ECHL affiliate, and I'm a HUGE Pens fan, I'm very happy for him.

It's Pronounced BROW!

The Blades just announced they have signed centerman Benjamin Breault. He has played the last 5 years in the QMJHL. A look at his stats courtesy of HockeyDB...
_________________________________________________________________
Benjamin Breault
Center
Born Feb 21 1988 -- Pembroke, ONT
Height 5.10 -- Weight 183 -- Shoots L
Selected by Buffalo Sabres round 7 #207 overall 2006 NHL Entry Draft
--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004-05 Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL 54 13 27 40 27 4 2 0 2 0
2005-06 Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL 68 30 38 68 60 4 0 2 2 4
2006-07 Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL 65 40 40 80 60 11 4 7 11 12
2007-08 Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL 62 36 41 77 60 5 0 3 3 10
2008-09 Quebec Remparts QMJHL 59 34 38 72 50
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_________________________________________________________________

Aside from having a stunning head of hair (check the Everblades page), he also was included in a documentary called Junior in 2007. The movie is all about the junior hockey program he was playing for and the system up there in general. You can find the movie on Netflix, but you have to wait until I return it.

Most of what I'm reading online says he's a quick guy with good hands, and seems to be a play maker as well. Seems to be a good player, but as always we'll have to wait till the season starts to find out.

Waiting...

After extensive googling, it turns out our new rookie Scott Hotham is pretty much everything the Blades are making him out to be. He did very well playing for St. Mary's University, he received quite a few awards (I don't feel like listing all of them). Of course the real test will be when the season starts, but I have confidence that we have a great player.

On another note, there are 8 players that have been offered a contract that have not accepted them. The Blades announced the offers on 7/1/09 to- Milan Gijac, Ryan Lang, Steve McJannet, Patrick Bordeleau, Alex Parent, Brad Herauf, Dominic D'Amour, and Michael Grenzy. I'm sure they all need time to think about it, but I wish they would hurry. These are some of my favorite guys!

Lucky Number Seven

The Everblades have just announced the signing of a seventh player for the 09-10 season. Scott Hotham, a defenseman, has been playing for a university up in Nova Scotia. According to the Blades he's made quite a name for himself (which I plan to check on once HugesNet decides to let me have some bandwith). Update to follow...