YouTube Tuesday

Unfortunately, the Blades didn't have a very good road trip. Dropping all three of their games to rivals we cant afford to lose to. There was some good news on the roster front though. Amongst the flurry of moves yesterday was a trade with Elmira. In exchange for Jimmy Martin and future considerations the Everblades get Defenceman Mike Ratchuk.

Seems like we got a pretty good deal:



I'm just going to add that to my list of videos to watch when I'm feeling grumpy about the Blades. This next video might go on it as well, I'm a little on the fence about it.



By the way, he's on Twitter (if you happen to be into that sort of thing).

Also, please remember to vote for the ECHL Silver Skater Fantasy Team. Only 3,300 have voted. We get that many people in Germain on a quiet Friday night at the beginning of the season.

Friday Links

I know you guys have been missing your Friday dose of links. What can I say? The holidays are nuts. Please accept this kitten as my apology.


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

Kittens really do solve all of life's problems don't they? On to the Links!

- I'm a little late with this, but here's a great story on Brian Ferlin. A Bruins prospect, one of Florida's best crop of young hockey players, and someone who spent a lot of time on Germain ice.

- Which reminds me, I only managed to make the second day of the College Classic. The photos I took are up if you're interested. Clarkson vs. Cornell is here. Maine vs. UMass is here.

- Right now, the Jr. Blades are 22-0-1 (including a 13-0 record at home). They're also sending eight players to their leagues all-star game. You're running out of time to get on the bandwagon guys.

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

- Choosing the Tweet of the week was hard. No one was on their game at all this week. Therefore, I picked two from last week.  The first because "the Smurf line" is a great name for a line in hockey, and the second because it's a universal truth.

- I'm pretty sure I've discovered the reason why all hockey players seem to have a magical ability to rock a suit like no one else. They start dressing up early.

-  I'm tempted to buy this DVD. So very tempted.

- I mentioned this on Twitter earlier, but some of you haven't joined the cool kids yet so I'll mention it here. The Everblades aquired forward Tyler Shelast from the Trenton Titans. I hate being mean before a player has played a single game in a Blades jersey, but if his stats are any indication, he wont get much time to develop a tan and learn to love key lime pie (if you catch my drift).



- I am not willing to jinx the boys tonight. Please accept this second kitten in place of any mention of wins, standings, records, or gloating related to divisional rivals.


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

News and Notes

Quite a few bits and pieces of news going on in Everblades land.

- First up, Mike McKenzie. Looks like he was able to secure a deal with our old friends, the Houston Aeros. The Checkers were kind enough to release him from his deal. Considering the Checkers are drowning in forwards, it's a nice move to let McKenzie get the AHL time he deserves.

- John Muse was called up to back-up former Everblades Justin Peters in Charlotte. Peters' goaltending partner, Mike Murphy, was called up to the Hurricanes (and actually got his first NHL minutes in relief of Cam ward last night). I'm assuming either Brian Markowicz or Scott Darling will be making an appearance on the bench as back-up for Pat Nagle.

- The Blades made some moves recently to patch up our gutted roster. Last week we traded away Robby Dee for defenceman Jimmy Martin, his stats:



They also signed Augusta Riverhawks forward Lucas LaBelle. You may remember him from the try-outs at the beginning of the season. His stats:



An unofficial signing I've heard about that the Blades haven't announced yet is forward Todd Pocoke. He's an intern with Athletic Republic that works with the team and the Jr. Blades. His stats (I'm hoping these are his stats): Turns out I was wrong. No signing to see here, move along.




- One to file under the maybe Byng is crazy and reading way too much into Tweets from players:

This was directed at a forward named Kerry Bowman. His stats just because:



- OK, done with the roster stuff. $2 beer, wine and hot dogs tonight. Consider this your warning, if you don't show up early I can't guarantee I won't have sucked down all the wine by the time you get there.

- More importantly, Friday Toys for Tots will be collecting unwrapped toys. You get a buy one get one ticket voucher and a kid in need gets an awesome toy. Nobody loses.

- Last but not least, since the puppies have been working:


see more dog and puppy pictures

Friday Links

It's Friday, and that means one thing. Time fore a heaping spoonful of links. Hopefully, this will keep you guys entertained until game time.

- No word yet on any suspension for Joey Hadad. I really would like to believe a league that claims to be developmental would do something to protect the future of a player sent down for development. I really, really, do. Just as I write that the league hands down a two game suspension and fine for Hadad. They also give Chris Clackson a one game suspension and fine for jumping David Rutherford. While I'm mentioning it, another video of Clackson being a scumbag.





- The Blades announced a trade with the Bakersfield Condors yesterday. In exchange for forward Robby Dee they receive defenceman Jimmy Martin. His stats:



- This game makes me wish my older cousin hadn't disassembled my old NES. I also wish he hadn't disassembled my old SNES while we're at it. At least my N64 is still intact.

- I enjoyed posting that tweet last week so much I think I'll do it every week. We'll call it the tweet of the week. I'm only going to include current Blades players because, let's be honest, Bobby Goepfert would probably win every single week. If you want to vote, tweet or email me who you think deserves the honor. If you don't vote, it's purely my decision. I'm giving the honor to Ryan Donald this week. Mostly because I'm a total homer for the Penguins and because Donald has a spectacular beard.

- I should probably mention my list of current and former Everblades players on Twitter again, huh? Here you go.

- Great find on eBay. The first style of jersey the Blades wore. They used this style from the teams inception in 98, until 2004 when they removed the grey bands on the bottom and added a stripe behind the logo.

- Today's Wikipedia hockey page is every hockey fans favorite strategy- "The Neutral Zone Trap"

- What would Friday be without a puppy? I miss having a boxer around. Best breed ever.

see more dog and puppy pictures

News and Notes

The Blades may not have swept the Nailers, but winning two of three games against one of the best teams in the ECHL is nothing to laugh at. I'm not going to do a re-cap of Saturday's game since I heard only around 15 minutes of it thanks to radio issues and I refuse to write my re-caps off of game notes.

-I do have the pictures from Friday's game:



-This is my favorite from the set. Leigh Salters' goal!



-I have a video or two to get up on to YouTube and I'll post those videos along with some others I've found in a big round-up tomorrow.

- It appears that the Nailers player that boarded Kyle Lawson will not be suspended or fined. Super.

- Right before Saturday's game the Blades announced they received Scott Fletcher in a trade from Toledo. I suggest checking him out on YouTube. Dude can throw some bombs.

The Players have a week off until Fridays game. Hopefully, we can get some players healthy.

News Round-Up

- First up, the Everblades have now released every single player they had under try-out. Considering how the play in last Friday's game looked, that might not have been a terrible idea. The Blades also traded away Evan Stephens to Chicago (I'm sure that won't bite us in the butt later or anything) and released Greger Hanson.

- The Blades then went and traded with Elmira (I still get an immediate reaction of "icky" to that name) and received Dominic D'Amour in return for future considerations. I'm happy with this move by the way. Any move to bring back any member of the 08-09 roster is automatically approved.

- Yeah... Scott Pitt and DJ Rutherford are on the IR list already.

- Here's your updated roster!



- The Jr. Blades continue to dominate their league. Their next two games are in town on the 29th and 30th (the Skatium for the former and Germain for the latter date). You really should check them out. I've enjoyed every game I've been to.
- This gave me an intense case of the happys: An ECHL team in Orlando! Road trips! Instant Rivalry! Road trips with built in trips to Disney/Universal/Sea World and maybe a stop in Tampa for good measure! Awesome. I hope this goes down. I can't wait to invade their arena and be the most obnoxious visiting fan on Earth.

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 Make a Trade

Update: (I think I'm going to stop writing late night posts) I missed the fact that this was only the players rights that were traded. This means that if he decides to play for a European team he won't be hitting the ice for the Everblades.

The Everblades completed a trade with the Alaska Aces, acquiring forward Alexandre Imbeault in return for future considerations.Imbeault was one of the best players on the Aces roster before he bolted for the Czech league. As you can see from his stats, the Czech league may not have been his cup of tea, but the ECHL certainly is:



How beautiful are those numbers?

Speaking of beautiful, look at these goals:



 

I did find some interesting things floating around on the Internet. First, some positive here. There's also some comments on this blog that makes me a bit nervous, but really, how can you take any commenter who writes some words in all caps (for no apparent reason) seriously?

The most interesting thing about this trade is that it's probably the last roster move the Everblades are going to make. The quotes from Bush over at the Blades' Blog sure sound like 14 players will be all the team keeps under contract. It makes me a little nervous that we will be relying on our affiliates for a pretty decent chunk of our roster this season. The good news is, with a lot of teams running their training camps right now, we should have a good idea of who will be heading to town by the time our training camp starts.

Oh, Good...

The Everblades announced today that they traded Chris Capraro to the Stingrays for goalie Parker Van Buskirk (stats here). It's about time Becks get a break, he's started in something like 16 straight games, and as hard has he's worked he needs a break. I can't for the life of me think of a good knickname for him. Anyone got an idea?

On another note, Barry Brust will be undergoing foot surgery, I'm sure this news coming out is the reason we made the trade for a new goalie. This is the same problem that led to Anton Khudobin receiving the call up at the end of last season. He's expected to be out six weeks, which could mean he might come back, but I find it hard to believe (I guess I'll never get the Brusty scribble on my jersey I was hoping for). With all this free time perhaps we might get a Brusty blog (or Twitter account, I'm not picky), that would be awesome...

Goodbye Trouble

I guess at some point the Blades had to make a stupid trade decision. Forward, troublemaker, and one of my favorite players, Steve McJannet (stats), has been traded to the Utah Grizzlies.

The Blades receive future considerations for giving up a guy with a knack for getting under the opposing teams skin. According to Hockey Fights, McJ is second only to Benn Olson in number of fights. He has been injured for some time. But, I don't see the point of this trade. Unless the Grizzlies have another player like Shea Guthrie playing, this is a dumb move. No other player on the team is as good at agitating opposing players, and not many guys are as willing as he is to drop the gloves.

His fights, this season and last, have led to many changes in momentum. It is so heartbreaking to see such an important piece of the team be traded away for virtually nothing. Hopefully the Grizzlies, and their fans, realize what they're getting.

Bye Bye Brusty

Did you hear the collective sobbing of the Brusty Fan Club yesterday? Because Aeros goalie Anton Khudobin (I still miss him) was called up to the Wild, Brusty has been called up to fill the empty spot. To fill our empty spot Nate Zervos will more than likely be getting a call, unless Beckford-Tseu is coming back from the Amerks of course.

The Blades also made a trade with the Grizzlies for forward Shea Guthrie (stats here), in exchange for rights to Simon Ferguson. This is a good deal in my opinion as Ferguson has yet to play a game with the Blades since signing.

Now on to some fun stuff...

- Someone out there thinks this blog is full of drivel (check the comments section), I believe people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

- You may have seen this, but here is the video I took of the penalty shot from last Saturday's game. You can see all the other videos on our YouTube channel.



(come back soon Brusty, or send Khudobin)

- Wikipedia hockey page "Torpedo System" I am so ready for the Olympics!

- Here is an amazing story about a Ref in Sweden saving a player's life by preforming CPR on him.

I will be tweeting live from tomorrows game, as usual. I'm crossing my fingers for this series against Wheeling (I'm also trying very hard to ignor the fact that they are the Pens affiliate).

Almost There!

As I write this the Blades are playing their second to last away game in Cincinati. They have had a pretty good road trip losing one game in regulation, and one in OT. They have one more game in Cincinati on Saturday. There have been some roster moves lately...

-Flick (the ECHL player of the month!) has been called up to Albany.

-In return forward Matthew Pistilli was sent down (stats here), and a recent video...



-Aiello was traded to Stockton for future considerations (anyone know what this means?)

-Buck is back from Houston!

There are some promotions coming up, including the snow day this Saturday. Remeber to bring your canned food for the home games next week, you'll get a free ticket to see the College Classic (Cornell, Main, Princeton, and Colorado this year)! Friday is Mac & cheese night, and the Saturday after that is the Teddybear toss.

And finally, some random bits and pieces...

-Great article on my favorirte D-man Zanon, I'm really going to lobby for his nickname to be Big Red anyone disagree? No? Good... Zanon is now Big Red.

-I love that my new favorite Penguin got a hat trick a few hours after I posted the link to the Wikipedia page, I also love that the Rags lost twice. Lets see if this works... Goalies who have scored a goal in an NHL game.

-You won't be able to hear the game on the radio, but you can stream it from SportsJuice.com (Thanks to my Twitter buddy CVClyde for the fix).

- I'm sorry I haven't posted one of these in a while, I think this hideous thing makes up for it.

That's a Stompin'

6-1!

The Blades dominated the Walleye to put it nicely. The Walleye players were really sloppy, and were just handing the puck to the Blades players left and right. I'm not sure if it was the Walleye players making the Blades look good, but the guys did seem to be playing better. There was a lot of shot blocking in front of the net. There was also way too many rebounds, Morrison does not seem to realize he has a glove on his hand. Luckily the Walleye could not get things together; they actually went an incredible 0 for 9 on the power play, including an extended 3 on 5. The Blades were 2 for 9 on the power play, including their own 3 on 5.

The score sheet...

1. (1st period) Hennigar; assists by Hotham and Roy

2. (1st) Hartlieb; assist by Reid and Mcflikier

3. (2nd) Hennigar; assists by Hartlieb and Reid

4. (2nd) Reid; assists by Lang and Zanon

5. (3rd) Breault; assists by Mcflikier and Hartlieb

6. (3rd) Mcflikier; assists by Hotham and Reid

Mcflikier is now 8th in the league in goals, 6th in points, and 1st in the league in +/-. I'm really happy he resigned for this season, and I'm pretty sure everyone else is too. There were two fights but of course I couldn't get my camera out fast enough, so no videos. Hopefully the Blades can keep this up on Friday and Saturday. If they win one more game they move up to second in the South division, two games puts them within striking distance of the Stingrays, who are in first place. Friday can't get here fast enough!

Also some bits and pieces...

-Kinley was sent to the Wheeling Nailers.

-The team officially announced Brust was sent to the team from the Aeros.

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.