Tag Archives: AHL

May 19, 2013 · 2:01 pm

Yes, I’m Still Here.

Such is life during the offseason. It’s been almost two weeks since I wrote something up. Most of this is likely old news, but there’s a couple new notes to pass on as well.

-The AHL conference finals are almost set, as both Oklahoma City in the West and Syracuse (continuing the run they started last season in Norfolk) in the East have clinched spots. Grand Rapids (in the West) and Providence (in the East) are both up 3-2 in their respective series, but it’s getting quite interesting in the Bruins-WBS series, especially after a Game 5 win for the Penguins last night. Here’s the first hand account via our friends at Chirps From Center Ice.

-The Utica AHL rumors refuse to go away. It appears that Vancouver, who purchased the Peoria Rivermen from St. Louis back in April, may be in talks to bring the franchise to the old Aud for 2013-14 after talks broke down with the city of Peoria. According to an article from the Utica Observer-Dispatch, it may happen, but there is much work to be done to get the arena up to AHL standards (i.e. new video board, rebuilt locker rooms, etc.), much like what Glens Falls had to do when the Phantoms first arrived back in 2009. If this move were to happen, this would make for some switching around of the divisions, I would think. How about reuniting the old Empire State Division from the mid-late 90s? Just a suggestion.

-A few members from this year’s Devils squad also had a chance to help their respective countries in the World Championships. Earlier today the U.S. team, featuring Stephen Gionta and Bobby Butler (and former River Rat Jamie McBain) clinched a bronze medal by beating Finland in a 3-2 shootout (they do shootouts for medals? Make them play till it’s over like everyone else!), after blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period. Also making appearances during the tournament were Raman Hrabarenka for Belarus (or Roman Graborenko…must be a translation of his name?) and Andrei Loktionov for Russia.

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April 25, 2013 · 6:44 pm

From The Incase You Missed It Department…

I’ve been so busy putting together my 3 part Season in Review that I have quite a few news items to catch up on. Even though it’s Offseason, Day 4, it’s been quite an eventful week. Time for me to play catchup…

-It appears that Albany (and Adirondack) will need to find a new ECHL affiliate for next season. For the second time in three years, a Trenton ECHL franchise has ceased operations. The Titans made the announcement on Tuesday, with the goal of returning to the league in 2014-15. This happens just two years after the Trenton Devils left the ECHL, with the Titans taking over just a couple of months later, but wound up with the same rumored financial woes.

-Also on Tuesday, Harri Pesonen, Eric Gelinas, and Mike Sislo were all recalled to New Jersey. This is the first callup for Gelinas and Sislo, and the third of the season for Pesonen, who had appeared in four games in his previous callups. Alexander Urbom finally got in some game action in Tuesday’s win at home over Montreal. Gelinas will be making his debut in the home finale against Pittsburgh, not sure if the other two will get in on Saturday for the season finale in New York City.

-Speaking of Devils…interesting story surrounding the whole saga with Stefan Matteau. For those that don’t know what happened, he had been benched during a QMJHL semifinal game over the weekend for basically taking a dumb penalty that cost his team (Blainville-Boisbriand) a goal. Instead of sucking it up and accepting it, depending on what story you read he essentially quit the team. But according to another source, he was released from the team after the game and was offered a plane ticket home. He chose to ride home on the fan bus (talk about an awkward situation…you’d likely never see that in the professional ranks). Here we have a 19 year old kid, first round draft pick, made his NHL debut during the season…but yet has a problem staying disciplined. I’m paying close attention to how this shakes out, because there is a good chance he may be playing here next season. Hopefully this is a lesson he can learn from as his playing career unfolds…just as long as it doesn’t turn into another Mike (Jefferson) Danton story.

-Per CapGeek, it appears that Seth Helgeson has indeed signed a two year entry level deal. He appeared in four games after signing an amateur try out agreement on April 5th, registering no points and finishing a +2.

-Per the AHL transactions, a formality today, as Helgeson, Reid Boucher and Jon Merrill were all released from their amateur tryouts.

-In AHL news, apparently the Connecticut Whale are about to be no more, as the team ownership has decided to return to the old Hartford Wolfpack after switching to the Whale two seasons ago. Does this mean the old introduction is coming back? Or how about a new Norelco commercial? The official announcement should come within the next week. Pucky the Whale, we hardly knew ye.

-As far as franchise silly season? Well, a rumor that first surfaced in late February never came to pass. It had been rumored that Calgary was planning on moving their AHL franchise in Abbotsford, British Columbia, to Utica, who last saw the AHL way back in the 1992-93 season when the Devils called the Aud home. It turned into a 3 way trade rumor: Peoria was being bought by Vancouver, who would then move the team to Abbotsford, paving the way for the Flames to go to Utica, while St. Louis (Peoria’s parent club) would take over Vancouver’s current AHL affiliate in Chicago. All came true this week, with the exception of the Utica move, as Calgary decided to stick with Abbotsford for at least one more season. Vancouver did buy the Peoria franchise, but without a chance of moving them to Abbotsford (negotiations met an impasse) they are first attempting to keep the team in Illinois. St. Louis and Chicago officially announced their affiliation agreement earlier this week. The only other move for sure is the Houston Aeros moving north to Iowa (who last saw the AHL in 2008-09 as the Stars, then the famous Iowa Chops), where they will be known as the Iowa Wild (sadly Chops sounds so much better in this case).

-And finally, you can find first round matchups for the Calder Cup Playoffs here. Sigh. Someday.

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January 29, 2013 · 1:20 pm

All Star Wrapup…and a Surprise

The team may be on break, but the news updates aren’t.

-Late yesterday morning, Mattias Tedenby was reassigned to Albany after appearing in all 4 games and only registering one assist. He had been shifted to fourth line duty Sunday night in Montreal (the one night I finally got to see a NJ game and took note of that). He had been on a 4 game goal streak when he was recalled for the start of training camp on the 13th.

-As for his replacement? No one had been recalled at the same time, leading to everyone speculating that it would be Bobby Butler going up, but since he was busy at the AHL All Star Classic in Providence (more on that shortly) the callup couldn’t happen till the next day. Well, New Jersey decided to throw a curveball…instead of Butler, it will be Matt Anderson going up to the big club for the first time. He will be making his NHL debut in Boston tonight, wearing #12 and taking Tedenby’s spot on the fourth line with Jacob Josefson and Krys Barch. It’s a well deserved chance for Anderson, after coming to the Devils as a free agent in 2010.

-Now to recap the All Star festivities in Providence, which was a clean sweep for the Western Conference:

Sunday night the West All Stars mounted a late event comeback to beat its East counterparts 12-11. Butler, who was the lone Albany representative, got into 3 events: Rapid Fire, teaming up with Syracuse defenseman Radko Gudas (and his now epic Tweeting beard) and scoring twice on Abbotsford goalie Barry Brust; Accuracy Shooting, hitting 2 targets in 8 attempts; and the Breakaway Relay, going scoreless against Grand Rapids goaltender Petr Mrazek. I do want to give a little shoutout to former River Rats goaltender Justin Peters, now with Charlotte, for taking home the Top Goaltender award. Full results can be found here.

On to the game itself. The West grabbed an early 4-1 lead after 1 period, but had to rally in the third period to grab a 7-6 win. Ryan Hamilton of Toronto was named the MVP notching a hat trick, the third goal the game winner off of Binghamton’s Robin Lehner with just 11 seconds left in regulation. Butler did snag one assist on a Bracken Kearns (Worcester) goal in the second period.

Earlier on Monday came the AHL Hall of Fame ceremony and the annual State of the League address. Our friends from Chirps at Center Ice has the full address wrapup here (audio included), but of local note: the league is committed to keeping AHL hockey in Glens Falls (oh joy…sorry, just a little whiny after having to play them 4 times in 5 games), and also in Hartford despite the affiliation and lease all expiring at the end of the season (the Rangers moving the Whale to Glens Falls rumors have been around for awhile…someone even tried to suggest the Devils would go up there. Yeah right.).

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January 24, 2013 · 6:10 pm

Midseason By The Numbers

Wednesday night the Devils played game #38, the official halfway point of the 2012-13 season. Before we begin the second half of the season on Friday, how about assessing the team’s progress so far?

Record: 15-14-1-8, 39 points. 4th place in Northeast Division, tied for 12th in the Eastern Conference (with St. John’s), tied for 25th in the AHL (with St. John’s)

Home: 7-8-0-5
Away: 8-6-1-3

Team Leaders:

Goals: Bobby Butler, 15
Assists: Adam Larsson, 15; current roster leader: Steve Zalewski/Matt Anderson, 13
Points: Bobby Butler, 24
+/-: Joe Whitney, +11
Penalty Minutes: Tim Sestito, 55
Power Play Goals: Bobby Butler, 5
Power Play Assists: Matt Anderson, 7
Shorthanded Goals: Jacob Josefson, 2; current roster leader: 3 tied with 1
Shorthanded Assists: Jacob Josefson/Tim Sestito, 1
Game Winning Goals: Mattias Tedenby/Bobby Butler, 3
Shots on Goal: Bobby Butler, 99

Wins: Keith Kinkaid, 12
GAA: Keith Kinkaid, 2.43
Shutouts: Keith Kinkaid, 2
Save Percentage: Keith Kinkaid, .915

Team Stats (with league rankings):

Home Attendance: 3,752 (27th)
Penalty Minutes Average: 15.16 (21st)
Power Play: 12.2% (27th)
Penalty Kill: 84.5% (9th)
Goals For: 99, 2.61 (18th)
Goals Against: 105, 2.76 (12th)
Shots For: 31.13 (9th)
Shots Against: 28.66 (8th)

When I set up the list, I used the same format as last year…and ended up doing some comparisons. The biggest difference was definitely more on the defensive side of things. For example, last year at this time the penalty kill was near the bottom of the league (at the time 77.5%). This season it ranks in the top 10 (at one point, they were standing at #3 in the league). Goaltending has improved as well, as Kinkaid and Jeff Frazee have combined to lower the team GAA from 3.05 (also near the bottom of the league) to 2.76. Technically, if you were to take out the shootout loss goals, the real GAA is 2.55, which would have put the team in the league top 10. Slight improvement in goals for per game and shots per game, and a small decrease in penalty minutes (down a full minor penalty) average as well. And thanks to a front office initiative to sell more season tickets and the lockout, attendance has improved by almost 800 a game (yes the Atlantic City crowds count in that too).

Second half kicks off tomorrow up in the North Country, followed by what is shaping up to be a big day Saturday afternoon. Let’s hope the defense and goaltending keeps up what they’re doing…and maybe just a little more offense…

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January 18, 2013 · 8:46 am

Pre-Weekend Update

I was supposed to put this up last night, but my TWC modem crapped out during the day yesterday…luckily I can write this on my IPhone. Anyway, on to Thursday’s news update:

-Kelly Zajac and Bryan Haczyk have rejoined the team after playing for Trenton yesterday morning. And Harry Young has returned from Kalamazoo, where he is now listed as a left wing.

-6 players were placed on waivers by New Jersey: Tim Sestito, Matt Anderson, Jeff Frazee, Jay Leach, Chad Wiseman and Steve Zalewski. If all clear by noon Friday, everyone should be available (except Wiseman who is injured) tonight in Glens Falls. (UPDATE: All 6 have cleared, but now Bobby Butler is next on the waiver list.)

-The AHL finally released the rosters for this year’s AHL All Star Classic, which will be held January 27th and 28th in Providence. Albany has one representative: Bobby Butler. Well deserving, but it appears he will be sticking in New Jersey and won’t be able to participate. So we’ll see who will go in his place. Full rosters can be found here.

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December 23, 2012 · 9:00 pm

A Little Christmas Treat…

(or, I was bored of watching the Giants losing miserably to the Ravens, went on YouTube, and…)

As is standard around the league, most teams like to put out some funny, embarassing holiday video with their teams in it, wishing fans a happy holiday, Merry Christmas, etc. Being probably the most serious team in the league, you won’t find that in Albany. So for kicks, time to share what some of the opponents have done…and point, laugh, and facepalm accordingly.

First, where better to begin than the bad singing of our neighbors to the north?

If only they could repeat the video from two years ago…or stick to the cheesy 80s songs…

Two Ask the Team videos from Syracuse. First, the favorite gift:

And these guys need to watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas again.

Moving a little further west to Rochester and the 12 Days of Hockey with the Amerks…

A little out of tune, but just as entertaining as bad Gangnam Style, especially when a moose outdances you. Apologies if anyone gets Psy stuck in their head.

Moving down south to the former River Rats/now current Checkers from Charlotte:

Oh Zach and Blanch, don’t ever change. But it doesn’t top the Vanilla Ice on-ice dance number from the beginning of the season…or goalies in ugly Christmas sweaters.

But the winner of this year has to be the Rockford IceHogs 12 Days rendition.

Don’t know any players on that team since Albany doesn’t travel west of Rochester, but it’s a classic.

(Edit: I do know someone in Rockford! That would be former River Rat Wade Brookbank as one of the 5 fighting Hogs)

UPDATE: Apparently the Crunch also need to re-read Twas The Night Before Christmas…

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December 17, 2012 · 6:16 pm

Monday Afternoon Update

Two news items to pass along:

-As expected (because who else came close?), Bobby Butler was named the AHL’s Player of the Week for the week of December 10-16th. All he did was score 6 goals and contribute 1 assist in 3 games this week, including a 4 goal outburst against the Penguins on Wednesday night.

-And check out this week’s Talking Red podcast. Not just because, well, I’m in it…but anyway, thanks to David and E.J. for having me come on the show. Even though my mind drew a blank on a couple of questions (public speaking has never been a strength of mine).

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November 6, 2012 · 7:59 pm

There’s An App For That.

Interrupting your Election Tuesday (and I hope all my American readers went out and voted today…I sure did!) for a little followup on something I wrote about during the offseason…

Back in mid-August I wrote about a hockey app developed by players known as Shnarped, which at the time was in its early testing stages. The app is now available to the public for download via the App Store (link here). I had a chance to be one of the beta testers for the app and it has improved a lot since inception, adding more features with each new version.

I have been in contact with one of the player/developers of the app, Kyle Hagel, since the beginning, and he has been keeping me up to date on the app and any new features since its release. One new feature is the player themselves personalizing their own “stall” on the site, where not only will you find his updated stats, you can see latest tweets (for players that are on Twitter) or any other information (such as charity work) that they want to share with fans. Coming soon, a player will be able to interact with fans mobile to mobile via the “Pound” feature. Right now only fans can select Pound if they want to congratulate a player for a good game or to send a personal message.

The app has the most current data for any player currently playing in North America, you can search by name or team. If the player is actually using the app themselves, they are verified much like a verified celebrity on Twitter with the blue checkmark.

You can learn more about Shnarped by following them on Twitter at @Shnarped or by going to the App Store and downloading the free app.

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August 17, 2012 · 5:26 pm

2012-13 Schedule Revealed

Finally, the day all of us has waited for since early June (or in my case, mid-April) has arrived. This afternoon the AHL released the entire 2012-13 schedule. Now comes the fun part of planning out my life for oh, the next 7-8 months. First, the full schedule:

OCTOBER

13-MANCHESTER, 5:05 PM
19-SYRACUSE, 7:00 PM
20-at Worcester, 7:00 PM
24-CONNECTICUT, 7:00 PM
26-ADIRONDACK, 7:00 PM
27-at Hershey, 7:00 PM

NOVEMBER

2-CONNECTICUT, 7:00 PM
3-at Adirondack, 7:00 PM
9-at Providence, 7:05 PM
10-ADIRONDACK, 7:00 PM
12-NORFOLK, 2:00 PM
16-at St. John’s, 6:00 PM
17-at St. John’s, 6:00 PM
23-at Rochester, 7:05 PM
24-SYRACUSE, 5:00 PM
25-WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON, 4:00 PM*
30-ST. JOHN’S, 7:00 PM

DECEMBER

1-at Adirondack, 7:00 PM
8-BRIDGEPORT, 5:00 PM
9-at Connecticut, 3:00 PM
12-WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON, 7:00 PM
14-at Connecticut, 7:00 PM
15-PROVIDENCE, 7:00 PM
19-at Bridgeport, 7:00 PM
21-at Norfolk, 7:30 PM
22-at Norfolk, 7:15 PM
27-at Springfield, 7:00 PM
28-BINGHAMTON, 7:00 PM
29-at Hershey, 7:00 PM

JANUARY

5-SPRINGFIELD, 5:00 PM
6-BINGHAMTON, 4:00 PM
11-at Manchester, 7:00 PM
12-WORCESTER, 5:00 PM
13-BRIDGEPORT, 4:00 PM*
18-at Adirondack, 7:00 PM
19-at Springfield, 7:00 PM
20-ADIRONDACK, 4:00 PM*
23-SPRINGFIELD, 7:00 PM
25-at Adirondack, 7:00 PM
26-ADIRONDACK, 2:00 PM

FEBRUARY

1-at Providence, 7:00 PM
2-at Portland, 7:00 PM
5-at Connecticut, 7:00 PM
8-at Springfield, 7:00 PM
9-at Syracuse, 7:30 PM
10-at Binghamton, 5:05 PM
13-SYRACUSE, 7:00 PM
15-at Adirondack, 7:00 PM
17-BINGHAMTON, 3:00 PM
18-SYRACUSE, 2:00 PM
23-at Binghamton, 7:05 PM
24-HERSHEY, 4:00 PM*

MARCH

1-at Syracuse, 7:30 PM
2-at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 7:00 PM
3-at Adirondack, 3:00 PM
8-BRIDGEPORT, 7:00 PM
9-SPRINGFIELD, 5:00 PM
10-ADIRONDACK, 3:00 PM
15-at Rochester, 7:05 PM
16-at Syracuse, 7:30 PM
17-at Bridgeport, 3:00 PM
22-at Binghamton, 7:05 PM
23-at Syracuse, 7:30 PM
24-at Bridgeport, 3:00 PM
27-ST. JOHN’S, 7:00 PM
29-HERSHEY, 7:00 PM
30-PORTLAND, 7:00 PM

APRIL

5-PROVIDENCE, 7:00 PM
6-at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 7:05 PM
7-ROCHESTER, 4:00 PM
12-at Binghamton, 7:05 PM
13-BINGHAMTON, 5:00 PM
14-ROCHESTER, 3:00 PM
19-CONNECTICUT, 7:00 PM
20-NORFOLK, 5:00 PM
21-ADIRONDACK, 3:00 PM

(Home games in CAPS)
*at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City

Now a look inside the numbers:

-One complaint I had last year was less games within the division than outside. This year it’s better: 30 games against the Northeast Division, 28 games against the East, 14 games against the Atlantic. Only 4 games outside the conference, all against one opponent: Rochester.

-Not surprisingly, most games against Adirondack, a whopping 12 matchups (oh yay). Binghamton and Syracuse follow with 8 games, Connecticut, Bridgeport, and Springfield (all divisional) with 6, Hershey, Providence, Norfolk, St. John’s (new to the lineup…yay!), Rochester, WB/Scranton with 4, and Manchester, Worcester and Portland (back after a 1 year absence from the schedule) with 2. No Hamilton and Toronto this year…and of course no Charlotte (sorry River Rat loyalists).

-You may notice 4 home games back in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, just like back in 2010-11. I had no idea that this was planned for this season. As a full season ticket holder, I’m kind of hoping this will be addressed as the season gets closer. Naturally, there’s already a whole bunch of complaints. But since they’re all Sunday afternoon games (which has never been a big sell here anyway, especially during football season), there is a chance I may go to one of them. We shall see.

-March looks to be the toughest month, with 3-in-3s practically every weekend. But on the bright side, the furthest they would travel is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the beginning of the month.

-2 6 game road trips during the 2nd half of the year (Feb. 1-10 and March 15-24) are the longest road stretches, while the longest homestand closes out the schedule (April 13-21).

-Breakdown by day: Sunday 15 games; Monday 2 games; Tuesday 1 game; Wednesday 6 games; Thursday 1 game; Friday 24 games; Saturday 27 games.

-As for possible road trips for me? I’m already eyeballing a few days. With the only Norfolk swing around Christmas this year, I can safely say no trip to the beach for me. But the annual Wilkes-Barre trip looks like a go, along with the usual stops in Adirondack, Springfield, Binghamton and Syracuse. Also possibly Worcester and maybe my first trip to Hartford since the ’06-’07 season.

-The All Star festivities will be in Providence on January 27th and 28th. I may finally be able to attend this year!

Now we sit back and wait for the rest of the summer to go by…just under 2 months to go…

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August 14, 2012 · 6:44 pm

A Little Help…

I’m interrupting a blah Tuesday night for something that just may be of interest…

A few days ago I received a message via Twitter from Kyle Hagel, a forward for the Hamilton Bulldogs who just happens to be involved in developing a mobile app for both players and fans. The goal is to have the app available for download before the season begins. It’s similar to going on the Internet Hockey Database, but with more than just the usual stats (or as Kyle describes it, a “juiced up hockeyDB on your phone”). As of now, you can track any NHL, AHL, ECHL, or Central League player, with possibly a few European leagues to be added. One interactive feature is the “pound” button, in which a fan can give a player they track a virtual tap, or “pound,” on the shin pads for a good game, birthday wish, etc. The player then has the option to “pound back” via a push notification, and can even add a personal message.

A few examples of what the app will look like (courtesy of Kyle):

Individual Player Profile

Tracking List

Tracking Page

He also has a feedback survey available, I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and fill it out. You can access it at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22GFWC2R7R9.

I kind of see this as an app with a little something for everyone, whether you’re a stats geek or one of those fans who like to get to know the player behind the uniform or mask. It’s definitely something I would download and utilize during the year.

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