Month: January 2011

Just a few random notes on this Thursday afternoon:

-after tonight’s shift, no job 2 for at least 11 days. Got to love having vacation time to burn off. No returns, no stupid people…finally some peace.

-Last night’s game? Yeah I knew we would be in for some fun when I read the game roster and see the names Chris Brown and Jamie Koharski under referees. As my friend Jennifer put it, 2 referees=stupid squared. And that’s what we got, along with the fact the Devils probably forgot there was a game to show up for last night. Binghamton took it 3-0. The only time the light came on over the Devils’ net was when it came on accidentally during the 2nd period by itself, and wouldn’t shut off. Sadly it still didn’t count. Attendance was 1492 (but you probably could have counted on your own the real attendance, I doubt 1000 even showed up), nobody was in the box office pregame (except for the pizza guy delivering to one of the box office workers, but he doesn’t count…and of course Devil Dawg). Hopefully the guys got the stinker performance out of them, because it won’t get any easier this weekend…tomorrow night in Hershey and Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

-Speaking of Wilkes-Barre…2 days till I go there! Tomorrow night will be spent packing and resting up for the drive on Saturday morning. Good news is it’s actually not going to snow, but it’s going to be cold. REALLY cold. As in single digits need extra layers cold. Of course I pick the hotel within walking distance to everything, I don’t know if I’ll be walking outside all that much now. I may do an entry or two from down there time permitting.

-As for this weather…yes I live in the Northeast and should suck it up, but…does every storm have to be back to back to back weeks though? There’s still snow left over from my snow day when the all day freezing rain shows up. I actually drove through that without sliding or anything. Now another 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow before the deep freeze. Only 2 more months till spring, maybe our groundhog friend will have some good news for us first week of February.

Okay done with my rants for now…

A few things to know before the Devils and Senators take to the Times Union Center ice (didn’t they do that last week?):

-This is the fifth meeting between the two teams, the last coming just last Friday night in Albany, a 3-2 Devils victory. Albany now leads the season series 3-1. The teams will meet three more times this season, February 19th and March 1st in Binghamton and April 3rd in Albany (I had omitted the February 19th game from the previous matchup, sorry about that)

-Standings: Binghamton currently holds down 5th place in the East Division, checking in with a record of 21-18-2-2, good for 46 points. Right behind them in 6th is the Devils, with a record of 17-20-0-3, good for 37 points.

-Team Leaders: The Senators just recently received their leading scorer back from Ottawa, center Corey Locke. He currently leads all skaters with 55 points (15 G, 40 A). Behind him is winger Erik Condra with 38 points (15 G, 23 A). It’s a 3 goalie rotation with the return of rookie Robin Lehner from the World Junior Championships, but with Mike Brodeur recalled to Ottawa as a backup to Brian Elliott I would expect Barry Brust to get the start again. On the home side, Matt Anderson continues to lead the team in scoring with 27 points (15 G, 12 A), still followed by Michael Swift with 26 (16 G, 10 A). No new updates on Jeff Frazee’s condition (he did not bowl on Sunday), so expect to see the Mike McKenna-Dave Caruso combo for the time being.
(UPDATE 12:30 PM: Per the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Barry Brust will indeed get the start tonight. With still no new updates on Frazee’s condition I assume McKenna will oppose him.)

Game time 7:00. I’ll be there doing the usual…

Today was one of those afternoons that you wished could happen more than just once a year. The bowlathon with the Devils was a lot of fun…just wished the lane I was on cooperated a little more (the ball return kidnapped my ball quite a few times). I was paired with Dan Kelly and Nathan Perkovich (who claimed he bowled in a league during his junior days…I could believe it), Adam Henrique was on my set of lanes as well. Everyone bowled 3 games on one lane (normally you use one pair but I guess to have room for everyone we used only one). My ball just wasn’t working today, got robbed of a few strikes and kept getting splits. Nathan was on his game and did beat me, Dan and Adam did ok. The guys started really getting into it during the second game (just as the beers started kicking in), Jeff Frazee sat near us and became the chief trash talk instigator (with his injury he didn’t bowl). Even Harry Young cracked a smile at one point, right before he threatened three teammates for messing up his concentration. Louis’s son Kayden tagged along and tried to bowl (with Daddy’s help of course), a few of the players’ significant others joined in as well. Devil Dawg showed up to cheer everyone on. There were some door and raffle prizes available that I didn’t win, but a couple of players cashed in. Jacob Josefson won a Recovery Sports Grill gift card (of course just being sent down from New Jersey he never heard of it) while Jeff and Jenna (his wife) got ski passes and a Mary Kay gift basket. All in all a great time was had by everyone in attendance.

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Good Sunday morning!

Let’s recap a very crazy night at the TU Center first.  Most importantly, the Devils took their 4th straight, a 6-3 victory over the Springfield Falcons.  Rookie Adam Henrique lead the way with 2 goals, Michael Swift and Brad Mills both tallied shorthanders in the first period, Matt Anderson added one in the 3rd period and to top it off Alexander Urbom scored his first North American goal into the empty net.  Mike McKenna was solid again in net, stopping 24 shots.

But the main story was the penalty filled second period that at one point saw some very crowded penalty boxes on both sides.  Things started early on in the period, Ben Guite scored and knocked Michael Swift to the ice in the process.  Guite goes to the box…but Swift gets sent there too.  Why?  Mark Lemelin, the referee last night, just didn’t have a clue.  To add to it, the Devils bench gets an additional unsportsmanlike for arguing the call.   Less than 2 minutes later, Dane Byers nearly takes out Stephen Gionta along the boards.  Rob Davison takes care of things and tackles Byers, they go to the box.  The teams go to line up for a faceoff when Jonathan Sigalet starts bumping Harry Young out of his way.  Not a good idea buddy.  They start shoving and next thing you know it’s on between them.  I give Young the unanimous decision, Sigalet didn’t have a chance.  Things calmed down…for about 3 minutes.  Then came the main event, the heavyweight battle of the night: Pierre Luc Leblond vs. Tom Sestito at center ice.  Well it started there, the two dragged each other into my corner of the building during the bout, it was a good few minutes before the linesmen separated the two.  We’ll call it a draw on this one.  Right after Byers leaves the box, he strikes again and slams an unidentified Devil (didn’t see who went down) into the boards, Lemelin NEVER saw it (and he was right near the play…IDIOT).  Louis comes to the rescue and tackles Byers from behind and a flurry of punches begins.  And by the way the helmet was off the entire time this was happening.  So of course when the penalties are announced Byers only gets a high sticking and fighting call, and Louis gets roughing, fighting and the 10 minute misconduct.  I swear this ref is making Chris Brown look good right now.  After that, finally peace was restored and the remainder of the game went off without incident.  The two teams don’t play again until February 25th in Springfield (a game I will be attending), but this could be an interesting but short 4 game series if last night was any indication.

After the game was the postgame autograph session with the team.  I do like how the Devils have it set up.  Every 5 sections in the arena concourse there is a table set up with 4 players each.  The lines are small enough that you can get to see every player.  When the Rats did their sessions on the ice, everyone was individually seated and had their own line.  It was pretty easy to tell who the popular ones were (any goalie we had was always popular, plus the enforcers)  and who just wasn’t getting the love.  Plus being on the ice had its risks, especially after the one year I wiped out in front of Cam Janssen trying to take a picture on my phone.  Ryan Murphy wouldn’t let me live it down the rest of the night.  Anyway I digress…probably the most fun table of the bunch was the last one I went to, Louis’s table.  He was seated with Harry Young, who I don’t think has a clue how to smile, he always looks serious.  Louis was trying to make him crack at least a grin but to no avail, even recruiting kids visiting him to try it.  Harry’s response?  “I’m never sitting next to him again.”  Even Alexander Urbom, the other serious looking one of the team, actually did smile for a photo at one point.  And by the way, yes he does speak English.  A couple of fans thought he couldn’t which is why he was so serious and quiet all the time (no that’s Harry Young).

Now to today.  This afternoon I will be participating in the annual Booster Club charity Bowlathon with the team.  I get to bowl three games with 2 players selected at random pre-event and hang out for the afternoon (and probably watch football, the Rats/Checkers LOVED their football).  A little known fact about me is that I’m somewhat of a bowling expert (if you want to call it that), I grew up in junior bowling, from age 7-18.  It was to the point in high school that I was doing 3 leagues at once: Saturday junior league, Sunday girls’ traveling league, and two high school matches a week.  After I got into college and started working, the interest kind of died off, especially after my mom died (she was the one that got me into it since she too was a bowler…along with my grandparents, both my uncles, a few cousins…it’s a family thing I guess).  Now I basically only do it once a year, at these bowlathons (and the occasional Bowl for Kids Sake if Job 2 participates, which they haven’t as of lately).  But for me it’s like riding a bike, once I get used to the arm angle again and being on the approach, it’s like I never left the alleys.  So we’ll see if any of the guys bring their A-game to the alleys this afternoon.

I’ll be doing some photos this afternoon but will try not to tweet too much, hopefully I’ll recap tonight or tomorrow…

Things you may need to know before the Devils and Falcons take to the ice at Times Union Center tonight:

-This is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.  Considering the Falcons are the second closest team (about 80 miles) behind Adirondack, I’m a little surprised the schedule makers took this long.  Anyway…they will face off three more times this season, on February 25th and April 8th in Springfield and March 12th in Albany.

-Standings: Springfield starts the day in 6th place in the Atlantic Division, with a record of 18-17-1-3, good for 40 points.  They stand one point behind Bridgeport for the 5th place spot.  After last night’s win over the Senators (and their 3rd in a row), Albany checks in at 16-20-0-3, good for 35 points.  Don’t look now Binghamton, but they are 9 points behind you for 5th.

-Team Leaders: The Falcons are lead in scoring by recent acquisition Trevor Smith (who when last we saw him was dropping 4 goals on the Devils as a member of the Crunch) with 29 points (14 G, 15 A) and Dane Byers with 23 points (8 G, 15 A).  David LeNeveu and rookie Gustaf Wesslau split time in net, with LeNeveu leading the way with 10 wins.  On the home side…Matt Anderson has retaken the team scoring lead with 26 points (14 G, 12 A) over Michael Swift with 25 (15 G, 10 A).  Jeff Frazee remains out with the ever popular “lower body” injury, so expect Mike McKenna to continue to see time (and if he continues to play the way he has I will not complain).

-Miscellaneous Facts: Falcons captain Ben Guite is a former River Rat (06-07), along with Steven Goertzen (09-10) and the recently demoted Mike Commodore (listed on the roster but has yet to make an appearance).  Winger Tom Sestito is the younger brother of Tim, currently still on recall in New Jersey (I was so hoping for a family reunion on the ice, but not to be this time).

Game time at 7:00.  It’s post game autograph session night, I will have my NJ media guide for autographs…along with the usual tweets and photos…

Before I turn in for the night (7 hours of service desk fun await me in the morning), may as well recap the Devils 3rd straight win, a 3-2 triumph over the Binghamton Senators. 3 different Devils had goals: Jacob Josefson, Matt Anderson, and Louis Robitaille. Louis had a very interesting night: 2 fights with a 4 minute penalty thrown in, then the game winning goal in the 3rd, earning him first star honors. Mike McKenna was solid yet again in net, making 27 saves and getting the second star.

Early on things got chippy in a hurry. After Louis sort of tussled with Francis Lessard, 13 seconds after the penalties expired Lessard got his fight…but with Pierre-Luc Leblond. Later a scrum in the Binghamton net kicked off Louis vs. Colin Greening. Later on for good measure Louis took on Cody Bass, after they were separated Louis did his new signature move: nonchalantly tossing his helmet to the ice as he skates to the box.

Attendance was 3528. It’s amazing what free vouchers can do isn’t it?

Ok time to get some sleep. Pregamer for tomorrow night out at the usual time…

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Things you may need to know before the Devils face off against the Senators at the Times Union Center:

-This is the fourth meeting between the two East Division rivals, with Albany holding a 2-1 lead in the season series.  The Devils won a 4-3 decision on November 27th in Albany, then Binghamton shut the Devils out at 5-0 on December 10th in Binghamton.  In a rematch New Years Eve, the Devils pulled out a 5-4 win.  After tonight, the two teams will square off three more times, January 19th and April 3rd in Albany and March 1st in Binghamton.

-Standings: Binghamton starts the day in 5th place with a record of 20-16-2-2, good for 44 points.  After shutting out Worcester on Tuesday night, the Devils leap frogged over Syracuse and now stand in 6th, with a record of 15-20-0-3 for 33 points.

-Team Leaders: The B-Sens are paced in scoring by Erik Condra (the active roster leader; All-Star Corey Locke is currently on recall to Ottawa) with 36 points (14 G, 22 A) and Jim O’Brien with 29 points (12 G, 17 A).  Goaltender Barry Brust has 13 wins and 4 shutouts to his credit, filling in for regular starter Mike Brodeur, who has been out till recently with a concussion.  On the home side, after his two goal performance on Tuesday Michael Swift has re-tied All Star Matt Anderson for the team scoring lead with 25 points (Swift 15 G 10 A, Anderson 13 G 12 A).  Behind them is rookie Adam Henrique with 20 points (9 G, 11 A).  With Jeff Frazee out for the week due to injury (per the Times Union), it appears Mike McKenna will have a chance to build on his last two strong performances in net.

-Game time is 7:00.  If you had made it to the Charlotte game last week, don’t forget your free voucher for this game.  I will be in attendance with the usual…

Greetings from home!  Snowstorm #3 in the last 3 weeks is wreaking havoc as I type.  Not as much as say, Massachusetts (where conditions are so bad the governor is telling everyone stay home) or New York City (the only public school system open today…I feel sorry for those kids).  Even though I have lived in this area my whole life and should be used to this…wasn’t going to drive out today.  So I’ll use my day to catch up on some cleaning (well that’s the plan anyway) and get an entry in.  Speaking of catch up…while I was dealing with more people that won’t keep the crap they buy or receive as Christmas gifts (and it doesn’t help the store advertises that we’ll take anything for any reason), Mike McKenna turned in a wonderful performance in Worcester.  Michael Swift provided all the offense in a 2-0 Devils win, scoring both goals.  McKenna turned away all 32 shots for his first shutout of the season and the Devils 3rd.

Before the game, the AHL announced the rosters for the 2011 AHL All Star Classic on January 31st in Hershey.  In honor of the league’s 75th anniversary, the league abandoned its usual Canada vs. PlanetUSA (Canadian born players vs. American/European born players) in favor of a traditional Eastern/Western Conference matchup.  Matt Anderson was chosen as the Devils’ lone representative, although I thought Michael Swift may have got some consideration with his play of late.  The full rosters below:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

GOALTENDERS

Braden Holtby (Hershey), Martin Jones (Manchester), Brad Thiessen (WBS-starter)

FORWARDS

Luke Adam (Portland), Matt Anderson (Albany), Bobby Butler (Binghamton), Jonathan Cheechoo (Worcester-starter), Andrew Gordon (Hershey-starter), Johan Harju (Norfolk), Dustin Jeffrey (WBS), Corey Locke (Binghamton-starter), Kyle Palmieri (Syracuse), Rhett Rakhshani (Bridgeport), Jerome Samson (Charlotte), Jeremy Williams (Connecticut)

DEFENSEMEN

Erik Gustafsson (Adirondack), Steven Kampfer (Providence), John Moore (Springfield), Lawrence Nycholat (Hershey-starter), Bryan Rodney (Charlotte), Drew Schiestel (Portland), Viatcheslav Voynov (Manchester), Mark Wotton (Bridgeport-starter and captain)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

GOALTENDERS

Jake Allen (Peoria-starter), Mark Dekanich (Milwaukee), Curtis Sanford (Hamilton)

FORWARDS

Joey Crabb (Toronto), David Desharnais (Hamilton-starter), Alexandre Giroux (Oklahoma City-starter and captain), Linus Klasen (Milwaukee), Spencer Machacek (Chicago), Brett MacLean (San Antonio), Travis Morin (Texas-starter), Linus Omark (Oklahoma City), Max Pacioretty (Hamilton), Michal Repik (Rochester), Sergei Shirokov (Manitoba), Ryan Stoa (Lake Erie)

DEFENSEMEN

T.J. Brodie (Abbotsford), Brian Connelly (Rockford), Maxim Noreau (Houston), Nathan Oystrick (Peoria), Paul Postma (Chicago-starter), Brendan Smith (Grand Rapids), Garrett Stafford (San Antonio-starter), Clay Wilson (Rochester)

As reported in the pregame notes, goalie Dave Caruso is back up from Trenton.  Still waiting for an explanation (like everything else involving the Devils organization), Jeff Frazee was out for last night.  No callup news from New Jersey so for now I will assume he’s hurt or just under the weather.  I may actually listen in to the Trenton game tonight if I remember to, since the end of February I may possibly be traveling to Elmira to see them play (may as well get one game each from the other teams in the organization, right?  Did NJ already, now have to do Trenton).  Only road trip I am planning at the moment is my overnight stay in Wilkes-Barre next weekend.  It’s become an annual event for me since the 08-09 season and has quickly become one of my favorites to visit.  I may do an entry on road trip spots that I like sometime soon.

Okay, time for some snow day cleaning…or motivating myself to get up and do some snow day cleaning…

 

What you need to know before the Devils and Sharks take to the ice Tuesday night at the DCU Center:

-This is the third of four meetings between the former Atlantic Division rivals this season, with the teams splitting the first two games.  First meeting in early November in Worcester the Devils came from behind to win 3-2 in a shootout, while the Sharks returned the favor in mid December by winning 6-3 at the Times Union Center.  The teams play one more time this season, on February 18th in Albany.

– Standings: Worcester is currently in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, with a record of 18-13-2-5, good for 43 points.  After Saturday’s victory over Syracuse, the Devils now stand at 14-20-0-3, maintaining a 7th place standing, one point behind the Crunch and five points ahead of Adirondack.

-The Sharks are led in scoring by NHL veteran Jonathan Cheechoo with 35 points (13 G, 22 A) and defenseman Sean Sullivan with 21 points (10 G, 11 A).   Alex Stalock is their #1 goaltender, appearing in 32 games and posting 15 wins.   On the Devils side, Matt Anderson continues to pace all skaters with 25 points (13 G, 12 A), followed by Michael Swift with 23 points (13 G, 10 A).  Swift saw his point scoring streak halted in Saturday’s game at 10.  Jeff Frazee continues to get the bulk of the goalie workload, I would not be surprised if he was back between the pipes Tuesday night.

-The Sharks carry a few local ties to the Capital Region.  Defensemen Nick Petrecki (Clifton Park) and Jay Leach (Altamont) were born and raised in the area, while forwards Cory Quirk and Dan Dasilva are ex-River Rats.  Backup goalie Carter Hutton spent the last month of the 09-10 season with the Phantoms on an amateur tryout (as did current Devil Darcy Zajac).

UPDATE (12:00 PM):  The Devils announced a couple of roster moves, goaltender Dave Caruso has been recalled from Trenton, while Myles Stoesz, Trevor Kell and Darcy Zajac have been returned to the T-Devils.  Why Caruso is here is still a mystery, we shall find out.

Game time at 7:00 PM.  Due to work obligations, I will not be tweeting (sorry…I hate Tuesday games this year).  I will try to put together some kind of game recap sometime on Wednesday.

Greetings from the front seat of Yankee Trails Bus 294. We are heading out of Newark towards the NJ Turnpike after witnessing a miracle at the Prudential Center earlier today. The Devils beat Tampa Bay in convincing fashion 6-3. Two goals from David Clarkson, one each from Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, Dainius Zubrus, and…A-Devil Nick Palmieri with his first NHL goal! So happy for him. Martin Brodeur put on a goalie clinic he was awesome. He even got an assist on Palmieri’s goal after almost trying to score one himself.

As for the building itself…beautiful facility. Great sightlines no matter where you sat. There was even an area with laptops set up for fans to log on the Devils site or Facebook and a cigar booth. There was a Yankee Stadium like atmosphere in the stands as well, with a whole section of the upper deck for the Devils Army, who I called the Bleacher Creatures of the building. Food prices were what I expected…10 and change for Nathan’s cheese fries and soda. If the Albany Devils offer the free ticket again next year I may do it.

The trip itself wasn’t bad. I am a little jealous of the residents of Mahwah and Ramsey near the Rt. 17 corridor…gas for them is under 3 bucks a gallon, range was 2.93-2.99. And per state law, they pump it for you, it’s win-win!

Ok signing off for now…time to crank Z100 on my radio till the signal’s gone…

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