Road Trip – Page 14 – Thoughts Inside The Box

Photo Gallery: October 6, 2012 at Binghamton

Introducing the newest feature to the blog for 2012-13: a weekly photo gallery! Before I started live tweeting and doing the blog, I mostly did photography of games and uploading albums to my Webshots page and to Facebook (much like I do now with the Valleycats). The plan is after I do my weekly recap to put up some of my own game photos from the week, and maybe some from off ice events as well. To start it off, here’s a gallery from my first game of the season, from last night’s preseason finale:

106pics 001 — Getting ready to take the ice (via Instagram)

106pics 003 — Harry Young and Raman Hrabarenka (via Instagram)

100_7577 — Jay Leach, Bobby Butler, Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson

Preseason Recap

We are now 6 days away from the official start of the 2012-13 season. Last night the Devils finished up their preseason schedule, and it wasn’t a bad showing. They went 3-1 against two divisional rivals and a familiar East Division foe. For those that missed it, here’s a little review of how they fared:

10/1 vs. Adirondack (at Voorhees, NJ): W 5-3

Traveling to the Phantoms/Flyers training facility in Voorhees, NJ, the Devils got the week off to a good start with a win over their rivals to the north (or, in this case, south. Well in the state of New Jersey anyway). Mike Sislo and David Wohlberg each scored twice, while newcomer Raman Hrabarenka added the fifth goal. Brandon Burlon and Harri Pesonen each contributed two assists. Keith Kinkaid and rookie Scott Wedgewood each shared time in net, combining for 45 saves.

10/2 vs. Connecticut (at Cromwell, CT): W 3-1

The strong play moved on the following night to Cromwell, CT, with a victory over the Whale. Burlon, Pesonen and Darcy Zajac all scored, Hrabarenka contributed two more assists, and Jeff Frazee and Maxime Clermont combined for 18 saves.

10/5 vs. Adirondack (at Newark, NJ): 2-1 W

In a closed to the public scrimmage Friday afternoon (the only time you’ll ever see a Devil-Phantom matchup that quiet), the Devils won their third straight and their second win over the Phantoms in a 4 day span. Both goals were scored shorthanded, courtesy of camp invitee Scott Parse and Jacob Josefson. Parse and Adam Larsson also contributed one assist apiece. Kinkaid and Wedgewood split time in net, combining for 25 saves.

10/6 at Binghamton: 6-3 L

To finish off the preseason slate, the Devils traveled to Binghamton to take on the Senators. Frazee drew the start and played 40 minutes, stopping 24 of 28 Senator shots. Kinkaid took over in the third and played solid, making 14 saves on 15 shots. The Devils fell behind 2-0 after 1 period on goals by Derek Grant and Corey Cowick. After allowing an early power play marker to fall into a 3-0 hole, former Senator Bobby Butler notched his first goal of the preseason (on the man advantage) to bring the Devils to within 3-1. The Senators responded with another power play goal to regain a 3 goal advantage, but Mattias Tedenby scored even strength to reduce the deficit again to two. Binghamton went back up by 3 on an Andre Petersson goal early in the third, but Mike Sislo answered late with his team leading 4th goal for another two goal deficit. But that’s as close as they would get, as Mark Stone scored an empty netter to seal a 6-3 win.

A few links to pass on related to the week:

Fire and Ice has the full preseason scoring list here, along with the news that Raman Hrabarenka has officially signed an AHL deal after a strong camp showing.

In Lou We Trust is counting down the top 25 prospects under 25 (so far updated to #21).

Stay tuned…next entry a photo gallery from my first in person game of the season in Binghamton…

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…