Moving Matches

The unfortunate fact that there will be no NHL dates filling the calendars at area arenas anytime soon shouldn't stand in the way of there being hockey played there. All three of the metro franchises have AHL affiliates nearby, affiliates that they own. So once the NHL season is officially scrubbed, why don't they relocate a few minor league games to the major league ice?

It is certainly not like the minor league teams are exactly packing them in in their minor league towns either. The average attendance over 38 home games last season for all three was under 5,000. It would be easy to make any Islander joke right here, but restraint is a virtue. Plus, their AHL side actually had the highest attendance of the three - the Sound Tigers filled 4,875 seats out of the 10,000 at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, good for 20th in the league. In Hartford the Whale's attendance ranked 23rd they had 4,573 out of the XL Center's 16,294 seats filled. The little Devils, well, they were dead last in the AHL. Albany's Times Union Center received an average of 3,435 (out of a possible 14,236).

For the Islanders and the Devils, there is very little standing in the way of hosting AHL games in their NHL arenas - both have done it before. The Rangers would have a more difficult time, with MSG being a union shop and thus a far more expensive endeavor. But let's face it, the Blueshirts can easily cover the tab and they should want to show off the latest stage of renovations.

Hell, all three should do it and make the games free for season ticket holders (of both the NHL and AHL clubs) and sell the rest of the tickets off for charity. They would still collect considerable concessions and would keep their product on the market - something valuable in today's current A.D.D. society with it's plethora of entertainment options.

So which games should go? Weekend games are the lifeblood of minor league life so let's look past those. Another criteria for the kid league is rivalry games, as bigger crowds congregate when there is a little hate involved. So what selections are left?

For Hartford (with affiliate franchise and key players in parentheses):

Wednesday, December 12th v. Worchester (Sharks - where Tim Kennedy ended up)

Wednesday, January 23rd v. Adirondack (Flyers - Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn)

Tuesday, February 5th v. Albany 

Wednesday, February 20th v. St. Johns (Jets - Alex Burmistrov and Carl Klingberg)

Tuesday, March 5th v. Portland (Coyotes - Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Andy Miele and Chad Dos Nueve, who is now wearing #30 actually)

Thursday, March 28th v. Worchester

For Bridgeport:

Wednesday, December 19th v. Albany - Forget the Coliseum, hell, the franchises owe the Barclays Center an exhibition game and the Brooklyn arena just happens to be empty that night ...

Tuesday, January 8th v. Hershey (Caps - our pal Braden Holtby in net)

Tuesday, February 12th v. Springfield (BJs - Tim Erixon and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault)

Tuesday, March 12th v. Springfield

And for Albany? Pretty much any game of theirs can go, last place in the league and all. They outright scheduled four of the Sunday games in Atlantic City, so that leaves 34 others that can be welcomed to the Rock and similarly ignored by New Jersey hockey fans.

If the owners do truly care about their public image, moving some matches would go a ways towards alleviating the hatred. And, certainly, free tickets for those matches would go even further ... but let's not get too crazy here - ownership's greed is why there are empty arenas in the first place. Let's drop the puck already!

Opening The A

The 2012-13 Connecticut season started with a stumble, as the Whale blew a 2-0 lead to lose 6-4 to half of the New York Islanders.

In ridiculously-close-to-Ranger fashion, the Whale were handed opportunities to win and simply couldn't convert. But that does belie the fact that Connecticut was outclassed and outright dominated for the majority of the night. Two power play goals (on five opportunities!) in the third period made this one look competitive but, really, it wasn't. Given the lack of intensity by the home team, one would think they were still in preseason ... guess the lack of Camp Tortorella took its toll.

Not going to wrap all the Whale games, but I went to this one so why not? On to the Late Hits:

*The baby Blueshirts survived an early onslaught and actually appeared to get out of the first period not just unscathed but up 2-0. That was, until Micheal Haley got hammered by Blair Riley. Riley wanted to fight off the drop, Haley appeared to say no so Riley went to, I believe, Sean Collins. Collins, in his only smart decision of the night, declined the dance. Puck dropped, play went behind the Whale net, Riley laid a light hit and Haley lost his cool - and ultimately the game. The Sound Scum went into their room on the heels of Riley's decimation of Haley, surely enjoyed the intermission, came out for the second period and pounced upon the little Rangers to the tune of five straight goals. Textbook. Terrible.

*Gilroy was del zastrous: his shots were inaccurate, he couldn't hold the blue line to save his life and his passes helped no one. It is of little wonder he isn't playing top flight hockey overseas - surely no one wanted him. Sure he didn't have a full training camp and is still getting in the swing of things but, let's face it, he wasn't very good when fit - a healthy scratch for that poor Ottawa team in the playoffs.

*Kyle Jean was the top Whale player but that's not saying much because they were quite terrible. He has good hands, decent smarts and a TON of work to do with his skating. Kris Newbury had his moments but the AAAA player always does at this level.

*As @mavanco observed, the Whale forced their offense to go through Chris Kreider when the kid was on the ice - a philosophy that failed. On a team largely devoid of talent, Kreider will at least learn how to handle being 'the man.'

*J.T. Miller did virtually nothing, his highlight was having a Sound Tiger try to hit him and end up taking the worse of it. Although, that is more than Andrew Yogan or Christian Thomas had happen to them, so good on the first round pick.

*Missaen was stellar the first period, square to the shooters. But from then on his lack of rebound control and work-in-progress footwork severely hurt him, as did the team in front of him. It must be remembered that he is a project, one that is far, far from completion. And, man, is he tall.

*Wonder if they intentionally have terrible ice at the XL Center, just to prepare the guys for the notoriously rutted Garden.

*Not sure which bothers me more: that they sell a poorly printed replica puck for $9 or that I paid $9 for it. What can I say? I collect a puck from every arena I go to. I feel shame.

*The much-publicized $2 beer, $1 hot dog promotion was legit, although you certainly got what you paid for: two bucks for Bud Select headache water and a greenback for a poorly-cooked hot dog your grade school cafeteria served.

*Can cross out hearing Brass Bonanza in Hartford off the bucket list. Granted, I heard it at the Whale Bowl two years back, but that was outdoors and didn't count.

*Hartford hockey fans can cross out ever getting NHL hockey again. For the home opener - the home opener - they announced a crowd of just over 8,000 in a building that holds 15,635; and if there were 6,000 folks who actually showed up, that would be a surprise. Despite seeing some MSG regulars, it was clearly not a New York crowd.

*Three Stars:
3- Casey Cizikas - two goals.
2- Nino Niederreiter - one goal and two assists.
1- Kris Newbury - two goals.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3- Kyle Jean - the one consistent Whale threat.
2- Brock Nelson - one seriously talented kid, with (hopefully) one seriously miserable career ahead of him if he stays in the Isles organization.
1- Blair Riley - one fight by Riley, one win by Bridgeport.

No NHL? No Problem

As it seems like midnight is certain to mark the start of yet another NHL lockout, it is time to look at other options for live hockey; gotta feed the addiction somehow and not everyone can take the ice themselves.

Sure it won't be the Blueshirts but that isn't a bad thing - I've found that less emotional involvement often equals more fun (surprise, surprise). There are many other teams out there at various levels of play and they are far more affordable than the NHL. Road trips are always delightful, but for now let's just focus on the tri-state area:

KHL:
Should the lockout stretch into the New Year, you can catch a pair of regular season KHL games at the new Barclay's Center. Dynamo Moscow will face SKA Petersburg, which could mean Ovechkin vs Kovalchuk.

AHL:
Connecticut Whale - The Rangers' AHL affiliate is just a two and a half hour drive from MSG. Brooksie tweeted that Kreider is the only kid off the NYR roster that will be allowed to play there but Future Blue will still be well represented - Bourque, Miller, Thomas, etc. Plus Jeff Beukeboom is now an assistant coach!

Bridgeport Sound Tigers - One of, if not the most convenient franchise to get to from NYC as Metro-North lets you off just blocks from the arena. For Long Islanders, it is an easy ride on the Port Jeff ferry - leave your car in Port Jeff, take the hour-15 cruise and walk two blocks to the arena. And they then hold the last ferry back until just after the game. It is entirely possible that the Isles will reschedule a few of the cats' games for the Mausoleum, as they did during the last lockout. It's not like they will be using that dump for anything else.

Albany Devils - Another two and a half hour drive from MSG, but a team not really that interesting. The only baby Devil worth watching will likely be Keith Kinkaid, the possible heir to Mmmaaaaaaaaaarrrttyy. Like the Isles with the Sound Tigers, the Devils could resched a few of Albany's games for the Rock; they are already set to play four games down in Atlantic City which might make for fun trips.

Also reachable by car are the other upstate franchises: the Binghamton Senators, the Rochester Americans and the Syracuse Crunch, Tampa's new affiliate (meaning most players won the Calder Cup last year in a dominating performance with Norfolk). The Providence Bruins also aren't too far and they will be hosting the AHL All Star Game at the end of January.

ECHL:
Elmira Jackals - If you are road tripping up to Binghamton, Elmira isn't too far away and the Jackals were the ECHL's regular season champs last year. The Craig Rivet-captained squad is an affiliate of the Ducks and Sens and they play in an old, quaint arena that is easy to get tickets to. The Rangers' E affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors, will be there on October 13th and November 21st.

Trenton Titans - One of the closest teams to NYC at just over an hour drive, but not in the nicest neighborhood (or so I've been told) and the worst team in the E last season. Greenville visits the Flyers' affiliate on October 12th and November 24th. (Thanks to MNYR for the correction.)

FHL:
Danbury Whalers - Sadly the Brooklyn Aviators are no more, leaving Danbury as the easiest Federal League option. It is reachable via Metro-North - a two hour ride - and they have some raucous fans. Interesting note, Mike Rupp played in Danbury during the last lockout, with the UHL's mob-connected Trashers.

NCAA Division I:
The Frozen Apple - There will be hockey at MSG this fall, that is for certain: the annual college game around Thanksgiving. Cornell will face Michigan on November 24th, allowing Ranger fans to watch this summer's second round pick Boo Nieves in maize and blue.

There are many other D-I collegiate options in the tri-state area, including Army, Canisius, Clarkson, Colgate, Niagara, Princeton, Quinnipiac, RIT, RPI, Sacred Heart, St. Lawrence, UConn, Yale, and Union. Wish I could expound upon them further but have yet to go to a single game at any of them - this lockout should afford me the opportunity to change that.

How are you going to get your fix?

Just In Case ...

If a certain person clears waivers and happens to get assigned to Hartford, and if he actually goes there to play, here is their remaining home schedule:

Wednesday 2/11/09 vs Manitoba

Friday 2/13/09 vs Lake Erie

Saturday 2/14/09 vs Manitoba - Nigel Dawes Bobblehead night!

Wednesday 2/18/09 vs Bridgeport (Islanders AHL team)

Saturday 2/21/09 vs Portland

Friday 2/27/09 vs Manchester

Wednesday 3/4/09 vs Worcester

Saturday 3/14/09 vs Bridgeport

Wednesday 3/18/09 vs Lowell (Devils AHL team)

Saturday 3/28/09 vs Providence

Wednesday 4/1/09 vs Portland

Sunday 4/5/09 vs Lowell

Saturday 4/11/09 vs Springfield

Sadly, they do not have any more games against Rochester, who happen to have a solid goaltender named Brodeur (Mike, no relation).

Just in case you were wondering ...

Hossa! Hossa! Who The Heck Cares About Hossa?

So as per usual I put myself in the middle of an argument about the Rangers. One person was advocating Nigel Dawes addition to the team, while another said that that would be stupid and Marcel Hossa is deserving of the roster spot. As some may know, I don't care much for the lesser of the two NHL Hossas. So you can guess which side I picked. But, I dug up some interesting numbers that supported my case:

Hossa played 144 AHL regular season games, and he scored 54 goals. In 146 AHL regular season games Dawes scored 62 BUT the discrepancy comes in the clutch - Dawes averaged more than a point per game in the Calder Cup playoffs while Hossa averaged half that. Hossa has played 187 NHL games, Dawes just eight.

We will see when Nigel gets some more NHL icetime who is truly better but I would rather someone who can come through when it counts. Hossa has just 30 goals (and 23 assists) in those 187 NHL games; he got his shot, now we should give someone else a try. If we are indeed less caring about catering to Jagr's penchant for European teammates, there is little reason to keep Hossa over Dawsie ... your opinions?