TEPID TAKE: Seattle’s Application and the Houston Threat

On Thursday, the NHL said that any Seattle-based ownership group would be allowed to submit an application for an expansion team. This comes after the news that the city would renovated the Key Arena to the tune of $600M. Obviously, Seattle has been a highly coveted market for the NHL for a bit, especially with their proximity to the Vancouver area– so why not service the Pacific Northwest.

Honestly, I’ll never understand the market or the hype behind it– but since they do show support for the other teams in the area; why not muddy the waters further with this investment??

Yet, while this was an area that all but assured a team in the future– whether it be through expansion or relocation– it still seems far off, as it the timeline appears to be around 2020-21 for this team to actually put blades to ice. Granted, that’s less than three years away and less time than when Vegas actually got things approved– but still, 2020 seems far away and we still have an upcoming labor dispute looming, which would be just a fantastic time to get into the NHL business, right??

And, let’s not kid each other– this is something that will happen if the right person comes along. Or any person with the $650M expansion fee and rights to use that building. The NHL loves the idea of even divisions and conferences, thus Seattle is the one needed to even it all out again.

But there’s also the trickle-down theory of who this could affect in the long-run. First, the existing Seattle team– the WHL’s Thunderbirds– may have a harder time getting people into the rink. Sure, it’s 20 miles from Seattle proper and would have less expensive prices all around, who knows if the support would still be there for something that’s not the NHL. It works in Canadian markets, sure– but will it work in a market like Seattle?? Time will tell.

Another thing this affects is potential moves for owners wanting to get out. When Gary Bettman met up with Tilman Fertitta in Houston, this signaled a new market for ownership group to go to in order to get what they may want from their hometown. With the idea of Seattle going the expansion route– Houston will take over the Western side of things (hello, Coyotes) and Quebec City will look for the new Eastern team to come along– which may not be any time soon.

While the threat really is just a leverage situation– it did give us great memories of an owner like Daryl Katz hob-knobing with the Seattle brass to get the things they wanted from Edmonton respectively. I don’t know if Houston will have the same cache that Seattle did; but there’s probably not the same amount of teams visiting Houston that we had visit Seattle.

The only big thing is the nickname idea– which I’m sure people have already started. The Metropolitans would be great to give the team a heritage boost being named after the first US-based team to win the Stanley Cup…if it wasn’t already a division in the NHL. The Totems would be another nostalgic contender as it was to old WHL/PCHL/CHL franchise name– and people love the idea of old names with new teams.

Regardless of what happens after today, this could be the biggest news about an application in the history of sport…or something.

Minor League (Not) Monday: Sommer at the Summit, ECHL North Heating Up, SPHLers Moving on Up

AHL

-A big congratulation to Roy Sommer of the San Jose Barracuda for getting his 700th AHL career win this past weekend. Sommer has been a soldier for the San Jose Sharks organization since he came in as an assistant coach in 1996-97. He has coached San Jose’s AHL affiliate since 1998 from Kentucky to Cleveland to Worcester and now San Jose. For a guy who has never coached in the NHL, he should be considered for the Hockey Hall of Fame when he’s done, not only for the wins record in the AHL, but for being 3rd all-time for most games coached in the professional ranks, currently at 1,833– behind only Barry Trotz and Scotty Bowman.

-The hottest team in the Eastern Conference is the Syracuse Crunch. With a six-game winning streak, the Crunch have been able to get back into the North Division playoff picture. Though Cory Conacher is up with the Lightning, Michael Bournival and Matthew Peca have been able to pick up the slack. A balanced attack on offense has been able to help, as well, with 13 players potting at least three goals on the season.

ECHL

-The North Division could be one of the races to look at as the season goes along. All the teams are sitting at .500 or better to start the season, with only five points separating the fifth spot from the top spot. While the Manchester Monarchs are trying to get some distance with their four-game winning streak, Wheeling is right behind them with three of the top-ten in scoring on their roster (Cody Wydo, Reid Gardner, and Garrett Meurs). Reading, Adirondack, and Brampton are still contenders and who knows what Worcester could be doing as they keep going along.

-Though they are following Toledo in the standings, Cincinnati has a strong scoring presence, with both Shawn O’Donnell (10pts in seven games) and Justin Danforth (9pts in six games) with two of the longest point-scoring streaks in the league. With Eric Knodel helping out on the power play and Anthony Peters holding down the fort in net– the Cyclones are in a prime spot to battle Toledo for top-spot in the Central.

SPHL

-One of the biggest stories is how the downfall of the affiliation in Norfolk of the ECHL plucked a lot of players from the SPHL. Max Cook (Fayetteville), Nick Miglio (Peoria), and John Rey (Birmingham). As the season goes on, depending on the fate of the Admirals, more names could be going that way. While it’s good for those players and the league to be a developmental asset, the teams may feel the crunch, especially if it’s late in the season and they lose a top guy when they need them the most.

Maryland Pro/Developmental Report: 12.04.17

About a month ago, I did the whole thing about how Maryland does have plenty of players who were born there that are taking on solid roles in minor pro hockey, as well as Major Juniors, NCAA, and USHL. In a follow-up to that, why not do a report each month about how they’re doing through the year?? All filler, no killer– right??

AHL

Nick Ellis, Bakersfield Condors (Millersville): 5-5-1, 2.82 GAA, .914 Sv%: While he did take Player of the Week honors earlier in the year, the season since hasn’t been to kind of Ellis and the Condors. The Condors are next to last in the league, while Ellis has been okay enough to get to the .500 mark. However, with Cam Talbot going down, it has allowed for Ellis to get his first NHL call-up of his career.

Sam Anas, Iowa Wild (Potomac): 3g, 7a, +1: The Landon School product has had a lot better sophomore year to start out with, if not a little streaky in his scoring. While he hasn’t gotten the power play minutes yet, it seems that the Wild are relying on him when it comes to that secondary scoring on this Wild team that continues to improve.

ECHL

Nick Sorkin, Wheeling Nailers (Rockville): 3g, 16a, +1: It’s been a helluva start to the year for Sorkin, picking up on the point-per-game scoring clip he left in Wheeling last season. Sorkin is second on the team in assists, while being tied for third in helpers in the ECHL.

Jack Burton, Indy Fuel (Reisterstown): 0g, 1a, 18 PIMs: The first year pro, Burton hasn’t had much production when it comes to his time in Indy, but not much has worked out well for the Fuel this season. His time will come, as we all know defensemen take longer to hone a pro game coming out of college.

Eric Sweetman, Idaho Steelheads (Woodbine): 0g, 2a, -3: Much like Burton, the rookie year hasn’t been all that productive as of yet for Sweetman. The Team Maryland and Washington Little Caps prospect is coming off of four seasons at St. Lawrence and still trying to find his footing in the pro game.

SPHL

Mike Chen, Knoxville Ice Bears (Rockville): 3g, 6a, +6: The small rookie defenseman is making his way in the SPHL, tied for fourth in points by a defenseman with nine, while leading all rookie defensemen in scoring. Chen is currently on a three-game points streak with a goal and four assists in this streak.

OHL

Adam Varga, Mississauga Steelheads (Bel Air): 0g, 4a, -8: The young prodigy out of Maryland has had a rough go of it as a 16-year-old in the OHL with only four assists to his name. Of course, having to get up to the OHL speed from the Mid-Atlantic U16 is going to take time, but he has the ability to be an impact player so long as the Steelheads commit to training him properly.

USNTDP

Patrick Giles, US National Development Program (Chevy Chase): 7g, 6a, +4: The Boston College commit is going to be focus on in the mid-rounds of 2018 NHL Draft and, despite playing only five games thus far at the USHL level, he has played plenty for USA Hockey’s U18 team, netting five goals and 11 points in 20 games, while also serving as an alternate captain at the U18 Five Nations Cup.

NCAA

Jerad Rosburg, Michigan State (Clarksville): 0g, 1a, 20 PIMs

Matt McArdle, Lake Superior State (Odenton): 0g, 2a, 23 PIMs

Colin O’Neill, U-Mass Lowell (Odenton): 1g, 5a, +1

Jason O’Neill, Providence (Odenton): 0g, 5a, +1

Bruce Racine, Colgate (Bethesda): 0-1-0, 5.00 GAA, .833 Sv%

 

 

UND HOCKEY: Fighting Hawks Saddle Broncos 4-3 in Physical Affair

Photo by @UNDmhockey

GRAND FORKS, ND– Friday night set the tone for the weekend, as the University of North Dakota took the first game of the weekend set against Western Michigan University 4-3 in a chippy, physical affair that saw many a scrum break out.

UND opened the scoring in the first on the power play, as Rhett Gardner broke up a Western Michigan breakout, which tipped over to Grant Mismash before eventually finding the stick of Austin Poganski, who went five-hole on Ben Blacker to put the Fighting Hawks up 1-0 just five minutes into the game. Minutes later, after drawing a penalty on Christian Wolanin, Dawson DiPietro came down the wing on the ensuing power play over Cam Johnson’s glove hand to tie the game. UND struck back minutes later, while on a 5-on-3 power play, which Austin Poganski potted his second goal of the night from a lovely feed from Jordan Kawaguchi to make it 2-1.

Austin Poganski/ Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

“It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet and help like that,” said captain Poganski after the game, “But things go unnoticed, like Ludvig blocking some shots and there were some big blocks at the end. It’s not always about scoring goals and getting assists. It’s about the little things people don’t see as often.”

Western Michigan tried to challenge offsides, but it was to no avail. Just over a minute later, Ludvig Hoff got in on the action, tipping a shot from Colton Poolman and going over the shoulder of Ben Blacker to make it 3-1 UND. Three minutes after that, WMU cut the lead to one as Brett Van Os deflected a Cam Lee shot to go over the shoulder of Johnson to make it 3-2, which is where the first period ended. It was only the sixth time this season UND had the lead after the first period.

A lot of beating, banging, and exchanging of power plays, but it wasn’t until midway through the second where UND increased their lead. Collin Adams went broke up a clearing attempt, took a skate across the top of the circle and ripped it high blocker on Blacker to make it 4-2 Fighting Hawks. While the play continued to be physical, it didn’t come without issues– as Andrew Peski and Ludvig Hoff left the game with undisclosed injuries.

More physical play until late in the period when Wade Allison got Western Michigan to within one goal on the power play, as he blew by the UND defense of a small dish from Corey Schueneman to make it 4-3 UND. However, UND thought they got the two-goal lead back when Joel Janatuinen put the puck past a laid out Blacker, but due to Luke Bafia being pushed into his own goalie– the goal was disallowed. As the game went along, it got more physical, but UND rode the edge a little too close and then over, getting three penalties within the last two minutes. Thankfully for the face-off work of Johnny Simonson and the defensive play by Gabe Bast, two late-game face-offs in front of Cam Johnson were all for not as UND went on to win 4-3 Friday.

“I thought that was a man’s game out there tonight,” said UND head coach Brad Berry. “It was fast, it was heavy, a lot of up and down the ice. Two teams that have unbelieveable will. It came down to the last play and the last face-off.”

Cam Johnson/ Photo by @NHLHistorygirl

With the win, Cam Johnson goes to 6-2-1 after a four-week layoff when he was injured during morning skate of the Wisconsin series

“It’s been a long month or long eight games, whatever it was,” said Johnson, “But it’s good to be back and good to get a win at The Ralph. I felt good all the way through, but I think I need to drink more liquids before the game. Trying to get the pacing of the way the game speed is as opposed to practice took a bit, too.”

“It was as close to 60 minutes we’ve played all year,” Berry stated. “It’s tough to play a perfect game, especially with a good team on the other side like that. Consistency and the start is something we have to make sure we off-set tomorrow.”