Category Archives: the AHL

The History Behind the Cup

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It’s game day, so what better way to prepare than learning a bit about the ultimate goal of the playoffs! Thanks, as always, to the great writing team of Tess and Sara here at Chasing Checkers! – Jenni – Editor-of-Awesome

Most hockey fans know the history behind the Stanley Cup, but what about the Calder? The Calder Cup is 77 years old and bears its namesake from the late great, Frank Calder. This Cup is awarded to the American Hockey League’s final playoff championship winner. It is also the second oldest trophy of it’s kind, only trailing Stanley itself.

Frank Calder is a familiar name to many. Another piece of hardware claims the Calder title, the NHL’s Calder Memorial Trophy given ”to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League.” Calder served as the NHL’s first president from 1917 to 1943 and was instrumental in making hockey what it is today.

The first Calder Cup was given in 1938, the same year that the IHL (International) and C-AHL (Can-Am) formally merged together as one, to the Providence Reds. The season prior, when the leagues merely had interlocking schedules, the 1937 Syracuse Stars allegedly never got the privilege of receiving the Cup despite being the rightful champions and in 1996 finally had the chance to hoist it.

This season nurtures the Checkers’ second run at the Cup, their first was in their AHL inaugural season (2010-2011) where Charlotte made it all the way to the semi-finals only to lose four straight games to the Binghamton Senators and relinquish their fight to glory.

The Calder Cup stands at 24 inches tall, a beautiful mix of sterling silver and Brazilian mahogany boasting the names of the last 20 teams to hoist the hardware.
Be sure to go out and support your Checkers on the road to the Calder and help to make them a bigger part of this history!

Charlotte Checkers trample the OKC Barons 6-1 in Game Three

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In the third game of a best-of-five first round playoff series, the Checkers came away with a 6-1 win over the Oklahoma City Barons tonight in Charlotte.  They now lead the series 2-1.

Chris Terry scored two goals for the Charlotte Checkers on the PP early in the first period. (Photo - J. Propst)

Chris Terry scored two goals for the Charlotte Checkers on the PP early in the first period. (Photo – J. Propst)

While there were only 3021 in the building (as opposed to the nearly 7000 average the Checkers had this season), the energy was infectious, and seemed to carry onto the ice.

Yann Danis, last season’s AHL Goaltender of the Year, struggled from the beginning, allowing six goals on 33 shots.  In the previous two games against Charlotte, Danis was the difference maker in both the OT game on Friday and the Barons 5-2 victory on Saturday.

Stellar goaltending from the Checkers Rob Madore kept the Checkers in the game from the beginning. He only allowed one goal on 38 shots, during one of three lengthy 5-on-3 penalty kills the Checkers had to overcome.

Charlotte Checkers captain Brett Sutter goes flying during game three against the Oklahoma City Barons. (Photo - J. Propst)

Charlotte Checkers captain Brett Sutter goes flying during game three against the Oklahoma City Barons. (Photo – J. Propst)

The Checkers got on the board early, and scored three goals in a six-minute span of the first period with an even-strength goal from Matt Marquardt, and two #Terryiffic power play goals from Chris Terry.

Five Checkers had multi-point nights.  Chris Terry had two goals, Zach Boychuk had three assists, Jeremy Welsh had two assists, Dan Biega had two assists, and Tim Wallace had one goal, one assist.

For the first time this playoff series, the Checkers played a complete game from start to finish, with an exceptional performance by special teams.  The power play contributed three goals, and the penalty kill was nearly perfect with only one goal allowed in nine opportunities by the Barons.

“As a team, I think we want to be more disciplined,” said coach Jeff Daniels in response to the nine penalty kills the Checkers had to overcome, “We don’t want to be giving up five-on-threes and being in the box so much, but the penalty killers did a great job.”

Dan Biega had two assists, his first professional points, in the Charlotte Checkers 6-1 victory over the OKC Barons. (Photo - J. Propst)

Dan Biega had two assists, his first professional points, in the Charlotte Checkers 6-1 victory over the OKC Barons. (Photo – J. Propst)

Moving forward to game four following a 6-1 win against the Barons, the Checkers will need to continue to play at the same level they did Wednesday night in Charlotte.

“The first two games we did a lot of good things, but the one thing we didn’t do is play a solid 60 [minutes] and I thought we were pretty close tonight.  Come Friday night, again it’s 0-0 and you’ve got 60 minutes to be great again.”

Momentum going forward is going to be crucial for continued success against the Barons in this playoff series.

“We finally played a full 60[minutes] and that’s what we were looking out to do,” shared Zach Boychuk, who finished the game with three assists, “We got some big powerplay goals so we’ve got to keep that up and keep playing physical.”

 

Tim Wallace scored for the Charlotte Checkers in the second period. (Photo - J. Propst)

Tim Wallace scored for the Charlotte Checkers in the second period. (Photo – J. Propst)

Tim Wallace, Jared Staal and Nicolas Blanchard returned to the lineup after playing in the Carolina Hurricanes final game oer the weekend.  All made their first playoff appearance for the Checkers this season.   Each added a physical presence to the game, and Wallace contributed an even-strength goal during the second period.

So far, all three playoff games has had a different lineup for the Checkers with the addition of players from the NHL club and players returning from injury.  Though last night’s lineup found a great deal of success against the Barons, it may continue to change moving forward.  After having as many as a dozen players injured at one time during the regular season, the Checkers currently have 17 healthy forwards, and 8 healthy defensemen, and more players may join the roster after last night’s loss by the Florida Everblades, and the WHL playoff completion by Victor Rask in Calgary.

Coach Daniels seems to feel reassured that the number of choices he can make in the lineup will help the team moving forward.

“It’s nice to have options after a month and a half without options, and we’re all in this together.”

 

 

Scoreboard watching around the AHL:

  • The Toronto Marlies are the only team to have swept their opponents (so far).  They defeated the Rochester Americans in three games.
  • The Texas Stars lead the Milwaukee Admirals 2-1 in their series.
  • Grand Rapids is up 2-1 over the Houston Aeros.
  • In the Eastern Conference, the eighth seed Hershey Bears lead the first seed Providence Bruins 2-0
  • The second seed Springfield Falcons are up 2-0 over the Manchester Monarchs
  • The Syracuse Crunch, who’s players won the Calder Cup last season in Norfolk, have won both games against the sixth-seed Portland Pirates.
  • Fifth place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is up 2-0 over the fourth place Binghamton Senators.

 

Charlotte Checkers beat the OKC Barons in OT, Game 2 of the first playoff round is tonight

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First, I must be completely honest. I did not pay 100% to this game. I was running a show (ballet…. the ballet always interrupts hockey watching! Good thing I love the ballet!) Therefore, some of my observations may not be as thorough as I’d like them to be. Because much of my game-watching was done from a muted laptop, I’m sure I missed a lot. But hey, some observations are better than no observations, right?

Now…. my own personal observations, in no particular order:

  • Rob Madore.  I was not surprised in the least that he was the starter for the Checkers last night. I also believe he will continue to play in that role, but, and I mean this is the most positive of ways, he’ll be on a short leash. A couple of bad games (that are his fault or his teammates, and I must say I believe it will be the latter more than the former), and he may get replaced by one of the Checkers other two willing and able goaltenders. In what has become Madore’s true fashion, he was able to stop shot after shot.  This was particularly important in the first period, when the Barons outshot the Checkers 13-5.  Not only that, but the Checkers had an entire powerplay where they didn’t register a single shot on the Barons goalie, Yann Danis.
  • After the first period and the disgustingly unbalanced SOG stats, all I could think was YIKES. As it’s been in the past month it seems, the Checkers came out a bit sluggish, but whatever was said in the room between periods seemed to work, because the second period was a drastically different pace, and one that favored Charlotte. SOG were nearly equal, and the Checkers scored two goals.  The first was from Justin Shugg, one of only two Justin’s that remains on the Charlotte roster (insert sad faces here).  Shugg’s goal was a beautiful one, coming of of a rebound while the Checkers were on their second powerplay of the game.
  • The next came from Brody Sutter, younger cousin of Brett who was possibly the biggest star of the Checkers playoff run two years ago.  Brody’s goal was a slick one, a wraparound goal on the backhand. The Checkers had the lead, but it was for a very brief period of time.
  • In a span of only 21 seconds late in the second period, the Barons scored two more goals. With only eight seconds left in Charlotte’s penalty kill, Mark Arcobello scored a wraparound goal, catching the visiting team off guard a bit in the midst of a line change, and there was little that could be done to prevent that Barons goal. 
  • Moments later, the Barons Josh Green scored another on Rob Madore, thanks in part to some sloppy defensive play by Charlotte.
  • A penalty at the whistle to end the second period and another right after it expired early in the third period would have given the Checkers nearly four straight minutes on the powerplay, but they didn’t need it.  On his first shift of the second power play,  Zach Boychuk scored, tying the game for the Checkers.  
  • The remaining 17 or so minutes of regulation were scoreless for both squads, taking them to overtime.
  • It only took a couple of minutes in overtime for the Checkers to end the game.  Brody Sutter’s game winning OT goal was a gorgeous deflection off of Brett Bellemore’s shot. 

Other thoughts:

  • Last night, Mike Murphy was the backup to Rob Madore, and John Muse was a healthy scratch.  It was a pleasant surprise, seeing Murphy’s name on the scoresheet. Does this mean in the “goalie rankings” he’s moved up to number two? Maybe. Murph is, of course, the winning-est goaltender in Checkers history, and nobody can ever forget his stellar performance in the 2011 playoffs that saw him relieve Justin Pogge of his starting duties just a couple of games into the first round.  Charlotte went on to make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals where they were defeated by the eventual Calder Cup winning Binghamton Senators.
  • I was really impressed with Brock McGinn. Though he didn’t make it onto the score sheet, he continued to be physical and has no problem using his body at the right times to make big plays.  He appeared to be hit late in overtime, but left the ice on his own.  Here’s hoping it was nothing serious!
  • Once the sluggishness of the first period was over, the Checkers played like a team I recognize.  While they seemed to slip a bit late in the second period, they generally stayed strong and physical throughout the second and third periods.  Overtime, though it was only a few minutes long, was completely controlled by Charlotte.  More play like this will result in plenty more playoff games won by the Checkers.
  • Game two is tonight at 8p.m.  I will be watching, as always, from a lightbooth while working a ballet performance.  Let’s Go Checkers!

A few links to get you through game day two:

From Tend the Farm: Charlotte Beats OKC In Overtime, Takes 1-0 Series Lead

From The Charlotte Observer: Checkers rough up Barons

From Paul Branecky: Brody Sutter’s OT goal wins game 1

Fighting Fires with Mike Commodore – where he’s been, and where he’s going

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I spent some time on Thursday with Mike Commodore after his morning skate before the Charlotte Checkers game.  He talked about the AHL, what’s on his bucket list, where his career has been, and where it’s headed.  If you read this site regularly, you know that me interviewing this veteran, Stanley Cup winning defenseman was something on my own bucket list.

Mike Commodore, a defenseman for the Texas Stars, played his first-ever game in Charlotte against the Checkers on Thursday. (Photo - J. Propst)

Mike Commodore, a defenseman for the Texas Stars, played his first-ever game in Charlotte against the Checkers on Thursday. (Photo – J. Propst)

After leaving the Hamilton Bulldogs in January, Mike Commodore spent a month at home near Edmonton, skating with the University of Alberta’s hockey team.  But when the Golden Bears went off to the National Championship, he lost his opportunity to use their ice, and had decided he was going to pack up the hockey for the season.   It was Commodore’s first time at home in almost 16 years, but when the ice left, he too, decided to hit the road.

He flew to Tampa, where he’d ended last year’s NHL season, and a number of his belongings still were.  And Commodore started golfing, making his way across the gulf coast towards Texas when he was offered another PTO for another western conference AHL team.

Commodore is now playing for the Texas Stars, a team who leads the Western Conference and the South Division.  With the playoffs right around the corner, he knew he was signing with a good team that had a lot of post-season potential.

Commodore has played for 14 teams in his 13-year career.  The three seasons he spent in Raleigh with the Hurricanes was the longest he ever spent with an NHL club.  He enjoyed his time in Raleigh, at least after getting past the initial culture shock and learning his way around a new city filled with tall trees, and curvy roads that seem to lead to nowhere, which is quite different from the flat prairies of Alberta where he’d grown up and played professionally in Calgary.

“It’s unfortunate I got traded out of there. Obviously it was a business decision for the Hurricanes,” shared Commodore, of the time he spent in North Carolina, “Other than to play a couple of games and to run in Pete Friesen’s charity run there, I haven’t been back for any kind of period of time, which is too bad.  I should try and change that.”

When you’ve played for as many teams as Commodore has, you can understand how he would become a self-proclaimed gypsy.

“I never travel anywhere without a computer. And I always have my passport because I’m never sure what country I’m going to be going to,” Commodore recounted, “Clothes and stuff, I learned a long time ago with all the trades and stuff that I went through that all that extra stuff is just a pain in the ass.  Furniture and all that, get rid of it.  So I travel pretty light.”

During Commodore’s hockey career, he’s competed in two Stanley Cup finals, won one of them, and was a black ace in a third.  In college, he won the NCAA Frozen Four with the University of North Dakota.

Other than the obvious dream come true of winning the Stanley Cup, one of the things he is most proud of is winning a World Championship with Team Canada in 2007.

“You know, that was my only time that I’ve had a chance to play for Team Canada, and I think I played really well.  We had a good team that went 9-0.  We had a team where the people at home were all ‘This team is brutal, where’s Sidney Crosby, the D-corps are brutal’, and we went there [to Moscow] and dominated teams.,” shared Commodore, of his experience on the Gold Medal winning Canada team, “The toughest games were at the beginning of the tournament where we were getting used to each other, and then that was it.  I’m really proud of that.”

Commodore also spoke of his time in Columbus, and the positive experience it was, despite the turmoil in his last season there.

“I’m proud of the team that made the playoffs in Columbus. We didn’t win a playoff game, which was unfortunate, but that was probably individually, my best year as a pro,” Commodore continued,  “ It gets overlooked now, because whenever me and Columbus come up it’s always assumed it was a complete disaster, but that was one of my best years as a pro.  It would have been nice to win a game or two, and I thought I played very well.”

On and off the ice, he’s played in a number of NHL and AHL cites. As far as the AHL goes, he said the warm cities of Texas, Quebec City, Wilkes-Barre and Manchester were some of his favorite to play in. Cleveland is the city he says he saw the biggest turn around, from an awful place to play when he was with the Cincinnati Ducks, to an arena filled with passionate fans.

As for AHL cities he’d rather not play in again, Commodore was quite animated. “Springfield is awful, terrible, the rink sucks.  Worcester is terrible.  Portland, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t have to go back there,” With a smile, Commodore went on, “God, there’s a few… that’s probably enough. I don’t want to badmouth the whole league.”

Off the ice, Commodore seems to be a fun, passionate individual.  He wants to travel and see other countries.

“I’ve been to Scotland, and I’d like to go overseas maybe to Ireland for golfing.  Scotland was great, and I’ve heard Ireland is like Scotland, but there’s more to do off the golf course,” he spoke of what his post-hockey life may include, “I enjoy traveling when it’s not for work and I’m not hauling around hockey gear.”

He’s also thought about post-hockey careers.  After spending a month in his mom’s basement, he knows it’s not how he wants to spend the rest of his life.

“Yeah, I had a really good time being Chazz Reinhold there,” recounted Commodore of the Wedding Crashers robe-wearing character played by Will Ferrell,  “That was enough. I’d like to keep those trips a lot shorter.  I’ve got to do something.  I’ve been fortunate that I’ve done well enough off the ice with hockey where I don’t think I need to, but what else am I going to do? I can’t just sit around.”

Become a fireman? Well, that’s one of the things Commodore is considering for years down the road when he’s done playing.

“I’m pretty good with numbers, so I was thinking something business wise, or I think something I’d be fairly decent at, would be a fireman.” Commodore continued, “You know, it’s a lot of teamwork and I’ve had a couple of offers to come join firemen.  It’s a team atmosphere, locker room atmosphere.”

He also thinks about having a place of his own that isn’t a basement in an Edmonton suburb.

“I’d like to get a place in Scottsdale, I think.  Scottsdale’s nice. You know, with me moving around a lot, I haven’t seen much of my parents since I was in high school, and they aren’t young anymore, so as the years go by I’d like to spend more time with them there, but I don’t want to go up to Edmonton to do it.  They put their time in up there in the cold, and they like the Phoenix area in the winter.”

For now, Commodore seems content playing on one of the top teams in the American League.

“It’s been a different year.  The last couple years have been tough. They’ve been tough for me.  To be honest I’m the exact same player I was five years ago, it’s just situations have changed. I’ve had back-to-back coaches that have basically done their best to punt me out of the league.”

So far, Texas seems to be a good fit, and with the playoffs right around the corner, the future is bright.  Playing for the Stars could lead to one more championship on his already loaded resume.

“If we can pull out a Calder Cup I will have won every trophy I ever played for.”

With aspirations of playing golf on the Emerald greens of Ireland to possibly fighting fires, whatever comes next for Mike Commodore is sure to be an adventure.

Rivermen franchise sold to Canucks…. what other AHL teams might move as well?

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I was hoping to have trade deadline updates, but it’s been pretty slow today.  So instead let’s see if I can get all of this franchise movement straight….

According to the knowledgeable Dave Eminian in Peoria, moves are still in the works following the April 1 (not fools) announcement that the Rivermen had been sold.

The Vancouver Canucks have purchased the Peoria Rivermen from the St. Louis Blues, but it seems that the Canucks have no interest in moving their AHL affiliation from Chicago (where it is currently, and has been for two seasons) to Peoria, a couple of hours away.  Ideally, they want to move their team to Abbotsford, where Calgary’s franchise currently plays and has a long-term lease.

Minnesota had been working on a deal that would move their AHL team (currently the Houston Aeros) closer to them in Des Moines, Iowa.  That deal is allegedly on hold (or cancelled altogether) and Peoria is being considered as an another site.

Calgary wants to move their AHL franchise to Utica, NY, but first has to find a way out of their lease and agreements with the city of Abbotsford.   The other moves make a lot of sense, but moving an AHL team for a far-west team like Calgary to the middle of upstate New York doesn’t make sense to me.  Sure, travel would be a breeze for a team in Utica (Binghamton, Albany, Glen Falls, Syracuse and Rochester are all within a couple of hours of Utica…) but easy travel is a small part of operating a successful franchise, and call-ups would be a hassle. Ticket sales and sponsorship revenue is incredibly important to running a successful sports franchise, but if Calgary thinks there is enough potential in Utica, a city of 62,000 people, then I say go for it.  Clearly, the AHL has done well in small towns in New England for a long time, and expanding to major markets outside of that small region doesn’t seem to be a focus of the league.

As a fan of the sport of hockey, and a team outside of the north east, I’m disappointed that this kind of move would be approved by the league and the Board of Governors.  I don’t think that oversaturating New York and the north east with yet another team is going to help the AHL brand, or the league itself.  If the AHL brand is to grow and expand, it needs to be in recognizable markets with the potential for growth. In cities where there is real name recognition and the opportunity to reach a totally new audience.

 

Other odds and ends from the east (the AHL conference I admittedly don’t pay enough attention to) that also may affect franchise movement:

  • Any move of a western team (Abbotsford or Peoria) to New York means the Western Conference divisions will have to be re-worked again. Just for fun, can the Checkers move to the division with Rochester, Hamilton and Toronto? Maybe then Charlotte will actually play those teams.  Plus, four divisions and two conferences in four years would be a pretty epic stat, eh?
  • Allentown, PA will have a completed arena in 2014, and the plan is to move the Adirondak Phantoms out of Glen Falls, New York.
  • There’s plenty of chatter about the desire for the NY Rangers to move their team in Hartford to Bridgeport. I have no idea where the Sound Tigers/Islanders would go, but the rumors are out there.  There’s also the possibility of moving the Rangers team (currently the Whale) to Glen Falls.
  • I’m probably missing some of the chatter… what have you heard?

AHL hockey in a post-lockout world – Western Conference records over the past 20 games.

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I’m supposed to be preparing a presentation for my Thesis defense next week, but instead I got sucked into AHL hockey statistics.

I don’t even know if what I put together could be considered as legitimate statistics, but I’ve been curious (and impatient, I suppose) to see how the post-NHL lockout was going to affect the AHL.  Some teams were more affected than others (Charlotte, for example, lost four forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender, all of whom played a major role in the Checkers success during the first half of the season).  Oklahoma City lost their entire top line and top-scoring defensemen.  Two former Barons are now serving as Alternate Captains for the Edmonton Oilers.  Other teams were affected in a less significant way, and have not seen a significant change in their roster.

Most AHL teams have played between 8-10 games since NHL camps began a few weeks ago.  I went through the schedule, and made a list of the western conference teams overall record, their record over the last ten post-lockout games, and the final ten games the teams played prior to the end of the lockout.

If there is interest, I’ll put together the stats for the Eastern conference team, but honestly since the Checkers only play Norfolk, I was less interested in how the east has been affected.

Obviously, a ten game sample is not hugely significant during a 76 game season, however I think it does show a glimpse of how teams were performing prior to the end of the lockout, and the beginning of what to expect now that AHL squads are re-establishing themselves with new players, and handling the loss of guys like Charlotte’s Zac Dalpe, Drayson Bowman, Bobby Sanguinetti, Dan Ellis and others.

Western Conference Team Records (and Norfolk, because Charlotte plays them frequently)

Previous 10 Post-lockout 10 Season Date last 10 began
Abbotsford 3-5-0-2 6-4-0-0 22-13-3-4 4-Jan
Charlotte 5-2-2-1 7-3-0-0 26-14-2-3 6-Jan
Chicago 7-2-1-0 6-3-0-1 20-14-3-2 3-Jan
Grand Rapids 7-3-0-0 4-4-1-1 24-14-2-2 6-Jan
Hamilton 2-7-0-1 3-4-0-3 14-21-1-5 2-Jan
Houston 4-4-1-1 4-4-2-0 21-15-4-3 5-Jan
Lake Erie 5-4-0-1 7-2-0-1 23-16-2-2 3-Jan
Milwaukee 6-4-0-0 3-4-1-2 19-17-3-3 5-Jan
Norfolk 6-2-0-1 4-5-0-1 18-21-2-1 6-Jan
Oklahoma City 6-3-0-1 3-5-1-1 20-17-2-4 5-Jan
Peoria 6-4-0-0 5-4-1-0 19-19-3-2 5-Jan
Rochester 5-4-0-1 7-3-0-0 22-15-2-1 31-Dec
Rockford 4-5-1-0 3-7-0-0 20-21-1-1 4-Jan
San Antonio 3-6-0-1 5-5-0-0 18-22-0-4 4-Jan
Texas 5-3-1-1 8-1-1-0 26-12-4-2 6-Jan
Toronto 7-1-1-1 5-4-1-0 23-13-2-2 2-Jan

So… a few observations.  Hamilton was terrible before, and continues to be.  (And since they released Mike Commodore from his PTO, I feel certain they will stink even more! #Bitter).  Oklahoma City’s record has begun to plummet, rather rapidly, but that’s not a surprise after losing Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Justin Schultz and Yann Danis, though as of today, Danis has cleared waivers and been returned to the Barons.  The Checkers, surprisingly, have had a better month of January than they did prior to losing nearly all of their top-scoring forwards and defensemen to the Hurricanes.

The Texas Stars are on a tear, and share the top spot in the league with Binghamton. Charlotte is close behind them and sits third overall in the league.

Milwaukee has struggled this month, as have Grand Rapids and Toronto, at least compared with their December records.

So… what do you think all of this means? Can anything be gleaned from these recent AHL records? What do you think will be the key for the Checkers as the season continues? 

An open letter to the NHL: Why free nachos won’t buy my support

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Dear NHL,

It’s days like today I’m glad I’m an AHL hockey fan, because as a fan of the American League, I don’t have to take part in any of the bribes that NHL teams are doing to try and win over their fans again.  I used to be an NHL partial season ticket holder.  For two years, I drove over five hours round trip for many, many games, but then I discovered that my local team, the Charlotte Checkers, was a much better value, and much more worthy of my support.

Don’t get me wrong, I hated to see most of the players from Charlotte go that were called up by the Hurricanes from training camp, but all deserved it, no doubt about it.  The coming weeks are going to be interesting to watch as AHL squads start from scratch with completely different rosters than the ones they started the season with.   I’m anxious to see what new Checker Luke Pither will bring to the Charlotte.  Dan Ellis, I will miss you the most, but I’m glad you are back in the NHL where you deserve to be.

But this morning, my mind wasn’t on the AHL. As I was reading a few news outlets and Twitter this morning about what various NHL teams are doing to bribe fans into coming back is kind of disgusting.

So… it’s nice, and all, that the teams are “giving” things away, but merchandise that was bought to sell over the course of an 82-game season and has been sitting in cardboard boxes for months, and discounted hotdogs seems pretty pathetic.

I really wouldn’t want anything free from a team or the league.    What I want, is a heartfelt apology for dragging something out that should never have taken this long.  I want an explanation as to why some of the greatest showcases of the NHL were ripped from us this year, from the Winter Classic to the All-Star Game.  I want the league and teams to say “We’re sorry, we treated our fans like crap, and even 50 cent hot dogs and a pretty video on NHL.com won’t make up for it.”  I want to see Gary Bettman groveling and begging for me to come back.  Apologize to the fans, and explain to us what took so long for us to have hockey back.

I know it won’t happen, but it would be nice, right?  A REAL apology is what the fans deserve, not the canned comments that were made earlier this week.  My love can not be bought with free nachos, discount hot dogs, or 50% off a made in China t-shirt that at $32, was overpriced to begin with.

So Mr. Bettman, offer the fans a real apology and a real explanation of why you locked the players out for a third time in a decade, and then, maybe, we can talk.  Until then, I’m going to continue to support my favorite AHL team, the Charlotte Checkers.

Signed,

A proud fan of the American Hockey League

Getting to know the OKC Barons with @Artful_Puck and @vandergulik_n

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It’s time for the third installment of the “Getting to know the South division” series.  In cased you missed them, here are links to the San Antonio Rampage and Texas Stars.

There is no shortage of great AHL blogs about the Oklahoma City Barons, so picking people to interview was a tough decision.  Thankfully, both Patricia of Artful Puck and Noah at OKCBarons Hockey were willing to answer a few questions for Checkers fans.  You can follow Patricia on Twitter at @Artful_Puck and Noah at @vandergulik_n

Chasing Checkers - What can you tell us about hockey in Oklahoma City?

Artful Puck - Hockey has a long history in Oklahoma, going back to 1928 when the Tulsa Oilers were founded. Not long after that, hockey came to Oklahoma City and has been here on and off since 1933. The OKC Barons have only existed since the 2010-11 season when they were the 30th team to be added to the AHL as an affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers NHL team. Prior to that OKC had the CPHL/CHL team OKC Blazers from 1965-1972; 1973-1977; and 1992-2009.

 

CC – How is it sharing the spotlight with an NBA team in the same city? What about other sports in town?  

OKCBarons Hockey - The NBA franchise, the Thunder, gets all the highlights. You look to about a ten minute broadcast of sports on the news. One minute for theBarons, two minutes for high schools and football, and seven minutes talking about the Thunder. It’s really disapointing quite honestly, the city and the news media has not taken good care of our Barons even though they lead the entire Western Conference last season in the AHL. 

 

AP - The NBA Thunder team in Oklahoma City has been tremendously popular. They have been in OKC since 2008 and while the two teams do not share an arena, they are right across the street from each other and it has probably drawn some of the Barons’ audience away on certain nights. However, this season the Barons have been very lucky to arrange a schedule that shares very few dates in common with the Thunder. I think that will help and also alleviate some of the crossover as well as traffic on those games nights where both teams are playing downtown. 

 

Football and basketball are very popular in Oklahoma and while hockey has been around for a long time, the audience is still building for the Barons. I expect this season will be much better. The team’s off-ice staff has really stepped up this coming season and we have seen great strides to bring in new fans. 

 

Local media is slowly beginning to focus on OKC Barons hockey. As the team made it into the playoffs both seasons, local media coverage grew as the season progressed and as the football season dwindled down. Hockey fans always look forward to Ryan Aber’s coverage when he has time to devote to hockey.

 

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Charlotte Checkers by the numbers – just a few reasons to support this team!

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There’s a lot of talk around the interwebs about why the AHL is going to be so much fun to watch this year, and I have to say that while it is nice to have the extra attention while the NHL squabbles about percentages and CBA’s, it’s really business as usual for the Charlotte Checkers and the other 29 teams in the AHL.  The American league is consistently overflowing with top-notch talent, and while it’s exciting to see a few extra NHL names on the AHL rosters, it’s the organization’s commitment to winning that makes the Checkers such a team to watch.

But in case you still aren’t convinced we have something special in Charlotte, here’s  a few more reasons!

0 – The number of time front office staff such as Nathan Beasley will have to fill in on the ice because the Checkers roster is STACKED with talent!

Charlotte Checkers players celebrate following a win against the Rockford IceHogs in April last year. The majority of the team from 2011-12 will return to Charlotte this year. (Photo – J. Propst)

2 – The number of players who have NHL head coaches as fathers.  Brett Sutter’s dad Darryl is in Los Angeles, while Justin Krueger’s dad Ralph is the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

3 – The number of seasons Charlotte has had an AHL team, and the number of different divisions the team has played in during that time.  This year, following a year where the Checkers played in the Midwest division of Milwaukee, Chicago, Peoria and Rockford, the Checkers move to the South division of Texas, Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma City.

5 – The number of players named Justin who played for Charlotte last season, and are all eligible to play once again this year.  Goaltender Justin Peters, Defensemen Justin Krueger and Justin Faulk, and Forwards Justin Shugg and Justin Soryal should all see ice time with the Checkers.  So when in doubt, say Justin is your favorite player… you really can’t go wrong!

6 – The number of Sutter brothers who played in the NHL.  Two is the number of second-generation Sutters who could dress as Checkers this season.  Cousins Brett and Brody come from hockey royalty.  Brett’s dad is Darryl Sutter, who recently won the Stanley Cup as coach of the Los Angeles Kings.  Brody’s dad is Duane Sutter, who in his first four seasons as a player in the NHL, won four Stanley Cups.  Winning is in the Sutter’s blood, and they will certainly bring this legacy to Charlotte.

10 – The number of Checkers players who spent time in NCAA programs honing their hockey skills.  As a freshman, Justin Faulk won the NCAA championship at University of Minnesota – Duluth.  Riley Nash and Justin Krueger were teammates at Cornell.  Tim Wallace never missed a game during his four years at Notre Dame. Jeremy Welsh helped his team at Union College make it to the Frozen Four for the first time in the school’s history.  As the starting goaltender, John Muse won two NCAA championships at Boston College. At the University of Wisconsin, Sean Dolan played in the NCAA title game as a junior, losing to Muse’s BC team, and served as the captain of his Badger team as a senior.  Zac Dalpe spent two years at Ohio State University where he was the team MVP.  Rob Madore, a University of Vermont alum, was second in save percentage only to Tim Thomas in his entire school’s history.  Joe Sova (of the rap fame) spent three years at the University of Alaska – Fairbanks where he was named his team’s “Rookie of the Year” and as a defenseman in his final year, led the team in assists.

17 - The number Quebec native Jerome Samson wears in Charlotte.  Samson is beginning his fifth season as a member of the Hurricanes AHL affiliate.  He’s a two-time All Star and consistently leads the team in goals.

25 – The number Checkers player Chris Terry wears.  Terry was a 2012 AHL All-star, and leads the team in games played (154) and has led the team in points in 2011-12 with 59, and in goals in 2010-11 with 34.  His play on the ice is Terryiffic!

29 – The number that defenseman Michal Jordan wears.  Not to be mistaken as the Michael Jordan who owns the Charlotte Bobcats, the Checkers MJ is a native of the Czech Republic and provides comic relief to teammates and fans alike through his Twitter, as well as outstanding defensive performance on the ice.

68 – The approximate number of Jeff Skinner jerseys that will be sold during his first home game if he suits up in a Checkers uniform (this is purely a guess, and I’m probably way off!)

164 – The number of penalty minutes that Checkers forward Justin Soryal racked up in the 2011-12 season.  A shoulder injury sidelined him for the final month of the season, so that number can certainly be higher this year!

380 – The low low price of season tickets to see each of the Checkers home games this year.  I’m not sure there’s a better value in professional sports.

6768 – The 2011-12 average attendance Charlotte had during their second season of play in the AHL.  They were eighth in the league, up from 10th during their inaugural season.

The One About the ’12-’13 Schedule.

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Tess and Haley here again! First of all, our apologies for not posting our thoughts earlier, Haley and I have been pretty busy between moving, school, work, and life. Regardless, better late than never!

We’ll go ahead and start this off with the massive elephant in the room. To rip it off like a band-aid, the Checkers don’t play at home until November 4th, nearly a month after their season starts. Luckily, the nine away-game stretch that starts out the season is the longest our fellas will be away. The hockey gods giveth, and the hockey gods taketh… and thankfully they made up for that nine game stretch by giving us a 10 game stretch at home from November 24th to December 15th!

As for the competitors this season, though the Checkers have once again changed divisions, the opponents won’t be all too unfamiliar. All of Charlotte’s adversaries this season are in the Western conference, with the exception of area rival, Norfolk Admirals. The team will face each of their South Division foes (Houston, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Texas). Since joining the Western Conference the Checkers have yet to face Hamilton, Rochester, and Toronto and will continue not oppose them during the regular season. However they will face Norfolk, Houston, OKC, Peoria, Milwaukee and Texas eight times and Abbotsford, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Lake Erie, and Rockford four times.

There are a few notable games in the schedule. The Checkers will have two doubleheaders with the Bobcats this season, December 15th and January 12th. On both dates the Checkers will play at noon and the Bobcats will follow at 7 pm. The November 24th game coincides with the team’s 5K Run & Walk, which is still open for registration and volunteer help.

The last game to keep your eye out for is on January 6th. The team will play in Raleigh against the Norfolk Admirals, the reigning Calder Cup champions. Keep in mind that the ‘Canes play the Isles the night before in Raleigh as well so make a weekend out of it! We’d also like to make note that the promotional schedule has yet to be released, so we’ll be sure to make mention of more notable games later.

Lastly, the Checkers have a huge advantage towards the end of the season. During the month of February the team only plays eight games, two of which are at home, then play 14 of their next 18 games at home, spanning from March 1st to April 12th. After the 12th, the team closes the season with four away games, ending regular season on April 20th.

To check out the Checkers schedule for yourself, go here. For the full AHL schedule, click here.
As always, we look forward to writing much more about the season to come!