The Weekly Faceoff is a regular column talking about all things Tongues, in and around the AIHL.
The Thrashers are no more, fresh teams go for Stanley and the newest AIHL team make a coastal appearance.
NHL Hockey Returns To Winnipeg After 15 Years
NHL Hockey Returns To Winnipeg After 15 Years
Period 1: Winnipeg Get The NHL… Again
The biggest news in the hockey world this last week has to be the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to and the impending move to Winnipeg, Manitoba. First of all, congratulations to all the hockey fans in Winnipeg who have been wanting the NHL back since they lost the Jets. Of course, to have a winner there must be a loser, and commiserations must be given to the Atlanta fans who have now lost an NHL team… or should I say, a second NHL team. For those who don’t remember, Atlanta had already lost an NHL team when the Flames moved from there to Calgary. Lesson here… don’t put a team in Atlanta! Hopefully the club will do much better in Winnipeg.
Period 2: Stanley Cup Fever
Isn’t it great to have a fresh set of faces playing for Lord Stanley’s Cup? No Detroit Red Wings, no Pittsburgh Penguins… in fact, the 2 teams in the finals are both ending a drought to be there. The Vancouver Canucks, arguably one of the best teams in the league over previous years are making their first appearance in the finals since 1994. Their last visit ended badly when the New York Rangers beat them in 7 games. The Boston Bruins, steeped in an incredible history were last in the Stanley Cup final in 1990/1991 where they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in 5 games. The Canucks took game 1 yesterday, but the Bruins put up an incredible battle, so the series could be one to watch!
Period 3: Mustangs Make Gold Coast Appearance
The AIHL’s newest team, the Melbourne Mustangs finally make their first league appearance on the Gold Coast this weekend, June 4/5. The Stangs are a tough team and have done far better than many had expected this season, so the Tongues are going to have a very tough time getting past them. Saying that, the Tongues always play well at home and they are desperate for a win, especially over the newest team in the AIHL. Injuries to key players has made room for Tom Letki to return to the Tongues lineup, and for Alex Boyd to make his first return after playing rugby overseas.
Overtime: Merchandise Prices
A hot topic at Tongues games this season has been that of club merchandise, namely the most sought after item; Jerseys. the general consensus is that people WANT to own a Blue Tongues jersey, but the current jerseys for sales are allegedly not those the players wear and the cost at $150 is simply overpriced. I’m unsure what the quality of the jerseys are, so wont comment on this, but the pricing issue is definitely one that pops up most games. I’m curious though, what do other teams charge for team jerseys?
So the NHL season is roughly 1 third the way into the 10/11 season and there have been some surprises and a few nasty shocks.
Here are my Top 5 Hot & Not Power Ranking for the first third of the season, counting 5 down to 1.
Hot
5: Montreal Canadiens (17-8-2)
The Habs lead the Northeast, yet for the 71 goals they have scored they have no individual player with more than 9 goals. Scoring by committee has worked well for them so far, and between the pipes Price is proving the team made the right choice in sending Halak away.
4: Washington Capitals (18-8-2)
The Capitals are leading the Southeast and tied at the top of the Eastern Conference with 38pts. Their great win/loss figures are slightly dampened by a recent rough patch where they have gone 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. Ovechkin, who leads the team with 38pts only has 11 goals and went through a long game goal drought recently.
3: Detroit Red Wings (17-4-3)
If you had to guess the top 2 goal scorers on the Wings right now, could you do it? Surprising to some, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen top the goal scoring with 12 and 11 respectively. The Wings are perennial contenders, but age may be slowly catching up to them.
2: Dallas Stars (16-8-1)
Going into this season I doubt anybody (but Stars fans) would have believed the Stars would be leading the highly talented Pacific Division at this point of the season. Brad Richards, in a contract year leads the team with 11 goals and 30 points. Their recent run of 6 straight wins has a lot of people sitting up and taking notice.
1: Pittsburgh Penguins (18-8-2)
An easy choice considering their recent run is now up to 9 straight wins. While Malkin has been very quiet on the scoring front, Sidney Crosby has been destroying opponents and currently has 23 goals and 46 points from just 28 games.
Not
5: Toronto Maple Leafs (9-12-4)
The Leafs have looked good at times, but can never seem to get over the hump. Their 22pts have them sitting 13th in the east, and while they’re not yet out of the game, they do need to get their game on if they want to push for the top 8.
4: Calgary Flames (11-14-2)
The Flames sit at the bottom of the West on 24pts, which is a little surprising to some. Problems between the pipes and a slow start by key players has many fans calling for the coach to be removed. All is not lost though. If Iginla picks up his scoring and the team has extra help from depth players they could crawl back into the game.
3: San Jose Sharks (12-9-4)
Heading into this season the Sharks were one of the top teams people proclaimed to be favorites for the cup, but they have played like a team possessed by sluggishness and lack of desire to win. While their 28pts has them 12th in the west, they are only 5 points back from 2nd place. Heatley, Marleau and Thornton are leading the way on the score sheet.
2: New York Islanders (5-15-5)
After a number of bad years many thought this may be the year the Islanders bounce back. This is not the case. With only 2 players with more than 7 goals, their highest scorer with just 15pts and a combined plus/minus of a horrid minus 127 (-127), the Isles are in all sorts of trouble.
1: New Jersey Devils (8-16-2)
The 100 million dollar man has just 5 goals and 11 points this season and a shocking -15 plus/minus. But Kovulchuk can not bear responsibility for this teams woes. Salary cap issues and a coach who on most teams would have been shown the door weeks back are just part of the problem. Kovulchuk has been placed on his off-wing and forced to learn a defensive game… in many ways he has been set up to fail on the scoresheet. A change needs to happen soon if this team wants to save some grace.
A solid 3 goal first period by Hershey took the wind out of the Manitoba Moose, and set up was to become the Calder Cup winning game, the 10th in Hersey Bears history, and a new AHL record. Goals by Andrew Gordon, Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque and Keith Aucoin helped the Bears secure the victory, with the Moose only scoring once in the game by Mario Bliznack.
The win came the same day Dan Bylsma’s Pittsburgh Penguins won the NHL’s Stanley Cup. Bylsma started the 2008/2009 season in the AHL.
