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5-22-09 Well, here we are. Down to the last two teams. I guess you could say the Rays and Aces have come full circle, facing each other in the Kelly Cup Finals after starting the 2008-09 campaign with a pair of head-to-head meetings. The week-long gap in between series has produced a lot of hype and coverage in every medium, but finally, as judge and former referee Mills Lane would say, “Let’s get it on!” ********** You’ve gotta love the friendly wager made yesterday between high-profile governors Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin – and the media attention it’s drawn – with the loser having to fork over vittles native to their respective state. Will the winner, with its spoils, “spread the wealth” to its constituents? I’ll be here all week. Try the ********** Of the four remaining teams left in the American Hockey League’s race for the Calder Cup, three goaltenders saw action this season with ECHL South Division clubs: Michal Neuvirth (South Carolina), Kevin Nastiuk (Gwinnett), and Anton Khudobin (Florida). Khudobin and his Houston Aeros will have a long road ahead if they plan to play for the Calder Cup, though. His team is down three games to one to the Manitoba Moose, with Game 5 set for tonight in the Lone Star State. The one-time Everblades backstop suffered a lower-body injury Wednesday in Game 4, however, and will be replaced in net by former Hershey Bear Nolan Schaefer. ********** A trio of 2008-09 Stingrays, forwards Kip Brennan, Steve Pinizzotto and Stefan Della Rovere, were mentioned in Bears beat writer Tim Leone’s blog entry earlier this week: http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2009/05/bears_brennan_gets_too_frisky.html ********** 16 days will have come and passed on Wednesday, when the Rays host its first home game since May 11... ********** You may not be a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but you’ve got to give credit to Evgeni Malkin on the goal that completed his hat trick last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsCwo3nK8PU ********** "Cornelius, as we like to call him, gets under your skin. Planet of the Apes. Look at him. Seriously. He looks like Cornelius." -- Matthew Barnaby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, after a pre-game warmup scuffle broke out with New Jersey Devil Lyle Odelein in the 1999 Stanley Cup Playoffs. ********** Have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend! ********** 12 wins down, 4 to go
My apologies for the lengthy gap in between posts, folks. I’ve been pretty busy these last two weeks, including making an impromptu trip north to visit my Dad, who had a hip replacement at the end of April. All is well, though, so thank you! ********** It was great to see the all-around effort in last night’s win. I really like how the Rays clogged up Cincy’s scoring lanes, limiting not only their scoring chances but their shots on goal. It was noticeable in Game 1, when the Cyclones took nearly eight and nine minutes into the 1st and 2nd period, respectively, to register their first shot of the stanza. That was the case again in Game 2, when SC didn’t allow a shot in the 2nd period until nearly 8 ½ minutes in, when Cincinnati went on its first power play. I was keeping a close eye on the clock, and the visitors didn’t get their first even strength shot in the 2nd until three minutes left. ********** If you’re a fan of the other two teams in the organization pipeline, tonight and tomorrow should be pretty darn exciting, with Hershey facing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Giant Center this evening and the Capitals hosting Pittsburgh at Verizon Center tomorrow night in their respective Game 7 showdowns. And if it counts for anything, the home team has won every game in the Bears-Penguins series. ********** South Carolina’s lone power play opportunity last night was a season low, as were the 19 shots allowed. ********** Off all the players on the Stingrays roster, who would’ve thought Matt Scherer would be leading the team in goals scored? ********** Here’s a small piece on former Stingrays forward Andrew Gordon, which appeared late last week on the AHL’s website: http://www.theahl.com/headlines/index.html?article_id=10041 ********** Another former Stingray, 2007-08 defenseman Grant McNeill, scored his first career playoff goal last Friday in Hershey’s 6-3 loss. ********** Keeping with the theme, one-time Rays d-man Aaron Schneekloth and his club, the Colorado Eagles, fell in the Central Hockey League finals last week to the Texas Brahmas, who were led by playoff MVP Jason Deitsch, a member of last season’s Kelly Cup Champion Cincinnati Cyclones. ********** "I think our team has probably picked the worst time of the year to play their worst hockey." – Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien on his team's performance against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference semifinal. ********** 10 down, 6 to go... joe@stingrayshockey.com
Keep your fingers crossed for a Houston Aeros Game 7 win tonight over the Peoria Rivermen. The Aeros are backstopped by Anton Khudobin, who could make his way back to the Everblades should his team drop this evening’s contest. ********** Here’s a fact to chew on: the Rays have won 13 consecutive series after capturing a Game 1 victory. Also, the Blades haven’t won a series when they’ve lost the opening match. ********** After this week’s three-game sweep to the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees should look into the pitching services of New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella. In case you missed it, here’s the Rags’ bench boss heaving a water bottle into the Verizon Center stands Friday night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfioEUkF2eg ********** I wonder what highlight will be remembered most from the Caps-Rangers series: Alexander Ovechkin’s goal, Donald Brashear’s hit on Blair Betts, Tortorella’s water bottle toss...or maybe the Rangers, who will be playing their first Game 7 since the Stanley Cup Finals against Vancouver in 1994, will provide another memorable moment in tomorrow’s highly-anticipated face-off. ********** Two Game 7’s on tap tomorrow night, with Washington looking to take the series after being down 3 games to 1, and Carolina and New Jersey battling for the right to move on. Does it get any better? ********** Perusing the box scores, I noticed the Grand Rapids Griffins amassed a whopping two shots in the 3rd period of last night’s 4-1 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs, finishing with 18 shots. Those pair of shots, though, found their mark, giving the Red Wings affiliate some insurance and a series victory over Hamilton, who featured 2007-08 ECHL MVP David Desharnais. ********** In case you missed it in the rotating stories on the main page, here’s Matt Scherer’s latest musings of Scherer’s Shots: http://www.stingrayshockey.com/news/index.html?article_id=1003 ********** Don’t know how this one fit into the “Other Headlines” on the Canadian-based Slam! Sports Hockey front page, but it was a quick and fun read on some of the NHL’s quirkiest goaltenders: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/2009/04/26/9251826-sun.html ********** ''He's not my friend anymore...I'm still going to hopefully have a beer with him after the season is done, but he's not my friend on the ice." -- Blackhawks winger Adam Burish on the Flames' Rene Bourque. The two were teammates at Wisconsin and with Chicago before Bourque was traded to Calgary in 2008. ********** joe@stingrayshockey.com
Well, the highly-anticipated matchup pitting the Rays and Florida Everblades has come to fruition, after the Blades dispatched the Gwinnett Gladiators in five games and the Rays unfurled four straight wins to come from behind and eliminate the Charlotte Checkers. And while the Stingrays have been unsuccessful in three previous playoff series with Florida, they did split the 12-game season series with the Everblades this year. Each team won three home and three road games, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Rays can build on their first road playoff win in four years and find some success in Estero. In his first appearance with South Carolina back on Feb. 4, a jet-lagged Jonathan Boutin surrendered four goals in a 4-3 loss. But a few days later, on Feb. 6 and 7, he grabbed back-to-back wins against Florida at the North Charleston Coliseum, the latter which featured David Leggio’s memorable meltdown. The goals scored were pretty even on both sides, with Florida edging SC 42-41. And while the Stingrays did great on the power play against the Blades, converting 23.6% of their chances, they only went 73.6% on the penalty kill. Special teams, if you haven’t guessed, will likely play a huge role in the coming series. Several key players were also missing from the lineup during many of the regular season head-to-heads, so it’ll be great to see what these teams can do with their most-talented players available. ********** One familiar face missing from the ‘Blades lineup is goaltender Anton Khudobin, last season’s ECHL Goaltender of the Year. Khudobin, who was recalled to the AHL’s Houston Aeros in late February, has stepped in as the #1 backstop for Houston, registering a shutout in Game 1 of their series with the Peoria Rivermen. Without looking, can you guess who Khudobin’s backup is? +1 to those of you who knew that the answer is Ryan Munce, arguably the Mississippi Sea Wolves’ MVP this past season. Head to head this season, Khudobin was 2-0 against Munce. ********** Here’s an article by Dan Sernoffsky of the Lebanon Daily News, on Steve Pinizzotto’s empty net goal Saturday night against Philadelphia: http://www.ldnews.com/ci_12182899 ********** Color me surprised to see the Capitals in a 2-0 hole in their series with the New York Rangers. The Caps were one of the best home teams during the regular season, and for them to drop two straight at Verizon Center seemed a tad uncharacteristic. It certainly won’t get any easier for Games 3 & 4, which will be played at Madison Square Garden. ********** Speaking of surprises in the NHL playoffs, how about the Anaheim Ducks? The 2007 Stanley Cup Champions, who squeaked into this year’s postseason as the Western Conference’s 8th seed, currently lead the San Jose Sharks, the President’s Trophy winners with a league-leading 117 points, 2-0 in their best of seven series. ********** Michal Neuvirth article from last week, by Tim Leone of the Patriot News: http://www.pennlive.com/columns/patriotnews/leone/index.ssf?/base/columnists/1239760506250520.xml&coll=1 ********** Here’s a shot of Travis Morin during his lone game with Hershey this season, courtesy of my old tag team partner Ryan Di Sylvester at 7641: http://www.7641.com/04.12.2009-084.jpg ********** The eight goals scored by the Rays in Game 5 tied the team record for most goals in a playoff contest. SC previously posted eight goals against Charlotte on Apr. 11, 1996, and again on Apr. 14, 2000, against Pee Dee. ********** From the “Oops, we’re live” department, comes this gem by Roger Millions on Hockey Central (Not Safe for Work language): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-6hsM5yRac ********** This one slipped under my radar, but former Stingrays blueliner Aaron Schneekloth (2001-2003) was named the Central Hockey League’s Most Outstanding Defenseman for the 2008-09 season, and was selected to the All-CHL Team for the second straight campaign. The seventh-year pro, who led the Colorado Eagles to a CHL-best 104 points, posted 55 points and a league-leading +39 plus/minus rating during the regular season. Currently, he has his club up two games to none in the best of seven Northern Conference Finals against the Mississippi RiverKings. **********
Keep your eyes open for a new Behind the Bench with Bednar, which I’m hoping to get up on the website sometime ********** "In order to stew over something, you have to leave it in the pot for a long period of time. This one will be out in the garbage and not talked about again." -- Carolina Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice on quickly putting a late season loss to the Sabres out of his team's mind. **********
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