Wednesday, January 08, 2003
Note to Buzzards fans: cheer up! And wise up. Sure, it's no fun joining Manute Bol as the second goofy thing to get the CHL on ESPN.com. And yeah, this Haggerty fellow seems like a real douche. But this lock-out is meant to save hockey in El Paso, not kill it.
Here's why: We know from the saga in San Angelo that if your club doesn't have a place to play, the league can seize it. So it's hard to imagine the CHL didn't want things to go down this way. We also know that in San Angelo, the Moores had 10 days to work out a deal themselves. Think it's a coincidence this happened 10 days before the next Buzzards home game, at a time when the rink was already unavailable for five days, with the team going on the road? Seems to me either Billy will announce a sale, or the league will, sometime soon.
And there's no need for anyone to get high and mighty about the El Paso market, because if it can happen to Flint (or the the Ice Gators), it can happen to anyone.
This section is 100% Smashmouth-free
Sebastien Thinel over Mike Rutter and Derek Holland over Barry McKinlay? Score two for being a plus player.
But yeah -- of course offensive defensemen are judged solely by their numbers and defensive rearguards are often overlooked. Same way great faceoff men or big hitters or stud defensive forwards rarely get the nod. I'm not sure this isn't as it should be, since in the end, All-Star Games are nothing more than beauty contests.
And stats are often all a voter has to go on. Splitting up the votes by conference helps, but not completely. For example, if I was a Memphis-based beat writer, covering only home games, I would have seen the Oilers zero times before the deadline. How can I really know if Mike Mohr's overall play is more impressive than being league assists leader?
Personal to Brad Treliving: how 'bout Brett Seguin as this year's President's Choice? "Piglet" isn't putting up his usual numbers, but as the captain of the league's best team, he must be doing something right. More significantly, he's been a CHL/WPHL all-star for eight straight seasons (would have been ten, but the Colonial League never had a game). Only you-know-who in Oklahoma has done something similar. You never know, this year could be Seguin's last, especially if things go well.
DUMP-INS
Man, the Indianapolis Ice have some really fired-up online fans. Actually, McRae got my vote too (with apologies to Roscoe -- chalk it up to my Ice Bats "objectivity"). I don't know if Indy has the best defensemen in the league, but Mac certainly had a big part in building Austin's sturdy blue line.
Does anybody know if a team that gave up nine goals in a game ever won a Cup? (That applies to Amarillo too, of course).
Think David Bourque actually travelled to Memphis or Wichita?
Great story here about former Ice Bats goalie Dan McIntyre... Gratuitous Al Sims reference here.
The Ugs! Good one.
And finally: He's baaaaaaaack.
