Sunday, June 01, 2003
At long last, a little entertainment. The Ducks earned it, but they could have easily lost by several goals without the momentum-saving (and go-ahead) flukey. You know Marty will come back hard on Monday. Now it's a series? Not 'til it's 2-2. Naturally, I hope that happens, not because I picked Anaheim, but 'cause I want to see more hockey.
Regardless, the Houston-Hamilton Calder Cup battle is almost certain to go longer than the NHL. Get your tickets here.
Now it can be told: Luch isn't going back to Memphis 'cause the Kings are gonna sign Stu Grimson. Seriously, though, they should find a way to involve "the Grim Reaper" with the franchise. He can be team chaplain.
Ok, nothing like a kick in the ass from The Farm Report to get caught up, starting with:
CHL signing news
Corri Moffat returns to San Angelo (not that he ever left). So how come talking about the fact that he was injured sounds less like an excuse coming out of the new coach's mouth? I say Saints fans should give the guy a mulligan. He's not that old, he's been a good defenseman in this league and his physical ailment was surely compounded by the mental morass that was the '02-'03 season. Plus he comes with the "married a local girl" discount. As the Ice Bats can tell ya, Texas women are a powerful salary cap-management tool.
Meanwhile, in Bossier City, Trevor Buchanan puts his gnarled fingers to paper one more time -- or maybe Forbes McPherson helped him move the pen. Just kidding Buck. This will be Buchanan's seventh season with the Mudbugs, making him the the most senior player to wear one sweater for a former WPHL team. Previously, he and teammate Jim Sprott (who may yet join him) were tied with Ryan Anderson, who put in six seasons with the Bats. Obviously, the overall title belongs to Smokin Joe, with teammate Hardy Sauter assuming that mantle if he returns for what would be his eighth year with the Blazers. (I'm not counting Jason Duda, hope I didn't overlook anyone else.)
Continuing on the subject of veteran Mudbugs, just think: a few more game misconducts for Dan Wildfong and they'd have room for one more. As with Corpus and Mike Tilson, the Bugs simply couldn't afford to have Wildfong miss a game.
Jason Baird is back for Indy, while in Laredo, Terry Ruskowski has perhaps replaced expansion-available Rob Stanfield with Mark Matier, who leaves the British Superleague to join pal Chris Grenville (also re-signed) as the Bucks player/assistants.
And finally, it seems Rob Frid has not retired, he's going to the QSPHL. I have got to see a game up there some day.
Breakouts
I think Kirk Tomlinson is a great hire, and I'm sure he did talk to other teams, but if he had firm offers they were probably more the caliber of UHL expansion teams Richmond or Columbus than the ECHL. He's still a guy who left two jobs in the last three seasons, coming to a club who just had two coaches in one season. In other words, he needed the Cotton Kings, the Cotton Kings needed him, everybody wins.
In some ways a coach who comes in from outside the CHL has a recruiting edge, 'cause players from other leagues can sign with him at will. So perhaps Cotton Kings fans will see someone like Martin Woods, who played for Tomlinson at both his other stops, or even better, the prolific Jim Duhart. Who knows, maybe there's a good deal to be made with Don McKee for Rutter.
But the guy I'd really like to get a look at, assuming that he even plays in "AA," is Lee Jelenic: a genuine Texas-bred hockey player. Ok, so it was only ages five to nine, but that's still better than Leetch.
And speaking of Flint, if Luch doesn't get picked by Colorado or the Bees, I figure he's already agreed to go back to the Generals, where Robbie Nichols is the coach again. After getting booted out of the Memphis front office, Nichols was desperate enough to go to El Paso -- albeit smart enough to leave quickly -- so he was lucky to land back at his old job. Or maybe he planned it that way.
NHL superfan Roger Farina has some good suggestions in his chat, though I don't know why he'd want a NY Rangers dispersal draft: it's more fun to watch them suffer.
And speaking of suffering, I can't say anything about the Flyers' goaltending situation better than The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Ford, who summed it up with wicked beauty: For those who missed the previous episodes of this little drama, here is what happened: Bernie Parent retired and a bunch of guys haven't done as well since. (Poor Hexy: his Conn Smythe has been totally erased by the memories of '95 and '97.)
Seems to me hockey in El Paso this season grows less likely every day. Curious to see how this plays out, and also whether it drags on past league meetings. At least the Bring Back Trent Eigner movement is under way.
Stormy speculates that Kurt Wickenheiser will coach in Birmingham for Taylor Hall and Kevin Simpson, which would at least suggest he didn't leave the ACHL Jacksonville franchise on bad terms with WHA2 bigwigs Peter Young and David Waronker.
Finally, let me throw in a plug for the BLOGWISE directory, which of course I found out about over at Tim Harvey's Rink Blog.
