Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Hockeyblog ombudsman Greg Rajan points out that my memory of the 2000 NHL playoffs is not so good: the Stars lost Game 6 to Colorado (and almost blew Game 7). Truth is all I recall about that year is what the Flyers did the night before (to say nothing of their Game 7).
And on the subject of errata: bizarre mangling of some easily available facts in The Monitor's story on Jeff Levy, which makes a whole lot of hay out of the mistaken impression that the new Killer Bees goalie was in net for El Paso this past year (bankruptcy talk, attendance figures, the statement "Levy played twice at Laredo last season"). In fact, he didn't play at all.
Plus, c'mon, it's a cute angle, but Levy only appeared in 12 ECHL games in '99-'00, while Tracy Egeland played just 27 for Lubbock over two seasons. That's why Levy doesn't remember making any saves on his new coach -- they did not face each other in '01-'02 and couldn't have met more than a few times in '00-'01. Not to mention that Egeland, a productive player for many years whose time in Lubbock was unfortunately marred by injuries, tallied just six goals in his WPHL/CHL career, which means Levy was not the only one he didn't score on.
But anyway, it's a great signing -- similar to the Bucks starting out with Lance Leslie, but I think Levy has more in the tank, and doesn't take a vet spot. Come to think of it, he would have been a perfect Ice Bat, though if Peter Brady is indeed gonna be the Austin starter, there's another former Buzzards goalie who might fit the bill as experienced insurance and an uncomplaining back-up: Jamie Ronayne (forget last year's numbers, I figure they'd look a lot different on a great team, especially one that knows how to play defense. And think how grateful he'd be).
Don't forget, expansion draft lists are due into the league today. We're all waiting eagerly to see the names, no matter what Derek Laxdal says. Though of course, it's bound to be a giant anticlimax of tenth forwards, sixth defensemen, unwanted or overpaid veterans and soon-to-be-retired guys.
Though am I wondering, from a purely symbolic perspective, will the Blazers expose Joe Burton? And more intriguingly, would Egeland or Colorado Eagles coach Chris Stewart dare to draft him, just in case? You could ask the same about Matt Barnes. Just don't expect someone to do a Jeff Triano on Greg Gatto, assuming the Jacks even risk it -- he's tight with both those coaches. Even though Gatto, Scott Green and Mark DeSantis are spoken for and I imagine Ken Richardson isn't leaving Corpus, I do wonder if Colorado will make some deals to reconvene a former Iggie core.
Also, if I'm a coach on the fence about exposing a somewhat established goaltender, am I more willing to do so knowing that only one of the two teams is likely in the market?
And what's up with El Paso?
