Hockeyblog.com

While I've been quiet -- just one more day of super-slow dial-up, woo-hoo! -- Tim Harvey hasn't. Check out his Rinkblog for a round-up of recent ECHL and NHL labor news.

Mike Modano has been re-signed through '04-'05. Whether there will actually be NHL hockey that season, who knows?

The Ice Bats-Dallas Stars connection comes to life at last: Jeff Greenlaw, Tab Lardner and Peter Brady will be joined by Stu Barnes, Philippe Boucher and Don Sweeney for a signing Thursday at Austin's Cool River Cafe. Hey, if Brady gets to do appearances, why not announce he's under contract?

Ask The Farm Report, and ye shall find: a little info regarding Henrik Bergfors.

So what is the mystery of Henrik Bergfors?

Anyway, if the club really needs to erase all evidence of its press release, better get those e-mails in to this here site (successfully removed as of Friday morning) as well as In the Crease.

Greetings from the land of 24.6 dial-up.

Ominous news for the Bats: Idaho's affiliation with Dallas and Utah could include up to seven players.

Hasta luego, Jim Talamonti. The Bucks have some muy grande shoes to fill up in the booth. I mean, there's lots of guys who can score 30 goals like Eric Schneider -- how many bilingual minor league hockey announcers are there? When the language is Spanish, that is.

I think I'm on a blog vacation (which apparently started this past Monday).

But check out this story on the ACHL to SEHL transformation, which mentions that the CHL (or rather, the league office formerly known as the WPHL) may want its pound of flesh before the Tupelo T-Rex returns to minor pro.

I really do go on a trip tomorrow (flew to both Detroit and Newark yesterday without incident, go figure). Whether I'll post or not, dunno. If news demands it and/or my Internet access allows it.

I leave you with this really nice letter I received from former Amarillo Wrangler Doug Allan.

R.I.P, Herb Brooks. What a shame.

This thread about Matic Kralj set a little bell off in my head.

First of all, here's the article in question that mentions Kralj might get a shot with Minnesota.

But what it reminded me of was a talk with Tracey Egeland in the spring, when the Killer Bees coach said he wouldn't tell me who his club hoped to affiliate with, but if I looked over his history it wasn't hard to figure out.

At the time, I didn't have the patience to click through his extensive stats, looking for a former coach or teammate who was now important at a higher level.

But the answer was more obvious than that, if you go back to the day Egeland took over the Cotton Kings, as well as the press release announcing his move to Rio Grande.

Which begs the question -- is RGV chasing down the same affiliation as the Rayz?

And, going back to Kralj, you gotta wonder, if Egeland worked with this kid all year and got him a try-out with the Wild, do his CHL rights get traded to the Bees if Houston picks him up?

Either way, it appears that Austin is completely separated from the Aeros -- a process that began with Houston's move to the AHL -- only Bobby Brown, Shawn Legault and short-timer Dominic Forget had actual two-way deals since then -- and concluded with the respective departures of Brent Hughes and David Barr.

So will the Bats' Dallas-connected owners make that logo on the web page meaningful? An even stranger thought -- might the team's Florida-connected owner also work the Rampage angle?

This concludes the latest episode of As the CHL Southeast Affiliations Turn.

No sooner had I written the last entry than I discovered this Nekkid Amazon Hockey thread. Apparently, in the course of admitting that the Rayz had trouble shutting Laredo's top line down, Al Sims mentioned Schneider wasn't coming back.

So there's a little unconfirmed gossip. IIRC, Schneider wasn't under contract with the Panthers, so he can seek out the most attractive opportunity, whether that means a higher salary or greater likelihood of call-ups. He could also stay put with the Rampage -- his loyalty is to assistant coach Scott Allen -- on a two-way with the "E."

Meanwhile Michel Periard is still Panthers property -- I don't see where he's signed an actual contract, but he was tendered the standard offer for restricted free agents (Andy Lundbohm, on the other hand, is unrestricted).

Anyways, the Augusta vs. Laredo situation bears watching. But given that -- except for Grenville -- Ruskowski has signed nothing but defensemen, rookies and third-liners, he's clearly got a bunch of hole cards. Could be October before we get to see 'em all.

Is it time to underestimate the Bucks already?

It's true, other than Grenville, none of Laredo's best offensive players have been re-signed, affiliated or otherwise. But there's no reason to assume Schneider and Periard will not be back -- even if there's no reason to assume they will be either.

Those two aren't necessarily gonna become full-time AHL players -- if I were a Laredo fan, I'd be much more concerned that Periard might get another shot in the ECHL, now that Rick Dudley/Steve Ludzik protege (and former Rampage interim assistant) Stan Drulia has landed in Augusta.

Still, it's hard to beat Laredo when it comes to travel costs, or the job Ruskowski did. And the thing about affiliation is there's always new young players coming in. When the Bucks started training camp last year they didn't have Schneider, Gove or Periard, to say nothing of Ask, Lundbohm and Gilmore. I didn't think they'd make the playoffs. I'm not ready to make that mistake again.

So now we just need to see official confirmation that the Rampage-Bucks deal will renew -- Memphis took care of that formality today (and, for obvious reason, the Kings will continue to have priority over any ECHL deal the Maple Leafs may make).

This one's for Don Dickson. Nothing to do with hockey.

Anyone who's puzzled by the Ali G thing, here's an explanation. Don't know who Ali G is? Visit whoisalig.com.

Thanks to Mike for pointing out that Brad Wingfield's lawyer is Richie Rich. Think he took the case pro bono?

da temptation to let Ali G. take ova da whole hockeyblog is overpowering. 'dank me Uncle Jamal Mr. Perry fer da link. Boyakasha!

The Rayz have signed Brent Belecki and Brad Wingfield. No words are minced in Greg Rajan's report, regarding both Winger's feelings for Davidson and Hall and his assault charge in Elmira.

Looks like Derek Clancey for the Reading Royals.

The CHL's tight connection to the NHL's officiating pool continues, as recently retired linesman (and Phoenix resident) Wayne Bonney steps in for Leon Stickle.

Bonney has officiated approximately 2400 professional hockey games at the highest possible level, but as of today, is dumber than 17 minor league coaches and several thousand outraged fans. Congratulations!

Here's an interview he did a while back.

Well, that took about 10 seconds -- it would seem Margettie understood what the potential Sjerven signing means, and opted not to wait around. Presumably, he gets to take advantage of the UHL's higher cap as well.

It's funny, when I was out reporting Zamboni Rodeo I remember how pissed off the first-year Jacks fans were that their favorite had been traded. It took him two years to get back.

Will Grant Sjerven suit up for Odessa?

If he does, that could mean the end of Don Margettie's Jackalopes career.

Confused? Me too. It's true that hockeydb lists Sjerven as a non-vet, but those stats are not complete.

For that, we need the Eurohockey data, which is also quite confusing, as it mistakenly repeats two seasons.

But according to the CHL, all those B&H, Challenge and Express Cup games count. Sjerven went to Wichita last season with 259 games played, and thus has crossed the threshold.

So which is it? Will McKee opt for a familar, proven goalie over Margo or any other vet? Or was this just a nothing-for-nothing deal: the Thunder get a promising guy who McKee decided wasn't gonna be his #1, while the Jacks get a safety net (literally!) they may not really sign.

"It's important to stress that we have not yet signed Grant," McKee says. "We have gained his playing rights and we are negotiating with him. That, in itself, is a pretty exciting development for our hockey club and our fans."

Meet Jim Wiley: reports from the DeSoto Times and the Commercial Appeal.