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stereax · 9 months

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is there a reason why Carolina is losing all their affiliates???

Other than being assholes to Erik Haula?

Okay, but in all seriousness, there's a short answer and a long one.

The short answer is two words long: Pyotr Kochetkov.

The long answer? Meet me under the cut.

Alright, hi there. So to answer this question fully, we need to talk about the AHL in depth. The AHL, or American Hockey League, is the second-highest league of North American pro hockey, under the NHL. Most people tend to believe it's just "where prospects play before they hit the NHL". This is... only a part of the story.

There are 32 teams in the AHL to match 32 NHL teams. The idea there is that every NHL team would have an AHL affiliate - the most recent expansion, for example, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, is the AHL affiliate for the newest NHL team, the Seattle Kraken. Many of these teams are owned by the same group as owns the NHL team - Harris Blitzer, for example, owns both the New Jersey Devils and the Utica Comets. Others don't - the AHL's Charlotte Checkers, for instance, are owned by Michael Kahn, whereas their NHL affiliate, the Florida Panthers, is owned by Sunrise Sports (aka Vincent Viola).

Why is this important? Well, if you're an NHL team that owns your AHL team, you can let that AHL team leak money. You're turning a good profit on the NHL team, so you don't have to make your AHL team economically viable on its own - you just put it in as a massive tax write-off and go on with your day. Thus, you can put all of your AHL team's resources into developing your AHL players to get ready to play at the NHL level. Of course you sign some vets and such of your own, maybe get a few undrafted guys for the AHL team too, but generally, an NHL-owned AHL team's sole purpose is to develop NHL players. Winning the Calder Cup (the AHL equivalent to the Stanley Cup, not to be confused with the Calder Memorial Trophy given to the best NHL rookie) is just gravy on top.

Contrast this to independently-owned AHL teams, where this is not the case. For these teams, making money is paramount. How do you make money? When you win. Fun fact - the Chicago Wolves, incidentally, used to be televised on main channels partially as a fuck you to Bill Wirtz, who didn't let the Chicago Blackhawks' home games be televised, presumably to drive ticket sales. The Wolves saw that and pounced on the opportunity to make some cash. So if nothing else, love them for sticking it to the Hawks. You can still watch Wolves games on My50, it seems, if you've got that channel, as well as AHL streaming options.

But back to independently-owned AHL teams before I go on my daily anti-Hawks crusade. You want to make money. You do that when you win. When you make the postseason. When you win in the postseason. Independently-owned AHL teams want to win, not necessarily develop for the NHL. So when your NHL team keeps taking your best player away for weeks and then giving him back... you get annoyed.

Let's now talk about the ECHL and the Norfolk Admirals. Thankfully, this is going to be a lot simpler. The ECHL, unlike the AHL, has only 28 teams. This means 4 NHL teams don't have an ECHL team. In addition, very few, if any, ECHL teams are owned by their NHL affiliates. This further incentivizes them to play for profit (winning the Kelly Cup, the ECHL version of the Stanley Cup) instead of development. On top of this, relatively few ECHL players actually make it to the NHL. ECHL affiliates change fairly frequently, especially due to many of the teams folding because of financial issues (most recently the Brampton Beast, Manchester Monarchs, and Quad City Mallards). So if an ECHL team decides to drop its NHL affiliate, or vice versa, there are four other suitors, all of whom would probably want to pay the ECHL team decent money to be their associate. For the Admirals, it's easy - they see the Canes lose their AHL affiliate and decide they'd rather take the Jets' offer instead, whether it be for the money (Carolina's supposedly notoriously stingy) or for the security. It's just really fucking funny that it happens at the same time Carolina loses their AHL team. Get fucked lol.

Now let's play Chicago Wolves Simulator. You are Don Levin and Buddy Meyers, the Wolves' owners. Your goal is to win the Calder Cup or at least come pretty damn close so you can pay the bills. You have a good team - hell, you won the Calder last year! - but your best asset is this star goaltender named Pyotr Kochetkov. When Koochie's in net, you usually win because he bails out your team. When he isn't there to help you win, you kind of don't. Now, Carolina's going through its own issues in net, so they keep calling Koochie up and down. And, as previously mentioned, you kind of suck without Koochie. To be fair, you're not all that great with him, but you suck without him. And you have no control over when he goes up to Carolina, even just to sit on the bench.

You miss the playoffs by one point. One. And your three-year contract with the Canes is up. What do you do?

Waddell Young, GM of the Wolves, says their philosophy and the Canes' fundamentally differed. The Wolves develop and win. Winning develops, to them. The Canes wanted the Wolves to focus solely on development. Not winning. So, when their deal with the Canes was up, the Wolves said "no thanks, we're not going to continue this, we're going independent". This decision makes them the first non-NHL affiliated team in almost 30 years. Now, this isn't to say all independently-owned AHL teams are doomed to fail in partnerships because of divergent philosophies. Look at the Hershey Bears and the Washington Capitals for a prime example of that - the Bears are one of the best teams in the AHL and have won four Calder Cups with the Caps as their affiliates since their affiliation began in 2005. But the Wolves were quite unhappy with the Canes, and so the two split. Also notable is that the Canes have also poisoned the waters with who should be their local AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, to the point where the Checkers affiliated with the Panthers instead. So... there's that.

So what can the Canes now do with non-roster players? They can affiliate with another AHL team (co-affiliation); one instance of this was when the Seattle Kraken affiliated with the Charlotte Checkers in 21-22 because the Coachella Valley Firebirds weren't yet ready. Supposedly the plan is to get an affiliate for 24-25. But what do they do this year? Especially if they can't find an affiliate to share, which seems more and more likely as the summer drags on? Well, you can't sign players to two-way deals with the Wolves anymore, so you can't really keep veterans around in the AHL to call up if needed. So you... sign nine defensemen to NHL contracts and carry them on the roster at all times. Yep. Don Waddell, Canes GM, has basically stated outright that his roster is probably going to have to carry 22 or 23 players at all times to be sure to have replacements in case of injury. And your prospects? They either go to Europe, where they're basically inaccessible for the whole year, or you loan them to other AHL clubs. Waddell has said plans are in place with several teams to send 2 or 3 players each to several different AHL clubs. For your youngest, they go back to major junior in the CHL and related leagues. Same for your veterans - if you want to keep them, you'll have to sign them one-way (I believe) and then loan them down to scattered AHL teams across the league. Prospects who you could have signed to play in the AHL and develop? You're probably going to have to let them go to free agency (see: Kevin Wall, leading player for Penn State and Carolina draft pick, who just inked a deal with the Milwaukee Admirals, AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators). And then you can send your worse prospects to your ECHL tea- wait. Oops. They just lost that too. Can't do that either. Well, shit.

And remember, one of the Canes' biggest assets is their system of play (with strong defense) that they execute well. The Wolves needed to teach their players the Canes' system and prepare them so the jump from AHL to NHL wouldn't be that tough. The Canes put their coaches on the Wolves for that purpose (the Wolves have since cleaned house and instated their own). Loaning your players to another AHL team? Why would that team be incentivized to teach your player(s) the system? So now even when you're calling up someone to play for the Canes, you have no idea how well they know the system and no idea how well they can play in it.

This now begs the other question - how will the Wolves fill their roster? Well, they've got options. Generally, an AHL team takes the prospects of its NHL affiliate and then fills the rest of the roster with AHL veteran free agents that the AHL team signs to AHL-only deals. But without an NHL team, it's a smidge more complicated, or perhaps easier. Firstly, other NHL teams can loan their prospects to the Wolves instead of their own AHL teams if they consider the Wolves better at developing them, for instance. The Wolves can now also sign whatever free agent players they find roaming around that could be a good fit for their team - undrafted college players, good ECHL players that can't seem to get called up enough, AHL veterans, players on European teams (especially Russians who might want the chance to get the fuck out of Russia) and so on. These free agent players could see the Wolves as a stable AHL team that can pay solid money (the AHL doesn't have a cap) with a strong chance at contending for the Calder as well as a possible stepping stone to an NHL contract. The Wolves also don't have to worry about these free agents taking ice time away from the Canes' prospects, who would need to be prioritized under an affiliation, which would also be a strong incentive for AHL free agent veterans to sign with them - they'd be able to get a truly fair chance, unlike under an affiliate system where prospects are the priority and free agents are generally playing fewer (and worse) minutes.

And remember - Chicago just drafted Bedard. The city's getting back into hockey and Hawks tickets are expensive. Want to watch some quality hockey on the cheap? Why not come to Wolves games! They're only 18 miles away from the Hawks, too!

TL;DR stan the Wolves for rejecting the system. Canes Suck.

#stereanswers #stereanalysis #stereducation #carolina hurricanes #chicago wolves #norfolk admirals #ahl #echl

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moregraceful · 3 months

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Stayed up incredibly past my bedtime last night for many reasons both good and bad, but now I'm suffering....but I do have fic for WIP Wednesday

Also pls note that I will add diacritics, I just usually do a find + replace at the end of doc bc the way I have to do diacritics on an American keyboards fucks with the flow of writing

What if I was a goalie...and YOU were a goalie...what if we were BOTH goalies....in the desert

;;

Philipp has all the goalies, rookies, rostered, invites, all, over to his house for a barbecue that he has catered. Chris makes merciless fun of him when he gets there early to help Philipp set up; Philipp smiles at him like he wants something from Chris, and Chris can kind of guess what, but then the doorbell starts ringing.

Ales spends a lot of time badgering Chris about Coachella at the party. Is it warm, what is the food like, where does he live, what is the team like, what size are the cars, how are the fans, what is California like, how far away are they from Seattle, what is it like, how does it all fit together, where does Christ fit in, where will he. Philipp watches from the other side of the yard, drink in hand, and even though he’s surrounded by kids destined for the ECHL, he still raises his glass to Chris. Good luck, he mouths.

Chris and Ales get sent down shortly after, surprising absolutely no one. Joey looks hurt, somehow, when Briere tells them all in a meeting, all the goalies left at the end of camp, who is getting sent down and where. Like Joey really thought he could keep Chris with him. Chris wonders where the kid gets it. Joey’s too old to think that he can play with his friends if he’s good enough to the world around him.

Ales and Chris go to the desert. Philipp and Joey stay in Seattle. Chris drives Ales and Marian down from Seattle to Palm Desert in his SUV and learns 50 new Czech and Slovak insults in a day and half. They don’t stop anywhere for the night; no time. Him and Marian switch off driving, since Ales doesn’t have an American driver’s license, and Marian is a trooper, doesn’t complain at all.

Late night driving through some fuck ass part of the Central Valley, when the car is quiet except for a playlist Philipp made for Chris playing in the background and Marian snoring in the backseat, Chris glances at Ales. Ales had tasked himself with keeping the two of them awake at night, but he’d been silent for so long that Chris wondered if he’d fallen asleep.

Ales has his face pressed to the window. Chris clicks his tongue to get his attention. Ales looks over. He looks fascinated.

“I have never seen so many cows in one pen,” he says.

Chris pulls off at a rest stop to stretch his legs; four hours left in the drive and Marian is passed the fuck out in the third row. He gets out of the car and Ales follows him to a picnic table under fluorescent lights.

He’s wearing a Kraken jersey Chris lent him for the drive. It has Chris’s old number on it. Chris feels something curl tight in his chest at the sight.

He sits across from Ales at the picnic table. Ales hands him some weird Pacific Northwest stimulant drink that’s supposed to fuck with your gut less than Red Bull. It tastes like flat carbonated water, but Chris has to admit it has not yet given him stomach upset.

Chris takes it and cracks it open. He drinks half of it, making a face, before handing it back to Ales.

Ales actually likes that kind of PNW granola shit, is the problem. He’s a good culture fit. Philipp had whispered it in Chris’s ear when he hugged him goodbye; take care of the guy, he’s a good fit for the franchise, just like you.

Chris sits across from Ales. He studies Ales: the laugh lines around his eyes, his strong jaw, his thinning hair that he doesn’t gel outside of game days, sticking out from under Chris’s hoodie. He looks at Ales’s hands, his strong fingers, his thick wrists. His knees bump against Chris’s because the picnic table is small.

Ales looks back. Whatever he sees in Chris makes him smile.

#unfortunate birdcage fanfictions

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prismhockey · 17 hours

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New free Prism Hockey article! It's your News Roundup as I go over the AHL, ECHL, NHL, and PWHL playoffs along with coaching and management changes in the NHL and an SA trial.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/105230252

Substack: https://vibesbasedhockey.substack.com/p/news-roundup-53024

#hockey #nhl #hockey news #nhl news #pwhl #ahl news #american hockey league #echl #echl news

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eyssimont · 9 months

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Hey, in pretty cool hockey news the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL signed Mariah Fujimagari to a professional try-out today!

credit

She's played in the PHF for the Connecticut Whale and in Sweden for AIK.

If this wasn't reason enough to support the K-Wings they also host a hockey is for everyone game where they paint their ice in a rainbow color scheme. They've done it the past few years!

Support your minor league and professional women's hockey teams!

Check them out and all the other ECHL teams here.

Congratulations, Mariah!!!

#hockey #phf #womens hockey #hockey is for everyone #nhl #support minor league hockey #support womens hockey #eodm minors

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werewolfbneimitzvah · 5 months

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Ok i literally just spend this post rambling train of thought

Honestly I'm still annoyed by the Professional Woman's Hockey League as a name. Like the Premier Hockey Federation was gender neutral just like the National Hockey League and American Hockey League and the ECHL and the SPHL and the FPHL and and and it keeps going and some of these leagues have had women play in them and do so successfully, and it wouldn't surprise me if that keeps happening a little bit more frequently than it used to the more seriously people take women and their development when they're young, and someday there's going to be another Harrison Browne or maybe there already is and they just aren't currently interested in being out publicly or don't even know this about themselves yet (idk what's up with CJ & if they consider herself a woman, or maybe they've got that thing going on where her gender is lesbian, maybe she's talked about it publicly and i just haven't seen it but whatever that's their business), and yes it's a women's league the way the other leagues are men's leagues where sometimes there's exceptions but it's majority one thing and women deserve their majority league and a women's league has its value as a league for its own sake and calling it a women's league isn't implying it's inferior or whatever. But also it's another pro league, it's all pro leagues. Idk, if everyone involved wants it to be called the women's pro league then fine, they're the ones playing in it. But i do wonder if everyone does, if everyone always will. I guess there's benefits from advertising in the name that this is a majority women league and not some other minor or independent men's league. How much benefit?

Idk I'm biased bc I'm a trans

(also i didn't mention Jessica Platt because she and any other trans women who would theoretically play in this new league [she's retired i believe but like in a theoretical world where she was still interested and able to play pro, or also other trans women] are women and this is about people who aren't women playing in the women's league or how necessary or beneficial it is to call the league a women's league even if it's all women for the rest of forever. I'm not discounting the general transphobia & specific transmisogyny likely to be faced by trans women who try to play in this league, it's just not what this post is about)

Not that this is particularly coherent i don't think since i don't even really have a conclusion other than i personally preferred the PHF's name and i think there's benefits and drawbacks to the new league's name.

Also Whitecaps forever also Boston can never beat the Pride as a name even though the Wicked does kinda rule in a vacuum

Also i almost hope a team will choose the Vamps but also if any west coast US location were to end up with a women's league team Seattle is high up there, and if Seattle wanted to bring back the Vamps as a name and it was already taken that'd just suck

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normalgoalie · 9 months

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I kind of wish the PWHL had picked smaller market cities where they might see more success

I live in a city with an ECHL team and the local support is great. I feel like those kinds of crowds would be more likely to try womens hockey

Buddy if you think places like Boston and Minnesota and Toronto aren’t gonna want to “try women’s hockey” I’ve got news for you

Also your city may show up for its ECHL team which is great! but that’s not the case with a lot of others and even with some of men’s big league teams like look at the Coyotes. And also living in a small market city shouldn’t have to be a qualifier to want to watch women’s hockey

#people were already showing up for the pride whitecaps and six before the pwhl bought them out #not to mention all the college teams #(obvs the other phf teams too just those are the ones in the places i listed)

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blusical · 9 months

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THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE: THE MUSICAL.

Due to recent incidents, this page is now 17+. If you are under 17, interact via anon only.

Hello! I'm Shadow! I'm not entirely new to hockeyblr; I originally posted hockey on my main. However I decided to create this blog to separate my hockey talk from my non-hockey talk. Boundaries and other stuff under the cut.

ABOUT ME: I'm 17, queer, autistic (with ADHD in the mix) and I've been a Blues fan all my life. I also support the Washington Capitals, and I've been considering adopting the Kraken as a third team. Outside the NHL, I support the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL. As for players, I like Vladimir Tarasenko, TJ Oshie, Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Artemi Panarin and to an extent Cole Caufield. I also support generally more disliked players such as Tom Wilson. Brad Marchand has also grown on me a little. Additionally, I do want to share that I do support and *will* post about some incredibly controversial players, those players being Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane. The reason I'm sharing this is because there is one thing I want to make very clear: While I support a player on the ice, I don't exactly support a player off the ice. In fact, there may be times I will openly criticize a player's actions, even if they are my favorite. So, if seeing any of the players mentioned above makes you VERY uncomfortable, filter out the players' names (see also: tagging system) or block me for your own comfort. (Additionally, if you're curious on where I stand on Kane's 2015/16 cases, I won't get into that entirely, as it's a pretty messy subject and I don't think I could do it justice, however I'll direct you to read these posts from other users so you can try to guess how I feel). (Archived version of link one, archived version of link two. The images on link two are broken for some reason so go here and here in case you wanna save them). BOUNDARIES: Firstly, this blog is run by a minor, and this blog is strictly SFW unless stated otherwise (injuries, blood and excessive swearing will be tagged accordingly). Please don't reblog my posts to add NSFW stuff. Additionally, this is not an RPF blog. While I allow RPF accounts to interact, I do not want my posts being tagged as "ship" or any rpf tags. Lastly, don't send me gossip. This is not a gossip page. What your favorite player does in their private life is really none of my business and honestly I am better off not knowing. There's plenty of other blogs for that. Who can interact? I get it. DNIs are annoying. But the reason I set one is because there's just some people I don't feel comfortable interacting with me, and I want to make that clear. However, as for who can interact, let's just say that I welcome all hockey fans, any team, any kind. Casual, diehard, hell even bandwagon fans can interact! I don't judge! I would be happy to see other Blues and Caps fans interact, especially since I don't see many of them on hockeyblr. Fans of rival teams are also not only welcome, but fucking encouraged to interact! I don't bite at all unless you'd like /platonic. I also want to meet some artists (SFW please!) and other creators. Hockeyblr could use some creativity here! So, who's not welcome? Well, besides the usual criteria (bigots, antivaxxers and pedo/incest fetishizers), I do not welcome gatekeepers, gossip blogs or confession blogs. I also don't want strictly NSFW pages to interact, and I also advise blocking me if you don't want minors interacting at all (Remember: DNIs go BOTH ways!). Additionally, if you think cheering for a specific team makes you a shitty person, or likewise, you think your team isn't immune to criticism, get off my page. Part of changing hockey culture involves criticizing your own team and favorite players too.

Discourse blogs are also advised to not interact unless I already know you, since discourse makes me fucking uncomfortable a lot of the time. Lastly, accounts with no pfp/bio/header or accounts with a pfp of a (usually) white woman and nothing else will be blocked since half the time I'll assume you're a bot. No exceptions. Having posts or a cool username is no longer an excuse. Additionally, blogs with the "mature content" tag will also be blocked since half the time I'll assume you're NSFW. Sorry yall. TAGGING SYSTEM *actually im getting rid of my original tagging system because i hate it lol* Depending on how you feel about certain players, I advise filtering the following player tags because I post about them/will post about them a lot (more to be added): #vladimir tarasenko #patrick kane #tj oshie #alex ovechkin #tom wilson #jordan kyrou And, again, depending on how you feel about certain teams, here's some team names and team lbs you might wanna filter: #blues lb #caps lb #st louis blues #washington capitals #chicago blackhawks #new york rangers #pittsburgh penguins #vegas golden knights I do not tag my posts as "tw (player/team name)", nor will I censor players name's or team names l*ke t4is (like this), here's why. Some other tags you might want to filter include: #eye contact (heavily advise filtering this if you have scopophobia). #long post #fan culture #hockey culture #bigotry #slander or #trash talk (if you don't like seeing your players/team get slandered). #not hockey (for non-hockey based talk) OTHER BLOGS:

@demonic-shadowlucifer - Main, and the blog I follow/like from. @thecringepunkarchives - Disability and more. @thatonedemonnamedlucifer - General fandom blog

#redoing my pinned because im tired of editing the old one tbh #hockey fandom #hockey blog #hockeyblr #hockey #nhl #st louis blues #washington capitals #pinned post

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mitchbeck · 11 months

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UCONN MATT WOOD SELECTED IN NHL DRAFT

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - On the first day of the NHL draft, the Nashville Predators selected UConn's Matt Wood at number 15. Wood slipped down a bit further than he was expected to be selected partly because Anaheim, picking at number two, and the Arizona Coyotes at number six, made surprise choices that gave some other teams an opening to select differently than they had wanted or planned to. Speaking to ESPN's Emily Kaplan right afterward, Wood was very complimentary of his UCONN coaches led by Mike Cavanaugh. "(I was) really happy to be there and play for my coaches and they helped me to get ready for this." Wood was the fifth UCONN player since joining Hockey East to be drafted. He wore #71 for his idol Evgeni Malkin. In speaking to Kaplan, incoming Nashville GM Barry Trotz, who's replacing the retiring David Poile, was succinct in his initial evaluation, "Short term, we'll let him develop (back at UCONN). We look at the profile; he's a big body that can score. He's got a long way to go. If you wanna go far in the playoffs, you gotta score. We hope he'll exhibit (his scoring) and he checks all the boxes." Nashville has two former Huskies under their umbrella, Czechs Jachym Kondelik, the Huskies all time-assist leader, and goalie Tomas Vomacka, who they both drafted and played in the minors with the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) and the Florida Everblades (ECHL), respectively. Wood played very solidly as a 17-year-old freshman. He led the Huskies in scoring with 34 points in 35 games. Wood was superb in the IIHF U-18 bronze medal game for Canada with the game-tying goal in the last minute with the goalie pulled and made a beautiful feathered short pass to Macklin Celebrini for the game-winner in OT 4-3 win over Slovakia. Wood had a three-point performance, garnering a plus-12 and 13 points in just seven games in the tournament. He will return to Storrs next season, be among the top players in Hockey East, and is WJC eligible for Canada. He turned down an offer from the WHL Regina Pats, who drafted him and ex-Pack championship head coach, the current Regina head coach and VP of Hockey Operations John Paddock, to play there and with the first overall selection, Connor Bedard. Instead, Wood chose to come to UCONN and chart his course. At 6'4, he surpassed Tage Thompson as the highest-drafted Husky ever. A total of 10 Huskies have been drafted in the short Hockey East history of the program. RANGERS SELECTIONS The Rangers drafted 23rd overall and selected were able to have a strong player fall to them in Gabriel (Gabe) Perreault. He has lots of offensive upside potential and is heading to Boston College (HE) with linemates Will Smith (San Jose) and Ryan Leonard (Washington). They were together on the USNDTP (USHL) last fall. All three will face Wood at the XL Center when BC comes to play UConn at the XL Center in a marquee matchup. Perreault broke the team record for scoring held by Auston Matthews with 159 points. "It's cool because he's one of the guys I look up to and one of those guys to look up above you," said Perreault to ESPN. Hockey is a big part of the Perreault family. His sister Liliane just completed her collegiate career at Mercyhurst (Erie, PA) (AHA), and his brother Jacon plays with San Diego. His father, Yanic Perreault, is the skills development coach in Chicago and, for eight consecutive seasons, held the NHL's best faceoff percentage at an average of 62.89%. He played 859 games with three tours in Toronto, LA, Nashville, and his hometown Montreal. NOTES: UCONN got another commit for next season in New Hampshire native LW Ben Muthersbaugh, who played for the NJ Titans (NAHL) last year after spending time previously at Tilton School (NHPREP). Ex-Sound Tiger Paul Flache takes a second stab as an assistant coach with the Flint Firebirds (OHL) after being with Atlanta (USPHL Premier) for the last three years. Joining him is a former Ranger from the early-to-mid 1980s and two-time Stanley Cup winner in Edmonton making his North American return is Reijo Ruotsalainen. The 63-year-old Ruotsalainen had been coaching in Europe, though not over the last three years. His previous coaching assignment was with, Kiekko-Vantaa (Finland-Mestis) as an assistant coach. While he had a successful NHL career of 443 games and 344 points and was voted the best defenseman in the 1980 WJC (his third) tourney, had he been playing hockey today, he would rival Erik Carlsson of the San Jose Sharks in the skill game from the blueline in this more free-wheeling era of hockey. After leaving the NHL, he played in three World Championships, one Olympic tournament for Finland, and another 402 games in Europe (Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland). He hasn't been to North America since 2001 as an assistant coach with the long-defunct New Orleans Brass (ECHL), featured one-time Rangers head coach Ted Sator at the helm, and had former New Haven Senator Jeff Lazaro as a player. Ross Colton (Taft Prep), who scored the game-winning Cup-clinching goal three years ago for the Tampa Bay Lightning, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. Connor Doherty (Sacred Heart University) re-signs with the Maine Mariners (ECHL). After four years in Denmark and nine in Europe, Mike Little of Enfield, the SonderyskE team captain last season, has left the team. Is this the end of the road for the 35-year-old, or is he likely to play a few more years in a new destination? Derek Barach (Salisbury School) heads from Ässät Pori (Finland-FEL) and takes the risky proposition and signs with Vityaz Moscow (Russia-KHL) to continue his European-only career. The newest college hockey program was announced at the Bridgestone Arena in Tennessee, the site of the NHL Draft. It will be the first at a historically black college and university (HBCU). The club will be Tennessee State and play at the ACHA club hockey division level. The coaching staff is yet to be determined. The project was an all-in process as the NHL, NHLPLA, and College Hockey Inc. were all involved. The program will start in the 2024-25 season with a look toward going varsity Division-1 level down the road, and it will be the first hockey at an HCBU, hopefully leading to more significant participation of Blacks, Latinos, and other ethnic groups in the sport of hockey in the US and around the world. The college hockey season is over by nearly three months activity continues as Quinnipiac University stands at the mountaintop. UCONN HOCKEY HOME Read the full article

#AHL #HockeyEast #MikeCavanaugh #NashvillePredators #NationalHockeyLeague #NHL #NHLDraft #Storrs #UConn #XLCenter

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