Since the Stanley Cup could be over in four quick games the CBS Sports Network has decided to pick up the AHL Calder Cup Finals. The Norfolk Admirals lead the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup Finals two games to none.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League has announced that CBS Sports Network will televise Games 3 through 7 of the 2012 Calder Cup Finals, bringing the AHL’s championship series to millions of homes across the United States in high definition.
Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I think this is a great idea for the NHL to look at the hybrid icing rule that is currently in use in the NCAA and USHL. If used correctly could prevent unnecessary injuries that are caused by the touch- up- icing.
New York --- Hybrid icing is the standard at the NCAA level and in the United States Hockey League. For next season, the NHL is expected to ask the AHL to use hybrid icing, which involves a linesman determining the winner of a race to the closest faceoff circle instead of who touches the puck first on plays in which the puck is sent the length of the ice from the defending team's side of the center-ice red line.
"We like it. We want to make sure we're not moving too quick," Detroit GM Ken Holland said. "We'd like to move it to the American League. We'd like to get it to the best league in the world below the National Hockey League and evaluate it with those players. Obviously it's in college and some other players [use it], but those players aren't nearly as good as the ones we're dealing with. I think there was one player injured this year on an icing. Obviously, we'd like zero, but it is one -- it is not 10, it is not 20."
The GMs remain divided on the issue, so observing the results in the AHL could provide better clarity before making a final decision on it for NHL games.
The Toronto Marlies got some bad news today when they learned that former Fighting Sioux forward Matt Frattin has suffered a knee injury and will need surgery. That's a big loss for the Marlies because Frattin is tied for the lead in scoring for the Toronto Marlies with (10g-3a-13 pts). Frattin is a restricted free agent and will need to be signed in the off-season.
Lance Hornby,Toronto Sun --- Winger Matt Frattin, who was a force physically and on the scoresheet, will be lost for the rest of the American Hockey League playoffs with a knee injury that will require surgery.
Frattin, who has a league post-season best 10 goals and shares the team lead with 13 points, was hurt in Game 5 of the Western Final in a bold play to score an empty netter to eliminate the Oklahoma City Barons. Frattin crashed into the net in a race for the puck.
This was a funny story that I found on line and I thought I would pass it along - can you imagine if this guy or someone with a funny name like this guy actually made the NHL or AHL.
I would love to see this happen, because it would be funny listening to the play-by-play folks have a good time with his last name. Can you imagine some of the story lines this guy's name would inspire... Well I guess we can only dream right?
Glenn Davis, Sports Grind Daily --- We’re sure Patrick Fücker is a humble guy just trying to make his way. The 19-year-old has been a competitive hockey player in Germany for years now, working his way through the nation’s junior ranks and last month moving to the Rostock Piranhas, who play in Germany’s third-highest league. Just a guy who apparently loves the Rangers and trying to play the game he loves for a living.
But he’s more than that. He had to be more than that. Because his name is out on the internet. And his last name is Fücker. Someone was going to find it eventually, and they were going to love it, and they were going to send it to Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski, and he was going to love it. Who wouldn’t love a name like this, except Patrick Fücker himself, when he’s around English-speakers? We encounter names we love all the time, but this may be the best of them.
And that’s why we have to hope against hope that Fücker one day makes it to the NHL. Granted, the third-best league in Germany is a long, long way from there (and these last couple GAAs look pretty high), but can you imagine the clusterFück that would ensue each time Fücker’s name had to be mentioned? The stifled giggles? The uncomfortable announcers?
Frattin's second goal of the game was the game winning goal for the Marlies and I would classify that goal as a thing of beauty - your classic toe drag goal that was shot from the top of the face-off circles that blew by the Barons goalie Yann Danis.
Former Fighting Sioux forward Chris VandeVelde has a goal in the losing effort for the Oklahoma City Barons, VandeVelde now has five goals during the Calder Cup playoffs.
The OKC Barons and the Toronto Marlies is a series of interest for college hockey fans as well as Fighting Sioux Hockey fans. Last night, former Fighting Sioux forward Chris VandeVelde scored the fourth goal of the game for the Oklahoma City Barons as they evened their series in the Western Conference Finals against the Toronto Marlies with a 5-1 victory. The next three games of this series are in Toronto.
This series features three ex-Fighting Sioux hockey players (TOR) Matt Frattin (OKC) Taylor Chorney and Chris VandeVelde. There will be a least one former Fighting Sioux hockey players in the Calder Cup Finals and there is a "slight" possibility that three former Fighting Sioux players could face off against each other - if Jason Gregoire and Jake Marto's team the St. John's Ice Caps make the Calder Cup Finals, the are currently down 1-0 against the Milwaukee Admirals - Gregoire and Marto have yet to play for the Ice Caps in the Calder Cup Playoffs and both players have been a healthy scratch according to Chad from A Tradition of Excellence.
Just a few points of interest - only 2621 fans attended last night's game, that seems kind of low for a playoff hockey game in any league. After looking at this attendance figures I went back and looked at the OKC Barons attendance figures for the season and they averaged 3684 fans per game, there are 19 Division I college hockey teams that have have better attendance than the OKC Barons.
For the season, the Toronto Marlies draw better than the Oklahoma City Barons as they averaged 5,480 fans per game. There are 10 Division I hockey teams that draw better than the Marlies.
