On December 31, 2014 the National Hockey League announced that Andrew Barroway, a Philadelphia hedge-fund manager, has been approved by the Board of Governors as the majority owner of the Arizona Coyotes. The teams previous majority owners, IceArizona agreed to sell 51 percent of the Coyotes back in October (they purchased the team in 2013), and it has now officially been announced.
The purchase was for $125.5 million dollars. This is the third team that Barroway has tried to purchase, after the New Jersey Devils and a messy try with the New York Islanders.
There is no telling yet what might change for the team, but there is much speculation that adding Barroway could bring a big financial boost for the ‘Yotes. You can read more about the financial backing of the team in this article by Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona.
What could this bring to the team? Well first of all, it could mean that they could possibly have more money to spend in the offseason on players, depending on what the new owner is willing to bring to the team. There is already talks of trading unrestricted free agent Antoine Vermette for someone big, and this could mean that the team could add even more depth with potentially a bigger allowance.
“Today is an exciting day for the Arizona Coyotes and our great fans,” Anthony LeBlanc said regarding the announcement. “The addition of Andrew Barroway to our ownership group further solidifies the Coyotes long-term future in the Valley. Our entire ownership group is excited about this opportunity to work with Andrew in taking this franchise to the next level. It’s a great day for hockey in Arizona!”
Barroway will take over as the Chairman and Governor for the Coyotes effective immediately, and LeBlanc will stay on as President and CEO.
“This is truly a dream come true for me and my family. I am extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime and look forward to working and solidifying a strong partnership with the Club’s current ownership group,” said Barroway on the acquisition of the team. “As a group we are committed to serving our fans with a new level of excellence and our collective goal is to put a competitive team on the ice every season and, one day, win the Stanley Cup.”
General admission tickets, set at $10 each, are now on sale at the Prudential Center box office, ticketmaster.com, and Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.
This game marks the third and final visit by Albany to New Jersey this season, having already played two games in Atlantic City in the world-famous Boardwalk Hall (aka: the home of the Miss America Pageant and WrestleMania’s IV & V).
Friday, November 28th was the “Black Friday” game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (the AHL team of the Philadelphia Flyers) which saw the Albany Devils win 4-2, thanks to goals by Reid Boucher, Ben Thomson, Graham Black and Paul Thompson.
Sunday December 14th was another game against Lehigh Valley that went into OT that saw the Albany Devils win 4-3 thanks to occasional New Jersey Devil, Tim Sestito getting the game-winning goal and both he and Joe Whitney (who scored his first NHL goal on New Years Eve for the New Jersey Devils) had a pair of goals in the game which was the teams first OT win since Jan. 6, 2012 against the Norfolk Admirals (at the time, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning).
As of Jan 1, 2015, the Albany Devils are 14-11-2-4 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and will play Bridgeport three times before the Jan. 21st meeting in Newark.
“We are looking forward to playing one of our biggest rivals at Prudential Center,” said Albany Devils General Manager Chris Lamoriello on the Devils website. “Developing players for the benefit of New Jersey is of the utmost importance to the Albany Devils. The opportunity of playing a home game at our parent club’s facility is a great experience for our players and coaches, as well as our fans in both Albany and New Jersey.”
It’s become one of the beloved traditions for hockey fans to ring in a new year–watching their sport played in the elements. Sure, a packed ballpark is a little different than pond hockey. But, the Winter Classic is a big production paying homage to simpler times–like backyard matchups among friends.
And, just as it does with pond hockey, the weather may have an impact. It isn’t a snowstorm, or even sleet or rain that could hamper the 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT start. Instead, it’s the sun.
The Winter Classic is currently scheduled to start at 1 p.m., but players were told that it’s likely to be pushed back because of glare.
“We’re definitely fortunate as an organization and a team to get a chance to play in more than one outdoor game,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “The setting, the opportunity, the thrill, just being in that fresh air environment is
second to none. Last year in the snow, I don’t know how many inches we got during the game. That was like one you’ll never forget. The first one, Wrigley, was a special one as well.
“And it’s a beautiful venue here. Everybody’s looking forward to it tomorrow. So it’s a privilege, an honor, take advantage of it. Because it’s very special.”
It is special. I attended the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. I’ve ice fished–sitting still on a lake with nothing to occupy time but the hope that something would tug the on the line in a hole under several inches of ice below me. And still, it was the coldest I’ve ever been. It was also one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
Hot chocolate was cold by the time it went from the concession stand back to my seat. I couldn’t feel my feet. I was wearing so many layers, I looked like the kid from A Christmas Story. My team lost 6-4 to the then-rival Detroit Redwings. But, I was at my favorite ballpark watching my favorite team with my brother (I have three–I can’t use favorite again there), and not even heckling from a lady wearing a squid hat on my turf could bring me down.
Winter Prepping, or Making the Most of a Sun Delay
So, if, of all things, the sun is a reason for a delayed start, there are plenty of things to do to bide the time.
Catch up on Epix’s Road to the NHL Winter Classic, for example. Even if the Hawks and Caps aren’t your teams of choice, it’s very entertaining to witness what goes on behind the scenes and hear what’s not necessarily safe for regular broadcast.
The Capitals will be joining the Blackhawks in wearing CR decals on their helmets for the game. Former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer and Caps equipment manager Brock Myles proposed the idea, and Caps coach Barry Trotz ran it by the Hawks for approval, according to a Sportsnet Canada report.
“(The hockey world) is a lot smaller than people think,” Trotz said. “The trainers are very, very close. They are very tight, just as the players are across the league and coaches and all that. When a member goes down they all want to show the respect.”
The Epix series exposes some endearing things about each team’s players, coaches, and staff–making it difficult to dislike either.
Or, enjoy a hockey movie marathon leading up to the event, with favorites like Mystery, Alaska, The Mighty Ducks series, Goon, Slap Shot, Miracle, Youngblood, Broad Street Bullies, Net Worth, or The Last Gladiators.
Heading into the Classic
The Blackhawks are 25-10-2, first in the Central Division, heading into the game. They just beat the Nashville Predators 5-4 in a shootout Monday night.
The Capitals are 18-11-7, fourth in the Metropolitan Division–coming off a 4-3 overtime loss against the New York Islanders Monday.
The Capitals beat Chicago 3-2 in their last meeting Nov. 7.
“It’s a dangerous game. We know that. When you play against Trotzy’s team, they play hard, they check, they don’t give up much, they play the right way. And that’s the way their team’s progressing,” Quenneville said. “Ourselves, we like to push it a little bit and try to score. So it will be a good contest and I’m sure everybody’s excited about it.
The Winter Classic begins at 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET on NBC, with pre-and-post game coverage on local networks (Comcast Sportsnet for the Chicago area) barring any weather concerns.
The San Jose Sharks faced Pacific Division rival Vancouver Canucks in the last home game of the year for San Jose Tuesday night. Some notable changes to the roster for San Jose included Matt Nieto’s return from IR, which moved Chris Tierney back down to Worcester. Alex Stalock guarded the net and since John Scott’s suspension, rookie Micheal Haley got his chance to skate again. The Sharks hoped to keep their eight-game winning streak at home alive, but were cut short by Ryan Miller’s 31 amazing saves.
It wasn’t long until the first goal was scored. 19-year-old rookie Bo Horvat of the Canucks got his second NHL goal about four minutes in. The Canucks had spent a lot of time in the Sharks zone, as the Sharks seemed very lackluster like they had forgotten their legs on Christmas break. Not a good way to start the game.
Joe Pavelski was tripped up in front of the net by Alexander Edler and was awarded a penalty shot. The Sharks have had the most penalty shots in the NHL this season, with this one being the third. Pavelski hit the crossbar with a “dink!” and thus extended their 0-for-3 stat on penalty shots.
Then myriad penalties occured, canceling out the Sharks’ first power play at 13:31 with a 4-on-4 for a minute and change. The Sharks went on the power play again amid those penalties for a 14-second 4-on-3. The only real chance the Sharks had was a nifty pass by Logan Couture to Patrick Marleau, whose one-timer was stopped cold by Miller. Finally, this penalty mess ended with a Sharks power play for less than a minute – all to no avail. Actually, it was kind of a weird first period given all the overlapping penalties and the penalty shot. The only real highlight was Horvat’s goal.
(photo: Dinur Blum)
The Sharks began the second period with a power play at 19:01, and even though they were getting shots to Miller, he wasn’t giving away any rebounds. This happened a lot, in fact, as Joe Thornton mentioned in a post-game interview, “[Miller] saw a lot of our shots. It was tough to get good looks tonight for whatever reason.”
Some more bad luck for the Sharks occurred right after the penalty. Jannik Hansen exited the box, recovered the puck, and shot top corner past Stalock.
Amazingly, another penalty shot was awarded to the Sharks, this time to Thornton. A fun and coincidental fact about this 2-penalty-shots-in-one-game deal was that the last time this happened was on the same date, December 30th, in 2009. And guess who was one of the shooters? Joe Thornton. He scored back then and he scored again during this game. Sharks’ broadcaster Randy Hahn made a joke on air that once about every five years Thornton scores a penalty shot.
Miller also reflected on the two penalty shots: “It was pretty wild, I was waiting for a third. Everything kind of happens in threes. They both made nice shots. I got lucky on Pavelski’s, he shot a little more on the inside than I expected him to.”
(photo: Dinur Blum)
Now that the Sharks had cut the Canucks’ lead by one, the Canucks scored again at 12:51 in the second. Radim Vrbata netted his goal from the Sedin twins, Daniel and captain Henrik. Even though the Sharks had a couple of chances in the second and the pace seemed to pick up after that third Canucks goal (read: desperation mode), it just didn’t pan out. However, despite all of the missed chances, I have to mention the Melker Karlsson, Barclay Goodrow, and James Sheppard line. They continue to impress me and deserve recognition. Despite the lack of points on the board, the big guys contributed in other ways, too. Couture had 5 shots, a game high; Marleau was physical with 6 hits, another game high, and led all forwards in ice time. So, they’re out there and they are grinding it out and trying, but something else is missing to the equation. Or maybe it just wasn’t their night.
Joe Pavelski, whom we have been used to seeing scoring goals (team leader), only had one shot in the first period in this game – the penalty shot. You could really hear his disappointment when he commented on the game: “We didn’t find the back of the net. There were a lot of one-and-outs. There was nobody at the net when we had our looks. There were a couple of good ones, but we didn’t capitalize on them.” He knows he and the rest need to step up.
The Sharks got one last man-advantage chance, but Vancouver’s penalty kill had been fantastic the entire night, and was fantastic on this one as well.
The third period did not bring much action. It was the same lackluster play by the Sharks, who always seem to be two goals behind. With about 2 minutes left, Stalock was pulled, but it wasn’t looking good for the Sharks to score 2 in 2. Clearly, in this one, the Canucks were the better team. The Sharks head to Anaheim for an early 5pm start on New Year’s Eve.
The season hasn’t been easy for the Stockton Thunder. At almost the halfway mark of the ECHL season, the team sits in the 6th spot in the Pacific Division and 11th overall in the Western Conference. They have struggled to score, their offense at times being a bit too picky once they are in a scoring position. Although they have scored on the power play and rank 5th in the league, they have allowed 7 shorthanded goals this season, a momentum killer in the heat of the game. The penalty kill, ranked in the basement, 25th in the league, is literally killing them. If they are to make a positive push in the standings, they will need to generate more shots on goal and score early. On many occasions, the Thunder play a game of catchup after allowing an early goal. They have also struggled to maintain a lead. In last Saturday’s contest against the Bakersfield Condors, the Thunder allowed three unanswered goals in the third period, forcing the game into overtime and a shootout. Although they went on to win, it was game they had in hand, but gave away in the last frame.
“We just have to have that killer instinct,” said Thunder Forward Jack MacLellan about allowing Bakersfield back in the game. “No lead is safe and we can’t coast till the end if we want to win games. We need to lock things up in the last 20.”
The penalty kill needs to improve. The Thunder have been outworked shorthanded and better on ice communication is key to making certain that the ice is covered. There are signs it is getting cleaned up, the Thunder only allowed the Condors two powerplay goals out of ten opportunities during last weekend’s games.
It isn’t all gloom and doom, though as the Thunder move into the New Year, despite losing arguably their most solid veteran defenseman Ryan Constant to serious injury. The rest of the team is putting in the work and solid contributions are coming both up front and on the back end with goaltending.
Forward Movement
Lukas Sutter continues to bring energy to the Thunder lineup. The rookie isn’t afraid to take a player into the boards and work the corners or be a sore spot for the opposing teams’ goaltender. He also isn’t shy about dropping the gloves for a teammate. Sutter is the most penalized rookie in the league and the fifth most in the league overall with 119 penalty minutes of box time. He is good at getting under the skin of the opposition. He also has developed solid chemistry with linemates Alex Mallet and J.T. Barnett and the three have generated a buzz around the net over the last five games they have shared the ice. They all bring an edge to the offense and can get behind defenders and laser the puck to the slot area.
Jack MacLellan began the season quietly but his offense has heated up as of late. Running around on the ice with linemates Tyler Maxwell and Adam Phillips, pucks seem to find their way to the back of the net. In the most recent series against the Bakersfield Condors, MacLellan had a career high three assists in a single game and earned his team-leading eighth multi-point game of the year.
Of his linemates MacLellan said,“I thought we played pretty well as a line. We got a couple really good breaks and I thought [Adam] Phillips stepped in that role there and played really well.”
Phillips, who has played a dual role for the Thunder, both on the blueline and as a puck chaser, earned his fifth multi-point game of the year with two assists in the Saturday game against the Condors as he was able to place a few well timed passes to forward Tyler Maxwell and new defenseman Mario Larocque. Phillips, being one of the larger players on the team, creates space around him and has the reach to poke the puck past oncoming defenders. Coming from the blueline, he is also tuned in to being more defensively minded as a forward and can transition well on turnover attempts.
Tyler Maxwell plays a complete game and since coming back from injury and with forward Peter Sivak away in Bridgeport, the small crafty forward has just picked up where he left off with points. Coach Kromm noted that not just offensively, but defensively, Maxwell has played a solid game since coming back. “His back pressure and the way he plays in the dzone is really good and it helps to create offense when you have guys working hard to get back.”
Goaltending Options
Shane Owen
The Thunder have a bit of a goaltending conundrum with three tenders assigned to the team. Each have their merits and bring a slightly different style between the pipes. Shane Owen has been a force in the net for the Thunder and aside from a few rough starts, has had a stellar season so far. If you need a refresher on his career and skill, take a look at a previous post where he captured ECHL CCM Goaltender of the Week accolades. He is flashy at times, and seems to be able to make the impossible stops despite traffic and collisions in front of him. His confidence in net carries over to the defencemen manning the blueline.
Philippe Trudeau
Philippe Trudeau hasn’t seen a lot of action for the Thunder and he had a shaky start at the beginning of the season. He is gaining confidence, but he needs a solid defensive effort in front of him to help him manage puck traffic. He is still very young as a goaltender at 20 years of age and is still developing. He had his best game of the season against the Bakersfield Condors last Saturday night, standing on his head at times as the Condors stepped up the offensive pressure late in the game. Following the shootout win, Captain and Assistant Coach Garet Hunt remarked, “[Philippe Trudeau] was a stud tonight. I thought he stood up on his head and in truth he deserved better from us. He gave us the 4-1 lead and we let them come back. I took that bad penalty at the end of the game even if I thought he went down easy on me, but we got the win and he stood on his head in the shootout.”
Kent Simpson
Kent Simpson, the third goaltender for the Thunder, has been up and down and all around this season. He came over in a trade and has been back and forth with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers twice since being acquired. As he sees more action in front of him, Simpson has responded solidly, allowing very few rebound attempts. He can handle himself with traffic in the blue paint and gives his defensemen the support they need when it comes down to the footrace.
During the third period of Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets—it was noticed that Patrice Bergeron was no longer on the bench. Post game Jack Edwards asked head coach Claude Julien about Bergeron’s absence and was met with a rather terse response.
“I sent him to the room myself,” Julien said on camera.
Julien said it had to do with the game’s situation—the Boston Bruins were down four goals by then. Julien told reporters who were present after the game that Bergeron’s injury was minimal.
Sunday morning as the team took to the ice back in Boston at TD Garden for the morning practice, those present noticed the absence of both Bergeron and Milan Lucic—who had a not unexpected fisticuff with Blue Jacket Dalton Prout within the first three minutes of the second period. After practice Julien mentioned that both Bergeron and Lucic were listed as day-to-day.
As the players came onto the ice for their pre-game practice Monday morning, preparing to take on the Detroit Red Wings in the first of three home games for the Bs to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015, it was soon clear that neither Bergeron nor Lucic were there.
Bruins protecting the net (Photo: Krista Patronick)
During practice the lines looked like:
Marchand-Krejci-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson
Paille-Campbell-Caron
Fraser-Cunningham-Griffith
Defensive pairs:
Chara-Hamilton
Bartkowski-Seidenberg
Krug-Miller
Also Adam McQuaid and Zach Trotman were on the ice as defensemen.
On Sunday, the Bruins announced the recall of Jordan Caron from their AHL affiliated Providence Bruins. The announcement also said that they had put Matt Fraser on waivers. Fraser played less than six minutes during Saturday’s game in Columbus, so it was not a huge surprise to see this announcement.
Both Caron and Fraser were on the ice and slotted into lines that were likely the lineup for tonight’s game against the Red Wings, but about an hour after practice ended, the announcement came that Fraser had been picked up on waivers by the Edmonton Oilers.
During post-practice interviews with Julien, he was asked about the chemistry or what he thought David Krejci and Reilly Smith would do on the ice together.
“We will see tonight,” Julien told the assembled reporters. “I don’t have that answer, to be honest with you. Those are all things we’ll all discover together.”
Two of the Bruins most important players are out with injuries—minor though they may be—they will not be on the ice as the somewhat beat-down Bruins take on the Red Wings. The Red Wings have a substantial winning road-record at 7-4-3 and they aren’t missing two of their best players. Additionally, if they give up the first goal they are still 9-4-3, showing they have a resiliency that the Bruins used to possess.
With the loss of Fraser for tonight’s game, the Boston club announced this afternoon the recall of forward Matt Lindblad. It is unclear if he will slot in where Fraser was in this morning’s practice—on the fourth line—or if the lines will jumble again. Many will be paying attention to tonight’s pre-game warm ups to see if the lines have changed with the addition of Lindblad. And of course, Lindblad was not able to participate in today’s practice, so in some ways he is coming in cold. Fortunately the Providence Bruins play the same system as the Boston club, making his inclusion a little easier.
The Bruins are known for coming back from adversity usually. This season has not seen them rebound quite like they have in past seasons.
“We’ve had challenges all year,” Julien said when admitting that Lucic and Bergeron would not play. “It’s just another one.”
Lucic had already mentioned after the game against the Buffalo Sabres last Sunday that the team was experiencing deflation on the bench when the opposing team scored a goal. They were better about it during the December 23rd game against the Nashville Predators. Likely the disappointing outing against the Blue Jackets after the holiday break has once again messed with the minds of some of the players.
Fortunately they have some strong leadership in the room that can assist in putting everyone’s focus on the game ahead.
Chris Kelly (Photo: Krista Patronick)
“I think it’s important to keep an even keel throughout the course of games regardless of if you get scored on or if you score a goal. I don’t think you want to get too high when you score a goal or too low when you get scored upon. It’s going to happen,” assistant captain Chris Kelly told The Pink Puck. “You’re going to score goals in games and you’re going to get scored on in games. I think that’s been one of our strengths in the past is keeping that even keel and letting things not affect us for too long. We’ve been able to play our game and bounce back even though maybe starts haven’t been great or periods weren’t great; we were able to come back and find ways to win.”
All teams suffer adversities, though it does seem like the Bruins have seen quite a bit of late. And it seems like these issues have been playing mind games with some of the players. Regardless of what has been sent their way, they need to find a way to shake it off and get back to playing their game.
That’s what makes good teams, is teams that come to play whatever the circumstances may be. — Gregory Campbell
“It’s part of being mature as a team to be able to overcome those things, not only the down periods in seasons, but the periods in games that don’t go your way. I think that falls on the experience that we have and [we] really have to resort to that,” fourth-liner Gregory Campbell explained to The Pink Puck. “We’ve succeeded for a long time on this team and there’s been lots of times where we’ve been going pretty good as a team, so I think we’ve got to resort to what we did and how we’ve played and how we’ve played as a team night in, night out. That’s what makes good teams, is teams that come to play whatever the circumstances may be.”
The Bruins have a mountain to climb right now. All the players are aware of the urgency that is needed. Of course, that can sometimes cause players to grip the sticks too tight. They need to focus on their game and play as the team they have been in the past.
“I think it’s just to make sure everyone’s on the same page,” Kelly told The Pink Puck. “Everyone realizes that we have a good team here and the pucks are going to go in, but you just need to play the system, work hard and be ready to work that much harder if things aren’t going in easily for us.”
For most NHL players, the Olympics are just something extra. They’re fun, and being able to say you have a gold medal is pretty cool, but it kind of takes a backseat to the Stanley Cup. For women, that same gold medal is everything. They don’t have a Stanley Cup to win, they just have this one tournament every four years, and this year, America was gunning for gold.
Right up until the final five minutes of the game, it looked like it was in the bag, too, they were 2-0 up on a scrambling Team Canada. With 3:26 left in the third period, Brianne Jenner scores the 2-1 goal. With 51 seconds left, Marie-Philip Poulin scores the tying goal, and would go on to score the OT game winner, securing a fourth consecutive gold medal for the Canadian Women’s Team. It was a behemoth of a comeback, and I’d expect nothing else from the calibre of player in the women’s game at this tournament. This was the game that made me want to learn to play, the game that made people start to look at female hockey players like just hockey players. At least two professional careers were launched from Sochi (Noora Raty, who didn’t medal, but was probably Finland’s best player for the whole tournament, and Shannon Szabados, who’s smashing glass ceilings left, right and centre in the SPHL).
February 20th, Hayley Wickenheiser elected into the IOC athlete commission
Every eight years, the International Olympics Committee elects two new athletes for the athlete commission. This year Saku Koivu and Beckie Scott (two time Olympic medallist in cross-country skiing) stepped down, and Hayley Wickenheiser received almost eight hundred votes to join Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen on the committee for the next eight years.
Wickenheiser has the most Olympic medals of any Canadian athlete, and she’s been paving the way for female hockey players for years, being the first female skater to play in a men’s league, and the first female player to score a goal in a men’s league, playing in two Finnish leagues and a Swedish league.
March, Noora Raty signs with Kiekko-Vantaa, a second tier men’s team
After Sochi, Noora Raty wrote a letter retiring from hockey, because she simply couldn’t afford to play women’s hockey (which is unpaid) without working a full time job, and she just didn’t have the time to do both. She then signed with Kiekko-Vantaa, a Finnish team in the Mestis league. She’s only the second woman to play in this league, after Hayley Wickenheiser, almost ten years previously. She was eventually loaned out to Bewe-Tuuski, a team in the third tier league, and became the first Finnish woman to play in a men’s professional league.
Raty’s always been a history-maker though, in her senior year at Minnesota, she went undefeated all season, with a record of 38-0-0, 17 shutouts, 36 GAA and a save percentage of .956%. I can’t wait to see what kind of numbers she puts up in Mestis.
March 5th, Shannon Szabados practices with the Edmonton Oilers
At the start of March, the Edmonton Oilers had just traded Devan Dubnyk away, but had a practice scheduled for the morning before his replacement, Viktor Fasth would arrive. Shannon Szabados, fresh off her gold medal win in Sochi, stepped in and helped Ben Scrivens out at the Oilers practice. This brought with it a Twitter campaign to get the Oilers to sign Szabados as the backup for that night’s game, with the hashtag #SzabadosForBackup gaining more and more enthusiasm by the minute. Disappointingly, the Oilers signed a goalie from the University of Alberta’s men’s team, but Szabados has said if they ever come calling, she’ll be there.
March 7th, Shannon Szabados becomes the first woman to sign with an SPHL team
Shortly after making headlines by practicing with the Oilers, Szabados decided she wasn’t done. She signed with the Columbus Cottonmouths, a professional men’s team in the Southern Professional Hockey League. She’s the first woman to sign with this league, and she follows Manon Rheaume and Danielle Dube as Canadian women goaltenders to play in men’s leagues.
March 15th, Shannon Szabados becomes the first female goaltender to start a game in the SPHL
In her first start, Szabados made twenty seven saves on thirty one shots in a 4-3 loss to the Knoxville Ice Bears. She would finish the season with a record of 0-2-0 and a save percentage of .894%, but she must have impressed someone on the Cottonmouths, because she was resigned for next season after their exit from the playoffs.
June, Jincy Dunne is the only girl to compete at the 2014 Toyota-USA Hockey National Championships, with the St Louis AAA Blues
At sixteen, Jincy Dunne was selected to join the Team USA women’s hockey team for consideration for the Sochi Olympics. More recently, she was named captain for the US team that ended up winning silver at the 2014 IIHF Under-18 World Championships in Budapest. Nowadays though, she plays with the boys, playing defence for the St Louis AAA Blues in the National Championships in Wisconsin, taking home another silver medal. She could have chosen to play for the Lady Blues with her sister and usual defensive partner, but when a spot opened up on the boys’ team, she took it, playing instead with her brother, and she doesn’t seem inclined to go back to the women’s game any time soon.
June 11th, Charline Labonte becomes the first openly gay North American hockey player
She was one of 109 athletes, coaches and sports personalities to officially come out this year, and joins six other openly gay hockey players (all women). She’s one of only nine hockey players to ever come out as gay, but she’s not going to be the last.
October 3rd, Hilary Knight practices with the Anaheim Ducks
Hilary Knight made history in October by becoming the first female skater to practice with an NHL team, and made even more waves by choosing to wear a half visor instead of her usual cage, like every player on the Ducks.
In an interview with The Pink Puck, she revealed that she’d actually had offers from men’s leagues in Europe, but she turned them down, because her priority first and foremost is growing the sport for girls in North America, and she’s determined to make playing in men’s leagues in America work, following in Shannon Szabados’ footsteps. To paraphrase a popular superhero film from a couple of years ago, Hilary Knight recognises the existence of a glass ceiling but given that it’s dumb, she’s electing to ignore it.
October 13th, Anne Schleper practices with the Tampa Bay Lightning
Before the dust even had a chance to settle in the world of women’s hockey, Anne Schleper jumped right up, not to be outdone by her Sochi teammate, joining Steven Stamkos and his Tampa Bay Lightning for a practice. She joined Knight in the Women Wearing A Half Visor club, too, showing the world that women can play hockey without full facial protection. In other words, just like men, without fear of breaking their pretty faces (note: sarcasm).
October 22nd, Noora Raty plays her first game for Kiekko-Vantaa
After finishing the end of the last season in the third tier league in Finland, Raty returns to Kiekko-Vantaa for the start of the new season. She’s played five games, and has a save percentage of .906%. Her goal is to become the starter by the end of the year, and once she gets her feet under her, she can easily pull out the kind of numbers she displayed with the Gophers and the national team.
November 21st, Shannon Szabados becomes the first woman to win a game in the SPHL
After going 0-2-0 to start the season, Shannon Szabados recorded her first professional win in a 5-4 OT victory against the Fayetteville Fireantz. She’s since gone 5-4, and was named the SPHL’s player of the week recently, going 2-0-0 on the week, with a .963% save percentage, and 1.49 GAA. She seems to have settled into her groove, and together with Andrew Loewen, she’s helped them win twelve of the last fifteen games, including a ten game win streak started by her OT victory over Fayetteville.
December 13th, Inaugural CWHL All Star Game
After a year of big news for women’s hockey, the All Star Game is possibly the most exciting. Taking place in the Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, with captains voted for by fans, and forty of the best CWHL players chosen, it’s a smaller version of the popular NHL All Star Games. It was even aired by Sportsnet in Canada, and the NHL network in America, one of the first women’s hockey games to be aired by a major network, coming off the back of a new TV deal whereupon Sportsnet will air some regular season CWHL games, as well as the Clarkson Cup final in March.
It’s been an exciting year for women’s hockey, but it’s only going to get better. With news of new leagues in Europe, and talk of expansion for the CWHL itself, 2015 is going to be even better. We’ll have to wait and see which glass ceiling gets smashed next.
Coming off a holiday break, the Royals took on the Elmira Jackals Friday night in Elmira and Saturday night in Reading. On Friday night the Royals picked up their 4th win in a row and the 500th win in Royals history. The Royals beat Elmira 5-2 after picking up a two goal lead in the first and two more goals in the second. By the end of the third, the Royals would be able to pick up one more goal, while the Jackals were only able to score two more goals to try and close the Royals massive lead. With the four consecutive wins, the Royals were able to work their way up to third place in the Eastern Division. On Saturday night, they set out for their fifth straight win.
First Period
With goalie Connor Knapp and defenseman Adam Comrie called up to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Royals started off Saturday night with a new face in the net. Joe Howe filled in for Knapp in between the pipes during Saturday night’s game, while another new face Matt DiGirolamo sat in as back-up goalie. In the previous season, Howe played 18 games with the Cincinnati Cyclones. Recently, he has played eight games for the Utah Grizzlies this season. He had a .907 saving percentage with Cincinnati and currently has a .886 saving percentage with Utah. The Royals have been experiencing many goalie changes so far this season, and have had a total of four different goalies guarding the net throughout the season: Martin Ouellette, Knapp, Peter Dundovich and now Howe.
Coach Courville explained his decision with his current goalie situation, “Well if you remember the last time we lost a goaltender, we were in a position where Knapp didn’t have his best game. When that happens, you don’t want to continue to keep them in the net. You want to have someone who can go in, so he doesn’t lose his confidence. Last time we didn’t make the best decision for those games. We knew we wanted to have Knapp play those two games, but unfortunately in that second game things weren’t going his way, and the other guy really hadn’t played pro hockey for a number of years now, and we had to put him in a position where he could be successful. It wasn’t fair for the team. We also heard that [Flyer’s goalie Steve] Mason was carried off the ice. We thought it would be more useful to have someone who could be long term. I knew Timmy [the Utah Grizzlies coach] had three goalies and that same day he had a guy sent down, so I think he had four. So I put a call into him and the kid was going through labors already; he had already put paperwork in. He said that he would call the league to take that away so we could make the trade.”
Jordan Heywood (Photo: Reading Royals Web Site)
The first period started out sloppy with multiple mistakes, but luckily enough for both teams the score remained tied at zero for most of the period. In the last five minutes Royals’ defenseman Jordan Heywood scored his first professional goal with assists from Andrew Johnston and Olivier Labelle. In the night prior, Royals’ forward Matt Hatch also scored his first goal of the season. As the clock hit 16:00, Labelle received a pass from Johnston and shot it from the top of the crease. The puck ended up sliding past the net and into Heywood’s possession. He quickly took advantage of the situation and pushed it in past Elmira’s goalie Sam Marotta to give Reading the lead. By the end of the period, the Royals would outshoot the Jackals 16-2 and hit the locker rooms with a 1-0 lead.
Second Period
In the beginning of the second period, Elmira fired back to kill the Royals’ lead. At just 3:36 into the second period the unguarded Jackal’s forward Lucas Bloodoff struck back and shoved one under Howe just after missing a shot seconds prior. Within the next five minutes Elmira took the lead by scoring at 7:55 into the period. Elmira’s forward Ryan Rashid shot one along the goal line and somehow got the puck into the net. The Jackals took a 2-1 lead and broke the Royals’ streak of 15 consecutive successful penalty kills. The Royals wouldn’t let the Jackals keep their lead for long as forward Pat Mullane scored with just less than four minutes left in the period. Mullan fired the show low into Marotta, but the puck had just enough energy to slide under his pads and over the goal line. Marotta turned realizing the puck had made it past him, but was too late. The last few minutes would go scoreless and the period would end with the teams tied 2-2.
Third Period
In the second half of the third the Royals would reclaim their lead. At 12:04 Labelle scored his ninth goal of the season after Johnston carried the puck down the ice with help from Hatch. As Labelle trailed the two, he received a pass from Johnston and fired it past Marotta. Three minutes later Heywood would get both his second goal of the game and of the season. As LaBelle curtained in front of the net, Heywood shot one from the blue line and into the net making the score 4-2. This was not the first time this sort of situation occurred with Heywood though.
After the game he stated, “Actually, my first year of junior hockey, I didn’t score a goal until, I think it was February. I had like a 43-game pointless streak, and then I got two goals. And it was my first two of the season too.”
With time running out and Elmira down by two the Royals were getting comfortable with their lead, but Elmira wasn’t ready to give up. After a time out, the Jackals pulled their goalie in hopes of closing the gap. Their strategy paid off with only 25 seconds left in the game. After the Royals took a couple of cross ice shots and ended up icing the puck multiple times, Elmira scored. Jackal forward Matt Tassone slipped one in after Howe blocked a shot from defenseman Steven Shamanski. Elmira closed the gap, but were unable to score any more goals giving the Royals their fifth win in a row.
What’s Next?
With their five consecutive wins, the Royals have worked their way up to third place in the Eastern Division and are also now in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. The Royals will play the Jackals again on New Year’s Eve at 5:30 in Reading. Elmira is currently in sixth place in the Eastern Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference. After that the Royals will be on the road the next weekend as they take on the Evansville Ice Men and the Indianapolis Fuel. Evansville is currently twelfth in the Eastern Conference while Indianapolis is in last place. The Royals have not played Evansville yet this season and the last time the Royals played Indianapolis they won 6-4.
The Royals seem to have been doing better on the road this season, and therefore the team has high hopes of accumulating more wins while they are away next weekend. Forward Sean Wiles stated, “We just have to work hard. When we get our heads down, we just need to keep working hard. I think that when we win our battles is when we play the best.”
Anytime after Christmas is going to be rough on any team but the Ontario Reign proved that wasn’t completely the case after their two-game weekend against the Idaho Steelheads. The two teams met once again and both a win and a loss came out of the duo for the Reign.
Dec. 26 shootout win
The game was close, in fact a little too close for comfort. The Reign won 5-4 in a shootout but things could have completely turned around in a second. Idaho opened up the scoring first after a two-on-one issue by Wade MacLeod at 8:39. Not long after, Ludwig Karlsson fired a shot right past Reign goaltender Jussi Olkinuora at 13:31 to end the first period with a 2-0 lead for Idaho.
Ontario bounced back during the second period with three goals from Derek Couture, Gasper Kopitar and Rocco Carzo that kept them in the running. The Steelheads weren’t going to just give the Reign the “W” that easily. Idaho scored two more goals during the second from Brett Robinson and Troy Vance that kept their lead going and the period ended at 4-3.
The third period came around with almost no changes until Reign’s Vincent Arseneau tied the game up at 8:27. With no other goals for the rest of the period, it was time for some overtime fun.
None of the teams scored during the overtime period so they forced a shootout. Olkinuora denied all four of Idaho’s shooters and took the victory with 31 saves.
Dec. 27 shootout loss
Good things don’t last forever and proof of this for the Reign came just 24 hours after their shootout win. Ontario fell to the Steelheads 4-3 in a shootout to end the post-Christmas weekend.
Ontario’s Matt White got the Reign on the scoreboard first at 2:46 of the first period but their early lead didn’t last for long when Idaho’s Colin Shea evened things up at 5:52. The Steelheads then pulled ahead with a go-ahead goal by Alex Belzile at 9:22 when his shot bounced in the air off the skate of a Reign player and dropped into the net. The first ended with Idaho leading 2-1.
The second period didn’t go any better for the Reign as the only goal scored throughout the middle stanza was from Idaho’s Patrick Cullity at 11:36. Ontario woke up during the third just in time to force overtime once again with goals from Judd Blackwater and Geoff Walker. When neither team scored during the extra time, the match went into a shootout.
The game ended in the fourth round when Belzile got past Reign’s goaltender Joe Cannata to give Idaho that extra point they needed for the win.
California comebacks
The weekend wasn’t as terrible as others but having to resort to shootouts on both days is something that should be avoided. The Ontario Reign will be looking to turn things around against the Stockton Thunder on Dec. 30 and 31 to get one last chance to get some more wins in before the new year starts.
After losing their last four games, the Buffalo Sabres needed to come out of the holiday break with a win. Going into the third period of last nights game did not look promising for the team as they were down 3-0 against the New York Islanders. Then something changed in the team’s game and they were able to comeback and take the game to a shootout. “It just goes to show you the type of character we have in this room and a no-quit attitude.” Sabres Drew Stafford said.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Wippert)
New York opened the scoring just four minutes into the first period when Nick Leddy took a shot from the blue line and was able to sail the puck just over Jhonas Enroth’s shoulder to make it 1-0.
John Tavares scored his first of the night midway through the second period on a misstep on Buffalo’s part. With play deep in their own end, Buffalo’s Mike Weber was unable to get the puck to his own teammate and Tavares was able to pick up the loose puck and put it in the net. Just three minutes later, Tavares got his second of the night on a nice pass from teammate Josh Bailey. This two goal night put Tavares into the team lead for most goals so far this season.
If this game was played earlier in the season, Buffalo would have almost certainly been done and possibly had a much larger deficit. However, they did not give up and the third period turned out to be their best period. Nicolas Deslauriers would open the scoring for Buffalo in the third when the Islanders tried to clear the puck from in front of the net. Deslauriers was in the right spot to intercept and was able to find the back of the net to make the score 3-1. Four minutes later while shorthanded, Deslauriers found a semi open Zemgus Girgensons and he fought off Johnny Boychuk to get himself in a position to get the puck past goalie Kevin Poulin. Just under two minutes later Chris Stewart took a pass from Drew Stafford and just slid in front of the net and put the puck in, making the game 3-3.
Enroth saved the game in overtime after saving a point blank shot from Thomas Hickey and the game would go to a shootout. The only player to score in the shootout was Buffalo’s Tyler Ennis. Tavares had a nice opportunity to tie it up but Enroth was able to stay with him and help Buffalo win the game. Buffalo’s record now stands at 14-19-3 sitting in 14th in the conference standings and New York’s record now stands at 23-11-1 sitting 3rd in the conference standings.
Buffalo travels to Ottawa for a Monday night game against the Senators and New York returns home to play Monday night against the Washington Capitals.
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