ECHL
January To June In 60 Minutes
A rare and special simulcast from The NHL Arena Program…enjoy everyone…
Time to go from January to June in our unique way….via the blog of course.
We opened up the New Year with The Winter Classic. Crosby scored the GWG in the shootout and no one was really surprised. The LS Insider was on fire talking about Ribeiro and Savard among other things. We did some Mid-Year Reports on the tri-state area teams (Devils, Isles, Rangers). I even remembered to wish the wife a Happy Birthday. The blog turned one and we celebrated with The Blog Of The Year. There was some Arena Gathering in Phoenix…and an All-Star Game in Atlanta.
Then we counted down to the Trade Deadline with yours truly…with parts 1,2, 3, and more. There was a new column called Ask A Panelist where we let people ask us all sorts of questions. Thankfully Zednik was okay. Before the deadline, Pogo did a special for Injury Ninja Awareness Month (believe me its true…really). We all got antsy before the deadline…and then it came and went….then there was recapping.
March came in like a lion with some fantasy impact. The funny thing there was something about a six man tag in Hockey Around The Horn. Rick won the overall in professor-like fashion. The LSHL and Stevens’ leagues were going down to the wire. The Hockey Top 5 was indirectly introduced. Hockey Around The Horn went at it for a sixth time proving it never gets old. We paid a salute to my favorite drinks and went into more fantasy updates. Also, I wished a Happy Birthday to Mr. Hockey.
April came along with teams clinching already. There was an argument about snack foods. We saluted fantasy champs as the playoffs started with signs. The ladies went at it for the HATH and it was quite the experience. Round 1 rolled on by as the Devils and Senators were sent packing. We previewed Round 2 and introduced a Phanatic. The strangeness of the Habs-Flyers series took a backseat to the tale of Sean Avery. April was something else to say the least.
May showed us even more if that was possible. There was a pilot to bombadeer…and a beloved owner died. All hell broke lose with Versus, LS Insider, the Reaper, the final 4 was finally set after many hours, and Danada and Stevens fought over the Eastern Conference Final Preview. Toronto made a crash landing of sorts. I learned quite a lot in these playoffs and well the US felt cheated and I was humbled by Wings. The playoffs did start to bore us some admittedly but the Worlds saved us. The HATH part 8 snuck in with a new format. Russia struck gold and Danada felt bad for Canada.
Oh wait there was more playoffs to come. Then there was just waiting. But there were special interviews from the Wings and Pens’ sides of it in between a little Tamby face time. I made a prediction and angered an Ogre…sorta. Finally there was a Finals and Detroit made an initial whitewashing. Rick came in with The Cold War. I began to wonder when the finals were going to start…then things got interesting. Ogre took on Hockeytown and the Wings humbled me again.
Finally there was June. We were told to respect our elders, and that the Wings should win it in five. Unexpectedly the game kept going and going until Petr Sykora called his shot. I took a stand on diving and flopping then realized we needed more cider and a prediction. There was some relatively breaking news, and the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. The offseason started with a Brady-like bang! Then there was all sorts of offseason bizarre activity. We said goodbye to a legend, were amazed by Euro Power, and lastly the LWL took on all 30 NHL teams.
It has truly been an amazing run to the offseason. The funny thing about hockey is the hardest part is to say goodbye even for a few months. Off the ice so far, it has been as hot as it was on the ice…go figure! With the Awards, Draft, and Frenzy all coming up….there will still be plenty to talk about at The NHL Arena and here of course.
Dateline: Hockey Siberia??
Today is an anniversary of sorts for me. Two years ago I completed the cross country move from a relative hotbed of hockey (for me anyway) in Rahway, New Jersey and moved all the way out to Yucca Valley, California. Hey I knew it would be like a whole completely different country out here but I really didn’t know what I was in for. They say the High Desert is kind of a wasteland for life but really it isn’t. Though there isn’t much to do at all out here other than enjoy nature, and go to a drive in, and well…shop…there isn’t that much just yet.
Worse, for me at least, was there was no hockey leagues nearby. The closest one was in Palm Desert…some 50 minutes away. Who wants to go driving with sweaty hockey equipment just to play hockey?? Well in a word….ME! So once a week I go down the hill to play…been doing it for almost two years now. My skills are not what they used to be but it is fun to be able to just get out there and enjoy the time with friends and puck. Okay…okay…and have a beer or two afterwards. That reminds me that I have to sharpen my skates at some point when the season begins again in a couple months.
Now as for professional teams…in New Jersey as everyone knows…you are close to everything. I could go to a Devils, Rangers, Isles, or Flyers game with relative easy…all within 2 hours drive (barring traffic). I had the access to even take the train down to Trention to see how my ECHL team is doing.  By the time I got out here….there was NOTHING close and I had to realize that quickly. Even worse the closest minor league team in Las Vegas is about 4 hours away and the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks are about 3.  With gas prices around $3.50 a gallon or so and the economy in a brain fart….it does make it hard to go. Quite literally I knew I was stuck in the middle of nowhere but I make the best of it.
When I do get to go out for games…it is an experience. I will usually meet up with the guys from Puckpodcast. These guys are amazing and really know hockey. They are the #1 podcast out there on ITunes and the internet. Go to their site sometime and check them out. You will know why they are where they are in the hockey world. My wife is the biggest Ducks fan in the world so I kind of had to adopt them as my second team….even though, yes I still despise Scott Niedermayer (but that is for another time).
That is the best part of the internet for me….with that and Center Ice Online….I do not miss the games I want to see and sure I have to pay what feels like an arm and a leg these days for the cable bill and hockey…it is worth it. I can find out things faster, and more reliable than I could ever before. I do occasionally pop up on podcasts so you never know, you may hear me one day talking about the sport I love more than any…..hockey.
So really is Hockey Siberia so bad?? Sure there are no real hockey magazines out here so everything has to be done online but overall I have to say no it isn’t. I get my three square meals of hockey as well as dessert. I also get to see the Devils on a regular basis…even if it feels like the condensed, short, short version.  All in all, I do miss home but I would probably miss hockey that much more. There are only four weeks of hockey till the end of the season and don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight. Enjoy the hockey!!
CSI: Lowell? Plus More Devils Stuff
Thanks to the folks at B2sports for helping me catch the game online last night between the Hershey Bears and the Lowell Devils. Now I don’t know if I saw a fluke last night but the performance by little known Dave Caruso against Hershey turned some heads last night, including mine. Doing a little research, this is what we found on the guy. Caruso is a pretty big guy…at 6 foot 1 and 215 pounds and catches with his left hand. He plays more of a hybrid style like Martin Brodeur….half butterfly half stand-up.
Caruso is still young though folks and still wet behind the ears.  Yes he did play four years at Ohio State but only has two years of professional experience under his belt. Typically, goalies need more than two years of experience in the minors and of course there is one huge notable exception on the New Jersey Devils..and that is Martin Brodeur of course (more on him later). Caruso is 25 right now (he turns 26 in June)…so the window is still open for a bit. Since he has been called up…Caruso is 4-0-1-0 and the team as a whole has seemed to play better around him compared to Parise and Doyle.
Caruso overall made 40 saves last night some of the spectacular variety. More importantly, despite the workload of shots, Caruso did not appear tired in the least. That was most encouraging to me. He faced 34 shots in the last two periods…giving up only one goal in that span…and that goal by Kyle Wilson (Hershey) was after 2 solid saves at point blank range. The best save I saw him make last night was on a breakaway in the second period by Andrew Gordon….the biggest thing I saw in Caruso was a very quick glove hand….that aspect of his game is NHL caliber no question.
Right now Caruso would be a good 2 years away from an NHL team and that is if he continues his solid play since he was called up from Trenton on February 13th. He still has to take the reins in Lowell before he could even be considered for the big club and a few solid performances will not do that alone.  Oh by the way…his record this year for Lowell is 4-2 with a 2.33 GAA and a .931 save percentage. His ECHL record with Trenton was 13-16-4 this season with a 2.59 GAA and .917 save percentage. Those are some pretty respectable numbers. Caruso has considerable work to do but I like his attitude…after the game he acknowledged basically that his lateral speed and puckhandling skills need some more work but that he is working with the goalie coaches on that. Nice to see he is proactive and someone I would like to see up on the big club down the road. However, there is a stone wall up there known as Brodeur.
Martin Brodeur really is a role model for all the goalies in the Devils’ organization. Not many know this but Brodeur does work with some of the minor league goalies in the offseason.  You never know where they will pop up together…sometimes at South Mountain and sometimes all around the North Jersey area…even in Newark. That being said, Jacques Caron (the Devils Goalie Coach) also works with the guys on various goaltending drills to get their speed, conditioning, and abilities up to a better level. No doubt goalies like Caruso can learn a lot from Brodeur. I know some in the media basically ask why a goalie would want to play in the New Jersey system right now, knowing that Brodeur probably has a good 3 to 5 seasons left. The answer is simple…what better way to improve than to learn from one of the best goalies to ever play the game period.
So what does the future look like in New Jersey with their goaltending? It doesn’t appear to be as bad as many in the mainstream make it out to be. Now can anyone actually replace a Brodeur? Of course not!! However it will be interesting to see who takes that challenge on.
