news of the minors: podcast, Oklahoma City Barons, etc.

So, of course I'm following the ECHL finals and AHL conference playoffs (no sweeps this round, and curiously, two matchups that feature Montreal vs Dallas affiliates [Cincinnati vs Idaho, Hamilton vs Texas]). And doing a not-so-good job of following the other minor leagues (I do know the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL won their third consecutive Turner Cup. Congrats to them, but now I'm even more disappointed that Indiana is the only Midwestern/Great Lakes state I didn't see a hockey game in this season).

And yesterday I put in a brief appearance on The Rink Podcast (with my phone acting up a little) to talk Chicago Wolves and other mostly non-NHL stuff. This show is by @Tapeleg, of the blog Jerseys and Hockey Love, which I've followed for a while because it's by someone who likes hockey road trips and minor leagues. Other guests discuss Predators and Bruins.

Yesterday was also the day the Amarillo Gorillas ceased operations in the Central Hockey League. I heard via hockeyfights.com. They had been in the CHL since 2002, but Amarillo, TX has had minor league teams since 1996. (I've never seen teams in these leagues; I definitely want at least one trip to Southern hockey markets next season.) Quickly grabbed the shot above--by the way, does anyone archive websites of defunct sports teams?

In happier news, yesterday Oklahoma City announced the name, logo, and jersey designs for their new AHL team (and Edmonton Oilers affilate--formerly it was Springfield): the Oklahoma City Barons. The name wasn't a well-kept secret, though their were rumors of oths. I've kept up via @puckchk (a Blackhawks fan in OKC) on Twitter. Here's the team's new official Twitter. I got all these within an hour or so of the press conference:

Someone immediately went to the new Facebook page to express their unhappiness with the name; this is just...wow. (By the way, if you see the "People Like This"? I'm pretty sure FB didn't use to post full names when you'd click on a page without being signed in. One of the many annoying changes to the site; I'd prefer not to post strangers' full names here.)

Presumably OKC will be division rivals of the Chicago-area and Texas teams. Checking my Flickr stats yesterday, I noticed views from an OKC board, linking to one of my Wolves photos (I've really got to get more of my minor league shots up. And my NHL ones too!)

The Barons logo was not on theahl.com yet; here's their banner with the 29 teams that operated in the 2009-10 season. There'll be other changes (Charlotte, and I'm still not clear on the Albany/Lowell/Devils affiliate situation) before long. 

HISTORY WAS MADE! uh, if anyone cares

There was a seemingly improbable Game 7 hockey playoff game tonight and I was extremely nervous before it. No, not Canadiens-Penguins, but Reading Royals vs Cincinnati Cyclones! AND THEY DID IT! Cincinnati is the FIRST team in the 22-year history of the ECHL, and only the SIXTH team in the history of pro hockey, to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win 4 straight games and advance--in this case, to the Kelly Cup Finals, vs the Idaho Steelheads! More on the story here. I was sad I didn't make it to an ECHL playoff game in my first year of real hockey fandom (and I've only been to one ECHL game at all), but it looks like I'll have a chance...next week. Now I'm really glad I bought that cute Cyclones hat...

And it was DOLLAR BEER NIGHT. God am I jealous of anyone who was at the game...even though the final score was a nail-biting 1-0.

I'll give a recap of the Cyclones playoffs when I have time to read a bit more about them...I know there was a notorious brawl resulting in suspensions in this series. Maybe I'll even dig up photos of players or something; the ECHL sites aren't the most picture-heavy...

Oh...and Philadelphia Flyers? Please don't get any ideas about being the seventh team, okay?

amazing Toledo Walleye game tonight!

no, I wasn't there. I had a free (or maybe it was $1) Megabus seat to Toledo Saturday, and wanted to check out my first-ever Toledo Walleye (ECHL, affiliate of both the Blackhawks AND the Red Wings, if you can imagine such a thing) game, vs. Charlotte Checkers (the Albany River Rats of the AHL are moving to Charlotte, so I'm unclear what's happening to the Checkers), in the Lucas County Arena, which wasn't even around on my photography daytrip to Toledo (late 2008). but the Megabus stop in Toledo isn't in the heart of downtown like most of their stops (usually as close to Greyhound/Amtrak stations as they can get away with), but miles away, in the parking lot of an abandoned shopping mall. SERIOUSLY. and then the mall was torn down (I actually took the 2008 daytrip to get photos of it before it was gone, then rode the city bus--$1 fare!--into downtown). it's not a bad area (I believe a Waffle House is nearby) but you can't really get from downtown to there at night...

so I stayed in Chicago (and did something hockey-related I'll post ASAP) and stayed in tonight watching what hockey I could find online and following @ToledoWalleye on Twitter. Akim Aliu, who'd just been sent to Toledo from the Rockford IceHogs (where I saw him play last Saturday--seeing the same player in two different leagues on consecutive Sat. nights would have been interesting), scored his first Walleye goal in this game. then they were up 2-0, then the Checkers scored 4 goals to make it 4-2, but Walleye came back and scored in OT and won 6-5. TWO goals by Aliu in the game. damn, that sounds as good as anything I saw this year. usually hockey fan pages on Facebook are just horrifying in comments, but minor-league pages aren't as bad. much less inane trash talk (the NHL page) or gloating/predicting doom (Blackhawks page). since I couldn't go, this is the game recap:

 

anyway, not sure if I'll make it to a Walleye game or not. maybe it seems strange to be living in Chicago with very successful and exciting NHL and AHL teams (and I've been to some spectacular games in the past few weeks), and wishing I could see ECHL and junior hockey and college games...

another hockey hat: Cincinnati Cyclones

well, there are serious things to discuss...or at least a bunch of story links and fight videos to post, but when I was ready to write several blog posts last night, my Internet quit working (it was connected, but running at approximately a dial-up in 1994 speed) and after several fruitless hours of restarting it I gave up. so, for now, just something to pander to the "Girls in Minor League Hockey Hats" fetishists out there. in this case, Girls in Minor League Hockey Hats with Hilariously Awful Logos--I refer you to this review at the Bush League Factor.

I bought this at my Monday night game--seeing the Johnstown Chiefs play the Cincinnati Cyclones. of course I'll have pictures of the arena/a fuller review "later" like all my other game recaps...for now let me sum it up:

OMG how does a team have 5 shots on goal in the FIRST FORTY SECONDS and 14 SOG before the VISITING TEAM EVEN GETS ONE and they're one of the TOP TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE and have a good home record AND they're playing the ABSOLUTE WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE and yet they manage to lose to the WORST TEAM by a SCORE OF 5-1? FUCKING HELL, HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?! HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT HAPPEN?!!

still, it was entertaining, especially because of the fight/brawl that happened with 23 seconds left on the clock, and the fact that I was sitting close enough to the Chiefs' bench to heckle them if I wanted to (I didn't, but I heard other people). it was a lot of entertainment for $12. and I did want a hat in part because it's such a silly logo, and because I'm from Iowa State Cyclones country and hey, it's another team with the same colors called the Cyclones! why not?