Hockeyworld! 3/8/2010

AHL

Abbotsford Heat

• The Heat recently hosted the finals for the Pee Wee Division Light the Lamp Shootout. They also hosted the finals for the Atom Division.


• Heat forward Riley Armstrong was traded to the Detroit Red Wings organization and was assigned to Grand Rapids. Says Armstrong, "It's a big change for me - packing up from out of nowhere, moving all my clothes out in one day right now. It's a lot on the mind, a lot on the body." Those of you who understand our affinity for "Li'l Army" will also understand when we say we don't know how we feel about this.


• The latest Heat Report.


• The Heat's next two games are at home against the Lake Erie Monsters on Friday and Saturday. They are currently third in their division, two spots and two points ahead of Lake Erie.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• If you see the Tigers wearing hats off the ice, here's why.

The Sound Tigers have to be ready for anything at short notice.

Trevor Gillies will probably be called up for the Islanders' next game against the Flyers.

Bridgeport's next two games are at Norfolk. They are currently in fifth place in their division and have won 6 of their last 10 games.

Our AHL Features

• Former Grizzly Justin Bourne explains how the money works when players go back and forth from the farm to the "big show".


• You can take the boy out of hockey...

NHL

Calgary Flames

• Greasy goals are on the menu in Calgary. Tasty...


• If you're going to be in Calgary on Thursday, go to a Flames game. You could win the jersey off their backs.


• The Flames are one point out of a playoff spot as of today. The team they're trailing is the Detroit Red Wings, who they play Tuesday in a classic red team battle. We wonder how Li'l Army feels about this.

New York Islanders

• Rookie John Tavares and veteran Doug Weight are best buddies.


• It's official - the Islanders have recalled Trevor Gillies from Bridgeport for Tuesday's game against the Flyers. Not officially an orange team battle, but we do expect this game to have an orange flavor.


• Here's the game preview from the Islanders' official website. The Islanders are... not in last place, but they are 12 points behind Philadelphia in the conference standings. They've lost their last two games.

Our NHL Features

Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks (and the USA Olympic hockey team) will be on the cover of NHL2K11.



• If you can stop 49 shots on goal, plus a few in the shootout, you just might beat the Washington Capitals. "It's not going to be every night that your goalie's going to wear a mask and steal a game for you," Dallas's head coach said. We're not exactly sure what he means by that. Andy Brown might.


• The last day of the NHL's regular season is April 11th.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Believe it or not, there is an ice rink in St. George, Utah. We so have to try that someday.

Game Day - Utah Grizzlies vs. Las Vegas Wranglers

First things first, we admit we are waaaayyyy behind in our game write-ups. We're blaming technical problems and the DMV. We don't know yet whether it will be worth our time to go back and review the last two games against Idaho or not. For now, here's the review:


Utah vs. Idaho, Friday, November 6 = vomit

Utah vs. Idaho, Saturday, November 7 = peppermint hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles


We don't know why there was such a big difference on those two nights, but whatever. We'll take the win and shut up. Considering the Grizzlies beat the Steelheads 2 out of 3 times last week, that's not bad. It will win you a rock-paper-scissors contest.

Before we get into the game tonight, a few things have happened since we last had the pleasure of updating our blog. First of all, Ryan (GQ) Kinasewich was chosen as the ECHL Player of the Month. We thought about making another magazine cover, but eh, we already did that. Hopefully there's some kind of monetary reward from the ECHL, or at least a singing telegram.

Anyway, Ryan already made the ECHL home page with this article about his play so far this season. He is currently on pace to score 117 goals this season. The ECHL record is 85. That's pretty crazy. We could see history in the making this season.


Also in the news, Matt Clarke has been loaned to the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL affilate of the Colorado Avalanche. This will put Evan Stoflet back in the lineup for the Grizzlies. We'll miss him, but we wish him the best of luck in Lake Erie.


Now, on to the game.


Well, it's not like the Grizzlies haven't played the Wranglers before. They have. In fact, it wasn't all that long ago. And if we remember correctly, they kicked some... butt.

The Wranglers have made a few changes to their lineup since the last meeting, but the only really interesting departure seems to be Nick Ross going to the AHL. They seem to have kind of evened-out with wins and losses too - they beat Ontario twice, and lost to Bakersfield twice, then beat them once. So if you count their last game with the Grizzlies, their last six games have canceled each other out. We don't know what that means, but we're pretty proud of ourselves for doing the math.


According to Adrian Denny's game day blog on the official Grizzlies website, both Ryan Kinasewich and Mark Pavli will have family in Las Vegas to cheer them on. Pavli has been sitting out, so maybe he'll make it into the lineup sometime this week.


The Grizzlies play again in Las Vegas Thursday and Friday, and then come back into town Saturday for a match up with Las Vegas. The following weekend will feature three home games for the Grizzlies in three days against Las Vegas. If that all seems redundant, so does this season. We're actually looking forward to the round of games at Thanksgiving where they'll play Alaska. The Wranglers probably will be too. Look at what we'll be welcoming them with this weekend...

Let's see them wrangle in that.


Go Grizzlies!


PS - We will be posting some pictures and such from last Friday's game as soon as we have access to our camera and our computer at the same time.