The leaves are turning, and my minds turning to HOCKEY!

I love this time of year, the air is as crisp as a newly picked apple, sleeping with the window open and an extra blanket. Hockey season is a fresh slate and a new beginning. This year the Chicago Wolves are an especially fresh slate. The coaching staff is new John Anderson has moved up to Atlanta taking Ex Amerk Todd Nelson with him. Their replacements are Don Granato as Head Coach and Jason Christie as Assistant. They worked together in Peoria with the UHL Rivermen and should bringing a fresh prospective and blood to the Wolves. It will be exciting to watch them grow within the system and the system change under their infulence.

Several familiar on ice faces have moved on. Daryn Hayder will be icing for the Grand Rapids Griffins. Jason Krog and Gui Desbiens will both be wearing Manitoba Moose uniforms next week when the season opens. It will be great to see them in town a couple of times a year and fair play to them both, good to see they could stay in North America and out of the Super League. Andre Deveaux will be( Gasp) looking for housing in Toronto, he signed early with the Marlies last spring. It is a sad fact of life in the AHL that the championship team is often cannibalized for the next year, well, it's time to accept the carnage and move on.

The good news for the Wolves. It was announced that Boris Valabik, Artus Kuda, Colin Stuart, Jordan Lavalle(??), Joe Motzko, and Joey Crabb were coming up from Atlanta after camp. On the goalie front Dan Turple and Robert Gherson are on their way north and according to rumor Ondrej Pavelec is also assigned to Chicago. However there is gossip circulating that Pavelec is not a happy camper at the Chicago assignment, after winning Lady Calder a winter in Atlanta would have been more to his taste. Coming up from Gwinette is Chad Denny of the hard wirster and Myles Stoez of the equally hard upper cut, let's see what these kids can do. A new addition to the Wolves this season is Jr. Lessard a scrappy red head who can skate, score and get the job done. It will be exciting to see just what he can add to the Chicago line up, it will be quite a change for him after the cornfields of Iowa.

Lastly, returning this year Steve Martins one of last years Alternate Captains, for what it is worth he has my vote for an upgrade to the "C". It has been a long off season, I'll be the first to start the chant "drop the puck already!".