Can you hear Brunhilde Warming Up?

Ok, the time has come to introduce the smelly elephant in the room, the Chicago Wolves were beaten by the Milwaukee Admirals last night 3:2. Ending their mathematical chances at the playoffs the this season. Atlanta had chimed in earlier in the day calling goalie Ondrej Pavelec to Atlanta leaving Wolves with Brett Khran and Dan Turple. Now, that hurts, when the parent club takes it's crown jewel and run to play spoiler in the NHL since it's own playoff chances are over. So sad, too bad for the Wolves who started out well this season raising fans hopes with their new coach then struggling in December, flaming out in January then nose diving in February. Then calling it in for the rest of the season. A few stand out players did on a regular basis attempt to play with heart and stood out like sore thumbs. Chad Denny, Captain Jamie Rivers, Joey Crabb, Spencer Machacek gave and never stopped giving to their team, bravo to all of them! Steve Martin played well most nights but also fell into the the funk affecting the team on occasion.

Now that the math has been done the collective belly aching and predictable calling for Coach Granato's head has begun. Wolves fans are accustomed to playoffs yearly and a season that ends before the middle of May is practically unheard of for Wolves faithful. Well this year if those of us who are the usual residents of of the Allstate Arena wish to see playoff hockey we will have to travel to see it. Making the trek to the lovely Bradley center in Milwaukee, Rockford with it's world class hockey fans, or Peoria celebrating their first time in the playoffs since joining the AHL. It will be great hockey, enjoyable but not quite the same thrill as watching the home team win.

Whether or not there is a wholesale carnage in the Wolves locker room is a decision which will be made by persons with more experience and hockey smarts than I. However, Coach Granato does seem to have one policy that looks like it is producing a toxic residue. As many of us in the stands have noticed every time a a player has entered into a fight that has garnered penalty minutes that player is benched for several games afterward. This policy has hit enforcer Mike Hoffman especially hard, to penalize a player for enforcing the code just poisons the ice. If Granato wants to bench a player for stupid penalties he should start with Brett Sterling and his always ill timed hooking calls. Although I am in no way a supporter of gladiator style hockey the surgical style of a true enforcer is something I see the necessity of and respect in the North American game.

What I do know is that many of us are going to make serious decisions regarding season ticket packages on the basis of those front office decisions in the coming weeks and months . Every off season is an interesting time to study team personality and politics. This off season is going to be absolutely fascinating for those of us who watch the Wolves.