The winning continues..Wolves take San Antoino 2:1

Last night at the Allstate the Chicago wolves took another step forward putting doubts behind them. After spending the first few minutes of the first period getting a seance of each other Chicago's Spencer Machaeck teamed up with Matt Anderson and Joe Motzko to start the fire woks early. It was a beautifully executed goal and started the night out right for the home team.

The expected physicality of the game did not develop, penalty minutes were not exceptional with the Rampage earning 26 min/13 inf and the Wolves 22 min/11 inf. In general referee Ian Croft and his team of linesmen Bryn Pancich and Aaron Mills maintained good control for the entire game despite several decent attempts at line brawls. The on ice staff has a tough job it is a fine line between letting the game play itself out and mayhem. The team managed it last night especially during the feisty second and third periods. The 3rd period tripping call on the Rampage goalie Al Moyntaya was an astute good call, it set the tone for the period.


One of the stand out players in this observers eye was Jamie Rivers,his first season with the team he is making a mark for himself. Already wearing the "A" he is a on ice leader. It is easy to catch him encouraging and checking on the younger players constantly during the game. At one point during the game last night I put down my camera just to watch him skate. Put down the camera? Yes, he is possibly the the best skater the Wolves have seen in a long time.
Powderhornhockey
The young pups are going to need the leadership on and off of the ice if the team is going to continue in their winning tradition. The "old men" of the team, Steve Martins and Jamie Rivers have a tall order for this season keeping their young charges advancing in skills and maturing in hockey smarts.

It is early days in the 08' AHL season but the Wolves seem to be making progress shaking their tail feathers and putting doubts behind them. It was a pity that Tuesday's game was seen by such a small crowd the published attendance was 3238. However, it could be questioned if over 2,000 or so spectators came dressed as empty seats. The next home game for the Wolves is Sunday 10/26 at 3:00pm.


It will be the first meeting of the season against favorite rivals Blackhawk affiliate the Rockford Icehogs. Icehog fans are an enthusiastic bunch and there will probably be a large contingent of cowbell wielding, pig snout wearing dyed in the wool Hog Fans. If last year is any indication there probably will be a bit of fire on the ice to cheer on. But remember everyone in the stands, you play nice kids.

Wolves Win Two in a Row, Flames and Rivermen fall to Hungry Wolves!

It has been a good weekend for Chicago Wolves fans. Friday night the Wolves warmed up for their home opener by shutting out the Quad city Flames 1:0 in the Wireless Center before 2387 Flames fans. Quad City goalie Matt Keetley turned away 25 SOG while Chicago's Ondrej Pavelec another 25. Penalty minutes were not equally divided between teams however, Quad City received 14 min/7 infractions while referee Ian Croftt awarded Chicago 8 min/4 inf. A number although not excessive to either team does appear unbalanced on the surface. That is unless the Wolves had their angel faces on for the night.

Home opener in Rosemont started with what has become regular event, raising the championship banner from the previous season. When it came time for all members of last years squad to join dignitaries for a photo around the Clader Cup it became apparent that by quick estimation 60% of this years team are returnees. Most of which may be not be "stars" but come with experience of the cup run none the less and this bodes well for the team and the future season.

As the game unfolded against the Peoria Rivermen both teams seem eager to test each other out both in front of the net and to fill the lines of each others dance cards. Boris Valabik was challenged several times in the first period alone, this "chippiness" continued throughout the night. In the end Valabik finished the game with 8 penalty minutes, a fairly light night for the Wolves "Excitable Boy". In the closing moments of the game Chicago's Joey Crabb and Peoria's Brad Winchester both dropped the gloves at the 20:00 mark. So intense were the initial moments the linesmen simply let the players have at it for a full minute before intervening. The crowd went wild and the players offered support by thumping their sticks on the ice. Indeed, a classic hockey moment. PIMs for both teams totalled a balanced Peoria 27 min/12 inf, Chicago 25 min/11 inf, by referee Nygel Pelletier. As always an observer could argue that there were missed calls on both sides but obviously infractions were awarded evenly by minutes.

In the end the only statistic that only matters is the score, the Chicago Wolves retired to the locker room as the victor 2:3 over the Peoria Rivermen. The home team is now 500 in the young season after a rocky start, lets hope they keep the new growth and winning going. The next Chicago Wolves home game is next Tuesday October 21st at the Allstate Arena, puck drop at 7:00pm. Given the fact that it is a week day game the attendance most likely will be much lower than the opening games 11,988. Good seats should be available until game time.

On a personal note many thanks to Snydes and her sister Fids who arranged the import of a carload of Tim Horton's Timbits to celebrate the home opener. It was an absolutely insanely delicious way to start the season. These two ladies smuggled a carload of Timbits for posters on www.wolfkeeper.org. As I have said before you just have to believe in insanity like this, these are the things that make the sport of hockey and it's culture the best.
Powderhornhockey

Wolves drop first two, Hawks fire Savard!

Chicago Blackhawks started the year out with a flourish handing Coach Denis Savard his walking papers after 4 games. This appears to be latest of the many moves by owner Rocky Witz has made to remake the Hawks in his image. Savard was quickly replaced by an internal candidate Blackhawks scout and NHL veteran coach Joel Quenneville.

Quenneville boasts a career record of 438-283-118, while Savard's at 65-66-16 with the Hawks indicates that this move may possibly indicate the wish for a more aggressive coaching line behind the bench with the team. Last year under Savard while the Hawks managed to climb to their first 40 win season since 01-02'. Despite this climb they still missed the playoffs. The Hawks will have to perform much better as a team under Quenneville to progress beyond the first round and not rely on on young blood from Rockford and the sticks of Jonathn Toews and Patrick Kane. In short the entire organization had better take it up several notches, Rocky has to pink slips out and obviously is not hesitating to use them.

Meanwhile in Rosemont the ice is firming up for Saturday's home opener. Mean while the Chicago Wolves have started the 08-09' season on the road with a western swing and two heart break defeats.


Saturday's season opener in Houston, seemed to be a game of shaking out the kinks rather than a barn burner from last year. Of course it would be, many of the players from last season are scattered to the AHL/NHL winds never to return. The Wolves are in the process of getting to know their new coach, Don Granato and he, his players, both new to the team and each other. It is going to be a while before this new incarnation of the Wolves gels into the winning form their fans expect.

Houston and the Wolves look evenly matched on for this outing, 27/28 SOG, PIM wre evenly distributed with Houston 10 min/5 inf and Wolves 8 min/4inf, typical of a Aeros/Wolves encounter. The score told the same story, Houston's Dane Crowley scored the first goal of the season at 10:35 in the first period. Colin Stuart answered for the Wolves at 14:18 during the second. Both teams fought until OT then at 2:37 Houston's Krys Kokanos ended the game and sent Chicago to the showers and on the bus to San Antonio for game two of the season.
Powderhornhockey
San Antoino this year featuring a old friends Alex Bourret and Francis Lessard both old Wolves. Frannie managed to contain himself with only 2 minutes of PIMs for holding so he must have plenty of warm fuzzes left for his od team. That's nice. Those hoping for a more exciting game two were to be left disappointed. Again the score was 2:1 a Wolves loss. San Antonio goals were notched by Allex Bourret at 12:50 in the first, and at 19:54 in the second period. The sole Wolves goal was registered by the always pesky Joey Crabb at 17:47 in the first period. Ondrej Pavlec was in goal for both games, he should be well warmed up for Saturday's home opener.

The Rampage proved to be far more feisty this game featured far more fisticuffs than the Aeros game 47 min/15 inf for the Rampage and 41 min/12 inf for the Wolves. Most notable was a bit of dancing between Boris Valabik (7 PIMs) and Garth Murray(17 PIMs) at 10:28 in the 2nd. Looks like Boris is getting back into the AHL swing of things.

It all comes home tomorrow October 18th 7:00 at the Allstate Arena,good seats are still available. Let's drop the puck already!

Giants remain on top of the Causeway!

Powderhornhockey
The Belfast Giants are another step closer to the EIHL championship today with a win over the always scrappy Sheffield Steelers 5:3 on home ice. Stevie Lyle was in goal for the Giants. Lyle was not only in great form, turning away 45 shots but was also favored with amazing luck for the night. There were several shots made by the Steelers offence that defied understanding how they didn't make it to the back of the net. Some days it just pays to get out of bed, Stevie, oh where did you hide that horse shoe?

The Giants continue to have all of their home games webcast for free. You can find the link at the right, it is both Mac and Windows friendly. It is remarkable that the owners of the Giants have made it possible for fans all over the world to watch the team gratis. The only problem, week day games occur in the midst of a work day, hummmmm how to explain to the boss that there is a Irish hockey game on the work computer in the middle of the day?

This photog and Giants fan is open to suggestions.

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!".

Belfast Giants top Elite league,but will they play without Thorton

Powderhornhockey

The Belfast Giants are firmly atop the Elite League,playing no nonsense hockey. In a tough gritty league in smaller intimate houses. These small arenas allow for a closer view of the action that we in North America can only look at and envy. However, it also allows for many fans having a great view of the game and an active and intelligent discussion of on ice incidents. Last weekend in the winning game the against the Viper's, Giant's player/coach Steve Thorton was given a 2+2 penalty for high sticking Newcstle's Andre Payette. Late last week while those of us in the States were worried about our 401Ks Giants boards were alive with discussion over the league imposing a 9 game suspension to Thorton for an upgraded Match Penalty for Slashing.

Oh dear, oh my, the good news is that the Giant's management have quickly mounted an appeal. This will allow Thorton to "ice" or play and coach until the appeal is granted or denied. So it will be status quo until the league powers at be stroke their long gray beards and issue their opinion. Steve Thorton himself gave his answer today, leading the Giants to victory against the Edinburgh Capitals 4:3, keep up that message Stevie, but watch that stick.

Giants stomp Vipers 7:2

Who were those masked men that blew the Newcastle Vipers out of the arena tonight? The game seemed civilized enough until with only minutes to go in the third period the frustrated Vipers started a bench clearing brawl that left the ice looking like a classic yard sale. Dance cards were so full that even the Belfast equipment manager was invited into the ceili. An invitation that thankfully he turned down. It was 20 minutes until the game was able to resume action, the boys behaved themselves and after the horn shook hands on the ice, nice.

This was my first time viewing the Giants free web cast, I'm hooked and have added all home games to my date book. Now that's target marketing! The next time they meet on Giants ice will be October 18th, 1300 CST. The will also play next weekend in Newcastle on Saturday and Sunday, smart money says Saturdays game will be a ring tailed tooter!