Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ice Scoopz: Wednesday Night

Heres tonight's news..

*-> The Ottawa Senator's have signed interm coach Cory Clouston to a two-year deal to removed the interm coach label from his resume. The Senators have turned around their game since Clouston took over for Craig Hartsburg. Senator's owner Eugene Melnyk has also announced that Bryan Murray the Senator's GM doesn't have to worry about his job this summer as he will be retained for his final year of his contract.

Personally I feel Murray should be handed his walking papers because he allowed the Sens to crumble and fall before he decided to fix things. Melnyk's reasoning of Murray saw the problem and addressed it really doesn't make sense. He only jumped in and fixed things after it was already too late. The Sens knew all season long they needed goaltending help and that the lockerroom was a mess so why address it near the end of the season? He's slowly allowed the Sens to spiral since making it to the cup finals. Hopefully the Sens will be able to compete next year with the addition of just Pascal Leclaire.

*-> Linus Omark the YouTube highlight sensation has turned down an offer from the Edmonton Oilers to play in the KHL next season. Omark who is a top scorer in the Swedish Elite League is a 4th round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2007 and has been in deep negotiations with the club since the SEL season ended. Omark signed a 1.2$ MIL 1st year then a 1.4$ MIL second year deal with Moscow Dynamo which includes a North American escape clause after the second deal. His agent claimed the deal was made after realising the Oilers would not be able to compete with the Russian money been thrown his clients way.

*-> Doug Weight of the New York Islanders has signed a one year extension to remain with the struggling Islanders next season. Weight who made 1.75$ MIL this season will jump to 2$ MIL next season. Weight who missed most of the season with an injury has 9 goals and 26 assists in just over 50 games.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Ice Scoopz: Early Friday

Well the site is having some problems with the font sizing and color for some reason so bare with it till I get it resolved. Here this mornings news...

*-> Victor Hedmen slated to go 2nd overall in this years entry won the Elitserien Rookie of the year. Hedman has been playing for Modo this season and has recorded 7 goals and 14 assists for 21pts and 54PIM. Last year he finished with 4pts in 39 games.

*-> The San Jose Sharks ECHL affliate The Phoenix Road Runners will officially fold at the end of this season they have announced today. This is their 4th season in the East Coast Hockey League and their reason behind the folding is the lack of interest and lack of support from the fans.

The I.R: Friday Morning

*-> Andy Hilbert of the New York Islanders was injured tonight in New York's game agains't the Montreal Canadians. It is was is being described as a rib injury and Hilbert is only expected to miss two games. More on this as it comes.

*-> Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier will miss the remainder of the season after having wrist surgery today to repair a damaged ligament in his right wrist. The procedure was supposed to occur at the end of last season but a shoulder injury delayed the process. He is expected to be healthy way before training camp. He however will be uneligable for Team Canada this spring.

*-> Ryan Smyth of the Colorado Avalanche will miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his right hand in Wednesday's game against the Phoenix Coyotes. Another major injury blow to the Colorado Avalanche after loosing Sakic and Stastny all ready. Sakic is expected to play before the end of the season after he regains strength in his leg again. Smyth is most likely out for Team Canada as well.

CHL Playoff Update

* QMJHL Semi Finals *

Eastern Conference Semi Finals #1
Moncton vs Rimouski (0 -0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Eastern Conference Semi-finals #2
Quebec vs Cape Brteton (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Western Conference Semi-Finals #1
Gatineau vs Shawinigan (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Western Conference Semi-Finals #2
Drummondville vs Montreal (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*OHL Semi-Finals*

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals #1
Belleville vs Niagra (Belleville Leads 1 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals #2
Brampton vs Mississauga (Brampton Leads 1 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Western Conference Semi-Finals #1
Windsor vs Plymouth (Plymouth Leads 1 - 0)

Next Game:
Saturday April 4th

Western Conference Semi-Finals #2
London vs Saginaw (London Leads 1-0)

Next Game:
Saturday April 4th
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* WHL Semi-Finals *

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals # 1
Calgary vs Lethbridge (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Eastern Conference Semi-Finals # 2
Brandon vs Medicine Hat (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Western Conference Semi-Finals # 3
Vancouver vs Spokane (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Western Conference Semi-Finals # 4
Tri-City vs Kelowna (0 - 0)

Next Game:
Friday April 3rd

Scandinavian Playoff Updates

*SM Liiga Semi-Finals *

Blues Espoo vs Karpat Oulu (Series Tied 2-2)

KalPa Kuopio vs JYP Jyvaskyla (JYP leads the series 3-1)

Next Games:
April 3rd - Blues Espoo vs Karpat Oulu (Game 5)
April 3rd - JYP Jyvaskyla vs KalPa Kuopio (Game 5)


*Swedish Elite League Finals*

4 - HV 71 vs Farjestad BK -1 (Series 1 - 0 HV 71)
1-0 Martin Thörnberg (Voutilianen, Angell)
2-0 Björn Melin (Luoma, Beech) PP
2-1 Jörgen Jönsson (Nordström, Rhodin)
3-1 Teemu Laine (Melin, Beech) PP
4-1 Simon Önerud (Staal)

Next Games:
April 3rd - Farjestad BK vs HV 71


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Ice Scoopz: Tuesday Night

*-> James Van Riemsdyk 2nd overall pick in the 2007 entry draft has signed a 3 year entry level deal with the Philedelphia Flyers. Van Riemsdyk currently has 17 goals and 23 assists in 36 games for the New Hampshire Wildcats of the NCAA.

*-> The Toronto Maple Leafs have been fined $500 000 plus a 4th round draft pick for this years entry draft for breaking a CBA violation earlier this season. Jonas Frogren who the Leaf's signed at the start of the season was signed as an entry level player and was given a 700,000$ bonus which is agains't the CBA rules. $500 000 of the bonus was used by Frogren to buyout the rest of his contract with Farjestad of the SEL.

That's it for now I'll have the playoff reports posted later this evening. Awesome Atlanta/Buffalo game going on and looks like the Leafs are going to get a win too late haha.

Ice Scoopz: Late Monday Night

After a busy few days, I'm back into the flow of things so here's tonights Ice Scoopz,

*-> Brian Kilrea has officially retired from coaching after the Niagra Ice Dog's eliminated the Ottawa 67's in overtime of game 7 tonight. Andrew Agozzini scored 13 seconds into overtime to eliminate the 67's. Brian Kilrea will hang over the clipboard and take a seat in the office next season as the 67's GM. Kilrea who has coached teams to 3 OHL titles and 2 Memorial Cup wins never really got a break coaching in NHL except as the Islanders assistant before being fired. Being from Ottawa this is huge news as Kilrea's a local legend and one of the most approachable guys in the business. There was allways time for the fans and to talk hockey no matter what. Great guy despite his "Killer" moniker.

*-> The Toronto Maple Leaf's have signed centerman Christian Hansen of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a two year entry level contract. An interesting fact Christian Hansen is the son of Dave Hansen of the Hanson Brothers from the movie Slapshot.

*-> Tonight after losing 5-2 to the Florida Panthers, the Ottawa Senator's have finally been eliminated from the playoffs. They needed atleast 1 point tonight to stay in the hunt. Toronto also has been eliminated from the playoffs after Montreal won tonight.

That's all for tonight, tomorrow I'll do a run down of the CHL, SM Liiga and SEL playoffs as well as an I.R Report. for those of you asking about the Deadline review I've decided to post it after the last game of the season to show who has had the biggest impacts on their teams. As of right now I'm still sticking with the Flames though. Jokinen has been a force since arriving from the desert.

Thanks for all the comments guys keep em going, tell me what you guys want to see on here and what needs to be changed. Any feedback even if negative is appreciated because I want to make this the best damn hockey resource out there.

KHL Playoffs Update

So the KHL finals are set: Lokomotiv vs Ak Bars. It should be an amazing series, I personally like Kazan to take this one. Aleksey Morozov has been force in the RSL and the KHL since leaving North Amarica. I also like Fredrick Norrena in net over Gaiduchenko and Zyagin . Norrena has the capabilities to steal a game. I just think Kazan has the depth over Lokomotiv with so many higher calibre players. Many are former NHL players over Lokomotiv's lower league players. The series begin on April 2nd.
Heres a quick recap on the past week in KHL hockey.

0 Metallurg Magnitogorsk vs Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 4 (Series 3 -1 for Lokomotiv)
(March 26th)
0-1 Vitaly Vishnevsky (Zbynek Irgl)
0-2 Aleksei Yashin PP
0-3 Konstantin Rudenko
0-4 Ivan Tkachenko (Konstantin Rudenko)

3 Ak Bars vs Dinamo Moskov 0 (Series 3-2 AK Bars)
(March 25th)
1-0 Dmitri Obukhov (Nikita Alekseev)
2-0 Nikita Alekseev (Dmitri Obukhov, Andrei Mukhachev)
3-0 Dmitri Kazionov (Ilya Nikulin, Aleksandr Stepanov) SH

2 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl - Metallurg Magnitogorsk 0 (Lokomotiv Wins Series 4-1)
(March 27)
1-0 Jozef Vasicek (Zbynek Irgl, Aleksei Yashin) PP
2-0 Marcus Nilson (Konstantin Rudenko, Aleksei Vasiliev) PP

1 Dinamo Moscow - Ak Bars Kazan 3 (Ak Bars Win Series 4-2)
(March 28th)
1-0 Aleksei Kalyuzhny33:32 1-1 Aleksei Badyukov (Oleg Petrov)
1-2 Oleg Petrov (Aleksei Badyukov)
1-3 Jukka Hentunen (Dmitri Kazionov, Niko Kapanen)