Official Hockey discussion thread

I really enjoy minor league hockey. I have gone to 1 Stars game so far this year (vs Winnipeg) .. lot of fun .. .it was a work deal and we were in a box with tons of food and beer.

But, I really enjoy going to minor league games. We have an ECHL team here (Allen Americans .. San Jose Sharks affiliate), they play in a pretty new and really nice rink (also saw Judas Priest play there). They won the Kelly Cup the past 2 years, we went to game 7 2 years ago to see them win it, really fun, great crowd.

I generally go to 5 or 6 of their games a year, I would probably go to more, but it is a bit of a drive.

Similar deal in Dallas, the Stars probably have more of a home crown than Phoenix, but for some teams .. like the Blackhawks, the visiting fans are pretty numerous.

Edit: The other obvious nice thing with minor league games is pricing. You can sit on the glass for $30 or sit a few rows up for $15 .. with some seats for $5. I usually take my nieces and nephews to a couple games a year, they really enjoy it.

That's what I really liked about the arena being at the TCC. The music hall where we go to the opera is right next door, so we already know where to find free parking, we know the restaurants down town we can go to before the game/opera for lunch or dinner. It's a 15 minute drive instead of 2 hours to Glendale and as you said, the tickets are great. We missed our chance to get mid ice seats due to our finances, but we got seats up on the right corner behind the net, so we get to see them attack twice and due to the size of the arena, no such thing as a bad seat. You get a great view no matter what. And yeah, top tier tickets are like 35 bucks, our seats were 14. The food and drink was no different than the movie theater, with some pub food being priced as dinners (a pastrami sandwich 9.50) so even that, no complaints, basically industry standard here in southern AZ. The only thing that was OUTRAGEOUS was the beer. 6 dollars for a small and 8 for a large!! WTF! I can get my own six pack for that. Given the size of the large SODA, which lasted us all game even though we shared it, I was ok paying $4 for it.
 
That's what I really liked about the arena being at the TCC. The music hall where we go to the opera is right next door, so we already know where to find free parking, we know the restaurants down town we can go to before the game/opera for lunch or dinner. It's a 15 minute drive instead of 2 hours to Glendale and as you said, the tickets are great. We missed our chance to get mid ice seats due to our finances, but we got seats up on the right corner behind the net, so we get to see them attack twice and due to the size of the arena, no such thing as a bad seat. You get a great view no matter what. And yeah, top tier tickets are like 35 bucks, our seats were 14. The food and drink was no different than the movie theater, with some pub food being priced as dinners (a pastrami sandwich 9.50) so even that, no complaints, basically industry standard here in southern AZ. The only thing that was OUTRAGEOUS was the beer. 6 dollars for a small and 8 for a large!! WTF! I can get my own six pack for that. Given the size of the large SODA, which lasted us all game even though we shared it, I was ok paying $4 for it.

The food at the Allen arena here is actually good, they have some local places do concessions, also it is in the middle of a huge outdoor mall, so tons of places to eat before or after the game. They play at 4PM on Sundays, so that works out nicely .. catch the game, have dinner, home by 8:30

The main reason I do not go more is that traffic getting there on weekdays turns it into an hour drive assuming no accidents .. we generally just go on weekends when we can get there in 35 minutes. I can get downtown Dallas to see the Stars much easier because light rail drops you off right in front of the arena ... $5 for a RT train ticket to get to exactly where you would pay $40 to park. I usually go there on weekdays, if they are playing teams that are not as big of a draw, you can get upper level seats for $7. When the Hawks are in town, I'll pony up $60 a seat to be reasonably low.
 
I can get downtown Dallas to see the Stars much easier because light rail drops you off right in front of the arena ... $5 for a RT train ticket to get to exactly where you would pay $40 to park.
Once Ottawa's new light rail and arena are done, the station is built right into the arena, like at the Bell Centre. Just jump on the train and get there...
 
From NHL.com:

Marek Svatos dies at age 34
Right wing played seven NHL seasons with Avalanche, Predators, Senators
NHL.com @NHL
9:51 AM

cut.jpg

Marek Svatos, a right wing who played seven NHL seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators, died Saturday at the age of 34.

Selected by the Avalanche in the seventh round (No. 227) of the 2001 NHL Draft, Svatos had 100 goals and 172 points in 344 games, 316 with the Avalanche. He last played in the NHL in 2010-11 with the Ottawa Senators.




Follow
Matt Duchene

✔@Matt9Duchene

Very saddened to hear of the passing of former @Avalancheteammate, Marek Svatos. He was a great person and player.

8:54 AM - 6 Nov 2016




Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic played with Svatos in Colorado from 2003-09.

"The entire Avalanche organization is extremely saddened by this news," Sakic said in a statement. "Marek was a tremendous person, a talented hockey player and a great teammate. Our thoughts, prayers and our deepest sympathy to his wife, children and his entire family."

Svatos had NHL career-highs of 32 goals and 50 points in 61 games as a rookie in 2005-06 before sustaining a season-ending shoulder injury. He had 26 goals in 62 games in 2007-08 until a knee injury kept him out of the final 16 games.

After leaving the NHL, Svatos played six games with HC Slovan Bratislava in the Kontinental Hockey League in 2012-13 and 26 games in 2013-14, with his hometown team, HC Kosice, in Slovakia.

Svatos played for Slovakia in the 2006 Turin Olympics, where he was scoreless in six games.
 
I had Svatos in my lineup constantly in NHL 2006, always thought he seemed like a class act on the ice. Sorry to hear he passed.
 
He was a solid player. It bothers me they don't say cause of death, specially being so young.

On a bright note, didn't take Crosby long to lead the league in goals after missing 6 games lol.
 
The truly important and relevant news from last night is that I am now the only undefeated team in my fantasy hockey league, 4-0 after good performances by Carey Price, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Connor McDavid.
 
Who do you have on your team?
Waited to long to draft Goalies

BearFan's Forwards/Defensemen roster for 2016-11-10.



Rankings
Fantasy
Offense

Pos
Forwards/Defensemen
Opp
Status
Pre-Season
Current
% Started
G
A
+/-
PPP
SOG
HIT
BLK

C
No new player Notes
Evgeni Malkin Pit - C

Min
6:00 pm
21
-
88%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

C
New Player Note
Joe Pavelski SJ - C,RW

@Fla
6:30 pm
9
-
90%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

LW
New Player Note
Ondrej Palat TB - LW

NYI
6:30 pm
161
-
25%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

LW
Player Note
Brad Marchand Bos - LW

Cls
6:00 pm
58
-
92%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

RW
New Player Note
Marian Hossa Chi - RW



133
-
52%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

RW
No new player Notes
James Neal Nsh - RW

StL
7:00 pm
33
-
78%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

D
Player Note
Sami Vatanen Anh - D

@Car
6:00 pm
138
-
80%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

D
No new player Notes
Nick Leddy NYI - D

@TB
6:30 pm
191
-
37%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

D
No new player Notes
Colton Parayko StL - D

@Nsh
7:00 pm
160
-
64%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

D
Player Note
Dion Phaneuf Ott - D



193
-
39%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Util
Player Note
Cam Atkinson Cls - RW

@Bos
6:00 pm
140
-
36%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Kris Letang Pit - D

Min
6:00 pm
41
-
94%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
No new player Notes
Mika Zibanejad NYR - C,RW



180
-
32%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Henrik Zetterberg Det - C,LW

Van
6:30 pm
134
-
51%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
No new player Notes
Mikko Koivu Min - C

@Pit
6:00 pm
206
-
11%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Max Domi Ari - LW

Wpg
8:00 pm
90
-
58%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Zach Parise Min - LW
Out

@Pit
6:00 pm
59
-
36%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Starting Lineup Totals - - - - - - -
BearFan's Goaltenders roster for 2016-11-10.



Rankings
Fantasy
Goaltending

Pos
Goaltenders
Opp
Status
Pre-Season
Current
% Started
W
GA*
GAA
SV*
SA*
SV%
SHO

G
New Player Note
Sergei Bobrovsky Cls - G

@Bos
6:00 pm
142
-
67%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

G
Player Note
Matt Murray Pit - G

Min
6:00 pm
73
-
61%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Chad Johnson Cgy - G

Dal
8:00 pm
234
-
3%
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

BN
Player Note
Michael Hutchinson Wpg - G
 
Ouch. My league is much smaller in roster:

Forwards: Connor McDavid, Blake Wheeler, Corey Perry, Ryan O'Reilly, Artem Anisimov, Nate MacKinnon
Defensemen: Shea Weber, Kevin Shattenkirk, Seth Jones, Jacob Trouba
Goalies: Carey Price, Semyon Varlamov
 
Lindros finally got HOF honors. Shame it took so long and shame his career diminished and was cut short due to all his concussions and the leagues attitude toward them back then.
 
Yeah, Kane buried us. I think Carey Price has a 50-50 chance of stopping that, though, where Al Montoya was clearly outclassed by the skater. Still, man, Kane scores great goals.

Bickell came up in the Ottawa 67s junior team system so they're doing some stuff for him here. Sad to hear, hopefully he can play again.
 
I moved up to 4th place despite this lineup .. again a deep league helps. Hossa is off to a really nice start, I was debating drafting him ... thinking it was my
"homerism" for the Hawks ... but I did think an extended off season would help him. Incredible what he is doing at his age
 
It's fun to see that the Oilers are finally doing OK this year. And I actually think they can make playoffs with a bit of luck, like the Avalance in 13/14 and the Flames in 14/15. Those were "bad" teams with low puck possession rates, as well as low shot attempt differentials. By this, they were projected to finish in the bottom of the standings.
In 2015:
All of which brings us to this year’s Flames, one of the worst possession teams in the league. They sit 28th in score-adjusted Corsi, and the only other team in the bottom third that’s even close to a playoff spot is doing it on the back of a goalie who’s probably going to win MVP. And it’s not just the fancy stats that point to the Flames being a bad team. On paper, they don’t have a ton of talent, and their best player and captain, defenseman Mark Giordano, was lost for the season last month.
And yet, numbers be damned, Calgary just keeps winning. A team that everyone expected to contend for last place overall is instead right in the thick of the playoff race in a very tough Western Conference.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/how-the-calgary-flames-are-laughing-at-advanced-stats/
It's interesting to follow these type of teams and the Oilers could be the next one.
 
Back
Top