Alfredsson still have lots to give

At 36 years of age, one would think that Daniel Alfredsson would be seeing a decline in his production, yet three games into the 2009-2010 season Alfredsson finds himself leading the Rockhounds in goals with three and second in points with four.

Tonight Alfredsson guided his Houston Rockhounds to a third straight victory with two goals in a 4-3 win over the Saint Paul Huskies.and was named the games first star.

"I didn't do anything different with my off season training," said Alfredsson. "For whatever reason the bounces are just going my way right now and the team as a whole is playing great. We can't get to wrapped up in it though. It's a long season and anything can happen between now and the end of it."

The win has Houston at the top of the American Conference standings with six points. The team will now have a couple days off for practice before heading to Chcago for a tough matchup against the Purple Aces.

Posted by Commish on Thursday, February 2 @ 6:49 p.m.

Whalers lose Stumpel in loss to Ravens

The Hartford Whalers and Boston Ravens got thier season underway tonight with both clubs looking to make some noise this regular season and hoping for playoff success.

The game saw Boston come out strong and determined with eighteen shots in the first period and forty-one shots in total. If not for the heroics of Whalers netminder Johan Holmqvist the game would have been finished early, yet thanks to Holmqvist, the game ended up in the shootout with Ravens forward Simon Gagne getting the shootout winner for a 3-2 victory over the Whalers.

Unfortunately, not only did the Whalers lose the game but they also lost a key player to injury when Josef Stumpel took a hit in the first period from Aaron Ward causing him to go down in significant pain. As it turns out, Stumpel suffered some broken ribs and is now expected to out for at least three weeks.

"Losing Josef hurts us quite a bit," said teammate Eric Brewer. "He's a leader on this team and very good at both ends of the ice. You can't replace a guy like him."

Already having Mikael Holmqvist out of the line-up, Whalers General Manager Rein Lancelotte will have some tough choices to make in the coming days. There are still a few free agents on the market who might be able to help on a temporary basis, but only Lancelotte knows for sure what he'll do.

Postec by Commish on Tuesday, January 31 @ 6:42 p.m.

Regular season kicks off with seven games

The 2009-2010 Regular season kicked off last night with seven games in total with plenty of action to go around. We saw an overtime game, a shootout and a shutout.

The most intense game fell on the Edmonton Oil Kings who skated to a 1-0 shootout loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets with two veteran goaltenders Marty Turco and J.S. Giguere playing some superb hockey.

Jets goalie J.S. Giguere stopped all 27 shot he faced through three periods of hockey and overtime while Marty Turco stopped all 26 shots he faced with three timely saves in overtime.

"I don't think the league could have scripted a better start to the season," said Turco after the game. "I'm sure the fans really enjoyed the battle between Giguere and myself."

The game was forced to a shootout where Oil Kings fans had their hopes crushed when Jets forward Boyd Devereaux scored on the fifth and only shootout goal of the game giving the Jets the win.

"I hope this only the beginning of things to come for me this season," said Devereaux. "I worked really hard in the off season to get my body and mind in shape and I'm looking forward to the challenge of helping the Jets to some playoff success.

.Posted by Commish on Tuesday, January 31 @ 8:44 a.m.

Giguere stops 22 in shutout over Norsemen

Alex Kovalev, Dave Scatchard and Greg Classen each scored for the Winnipeg Jets tonight, while goalie J.S. Giguere turned aside all 22 shots he faced giving the Jets a 3-0 victory over the visiting Prince George Norsemen.

Giguere's shutout is the first of the preseason and will go a long way towards helping both he and the Jets round into form as the regular season approaches.

"I feel pretty good right now," said Giguere after the game. "I trained hard this off season and managed my nutrition a lot better then in the past, which is something I need to do a better job of as I get older."

The win give the Jets a 5-3-0 record with four games left remaining in the preseason. Giguere is expected to get at least three of those starts with backup goalie Alex Auld getting the call for one of them.

As for the Norsemen, their preseason record has fallen to 3-3-2 with Josh Harding getting all eight starts so far.

Hawks defeat Vampyres is penalty filled game

Moncton Hawks defesneman Brian Campbell put up three points tonight in a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Vampyres with the Vampyres registering only nineteen shots on goal.

"It was a good game for me tonight," said Campbell. "I trained really hard in the off-season hoping to make a huge impact with the team this year. So far it looks good."

This is the Hawks third win in a row with the other two victories being over the Halifax Fleet and Toronto Gladiators. Given the Hawks have now won three straight and sit near the top of the preseason standings, their roster heading into the 2009-2010 campain is just about set. The only question remaining is a battle for the final defenseman spot remaining with both Doug O'Brien and Michal Barinka looking to fill the hole.

Unfortunately for Ottawa this game saw both Joe Thornton and Mike Knuble receive suspensions from the league for their involvement in two fights in the game. Thornton will be gone for 5 games or the remainder of the preseason, while Knuble was given a one game suspension.

"It's a bloody joke," said a frustrated Thornton. "How could the league possibly justify five games when I've seen much worse things happen in the league with little or no response from the league. I'm pissed and confused at the decision."

Posted by Commish on Sunday, January 8 @ 6:35 p.m.

Pekka Rinne stops 38 in win over Rockhounds

Minnesota Muskies backup goalie Pekka Rinne proved that he could be a very valuable piece of the Muskies going forward, as he stopped 38 of 41 shots tonight in a 5-3 win over the Houston Rockhounds.

A second round pick, 45th overall in the 2004 Entry draft, Rinne was at the top of his game tonight and made up for many of the defensive shortcomings of the team in front of him. With 41 shots in total directed his way, 20 of which came in the first period alone, Rinne showed that he has the skills needed to play at the highest level of hockey.

"It was a good game for me tonight," said Rinne. "I was seeing the puck well and did what I could to keep it out. Fortunately, I had a few lucky bounces go my way and we got the win."

This is exactly the type of performance that Muskies General Manager Marvin Wheeler was looking for as he ponders the fate of starter Nikolai Khabibulin who is on the final year of his contract and set to become a free agent at the end of 2009-2010.

As for the Muskie Skaters, they were not very strong or well positioned on the defensive side of the puck, but had no trouble on the offensive side. Putting five goals past Rockhounds goalie Niklas Backstrom from four different players, the Muskies looked like a team that will have no trouble scoring goals come the start of the regular season.

Posted by Commish on Sunday, January 1 @ 7:52 p.m.

Wildcats drop fourth straight, lose Johnson

Four consecutive loses was not way General Manager Robert Michaud thought the preseason would go, especially given some of the highly skilled players at his disposal.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of hole the Wildcats now find themselves in after losing by a score of 3-1 tonight at the hands of the Yellowknife Ice Dragons, one of the leagues best clubs.

"We're not playing very good hockey right now, " said Wildcats forward Sidney Crosby. "We're being sloppy and reckless and beating ourselves. We need to start playing smarter hockey in preparation for the regular season, which is exactly what we're going to do."

Also hurting the Wildcats was the loss of forward Ryan Johnson who was during the second period after taking a hit from Henrik Sedin and is now expected to be out of action for a week. The Ice Dragons are certainly not having any sympathy for the Wildcats as they themselves lost a player to injury in tonight's game. Defenseman Dan Boyle left the game early in the first period after blocking a shot and is also expected to be out a week.

Although the preseason has no real meaning in the great scheme of things, it is puzzling to see the Ice Dragons continue their dominate play from last season, while the Wildcats are looking for their first win.

Posted by Commish on Friday, December 30 @ 9:21 p.m.

3 Stars of the Week