The Austrian Assassins

The original Austrian Assassin was a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip. At the age of 19 Gavrilo was a member of the young radical group dedicated to the separation of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. Gavrilo Princip and several comrades decided on a violent separation via the assassination of the country's leader — Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Ferdinand's death started the cascade of events the started World War I.

The plot to kill the Archduke took place on June 28, 1914 in the city of Sarajevo. Princip was a member of seven assassins who lined a parade route. The thought was one of the seven would have a good opportunity to fry Franz. The first would-be assassin with the first name of Mohamed failed to take the shot as the Archduke's car rolled by. I guess suicide bombing was not on the menu in those days.

The second would-be assassin hurled a grenade at the royal's car. Forgetting that grenades have a delay the hand-bomb did not go off under the Archduke's ride but blew up beneath the next car in the procession. This guy was something else. Fearing capture he ran to a nearby river, took a cyanide pill, and then jumped into the river to ensure he would die. There were several problems. The poison was bad. The capsule simply made this guy vomit. Also, the river was 4 inches deep. Theoretically deep enough to drown in — but not this time. This guy was such a loser. In the matter of minutes he tried to kill the archduke, and himself twice, and failed at all three.

With the commotion of the failed grenade attempt the archduke's car sped away. The extra speed and commotion saw the other five conspirators give up. Princip decided he was hungry and took a side street off the parade route and ended up at cafe to have a sandwich. Meanwhile the Archduke thought he should visit the hospital to check on the people who had been hurt by the exploding grenade that had been meant for him. His genius driver made a wrong turn down a side street on his way to the hospital. Unfortunately for the duke and fortunately for Princip the driver turned down the same street where Princip was eating his bologna & cheese on rye. Trying to back up the driver stalled the car. Princip walked up to the car. He extracted his concealed pistol, and shot twice. He killed both the archduke and his wife.

In hockey terms Gavrilo scored a garbage goal.

Yesterday, Thomas Pöck was claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders. Pöck was being transferred from the roster of the New York Rangers to Hartford Wolf Pack. Because of his age he needed to pass through the waiver system. This exposure opened him up to any other team desirous of his services. It is a fair bet that Pöck sticks on the Islanders NHL roster. To place him on their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport would require him to pass through waivers again.

Over his 4 year pro-hockey tenure Pöck has earned the moniker — The Austrian Assassin — in Hartford. Thomas has killed no archdukes. The only thing which Pöck has killed is many offensive opportunities for the Wolf Pack. Thomas has a strong penchant to lose a bit of concentration while on the offensive side of the blueline. The amount of pucks which have slipped off his stick-blade and slid into the neutral zone — especially in critical game situations — is stunning. The effect on many fans was like taking a spoiled cyanide pill.

Pöck played close to 200 regular season games with the Pack. He never dogged it on the ice. But he was never a defensive presence. At times he was an offensive presence. He certainly has the skating speed to break out of the defensive zone and lead the rush. He has the skill to jump up into the play in the offensive zone and make a play. But it was the lack of defensive ability around his own net, and the blue-line blunders which confined Pöck be an AHL player in the Rangers organization.

Thomas may get a legitimate shot to be an NHL regular in the Islander organization. I hope he does well. For an un-drafted player coming from the hockey empire of the University of Massachusetts Pöck has acquitted himself well.

As the original Austrian Assassin was only 19 years old when he killed the archduke thus making him too young to receive the death sentence. He died in prison of weakness due to malnutrition. For the second Austrian Assassin being in the Islander organization may suffer a fate worse than Gavrilo Princip.

Rullier is a Loser, Again!

Mighty Joe Rullier's attempt to earn a contract in the San Jose Shark organization has ended. On a day when many NHL teams are sending prospects and lesser talent to their AHL affiliates Joe was unceremoniously terminated.

This kinda puts a kink in some of the plans of many Hartford fans to welcome Joe back to the Hartford area. But it wasn't in the cards.

Perhaps Joe ought to have his agent start contacting some ECHL teams.

Track-back: Please Joe Have a Good Camp

Movin’ On Up!

George and Weezy would be proud. The Wolf Pack are movin on up — to a bigger and better radio station. In an announcement today AEG informs the world that the Hartford Wolf Pack games will be broadcast on the WTIC family of stations — 1080 AM and 96.5 FM.

This agreement for the new season obviously ends the long time relationship with WPOP 1410 AM. According to the numbers 1410 is actually larger that 1080 thus the Pack are not "moving up" but moving down the dial. But the WTIC AM and FM footprint is easily larger that the toe-print of WPOP. I believe that 1410's signal dies at the Manchester Exit on Route 84 East; dies at the Bloomfield Exit on Route 91 North, and quite possibly dies by the Park Rd Exit on Route 84 West.

The actual announcement from AEG says that select games will be aired on 1080 AM, and all the games will be broadcast on 96.5 FM. Also, Bob Crawford will continue as the on-air voice of the Pack. (Yay Hawk! Now we'll get more "traveling in the iron-lung" references from the road). And this deal will "include a weekly segment on WTIC’s ‘Sports Talk’". This is going to be interesting.

The on-air personnel who currently work on Sport’s Talk are Joe D'Ambrosio and Arnold Dean. Dean has been half dead on the air for the past 20 years. And Joe D wants to talk UCONN hoop and football all the time. Plus, he is still pissed that the Whalers are gone. I’m not sure that doing an interview with Ken Gernander or Hugh Jessiman is going to meet up to his standards of Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma (pronounced, Are-u-an-enema). I have heard the guy spaz-out on the air over the prospect of interviewing Mrs Auriemma. Perhaps Sport’s Talk will bring in Hawk Crawford to do the weekly show. We can hope.

Overall I think this is a good move by AEG to build a partnership with one of the better known businesses in the Hartford area. It does show they are at least trying to promote Wolf Pack hockey. I hope they are doing this in other areas too.

Update:

I have been forced to learn something I did not know anything about — namely, HD Radio. I knew about satellite radio but not HD. It appears HD radio is an attempt to give local radio stations a chance to put out a better quality broadcast but in a local area.

This radio deal with WTIC 96.5 FM is an HD radio deal. The deal with HD radio is that a special receiver is needed. Wolf Pack season ticket holders are being offered the perk of an HD radio receiver and free installation.

But who in the world has an HD receiver in the ride? I don’t know — maybe everyone but me. But if the game broadcasts are going out on this HD crap I suspect the listenership of Wolf Pack games is going to drop. I know select games are going to be broadcast over the AM 1080 station — but let’s be realistic. How many select games are actually going to be broadcast on 1080.

Second thought. AEG is filled with a bunch of doofus-boys. Give me back ESPN 1410.

Rangers Agree To Terms With Forward Evgeny Grachev

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Evgeny Grachev.

Grachev, 18, skated in one game for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Russian Super League (RUS) this past season. He also appeared in 30 games for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 2 in the Russian Division I (RUS-3), registering 17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points.

Internationally, Grachev has represented Russia in several tournaments. He skated in six games with Team Russia at the 2008 U-18 World Junior Championships in Russia, registering two goals and three assists for five points, along with two penalty minutes and a plus-three rating. His plus-three rating tied for second on the club, and his five points tied for sixth on Russia. In addition, he tallied the game-winning goal in Russia’s preliminary round match against Canada on April 16. The 6-4, 220-pounder appeared in four games with Russia at the 2008 Five Nations Tournament, notching two goals and two penalty minutes. In 2007, Grachev recorded five goals and four assists for nine points, along with 14 penalty minutes in eight international contests.
The Khabarovsk, Russia native was originally the Rangers’ third round choice, 75th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

http://www.hartfordwolfpack.com/press_20080922.php

Shanahan Offered Tryout with Rangers

In a surprisingly straightforward report Larry Brooks reports in today’s NY Post that Brendan Shanahan was invited to the Rangers training camp on a try out basis.

"Brendan is welcome; I've told him that before and I'm going to call him again to make sure he knows that," GM Glen Sather said yesterday. "I'm not in a position to offer a contract at this time, but that does not mean it can't happen or won't happen after we evaluate what we have here."

Shanahan is yet to show up. I doubt he will.

Track Back: Stick A Fork in Him

Rangers Agree To Terms With Forward Dale Weise

The Rangers have signed another guy who will end up in Hartford this season. Here is the press release.

Rangers Agree To Terms With Forward Dale Weise
Friday, September 19, 2008 - 5:18 PM

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Dale Weise.

Weise, 20, skated in 53 games with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this past season, registering 29 goals and 22 assists for 51 points, along with 84 penalty minutes. He led the Broncos in goals (29), ranked fifth in points (51) and tied for sixth in penalty minutes (84). He also tied for the team lead in power play goals (13) and shorthanded goals (three). Weise recorded a career-high, five-game points streak from November 9 vs. Medicine Hat to November 18 vs. Saskatoon, registering eight points (five goals and three assists) over the span. He notched his first career hat trick and tallied a career-high, four points (three goals and one assist) on January 16 vs. Red Deer. In addition, Weise appeared in 12 post-season contests for Swift Current (WHL), registering seven goals and six assists for 13 points, along with 20 penalty minutes. He finished the playoffs tied for the team lead in goals (seven), tied for second in points (13) and ranked third in assists (six).

The 6-2, 202-pounder has skated in 173 career WHL games with the Medicine Hat Tigers and Swift Current Broncos, recording 51 goals and 61 assists for 112 points, along with 235 penalty minutes. In 22 career WHL playoff contests with Swift Current, Weise has registered seven goals and seven assists for 14 points, along with 30 penalty minutes. In 2006-07, he established career-highs in games played (67), assists (25) and penalty minutes (94).

The Winnipeg, Manitoba native was originally the Rangers’ fourth round choice, 111th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. New York acquired the pick in a trade with the Nashville Predators, in exchange for a 2008 seventh round pick (Jani Lajunen) and a fourth round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

http://www.hartfordwolfpack.com/press_20080919.php

Pucky Is Still Dead!

A Yahoo hockey blog has detailed the making of a documentary film titled, Bleeding Green. The movie was made by a Whalerite by the name of Kevin Massicotte. Reportedly this movie details the history of the Whalers and the continued passion of former Whaler fans to bring the NHL back to Hartford.

The writer of the blog admittedly takes a sympathetic view of the so-called plight of the Whaler fans. In other words, Whaler fans are victims. The word disenfranchised is used.

It is the same old crappy Whaler story. City had team. Evil man lied. Evil man took team away. We want our team back! Boo hoo hoo! Quite frankly, many of the strident Whalerites I have met, or read on their message board are not sympathetic characters.

Kübler-Ross tells us that Anger is the 2nd step in the process of grief. There are three more stages to go through. And these characters are retarded in their outlook. They have not moved on. In fact, they show no desire to move on. I have no sympathy for their anger, and loss because they do not want to move beyond the anger.

The Yahoo blog entry details their continued self-delusion. For example, Massicotte says, "I think it's a small town thing. In the old NHL, there were so many cities that you'd have to look on a map to find: Hartford is one, Winnipeg is another. For better or for worse, they decided to make a go of it in 'emerging markets,' . . .”

What? So many cities in the old NHL you’d have to look up on a map?

The OLD NHL consisted of six teams. And I am sure people could easily find those six North American cities. Although it would be a good idea to lose Detroit.

Oh, he didn't mean, that old. Okay, the Second Six were added for the 1967-68 season. And I am sure people could easily find Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Minneapolis, and Oakland (Seals).

Oh, he didn't mean that old either? At various times during the 1970's other teams were added to the league — Buffalo, Vancouver, Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Denver all seem to be cities which can be easily found. (Heck, even the Democrats were able to find Denver for their political convention. How hard can that be?)

Oh, he means 1979 old? 1979 was the year when Edmonton, Quebec, Winnepeg, and Hartford were brought into the league. Personally, I really would not count 1979 old when compared to the history of the league. And, was it a coincidence or was it something to do with that season's expansion that has seen 75% of those teams move? I suspect that if Edmonton had not won the Cup and become a dynasty with Gretzky, Messier, and company that team would not have survived either.

It is not a coincidence that three of the 1979 expansion teams have moved to new cities. The reason these teams had to move is precisely because the realistic available hockey market was too small to support an NHL team. And the move to emerging markets was probably a good business move. Ironically, it was the hero in Edmonton, Wayne Gretzky, and his trade to Los Angeles that spurred the NHL forward to look at these "emerging markets."

It is my suspicion that the Hartford team was doomed from the beginning — being recent AVCO Cup winners, not withstanding. Positioned geographically between two Original Six NHL teams has its disadvantages from a hockey point-of-view. Quebec, though not positioned between two Original Six cities certainly had to compete with the long time loyalties of the fans of Montreal and Toronto. Thus, their realistically available hockey market was stunted too.

The Whale was in the NHL for 18 seasons. Certainly there were people who loved them. But they were never going to be an economic success. And more than likely they would have continued as a mediocre team record-wise. A team which celebrates winning the Adam Division regular season championship with a parade around the Civic Center is an admission that they were not a big time market.

Quebec moved at the end of the 1995 season. Winnepeag moved at the end of the 1996 season. And finally the Whalers moved at the end of the 1997 season. If the 1979 NHL expansion was considered a draft class — well, that class was a bust.

I conclude with no appeal to Whaler fans to give up their quixotic crusade to regain another NHL team. The words would be wasted. This Yahoo blog entry and the forthcoming Bleeding Green documentary are just more opportunities to reinvigorate their anger. But I do remind the intrepid puke green clad Captain Ahabs — Pucky Is Dead!

You Pick the Title

Champs to Chumps! Travesty in Traverse City! Michigan Massacre! You pick the title you want. With their sixth place finish, and 1-3 record over the course of the prospect tournament I get the idea that the things are not going to go well for the Rangers organization this season. I would not be surprised if both the Rangers and Wolf Pack do not make the play offs judging by the lackluster effort witnessed over the last five days in northern Michigan.

I kid.

It is true the prospects did real well in Traverse City in September 2007. It is also true they did not do so well this September. Big deal. These teams are comprised of guys who have not practiced together, and they show up in the middle of nowhere in Michigan and are asked to play a few games together. It is amusing to pay attention to the write ups because it is hockey when there is no other hockey to watch.

Two years ago I was in Michigan, one hour away from Traverse City during the tournament and I could not be self motivated to go and watch a game or two. This tournament is a glorified junior hockey game — and probably not as good as a mid to late-season junior hockey game.

The Rangers prospects, and the sprinkling in of un-drafted guys on tryout contracts is a minimal recipe where the coaching staff can watch, get some game film, and evaluate the guys against their peers.

This season’s Ranger’s prospect team had only two players with legitimate AHL experience — Anisimov and Dupont. Sure some of the guys had a few games at the end of the AHL season, like Sanguinetti. And Tom Pyatt split his time between Hartford and Charlotte. (Yes, you may have missed it. The Pack did have a player last season by the name to Tom Pyatt.) But the real experience was the two aforementioned guys. In contrast, last season’s prospect team had 4 legitimate players with AHL experience — Bourret, Dubinsky, Potter, and Korpikoski. Plus, Marc Staal was on the team. Then take into account that a few short weeks after last season’s tournament both Dubinsky and Staal made the varsity in New York demonstrates that both in quality and quantity version 2007 was superior to version 2008.

Version 2008 came in sixth place among the 8 teams. They won one game. They were outscored 14 goals to 7 goals. And they were shut out twice. They did not score their first goal until 121 minutes into the tournament.

Nice diversion. Hockey is back. But as I said when leaving the Wolverine State after living their for 2.5 years in the late 1980's — "Happiness is the ‘Welcome to Michigan’ sign viewed in my rearview mirror."

". . . leaving the Wolverine State?" Who the hell do I think I am? Bob Crawford?

Stick a Fork in Him

Larry Brooks has written three consecutive stories in the past two weeks detailing the non-details about Brendan Shanahan’s murky situation with the Rangers. Bottom-line: Brendan wants to play for the Rangers and he does not have a contract. Larry has a man-crush on Brendan.

Camp has started and Shanahan is not on the ice at the Ranger training facility. Good. I had no problem with the Ranger version 1, and Ranger version 2 of Shanny. But I say "no" to a potential version 3. Shanahan displayed an alarming drop-off in production during the second half of last season. And his defense and power-play skills looked extremely diminished.

Some fans in the Ranger universe have suggested that he could play less minutes on the 3rd or 4th line.

I’m not going to draw cute little proposed line charts but, personally, I would hope the Rangers 4th line is such a hard skating, hard banging 4th line that an old guy like Shanahan would look out of place out there.

A similar thing can be said about the 3rd line — being an energy line. Shanahan chugging up the ice behind the play is not going to help anyone except the medic alert company.

Some within the nutty Ranger universe have talked about the value of his one-timer. As good as it is — the one-timer is typically not a shot used too often on a 3rd or 4th line. Those lines only occasionally set up the offense with the cycle. Instead they are cutting to and from the net, attacking at angles, not nifty little passes back to the slot allowing for a 1-timer. Shanahan is wrong for those lines. He used to be a top 6 forward. But he is no longer the best option for the Rangers.

The last argument used by the sign-shanny-now crowd is his leadership. Of course this leadership role assumes diminished ice-time. This is the most precarious reason of all. If there is one thing true about the dog-eat-dog world of hockey is that leadership is not a give-away quota program. In hockey leadership happens with play on the ice. Not in the locker room. Shanahan himself told goofy Larry Brooks — "I appreciate compliments about my role as a leader or mentor, but I'm not playing in the NHL this year to be a, 'Good locker room guy,' . . ."

Glad to see Brendan agrees. Now answer the phone from John Davidson, or Brian Burke. Obviously they don’t see the fork stuck in your backside.

Please Joe, Have A Good Camp

One of the joys of any hockey season is identifying the players on the opponent’s team and finding a way to get under their skin. From the perspective of a Wolf Pack fan the Ferraro twins always come to mind. Can anyone forget the greasy thug family members that came over to threaten the Pack fans in Springfield when they took objection to the "Swing-your-stick-Petey" chant?

Certainly the Wolf Pack has provided the opponent’s fans a lot of fodder with guys like PJ Stock, Dale Puriton, Francis Lessard, and Marty Grenier. But let them write their own blog and tell their own stories. Currently the guy in Providence who yells at Dane Byers ("Hey Bye-ah, you got no air in your ti-ah!") seems to be the most enthusiastic antagonist.

But for a Wolf Pack fan the likes of Crosty and Kanko have brought great enjoyment. Did everyone catch the Pack fan in the wife-beater t-shirt greeting Kanko as he exited the ice from warm-ups? The Portland Pirates have provided their own enjoyment to Pack fans with the antics of "Warren" Zenon Konopka, and Trevor Gillies most recently. And in the past Darcy Verot and Louis Robitaille were on the same Portland team for a while.

Providence had Dennis Bonvie for a while. And of course, Colton Orr, before he became a good guy, was a great one to yell at with his horrible hair style and worse skating ability.
The list could go on: Mitch Fritz in Springfield, Eric Godard, Drew Fata, and Wade "Smoke a doobie" Dubielewicz in Bridgeport. But only one player has surpassed all these notables — Joe Rullier!

Joe started his AHL career as a Lockmonster but went to Manchester for their inaugural season. Joe quickly became a fan-favorite, playing to the crowd with fist pumping, and leg-kicking even if he got his head handed to him in a fight. Ultimately his slow feet and poor defense around the net had Joe packing for blue pastures.

In 2005 Joe found himself in Rangers camp. He thought he was going to get a shot at the NHL roster but found himself in Hartford. Ironically the season opener that season was in Hartford against Manchester. Joe scored a goal. It was all downhill from there.

A combination of some injuries, his bad attitude, and some game scratches from Schoenfeld and Joe wanted out. A trade deadline "loan" sent Joe re-packing to his beloved Manchester Monarchs and Brad "Shooter" Smyth came home to the Pack. Hee, hee, hee, the Wolf Pack ended-up playing the Monarchs in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. The Pack ended the Monarch’s season in 7 games, and Joe Rullier’s career as a Monarch.

Since that time Joe has a total of 60 AHL games under his belt. He has played for Manitoba, Portland, Springfield, and Bridgeport. I think there was a tryout for the Penguins last season. Joe is a lost soul. He thinks he is NHL material, and without his toughness he is an ECHL defenseman. But splendidly his career has always brought him back through Hartford where he is reminded that as a hockey player he is a loser.

Recently the San Jose Sharks have reported on their training camp roster that Joe has a tryout. Obviously, he will not be playing on the team with Joe Thorton. Joe Rullier is trying for a contract to play in Worcester. Yes!

It is with a certain amount of glee that I cheer for Joe to make the team in Worcester. Having the Sharks travel to Hartford with Rullier will be sweet.