Checkers III: The Age of Ulf

[Breakdowns]

There are dozens of us in the U.S. who watch what you call football. Cold, rainy night at Stoke is a meme even over here in North America.

glad to know that, it`s amazing sport!

ynwa

Gunners for me, but much respect to Liverpool, I like Klopp a lot

 

[Canes]

Breakdowns we could have been best friends, but as a Tottenham fan this situation is untenable

Yes, makes my Liverpool chirp look dumb but that's all you can root for as a Spurs fan - other top clubs choking

I blame being brainwashed in a trip to London long ago. I really thought Tottenham could be great as a young chap.

 

[A Star is Burns]

So, you know, the Checkers won like 7-1. Goat coming on lately, scored a couple of goals. A couple for Zykov too.

 

[NotOpie]

So, you know, the Checkers won like 7-1. Goat coming on lately, scored a couple of goals. A couple for Zykov too.

Nic Roy has been playing well as of late too. Tolchinsky is quietly putting together a nice season.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Roy has been solidly productive for most of the year, and I've heard a pretty good two way player. I think Tolchnsky had a fairly long streak in the middle of the season with almost no production, so that could be why it's been quiet. Clark Bishop has been a much more productive player this year, and was one of the first guys singled out in an interview by Shaya the other day in a positive way. He also mentioned McKeown having a great year and coming back even better after his cup of coffee.

I also like to see that Ned is having a better year and all he does is win. Shaya mentioned that he's worlds better and more confident than last year.

Throw in the usual suspects having a good year of Kuokkanen, Wallmark, Foegele, and Zykov and things really do feel promising down there. As much as I'd love to see a few of them up here, letting them marinate down there, win, and avoid the plague of mediocrity of the big club almost feels like the best option.

 

[geehaad]

Goat coming on lately, scored a couple of goals.

Add an assist for his first multi-point pro game.

Last 6 games:
3G/1A/+5/16S

Which directly follows this 5-game stat line:
0G/0A/-8/6S

Interestingly, his pluses in the last 6 games have come with each point, as if he hasn't been scored on in even-strength play in 6 games. Given that his linemate is Tolchnsky, who I wouldn't think of as a defensive stalwart, that makes that stat seem a bit less arbitrary.

 

[Breakdowns]

Breakdowns we could have been best friends, but as a Tottenham fan this situation is untenable

Yes, makes my Liverpool chirp look dumb but that's all you can root for as a Spurs fan - other top clubs choking

I blame being brainwashed in a trip to London long ago. I really thought Tottenham could be great as a young chap.

Wow, you were able to choose any team but Spurs, but you didn`t, shame!

 

[MinJaBen]

Roy has been solidly productive for most of the year, and I've heard a pretty good two way player. I think Tolchnsky had a fairly long streak in the middle of the season with almost no production, so that could be why it's been quiet. Clark Bishop has been a much more productive player this year, and was one of the first guys singled out in an interview by Shaya the other day in a positive way. He also mentioned McKeown having a great year and coming back even better after his cup of coffee.

I also like to see that Ned is having a better year and all he does is win. Shaya mentioned that he's worlds better and more confident than last year.

Throw in the usual suspects having a good year of Kuokkanen, Wallmark, Foegele, and Zykov and things really do feel promising down there. As much as I'd love to see a few of them up here, letting them marinate down there, win, and avoid the plague of mediocrity of the big club almost feels like the best option.

I just wish they were closer so I could go watch some fun hockey.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I just wish they were closer so I could go watch some fun hockey.

I'd even settle for the AHL streaming options not being so expensive. They certainly seem like the more fun team to follow at this point.

 

[HisIceness]

Pee Dee (Florence) Pride, Augusta Lynx, South Carolina Stingrays, Greenville Grrrowl, etc. So many smaller Southern cities have had ECHL hockey at one point.

As a hockey fan as a kid growing up in the South in the 1990s, so much nostalgia.

Off the top of my head I remember Tallahassee, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Knoxville, Roanoke, Raleigh, Macon, Columbus GA, Jackson Mississippi (or was it Biloxi?), New Orleans, Jacksonville? and at least one other city in Louisiana (Shreveport?) and possibly one in Alabama (Birmingham?) all had teams in the ECHL.

I know times change and cities change but the 90's for the ECHL were about as good as it got for minor-league Hockey. I kind of feel like the Greensboro Monarchs moving up to the AHL in 1996? for that one season sort of was the signaling of the beginning of the end.

Then of course, in comes the Hurricanes.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

The ECHL sure was fun -- but the Icecaps sucked worse than the Canes ever did.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I grew up in Roanoke with the Express. Absolutely loved the ECHL back then.

 

[Bub]

I grew up in Roanoke with the Express. Absolutely loved the ECHL back then.

Got season tickets for the Renegades starting with their first season. A lot of fun back then, those games were.

 

[HisIceness]

I love the comment about Circuit City being a sponsor.

 

[Hulkacaniac]

 

[DougieSmash]

i don't know about this graphic but i'd trade roy, foegele and zykov for mcdavid

 

[Vagrant]

weird situation we've never really encountered where we have so many guys ready for a shot at the NHL and they're all basically blocked by salary structure and the concept of known quantities being more reliable. curious how long it will be before guys like nordstrom, PDG, Jooris, Kreuger, etc. are cycled out of the lineup in favor of trying out the ever growing list of players performing well enough in the AHL to get a meritorious call up. Zykov, Foegele, Wallmark are the main three at forward that haven't already gotten their shot. Kuokkanen, Gauthier, and Roy are fine down there. McKeown, Carrick, and Chelios are also playing at a high level.

Zykov and Wallmark in particular need to be evaluated. both are RFA after this season and both would likely have options in Europe if they didn't feel convinced Carolina was interested in giving them a shot.

 

[Unsustainable]

All they do is win.

5-2 over Lehigh

 

[JCLA]

TheAHL.com

2nd
1:39	CHA	Valentin Zykov (13) ASST: Andrew Miller (17), Trevor Carrick(14) (PP)
4:38	CHA	Andrew Poturalski (9) ASST: Warren Foegele (7), Roland McKeown (5)
15:00	CHA	Patrick Brown (5) ASST: Aleksi Saarela (5), Janne Kuokkanen(11)
19:18	LV	Matt Read (4) ASST: Oskar Lindblom (10), Corban Knight(10) (PP)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

this, this is how you play in the second period

 

[Joe McGrath]

TheAHL.com

2nd
1:39	CHA	Valentin Zykov (13) ASST: Andrew Miller (17), Trevor Carrick(14) (PP)
4:38	CHA	Andrew Poturalski (9) ASST: Warren Foegele (7), Roland McKeown (5)
15:00	CHA	Patrick Brown (5) ASST: Aleksi Saarela (5), Janne Kuokkanen(11)
19:18	LV	Matt Read (4) ASST: Oskar Lindblom (10), Corban Knight(10) (PP)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

this, this is how you play in the second period

Give up goals in the last minute? Seems like they’re ready to play for the Canes!

 

[Unsustainable]

TheAHL.com

2nd
1:39	CHA	Valentin Zykov (13) ASST: Andrew Miller (17), Trevor Carrick(14) (PP)
4:38	CHA	Andrew Poturalski (9) ASST: Warren Foegele (7), Roland McKeown (5)
15:00	CHA	Patrick Brown (5) ASST: Aleksi Saarela (5), Janne Kuokkanen(11)
19:18	LV	Matt Read (4) ASST: Oskar Lindblom (10), Corban Knight(10) (PP)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

this, this is how you play in the second period

3 goal scorers, and 6 with assists.

That’s spreading the lines and getting contributions from all over.

 

[WreckingCrew]

View attachment 87851

All they do is win.

5-2 over Lehigh

They did lose 6-3 to Lehigh Valley the night before though. What's odd, is with only 1-2 exceptions, almost every time they play the same team back-to-back nights, they tend to get a big win one night and a big loss the other (3+ goal diff). If it hadn't been for a Hurricanes-esque streak of losing 5 out of 6 games in there, Checkers would top the league right now.

 

[NotOpie]

Roy has been solidly productive for most of the year, and I've heard a pretty good two way player. I think Tolchnsky had a fairly long streak in the middle of the season with almost no production, so that could be why it's been quiet. Clark Bishop has been a much more productive player this year, and was one of the first guys singled out in an interview by Shaya the other day in a positive way. He also mentioned McKeown having a great year and coming back even better after his cup of coffee.

I also like to see that Ned is having a better year and all he does is win. Shaya mentioned that he's worlds better and more confident than last year.

Throw in the usual suspects having a good year of Kuokkanen, Wallmark, Foegele, and Zykov and things really do feel promising down there. As much as I'd love to see a few of them up here, letting them marinate down there, win, and avoid the plague of mediocrity of the big club almost feels like the best option.

In truth Roy got off to a pretty slow start, especially his first 8-10 games. He's come on strong ever since. He's always been a defensively responsible guy, but his shot is very underrated. He's got very well developed puck skills. The thing about Tolchinsky, this is his 2nd "last chance" and he seems to have found a rhythm with GOAT.

While I like Bishop, he's a dime a dozen guy with super leadership skills. He's a #14 at best. Don't get me wrong I love those kind of guys, but he's almost a Jooris clone.

Zykov, Wallmark, Foegele, Kuokkanen, and to a lesser extent Roy and Saarela are the next men up. There's no reason that the team isn't cycling one of those guys up to the big club for a few games each. PDG, Nordstrom, and Ryan could all be sat periodically to a guy a look. With upcoming RFA status for some of these guys, it even makes more sense.

 

[NHL RankKing]

I'm curious to know if you think Trevor Carrick has a shot at making the Canes as a full-time NHLer in the future?
He's always put up decent numbers, but looks like time is running out... especially with the Canes' defensive depth in the pipeline.
Thanks

 

[Joe McGrath]

I think Wallmark would be the 3C right now I’d he didn’t keep getting hurt. Zykov is tough because he has to play in an offensive role and none of the top 9 wings have given any reason to be sat down. The only way to do it is to move McGinn to the 4th line (which he doesn’t deserve) or zone of the wings to center, which makes the team worse. Same with Kuokkanen. Foegele is a 4th liner so that makes sense, but much like a Fluery I think they just give him the full year in Charlotte.