FALCONS NAME ALTERNATE CAPTAINS

Fort Erie - 1/24/17

The Fort Erie Falcons have announced that Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Toffoli, and Paul Stastny will serve as alternate captains for the remainder of the season.  

The team will hold off naming an official captain until the start of next season.  

"We feel that this is a good group to lead the rest of the way through this season.  Given our decision to rebuild, we feel these three will be key members of the Falcons franchise for a number of years to come" said General Manager Matt Young at the press conference.  

In what has been a whirlwind season for Fort Erie, Young has managed to change the face of the franchise within just a few short months.  

Young has been quiet on the proceedings this season and has met with the media today for the first time since dispatching several key veterans in the rebuilding effort.  

"I didn't meet with you people because I knew there would be a lot of questions.  I wasn't done and I didn't want anything to be leaked with respect to the plan.  We are still not done but we are in a better place today to compete for the next decade than we were 3 short months ago" added the upstart Young.  

In what were surprising moves, Young dealt Pietrangelo, Carter, Datsyuk, and Perry for a host of picks and prospects that should be CCHL ready next season.  

In a more bizarre move, Young also dealt Kadri before re-acquiring the shift disturber just 23 days later.  

"It was a little bizarre," said Kadri. "It's a good thing that I hadn't sold my house.  I got to move back in.  It might be the easiest trade I'll ever go through."  

Young thought the move just made sense.  

"Not that I need to justify it to you, but I like Naz.  I think he could turn into one of the best third centers in the league behind Geno and Dylan (Strome)" quipped Young.  

While the team is clearly building for the future, Malkin believes the team can make the playoffs this season.  

"We are only three points out.  JVR is back in another game.  We have a tradition of winning in this organization and have made the playoffs five straight years.  I'm new here but I believe that this group can make the playoffs" said Geno with the "A".  

While the team has three first round picks for this summer's draft, it remains to be seen whether or not they'll all be used by the Falcons.  

"I'll do whatever it takes to compete with Hamilton, Siberia, and Wisborg for the next decade.  I'll examine all opportunities for those picks and decide what we do closer to the draft.  We are definitely looking for a defenceman, that's for sure" concluded Young. 

It should be an interesting conclusion to the season and off-season in Fort Erie as the team continues its aggressive rebuild.  

Youth Movement Progressing Strongly in 3 Cities...

Youth Movement Progressing Strongly in 3 Cities

This CCHL season, we have seen a lot of the same top contenders in the CCHL as last year.  You have the reigning champion Puffin leading the Canosa Conference and leading the league in goal scoring, followed by the steady and reliable Georgetown Millers and Victoria Ronin.  The Corfield Conference is led by perennial contender and current #1 team, the Dayton Musicmen, followed by the #2 team in the league, the young and strong Calgary Chinooks, along with the ever present Niagara Falls Thunder.  But this year, we are seeing a few young teams pushing for playoff spots with their youthful rosters.  Those 3 teams are the Hamilton Tigers, the Siberia Icecats and the Wisborg Donuts.  All 3 teams missed the playoffs last year and all have been building with youth and lots of patience.  The Tigers and Icecats are battling it out for 4th place in the tough Canosa Conference, while the Donuts currently sit in 5th place in the Corfield Conference, but poised to push the Winnipeg Ferrets for 4th.  We spoke with GM Silvio Saouaf of the Icecats earlier today and here is what he had to say.  "You know, it's refreshing to see this team with it's youth step up and make a difference.  The last few years have been extremely hard on Icecats fans, but as promised, they are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  With captain Connor McDavid leading the way, this team has forged an identity of playing tough and putting the puck in the net.  We have struggled defensively, but we are addressing that also.  I expect this team to be better next season."  GM Saouaf is of course referring to his deadline deal to bring in a stalwart on D, Marc Vlasic.  He should be a rock on the Icecats blue line for many years to come.

GM Saouaf also had this to say about his fellow youthful franchises.  "You know, I admire what both GM Taylor and GM Kallum have done with their teams.  They have built their teams through the draft, as we have in Siberia, and have blended in experienced veterans to balance their teams.  I expect that we will be battling each other for years to come as our franchises continue to grow and evolve."  Indeed, these 3 franchises are on their way up the ranks of the CCHL.  With all of this youth, will they be able to maintain their positions down the stretch?  This is where their veteran leadership will help balance the inexperience of their youth.  Only time will tell if these 3 franchises can rise to become powerhouses like Dayton, Calgary, Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Georgetown, Niagara Falls and Victoria.  Stay tuned sports fans!

Trio Shine In Chinook’ 5-2 Win Over the Reign September 30th, 2016 (Game 1)

Trio Shine In Chinook’ 5-2 Win Over the Reign

September 30th, 2016 (Game 1)

CALGARY, AB -- The line of the Calgary Chinook scored three goals and combined for six points to defeat the Seattle Reign 5-2 in season home opener action at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

Sean Monahan had two goals and an assist, Silfverberg had a goal and an assists and 20-year-old hockey sensation Dylan Larkin had his first CCHL assist for the Chinook (1-0-0). Nyquist had a goal and an assist for the Reign (0-1-0).

"We're learning each other," Monahan said. "The good thing is we've started camp together from Day One. We've had lots of good practices. I think the three of us work well together. It's just been a pretty smooth transition so far."

Calgary goaltender John Gibson made 29 saves in the game. 

O’Reilly scored early in the game at 1:44 of the first period, deflected a shot off from Letang. "It's always nice to score goals no matter what it is," O’Reilly said. "It's always a good feeling. You want to have that good feeling going into the start of the season. “

Need to Know:  Neither team score on the power play.  Both teams spent the equal amount of time (9mins 52 seconds) in the offensive zone.  Barkov played only 10 mins despite playing on the first line.  

Three Stars:

1.  Monahan - 2 goals, 1 assist

2.  Letang - 3 assists

3.  Nyquist - 1 shorthanded goal, 1 assist

Millers Prepare for 16-17 Campaign, Final roster released, plus scheduling news

Georgetown, KY - The Georgetown Millers Hockey Club released its opening night roster during a press conference held at the Yuko-En Gardens adjacent to the team offices at Cardome. Among those sent to the AHL affiliate in Huntington, WV are highly-touted forward Teuvo Teravainen, veteran C Jarrett Stoll, and rugged winger Trevor Lewis. Lewis in particular took the news hard, upset at losing his spot as the 13th forward to waiver pick-up John Mitchell and he may request a trade. Defensemen sent down are youngsters Brett Pesce and Alex Marchenko. Darcy Kuemper will act as the goaltender in Huntington. 

The opening night roster is: 

Forwards - Backstrom, Krejci, Fisher, Bonino, Smith, Doan, Schenn, Hoffman, Cogliano, Janmark, Girgensons, Hornqvist, Mitchell 

Defensemen - Josi, Braun, Savard, Ristolainen, Orlov, Lovejoy, Sekera 

Goalies - Fleury, Talbot 

The team Captain is Mike Fisher, with Roman Josi, Shane Doan, Niklas Backstrom and Reilly Smith alternating the Assistant roles. 

The team also announced a change concerning home venues for high profile midwest opponents Dayton and Minnesota. All home games against long-time rival Dayton will be played at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati. The KFC Yum Center in Louisville will play host to the Norsemen when they travel to the Bluegrass State. Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park will remain the location for all other home games.

Hamilton Tigers Update...

AP Hamilton:

A group of reporters, camera-people and various technicians are milling around in the orchestra pit in the Hamilton Place theatre. The theatre is the home of the Hamilton Philharmonic and is adjacent to Copps Coliseum.  It is also home of the "Big Black Curtain"  For those who have never seen the curtain it is over 110' from stage to rod and blacker than the back door of Hades as well as being a of CCHL lore....

GM Taylor walks out from between the curtains to the strains of "Enemy" by Days of the New WWE style.

Taylor in jeans a Tigers t-shirt and a mantled black leather duster walks to the podium.  "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I have some thoughts to share and announcements to make".

There is a stir amongst the TSN, Sportsnet, CBC and American reporting groups.

"I have a few announcements to make.  "Ryan Kessler whom we acquired a few days ago will be our UFA resign and we are inking the all star for 3 seasons"

"I am also proud to announce the appointment of Gerard Gallant as head coach of the Hamilton Tigers" Gerard walks out wearing a sharp black and ivory pinstripe suit and a Tigers tie. "Gerard has demonstrated his ability to win as every level.  I have been endorsing him for 5 years in our inner circles since he was winning the memcup in St John. He relates to the young guys and I think that will be the difference.   I believe him to be the superior coach to coach the superior players I plan to give him"

Taylor looks around

"Speaking of superior players I would like to announce that the Tigers intend to draft Austin Matthews first overall.  We believe he can be the crown jewel of our group.   We would also like to announce the debut of a new 3rd jersey.   We thank CCHL creative and BWE* for the superior design."

Stepping up and tossing his head back he said "I am excited to see the impact our kids can have this season."  Taylor then walks off leaving Gallant to answer questions

* Blake Wendt Enterprises

2016 Off season Schedule Announced!

With the playoffs behind us, we'll now move into our off-season activities which include the submission of RFA contract info, UFA Resign info, the start of our annual UFA bidding process (run ably by Paul Canosa), and finally our annual ten round Entry Draft. All of these tasks should be done by early June at the latest, after which we'll authenticate the draft and then open up trading for a week before we shut everything down until early Fall when the 16-17 APBA Disk is released.

Over the late Spring and early Summer, we anticipate the player rating project to be up and running and we strongly encourage all GM's to be involved in that project.


Here is the off season schedule:

CCHL Calendar...
(Subject to change...)

APRIL:

16th- RFA Contract Info AND UFA resign info due to league office by 6:00am, Dayton time...
16th- Trading period ends at 6:00am, Dayton time....
20th- Start of UFA Bidding...
TBA- There will be a short trading period after the UFA Bid process is complete and the start of the 2016 Entry Draft...

MAY:

JUNE:

27th-Start of 2016 CCHL Entry Draft...

TBA- League office closes one week after Entry Draft ends. Trades will be allowed after draft is over until league office shutdown...

July:

League office closed, disk rating project?

SEPT:

TBA-New disk  released, league disk compiled/distributed/rosters checked, rookie contract info due, etc...
TBA- 2016-17 CCHL Preseason begins....
TBA-Annual Waiver Draft...

October:
TBA-2016-17 REGULAR SEASON UNDERWAY…

Hamilton Announces New Contract for Head Coach!

AP Hamilton:

The ownership group in Hamilton has called a press conference.  Group spokesman Steve Smith (TV’s Red Green and longtime Hamilton resident) has not yet taken the stage and there is an electric atmosphere.  A man in a tweed suit that went out of fashion when Trudeau the elder was still Prime Minister is almost dancing in place.  George Weston having faced his demons and gone to rehab was given his job back as CCHL beat reported for the Hamilton Spectator.   Most in attendance believe that this press conference is being held to relieve GM Taylor of his duties before the option year of his contract kicks in.  Weston is almost vibrating with happiness and the other reporters are giving him a wide birth.

A smattering of applause as a very familiar beard comes from behind the black curtain.

“Well uh, welcome everyone.  We here are Possum Lodge, I mean the Hamilton Tigers Hockey Club (polite little laugh) are here today to make an important announcement about the future direction of hockey operations.

Weston is almost dancing.

“We’re here to formally announce the extension of GM Taylor’s contract until the end of the 2019-2020 season”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A somewhat muffled scream comes from Weston.

Taylor walks out from behind the black curtain.  In almost WWE style “Enemy” by Days of the New plays as he gains the podium.

“Yes everyone I am here to stay.  The rebuild program is a little behind schedule but our youngsters are maturing and we are well on our way to being the Juggernaut I promised you 5 seasons ago.    I have a couple announcements to make.  We are currently negotiating with several CCHL GM’s to bring in a high profile UFA and should be making an announcement about that in the next 48 hours. We have after careful deliberation decided that interim head coach Kirk Muller will not be returning in that role next season.  Kirk has been promoted to Assistant General Manager here in Hamilton and GM of our farm club the Mooretown Comets.  Kirk will split his time and learn the ropes.”

Looking directly at a still nearly frothing Weston.

“You never know he might take my job in a few  YEARS.  This is the year we go from rebuilding to rising to the top of the CCHL standings.  Our goal for next season is to make the playoffs.  We have a group of youngsters like Max Domi, & Darnell Nurse that are ready to make the jump, Kirby Ryckel and Nick Ritchie on the cusp and guys like Boone Jenner and Ryan Murray, Ryan Spooner &  Matt Dumba who have finally(and he emphasizes the word with a little exasperation) matured into the players we knew that could be. The search is on for a new head coach and we will make an announcement on that before the draft.   If anyone is interested I have been in contact with other CCHL GM’s about the possibility of dealing the #1 overall pick.  Just so everyone knows it will take a heck of an offer to make anything happen.  Most likely you will see Austin Mathews in a Tigers uniform in the future.“

Weston looking at Steve Smith…  “What…  How could you???  CLOWN SHOES!”

With that Weston stomps out.  Taylor looks around.

“Does anyone have any actual questions?”