Wrapping up Game 1…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Wrote the extended snap shot for tomorrow’s paper. These playoff recaps will be about the same length as the home game stories as that was one of the things agreed upon since I couldn’t go to Mississippi to start off things.
Spoke with head coach Doug Sauter about a crazy, well-played Game 1 between his Blazers and the Mississippi RiverKings.
- He said it was a heck of a hockey game. Both teams just battling and battling out there. Wanted to make sure Bill Vandermeer got some credit for the tying goal by D.J. Jelitto. It was Vandermeer who orchestrated the play leading to the Hinz shot and Jelitto’s goal.
- He said early on there might have been some nerves for some of those younger guys. “It’s just one of those situations.”
- Associate coach Chris Dashney spoke about why Brian Passmore did not see the ice until overtime after an undisciplined penalty in the second period. Sauter bascially said the same things Dashney said on the call-in show.
Basically, can’t make that type of mistake at this time of year. Passmore was out there in OT and played well. Want my .02, situation is done and not worth re-visiting (unless something else happens).
- I asked about the possibility of seeing Matt Harris on Thursday night. With Tyler Harder having to spend more than 12 minutes off the ice, Blazers were down to four defenseman because of the injury to Oriel McHugh.
Sauter said he would have to see how everybody feels Thursday morning. He did say Harder got caught up in the moment, but that Harder took a shot in the face but no penalty was called on Mississippi.
Harris did skate in the warmup tonight, but I think you’ll find out if Harris is playing right about the same time I’m going to Thursday.
- In his first playoff game, G Doug Groenestege was Boneman’s No. 1 star but didn’t even make the three stars for the official game sheet. Groenestege will get the start Thursday after stopping 38 shots and keeping the Blazers in the game in those tumultuous first two periods.
- Sauter said something at the end that resonated with me. “We’re not satisfied with one here. We want to win both games. There’s a lot of hockey left to be played.”
Not so much shocking to hear a coach say that, but it might be interesting if the Blazers are in the same position (trailing late in the game) Thursday and just decide “we did what we were supposed to do.”
- Also great stat from Josh Evans about this only being the fourth win all-time for Oklahoma City when trailing after two periods in overtime. Blazers are now 4-39 when that happens.
- In the other games, CC routed RGV with a 6-2 win. The deciding Game 3 is Thursday. Also, Bossier goes from down 4-2 with 10 minutes left to winning in overtime to force Game 3 vs. Rocky Mountain.
- All three games that happened tonight will be on tap again Thursday. So we’ll do it again here in, oh, 20 hours or so.
Once again, Blazers 2, Mississippi 1 in overtime. Ted Vandermeer scores the game-winner. Oklahoma City takes 1-0 series lead.
Fleck video…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Now less than five hours away from the Game 1 between Oklahoma City and Mississippi.
I don’t think this will be the swan song for Tyler Fleck. He looks/feels rejuvenated with the way this season turned out, and he nowhere near the point where he doesn’t contribute.
After Monday’s practice, here’s what he had to say about being back in the playoffs.
Also, hope you got a chance to read the Fleck story in today’s paper. The whole story could have just been quotes from other players on Fleck’s leadership.
Everyone I talked to said something different that they admire about Fleck, and it gave the story life (now if only we had a beat writer smart enough to call him a defenseman, my fault).
Sauter Playoff Preview Video
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The team had a 7 a.m. practice today and is on its way to Mississippi to start the playoffs Wednesday night.
Head coach Doug Sauter joined me in the OPUBCO Studios for a brief playoff preview Monday afternoon.
Final night scenario…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
It comes down to one last night. One last game will decide whether or not Oklahoma City begins its playoff run Wednesday night at home vs. Rocky Mountain or if the Blazers will play Mississippi.
Oklahoma City is 38-18-7 while Bossier-Shreveport is 39-19-5. The Blazers host Wichita at 7:10 Saturday while Bossier hosts Corpus Christi.
Corpus Christi will need to win or earn a point to try to earn the fifth seed in the Southern Conference. The IceRays blew a chance Friday vs. Rio Grande Valley and have put the Arizona/New Mexico winner back in the hunt.
Edit at 10:30 a.m.: Entering tonight, Corpus Christi leads Arizona by one point, 60-59. Both have 27 wins and CC has head-to-head advantage. Arizona plays New Mexico one final time. The IceRays are going to leave it all out on the ice tonight, which may help Oklahoma City.
How Oklahoma City can become the third seed:
- With a win and a Bossier-Shreveport loss either in regulation or overtime/shootout
- With a loss in overtime/shootout and a Bossier loss in regulation
- That’s it (unless I have some fuzzy math)
How Bossier-Shreveport can become the third seed:
- With a win of any kind
- With a loss in overtime/shootout and a Blazers loss in regulation or overtime/shootout (doesn’t matter as long as Blazers don’t get two points)
- With a loss in regulation and a Blazers loss in regulation
***
The first tie-breaker is team wins, and that’s why Bossier has it wrapped up if it takes care of business. The Mudbugs would have 40 wins, so it wouldn’t matter what Oklahoma City does Saturday night.
Or to put it another way. Simply put: Bossier has to equal whatever Oklahoma City does Saturday, and it will be the third seed.
How quickly things change. Midway through the second period vs. Rapid City, it was the Blazers up 3-0 and Mississippi up 4-2 on Bossier.
Since, Bossier has beaten Mississippi twice and Oklahoma City has lost to Odessa after shutting out Rapid City.
Blazers vs. Odessa – Sorta Game Blog
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
10:11 – Associate coach Chris Dashney said it was one of the worst officiated games he’s seen in a long time.
He mentioned there was mass confusion with the penalty box people during that disastrous four-minute span for Oklahoma City in the third period and admitted the team lost its cool momentarily.
I can’t comment on that, but overall, it seemed like the coaching staff was happy with the performance. I’m going to put a new post with your scenarios.
9:51 – Odessa 3, Blazers 2, final. Too many third period penalties doom Oklahoma City.
One note on Bossier, Carroll had 45 saves tonight in the shutout. Bugs are showing some heart in this final week.
9:47 – Here comes the final chance. With 1:18 left, the Blazers will have their fifth PP of the night.
9:35 – Jackalopes have finally broken through on the PP. Oklahoma City believes it was kicked in, it’s not the case as Sebastien Thinel gets the credit for the goal.
9:30 – It’s still a battle. Still 2-2. Odessa has been on the PP for a while now, but the Blazers penalty kill has been up to the task.
Bossier makes statement with 4-0 win vs. Mississippi.
There are still eight minutes left. It’s been one penalty after another. Passmore, D.J. Jelitto and Tyler Fleck have all been penalized in last two minutes.
8:48 – Odessa 2, Blazers 2 – end of second period.
Oklahoma City fans have to be happy with the way the team bounced back from the 2-0 deficit. In the past, the Blazers have sometimes started to get rough with other teams and not worry about the consequences.
But tonight they came together and have put themselves back in the competitive equation.
For Passmore, it was his first goal in 17 games, going all the way back to the Kids Day game vs. Texas on Feb. 10.
Vandermeer isn’t flashy, but he is always finding a way to put the puck in the net. Maybe “grit” is the best word to describe him.
Franck has stopped 22 shots while Odessa’s Alexandre Vincent has stopped 20 heading into the third period.
8:38 – Odessa 2, Blazers 2. Ted Vandermeer scores on a PP with 3:08 left in the second period. Vandermeer has now scored a goal in six straight games.
Assists go to Eric Przepiorka and Josh Patterson.
PPs haven’t always been kind to Oklahoma City, but two in less than two minutes is turned this game on its side.
8:32 – Odessa 2, Blazers 1. Brian Passmore picks up the PP goal for Oklahoma City. Assists go to Jason Seerey and Jeff MacDermid. Still 5:20 left in the second period.
Bossier 2-0 as that game has reached the second intermission.
8:27 – Odessa 2, Blazers 0. Dominic Leveille has put one in on a rebound as Odessa has taken control of the game.
Bossier has added another one, so the Bugs are up 2-0 vs. Mississippi late in their second period.
Maybe more telling has been Odessa still outshooting Oklahoma City. If it holds up, Bossier and the Blazers will be tied with 83 points, but Bossier is going to have one more win, 39-38. Still a ways to go.
Oklahoma City is about to go on its second PP of the game.
8:05 – Odessa 1, Blazers 0. According to Byers, it was an icing that was waved off, and the Jackalopes took advantage.
Goal went to Paul Kelly 17 seconds into the period. Sounds like there was some confusion and maybe a little letdown after the icing wasn’t called.
Play has resumed.
7:40 – Don’t know if Oklahoma City didn’t come out ready, but Odessa definitely did.
Star of the first period was G Andy Franck. At one point, it was Odessa up 11-4 in shots but through the first, we’re scoreless.
The Blazers rarely get outshot so a margin like that really stands out. But in the final minutes, it appears the Blazers started playing their game again.
Odessa also had three power-play opportunities. And with the Jackalopes having the best PP percentage in the league, Oklahoma City has to be feeling alright with things.
Have to watch to see what happens with D Oriel McHugh. He had a collision with Odessa’s Mike Ramsay. He left the game late in the first period. And actually needed help to get back to the locker room.
Hope that’s not the Boneman Jinx. Write about the defense and McHugh gets injured.
Bossier continues to try to play its way into the third spot as well. The Mudbugs lead 1-0 after the first vs. Mississippi.
5:50 – Already a busy day in the CHL. Colorado’s Aaron Schneekloth was named Defenseman of the Year while Mississippi’s Kevin Beech was named Most Outstanding Goaltender.
Hard to argue about Schneekloth as he was extremely dominant during the early part of the season. But I do think the goaltender one is up for debate.
Beech has had fantastic season with 35 wins entering tonight. I also give him credit for playing nearly 230 minutes more than the nearest goaltender.
When the NCAA basketball tournament came around last weekend, and the experts started talking about bubble teams, they used the term “the eye test.”
For me, that’s where Beech comes up short. I’ve just never really been impressed by him whenever I’ve seen him.
Doug Groenestege turned his career around. I don’t think any goaltender makes as good saves as Ken Carroll of Bossier-Shreveport and Brett Jaeger of Texas is nothing to sneeze at.
But these awards are all about debates and don’t really mean much (unless there are incentive bonuses in the contract). The goaltenders will prove their worth in the playoffs. And who knows, maybe Beech will be the best of the bunch?
A busy Friday night. I’m a wrestling nut, so I’ll be flicking back and forth between the NCAA Wrestling championships on ESPN2 and the NCAA basketball tournament while listening to Jim Byers for the Blazers and Odessa.
Reader Bryan Hull sent me a message basically saying he wanted to apologize to Andy Franck. Hull, like many others I’ve encountered in the last month, seemed to lose a little faith in Franck, but Tuesday brought up the confidence again. While fans may have lost a bit of confidence and/or re-gained the confidence, Franck never carried himself in a way that made me believe he doubted his own ability.
See how Franck does vs. a great scoring team in Odessa. Of course, if you’ve been here before, you know I’m skeptical about the Jackalopes. Looks like that division is only going to get one team in the playoffs, and Odessa has fallen short time and time again vs. the elite. Tonight could be a good night to shut me up, huh?
Also, of course, keeping tabs on Mississippi and Bossier. Oklahoma City’s magic number is three for the third spot. A Blazers win and a Bossier loss in regulation or OT would clinch it.
Colorado picked up a big OT win vs. Rocky Mountain, so the Eagles look like they’re on their way to the top record in the league. Lead MS by three points and Texas by two pts (but TX has played one more game).
It’s going to be a fun Friday night. Return in an hour when we’re closer to game time.
Home playoff dates announced…
Blazer playoff dates released
By Robert Przybylo
Staff Writer
Bprzybylo@opubco.com
The Oklahoma City Blazers are in the playoffs – that much is known.
Now who the team will face and what their seed will be is still to be determined. Oklahoma City (38-17-7) is currently two points ahead of
Bossier-Shreveport for the third spot in the Northern Conference. Each team has two games left.
While there are still questions about who Oklahoma City will play, home playoff dates were released by the Blazers front office Wednesday night.
If the Blazers fall to the fourth seed and have to play in the mini-round in a best-of-three series against Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma City’s lone home date will be March 25.
If the Blazers clinch the third spot, they will play either Mississippi or Colorado in a best-of-seven series. The first two home playoff games would be April 1 and April 2.
Colorado leads Mississippi for the top spot in the conference.
All home games will be at the Ford Center and will be available on Fox Sports Radio (AM 1340). Faceoff times are still to be determined.
Oklahoma City closes out its regular season with games Friday at Odessa and a home game Saturday vs. rival Wichita.
***
In late March, there aren’t too many available dates with the Thunder and the NCAA Women’s regional, so Oklahoma City would only have one home game vs. Rocky Mountain.
Things start to open up in April with the dates, so the schedule shouldn’t be nearly as jumpy.
As Sauter said last night “we just have to take care of our business.” The Blazers do that, they’ll have those home games in April.
March 25 is next Wednesday while April 1 is two Wednesdays from now and April 2 is two Thursdays away, just FYI.
CHL Power Poll for 3-16
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Well, we’ve made it to the final week and with still a whole lot to be decided. Look for a story on breaking down the Northeast Division in Tuesday’s paper.
Also, hope you got a chance to read the Chad Hinz piece in today’s editions. If history repeats itself, you can almost bank on Hinz scoring Tuesday vs. Rapid City.
Goaltender Andy Franck (14-11-3) will get the start. It will be his first start since the 4-1 loss at Tulsa everyone wants to forget. Also be his first start since the death of his grandma.
Forward Ted Vandermeer will be a game-time decision. He’s been skating with the team and would definitely be used in emergency. But if you can win games and get him healthy, it makes sense.
But for now, on with the show.
Power Poll
1. Mississippi (1) (42-15-3): Clinched the division last night and didn’t even have to get out of bed. RiverKings are absolutely scary right now, the way they’ve dismantled Bossier-Shreveport down the stretch. Funny thing is think Blazers match up well with Mississippi.
2. Colorado (3) (43-14-4): The sleeping giant is waking up at the right time. Currently hold three-point lead over MS and Texas for best record and have won four in a row.
3. Texas (2) (41-15-5): Any cause for concern that Brahmas have lost a couple of home games down the stretch? Still have five-point lead over Odessa for top spot in South.
4. Blazers (4) (37-17-7): Lost golden chance to all but secure third spot with loss at Colorado. Still, schedule looks kind to Oklahoma City for final week. Goaltender Andy Franck might need some starts this week to knock off the rust.
5. Bossier-Shreveport (5) (37-19-5): Two more games with Mississippi won’t help their cause. But if the last two games mean something, it sure will be nice to be playing in front of home crowd.
6. Odessa (6) (38-17-6): When Jackalopes win the championship, they can say “Boneman didn’t give us any respect.” May open my eyes with solid outing Friday vs. Oklahoma City.
7. Laredo (8) (33-22-5): After going winless in five games, picked up two big wins, especially Saturday’s shutout of Texas. Laredo and Rio Grande Valley play same three teams (Odessa, Texas, Corpus Christi) this week.
8. Rio Grande Valley (7) (32-24-5): Four less points and one more game with one less win than Laredo. That two-point team deduction might end up being the difference, that’s crazy. Helped Blazers with win over Bossier on Sunday.
9. Rocky Mountain (9) (31-25-5): Rage are stumbling right now, winless in last three. Bad loss to Amarillo, gave up seven goals to Colorado and turned a 5-1 lead vs. Tulsa into a 6-5 OT loss. Big week to get momentum back.
10. Corpus Christi (10) (27-29-5): Have two more points, one more win and have played one less game than Arizona. Doesn’t CC have to make playoffs, so we get more from Greg Rajan? Right?
Best of the rest: 11. Arizona; 12. New Mexico; 13. Tulsa; 14. Rapid City; 15. Wichita; 16. Amarillo.
Back later with awards. The Player of the Week is Ed McGrane of Colorado while Andrew Penner (shock) won the Goaltender of the Week.
Also announced today by the CHL was the athletic trainer and equipment manager of the year. Neither Wade Sundbye nor Jim Chesnut for Oklahoma City won.
Athletic trainer went to Osama Kassab of Rocky Mountain while Rapid City’s Shawn Smith earned the Equipment Manager of the year.
Thursday thoughts…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Hey hey. This is being written at beautiful McDonalds in Norman, just biding time until the Class 5A boys basketball games start at 2 p.m.
A rather long practice today or at least it felt that way. Good, solid outing before the Blazers head to Rapid City and Colorado for the weekend.
Biggest news is the addition of defenseman Matt Harris. Harris is 6-1 and 200 pounds and played with Simon Lambert in college. Harris will on an amateur contract and won’t be able to play until the playoffs.
He just graduated last month with a degree in packaging engineering. Lambert joked something about making boxes. That is what it sounds like. It’s not, but it gave me a nice visual.
Harris thought I was the equipment manager, that’s quite the first impression I can leave on people. Harris cannot play until the playoffs when the roster gets expanded. He needs the time to get back on the ice because though he’s been doing his thing in his own time, he hasn’t skated for a team this season.
Ted Vandermeer will be making the trip. He’ll only play if necessary. Goaltender Doug Groenestege will get the start. Groenestege has won four games in a row and of course, is the CHL Goaltender of the Week.
Here’s what you can expect in the next couple of days: Saturday look for a story about Simon Lambert and his success in shootouts. Really interesting the way it turned out, nothing like I thought it would.
The big Monday story is on Chad Hinz. It was quite a shock when Marty Standish left the team and Hinz came back from Europe. Even though the spots weren’t directly correlated, that is how it appeared.
Let me throw it out to you. It’s been nearly a full season. Now that the immediate emotion is out the door, how do you readers feel about Hinz’s production?
Bossier-Shreveport and Mississippi meet up Friday night while Corpus Christi has a chance to make a statement against Odessa tonight. CC and Arizona have the same amount of points but Zona has played two more games at this point. New Mexico is four points behind both.
Best of the best…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The site isn’t different from your standpoint, but it sure is different internally. There have been some major upgrades. I’m still playing around with it.
Just wanted to remark on one thing before we talk about the Best of the Best in the CHL.
The Blazers took the season series against Tulsa last night with a 3-2 victory. Overall, that made Oklahoma City 6-4-0 against its rival while Tulsa finishes at 4-4-2.
But what’s amazing is that the Blazers averaged 42 shots per game against Tulsa while the Oilers only had 23. A 19-shot difference, but it took until the final period of the final game for the Turnpike Series to be decided.
Rivalries still carry sports.
Also, Andy Franck was back with the team and was in good spirits. I was hoping to be able to talk to more of the guys before the game, but the bus was late because some thought the time was 7:05 and some thought 7:35.
Like I said, that was a bad mix-up, and I do apologize. Even our pregame notes said the game was at 7:35.
I’ll be attending practice tomorrow and after that, I have 11 HS basketball games to cover from Thursday through Saturday. So if I’m sparse, well, you’ll know why.
Here’s some of the Best of the Best as released Tuesday.
The Central Hockey League (CHL) released today the results of the annual ‘Best of the Best’ poll as voted on by CHL players, coaches and operational staff from all 16 CHL teams. The poll consists of 46 categories ranging from ‘Best Overall Player’ (Colorado’s Riley Nelson) to ‘Best Booster Club’ (Mudbugs Boilers). Each team provided three top choices for each category, with first place votes counting as five points, second place votes counting as three points and third place votes counting as one point.
Nelson was represented in three categories finishing first place in the ‘Best Skater’ and ‘Best Penalty Killer’ categories as well as the ‘Best Overall Player’. The Eagles were selected in 22 of 36 categories leading the way of all CHL teams and also were first in earning 10 first place winners. Other categories won by Colorado include Ed McGrane winning ‘Best Stickhandler’, Kevin Ulanski winning ‘Best Defensive Forward’, Aaron Schneekloth winning ‘Best Offensive Defenseman’ and the team winning ‘Best Fans’, ‘Toughest Building to Win In’ and ‘Best Team Ice’. The final category the Eagles took first place in was the ‘Best Cheerleaders/Dance Team’ which was given to the Eagle Chicks.
Oklahoma City earned the second most appearances being represented in 19 of the 46 categories. From the player side of things, defenseman Tyler Fleck was named ‘Best Defensive Defenseman’ and ‘Best Leader’. The Blazers also earned recognition with the ‘Best Training/Equipment Staff’, ‘Best Team Uniforms’, ‘Best PA Announcer’ (Ben Buckland), ‘Best Press Box’, ‘Best On-Ice Promotions’ and ‘Best City’.
In the “physical” categories, Colt King of the Rocky Mountain Rage took home the ‘Best Fighter (Heavyweight)’ and ‘Best Bodychecker’. Mississippi’s David Simoes won for ‘Best Fighter (Pound for Pound)’.
Other winners include Mississippi’s Head Coach Kevin Kaminski for ‘Best Coach’, Kevin Beech for ‘Best Goaltender’ and Louis Dumont for ‘Most Gentlemanly Player’, Tulsa’s Jeff Christian for ‘Smartest Player’, Arizona’s Joel Irving for ‘Best Power Forward’ and Karl Sellan for ‘Most Annoying Player’. Laredo’s Darryl Smith was named the ‘Best Rookie’.
In some of the other off-ice categories, the Wichita Thunder retained their belt with the ‘Most Annoying Fans’ and Rio Grande Valley’s Sir-Sting-A-Lot was voted the ‘Best Mascot’ in the league. The Bees also were honored with the league’s ‘Best Team Logo’. La Posada in Laredo was named the ‘Best Host Hotel’.
In the media categories, the Arizona Sundogs won the ‘Best Team Website’ for the second straight season and the Corpus Christi IceRays were voted the ‘Best Press Notes’ (I was jobbed I says, just kidding) and play-by-play announcer Josh Bogorad was named the ‘Best Broadcaster’.
Any of those stand out to you guys?
***
OU forward makes all-star team
Oklahoma club hockey forward Doug Gebbie has been named to the 2009 American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 All-Star team.
Gebbie, a senior from Frisco, Texas, is the fifth all-time leading scorer for the Sooners and has 17 goals and 15 assists in 38 games this season.
The second annual All-Star game will be April 4 in Wooster, Ohio, at 7:05 p.m.
Boxscore briefs
Some thoughts from the boxscore of the Blazers’ 5-1 loss last night in the Memphis ‘burb of
Southaven, Miss.:
Defenseman Mike Burgoyne, the team points leader with 40, had no shots on goal. Tough to win when your points leader doesn’t have a shot on goal. It marked only the second time this season that Burgoyne did shot on goal. The other time also was in Memphis, er,
Mississippi, in a 4-2 loss. At least in that loss Burgoyne had an assist.
Right winger Michael Kaye didn’t play. He didn’t make the trip, no thanks to a concussion suffered in last weekend’s 8-1 rout of
Tulsa. The Blazers could have used Kaye; he’s scored goals in his last two games and scored nine points in his last dozen.
Jason Weitzel, traded by the Blazers to Mississippi three weeks ago, was on the ice for the RiverKings’ second (game-winning) and third goals.
D.J. Jelitto, who 1:43 into the game scored the Blazers’ only goal, has been given enough credit. He didn’t join the Blazers until the sixth game of the season, but he leads the team in goals with 17 scored. He has eight goals and 12 points in the last 15 games.
Ouch: Ryan Watson, Burgoyne and Gordon Bell combined for one shot on goal (by Watson) against Mississippi.
In the last four games, the Blazers have outscored their opponents 7-1 in the first period. But the B’s have been outscored 7-2 in the second periods of those games.
- Bob Hersom, Blazers beat writer
