The Allstate Arena got a new scoreboard! It looks just slightly larger than the old one, but it has new displays in each corner of the board, plus a small display above the main display to show advertising and then a large ring below where they could scroll messages and graphics around. It's like a real step-up in class for the place.
Went to customer service and got our Season Ticketholder gift which this year is a mini wolves helmet with Darren Haydar's autograph mounted on a base. I expected an actual mini helmet, but this feels like it was made out of the same material (whatever it is) that they make the bobbleheads out of, and it's painted the maroon color of the team - which is not the color of any of the helmets that the team actually wears. Shockingly, this is actually a pretty classy item for the Wolves.
Oh... it's Wednesday, so it's Hungry Hungry Hump Day... tonight's eating contest during the first intermission: donuts.
And now for the pain...
Tied 1-1, the teams struggle into overtime...
Toward the very end of overtime, we're struggling at the Moose net. I can't remember what I saw, but I think it was a Moose tripping a Wolves player. We were controlling the puck, so there's a delayed penalty call. Ondrej Pavelec gets pulled out of the net for an extra attacker. With 56 seconds left in overtime, Steve Martins gets the puck near the net, gets tied-up in traffic so he passes the puck...
... to nobody.
It sails all the way down the ice... into our net. Game over - we score the winning goal for the Moose.
Our well-fought seven-game win streak is snapped.
So, the goal can't be credited to a Wolves player - it has to be credited to the player that last touched the puck: Manitoba's goaltender Drew MacIntyre, marking just the ninth time in the history of the American Hockey League that a netminder has been credited with a goal.
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A good, but not stellar attendance tonight - 9,431. Nothing much to say about the game itself... but it's your typical Saturday night group outings night again, this time with little kids next to Carol... who ALMOST tolerated them well.. and actually said civil words to one or two during the game...
...oh, and there was one of the Wolves' Post Game Skate parties. We stuck around so that I could take some pictures. One of the first girls to go on the ice fell and hit her head pretty bad. I don't think see ever made it out onto the ice.
]]>Wow ... what an odd game...
First, this is starting to feel like it's turning into a real rivalry. Rockford is pretty physical. They're fast, and every hit just seems to have a little more to it.
The attendance was 11,419, but it felt bigger than that 12,022 2 weeks ago, but that's paid and I knew that there weren't that many because of the cold. Of course, a lot of groups... I got awfully pissed at the guy next to Carol that snatched a Chipotle Stress Ball right out of the air that was coming right at me during the pre-game... I mean REALLY pissed... I don't even come up to his shoulders and he reached in front of Carol to do it... I was robbed...
I'm not used to a team that doesn't shoot all that much. I remember games where we actually had 60 shots for a game just a season ago. In the 1st Period tonight, the Wolves had 3 shots. Now, on the plus side - we had 2 goals on those 3 shots (we both wound up with 27 shots for the night).
We were up 3-2 toward the end of the game. With 4.3 seconds left, Alexandre Giroux had a Power Play goal. (The Power Play was because Rockford pulled their goalie to add a man.. and somehow they eventually wound up with too many men on the ice)
After that, I'm not really sure what happened. I wasn't paying attention... I remember the goal... the teams were skating back to the bench to change lines... i looked away...
... Next thing I know, the benches are fighting... somebody from Rockford reached around the partition that separates the benches and hit one of our guys in the face... the officials are trying to stop the mêlée that ensued. I remember one linesmen going down after trying to step between two combatants as they lost their footing. it's a mess... players are trying to hold team members back. OK, well, goalie Robert Gherson was laughing his ass off holding on to someone... but still, things were bad.
Next thing I know, the ref is skating away from the bench and signals the time keeper by using a finger, pointing downward, and circling it ... sure enough he told him to just run down the clock - this wasn't going to get fixed to be able to play out the 4.3 seconds left on the clock.
By the time everyone gets off the ice, both coaches get a Game misconduct - Coach (75.5(iii)), both Fahey's (there was on on each side) get 10 minute Misconduct - Unsportsmanlike conduct (75.4), one guy on each side gets both a 10 minute Misconduct - Unsportsmanlike conduct (75.4) and a Game misconduct - Unsportsmanlike conduct (75.5(i))... and you just want to know what made a Rockford guy get a 10 minute Misconduct - Abuse of officials (40.4).
]]>It was COLD tonight... we're in the middle of a Wind Chill Advisory until noon tomorrow. I totally expected an empty arena.
Wrong - 12,022 in attendance. My guess - mostly groups. Still, a great turnout considering the weather.
Unfortunately, because of the group sales, again, they were a bunch of "amateurs". They just weren't paying attention, getting up during play... and then ANOTHER one of my oh-so-many pet peeves: parents just not paying attention to their children, as evidenced by the kid next to carol that kept kicking her as he was crawling all over the seat during the game.
We haven't actually seen the Manchester Monarchs before (great colors - a royal purple and gold). It seems that all of these teams that we don't see often (because they're in different conferences and divisions) seem to be stronger skaters. Not bigger necessarily, but faster, stronger. It makes watching the play a lot more fun. When the score was finally tied 1-1, I had no idea that the Wolves would actually score 4 more goals (especially after Robert Gherson let the first goal softly trickle in)...
Another item for the game - 2 referees. We don't normally see that at our games, and we had never see either of these guys before (Kyle Rehman and Mike McGeough). I could see where this would be be so advantageous, as one of the refs would always be behind the play and it would cut down on some of the "chippyness" that is just so common.
Oh, speaking of jerseys... the Wolves have had this whole promotional campaign this year that is somewhat patterned after the presidential campaigns here "Vote Wolves 2008 - Hockey for the fans". This game was one of the three where the Wolves were wearing special red-whit-blue jerseys that are being auctioned-off for charity tomorrow (they always have 2 jerseys a year that specially designed to be auctioned for charities... the other jersey is always for St. Patrick's Day)
]]>Cool game: The two first place teams in the Western Conference. Before the game, Toronto was 25-8-0-4 with 54 points and the Wolves were 27-9-1-0 with 55 points.
And, it turned into a good game... after a while. A bit more exciting as it went. It just felt a bit tense along the way.
And.. still... what the hell is a Marlie? (Thank you Wikipedia... "The team is named after the former Toronto Marlboroughs junior hockey team, but the abbreviated "Marlies" name was chosen to avoid any potential association with the similarly named cigarette brand.)
Couple of cool non-game related things:
Before the game, Chris Marinucci dropped the ceremonial puck.
Second thing: Just seeing some of the fans that for some reason all showed up tonight. No Bob & Chris, and Laura is back at college and Joey is probably off somewhere... but to have LeRoy and Patti back in front of us was great. And to have Scotty and Joe show up.. .and re-spark the Penalty Box Police. It was a lot of fun as a fan, just because of these people around us for a change... and it sure is a hell of a lot better than the ignorant disrespectful noobies that are up the section from us...
]]>Back at the Allstate Arena for some AHL Hockey action. The season has started, and it's time to settle-in and start to gear-up to support the Chicago Wolves again. We watched the Season Opener in Houston last week and were mildly impressed with what we saw - again, new team, new faces, but some names that we enjoyed seeing again. I feel good about this year - I'm not as negative as I've been about this team as I have been in prior years... 10,209 showed-up, down from last year... but still a decent showing.
Nothing new around the Allstate Arena... the open and player introductions are about the same... even the faces in the seats around us of the returning Season Ticket holders are all there... and, you know... that's not a bad thing...
]]>Well, since our baseball season seamed to evaporate many many MANY weeks ago, we start to turn our attention toward... Hockey Season.
And, since the AHL is so cheap to go watch... and since they were playing at their practice facility which is in OUR TOWN at the Hoffman Estates Park District Community Center & Ice Arena - we went to a preseason game of the Chicago Wolves against a brand new team - the Lake Erie Monsters.
I felt bad for those guys when they took to the ice... because the only jerseys they had, were obviously practice jerseys that just had their numbers on them - both front and back - and no team emblem/logo on the front.
Our guys... well.. they didn't have their names on their backs... perhaps because MOST of the guys on the ice will be gone by Monday, but at least their jerseys looked like they've played before.
Though, after about 35 minutes of play you knew that most of them didn't play .. at least in the AHL.
I mean... 6 unanswered goals?
like i said... preseaon... we don't get very attached to them... I'll start worrying when the season starts next week...
]]>3,936 - a bit more than Wednesday...
...and a different team showed-up to play, a team we hadn't seen in the playoffs: slower, fatigued.
They struggled the whole game to gain the lead and hold it, and just couldn't get it together at the end.
]]>Well, I didn't talk about it, but the Wolves swept Milwaukee and made it to the next round, which quite frankly shocked us.
So, here we are in the next round against the Iowa Stars. 2,408 in attendance - pretty typical for a weeknight playoff game. And what a game - 2 goals in the first 1:03, the last goal with 8 seconds left in the game, and our 6th goal was a shorthanded empty-netter. A VERY strong game, a shutout, and we forced them to change goalies.
I love the way we've been playing...
]]>What the hell are we doing in a building that is this cold? The weather FINALLY has just busted open... it was 83°F outside!!!! OK, it was a little windy, but it was hot! Well, maybe hot is a little strong.
The intensity was almost the same, but we just dominated again... OK, not really the same intensity, but sort of close... The Admirals Booster Club was back in the same place... confident that their team would take the series back...
No such luck. And yes, their one goal was going to happen with the way they were swarming the net.
Now, for a team that I wrote-off before the playoff, they lead a Best Of 7 series 2-0...
Have to watch getting too confident...
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