AHL ref Terry Koharski(10), younger brother of now retired NHL ref Don Koharski, blows the whistle on the 2010/2011 hockey season.
The off-season has officially begun.
Category: AHL
Each year for the past few I make predictions of which team will win the Cup in the different pro leagues and sometimes try to pick the winner of the President’s Trophy in LHJMQ too.
The picks below we made on December 4, 2010 on my now dormant Myspace site.
The pic is close up of the Stanley Cup as it’s being raised by Boston Bruins‘ captain Zdeno Chara(33) at the team’s Rolling Rally Parade through the streets of Boston on June 18.
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early Cup predictions 2010/2011 season 2 months in and I’m ready to commit…
NHL – Stanley Cup…this year it’s a really tough call and more than who will win it I feel like it’s more of a default choice to pick Vancouver Canucks to be champs.
6/15: Boston Bruins beat down Vancouver Canucks in game 7 of the Finals 4-0 to win their 1st Stanley Cup in 39 years.
They won 3 game 7’s to accomplish the 16 wins, a first.
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AHL – Calder Cup…this one’s a goaltending selection more than anything but two months into the season Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins seem to have it all.
6/7: Binghamton Senators make an incredible playoff run to win the Calder Cup for the 1st time in 29 years of pro hockey at the Broome County Veteran’s Memorial Arena.
I posted an 8-0 record with the B-Sens in games I attended.
WBS Pens lost in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to Charlotte, who were then swept by the Senators in the Conference Finals.
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ECHL – Kelly Cup…Victoria Salmon Kings is a team that is absolutely stacked with minor league talent. The only questions might be if they are able to play as a team and will their goaltending be good enough to be a Cup winner? In the East, I like Wheeling Nailers chances this season.
5/21: Salmon Kings underperformed all season and barely made it into the playoffs in the 8th spot in the Western Conference. As a matter of fact, they were the only team in the league to qualify with a losing record (32-36).
Team insiders maintained this was a team built for the playoffs and that was all that mattered. That turned out to be true, because the Salmon Kings skated themselves convincingly to the Conference Finals before running out of water against the eventual 2011 Champs, Alaska Aces.
On the Eastern Conference side of the league, Wheeling Nailers were always one of the top teams, ending up 4th overall and pushing the postseason all the way to the Conference Finals vs. Kalamazoo Wings, where they ended their playoff hopes.
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CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE – Ray Miron President’s Cup…it’s been a few years since Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs made it to the CHL Finals but this season’s team looks to take the title for the first time since they won it in 2001 (their third consecutive). This is the first year of the IHL folding into the CHL to make a super AA league.
5/27: Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs did in fact pull off the game 7 President’s Cup Finals‘ 2-1 win vs. the favored Colorado Eagles, who were playing in their comfortable, always sold out Budweiser Events Center home arena.
The irony of the win is that once the season ended, the Mudbugs ceased operations (at least in the CHL for now) after winning the Cup (no banner hanging ceremony next season. How completely odd? SPHL future?) and Colorado Eagles made the completely sensible move up the professional hockey league ladder and joined the ECHL.
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SPHL – President’s Cup…no solid reasoning behind this choice (it’s more of a hunch) but Mississippi Surge look good to win the single A cup.
4/15: Mississippi Surge claimed their 1st President’s Cup with a 3-0 series sweep of August Riverhawks.
On a side note, I only just figured out that the Surge are the former Mississippi Sea Wolves in the lower league. And that happened because Michael Ryder won the Stanley Cup.
He started his pro career with the ECHL Sea Wolves.
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LHJMQ – President’s Cup…with their lightning rod start it’s easy to pick Quebec Remperts to win but I actually had them pegged before the season started.
Much maligned Bruins‘ veteran forward Michael Ryder(73) came alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially the Finals vs. the Canucks, where he picked up 6 of his 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists) in 25 games.
Folks in Boston will be quick to point out that he finally earned some of that $4m paycheck he gets for playing like he did. They are also quick to push him out of town, because of his potential asking price and lack of overall effort.
I say sign him for 1 more year at $2. with bonus incentives. Can GM’s do that anymore?
I like Ryder for the fact that he’s come all the way up from the ECHL Mississippi Sea Wolves, through Hamilton Bulldogs AHL and Montreal Canadiens and for the past 3 seasons with the Bruins.
Minnesota Wild 2007 1st round draft pick (#16 overall) Colton Gillies(18) has been in the system for a couple of years but has yet to excel as he splits his time between the AHL and the NHL, last season mostly with Houston Aeros.
With his head coach in Texas moving up north to Minnesota next season, I expect Gillies(18) will once again spend the majority of the year in the NHL, potentially as a shut down, checking line player. He should also be scoring goals though with all that size he brings to the table.
Mike Yeo was named the new head coach of Minnesota Wild after only one season with their AHL affiliate, Houston Aeros, a year which saw him take the team to the Calder Cup Finals and lose in 6 games to the Binghamton Senators.
He did win a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009 as an assistant coach and also spent 5 seasons as a player with the Aeros of the old IHL.
Houston Aeros‘ rookie defenseman Jared Spurgeon(28) has spent more time in the NHL with the Wild than in the AHL in his first year.
Originally drafted by New York Islanders in 2008 (6th round, #156 overall), they never signed him and he was picked up by the Wild after an impressive training camp.
He is small at 5’8″ and got absolutely clobbered by a Binghamton Senators‘ freight train in game 5 and wasn’t seen for the final game 6.
With the injury bug biting the Aeros deep during the Calder Cup playoffs, veteran tough guy Pascal Morency(37) got the nod to make his first appearance in the Finals vs. Binghamton.
He split of the season in the ECHL with Bakersfield Condors, AA affiliate of Minnesota Wild, and Houston. He even put up some very respectable numbers (17 goals, 10 assists) in 36 games played with the Condors.
Houston Aeros‘ veteran players, Drew Bagnall(29) and Warren Peters(25) were signed by the Wild on the same day in the off-season.
Peters(25) also went to the Calder Cup Finals last season with Texas Stars, who were beaten by Hershey Bears.
Another 8-year pro for the Aeros, captain Jon DiSalvatore(14) displayed great leadership for his team throughout the year and the playoffs, despite not quite winning the Calder Cup. He has one more year on his 2-year deal with the Wild, so expect him to take his team far into the playoff hunt again.
As far as I know he’s the only player to list his birthplace as Bangor, ME. He was originally drafted by San Jose in 2000 but only has 5 games of NHL experience with St. Louis in the ’05/’06 season.
At 310 NHL games (21 goals, 30 assists) to his credit, 32-year old, Houston Aeros’ 8th year pro Jed Ortmeyer(22) was the most experienced player on either team in the AHL Calder Cup Finals.
