Blue Notes

jumping in late on the unsung hero query... i'll take a flyer on the speedskating sjostrom (fils).

What's up with Bourett? He injuried again?

no Bourret and no Baranka?

well, it's a ten man taxi squad, not a bring the entire Hartford team up taxi squad, suprised you didn't read that part boooob.

I'd like to see something from Dawes tonight. There are times when he's invisible out there which I like because he can catch you off guard. We're going to need big plays by our young players to win this series. Among other things.
Staal vs. Crosby sounds like a pretty good idea to me.
Shanahan getting hot with the puck would be fantastic for morale.
And a quick props to Girardi's play vs the Devils. Not all future stars get drafted.
my random morning thoughts.

I have a new found respect for Bob knowing that most of his CD are metal CD's...... but no death metal !???? cmon !!

Have you heard the new Testament CD ?

I guess the Hartford team got eliminated, huh ? No mention of that in this blog, or maybe i missed it.

Hartford lost 4 games to 1.

The last game in Hartford, they had about 1,500 people in the stands.

I heard from someone who went to the game that you could actually hear the players talking on the ice.

ohhh, that's tough. I thought they had a good season?

"Staal vs. Crosby sounds like a pretty good idea to me."

I remember Mara playing Crosby really hard. I think Crosby might be too much for Marc Staal who sometimes prefers a poke check over a body check.

"Have you heard the new Testament CD "

checking out the samples now, sounds great, I really wanted to see their show few weeks ago, but was too tired after Epica/Symphony X show. Is Testament considered death metal these days?

The AHL playoffs are notorious for poor attendance. The weather gets nice and people find other things to do. Weeknight games are poorly attended all year long, and come playoff time the schedule requires them, whereas during the regular season most games get played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Hartford really got the shaft scheduling-wise, as all three of their home games were weeknights, while Portland got a Saturday and Sunday game.

That's not to say Hartford doesn't have an attendance problem in general. They're not very well supported, which is kind of ironic given the fact people there still clamor for the return of the NHL. But that's another topic for another day. Last I checked, they were somewhere near the middle of the pack in average attendance for the AHL (during the regular season) though, so it's not like it's a huge problem normally.

As for conspicuous absences of Bourret and Baranka... Baranka was injured down the stretch, and though he came back for the playoffs, I'm guessing he probably wasn't 100% and therefore wasn't brought up to NY. That's a guess, though. He didn't have the greatest season, and yet again missed significant time due to inury, so maybe they just didn't want him here.

Bourret had a poor season and spent large portions of it in the doghouse. When he wasn't there, he was out injured. He seemed to come on a bit in the final few games of the season and playoffs, but it does not surprise me at all that he was left off the list.