miklin

crowd in Cleveland tonight sounds like a bunch of kids by the noise. Last Friday in Hamilton we had kids ahead of us trying to start a wave one minute into the game, Yuck

Dean Morton back officiating after quite an absence. How do you guys like the new pregame and postgame shows? DW still tends to miss penalties though. Didn't know we were on the pp at the end of the first until the second started.

you know Brian, at the exhibition game at Dundas, he (Ellis) looked like he was going through the motions. Chaput looked bad too and he was heading to Wheeling pretty soon afterwards.

Ironically an Ellis jersey was being raffled off at 3 tickets for $5.00. This is the first time in memory I can remember a current roster player's jersey (albeit it was likely from last season but number and everything else was correct) being put up for a raffle. Bad omen maybe?

I thought Akim played a decent game. Has bursts of speed for a big guy but is sort of gassed after making a one way rush. Referee TJ Foster was poor tonight. Penalties 9-3 Dogs vs Griffs doesn't tell the whole story. Foster was out of position much of the night and we got caught for a lot of retaliation. Game is too fast for a single referee like last night. St Pierre seemed to complain re non calls and then would be handed a chintzy one soon after -some fans upset that an advertising banner has been installed along the outside of the glass in the endzones-maybe 8 inches high-and it chips wherever the puck hits it. When they tried one of these about 6 years ago, they did one on the inside and the fans ripped it off shortly. -no excuse by the new arena management to open up the doors 15 minutes late at 6:15. By the time we had grabbed a coffee, warmups were already going on. So far sprucing up the arena means painting things in shades of grey. Water fountains have never been replaced from years ago so $3.00 bottles of water still spell rip off. Maple Lodge Farms are now a partner so look for wieners that cluck rather than moo. Souvenir store is actually smaller than last year and replica jerseys now have iron on cheap Habs logos on shoulders rather than proper embroidered crests. Souvenir program is still overpriced at five bucks, no prizes, small size. A lot of staff turnover in a year-same circus, different clowns -crowd was announced at 3,100 and change but honestly looked less than 2,000

I think I'd be optomistic too re the potential of goalie Dustin Tokarski and defenseman Greg Pateryn who impressed me much more this year in Hamilton than the more highly publicized Tinordi

this is just a very elementary rating based on my vision of them at home games. And at some of the home games where we were getting skunked, I must admit my attention span dropped in proportion. -Belzile-B: very fast-a full year in the A would do him good- Archambault: C+-willing to get his nose dirty-size might be a problem-another 5"11" I believe Collberg-honestly not enough ice time to really notice him -another 5'11" Hudon-B+: willing to get his nose dirty in all situations. Game winner on the road. Size again might be a problem but he is definitely "Charlie Hustle" Kristo C+: just not enough ice time to offer a decent opinion of him; Size again a question Vail: C+: the largest of the bunch I believe at 6"1" but maybe appeared a little tired coming from a tough OHL season. Seemed to have the most press before arriving and may have had trouble living up to the clippings, with the exception of Belzile, I thought all tried some moves that might have worked in junior or college but not in Pro

I'll give is some thought and post tomorrow

Brian: sorry I messed up the stats on Hackett and Sebastian Collberg's name. Must have been that extra pint of Rickard's White at dinner. I think I confused Hackett's stats with Josh Hardings. I guess the good thing is Hackett's uncle was a Hab

just got back from a post game dinner and the kids looked alright. I honestly thought Hudon tipped in the first goal but I see there has been no change made to the scoring sheet. Missed the last ten minutes of the game as I won Chaput's jersey in the jersey's off our back deal (good $20.00 investment) but they made all the winners stand in the Zamboni tunnel behind a big black curtain and we couldn't see the clock/jumbotron. They did the same as in past years and wore a stripped down Reebok jersey with no shoulder crests. I guess technically mine is not game worn but the ones that were were "tres malodorant". -I heard that Collbert wasn't dressed in Rochester last night due to visa issues. (Maybe not worth the hassle for one game) -Beaulieu won a ton of awards but missed his coverage on Rochester's second goal! Exciting player but needs a good D partner to cover up his boo boos. -I hope the occasional fan realized that our goalie was basically a kid out of junior whereas Rochester played a goalie who first played in the AHL in 2004 and since then has 110 games (approx) in the NHL -should be a good nucleus for next season along with more vets brought in as mentors. I agree with Brian's earlier summation that the team was basically designed if a normal NHL season had happened but stood by helplessly with all the rookies, while other teams sent down an awful lot of older pro's to their affiliates -will be interesting to see if anything is done to strengthen the coaching situation. IMO, Ron Wilson was made a scape goat and was a real bandaid solution to a larger problem ps-and Ian, I concur, the facebook page is for puck bunnies and frothies. Still pissed that Wills killed the forum on the Dogs site. Wants everyone to listen to his tweets. I don't have time to massage his ego. (and last nite a Leaf fan posted on there (FB) how great he thought it was that both the Dogs and Habs lost). Just too many trolls

Geeze 5-1 now. D gets caught up ice pressing.

well put Brian

referee Darcy Burchell (from Hamilton no less) is living up to his nickname "Darse the Arse". Called 6 minors in 4 minutes or so. Amerks scored with Pateryn in the box when the Amerks player beside Greg stepped on the puck and fell down. I rest my case for this league needing two referees. Two fast for a Senior AAA guy like Burchell. Dogs seem really lethargic tonight. Agree Brian as to why no Collberg???? Good news from the first intermission show-Kevin O from the Rochester Democrat mentioned referee Jeff "no calls" Smith (another Hamilton native) is retiring at the end of the season---------------Archambault just scored to make it 2-1. All goals tonight are first time pro goals

I think a few players could have gotten "the hardest working" Bulldog award. Collberg made one major goof by having the puck hit him while while heading to the bench for a change and then not going after the puck which ended up in our end. He should have waved off the change but to give him credit likely didn't know the system. He was even and only had one shot. Beaulieu still gives the puck away a lot even though getting first star tonite. Guess you can't argue with three assists and a +3. Honestly thought the first star and third star were reversed. Nice to see Greg Pateryn back to what we thought he was going to be like before his injury (although Robt had to make two saves on shots Greg made on his own net) -more random thoughts-interesting the Dogs goals were all different: full strength, shortie, power play and e/n. Referee Dave Lewis called a lot of penalties early and called a couple boarding calls that would have been hard checks earlier in the season. He didn't call obvious charging and I figure he still doesn't like us when Nokie got a double roughing in the SJ end when both players should have got it. Re Stortini's fight-it was instigated by the Ice Cappucinos and Stortini was also speared afterwards yet SJ only got an extra unsportsmanlike. There seems to be a pattern the way the games are called-they must get a memo fron the league as to which penalty to concentrate on early as there seems to be a definite repetitive pattern that is called on both teams. I thought the SJ players were jumping into the play off their bench early all evening. -re goalies: agree with Brian that the fans deserve to see the #1 or #2 guy at home. Let Chouinard play in Rochester. The Hamilton fans deserve better. I was just sorry that Mayer left Hamilton without ever having a shutout in his career although he came close tonight. It was nice to see that he gave a young fan in section 121 his goal stick post game -I'm not sure who operates the shot clock but in the first, the Dog's shot the puck at the SJ goalie quite softly on a PK clearing, but he had to stop it. The shot clock judge didn't put it up as a shot on goal. It's my understanding that if it it had not been stopped it (and would as a result gone in), it should be a shot on goal regardless of the speed of the puck. But they will put up "hot dog" saves that are going wide. The mind boggles.

Peter Merth, Wheeling Captain, released from his PTO with the Dogs Sunday nite

I think Chouinard should have received the hardest working Dog award. He sure didn't get any support from the defense. Even Desantis looked like he was going through the motions. I thought Chouinard look pretty decent. He made some timely stops and honestly, three of the four goals came from wierd deflections. Once he got beaten cheating badly to the wrong side. As far as the kids playing up front, I honestly think I've noticed Hudon the most as far as getting his nose dirty. Just the way the team has been playing lately, with so much of the play in our own end has really made none of the others stand out other than I'm not terribly impressed with their size. Kristo looks a lot smaller than I imagined and he carries a lot of baggage with the famous frostbite incident, As I inferred earlier, I'm just worried that fans, after two bad seasons, will take a wait and see approach towards advance ticket sales for next season. Like every minor league organization, they seem to go through a lot of personel, and they seemed doomed to repeat the mistakes made by the previous group. I heard PBP's first two OKC goal calls between the first two periods and in the truck on the way home post game and it sounds like Derek was late making both goal calls again. Too much gibberish while play is on going Brian: Derek was going on re Budaj being signed again and Tokarski being back here again next year. I don't agree. What's your thought. Wouldn't he have to pass wavers to get to Hamilton next year???? ps-I was amazed on one of your polls to see the number of fans who thought Danny Kristo would make a Habs lineup this season

thought I'd try and digest supper first (and try and keep it down before posting). I can see wanting to want to give the rookie goalie a start but it could have been done last night in Cleveland, not before the home crowd. The team's play of late has been a disincentive for folks thinking of buying season's tickets for next season.. The much more desparate OKC team came in with a lot of vets. Even when Hagel tried to get a fight going, the OKC player wouldn't drop the gloves and Hagel got an unsportsmanlike instead. It truly looked like a Jr A lineup. Tinordi and Stejskal looked particularly weak on defense and I wonder if Joe will be in the AHL next season?. And to add iinsult to injury or maybe the other way around, besides Bournival, Holland got injured also. Both referees were pretty easy on the whistle-both must have had hot dates and wanted to get out of there in a hurry. -as far as the Stars go, all three deserved to be from OKC but I wonder what kept Yann Danis awake at times. He really didn't have anything hard to handle but I guess the shutout warrants the third star. As far as that hardest working Dog b.s., it was sure slim pickings-Belzile must have got it for fastest skater-one shot-one penalty. This meaningless award, the sponsored PK's and PP's get real old after a while. -and with their usual lack of notification, they announced during the game there would be a post game autograph session -there were 58 actual canines in the building. Most of the dog poop was actually on the ice. I can't wait to see what pun master Ken Peters has written on the Hamilton Spec website. -Robert Mayer was sitting near us keeping goalie stats-keeping him busy until the end

agreed Brian-well put

3-2 LE after two. Nokalainen got a PP (!) goal and Bournival got a shorty a couple minutes later to make it respectable. I was aware of Hisson's history but it makes you wonder if it was just an inevitability knowing his history. Tenute's hit wasn't even going to get a penalty until the referee saw Hisson wasn't getting up quickly.

2-0 Cleveland near the end of the first period. Sly had a real Jr A lineup out on the first PP and got caught by not covering the player coming out of the box. Two goals allowed on 6 shots by Mayer. Besides the travesty going on in Toronto, what a bad night for the organization

funny too how Cleveland is whining about Hisson receiving a concussion last night from Tenute's hard check (like I mentioned, the referee wasn't going to make a call at all until Hisson didn't get up) but somehow Steve Quailer got a concussion too but the hit seemed to fly under the radar. Must have been self induced, right?. One of my arguments why the AHL should have two referees. Funny how the OHL has had video review and two refs every game for a few years but North America's #2 pro league doesn't have two refs and were dragged kicking and screaming into the video review age (as mickey mouse as it is, it's better than nothing.). BTW-Arsenault is the cheap shot artist who has been hiding behind his full face shield.

ex Dog Brendon Nash loaned by San Antonio to the Charlotte Checkers on Thursday past. (Remains property of Florida Panthers)

I hope so. Tomorrow is bring you dog to the game night in Hamilton. Honestly I saw a lot of dog poop on the ice last night. Hoping there will not be a repeat Sunday and maybe they will be better getting away from the Copps' lousy ice

I went to the game with a sinus infection and that game sure was no cure. Maybe Kotarski just showed them how he felt re Budaj being resigned when many of us thought Dustin would be the heir apparent in Mtl -lol. First goal was a total screeen, second had the defense running into each other on the wrong side, fourth goal tipped in by Kristo. I was worried when I saw Stortini and Desantis were both scratches, especially knowing how Cleveland has a number of cheap shot artists. Right now, I forget the players name but he was wearing a full clear mask and was slashing Dogs players as soon as the solo referee turned away to skate up ice. Truly brave to do that wearing the complete shield. PBP was working solo (no excuse with the number of scratched players who could have filled in for Al)-you could tell as two of his goal calls were late (invented after the fact). DW has a bad habit of going with meaningless stats while play is on early in the periods (you know the left to right, right to left bit for example). On the drive home post game show, he yammered on about the worst performance, yada, yada but makes no mention of the junior players who are audtioning. The solo referee, Trent Knorr, made some odd calls. He wasn't going to call the penalty on Tenute early in the game and there was a real delay putting his arm up until he saw the Cleveland player not getting up. He called Joe Stejskal late in the third for a knee which was a dive over his stick. This game is just too fast for single refs, especially relative rookies, and the crap behind the play will continue until the two ref system becomes mandatory. Tonite around 4700 fans aided by the marauding groups of 20 year olds there for three dollar beer night and the agravating kids groups who sit there and kick the back of the seats. Unbeknown to us, there was a state of the union meeting for season ticket holders before the game but the only way you knew about it was dropping by the cs booth. I go there once a year to drop off my renewal. Guess they haven't heard of e-mail. I was told some concerns again were being mentioned was that we were paying for 38 games next season but there is no trust that they will not drop it to 36 games in Hamilton again and shift two to Montreal with no compensation. Some fans have found their seats have gone up in price for next season as they've shifted some of the lower price sections to the medium prices. Agravating too this year that seats were sold through Fortinos Supermarkets at a price less than the cheapest STH rate which is totally wrong. My wife-who is quite a good grasp of hockey knowledge says she has no faith in the current coaching staff and Ron Wilson was a scapegoat

I just think the fans are as tired with the condensed schedule as the players are. ps-Kudos to CBC for keeping Bob Cole away from the booth tonight