PrairieThunder vs Fort Wayne

We are sitting on the bus on our way to Fort Wayne. I spent this morning running around trying to get everything ready to go on this trip. After skating this morning we jumped on the bus.
We stopped at Olive Garden to eat lunch.

Tonight should be a good game. Hopefully we can spoil the party. It won't be easy as we will be without Jon Booras, who stayed home sick in Bloomington. This is the second game in a row that we have had a sick player. Last game it was Brett Holmberg. Fort Wayne will also be without there top center as Colin Chaulk is back in Toronto attending a funeral of a family member.

The last time we were in Fort Wayne was for their home opener. Fort Wayne won 2 to 1. Fort Wayne scored 2 goals in the 2nd period. We did not score until we pulled our goalie with in the last two minutes of the game. Overall this year we have 2 wins and 2 losses against Fort Wayne.

I hope you all have a happy new year. I am coming up with some good stuff here in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Kinch

I guess that I know what I am talking about

Here is the link to the Muskegon paper that talks about what they are going to do. Notice I posted way before the article was written.

http//www.mlive.com/lumberjacks/index.ssf/2009/12/muskegon_lumberjack_jason_lawm.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+muskegon_lumberjacks+%28Muskegon+Lumberjacks+-+MLive.com%29

I knew what happened to Lawmaster, but did not want to post it until it came out in the paper or a press release. I am not happy that it said Liambas hit Lawmaster from behind. He clearly did not. Anyone at the game could see that. Plus the referee did not hand out a penalty. Looking at the video, it looks as if Lawmaster was already falling when hit. I guess we will have to wait and see if anything comes of this.

Optional Skate

Today was another optional skate. Most guys however went on the ice. I didn't get to see any of the skate. I was busy finishing up the towels from last night. Muskegon practiced after us. It looks as though they are going to be short on D again as Lawmaster was hurt last night and Galvin got called up to Grand Rapids. My guess is that Granbois moves back to D.

I noticed in the Fort Wayne paper that they will be without Colin Chaulk as he is in Canada for the funeral of a family member. Hopefully we can go in there and spoil their night and new years party.

We are going to skate tomorrow morning. Afterwards we will head over to the Olive Garden and then on our way to Fort Wayne.

Nice to see the pantagraph updated their blog.

Not a whole lot going on today. Have a good day

Anyone but that guy!

If I had to pick anyone on Muskegon to score the game winner, the last person I would pick would be Robin Bouchard. I thought the puck went straight in the net, but come to find out the players were talking after the game and it went off a leg in front of the net.
I was glad to see us come out and play hard in the 3rd period. We had our chances to get the go ahead goal. A couple of posts and a few good saves. Getting that point moved us into 3rd place all alone. 1 point ahead of Fort Wayne, our opponent on Thursday. That should be fun as I imagine the place will be packed. A win there would be huge. We will be wearing our white jerseys.

I am not sure if anyone noticed, but Gomez has been getting chirped a lot by other teams for wearing a full cage. Trust me if it was his choice he would not wear it. I thought Joe (the trainer) was going to die tonight, when Gomez undid the side of the mask, as he wanted to fight one of their guys. I am glad he didn't as he scored two goals. I will have to check with Joe and see when he can take the cage off.

How about the one punch that Liambas put on Bicek. I don't think Bicek knew what he was doing after Mike hit Lawmaster. He hit him so hard you could hear it. I thought that he broke the visors on his helmet. Apparently so did Bicek after talking to their equipment guy. I love this kids energy. I had Cal Clutterbuck in Houston and he reminds me a lot of him. Works hard and will hit anyone.

Tomorrows practice will be optional. I am getting ready to leave the rink. I have been here since 8 am. That is a long day!

One last note, great crowd tonight. Thanks for coming out and supporting the team.

Kinch

More Info

Andrew Martin will be starting in goal tonight. He has actually played in all 3 games this year against Muskegon. The first game of the year he went in after Paulo was pulled. He started the last two.

Every game against them has gotten closer. 9 to 3, 5 to 2, and 2 to 1. Hopefully tonight will be the night to get a win.

Brett Holmberg won't be in the lineup tonight. He came in around 4 pm, feeling sick and Joe (the trainer) sent him home. I thought that we would be playing with 19 guys for the first time in a while, but that won't be the case.

I was excited to see that two players I had the beginning of last year in Houston made the AHL Canadian All-star team, Corey Locke (Hartford) and Maxim Noreau (Houston). Former Rivermen player Charles Linglet also made the team.

I was thinking about the gold jerseys, and I know we have not been very successful in them. However, every time we have worn them as a light jersey. Next time we wear them, we will try and wear them as a dark. Hopefully that will change our luck.

See you tonight

All-Star Game Ideas

Today has been an extremely busy day. I was busy fixing skates during the morning skate so I did not have time to post.

I have been thinking a lot about this league and some ways to gain more credibility amongst other leagues. I think one downfall is that we do not have an all-star game to showcase our best players. With only 6 teams like the previous years and seven teams this year, it would be hard because only a few players would not make it off of each team. I believe that we are one team short of doing two conferences, so we can't divide players that way. What if we did something like they did last year in the Central Hockey League. The game was in Colorado, home of the Colorado Eagles. The Eagles have been one of the best teams in that league for years. Paulo won a championship with them a few years back . Their entire team played a game against the top players from the league. What if next year, Fort Wayne hosted an all-star game and their team played the top players from around the league. It could even be played in Port Huron or Muskegon as they have had some good teams. I believe this could even generate more sponsorship money for the league. If done right, it could even generate more money for the city that is hosting it. Our league is so close that I think fans from other cities would show up to watch the game. We might even get a scout or two from the AHL or NHL to take a look at some of our players. Having been in the AHL, I know some of the players here could easily play in that league if given the chance. How about this for the starting lineup in an all-star game against Fort Wayne: RW Robin Bouchard, Center Todd Robinson, LW Craig Macdonald, D Daniel Tetrault, D Greg Labenski, G Sebastian Centomo. Tell me you wouldn't pay to see these guys play together.
This year the game is in Laredo, and they are having an all-star team made up of three of the teams in that area. I love it. I think it is a great thing for the sport. Who knows maybe an all-star game between us and the Central League could be a possibility. Although, I don't see this happening any time soon, but we as a league should have an all-star game. Heck, we should host the first one right here in Bloomington.

I have more to do. Ponder this and let me know what you think.

Kinch

Washing equipment

Somewhere between every two weeks and once a month I like to wash everyones equipment. It usually takes me two days to do it because I can only wash two players every 40 minutes. I wash everything except the helmet, shinpads, and the skates. I never wash goalie equipment. Most of the NHL and some AHL have the different machines like sani sport that kills the bacteria in the equipment, but they don't actually clean the equipment. After going through the wash in warm water, the equipment is then hung up to air dry. I don't know if you have ever been around older kids equipment and how bad it stinks. It is usually really bad because most kids don't take the time to air dry their equipment. The better the care you take of your equipment the longer it will last.
I have been able to wash 10 guys today, so I will probably do the remaining 7 guys on Wednesday. Unless I decide to stay longer today.

My days are a lot different than you normal 8 am to 5 pm jobs. My days usually start between 6:30 and 7 am when I arrive at the rink. I usually try to do everything before I go home, so some mornings there is not much going on. These are the days I do my ordering or where I am able to accomplish somethings that I normally don't get to do, like reorganizing things. I also do all the skates and repairs that I did not do the day before. Some days I leave these to do in the morning. Here at the Coliseum, we do not have a cleaning crew that comes through the room. Joe (our trainer) and I do all the cleaning. With the snow it means that some days we are moping 2 or 3 times. As soon as the guys leave, its back to cleaning and doing the laundry to make sure everything is ready for the next day. I usually go home between 4 and 5 pm unless I have more things to do for games. I sometimes leave around 2:30 pm to go home and spend time with my wife and daughter. These are the easy days. Game days are a whole different story. I will walk you thru one of those days when I have more time.

I have had enough fun for one day. Time to go home. I will be here all day tomorrow for our game.

I wireless arena is not kind to the PrairieThunder

In our third appearance in the I wireless arena, we came out with the same result, a loss. We missed out on a opportunity to move up in the standings as both Dayton and Fort Wayne lost. The only game that we got a point was a game in where we scored the first goal. You have to give Quad City credit they worked hard last night and got the win.

Mike Liambas is set to come off the IR in time to play against Muskegon. I think this will help our team. Mike is a hard working kid and is not afraid to go into the corners and mix it up. I know he will be excited to get back into the lineup.

Congrats to Cole Ruwe who scored his first goal as a member of the PrairieThunder. It actually wasn't his first pro goal like some may think. Last year after finishing at Nichols College, he signed a contract with the Wichita Thunder in the Central League. He played 6 games there and scored 1 goal. However, we did get him the puck anyways.

Today is an optional skate. We have a few guys that are banged up with some minor injuries that did not skate. Martin is wearing his new skates in practice today. He told me that he willing be going back to his old skates tomorrow as he starts in goal for us against Muskegon.

Road trip to Quad City

Not having a computer right now is killing me. We are stopped at a gas station just outside of Quad City. We usually stop so that guys can get energy drinks and other things they need. I went with a chocolate milk. I borrowed Lefty's (Bryan Bloodworth) computer to give you guys some more to read.

Last night was a game that I have been waiting for. Although we got away with some mistakes, I was happy to see that we came back from the Christmas break and worked hard. Martin bailed us out a few times. I want to talk a lot more about last night, but I am afraid I am not going to have time. Finishing that last home stand at 5 wins and 1 loss was huge. I don't care who we played. We have to win the games that we are supposed to win. I thought that the passing was sharp in the second period and that the new lines are starting to come together.

I was recently asked how many extra sticks I take on a road trip. I usually bring one new one for every road game we have for each guy. Most of the time I don't use many of them, but you never know what is going to happen.

I was at the rink at 8 am to get all my trunks packed. I try to make it so that every road game feels like a home game. I never want to tell the guys that I don't have something, even at this level. I bring extra laces, laundry, equipment. I pull out every ones bags a lay them in front of their stalls, put skate guards on the skates, and lay out the helmet bags. I only had to sharpen 7 pairs of skates this morning. We will see if there is any more when we get there.

We are going to wear the gold third jerseys today. With all of the changes I have not been able to complete all the white ones. I sew all the nameplates and I even had to make up a jersey for Banga, because I did not previously have a #39. It is very important that every new guy has his name on the back of his jersey, even if it is just for one game. I do everything I can to make it happen. I remember a few years ago when I was the assistant for Utah, we played a couple of preseason games in Idaho for training camp. They told us in advance who would be playing in the games, but one guy impressed the staff so much that they added him to the game roster. Normal we would have had letters to make up a nameplate, but this was the first and only year Utah was affiliated with the Coyotes and we did not have any yet. Well instead of going without, we took white letters and colored them dark red with some markers that we had bought. It wasn't perfect, but probably not many people noticed it that night. Last year, when Jason Muzzatti (the current coach for Flint) back up a game for us, he was excited to see his name on the back of the jersey.

The weather is much better up here then it was in Bloomington. We actually saw the sun at one point. Well I have to go. We are here. Enjoy!

KINCH

Emails / Equipment

I have received quite a few emails asking me about the different types of equipment that our guys use. Since I came in so early today, and I have a few extra minutes before I start sharpening skates, I thought I would answer some of those questions.



I think our league has something unique that most leagues in the world don't have, that is the opportunity to use whatever brand equipment we want to. Leagues like the AHL, ECHL, CHL are all limited to the exclusive deals that the leagues have in place. For instance, if you grew up always using Easton sticks and used them in college, and then go to the ECHL, you have to switch to RBK. That league is exclusively Reebok and no other companies may be used. This also goes for pants, gloves, and helmets. However, they have made some exceptions with helmets based on a players past history. As far as I know there are only three leagues where you can use whatever you want for equipment, the NHL, IHL, and your local men's league. As an equipment manager I have seen the negatives and positives of these deals. A positive is that you don't have to worry about getting in a lot of different brands of stuff. One of the negatives is that you have to listen to players complain that they don't like a certain product. Another negative is that you may have to wait longer for stuff to arrive.



You may notice that our team uses a lot of RBK products: gloves, helmets, sticks, etc. That is because we have a direct account with them which allows us to get things easier. Also, if one of our guys gets called up to the AHL, they won't have to switch to a Reebok stick. I have used them for a long time and found them to be very reliable. The other thing is the more we buy from one company, the better the price they give us sometimes.



Right now the drury curve is the most popular on the team. We have 3 guys that are right handed using them, and 4 guys that are left handed. Most guys always have 3 sticks taped up that they can use. During games most guys put out 1 or 2 sticks as backups incase they break there game sticks. Have you ever wondered how those sticks end up on the bench before the game?

Before the game we put tape on the wall with everyones numbers that is playing. After guys are done taping their sticks, they will then put there spares under there #'s. Usually 30 minutes before warmups the stick boys will move those sticks out to the bench. Then right after the game, the stick boys will bring them back in and put them back on the stick rack.



Well, I hope that this answers some of your questions.

See you tonight! GO Thunder!

My computer is on the IR

Well, I bet you all thought that I had given up on this blogging stuff, but that is not the case. My computer came up with a virus over the week off, so I was unable to get anything up. I hope that you all had a very merry Christmas. We sure did. That is the longest break that I had ever had. I just stopped by the rink once to grab something and that was it. I stayed late after the game on Sunday and got as much as I could done, but it also meant that I had to come in early today. Early was 5:30 am. I was able to get everything done and cleaned before the guys got in. I have recieved some great emails, so keep them coming.

A little info, one guy was released over the break, so keep your eyes out for that.

Well, the guys are on the ice for morning skate, I have to run and get the visitors room set up.

Have a good day!

Time off

I wanted to post last night, but we were trying to get everything cleaned up and ready for the break. After every game it takes a couple hours to get everything cleaned up and washed.

We played great during the first two periods and the scoreboard showed that. However, we were sluggish in the third and it showed as they were able to come back and almost tie the game. This happened to us a couple times last year, so I was really nice to hold on and win the game. Those two points moved us into a tie with Fort Wayne for 3rd place. Matthew Spiller got a "Gordie-Howe Hat-trick" a goal, an assist, and a fight. Pearson had a playmaker with 3 assists.

We finished the week getting 4 of the possible 6 pts.

A few stats from the week:

+/-

Spiller +6

Lepine +4

Goals

Holmberg 3

Booras 2

Bagron 2

Banga 2

Assists

Booras 4

Lepine 4

Macdonald 3

Pearson 3

Pts

Booras 6

Lepine 5

Bagron 4

5 guys with 3

I have received a few emails asking about another equipment sale and if we are going to sell any practice jerseys. The answer to both is yes. I just need to come up with a good time to do it. There won't be many practice jerseys. I will also have some locker room nameplates signed by the guys who have been traded or released. I will let you know when we do this.

Also, what kind of specialty jerseys would you guys like to see? Let me know and I will take into consideration of what feedback you give me.

I have to run. Have a great day.

Kinch

Insight on #'s

Well its 20 minutes to warm ups, and everything is ready to go. The guys are getting ready and we are sitting in the equipment room talking about the #'s guys wear. I have these two books that I got last time I was in Hamilton, Ontario. The are called "The little book of hockey sweaters 1 and 2". They have story's about different guys that have played in the NHL. It even includes Flint's coach Jason Muzzatti.

The question came up as to why guys on our team have their numbers and whether or not they get to choose them. I don't know all the story's behind each player, but I know a couple.

Craig Macdonald has always worn #16. However, it was taken this year when I called him by Ryan Finnerty who had more years playing than him. I asked him for a second choice, but he had to take a couple days to think about it. When he got back to me he said that he had asked his niece and nephew what number to wear and they told him 61 because it was the reverse of 16. When Finnerty left I asked him if he wanted to change and he chose not to.

Gotta go! Guys are walking out for warm ups. I will do more when I get time.

Locker Room

Since most of you have never seen it. I thought it might be cool to show you what our locker room looks like when the guys show up on game days . A lot of hard work has gone into this over this past summer. When I got here last summer it was all white walls and we did have the logo carpet. Thanks to Carpets Plus for the carpet. Thanks to Brian Phipps for the help painting. I am proud to say that we have the best locker room and setup in this league and even some in the AHL and ECHL.

Well, our first guy just walked in and I have to finish sharpening skates.

Frustrating Loss

Its 12:30 am Sunday morning and I am waiting for Fort Wayne to arrive from Quad City. They should be here shortly as I am almost done with the laundry and towels from tonights game. I can't help, but feel that we let one slip away tonight. I thought we played great in the first period, only allowing 3 shots and getting many chances. We then got a couple tough breaks in the second period that led to them scoring a 5 on 3 powerplay goal. It is not every game that if Bouchard and Robinson only get 1 pt combined that you go on to lose. A bad turnover in the 3rd led to a goal and we could just not get the one to tie it. We had our chances. I recall a few posts and a couple near misses.

After tonight we slipped into 5th place, but don't get your hopes down. We are 2 pts behind Fort Wayne for 3rd and 1 pt behind Dayton for 4th (which is the final playoff spot). Keep in mind we have played 4 less games than Dayton. A win later on today will make everything better, before the much needed break.

Hats off to the Minnesota Wild equipment and training staff who made it possible for them to play tonight after the fire and loss of equipment yesterday. Although they lost tonight, I believe it was a huge success.

I am not sure if everyone knows it or picked up on it, but the home team does the visiting teams laundry, which includes jerseys, socks, and the players laundry. As soon as they arrive I will throw their jerseys and socks in the wash, followed by their laundry and then I get to go home. I will get way more sleep than last night which I am looking forward to. Well, its now 10 min to 1 am and they arrived and the jerseys and socks are in the wash. In 30 mins I will change the laundry over and get out of here.

Some of you may think that I have way to much time on my hands to be able to post this much, but that is not the case. There is always more than enough to do around here.

What are some things that you want me to talk about? Let me know. Send me emails or comment here. mkincher@yahoo.com

I have to finish up some more work. Good night.

NEW GUYS

Well I was waiting for a press release from the team to come out, but since it was in the pantagraph, I think its safe to say that we have added the following guys:

Chase Watson #20
Kyle Laughlin #18

They are both on the ice right now and as soon as I get off of here I will be sewing together their nameplates and putting them on their jerseys for tonights game.

Muskegon is not skating this morning.

An equipment managers nightmare

At 3 am I met the equipment manager from Muskegon (Andrew) at the Coliseum. They had just dropped the players off at the hotel and he along their trainer came to the rink to unpack the equipment.

I thought I had it bad, I can't even imagine what the equipment staff in Minnesota had to go through. Check out what happened when they arrived back to the rink in Ottawa after a practice at a local rink

http://wild.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=510434


Here are a few more pictures:

http://my.thescore.com/scoreblog/archive/2009/12/18/wild-fire-minnesota-wild-equipment-truck-catches-fire.aspx

If that would have happened at this level, I don't think the team would be able to play. Most NHL teams have 2 sets of gear which would make it a little easier, however the 2 big concerns would be skates and goalie equipment. If they are able to play tonight in Ottawa, it would be a miracle. Having spent 2 training camps with the staff there in Minnesota, I know if anyone can do it they can.

I recieved a question about skates and how often guys get them sharpened. This all depends on the guys. Some guys get them sharpened before every morning skate on game day. They do this because they want to make sure they have good edges, but they also want to make sure they are use to them. Other guys like to skate on freshly sharpened skates and they get them done right before every game. There are a handful of guys on this team that won't get there skates done unless they notice some wrong with them.
Another question had to do with contouring skate blades and what this means. Basically it means how much of the steel on the skate actually touches the ice and whether you lean a little forward or back on your skates. Most people never mess with this unless someone introduces it to them.

I hope this helped. Keep the questions coming.
Guys are starting to arrive for morning skate so I better go.

12/18/09

I must say that today felt wierd as we are the odd team out tonight and don't play. I wanted to put the game jerseys out and get ready for the game. I actually like having a few friday and saturday nights off. I know my wife does too.

I will try and keep everyone informed as much as I can without breaking any rules.
Here was today's forward line combinations.

24 27 7
61 39 28
9 *20 19

Yes, that is supposed to be #20. I won't say who it is, but look for a press release later on today or tomorrow.

The next two nights it will be good to see how we match up with the two favorites to win it all. Also, to see how good the changes we have made are.

Muskegon will get in tonight around 3 am as they will travel here after their game in Dayton. Maybe I will post a late night entry if I get time while waiting for the laundry.

Well I have to run. Enjoy.

1st post of the season

Well, I decided that this would be fun to do and give PrairieThunder fans a inside look on the team and the locker room. I did a blog for the team when I worked in Houston. I have been throwing out the idea to do it here, and was finally asked for the link to the blog so that they could put it up on the new website. Since we had a family blog here, I decided that this would be a good place to set up shop.

To start off I should introduce myself for those of you that haven't met me or looked on the team website. This is my second season here in Bloomington. I arrived half way through last year. I have been in this business for 11 years, not including the years that my mom would let me go to the rink and pick up pucks for the equipment guy if I got good grades. I started out for the Utah Grizzlies as a stick boy in the old IHL. I then became the assistant equipment manager there for 4 years as they joined the AHL. My first head equipment manager position came in Michigan for the Motor City Mechanics of the UHL. At the end of that year they folded. I then took the job in Anchorage, Alaska with the Aces in the ECHL. The following year I joined the Houston Aeros (AHL) for a year and a half.

The purpose of this blog is to give everyone incite into the team and a little of what goes on behind the scenes. If you have any questions for me, you can email me at mkincher@yahoo.com or you can leave me comments here. I would appreciate it if you would keep them appropriate as I will probably have many friends and family that will read this. I will try and give out as much info as I can, but keep in mind I have a job to do and can not say anything that will get me or the team in trouble.

I will try and answer all the emails and comments that I get, but remember that if we are playing my day is busy. Those of you that have been to the PrairieThunder games lately may have seen the new logo in the carpet that we have thanks to CarpetsPlus. They did an excellent job installing it, so if you have any needs for carpet, please contact them. We have tried to change the look of the locker room in the past year. When I got here, it was just plain white bricks wall. Now it is covered in our colors. I will try and post a few pictures of it in the next couple of days.

Once again, send me your questions, mkincher@yahoo.com. I will try and post every couple of days, if not a couple times a day as I have time.

I hope to see you all this weekend. Come out and support the Thunder!
Kinch