vs quad city

I really don't have time for this, but I wanted to give you an update. I will get back to yesterdays game a little later.

Dahm will start in goal tonight.

I can't comment to much on it till the press release comes out, but look for someone new on the bench just for tonights game. If you know what I mean. There is a rule that if you get two game misconduct penalties you are suspended for one. I guess that means I need to behave myself, since I have one already. Ha Ha!

Hats off to Matt Frick and Brian Boulay for the job they did in the third period.

Great crowd last night. Thanks for coming I hope to see you all tonight. Vote if you haven't already, they all run out of time tonight.

vs muskegon

I will tell you one thing, 2 hrs of sleep is not enough. Hopefully, I will be able to get a nap in before the game starts. Last night was another good win for us. We gave ourselves a little breathing room. Today is an important game. We need to show the league that we can play with the top 3 teams. Only 1 time in 5 games have we scored the first goal against them. That was the game that we lost 2 to 1.

Bagron and Frick both skated this morning which is good news. They were the only one's as everyone else stayed home to get some rest after the late night. Bagron will be in the lineup tonight.

Belle you are the winner of the tickets for tomorrow. Please email me your info so that I can get you the tickets.

I hope to see you at the game tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow I believe there will be skating with the team and also a country concert going on in the club lounge after the game. I hear the guy is really good, so come check him out.

Kinch

update

We are sitting on the bus to Dayton. Bill Bagron and Matt Frick did not make the trip. Both stayed back in Bloomington with minor injuries.

Not sure if you all know by now, but we have aquired Rick Varone. He will be in the lineup tonight and wear #21.
http://www.prairiethunderhockey.com/fan-zone_latest-news/thunder-obtains-varone/73/

Jennifer Smith is the winner of the player signed puck as she was the first person to come up with the player missing the 2 patches. The player was Greg McCauley.

Another fan- you are the winner of 2 tickets for tomorrow's game vs Muskegon. Please email me.
Chase Watson signed with the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

On a different note, I am glad to see Jim Edmonds back in baseball, even if it is with the Milwaukee Brewers. He has always been one of my favorite players.

Kinch

A little bit of everything

There seems to be a trend going on right now among a few players that are leaving this league to go to the ECHL in hopes of getting called up. I will be the first one to agree that that league gets more call ups to the AHL than the CHL or our league, however, there are a few things that these guys need to understand. Each team in the ECHL has 6 or more guys that are under AHL contracts. Some of the teams have dual affiliations and thus, more AHL contracted guys. These guys are usually the first guys called up. Can other guys get called up? Sure they can, but it isn't as likely. If you didn't get a lot of ice time in this league, don't expect it there. I believe that there are just as many talented players here they have in the ECHL and CHL. The salary cap is lower in the ECHL, so chances are you will make less money in that league than you do in the IHL. There are a few players in this league that started the year in the ECHL, only to be cut. A lot of times you hear that this is due to the numbers game. Such and such team gets more guys sent down to them than they expected, so guys get cut. This is true in many cases. I believe in some cases coaches just cut the wrong guys. It happens.

Last game we wore the white jerseys. During warm ups I realized that one player did not have the 2 patches on the front of the jersey. The first person to email me the name of that player will get a game puck signed by the player of your choice. I will let everyone know who won hopefully today while we are on the bus to Dayton.

I still don't think the people the whole incident with Flint. Read this article that was just written.
http://www.mlive.com/generals/index.ssf/2010/01/more_fireworks_between_flint_g.html
The point is that those 3 guys have no career. If they two handed someone in the face to get the job done, they would go back to their men's league and nothing would happen. Why can't anyone else understand how bad this could have gotten. If it was so bad, don't you think the league would have handed out a suspension? They had the video. I am not saying that Bogas didn't get hurt, nor do I like to see players get hurt. I actually had Bogas on my team in Motor City and he is a great guy. One I still talk to every time I see him. This league is trying to recruit top players, not lose them to other leagues. Why can't someone who is on the team fight?

I want to write more, but I have to pack to go to Dayton.
Kinch

Internet Down

Sorry everyone. I have not had internet the past two nights in my apartment. If I don't have time at the rink to post, I try and do it at home.

First off, the winner of a pair of tickets to tonights game is scott. Please email me at mkincher@yahoo.com with your name so that I can leave tickets for you in will call. Congrats. I will do this again for this weekends games.

I want to say Happy Birthday to my dad and the "Great One". My dad turned 50 yesterday and the "Great One" turned 49. How cool would that be, "I have the same birthday as Wayne Gretzky."

I will post more later

The superbowl is set!

Get your pens ready to start filling in your squares. New Orleans will take on Indianapolis in the Super Bowl this year. Both of these teams were undefeated up until the last weeks of the season. I don't really have a favorite between the two.

Make sure you sign up as a follower of this blog. Tuesday I will give out a pair of tickets to Wednesday's game at home vs Dayton.

My 500th game as an equipment manager was not quite one that I want to remember. We were not ready to play from the start. We got beat to pucks and did not pick up players coming back into our zone. We must find a way to beat Muskegon. If we finish with the fourth seed, we might be playing them in the first round of the playoffs. How about Holmberg's goal? That is not the first time in Muskegon that I have seen a puck dumped into the zone end up in the back of the net.

Vote for your favorite forwards and d-men/goalies. After voting is over, I will put together a list of the top 6 players to find out who your favorite player is this year.

Starting Lineup

Martin - G
Lepine - D
Frick - D
Booras - C
Macdonald - LW
Carroll - RW

Warm ups vs. Muskegon

A funny thing just happen as the guys were going out for warm ups. As Todd Robinson and Robin Bouchard were going onto the ice, Robinson joked with me "Stay away from our trainers." Its kinda funny, everyone here is kinda joking with me about the whole thing. I am going to try and post a little tonight during the game if everything isn't too busy. I had Robinson in Utah one of my first years when he got called up to the IHL for a few games. I remember picking him up from the airport. At the time he was playing in Idaho.

Locker room in Muskegon

In over an hour the team will show up to the rink here in Muskegon. Here is what the locker room looks like when they get here. Phil and I showed up early to get it set up. Sorry for the blurry pictures. I took them with my phone.

Here's my question for all you people that are upset that Sawyer didn't fight anyone last night, Why should he waste his time? Why didn't one of the actual players on Flint (Cescon or Scarlato) step up and fight him? They are the one's that will still be around when we play again. They are the players that were there when it happened. Flint got what they really wanted, a packed house and we got what we wanted, the two points.

Well I have to get back to sharpening skates.

Martin will be starting in goal tonight. Hopefully we can come out and have a solid game of 60 minutes and continue to come together as a team.

What a game!

We just got back from unpacking the equipment here in Muskegon.

First off, I have never ever in all my trips into Perani Arena, seen that many people. There were over 3000 announced in attendance. Did these people ever get a show. I believe that it was the first time that we have come from behind after two periods to win a game this season. The first guy tried to go after Sawyer, but was pushed right to the ice. Another guy ran Dahm, and fought Liambas. This led to the end of the night for Gomez who started yelling at there GM Peter South. The glass between the benches got pushed down. Lots of words were exchanged, but not much more. Not much more happened until Liambas gave Cossette a few punches that he won't forget anytime soon. Don't worry, I kind of behaved myself tonight. During warm ups, the guy who does the announcing came over to me and started bad mouthing Sawyer. Well to make a long story short, I started ripping him a little. He didn't say much until we were walking off the ice and he was pounding on the glass and flipping me the bird. Classy! Meanwhile the referee was trying to figure out what was going on. Looks like we got the last laugh. Great night for Lepine and Carroll. One thing that bugs me is that in some buildings they are terrible when it comes to stars of the game. How do we not get at least one star.

I was taping a stick for Lepine when we scored the game winner in ot. Carroll was given the hard hat, getting the game winner and another one in regulation.

I forgot to mention after the last game, but did anyone see on Holmberg's goal, when he broke his stick, then came to the bench, I handed him a new stick and then he scored. That is about as close as an equipment manager gets to an assist.

It is 3 am, time for bed.

Thanks for voting!

Thank you everyone for voting. We will be wearing the blue jerseys in Flint and Muskegon this weekend. I thought that it would be a little closer, but the blue jerseys pretty much dominated throughout the whole voting time. The blue jersey won with 65% of the votes, 25 to 13. The blue jersey has also taken over as the favorite jersey this year.

We practiced today over at the pepsi ice center. A few of the guys did not skate because of nagging injuries.

It sounds like Flint might bring in a few big guys for our game. I wonder if they will bring in a bigger Equipment or Medical guy. Here is an article from Flint. Sounds like they are trying to sell a few more tickets.
http://www.mlive.com/generals/index.ssf/2010/01/unhappy_flint_generals_vow_not.html

VOTE NOW!

I am giving the fans a chance to help decide what jersey to wear this weekend. This is something that is almost unheard of to do. Being that both the blue and gold can be dark jerseys, we can wear either one. You decide. The polls will close tomorrow at 5 pm. That way I can pack and get ready to go on the road.

I thought I would post this picture. If don't already know, this is my daughter Rachel. She loves coming to the games to cheer on the team and to see chip. Whenever she is here you can find her in her blue jersey with her name "RACHEL" on the back of it.

We did not skate today. There was no ice as they are setting up the court for the Harlem Globtrotters. We will skate at the pepsi ice center tomorrow. We will leave around 9 am Friday for our game in Flint. After the game we will travel to Muskegon, to play there the next night.

If you haven't already, sign up to be a follower of this blog. I am going to start giving away tickets and other items to those that follow.

Oh and that picture that you have seen on Flints website is from the last game up in Flint, not the game here. Boulay is sitting on the ground, because that is the game that he hurt his shoulder in a fight.

Polls

Here is a look at how two of the polls that I posted finished off:

Team MVP at half way point (73 votes)

Craig Macdonald (39 votes) 53%
Andrew Martin (22 votes)
Bill Bagron (6 votes)
Jon Booras (5 votes)
Paulo Colaiacovo (1 vote)

Biggest Rival (52 votes)

Fort Wayne (17 votes)
Muskegon (16 votes)
Quad City (14 votes)
Port Huron (2 votes)
Dayton (2 votes)
Flint (1 vote)

This could change after what happened the other night.

Come check out tonight's game. Some of the guys will be wearing super hero cape's during warm ups. Not my idea, but we will see how it goes. They will be auctioning them off up on the concourse. Cole Ruwe will for sure being wearing one. Not only is he a rookie, but he has been asking me all day what they are for.

Robin Gomez will warm up tonight, but won't play. Andrew Martin will be starting in goal. See you tonight.

Line Brawl vs. Flint

Yesterday before the game, I was sitting in Jarrod's office and I mentioned to him that on Saturday in Muskegon, it will be my 500th game worked. This does not include all the games as a stick boy. He joked around that during this time I had served as a back up goalie and even coached the third period of a game. That happened in Muskegon when he got thrown out. I had been warned many times on the bench, but never thrown out. Well that sure changed.

We had a 5 to 1 lead at the beginning of the third period when everything broke out on the ice. As a player it is ok to chirp each other, but when an equipment manager or trainer starts to chirp players that is too far. What is a player going to do, hit you? I don't think so. Last year, before I showed up, their trainer did the same thing during a game. That time Jarrod said something to him. He does it every game. I did it too my first year, but quickly learned it is unnecessary. It was not my intention to go over there and get kicked out. I simply went over there and told him that if he wanted to chirp anyone, that he should chirp me. He proceeded to wave a towel in my face. Is not like I could have thrown a punch, I am not left handed. Let the players play the game. Apparently, it was bad enough that the referee threw us both out. I joked with Joe that he had to cover both benches. Phil, one of my assistants took over on the bench as I went to the locker room. We play again on Friday, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens. I am sure the fans there will be yelling at me, like they always do.
If you have never been to Flint, I suggest you go there. Just imagine if on the side where the equipment manager stands, didn't have glass. That is how it is there. Imagine how much fun you guys would have with Sterling or anyone else in the league. If at any point they are in the game, you hear the fans. As soon as we have a lead, they are quiet. Lets hope that they are quiet on Friday. I have even been known to say a few things back to them.

Getting back to the brawl. Did anyone see the punch that Martin landed with his blocker? or the blood all over the face of their goalie. It was great to see guys sticking up for each other. Kinda like the first of the year when we were winning.

It ended up being kinda nice getting kicked up. I was able to clean up earlier and get out of here in time to watch the season premier of 24. We own every season up to this one. I can't wait, 2 more hours of it tonight.

Have a great day!
Kinch

I almost forgot. After the game the guys here have a tradition of passing around a hard hat. It goes from player to player on who the last guy that got it thinks had a great game. We then put that guys # on it. Martin had it last, since our last win he had a shutout. He gave it to Liambas. I did however get an honorable mention.

Sorry that I have not posted much lately. Things have been super busy around the rink.

It has now been 9 games since we last won. I know this is very frustrating for us all right now. We have to find ways to put the puck in the net and win games. Last night was also a rough night for sticks as we broke 5 or 6. The good thing in all of this is that we are still in contention for a playoff spot. Everyone knew going into this year that Muskegon, Port Huron, and Fort Wayne were going to have strong teams. They always do. Dayton played last night and lost. We are still 3 pts back with 4 games in hand. The team that scares me right now is Quad. They have been on a roll, getting pts in several games. They are 3 pts behind us, and have played the same amount of games.

Well I have been trying to get this up all day. It is now after the first period. It is nice to see that our powerplay is working again.

Anthony Peluso

As posted on the Pantagraph, Anthony Peluso will be in the lineup tomorrow and Sunday. He will wear #10.
http://www.pantagraph.com/app/blogs/main/?p=4667

Someone at the local paper must know that I am doing this blog, because since I started they have updated their blog a couple of times.

Tomorrow will be an early day, so I am off to bed. Good night everyone.

Tomorrow nights starter

Sebastian Dahm will start his first game for us tomorrow night. I am excited to see how he does. He is a hard worker, one of the first ones on the ice and the last one off.

I would like to come on here and explain everything that is going on, but the truth is that I can't. I am one of the first people to find out about most everything. Sometimes I find out about things that never even make it to the newspaper. That is just part of the game. I can tell you one thing, that is that Coach Jarrod Skalde is doing everything he can to improve this team.

Yesterday was a busy day traveling to Dayton. I have a lot on my mind so here we go. I will see how much that I can get out. If you are unable to understand what I am saying, it is due to the fact that I did not get much sleep last night. We changed a few things around the locker room.

First off, I would like to thank the members of the booster club for all they do for our team. They really go out of their way to take care of us. Trust me, your work does not go unnoticed. It was nice to see that so many of you are taking the time to read this blog. I also heard a lot of you say how you never really understood what an equipment manager does and how much work it requires. That is true of not only my job, but many other jobs within each organization.
One person that helps keep this organization up and running is Bryan "Lefty" Bloodworth. It is amazing to see so many people bad mouthing him of all people on the different blogs. Those of you that are, have no clue as to what he does for this team. I have even heard people say stuff when he misspells a word or two. Get over it. It happens all of the time. I think he puts in just as many hours as I do, if not more. In a couple places I have been, I used to take a highlighter and mark all the mistakes and then put it back on the pr persons desk as a joke. Lefty does a lot more than just press releases. To name a few things, he books our hotels on the road, the buses, and he get sponsorships for the team. I could go on and on, however, we are all grateful for all that he does.

Last night was an interesting game to say the least. The guys battled back a couple of times, however, I felt as though we kept hurting ourselves. We would get back in the game and then the mistakes would come. That is definitely something that we need to fix.

Gotta run! I will try and do some more tonight.

Eating out with Cole Ruwe

I recently asked Cole to come up with his favorite places to eat in the area since he is from here. We came up with 4 of the surrounding cities. I hope you enjoy.

Bloomington-Elroy's, BBQ chicken wrap. I haven't tried anything else there but I am guessing everything is just as good. They have the NHL package there so you can always catch a game and the talented working staff is always nice to look at.

Normal- Oriental Palace. Not really sure what I am actually eating but the sushi there is the best I have ever had. The servers are nice and helpful for people like me that have no idea what they are supposed to order at a sushi bar.

Pekin- Kouris Pub is a small local bar, has great wings and pizza. I can honestly say that I have not had anything to eat there that I haven't thought was good. This would be a great place for people to stop at when they are in town for youth hockey games. The has a lot of tv's to watch the games on. Would be a great place to kill some time in between games.

Peoria- I tried not to go to Peoria that often but last time I went there I made a visit at Whitey's. Which I am sure not to many people have ever heard. However they have great pizza that is pretty cheap on the wallet. The place is somewhat run down and not exactly in the safest part of town but the pizza is worth the experience.

Attention

I must be doing something right. I am receiving a little bit of attention for this blog.

Justin did such a great job on the article in the pro hockey news, that it made the IHL website.
http://www.ihl-hockey.com/press/team/homepage/index.html?article_id=526

I was also the talk of the radio on WJBC.
http://www.wjbc.com/Tabid/7997/default.aspx?AID=5343
As noted in the interview, I do spend some of my free time doing this blog.

I am sure you all have heard by now that Paulo Colaiacovo has been released and that rookie Sebastian Dahm has been assigned to us by the Peoria Rivermen. He is arriving tonight and will skate with the team tomorrow.

Brendan Savage, the writer for the Flint Generals has come up with his Inaugural IHL Readers Choice Awards for the mid point of the season. Check it out and vote.
http://www.mlive.com/generals/index.ssf/2010/01/vote_for_inaugural_ihl_readers.html

Some interesting stats

I am not going to blow smoke at you all and tell you that things are great right now. The truth is that we are struggling right now. We have not won since we shut out Quad City 6 to 0 on December 26th. Days off and especially Sundays give me a chance to look at some of our stats. Our streak of 7 non wins is tied with Flint and Quad City for the longest of the year. Not a record that we wanted. During this stretch we have only scored 10 goals. We had 12 in the previous 2 games before this stretch started. Our power play has been a dismal 2 for 27 . Our penalty kill hasn't been much better giving up 9 goals on 29 chances. This is not good considering we have been shorthanded a league high 92 times at home.

Leaders the last seven games:
Goals
Gomez 2
Booras 2
Macdonald 2
Assists
Lepine 4
Several at 2
No points during this stretch
Banga
Carroll
Watson
Plus
Ruwe +3
Sawyer +2
Minus
Macdonald -7
Spiller -5
Several at -4

Our next 5 games / Overall record against them / record at location
@ Dayton / 4-1 / 2-0
vs Fort Wayne / 2-3-0-1 / 2-1
vs Flint / 2-1 / 2-0
vs Quad City / 5-3-0-1 / 5-0
vs Flint / 2-1 / 0-1

This all looks encouraging! Hopefully we can get back on track.

Things to look forward to this week. Saywer will have a few more movie reviews. Local boy Cole Ruwe will discuss with me his favorites around this area. Send me some emails and let me know what else you want to know.
The team has also come out with a new website. Be sure to check it out.

Did anyone see the Packers / Cardinals game? What an exciting game with lots of scoring. Just how I like football games.

new equipment

Andrew Martin will be starting in goal tonight and he will be wearing his new equipment. His pads and blocker that is. He told me today that it is time. He won't be using his new glove, however, as he told me that it is not broken in enough. They look sweet so come check them out.

Early morning

Well you have to love those 8 pm starts in Fort Wayne, that followed by overtime and a extended shootout, makes for an early morning. We rolled into Bloomington around 3:30 am. From there is was washing the laundry and jerseys and cleaning up the locker room. I alwasys go back through the locker room and straighten the stuff, so that everything has the best opportunity to dry. After practice yesterday we ate here at the Coliseum and jumped on the bus. That doesn't give us much time to get everything cleaned up. I was able to start some of the laundry. Around 5:45 am I laid down for a power nap and woke up at 7:45 am. Luckily I was able to get some sleep on the bus.
I could pretty much sleep anywhere. This I think comes from when I was growing up. We would go on road trips, and when we got there my parents would get a bed, my sisters would get a bed, and you guessed it, I would get the floor. If it wasn't for that I don't think some weekends I would ever sleep. Luckily we have Sunday off. If there has to be a downfall to my job, this is it.
Gaining a point last night kept us within 5 pts of Fort Wayne.

My blog / Tonight's game

A lot of you wonder why I have taken on this blog and if it is even appropriate. Some feel that information should not come from me. For me this game is a passion. I owe a lot of what I have to this game. To understand me a little, I am a die hard Cubs fan. I know lots of you in this area will not like that, but that is who I am. I grew up sitting on top of the couch with my younger sister watching them on WGN and cheering them on. I believe that taught me to cheer on my team no matter how bad they are.
Every night that we play, I want to win. I take it hard when we don't. The closest I have ever gotten to winning a championship while working has been my year in Alaska. We won the first two rounds, but were eliminated in the conference finals by Idaho. We knew whoever won that round would win the Championship. Sure enough, Idaho did win it all. That was probably the worst flight home that I have been on.
I understand that as a fan, everyone wants information and wants to know what is going on. In Fort Wayne, they have two reporters that blog and write about the team and whats going on. I am not here to bash on people, but I know that positive news about a team helps everything. That is what I am trying to do. I love my job and love what I do. That I am trying to share with everyone. I am not trying to act as a PR person for this team, but I am trying to give people a positive look from a different perspective. I didn't even think my blog would turn into what it has become.
On a different note, tonight will be the first time that we have worn the gold jerseys as a dark. We will wear them against Fort Wayne's whites. We have worn both white and blue in their building, so hopefully this will change our luck.
Paulo will start tonight's game. Look for him to come out strong. Tonight is huge for us, it means that we will either be 2 or 6 pts behind Fort Wayne.

Equipment Finances

I have received a few emails asking me about the financial status of the team here in Bloomington. While I don't know everything about this team, I do have some insight to teams that are in trouble. Usually when teams are struggling the first cutbacks come in the equipment department. It is amazing that so many people think that they know what is going on in this department. If you want to email me and we can set up a time and I will take you through the locker room and show you the supplies that we have. All of which I have ordered and the team has paid for. Everything that I have ordered has shown up, if it hasn't it is because of the company not the team. Almost every guy on the team has had new skates for a while now. I talk to every equipment manager around the league and on other teams in other leagues. Trust me there are teams out there that are really struggling. There are teams that are cutting off the blades of broken one-piece sticks to use as shafts, others only have the sticks the guys are using, no new ones. Some guys are even using sticks that are not there own curves. Times are tough for everyone. Every guy on our team has 3 taped up sticks and I have a store room full of sticks. Andrew Martin just received a new set of goalie pads, glove and blocker. Not sure if you have seen the price of those, but they aren't cheap. This year we went to 3 jerseys. I am not saying that a lot of jerseys means you have a lot of money, but it does take money to buy these things. Some have jerseys that have never been seen.
I have always been paid by the team when I was supposed to get my paycheck. Not that it really matters. This team has been very good to me and my family. I have been in other places where I wondering if I would get my next pay check. That is not the case here.

Growing up my dad had season tickets to our local IHL team (Salt Lake Golden Eagles). We attended every game, we were even a host family for a couple of years. After that team left, hockey was never the same to me. Later the Grizzlies came, but they were never the Golden Eagles, and I even worked for them. Would I have done everything thing I could to keep them? Of course I would have, but I was young, not even in high school. In Utah, we were lucky. We only went one year without pro hockey. Las Vegas went 4 seasons without pro hockey. Des Moines, Iowa recently lost its team. Who knows how long it will be before they get a new one. What would you do to keep your team around? I would hate to see this great city lose its team. I am not saying its going anywhere, but you all have your chance of keeping it here. If the building is empty, wouldn't it cost taxpayers more money? This team is not going anywhere soon. Many people in this community should be thanked, not criticized.
Keep in mind that when Fort Wayne started out, they didn't have a season over .500 until their 4th year. Finally, their 11th season, they won a championship. Every young team goes through growing pains. Look at the Alaska Aces who at one time were for sale on ebay. They were at rock bottom, before local owners took over. Now they are one of the top organizations in the ECHL.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/display_standings.php?tmi=5776

I hope this answers some of your questions.
KINCH

Check out the article about me in the prohockeynews

I would like to thank Justin Boyd who contacted me about doing this article. It is a great article. Check it out and check out some of his other stuff. He has written some great things about our team. http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/ihl/Talking_to_the_Equipment_Guy.shtml

Andrew Martin was going to go to Peoria today to practice, but he didn't due to the weather. Billy Bagron and I have been joking lately about the difference between the weather here and the weather in Anchorage, Alaska. He is from there and last week when he came in I made the comment that it is colder here than it is in Alaska. At first he didn't think so, but after a couple of cold days and a lot of wind, he came in one day and agreed it is colder here than Anchorage, Alaska. I have been told it is a lot colder in Fairbanks. Today when he came in we agreed all this snow is like Anchorage, but it snows like this there at least twice a week. Also, the snow flakes there are a lot bigger.

I am working on a new peice for my blog with Cole Ruwe, who is a local kid. We are going to explore his favorite things of the area.

Goalies

Today Paulo practiced with Peoria. He will be back in time for tonights game. Mark Blain filled in for him today.

Yesterday is was Andrew Martin who practiced with Peoria. Andy Kelly filled in yesterday. Martin will start tonight.

Check out this article from Port Huron. It talks a little about our recent slump.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100106/SPORTS/1060321/1006/Icehawks-take-on-slumping-foe

U-S-A, U-S-A!!!!

After giving up 2 goals in the final 3 minutes of the game. Team USA won the world junior championships. I know that there was a lot of friendly wagers going on in our locker room over this game. I can't wait till tomorrow to see all of the Canadian players. That snaps Canada's streak of 5 straight victories.

I can't wait till the Olympics in Vancouver. During the Olympics in my hometown of Salt Lake City, I worked in the Suites of the E-Center serving food. I was able to watch all of the games by doing this. I was also able to meet some NHL stars such as Martin Brodeur and Jarome Iginla. As we get closer to the Olympics I will share some of those stories.

Congrats to my buddy Tony Deynzer (Colorado Eagles, Equipment Manager), who was selected to work in the Central Hockey League All-Star game.

Kyle Laughlin, who was recently played two games for us and was released, signed with Reading Royals in the ECHL.
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3947865

Movie Review by Justin Sawyer

I thought that I would give you an insight into what the players like to do in their spare time. I found out at the start of the year that Justin Sawyer loves movies. You should see the case that he brought on the first road trip. In all, Justin says that he has over 300 movies. I could not believe all the choices we had. Usually it is about 10 movies that we've all seen a hundred times. Justin started out his collection by working at blockbuster when he was younger. I figured he would be the perfect person to do a movie review.

New Moon- C

I must say i was a little disappointed with the latest flick in the twilight series. The comedy was there and the graphics were just as good if not better than the original twilight but the acting seemed to be not as good. I definitely am a team cullen guy. I love the vampires in the movie and want to see edward end up with the girl.

Avatar - A+

This movie is a must see. I first saw the movie in 2D over the Christmas holiday's and i was so impressed that when i got back to bloomington i had to check it out with my teammates in 3D. The 3D version blew my mind and it was an awesome story that kept your attention for the whole 3 hours. With the glasses it feels like your actually in the story and the alien girl is really hot! Definitely worth the money on this one.

Stop by again and check out information about your favorite team, the Bloomington PrairieThunder.

Christmas Shutdown

Every year about a week or two before Christmas, all the big hockey companies shutdown to give their employees time off. During this time, if you run out of stuff such as sticks or tape, your life as an equipment manager can be difficult. Today is the first day back for most of these companies. Fortunately, I planned ahead good enough and we did not run out of anything. Ordering equipment can sometimes be painful. If you have a direct account with companies, it will save you time and money. Some companies are better than others to deal with.

Not very much going on today. I put out the red, white, and blue practice jerseys today. I did this to mess with a couple of the Canadian guys. For those that don't know, the gold medal game for the world junior championships is tomorrow. USA vs Canada. Canada won the previous meeting between these two teams in a shoot-out.

A few stats

Although we had lots of shots and chances in the third period last night, we were unable to get a goal to tie the game and force overtime. It didn't help that Sawyer was called for a penalty in the last minute. It was the second game in a row that we had a penalty called on us in the last minutes of the game. However, we shouldn't have to wait until then to score a goal.

I didn't go into the rink at all today. which means tomorrow will be an early one.

I know we haven't been so hot lately, but I thought you might like to know that it isn't as bad as we think. Ten points separate the 3rd place team from the 7th place team. At the start of the season it looked like 5 teams would be battling for the 4 playoff spots. Quad City and Flint have definitely stepped it up in there last 5 games.

Last 5 games
Port Huron 4-1-0-0 (8 pts)
Muskegon 2-3-0-0 (4 pts)
Fort Wayne 2-2-0-1 (5 pts)
Bloomington 1-3-1-0 (3 pts)
Dayton 2-3-0-0 (4 pts)
Flint 3-0-0-2 (8 pts)
Quad City 4-0-0-1 (9 pts)

We haven't done so bad over our last ten.

Last 10 games
Port Huron 8-2-0-0 (16 pts)
Muskegon 6-4-0-0 (12 pts)
Fort Wayne 5-4-0-1 (11 pts)
Bloomington 5-4-1-0 (11 pts)
Dayton 3-6-0-1 (7 pts)
Flint 5-3-0-2 (12 pts)
Quad City 4-3-2-1 (11 pts)

Lets hope that are next ten are a lot better.

I saw that Brent Clarke has signed with the West Michigan Blizzard in the AAHL.

After 2

Well its not like we aren't getting chances. We again hit the crossbar a couple of times. We weren't able to get much going on the 5 on 3. It looks as though we are getting chances, but not much traffic in front of the net. Bring out your rally caps, its time we put an end to not being able to win in this building. The last couple of road games have not been so friendly in the third. We need to dominate that first shift and go from there. Not sure if I will be able to post after the game, so if not, i hope to see you back in Bloomington with our 2 pts.
Lets hope Flint can put together a solid third period and beat Fort Wayne. Right now they are tied 2 to 2.
Phil picks Chase Watson to get us going.
Joe picks Matt McIlvane.
And my pick is Zach Pearson with "the stache" so he will keep it going.
I want to thank all the people who probably won't see this till tonight or tomorrow that are at six strings supporting us.
Here we go!

After 1

We had lots of chances, even hit the post once, but we could not get it past the goalie. It appears as though some of our top guys can't buy a goal right now. We just need to go to the net and the chances will continue to come.
On their goal it looked as though we got beat back to the net.
We need to come out strong this period, and work together as a group.

Starters

Ruwe #2
Sawyer #29
McIlvane #7
Pearson #9
Macdonald #61
Martin #35

Are all starting the game for us!

The stache

Pearson came to the rink this morning with what joe called "chops" and "fu man choo" mustache. Well, for tonight's game he got rid of the "chops" and left a sweet mustache. He said that if he scores he will keep it the rest of the year. Lets hope he keeps it all year. I will try and get a picture of him.

Warm ups is over and I don't have anything to do. We brought Phil, one of my equipment assistants, so I have a little more time to blog. (That's not really the reason he came.)

Matt McIlvane's parents are in attendance tonight. It is great to see such great support from family for this team. I know we have seen many family members this season. Matt is another of our great rookies.

The worst part of the game is waiting for things to do. I would much rather be busy during the intermissions. However, I have had intermissions that are way to busy, so I should not complain. The guys looked like they are ready to go in warm ups.

I recently received a question about the #99, which is funny, because on the way up here we watched the espn documentary about Wayne Gretzky. There is no rule in the minor leagues about wearing the #99, but no one wears it out of respect to Wayne and what he did for the sport. I had the opportunity to meet Walter Gretzky, Wayne's dad, when I worked in motor city. Brent, his brother played for our team. His dad came down a few times to watch our games. What an awesome experience.

Here's to a good game!

Live from I Wireless Center

Everyone is going about their pre game preparations. Guys know the importance of not letting this one get away. Both Flint and Quad City have battled back and are only 8 pts out of the last playoff spot. That is something we did not want to have happen. It is always easier to battle with one team as opposed to 3. Right now we control our own destiny as we have games in hand on both Dayton and Flint. Although it is way early, you still think of these things. The games you wish you would have won early in the year.
Cole Ruwe wants everyone to know that he does such a great job fulfilling his rookie duties. The rookie duties include cleaning the bus on road trips, helping load and unload the bus, and many others. It was nice to see Cole get his first goal with the Thunder last time we were here in Quad.

Gotta go warm ups just started.

Congrats to Davis Payne

For those of you who haven't heard yet, Peoria Rivermen head coach Davis Payne has been promoted to Interim head coach for the St. Louis Blues. I had the opportunity to work for Davis in Alaska. He is a great coach. I am excited for him and wish him well in the NHL.

Everyone skated this morning. Jon Booras will play tonight. He is feeling much better after missing the game in Fort Wayne. Andrew Martin will start in goal tonight.

Looking back at the schedule, our last road win was November 25th, a 5-3 win in Dayton. Granted we only played 3 road games in December. However, we are 1-6-0-0 in our last 7 games on the road. This is definitely something that we need to improve or else our season could end sooner than expected.

I am planning on posting during the game if I get a chance. They have wireless internet in Quad. So check back today.

Kinch

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone! The clock struck midnight twice last night. Once while in Indiana and again while in Illinois. However, there was not much to celebrate as we came out flat in the third period and lost the game 5 to 1. They scored 57 seconds into the period on a shot that trickled off of Martin's glove. Fort Wayne was also able to score two more power play goals and finish 3 for 5 on the power play. Besides the first period, we got seriously out shot and did not really generate many quality chances. With the win Fort Wayne stayed in 3rd place with 3 more points than us, having played one more game than us. We stayed in 4th place. Dayton is 2 pts behind us, but has played 4 more games. We arrived home around 2:30 am.
Cole Ruwe took a stick to the face last night with no call. Also, Bill Bagron was cut above the eye, and received stitches, not exactly sure how that happened. I was in the locker room sharpening a skate, but there also was no call.
During warm ups one of the linesmen told me that he looked at my blog. Looks like it is doing exactly what I wanted, bring positive attention to the team.
We were given the day off today. Days off aren't necessarily days off for myself and the trainer. I know Joe had treatments today for some of the guys with nagging injuries. I went into the rink today for 3 hours with my daughter. I cleaned the room, did the laundry, and restocked my stuff to go to Quad City tomorrow. My daughter enjoyed the morning playing with tape, her little stick, and eating anything that I would give her. 3 hours is not quite enough time to finish up everything, so I will be back at the rink early tomorrow to finish things up before the guys get there.
We got home just in time to watch the Winter Classic. I love hockey, but I don't watch many games during the season on tv, but I always watch these games. I can wait to see where they play next season. I am a big time baseball fan, so I love the idea of playing in these classic baseball stadiums. I would love to see a game in Yankee Stadium or even Busch Stadium. I also like to see the old school jerseys.
Speaking of jerseys, we are not going to have a jersey auction in January, but we are planning a great one in February.
Well, now that December is over, we are going back to wearing the white jerseys at home and the darks on the road. Our blue jerseys were good at home in December as we had a 5-1-1-0 record in them. We were 0-1 in our white jerseys and 0-2 in our gold jerseys on the road. Lets hope our blue jerseys will continue to be hot on the road. We will be wearing blue tomorrow in Quad City.
Be on the lookout for Martin to wear his new pads. We received a new glove, blocker, and pads for him on Wednesday. I won't ruin it and tell you what color they are.
Have a great day.

Kinch