It's gonna be an odd one tonight in Kamloops. A "wardrobe malfunction" by the visiting Vancouver Giants to say the least...
The Giants forgot their sweaters. They will wear a set of Blazer practice jerseys complete with the Blazers "B" logo.
Stay tuned....
7 comments:
with out question this has been the most disappointing season in my 25 years plus as a blazers season ticket holder. A season that started with such hope has slowly spiralled to what has been a typical river city hockey season. With how this ownerships first three seasons went this should be really no surprise, once again we are at or near the top of the league in goals against and pms, and near the bottom of the league in wins and losses. This is the 4th year of the ownership group and it seems nothing has really changed other than coaches(4 in 4 years), The sad thing is for the most part this team has battled hard for the coaching staff, which usually means that the upper management(recchi and bonner) still have left the coaches without enough to win with. I dont know and right now im not sure that anyone in the organization knows what the future holds for this team, we were told that at the start of the season that this team would compete for a division title but unless we have 17-20 wins in the last 22 that is not going to happen. I know injuries and suspensions have hurt this but our record with a full line up has not been overly stellar. I am curious as to why some teams are able to turn things around so much quicker than us, I know the first year when they decided not to have a real gm hurt us alot(bender bartley, ellerby and nixon) all traded, for these solid assets we have 0 players in our line up. But since then we have done alot more than tinker, this is a completely new team than what bonner took over. I signed up for three more years at the start of the year but my frustration of knowing that we once again have virtually 0 chance of playing past the first round again(if we make it at all)is staring to peak. Jon your around this team alot more than most of us and have fresh eyes to look at the whole picture, Im wondering if you can fill us in on what you have seen so far and if you think there is any light at the end of the tunnel. Next year is yr 5 of a five year plan and unless im missing something we are still going to have a ways to go but heres to hoping that this season was just the hockey gods punishing us.
I can't speak on previous seasons. However this year I think it's been a few things.
1) weren't rewarded for efforts early. I thought we were outchancing/outshooting teams but weren't getting points out of those games. That was a major issue.
2) Penalty kill/discipline. This was a two-headed problem is the first half. It's been a lot better since the break. It was a killer in the first half.
3) injuries. Sure this team was healthy in the first half, but now that they've gotten some of those other problems taken care of, they are banged up and seem to be without their top players more often than not.
Is this team better than their record? You could say yes, but the record is what it is. Are they an elite team like Port, Tri and Spoke? No. They haven't shown that.
Generally this team is young. The core is the 18 year-olds. With that said, I fully expect them to make the playoffs. It does seem though a push for a BC division title has faded due to seven losses in their last eight games.
I think this team is capable but the time to show it is quickly running out. The Blazers have yet to play their best hockey. I think the key is to peak at the right time heading into playoffs. This team hasn't peaked yet.
There's less than two months to get it going. Believe me, they all know the window of opportunity is closing.
I agree with many of these observations, but would have to say that this year's team has been done in by a lack of quality goaltending and hence will not really go anywhere. Good teams do not consistently get beat by 3+ goals the way this team does. However, I think that the future (next year) looks bright. The 20-year-olds are contributors, but not major contributors. There are only 4 19-year-olds - enough to fill next year's 20-year-old spots, but not enough to require letting go of good players. the 15-18 year-olds are very good contributors and still improving. I think everything is in place for a run in 2011-12 except goaltending. Hopefully, Bonner will either be able to convince Thorimbert that WHL is his best option, or draft a strong import goalie. Then, one of the younger guys (Keeney, Trombley, Kozun, or Krogfoss) can get experience while backing up. If Bonner can pull this off, adding Needham and a couple other youngsters should put us right where we want to be in year 4 (I believe the "5 year plan" was started when Bonner arrived) of the rebuilding process.
Actually I know that bonner is only in year 3 but the fact that this ownership group was going to hire hime as gm was one of the worst kept secrets in the dub. They thought that they would use clark for a year then bonner would be free of his memorial cup commitments but when clark became part of the other ownership bid the writing was on the wall. So when we endured the first year with basically no coach or gm this team was set back alot. I just find it odd that a man as smart as galardi spent the money he did without having a management team in place(i bet he already knows who is going to run his new hotel in kamloops)and as a result we fans paid the price, so yes the first year does count and even though bonner wasnt part of this he was the holy grail they were after and as a result in my mind this is year 4.
I agree that this is year 4 of the new regime. My point was just that we are only in year 3 of the 5 year rebuilding plan that was set up when Bonner came in. Like you said, that first year was such a waste that it really set the franchise back a few years. By the way, how is Dean Clark doing these days? Answer: it only took him to year 2 to fix PG's problems which were much worse than ours (we thought). In any case, I like to try to look at the bright side and hopefully that will be next year. For now, let's just enjoy the hockey that is being played because the summer is coming closer every day...
Well I agree with both sides of what "year" this is as it pertains to the plan, I'd personally say its year 3. That said this season hasn't lived up to anyone's expectations in the win loss columns. The season isn't a wash were in the heat of a playoff battle (which we should make). I wouldn't be shocked to see us bump up to 6th or 7th.
Its easy to take the glass half empty approach, the Blazers are well on the path of becoming respectable again. If we win a playoff round everyone forgets about the season that could of been.
All I know is I have been through worse season's then this as a fan.
Here's hoping to a great finish.
Really enjoy what you bring to the broadcasts Jon keep it up!
Dean Clark is a heck of a hockey mind, and clearly he has been able to get things done in PG. But Dean Clark was not dumped in Kamloops because he is a bad hockey guy. He was dumped in Kamloops because there was a disconnect between the citizenry's moral fibre and expectations for a coach away from the rink and the perception of Clark's character. It is no cincidence that Dean Clark's tenure in PG sees some of the worst crowds in history and that public perception in the Loops was being dragged through the ditch when he was there. Public relations,community relations and public perception in a smaller city just doesn't fit Clark's style. He got away with it in Calgary because the city is 1000000 people. Once again, hockey is not the issue with Clark. The issue is the perception that he's not a great guy.
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