Was it really April 13th that the inaugural season of the Ice Dogs ended? It does not see that long ago that we saw the Ice Dogs raise their sticks in salute to a boisterous sell-out crowd that gave them a standing ovation even though they were eliminated from the play-offs. It was that sort of passion that made every Ice Dogs game fun last year. I was thrilled to meet and communicate with some of the fans of the Ice Dogs and this blog will give me another forum to communicate with the fans of Niagara.
I'll try and blog as regularly as possible giving insight on the team, the broadcasts and anything else that springs to mind. These will be all my thoughts and my thoughts alone. I will not pass along "inside information" or anything like that. It will just be a somewhat rambling stream of consciousness.
With that in mind, lets take a look at how the 2008-2009 Ice Dogs stack up with the rest of the competition. We know that a whole lotta goals left the building with the graduation of Michael Swift, Jordan Foreman and Sebastian Dahm. The only way we'll get those guys back will be if we decide to adopt the Chinese gymnastics team disappearing birth certificate. When you add Luca Caputi and Stefan Legein to the graduation list the Dogs lost over half of their goal production (141/272 goals were scored by them). How will those goals be replaced? Andrew Agozzino has had a year under his belt and he had to emerge from his freshman campaign a tougher hockey player. Injuries and illness really hurt Andrew towards the latter part of the year and he was even tailing off before the injury bug hit him. Aggozino, I anticipate, will be more of a factor. Same goes from Chris DeSousa who is a throwback player- tough as nails and with a decent touch around the net. I expect him to improve on his 24 goals from last year. Guys like Alex Friesen, another youngster who really developed last year, and newcomer Thomas Middup will need to chip in and I like the move that brought veteran Matt Piva in. Freddie Hamilton will be looked to contribute right out the gate. Still, the Ice Dogs won't be filling the nets this year with the same regularity as '07-08, so they'll have to play a disciplined and defensive game. Discipline really was the undoing of the Ice Dogs last year in some of their defeats. The Ice Dogs appear to be very strong on the back end, assuming that all of Alex Pietrangelo, Drew Schiestel and Josh Day return. I'm really pulling for Josh Day to continue his career beyond the OHL. He is a steady, solid defender and was the most consistent D-man on the Dogs last year.
Goaltending will be interesting this year. Max Englbrecht, John Cullen and Mark Visentin are the goalies still at camp and it will be interesting to see who emerges as number one or whether or not Dave Brown will continue to monitor the goaltending market. John Cullen should be at home in Niagara. I see his favourite food is chicken parmesan and pasta and they served chicken and pasta in the media lounge every single game last year. Don't get me wrong it was better than the media room in Oshawa in which they dumped four pizzas in the middle of the room and left. Around game 32 the chicken and pasta started getting a little monotonous! Ok, there was my first (of many) blog tangents!
Some quick hits:
--Alex Pietrangelo just signed his entry level contract. He will gain a ton of experience at the Blues training camp and will likely return to Niagara at some point. Petro is a stud and extremely popular in Niagara, but I would think that he would bring a handsome return on the open market should Dave Brown explore that route. Again, just my opinion.
--Everyone and their uncle has weighed in on Stefan Legein. Remember, he is only 19 years old and is entitled to take time and re-focus. If he chooses to step away and try something else, so be it. Heck, I switched careers at age 27 from media to teaching and at 36 I'd move back into the media field if the opportunity arose. I do take issue with some of the reports that he tailed off after his shoulder injury. Was he a different, less rambunctious player after the injury? Absolutely! Don't forget that he was one of the best Ice Dogs in the post-season
-- I was reading the Hockey News season preview and was suprised to see that Drew Schiestel was not listed among Buffalo's top ten prospects this year. This will be a big year for Drew. I expect him to make an impact
Don't forget that our first broadcast will be next Thursday when the Otters are in town and then Saturday when Saginaw is in. Both games are tape delayed (hey its pre-season for us too!) and we'll get a chance to knock off some of the summer rust. Seeing as the Ice Dogs are wearing the red warm up sweaters for their exhibition games, maybe Ed, Al and I can utliize that warm up approach and wear tuxedo t-shirts in the pre-season rather than the suit and tie. It will be great to work with Ed Burkholder and Al Galloway again. Both of those guys are a joy to work with. I also can't say enough about the rest of the Cogeco team who work hard to make out broadcasts the best in the league!
I'll check in with some thoughts after our first pre-season broadcast, if not before.
Steve Clark- Niagara Ice Dogs Play-by-Play on TV Cogeco.
I'll try and blog as regularly as possible giving insight on the team, the broadcasts and anything else that springs to mind. These will be all my thoughts and my thoughts alone. I will not pass along "inside information" or anything like that. It will just be a somewhat rambling stream of consciousness.
With that in mind, lets take a look at how the 2008-2009 Ice Dogs stack up with the rest of the competition. We know that a whole lotta goals left the building with the graduation of Michael Swift, Jordan Foreman and Sebastian Dahm. The only way we'll get those guys back will be if we decide to adopt the Chinese gymnastics team disappearing birth certificate. When you add Luca Caputi and Stefan Legein to the graduation list the Dogs lost over half of their goal production (141/272 goals were scored by them). How will those goals be replaced? Andrew Agozzino has had a year under his belt and he had to emerge from his freshman campaign a tougher hockey player. Injuries and illness really hurt Andrew towards the latter part of the year and he was even tailing off before the injury bug hit him. Aggozino, I anticipate, will be more of a factor. Same goes from Chris DeSousa who is a throwback player- tough as nails and with a decent touch around the net. I expect him to improve on his 24 goals from last year. Guys like Alex Friesen, another youngster who really developed last year, and newcomer Thomas Middup will need to chip in and I like the move that brought veteran Matt Piva in. Freddie Hamilton will be looked to contribute right out the gate. Still, the Ice Dogs won't be filling the nets this year with the same regularity as '07-08, so they'll have to play a disciplined and defensive game. Discipline really was the undoing of the Ice Dogs last year in some of their defeats. The Ice Dogs appear to be very strong on the back end, assuming that all of Alex Pietrangelo, Drew Schiestel and Josh Day return. I'm really pulling for Josh Day to continue his career beyond the OHL. He is a steady, solid defender and was the most consistent D-man on the Dogs last year.
Goaltending will be interesting this year. Max Englbrecht, John Cullen and Mark Visentin are the goalies still at camp and it will be interesting to see who emerges as number one or whether or not Dave Brown will continue to monitor the goaltending market. John Cullen should be at home in Niagara. I see his favourite food is chicken parmesan and pasta and they served chicken and pasta in the media lounge every single game last year. Don't get me wrong it was better than the media room in Oshawa in which they dumped four pizzas in the middle of the room and left. Around game 32 the chicken and pasta started getting a little monotonous! Ok, there was my first (of many) blog tangents!
Some quick hits:
--Alex Pietrangelo just signed his entry level contract. He will gain a ton of experience at the Blues training camp and will likely return to Niagara at some point. Petro is a stud and extremely popular in Niagara, but I would think that he would bring a handsome return on the open market should Dave Brown explore that route. Again, just my opinion.
--Everyone and their uncle has weighed in on Stefan Legein. Remember, he is only 19 years old and is entitled to take time and re-focus. If he chooses to step away and try something else, so be it. Heck, I switched careers at age 27 from media to teaching and at 36 I'd move back into the media field if the opportunity arose. I do take issue with some of the reports that he tailed off after his shoulder injury. Was he a different, less rambunctious player after the injury? Absolutely! Don't forget that he was one of the best Ice Dogs in the post-season
-- I was reading the Hockey News season preview and was suprised to see that Drew Schiestel was not listed among Buffalo's top ten prospects this year. This will be a big year for Drew. I expect him to make an impact
Don't forget that our first broadcast will be next Thursday when the Otters are in town and then Saturday when Saginaw is in. Both games are tape delayed (hey its pre-season for us too!) and we'll get a chance to knock off some of the summer rust. Seeing as the Ice Dogs are wearing the red warm up sweaters for their exhibition games, maybe Ed, Al and I can utliize that warm up approach and wear tuxedo t-shirts in the pre-season rather than the suit and tie. It will be great to work with Ed Burkholder and Al Galloway again. Both of those guys are a joy to work with. I also can't say enough about the rest of the Cogeco team who work hard to make out broadcasts the best in the league!
I'll check in with some thoughts after our first pre-season broadcast, if not before.
Steve Clark- Niagara Ice Dogs Play-by-Play on TV Cogeco.
1 comment:
Schiestel has always gone under the radar.
Great skater, very hard shot, good vision and first pass.
A very quite player that does not get the hype as some that is why is sometimes overlooked.
No worries about this player.
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