Open thread to comment about the head coaching change. Discuss.
Personally I think all the flash floods yesterday were caused by God crying at the Stars' missed opportunity to bring Guy Carbonneau to the helm. :(
Sorry for not posting any recaps or previews this week.
As soon as hockey was over with Saturday night, I was on board a plane to Albany, NY for a scouting trip to find some nationally ranked i-league ringers to stack the Stingers with.
Actually, I just had to go there for work. But I did take 5 minutes to tour a hockey facility I passed on the way back to the airport.
Enjoy the pictures!
This is not where the AHL's River Rats play, but it is the home rink for the Junior Rats.
After mulling the many comments on this board the Killer has determined that A) the Bronze league is reading. B) There is a need to revamp. C) the draft idea is riddled with problems, and met with massive ammounts of resistance.
So looks like the A/B Division thing is as good as done. It will be for the good of the league. Now the only problem this league has is the whole sub issue. We have too many folks playing multiple games with multiple teams. It wouldnt be a big deal if those folks were paying a sub fee of say $15 or $20 a game. But that is for another day. For now lets see what an A and B division might look like:
Bronze League
A Division
1-Stingers
2-Ice Gators
3-Keller Indians
4-Hurricanes*^
5-Senators
B Division
1-Mid Air
2-Arc Angels
3-Silver Bullets
4-Spider Monkeys
5-Jaguars*^
* providing these two teams can get enough paid people on their roster prior to seasons start to actually form a team.
^In the event that these two teams cant get enough players to form a squad, their rosters would have to be swallowed up by the other teams in the league to help make the league stronger. This would eliminate some of the roster chaos that plagues this great league.
There would be 12 games in the regular season, you would play each team in your division two or three times depending on how many teams in your division there are. If there are four teams in both divisions you would play each other three times, and then each team in the other division once.
This is just an initial assessment, but looks like the Bronze League has spoken and ch ch ch changes are on the way.
Fellow Hockey lovers...
I would like to collect ideas for next season in the Bronze League.
We already have the A/B divisions in the hopper to bring up with Knute, but I wanted to gather ideas from all of you to discuss to make our league and rink a better place to play and have fun.
Please post your thoughts so the coordinators can get them on the list for discussion.
I can't say they will all be adopted, but at least they will be discussed.
Thanks,
Beastie, Monkeys #33
We have a lot of discussion lately about competition in our league. Good. All opinions and comments are welcome, if they are reasoned and well thought out.
If you want your opinion to carry more weight in the discussion, please include your name, or your team name and jersey number at the end, or some unique nickname.
It's hard to respond and openly converse with someone who posts an opinion, but doesn't use any sort of unique moniker.
Dickie Dunn
Based on all the comments on the Stingers Back Story Post, The Killer has a few ideas on how to "fix" the i-league.
First of all we have a third party come out and watch every single game two weeks straight. This party would be a hockey coach who has no vested intrest in Nytex, the Brahmas, or our league. He/she would have a roster from each team, and make notes on each player. Things like, how well does he/she move on their feet, stick handle, shoot, pass, hockey knowledge, etc. Then that party would label players either A, B, or C. A meaning solid, ready for the move up to the D League, B meaning a player still learning, and C would mean someone that needs help, and lots of it.
Now at the end of the season each coordinator would get the results of the above mentioned experiment. Coordinators would be allowed to keep 8 players on their roster, two A's, two B's, and two C's. Everyone else would be placed into a pool of players that all the teams would draft from.
Then we would have the draft, team starting with who had the worst record would pick from the pool of avaiable free agents until the free agents are all gone. After that you could trade players if you like, but the idea would be that the teams all get an even number of people, and all have an even ammount of good players, bad players, and in between players.
Now there are people who will object to this like the Stingers who have been playing together for a long time, and are a very tight knit group. I know lots of guys on the Senators all work retail, and as such have to play in the late games on Saturday.
But I think if we did this, it would solve lots of issues. Then from a league standpoint you charge slightly more but offer a jersey with each paid player. This way, we eliminate teams with five or six different jerseys on the bench.
Also a rule of the new league would be players can ONLY play for one team. This would eliminate guys playing for two, three, or even four teams in one night/season.
This is all off the top of the Killers head, so feel free to trash this idea, add your thoughts, or whatever. Its good to air out your opinions so that Nytex can hear all this, and take steps towards making everyone happy. The Bronze league this year is great, the fact that there is a playoff format in place, and more teams are getting uniforms (Stingers, Senators, Bullets, Hurricanes, Gators, Monkeys) is a step in the right direction.
Killer here, I had the opportunity to sit down with the coordinator for the three time champion Stingers this week, and find out the back story on the team. Hopefully between Dickie and I we will get the back stories on all the 10 Bronze League Teams:
Killer: How did you come to name your team the Stingers?
Dan: When we started the Stingers at Euless, 4 years ago, I was also coaching my grandsons squirt house team at Euless. At that time, we could choose any team name that we wanted. We looked at a bunch of different hockey leagues logos. So we chose the “Sting” after the Sarnia Sting of the OHL. Everyone loved the “bee” logo. We even had hats & tee-shirts made. So when we scrounged up a men’s I-League team & were trying to come up with a name, the guys liked my “Sting” logo on my hat & said “hey lets call ourselves the “Sting” like your grandsons team. I said fine, but to avoid any type of confusion between the 2 teams (especially for me), how about we modify it & call ourselves the “Stingers”. Everyone agreed and that’s how its been. Today, about 85% of our team that started with us back then, is still with us.
Killer: How did you guys settle on the Dallas Stars syle jerseys?
Dan: When we started, we went about a year without any style jersey. We then decided to get something & went with a black Pittsburgh Penguin style jersey with the “Sting” logo. It looked great, but was a little expensive. After a few personnel changes & a desire to go with something new, we ordered new (black) jerseys last summer & the white ones this past spring. We wanted to keep it simple & liked the way the Dallas Stars did their new ones. So we adopted their style with “Stingers” instead of “Dallas” on it. We got a hell of a deal on them as well. Lots of credit goes to David Mulvey for that!
There you have it folks, now you know a little more on the Stingers. Thanks to Dan Fenili for giving the Killer the full story.
In the closest matchup all weekend, the Senators and Silver Bullets will try to claw and scrape to avoid dropping into the basement of the league. Both teams are 1-2, and both teams this season have given up about twice as many as they have scored.
This all boils down to who wants it more. Senators seem to have a slightly more stable roster but the Silver Bullets always show up ready to play and ready to scrap.
My brain tells me Senators but my gut (which is bigger) tells me that the Silver Bullets are highly motivated and will assasinate the Senators with an overtime game winner. Killer disagrees with extreme prejudice.
Dickie Dunn's Pick: Silver Bullets 3, Tomcast Senators 2
Killer Carlson's Pick: Tomcast Senators 8, Silver Bullets 0
Uniform Czar's Pick: Coin-Toss came up Silver Bullets
Sorry for this short preview but it's already Friday!
It's a matchup of the two most awesome goalie masks in all of Bronze League Hockey. At least these two teams have consistent goalies (by that I mean they seem to have started the same goalie for most of their games).
Ice Gators (2-1) have the offensive numbers and the Spider Monkeys (1-2) defense has been letting alot get through. High scoring day for the Ice Gators unless the Spider Monkeys figure our how to keep the shots out of Mike Best's imaginary hair.
Dickie Dunn's Pick: Ice Gators 7, Spider Monkeys 3
Killer Carlson's Pick: Ice Gators 11, Spider Monkeys 0
Uniform Czar's Pick: Ice Gators
The final ticket spotlight falls on the Killer’s favorite show, the Hardline. The Hardline airs from 3-7 Monday through Friday afternoons. This show is anchored by one of the founders of the ticket, Mike Rheiner, and Corby “Snake” Davidson. The show is produced by Danny Balis, and Michael Gruber aka Grubes turns the knobs. This show is perhaps the most wheels off show on the radio in DFW. The Hardline use to feature Gregg Williams as Rheiner’s co-host, however not to long ago the two separated thanks to Williams irresponsible actions. You can read all about it here: http://www.dallasobserver.com/2007-11-22/news/hammered
The Hardline has been around since day one of the ticket back in 1994. Although the time slot has changed, one thing has remained the same, this is the most popular sports radio show in DFW history. Of all the shows on the ticket, the Hardline is probably the most multi talented. Every single person in the cast is also a musician, and Davidson has a bit part in a recent movie filmed in Dallas. Rheiner plays in the popular Tom Petty cover band called, Petty Theft. He plays the roll of Tom Petty in the band handling lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Mike has been involved in bands since he was a kid growing up in Oak Cliff. In fact, true story, Rheiner was in a band in Oak Cliff back in the I think early 80’s maybe late late 70’s. Anyway, his band was auditioning lead guitar players, and none other than Stevie Ray Vaughn came and auditioned for Mike’s band. Mike passed on him saying the kid had a bag of nothing. And of course Stevie went on to become rich and famous until his early death. Random sidenote, Stevie Ray Vaughn played with David Bowie (google stevie ray Vaughn david bowie dallas). Hardline producer Danny Balis has been playing in bands in the DFW area for a very long time as well. He played with the killers old pal Carter Albrecht (RIP) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Albrecht in popular Dallas acts such as the Sparrows and Sorta. Quick Bronze League Tie in here, Senators Owner Tom from Tomcast studios played drums in Sorta during their final two years, and Sortas last two records were recorded at Tomcast Studios. Balis also plays in a very popular country band called, the King Bucks. Grubes plays lead guitar in Pepper Theft, a local Red Hot Chili Pepper Tribute act. Together the four often take the stage as the hardline band with Rheiner on drums, Balis on Bass, Grubes on Guitar, Snake on Guitar and lead vocals. They will do Neil Young Covers, and just about anything else if you get them drunk enough.
One of the staples of the Hardline is their musical intros to segments and bits. Balis is usually the mastermind behind these bits of audio gold. On any given day you are likely to hear at least one crazy musical intro. The Hardline does have a deep roster of quality segments like Entertainment News For You, Community Quick Hits, What’s on Mike’s Mind, The Snakepit, Nude Music Tuesday, Fun with Audio, and The Concert Calendar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAVvWmgFCyw
Keep on Rocking with the Hardline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjtYvc5js0o
Basketball Practice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5gTZjuo0rc
Corby and Shaq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SD6Fz7WGBM
Classic Mike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdNZvID12w
More Classic Mike
Two strong teams with strong personalities meet up. I've never seen these two teams head-to-head myself.
Indians Zone: pretty even matchup
Indians have allowed about 2.33 goals per game.
MidAir have scored 3 goals per.
MidAir Zone:
MidAir: The fly-boys have taken it in the shorts so far, allowing 6 on average.
Indians historically score plenty, but are only averaging 1.33 per game.
This might be mostly a neutral zone party with a low shot total. This could be our first overtime game of the season.
Dickie Dunn's Pick: Indians 3 Midair 2
Killer Carlson's Pick: Indians 2 Mid Air 1
Uniform Czar's Pick: Toss up. Leaning toward MidAir.
Dickie Dunn recuses himself from most meaningful discussion of the Stingers, so I'll let Killer sum it up:
Dickie Dunn's Pick: Stingers 9, Jaguars 6Jaguars Stingers game is irrelevant due to the lack of roster for the jags (I think they have like 6 full time now). Jags will look to recruit the help of the hurricanes and arc angels but still cant beat the Stinger attack.
Arc Angels vs the Hurricanes - The veteran Arc Angels appear to have instability in goal. Bruno and Coach Ivey have appeared in net for the Double-A's. Neither of them is a full time goalie for the AAs. AAs' GAA = 3.33, which isn't bad considering that they have played some formidable opponents in the Senators, Indians, and Spider Monkeys. The Hurricanes are tied for first place in the league, despite this being their first season. One win vs the Jaguars is a gimmee, but the Silver Bullets and Mid-Air were no walks in the park. Goalie Instability also plagues the Canes, however they have had some experienced journeyman netminders play for them in Best and R.Kelley.
Dickie Dunn's Pick: Depends on goalies. I predict Arc Angels by 1 goal, 5-4
Killer Carlson's Pick: AA’s vs Canes the Killer says Canes 10 Angels 2
Beastie's Pick:
Uniform Czar's Pick: 'Canes
Let's get our heads right with puck.
Week 4 is nearly upon us, this is the first week that it seems like it makes sense to do a detailed analysis of the teams in the league and this week's matchups.
A few thoughts as we look at the standings to date:
Throughout the week, we will be previewing each of the 5 games coming up this weekend.
Kuddos go out to Les Kelly of the Keller Indians, and Joanne Stanton of the Silver Bullets for organizing and running the first annual Armed Forces Classic at the Nytex Sports Centre. They worked very hard on this project, and as a result of their labor they helped raise over two thousand dollars to help out a young man from Saginaw who was injured while serving our country over in Iraq. So make sure and tell Les and Joanne good job next time you see them. The uniform Czar was also pleased as the two armed forces team looked fantastic in their red and blue jerseys. A crowd of 538 people cheered on our men and women of the armed forces who played in this great game.
Then the Bronze league took center stage:
The NHL has the winter classic, and now the Nytex Sports Centre has the Memorial Day Classic. The lone Bronze league game to take place over the weekend at Nytex was on Memorial Day between Mid Air Collision and the Senators. This was a make up game from last week when the rink was undergoing some ice maintenance issues. The only thing this game made was for an instant classic though.
Mid Air Collision who had pleased the uniform czar last season with their Philly Flier uniforms has now decided to roll with more of a multi uniform look. There were a couple uniforms out there with black and white stripes like an old timey jail would give prisoners, a jaguars yellow jersey was out there, a blue jersey, a couple random white jerseys, and only a few of the classic Mid Air Collision uniforms. Uniforms or not the MAC crew jumped out to the early lead in the first period (sorry Killer didn’t see who scored for MAC) beating Senator goalie Rush Rector breaking the scoreless tie.
The game turned out to be a goalie battle as Rector squared off against Garrod Tyler. Tyler was called down to the Bronze League despite being the leading netminder in the Silver League with 21 wins and 6 losses this season so far for the Ice Cracks.
The Senators knotted the contest back up at one when center Matt Davis took a feed from Mac Donovan in the second frame. The contest stayed tied at one until a well placed shot (Again Killer didn’t see who fired the shot) sailed right over Rectors shoulder and into the back of the net.
The Senators kept pushing, but ultimately could not break the wall in front of MAC’s net. A poorly timed unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Senators defenseman Chad Siewert all but ruined the Sens comeback chances leaving the Sens short handed for the duration of the game.
Tyler wins the Goalie Battle by stopping 27 of 28 shots. Rector was solid stopping 19 of 21 from MAC.
Box Score can be found here:
http://www.leaguelineup.com/gamesum_hockey.asp?url=nytex_i_league&sid=483939131&GameID=7801406
Today's Ticket spotlight shines on Norm Hitzges the only solo host of a ticket show. His show runs from 10-noon weekdays. Norm is the crusty old veteran of the ticket staff. He has been in sports media for ages. When the Killer was a kid he use to watch Norm doing the color commentary on Texas Ranger games on HSE (Home Sports Entertainment). Norm is a certified Radio Hall of Famer who brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and most importantly credibility to the ticket's borderline wheels off lineup.
Norm's only on air voice besides himself is that of his producer. Every now and then Norm will get the Board Op to chyme in, but for the most part it is all Norm and his producer. Norm recently got a new producer as his longtime buddy and producer Friedo was promoted to assistant program director. Norm's new producer is the guy who served up Barry Bonds his 756th home run, Mike Bascek (<- Mispelled so sue me). Norm is the only guy on the ticket who keeps it all sports all the time. Norm is a an old school pioneer of the craft who is an expert oddsmaker, better, picker or whate have you. His specialty is horse racing. You can often find Norm out at Lone Star Park conducting intro to horse racing classes, and betting on the ponies.
Norm is the only guy on the ticket who doesnt rely on bits. He has a popular segment called picks of the poll where he goes over his horse picks, football picks, basketball picks, etc. Perhaps Norms best segment is one that he does only once a year, and that is the Normathon. This is where Norm goes on the air at 6 in the morning, and stays on the air all day and night until midnight to raise money for the Austin Street Homeless Shelter. He rolls out big big big name guests for this event. Guests include Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Mark Cuban, Tom Hicks, Devid Feherty, Pat Summerall, Jerry Jones, Tony Romo, Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Mike Doocy, and all the other big Dallas names.
Norm's website
http://www.normsclubhouse.com/
Norm's latest book
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Greatest-Team-Ever/Norm-Hitzges/e/9781401603403
Classic Ticket Audio of Norm and Greggo Arguing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPFy07g96WM
Classic Norm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxwYhscQE5I
Norm monkey (funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPK9UwnoekU
Norm singing at Ticketstock with Gordon Keith. Also a Bronze League tie in here as the owner of Tomcast (the Tomcast Senators) is playing the drums on this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUpWCC5_zy0
That's a little easier to read, huh boys and girls?
Of note:
-Hurricanes are the New Kids on the Block: nice debut!
-All 3 of the Jags losses are forfeits.
Where we've been:
Let's recap the ultimate sacrifices we have all made For Our Beloved Sparta!
Week 1: Scheduling changes and delays in the start of the season because the Brahmas take priority over the Bronze League Show.
Week 2: Fog due to Dehumidifier breakage.
Week 3: Chiller Pipe breaks and No Ice means No Games.
Week 4 (technically still week 3): Long week of ice preparation and players pitching in late nights to get the ice prepared, capped off with in last minutes Saturday scheduling changes, drama, and still one game to be played.
Not to mention that the Jaguars have forfeited every game so far because their roster is lacking.
Where we Are:
There is one game yet to be played between the Tomcast Senators and the Mid Air Collision, but other than that, the standings above are where we are at for the moment.
Where we Are Going:
We can all relax for the Memorial Day weekend, and pick up where we left off on Saturday, May 30th.
Be sure to attend the 1st Annual Memorial Day Armed Forces Game at NYTEX! Details are listed over on the left at the top of the page.
-Dickie Dunn
The spotlight is 1310 the ticket now shifts over to that Dunham and Miller morning show which airs weekday mornings from 5:30 to 10. The show is comprised of hosts George Dunham and Craig Miller along with sidekick/yuck monkey Gordon Keith.
The two hosts are long time friends who went to school together at UNT in Denton. These two hosts have been together since the Ticket first hit the airwaves back in 1994. Also since 1994 Dunham has been the voice of the Mean Green football program at UNT. Dunham is also the voice of the Dallas Cowboys. If you go to a Cowboys home game you will hear George Dunham’s voice over the PA. George is a family man and avid golfer. Craig Miller is a fitness enthusiast and avid cycler. Their sidekick Gordon Keith has his own television show on WFAA. Actually the Killer is not sure if it is still on the Air, but he did have at least 100 episodes of his 30 minute Gordon Keith Show. The format for the show was like any garden variety talk show, Gordon at a desk, usually a couple bits, a celebrity guest, and sometimes a band. Gordon was a sidekick on the very failed Mark Cuban show at one point in time as well.
Dunham and Miller just like every other show on the ticket has a stable of bits that they roll out from time to time. The most common bit they do is “fake” celebrity voices. The most popular fake celebrities they interview fromtime to time are fake Jerry Jones, fake Tiger Woods, fake Michelle Wie, and fake Tom Hicks. Most days the 8:40 segment is dedicated to some of these fake celebrities. During Cowboys season you can expect to hear some hilarious fake bits between fake Jerry and fake Wade Phillips. Another popular segment the Musers (nickname for the morning show) do is Muse in the News and Gordos Corner. These bits air daily at 7:15 and 9:15 respectivley. These two segments give Gordon a chance to take center stage and discuss wheels off news stories or current events.
The Annual Dunham and Miller Open is one of the best events the Ticket takes part in. The Killer has participated before, and knows first hand that it’s a good times. Nothing screams golf like taking whiskey shots at 7 in the morning with hooters or twin peaks girls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csE7siRybd0
Fake Jerry Jones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wui9eRj6F8
Baby New Year from the Gordon Keith Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LepSEwxAp04
Craig Miller Classic E-Brake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9pv90FMwi8
