Drunks Digest

12/19/02 - Icedogs On The Move?

Brett Harvie

The Kingston Icedogs are believed to have submitted an pre-proposal to the Commisioners office of the DWSHL, about a possible move to Russia. Although nothing has been set in stone, or even formally requested yet, the Icedogs (still of Kingston) aren't shying away from questions about a possible move. "We're an international league and the most decorated Nation in Olympic History doesn't have a team? Russian people love their hockey, and I think they would really be able to support an entertaining team," said Harvie about the likely move. Even though he hopes and expects to be in Russia for the next season, Harvie isn't sure exactly what city they'll be in, "Well I think the most obvious and logical choice would be the capital, and largest city, Moscow." But there are other places that would definately be able to support a team, like St. Petersburg, Volgograd, and Novgorod; all being considered for the relocation. While all Cities have there own special little identities about them that make them interesting, Moscow is obviously the most likely destination, "All roads lead to Moscow," said Dog's center Prospal, "I would love to be able to play infront of my family and friends without them having to fly them half-way round the world to see a home game." A move to Russia would be sending alot of the Icedogs back home with a roster of Russians such as Sergie Federov, Feder Federov, Vaclav Prospal, Ilja Nickulan, and Alexei Semenov all being born in the Russian Federation of the former USSR. All in all, the dogs are also looking to sell more then around 14,500 tickets a game and think that Moscow or one of the other great Russian hockey cities would be able to provide a deeper fan base. So while the when and where hasn't been narrowed down yet, the Dog's look like one more season in Kingston, Ontario, Canada; and the Big Canada Division will be all for the Dog's.

1/1/03 - Greetings from Across the Pond, where young children have universal health coverage and hockey players have more teeth! The Euro division is getting tighter by the minute as the Kings zip of to an 8-2 streak and jump over the Antwerp club for second in the division, fifth overall in the conference. The IceBats slip to third (9th in conference). The real news is that the Galaxy have pulled themselves out of the mire and it appears coach Cassidy is finally getting things done his way. Other note worthy statistics for this mid-season edition are as follows:

The Nighthawks lead the league in PIMS per game, giving a good old fashioned Helsinki face wash to opponents, getting 1.5 minor penalties more per game than the second most penalized club.

The Piranha's Mark Recchi leads the league in scoring with 26 goals and 47 assists for a robust 73 points at the halfway point (projected 146 total points).

The Euro Division averages 126.4 Goals Forced, 3rd of all divisions behind the East and the Big Canada divisions.

The Euro division averages 132 Goals Against, 3rd of all divisions but barely out of the cellar as the pacific division's 132.8 is the worst of all divisions.

Sadly, comparing these numbers, the Euro division is not the best division, but the third best behind the East and the Big Canada. If not for the Pacific, we'd be the worst. So let's pick up the pace and press on for the second half.

From Across the Pond, this has been Brett Ommen: GM of the IceBats...melter of the butter pats.

The second edition of the new Drunks Digest is out and features another update on the Big Euro from staff reporter Brett Ommen as well as an update on the potential move of the Kingston Ice Dogs from GM Brett Harvie. You can check it out below.

The newest power rankings have a new number one, the Spartans. The team jumped from number 10 to overtake the Battalion for the top slot. The biggest movers were the Rattlers, shooting up the chart from #22 to #3 in two weeks. The Hum and Ice Bats made big strides as well and the Attack climbed 8 spots to avoid the cellar. On the way down were the Martians, Cannons, Phantoms and Rams. Despite those teams' plummet, the biggest drop was by my very own Prowlers (I'm so proud!!!) who dropped 11 places from #8 to #19....

Power Ranking: The points are weighted (2x for overall; 1.5X for last 10 and goal diff; 1x for OT and special teams; 0.5X for PIM and shot diff) then totaled. A max score of 240 is possible.

Any suggestions or submissions can be sent to me at [email protected]. Thanks, guys! - Brian Pate, JAX GM

Rank	Team	Pts	Prev
1	Spartans	203.75	10
2	Rattlers	198.50	22
3	Battalion	195.75	1
4	Racers	194.50	5
5	X-Men	184.00	3
6	Vipers	181.75	4
7	Pirhanas	175.50	2
8	Ice Dogs	171.50	6
9	T-Rex	162.00	12
10	Kings	159.50	15
11	Hornets	146.25	9
12	Hum	145.75	21
13	Ice Bats	139.25	20
14	Martians	136.50	7
15	Galaxy	129.25	27
16	Wolves	127.50	17
17	Vikings	127.25	18
18	Storm	120.25	23
19	Prowlers	119.50	8
20	Army Ants	116.75	16
21	Cannons	101.00	11
22	Attack	94.25	30
23	Phantoms	74.25	13
24	Rams	67.75	14
25	Devils	65.00	19
26	Blaze	56.00	26
27	Crunch	51.50	29
28	Fury	28.50	24
29	Nighthawks	26.00	28
30	Brahmas	19.75	25