Drunks Digest

Boston Bandits Update (submitted by E. Lakatos)

The regular season has begun and the Bandits were at it again today. The house cleaning continued as this time they traded away Pierre Turgeon along with recent free agent signing Ales Pisa and minor leaguer Marc Andre Bernier to the Racers for Mark Parrish, Mike Knuble and EDM 2007 1. Just before the season opener the Bandits had swung a 9 player deal , this time with the Piranhas. The Bandits sent packing Rod Brindamour + Lance Ward + Alex Rouleau + Stefan Herzog + Mike Mottau. In return the Bandits took Tim Branham + Donald MacLean +Sebartien Bordeleau + 2007 ZUR 1 + Chris Eade + Tor 3rd '06. With the latest trade, the new gm has certainly turned this team around and into a decent package for the fans.The gm is especially pleased with the defence."When I took over the team, the 1st thing that I knew we needed was decent goaltending and a defence that has speed. I think that we have achieved this.The next step for us is to try and build around the defence to get 2 strong lines.With the trades we made, I think we are on the right path and Boston now has 5 forwards and 3 defencemen with a SC 70+. The gm is hoping that this will translate into more goals as they are near the bottom with only 2.57 goals scored per game. The team line up now looks like this.........

Parrish/Estrada/Boguniecki
MacLean/Afanesenkov/Knuble
Larsen/Lindsay/Bordeleau
Chistov/Cowan/Nickol

Berard/Lynch
Branham/Eade
Spacek/Jillson

Hedberg

Reserve Forwards.......Young/Riesen
Reserve Defenceman..Horacek
Backup Goalie...........DiPietro

The team looks like its heading in the right direction with the youth added and having 2 1st round picks in the 2006 entry draft and 3 1st rounders in the 2007 entry draft. The Bandits should give the fans in Boston something to cheer about within the next couple of seasons.

Rookies Shine Early while Justice Shows Occasional Growing Pains (submitted by S. Langer)

A strong group of quickly developing rookies has slowly been building chemistry, carrying the team offensively. Jonathan Cheechoo, Mark Bell, Tomas Slovak and Alexander Perezhogin have proved to be a legitimate future for the Justice. Cheechoo, who leads the team with 16 points, was immediately given a large responsibility and didn't back down. The team went into the beginning of the season with little veteran scoring, so coach Laviolette decided to give Cheechoo time on the top line with center Patrik Stefan and right winger Mike Leclerc. "Jonathan has great scoring instincts. He's not a flashy player, so defensemen don't immediately notice him. He's so sneaky...I don't know, he just manages to get into tight scoring areas. I'm pretty sure Jon could score in a phone booth."
Laviolette also had ample praise for rookie defenseman Tomas Slovak, who is getting veteran minutes and scoring at a veteran rate. After 14 games, Slovak has dented the twine three times while adding 5 helpers for 8 points. "He's such a smooth skater and shrewd passer. After I noticed how much offensive talent he had I decided to stick him on the powerplay. He's certainly responded and should continue to play an integral role on this team." With the success of Cheechoo and Slovak in particular, youngster Eric Staal has seemingly become lost in the mix. Despite his poor production (he has 2 goals and an assist so far), coach Laviolette has not lost confidence in the lanky center who the Justice recently drafted first overall. "He has franchise center written all over him. Even in his first year he's been stepping up in the dressing room. He's definitely not a shy kid...whatever he's feeling, you know, he just makes it known to the rest of the team. It's still early and the season, and Eric and I have been working together to find him a niche on the team." Staal has recently been placed with newly acquired left wing Steve Konowalchuk and fellow rookie Alexander Perezhogin. Staal has also been receiving ample powerplay time, as Laviolette is hoping to squeeze some production out of the young center. All the rookie production has brought about and optimistic attitude among team management. The Justice have been hovering around .500, certainly not disappointing for this newly born team. "Of course our goal as an organization is always to win and ultimately make the playoffs," said General Manager Sam Langer. "As a team there really are no high expectations of us, which I think is helpful. It's easier to work in a no pressure environment. Everyone is just in a better mood."

How Fragile Are The Records??? (submitted by C. Hockin)

Over time this league has had some pretty impressive records be made. But if you take a good look, many can be broken this year. The only record that seems out of reach in the Spartans amazing 03 win streak but with the Galaxy's great start, anything is possible. Here's a closer look at records that could be broken but the end of 2005.

The Galaxy are on an amazing pace to start 2005 and if they stay healthy, Marcel will see his name in the record book a handful of times. Hanover is on pace for an unheard of 143 point season, shattering the 115 point record. ON top of that the Galaxy are on pace for an over 70 win season, but that will likely drop as the Galaxy will eventually cool off but should get at least 50 and likely breaking the 55 win record. But they're not just breaking team records as Scott Niedermayer is on pace for a +101 season, +10 more than defenseman Chris Pronger.

Staying with defensemen, the points record for a defenseman could be broken as well. Prowlers blueliner Eric Desjardins is on pace for a 98 point season, tying the mark of Icedogs blueliner Lidstrom. Another blueliner on pace to destroy a record is Bryan McCabe of the expansion Justice. McCabe who is known for his cheap can-opener move has 134 PIM already this season, on pace for a final total of 679 PIM. That would break Tyson Nash's record of 414 PIM by over 200 PIM. But the Justice could have another player with a record as Jonathan Cheechoo could break the rookie points record. The record of 68 points by Battalion forward Kristian Huselius could be surpassed by Cheechoo's 88 point pace.

Other major records at stake are the assists record held by Jarimor Jagr. Jagr's feat of 95 assists could be surpassed by free agent pick up of the Rattlers, Brett Hull. Hull is currently leading the points and is on pace for 110 helpers this year. But Jagr is on pace to break Vipers forward Peter Forsberg's powerplay goal mark of 24 with 28 extra man goals. On the downside the Storm are on pace for 29 points while the Wolves are on pace for 12 wins, but breaking records set by the Blaze last year. So many records could be broken, many of these probably won't but we'll just have to wait and see.

Across the Pond: The Oh My! Marcel! Edition (submitted by B. Ommen)

If there’s a story to be told in the young DWSHL 05 season, it comes straight out of the Euro division (much to the chagrin of the other divisions) and more specifically, Hanover Germany. The Galaxy are a league best 16-1 with 32 points, a full 7 points ahead of any other team in the league. Hanover has done it with exceptional play at both ends, holding the league lead in team defense allowing a paltry 1.82 goal against while lighting the lamp an average of 4.71 times a game. The Galaxy seem aptly named this season, as they are far beyond the reach of the rest of the league, playing not on ice but on some frictionless cosmic ether. Oh my, Marcel!

The Piranhas and Kings are keeping the race for second place tight, both working with 23 points. The Kings hang in the battle with tight defense, posting the league’s second best goals against rating, while the Piranhas get the job done with the guns, posting the league’s second best offensive rating. Both teams have also been dealing with each other off the ice of late, as the Piranhas gave up the highly coveted Curtis Brown for Cory Stillman and Jay McKee. That trade was part of a grandiose team overhaul that saw the addition of Trent Klatt and Hal Gill.

In other trade news, Antwerp continued its apparently futile shuffle of players, adding Tony Amonte and Dainus Zubrus while sending off Mario Lemieux and Steven Reinprecht. The IceBats also continued their befuddling trend of bringing back players they recently let go by getting Lubos Bartecko back a whole 17 games after the traded him for Czerkawski. The Vikings added Bobby Holik, the Nighthawks dumped crusty Mark Messier for Richard Zednik, and the Blizzard dumped Dominick Hasek for a handful of players and picks. Hasek, oddly enough, had the only win against the Hanover Galaxy, and accounted for the Blizzard’s great start. With Hasek gone, the Blizzard look for some way to hang on and one large hurdle for the Galaxy has been removed from the Euro division. That same Galaxy has made no roster moves of late, because if it ain’t broke, etc. Oh my, Marcel!

The Euro stars are also at the top of the individual leader boards in various categories, with John LeClair 1st in goals and points, and Luke Robitaille 2nd in assists with 21, both from Stockholm. Zurich’s Rod Brind’Amour is right behind LeClair in goals with 12, and the Vikings Todd Bertuzzi is tied for the lead league with 2 shorties. The Birmingham Blaze have the fine honor of housing the league’s most penalized goalie, Brian Boucher. And now for the inevitable: Hanover’s Steve Sullivan is tied with BrindAmour for 2nd in goals, Soctt Niedermayer leads the league with a plus 24 rating, and Jose Theodore posts a vastly superior .929 save percentage and the league’s best record. Oh my, Marcel!

That’s the past in the Old World, here’s what to look for in the future: The Kings play the Piranhas on Day 26 in what will likely be a full blown tilt for the 2nd spot in the Euro and 3rd spot in the JD. It’ll include the immovable object of the King’s D squaring off against the
irresistible force of the Piranhas O. And Across the pond O is for Oh my, Marcel! On Day 30, the IceBats will play the Blaze in a game almost no one will care to watch. Interestingly, right around that lowly match-up Kent Armstrong, GM of the Blaze has promised to make some decisions about his club, which makes him the GM to watch (still) as most other Euro franchises appear to have settled into a roster set-up. Our players to watch for the week are all on the Hanover Galaxy. Why fight with the infinite power of the universe, it’s just too much fun to not watch. Oh my, Marcel!

>From Across the Pond, I’m Brett Ommen