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20 GAMES LEFT, PLAYOFF BOUND?
By admin | February 11, 2008
The first 44 games this season have had many of us shaking our heads. Of course, David Masse’s departure hasn’t helped things. There were also two other players, D-men I might add, that at the last second decided they liked their other options better than the CHL.
The Bees have tried everything this season; the coaching staff has kept things loose at times and called guys out publicly at other times. The guys are treated well here; the team and fans bend over backwards to accommodate them. The idea is to keep distractions to a minimum so the players can focus solely on playing hockey. Obviously some players have not turned out the way they were projected. I hate to say it, but some guys have actually been playing worse. How do you account for that?
The end result is that the playoffs (for the Bees), if they haven’t started already, begin Tuesday night against the Bucks. Mathematically, the Bees can still make it. Now we get to see how bad the players want it.
- The trade deadline has come and gone, but not without a few surprising moves. Of course, Arizona wins the Marco Emond sweepstakes and finally lands a No. 1 goaltender. I said in December when the Bees visited the Sundogs they were a true No. 1 away from being nearly unstoppable. We’ll see if callups hurt them at all.
- Rio gets Jason Weitzel from the RiverKings for Jon Hedberg. I’ll admit that on the surface it appears odd for a team struggling defensively to deal a D-man for a center. You may have noticed Hedberg was a healthy scratch the last three games. He wasn’t very happy about that.
- Somehow Austin has surged to take over the last spot in the Southern Conference playoff race. As if things weren’t interesting enough. The good news for Rio is that 17 of the team’s final 20 games are against Division rivals while 19 are against the South. The bad news? Eight of those games are against Austin.
Topics: Minor Observations |
February 11th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
“There were also two other players, D-men I might add, that at the last second decided they liked their other options better than the CHL.”
Rich, who were these two players? Please respond. This is called a blog and its yours to answer to. Thanks.
I don’t want to call anybody out for making a personal decision they felt was better suited for them. Look at last year’s playoff roster and draw your own conclusions, but both would have been top-3 d-men. RB
February 12th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Well, Medley is one, but we already new he was not returning. The other? Probably Butland, Seguin or Gouett. As far as I can tell, Medley is not playing hockey for personal reasons; But the others? Why wouldn’t they return? That is the million dollar question. I hope that next season we can put together a roster that can compete at this level BEFORE OCTOBER.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I have been frustrated at the lack of intensity shown by some of the Bees at times, from what I am seeing McAllen has the potential to be an awesome sports town. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how they can draw people in not just from the RGV and Reynosa, but heck it’s close enough to draw people in from Monterrey and also Laredo and Corpus when their teams are on the road. Winter Texans (like the group from Alberta last night) are a group that the marketing group should try and get more of at the games. The more tickets you sell, the more money they make; plus they are experienced and knowlegable hockey fans who can explain the game to newer ones. On that note, thanks also to McAllen for having an ice hockey rink! I don’t play there as much as I’d like, but the possibility of playing beer/men’s league hockey is what made me move here rather than McAllen, and I don’t think you’d want me donning a Bucks jersey! (BTW does anyone have an extra Laredo Sucks shirt (pro shop is out of stock until September) they can sell me? M-L-XL. let me know through this bulletin along with your e-mail .. hopefully it will stay up long enough for me to get back in touch with you) !Muchas Gracias y Arriba Abejas! Thank you very much and Go Bees!