Chairman How's Glorious Army
Significantly Lowering the Bar Since 2008.

Apr
20

It’s playoff time in Syracuse!

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You know what we get to do today, Brooks? We get to play baseball.

This quote was taken from Disney’s interpretation of the story of Jimmy Morris, the baseball hopeful turned science teacher turned baseball star. The movie is called The Rookie and Morris is played by the rather delicious Dennis Quaid. I don’t know much more about the real story behind Morris, but this quote keeps running through my head as I think about this round one battle against the IceCaps that starts tonight.

Why?

Because of the way it was said, and because of the feelings it reflects.

The quote comes during a pivotal point in the movie. Morris is out on the road with the minor leagues, playing a shit schedule in sketchy areas. The path between games is long and traveled by bus, and he’s got at least 15 years on anyone else on the team. He’s missing his family, he isn’t sure why he’s chasing that good ol’ baseball dream anymore, and he’s beginning to think he’s a fool.

I’d be shocked if any of this doesn’t ring a bell with most of you in some way. The majority of us here are minor league fans. We know what it’s like, even if we’ve never played. We follow the schedules, we moan about 3-in-3′s, we imagine how exhausted the players must be. We also might know what it’s like to question a dream, a team, a chance, an opportunity. I can at least guarantee there isn’t a Crunch fan reading this now that can’t relate to that.

Morris gets an epiphany and goes into work the next day feeling pretty good about things. With that classic Quaid grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye, he looks to a teammate and says those words. He says them in a manner that just simply portrays how lucky they are to get to play their sport. A person watching can’t help but feel the pride and “rightness” that Morris is feeling in that moment. It’s what he’s meant to do, and he actually gets to do it.

I hope every person on the Crunch this morning woke up with a similar thought.

“You know what we get to do today? We get to play hockey.”

Good luck out there, boys. We’re behind you. Chase the dream. Do your best. Never forget how lucky you are to be playing the best damn game in the world.

GO CRUNCH!

Categorized in 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs and Allokago

Apr
15

WE DID IT!

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Obviously this is a little behind, but a two and a half hour drive–even with my fabulous friend Chuk Styles making awesome time–and an ancient phone will do that to you. I’ll be posting more in the next few days, but I just wanted to say:

WE DID IT!

Our first round schedule:

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals – Series “B” (best-of-5)

2-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 7-Syracuse Crunch

Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 20 – St. John’s at Syracuse, 7:30

Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 21 – St. John’s at Syracuse, 7:30

Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 25 – Syracuse at St. John’s, 6:00

*Game 4 – Fri., Apr. 27 – Syracuse at St. John’s, 6:00

*Game 5 – Sat., Apr. 28 – Syracuse at St. John’s, 6:00

Our season record vs. St. John’s was 3-1 in favor of Syracuse. Obviously we can beat these guys. As a matter of fact, many fans point to our March 3rd win over St. John’s as the start of our incredible March and April record that got us to this momentous point. I’m still in a bit of shock. The game was good this afternoon. It was fantastic to see so many Crunch fans show in Albany and support these guys. It almost had a home game atmosphere.

On a different but related note, I just wanted to point out that I have never had a bad experience at the Albany arena. NEVER. I’ve had bad experiences in almost every away arena in this league, but never once have I ever had a negative anything–fans, atmosphere, mascot, food–at their arena. Their fanbase may be small, but they’ve always been very hospitable to me as an away fan. We had someone wish us good luck and congratulations as we were leaving, no malice in their voice, and plenty of other people were willing to chat with us and share advice about where we could sit, stand, etc. Props to you, Albany. Props to you.

I will see you all on Friday!

In closing, TARKKI!!!!!!!

Categorized in 2011-2012 Crunch, 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs and Allokago

Apr
12

Emerson Etem on his way?

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From what I’m hearing on Twitter, Ducks’ prospect Emerson Etem is on his way to Syracuse just in time for our final playoff push and the start of the playoffs. Etem went 61-46 in the WHL this year during the regular season. He also went 7-6 in the playoffs for Medicine Hat.

There’s some confusion out there as to why we can have Etem on our team but yet can’t have Fowler or DSP. Those three players were in the same draft class and are the same age. Basically, it all comes down to location, location, location, rather than age.

AHL teams can have junior players join their team once their juniors season is completed. Their ATO contracts do not fall under the emergency basis clause of clear day roster rules because of their junior status, so there doesn’t have to be an injury or a call up to make them eligible to play. The league is just trying to prevent teams from being stocked with random NHL players, so they’re not really worried about juniors players.

Now, the situation with Folwer and DSP is different because they earned places in the NHL but are still juniors-aged. Basically, juniors leagues such as the WHL want to keep their talent at that level. They don’t want AHL teams snapping them up when they should be playing in their league. However, none of those teams are going to keep these guys from joining the Big Club if they have the opportunity. Because Folwer and DSP joined the NHL at a time when they should have been in juniors, they cannot be sent to the AHL for more than just a conditioning assignment. If their NHL time had ended for some reason, rules state they would have gone to juniors instead of the AHL.

Etem has not been assigned here yet, but we’ll welcome him anyway! This could be big, it could be small, but it’ll be a great experience for him and it should help the Crunch!

Categorized in 2011-2012 Crunch, Allokago, Breaking News and Deconstruction

Apr
12

We can do this!

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With the release of the newest AHL Playoff Primer this morning, the picture for the Crunch comes into much better focus. We knew it would, of course, given that this is the final weekend of play, but it’s still reassuring to see it in black and white.

The good news is that this team still controls their fate. We are in, and we’ll stay in as long as we can win two out of our three games this weekend. The better news is that we can actually clinch early as long as a few specific things happen with the teams we are competing with.

Our clinching scenario for tomorrow night looks like this:

1) We need to win at Rochester

2) Two out of the following three things also need to happen: (a) an Adirondack loss (reg/OT/SO) at Springfield; (b) a Manchester regulation loss at Connecticut; (c) a Portland regulation loss vs. Hershey

Since ROC is the only thing in that scenario we can actually control, I’m going to focus my efforts there. What happens will happen with the rest, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

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Categorized in 2011-2012 Crunch, Allokago and Deconstruction

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