Baird Update

Stay updated on Jason's progress with this site run by his wife, Bethany.

Also, it looks like there's going to be a benefit game in Youngstown for him on August 24. Playing in the game will be NJ Devils player Mike Rupp and Kevin Kaminski, who coached Jason in Youngstown. If anyone who reads this is able to go, please drop me a line and let me know how the turnout is. Any donations to that benefit can be sent to:

Cindy Piedra
826 Oakridge Drive
Boardman, OH 44512

If you'd like to make a donation to the Baird family, you can do by sending checks, gas cards, anything you can help with to:

Baird Family Fund
PO Box 264
Perry, OH 44081

Also, if you'd like to send cards to Jason & his family, you can send it to the address here:

Jason Baird
Akron Children's Hospital - Burn Institute
One Perkins Square
Akron, OH 44308

Swanson to Victoria

Blueliner Jeremy Swanson has signed with the Victoria Salmon Kings according to the Victoria Times-Colonist.

Random tidbits

• According to the blogger for the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Chuck's in the running for the Amerks' coaching job. Except, by reading it, you can't tell if he's either a) having a wet dream about it and wishing Chuck would apply, or b) Chuck has really considered it or even been considered.
• This is old news. Grimaldi was signed. He finished the season with Gwinnett after spending time in Fresno and Elmira. He put up average numbers (4-17-21 with a +13), but was high on PIM (142). A d-man with high PIM? Not sure about this. At least he maintained a plus...
• The revised schedule for the season was announced, with the departure of Pensacola causing a few changes. No major toss-ups, but here it is, nonetheless.
• The preseason schedule was announced, with two matchups against Dayton (one home, one away).

Former Cyclone seriously injured

Former Cyclone Jason Baird was injured in a lawnmower accident in Youngstown, OH last Thursday. More information can be found here and here. According to the article, he was burned on 60-65% of his body, and is currently in a coma in the Akron Burn Unit. My best wishes & thoughts go out to Jason, his wife, and his children. Please keep Jason in your thoughts.

Syro gets some radio time

I haven't listened to this yet, but thought I'd share. Syroczynski got some airtime on Beyond Buffalo Radio:

In the second segment Matt Syroczynski, player for the Kelly Cup winning Cincinnati Cyclones, joined the show for about 15 minutes to talk about winning the ECHL championship as well as his future plans in hockey.

Check out their website: www.beyondbuffaloradio.com

Developmental Camp

Just quick note: forwards Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, & Ryan Russell are among the 30 prospects participating in Montreal's developmental camp this week.

Qualifying offers

Qualifying offers were made today to eight players: Barret Ehgoetz (F), Jean-Michel Daoust (F), Billy Irish-Baker (F), Scott Reynolds (F), Matt Syroczynski (F), Matt Macdonald (D), TJ McElroy (D), and Sean Perkins (D)

I can't really say any of them surprise me, or disappoint me. I figured Macdonald and Ehgoetz to be shoo-ins regardless. I'd love to see all three of the defensemen back. Perkins' progress as the year went on was phenomenal, so I think with a year & a Kelly Cup under his belt, he'll be even stronger come training camp in October.

I hope that it means better things will come for Irish-Baker... after the Wheeling game where he got the concussion, his ice time and play were never the same. If we could back get the intense, wanna-make-the-cut version of Billy (circa October) that we all fell in love with, we'd be in really good shape. But I hope for the best for BIBs.

All are great players, I can't say enough great things about Scott Reynolds... undervalued, underappreciated, but one of the hardest working guys on the ice. To some degree, Ehgoetz is much the same, but puts up a few more points. Syroczynski's a great player who put up great numbers quietly - by playing the small game, not the big, flashy way. But I question his focus at times. Sure, sticking up for your much smaller teammates is great, but there's a time and a place for everything. Sometimes it's just not necessary to be a gigantic tool and hit people.

McElroy, I don't have much to say about. His penalties can be an issue, but he's a solid defenseman when he's not in the box. Macdonald has come so far in his two seasons, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he spends a little more time in the AHL than in Cincinnati.

Daoust, on the other hand, was a different player when he came back from WBS. Provided, yes, the team was different when he came back than when he left. But he made a lot more boneheaded moves, but because the city of Cincinnati worships the ground he walks on for reasons unknown the way they do Cedrick, he could do no wrong by the fans. And I don't roll that way. I don't care how many goals you score, how many points you tack on, how many callups or trophies you get, you need to not act like a toolbox.

But that's enough about that. Where is Chad Starling's name on the list? Hm. Need to investigate. Unless they're not worried about him being gobbled up.

Side note: the ECHL rule for qualifying offers says that of the 8, no more than 4 can be vets. So I went looking into who we had in respect to veteran status (260 regular season games). From the final roster, it looks like Chad Starling may be the only player from last season who actually fits that bill... still. Ah, the joys of almost an entire roster full of 21 and 22 year olds.

Knock, knock... anybody home?

I know, I know. It's been three and a half months since I updated. I'm a bit of a slacker, sometimes, and it doesn't help that I kind of picked up and moved to Louisville... but never the less, I have good things to share:

2007-08 Weekly/Monthly/Yearly Awards Recap

ECHL All-Rookie Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL First Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL Second Team: Chad Starling

InGlasCo Player of the Week
- Mathieu Aubin: February 18-24

CCM Player of the Month
- JM Daoust: November 2007; December 2007

RBK Hockey Goaltender of the Week
- Dov Grumet-Morris: February 11-17

RBC Financial Group Saver of the Month
- Cedrick Desjardins: February 2008

PaysourceUSA Plus/Minus Performer of the Month
- Chad Starling: February 2008
- Scott Reynolds & Matt MacDonald: December 2007
- David Desharnais: November 2007

Vector/CCM Rookie of the Month:
- David Desharnais: March 2008, February 2008, November 2007

...more awesomeness forthcoming, I promise!

By the Numbers

First business first: David Desharnais named Cincinnati's representative for the American Conference All-Star Team. Congrats, David. I don't agree with this choice, but I think I have spoken my peace about that enough.

Instead, I'm going to rip apart the team by the numbers! Yay!

Let's start with the goaltenders & their rankings...
Goals Against: Cedrick - 4th (2.01); Dov - 11th (2.48)
Save Percentage: Cedrick - 7th (.924); Dov - 23rd (.900)
Wins: Dov - T-2nd (11); Cedrick - 21st (6)
Shutouts: Cedrick - 1st (3)

And for the skaters:
Points: JM Daoust - 2nd (38), Barret Ehgoetz - 14th (28), David Desharnais - 18th (26)
Goals: JM Daoust - 1st (21)
Assists: Barret Ehgoetz - 6th (22), David Desharnais - 11th (20), JM Daoust - 18th (17)
Power Play Goals: JM Daoust - 4th (8)
Game-Winning Goals: JM Daoust - 4th (4)
First-Goals: JM Daoust - 2nd (5)
Insurance Goals: Mathieu Aubin - 2nd (3), Billy Irish-Baker - 10th (2)
Plus/Minus: Barret Ehgoetz - 1st (+19), Tyler Howells - 2nd (+16), Conrad Martin - 3rd (+16), Scott Reynolds - 7th (+14), David Desharnais - 11th (+13), Chad Starling - 13th (+13), JM Daoust - 15th (+13), Gerard Miller - 21st (+11), Mathieu Aubin - 30th (+10), Matt MacDonald - 32nd (+10) ... this stat has basically made my day
Rookie Scoring: David Desharnais - 6th (27 pts)

...and as a team:
107 goals scored: #1 overall (Texas is next with 98)
62 goals against: #2 overall (LV is first with 55)
Powerplay: 19.7% (6th)
Penalty Kill: 85.3% (5th)
Free sandwiches from City BBQ: 7

Let the revolving door turn

Remember me? :)

Players currently on recall: J. Sixmith, B. Schmidt, D. Grumet-Morris (Milwaukee), C. Desjardins, D. Desharnais (Hamilton)
Players we had for a minute: J. Gleed, C. Urquhart, J. Bonneau (Hamilton)

Hey Hamilton, quit depleting us!

Newbs: Maxime Daigneault from Milwaukee, where he was 2-2 with 2.33 and .909 GAA... Ervins Mustukovs, a Latvian who played in the SPHL this season for Knoxville and formerly for Toledo... he went 3-0-1 there but with a 3.91 and .889... I'm assuming Daigneault gets the start between the pipes tonight and Sunday... Mustukovs against Wheeling... those of you going, let me know how he looks.

Guess the bad thing about being a phenomenal minor league team is getting depleted when they get too good.

Also of note (old news now), David Desharnais was PaySource USA Plus Minus Performer of the Month and Rookie of the Month for November in the ECHL... Jean-Michel Daoust was the CCM Player of the Month for November... and Cedrick Desjardins was runner-up for the RBC Saver of the Month award for Nov.

Keep it up boys. Hopefully, even with the callups, they can keep up this pace... this team's unstoppable when in full-force... unbelievable November... here's to an unbelievable December, too.