First I want to apologize for the lack of updates but as I am discovering the hard way; a torn MCL hurts a heck of a lot more than I expected and it is really hard to sit down to write. Still it is no excuse as things do happen and that is what this place is for.Back in June when the Rangers drafted Daniel Maggio of the Sudbury Wolves with their 6th round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft we knew is a gamble as Maggio was coming off a serious knee injury that limited him to just 44 games last season.
Maggio is a stay at home defender who plays the body just like a guy who used to patrol the Ranger's blueline. As luck would have it the perfect guy to teach the young prospect was hired by the Wolves as their assistant coach in charge of the defense.
Jeff Beukeboom in our eyes is the perfect teacher for Maggio to learn how to play a hard defense the "clean" way. Beuk was know for his hard hitting game that freed up Brian Leetch to be who Leetch was.
Sudbury is going though a rebuilding phase made harder when long time coach Mike Foligno resigned as coach to concentrate on his duties as General Manager last Thursday. On Tuesday, the Wolves had their exhibition opener against the Saute Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
No word as to whether or not Maggio played but the Wolves lost 4-3 and it is expected that Maggio will sit out the Wolves game on Thursday against the Barrie Colts. Ranger prospects are expected to report on Friday to get ready for the Traverse City tournament.
Roman Horak was expected to sit out Wednesday's game for the Chilliwack Bruins to get ready for his cross country trip to join the Rangers. Horak is a player to keep an eye on as all reports say he has some serious offensive game.
Scott Stajcer made his 2009 exhibition debut in his new role as the starting goalie of the Owen Sound Attack on Monday evening giving up 4 goals on 40 shots as the Attack lost to the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 4-2. 4 goals may seem like a lot but that is about average for a CHL team to score and Stajcer did not play badly despite facing 25 shots in the 3rd period alone.
Owen Sound is also in a rebuilding phase and Stajcer is being counted on to help speed up the improvement. Stajcer has size (6'3) but like most young goalies needs a ton of work to steady up his game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
With Traverse City just around the corner; it is a huge shame that the NHL Network has decided not to televise the tournament as they did last season. The NHL has not given any reason for why they have decided not to return to what is becoming a tournament that is gaining more and more fan interest with each passing year.
The NHL does want you to know that they are sending writers to cover the event but sorry NHL once again you shoot yourself in the rear end when you could have generated a lot of good will for hockey fans. For the majority of hockey fans, the Traverse City Tournament is the only chance for them to see the future of their hockey team.
Guess the NHL would rather have our attention focused on those bankruptcy hearings in Phoenix than actual live hockey action. One day the NHL is going to wake up and realize that the best way to build up interest in the sport is to show as much of it as possible.
What the games were not going to be of Cup Final's quality? Who cares as it was live hockey, it is the start of the 2009-10 season and for most hockey starved fans it would actually provide much better ratings than repeats of 2007 playoff series games.
The NHL has people on Twitter, on Facebook and at their own fan sites; if they were actually paying attention to the pulse of the fans then the NHL is blowing a huge opportunity at generating good will among hockey fans.
But sadly the NHL just does not get it and one day we have to hope they will before they implode the league.
(Jeff Beukeboom courtesy of the New York Rangers)
The NHL does want you to know that they are sending writers to cover the event but sorry NHL once again you shoot yourself in the rear end when you could have generated a lot of good will for hockey fans. For the majority of hockey fans, the Traverse City Tournament is the only chance for them to see the future of their hockey team.
Guess the NHL would rather have our attention focused on those bankruptcy hearings in Phoenix than actual live hockey action. One day the NHL is going to wake up and realize that the best way to build up interest in the sport is to show as much of it as possible.
What the games were not going to be of Cup Final's quality? Who cares as it was live hockey, it is the start of the 2009-10 season and for most hockey starved fans it would actually provide much better ratings than repeats of 2007 playoff series games.
The NHL has people on Twitter, on Facebook and at their own fan sites; if they were actually paying attention to the pulse of the fans then the NHL is blowing a huge opportunity at generating good will among hockey fans.
But sadly the NHL just does not get it and one day we have to hope they will before they implode the league.
(Jeff Beukeboom courtesy of the New York Rangers)
2 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear that your injury is messing you up so bad... that's really awful. How did you mess up your MCL anyway? Was it something cool like pulling a screaming lady away from a dozen Klan biker rapists? Or was it something embarrassing like trying to tie your shoes? Either way it's awful you have to go through something like this. Hope you have some solid pain killers.
I'm with Amos. Jess, hang in there and thanks for keeping up the posts even when you're not feeling well. By the way - the guys at Blueshirtbrothers.com mentioned you and your injury in thier post today.
Post a Comment