A quick link roundup this week
Indy Fuel/ECHL
- We all love hockey, but have you ever been married on the ice? We saw just that on Saturday night at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
- The ECHL has surpassed the 3 million mark in attendance for the 21st straight year.
- New ECHL member Norfolk is convinced its location will help attract players. Also, some interesting quotes from ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna, comparing the league now to when the Hampton Roads Admirals were in the league a decade and a half ago: “I think the fans will see a faster brand of hockey,” McKenna said. “Certainly, we’re more integrated with the American Hockey League than we were then. There were more players in the league at the end of their careers then than we have now.” … McKenna also said the league has had interest “from several markets around the country” in recent weeks.
- From Fort Wayne, a story about new locker rooms for the Komets, but a quote from Komets president Michael Franke: “As long as we own the team, we’ve always said we’re not going to be in the AHL. We just don’t see the financial validity of it, but the landscape may change down the road.”
- This post from the Denver Post notes that the former owner of the Denver Cutthroats of the CHL would like to bring an AHL (or possibly ECHL) team to Denver, and that the Avalanche would like to move their AHL affiliate closer to Colorado than it currently is (Cleveland).
Indiana Ice
- Paul Carey got called up to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, and had his first NHL point – an assist – on Monday. A Colorado blogger looks at Carey’s role in the Colorado organization.
- Anthony Bitetto was reassigned to AHL Milwaukee on Sunday, then recalled to the NHL’s Nashville Predators on Tuesday. That allowed Bitetto, a Long Island native, to play in the Preds’ last regular season game in the Nassau Coliseum.
- In his first pro season, Brian Ferlin received his first callup to the NHL on Thursday. He’ll join the Boston Bruins for Friday’s game in St. Louis. Bruins coach Claude Julien said “he’s a big body and strong along the walls.”
- John Carlson has set his career high in points. Speaking of Carlson, who scored on Thursday, ESPN has a nice feature on the Capitals’ dads’ trip that includes Carlson.
- iSport Web has a Q&A with Bruins defenseman Torey Krug.
- Ferlin’s callup increases the number of former Indiana Ice who have played in the NHL to nine. That list includes Joel Rechlicz (NYI), John Carlson (WAS), Torey Krug (BOS), Cameron Schilling (WAS), Paul Carey (COL), Scott Darling (CHI), Anthony Bietto (NAS), Daniil Tarasov (SJ) and now Brian Ferlin (BOS).
- Moving on to college pucks, Nebraska-Omaha’s Austin Ortega has tied an NCAA record with his 10th game-winning goal.
Other hockey
- A stats geek like me is in heaven with the NHL’s changes to the statistical end of their website. Included: boxscores of every NHL game going back to 1917.
- Sean McIndoe looks at the canceled 2004-05 season and asks if it was worth it.
Brian Ferlin’s a big body and strong, all right.
That’s why we called him “Ferlin Husky” back when he was here.