Commentary
December 06, 2003
Who says you
can't come home again?? The Patriots
franchise is thrilled to welcome back
stalwart defenseman Chris Schultz following
another deal with the Calgary Hitmen.
Schultz is heading back to Boston along with
Boston's Y10 2nd in exchange for Wade Powell
and Calgary's Y10 1st. At a press conference
the day of the trade, GM Poeschek gave some
insight into the making of the deal.
"We never
really wanted to lose Chris, but we did what
we had to in order to pick up Brent. Now, we
have one of the league's best veteran
defensive d-men as well as one of the best
young defensive d-men. We're planning on
pairing them together so that Brent can
learn from playing with Chris. I don't envy
anyone trying to head toward the goal with
those two on the ice! We also think that
this will give us a better shot in the
playoffs, you need warriors like Schultz
come playoff time."
In sadder
news, the Patriots franchise offers its
sympathies to Michel Stastny and the Hitmen
organization, here's wishing Michel the best
of luck in his fight with cancer. The
Patriots have also set up the Michel Stastny
Foundation in his name to provide care for
sick kids and started it up with a 250,000
donation. The Patriots franchise would like
to thank all the other league franchises who
have donated to this worthy cause.
Commentary
November 08, 2003
A big week
for the Patriots as the offseason wheeling
and dealing continues. The Pats once again
hooked up with their favorite trading
partner, the Calgary Hitmen, sending Chris
Schultz and Alexei Noborov and a 2nd to
Cowtown for young d-man Brent Schamehorn and
a 1st. Short term winner has to be Calgary
on this deal, Noborov and Schultz could
dominate on any defense in the league so
giving up that much talent has to hurt right
now. However, with the depth of the Patriots
defense, this was a deal that could be made.
Kachowski, Lomakin, Tumenov and Saari make a
good top 4, with Schamehorn and Powell as a
solid third pairing. Schamehorn should
develop into a dominant young defensive
defenseman and compares very favorably to a
young Vasily Fedotov or Chris Schultz. If he
can achieve that much success in a Patriots
jersey, this deal will be worth it for
Boston as well.
In a quick
move, the Pats also sent a 3rd and cash to
the financially struggling Victoria
Sovereigns in exchange for pricey backup
Jeff D'Alessandro. While Dave Tucker is off
to an excellent start in the preseason,
having a strong backup is key to GHL
success. D'Alessandro should provide that
while letting sophomore goalie Mark Dube get
some much needed seasoning in the minors.
Commentary
November 02, 2003
Congrats to
all of this year's Patriots Team Awards
winners. This years winners were announced
in a big banquet held at the conference
center at the brand new Penny Pinchers
Center. Check them out in the Team Awards
History Section. Chris Law really cleaned up
in this year's installment, so congrats to
him in particular!
Commentary
October 24, 2003
An interesting month
for the Patriots franchise...There was
apparently a problem with the paperwork on
the Nelson for Mohr swap, so the trade was
overturned with Boston being compensated for
the incompetence of the Montreal franchise.
However, no sooner had that been announced
than Dustin Mohr was flipped back to his old
team, the Toronto Titans, in exchange for
two future 1sts. With the emergence of Law
and Karlsson, Mohr was simply expendable and
the addition of two future 1sts should help
the Patriots build another core of young
stars to replace the likes of Roberts and
Law when they age.
The Y8 draft went
extremely well for the Patriots, with GM
Poeschek acquiring the two players he most
wanted ranked near where the Patriots were
drafting. "Decap and Cloutier are going to
be huge for us on defense. With Noborov and
Schultz getting on in years, we feel that
those two will be able to step in very soon
and fill their spots. Bell and Girard are a
couple of good Canadian kids, hard workers
who aren't afraid to get their noses dirty.
Bell has a better chance at making the pros
soon, but both are in our future plans."
After the draft, the
Patriots did not make many other moves until
once again hooking up with their favorite
trading partner, the Calgary Hitmen. In
another move dumping a productive veteran,
the Patriots sent Mikael Soderstrom to
Calgary in exchange for Peros Mivec, a 1st
and a 2nd. Mivec is an extremely skilled
young winger with a lot of drive. He needs
some work on his skating and upper body
strength, but many young players do. He is
only 19 years old and should have a bright
future for Boston. Soderstrom should do well
for Calgary, he was only projected as a
third liner this season in Boston and a
player of his stature needs more icetime to
thrive.
Finally, the Patriots
franchise would like to welcome back Ryan
Little, who signed a 3 year to remain a
member of the Patriots franchise. Here's
hoping he can take this young team to the
next level this season! |
Commentary
September 25, 2003
After the Patriots were ousted
in the first round of this year's playoffs, GM Nick
Poeschek vowed to make some changes in order to
revamp a roster which suffered yet another
disappointing playoff loss. After a deal with
Montreal, I'd say that a major deal has been to
shake up the club. Dustin Mohr and Chris Schultz are
now on their way to the Montreal Voyageurs.
In return, the Patriots
recieve a package of talent centered around power
forward Paul Nelson. In addition, Frantisek Dudek,
David Johns, Stockholm's Y8 1st and Ottawa's Y8 2nd
are are also on their way to Boston. Nelson has had
a rough few seasons in Montreal and has been
labelled a locker room cancer. However, we in the
Patriots organization believe that Nelson will
flourish here in Beantown. He brings a level of
fiesty play and brute strength that few of our
players can match. In addition, Dudek is a great
young defensive defenseman who reminds some longtime
GHL observers of a young Chris Schultz. Johns should
give Boston some decent depth on the wing and the
addition of two more draft picks can only add to the
young depth in the organization.
While both Mohr and Schultz
were excellent players, great in the locker room and
class acts all the way. However, in the Boston
numbers game, their age and contracts did not fit in
to the direction the Patriots are heading. The
emergence of Law and Karlsson as legitimate
superstars at RW made Mohr expendable. Furthermore,
young stars like Kachowski, Tumenov and Saari have
pushed for a bigger share of playing time. Hopefully
both Mohr and Schultz can bring that same level of
play to the Voyageurs franchise and be the missing
piece of the puzzle that will help them make the
playoffs. The Patriots would like to reiterate that
this move is not a salary dump as both players
easily fit into the Patriots budget. Instead, this
is a move recognizing the fact that youg players
like Law and Karlsson have earned their spot as the
team's new offensive stars.
Commentary
August 18, 2003
The Boston Patriots,
after having led the World Conference for the first
two-thirds of the regular season has suddenly found
themselves in second place behind the surging
Stockholm Vikings. With the team mired in a bit of a
slump, GM Poeschek has pulled the trigger on a deal,
sending struggling goaltending Steve Gordon to the
Calgary Hitmen, along with bum draftee Sebastien
Quilt and a 2nd round pick. In return, the Patriots
pick up goaltender Mark Dube and 2 first round picks
in the upcoming draft.
Gordon's second stint
with the Patriots was an up-and-down one. He played
quite well down the stretch for Boston last season,
but faltered somewhat in the playoffs versus
Stockholm. He also started the season well, carrying
a SV% up around .900 for the first third of the year
but his performances became steadily worse.
Eventually, it seems as though Poeschek lost
confidence in his goalie and dealt him for a decent
package of young talent.
"We feel this deal is
great for both sides. Steve expressed some
disappointment having to share time with Dave, so we
brought in another young player who we think is a
little more suited to the backup role. He's also
played really well despite getting shelled every
night in Calgary, we're thrilled to have him in the
lineup. Those two picks could also turn out to be
players, you never know. We have our eyes on a
couple of good young players so we'll see what
happens."
Whether this move can
improve the Patriots fortunes in hard to say, but it
is hard to think that dealing the team's number 1
goalie will translate into that many more wins. If
anything, the team may have gotten a little worse in
the short term. Only the remainder of the season
will show this move to be a win or a dud.
Commentary
June 24, 2003
After a very
successful preseason, the Boston Patriots head into
this season with high expectations and a few new
faces. Departing the Pats for Winnipeg in two
separate deals were Joe Cameron and Peter Baklanov
in exchange for Mikael Soderstrom, Wade Powell and a
1st round draft pick. The loss of Cameron was
somewhat offset by the addition of reliable
centerman Steve Hardy from Calgary for Jody Tessier.
Finally, in an early season deal, Alexei Noborov has
joined the Patriots in exchange for Tommy Ekman and
Neil Pilon.
The upshot of these
deals is that the not only were the Patriots able to
improve their team, they cut almost 20 million
dollars from their team payroll. This has left
significantly more money free for the construction
of the Patriots new arena, as well as enabling team
management to extend a hearty "go fuck yourself" to
those who felt that the Patriots were trying to buy
a championship.
While there is no way
the Patriots will be able to compete with the star
power in Vancouver or even Stockholm, it is hoped
that strong depth at forward, an extremely solid yet
mobile defense corps and the best 1-2 goaltending
tandem in the league will be able to offset this
talent gap.
Commentary
June 3, 2003
After decades of
hosting hockey games, the venerable Liberty Hall
arena in Boston has increasingly begun to show signs
of age. The small 16,000 seat arena was acceptable
during the early days of pro hockey in Boston but
with the increasing commercialization of the sport,
a bigger and more modern arena was needed. Team
ownership has decided to construct a brand new,
state-of-the-art 20,000 seat arena just across the
street from their old arena. The new arena will not
only have all the latest innovations like powerful
stereo equipment and high-tech Jumbotron displays,
but it will also be designed to fit in to the
neighbourhood, with stores and a hotel built as part
of the complex. Construction is underway and is
expected to be ready for the start of the Y8 season.
GM and team president Nick Poeschek was on-site for
the ground breaking, digging the first ceremonial
shovel full of dirt before the cameras and
discussing the new building. “It’s not quite a
behemoth like the one up in Ottawa, but it increases
our seating by about 25%. I think this will be a
great day for Patriots fans as we can significantly
increase our revenues from tickets, luxury suites
and concessions and probably lower our average
ticket prices. It’s important to the team that we
make our games affordable for families to take in.”
While no announcement was made regarding the new
arena’s name or any sponsorship, it is thought to be
a high priority for the club. When asked if this
arena construction would strain the finances of the
team, Poeschek was non-committal, saying that the
team had carefully budgeted for the next few seasons
and was sure that there would be no money problem.
A couple of artist's conceptions
Commentary
June 2, 2003
With the completion
of the 1st ever Overage Dispersal Draft (aka Bum
Draft) the Patriots have rounded out their minor
league roster with several promising players.
Sebastian Quilt looks to add a little magic to the
Patriots team, while the scouting staff believes
they've hit a real home run with young Dale Murphy.
When you add very rugged defenseman Abijah Hensil
and speedy Alex Ezube to that mix, the Patriots are
pleased with their minor league depth. Also, young
Davis Coltrane should really jazz up the competition
in net for their minor league affiliate, something
sorely lacking last season. All in all, it was a
great night for these youngsters, as they were given
a second chance at continuing their careers. While
they may never make the pros, they're still getting
paid to play the game they love.
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