Who Will Be Victorious?

Just under 2 days left until the start of the 2012-13 ABC League season.  With some roster changes in the off-season, the addition of 2 new teams, and the creation of conferences, the league standings are up in the air.

Here is my best analysis of how things may shake out. 

Hops Conference

1. Voodoo - With some added firepower on offense and a solid defense returning, the Voodoo team poses the greatest threat.  A well balanced attack along with consistent goaltending should have this team take first in the Hops Conference.

2. Red Alert - This team is the Dark Horse this season.  Tony Hansen has travelled to Europe over the summer to fine tune his technique and Tyler Wallace coming off a Top Defenseman season last year will lead this team to a respectable 2nd position.

3. Alien Hockey - No repeat of the last season champs.  Although Alien had glimmers of greatness, they spent the entire off season celebrating and not staying in shape.  Star forwards, Mark Dylo and Aaron Clutts gained a combined 90 pounds, while defenseman, Pat Houlihan started smoking and is up to 2 packs a day.   

4. Puckheads - The new addition to the league brings some great talent.  Smiley, Hickey & Coffie are all great players, but too much talent on one team is a downfall.  Each one brings a selfish level of talent to the table and will be the team's demise.

Barley Conference

1. Rink Rats - Here we see how an expansion team can find just the right mix of talent to take the number one spot in the Barley Conference.  What's the recipe for a winning combination?  Look no further than the Young-Scholer-Wurzer line.  This team has all the right pieces.

2. Forklifts of DM/Kyles Bikes - Change your name and change your luck. Just like Atlanta used to be the Flames and then the Thrashers, the Forklifts of Des Moines / Kyles Bikes are the rising stars in this conference.  Goodman has assembled a fine crew to make a run for the title.

3. Cup O' Kryptonite - They find a way to make the title game every year, and this year may not be different, but they won't be top 2 in their conference.  Inconsistent play from Toigo & Gugat along with old-timer Mitch Stein, has this team on the slide.  With no reloading of talent, this team will be sub .500.

4. Victors - The perennial powerhouse Puck Hawgs team will not possess the punch of previous years.  The majority of the players held out for new deals and new teams.  Gannon worked frantically all season to get everyone bought in to his new system and nobody wanted any part of it.  This will show this year as each player will play with no passion.

I predict a Voodoo versus Forklifts of DM/Kyles Bikes in the Championship Game with Voodoo as the 2012-13 champs.  

Good Luck to all and make sure your first priority is to have fun!

Hops & Barley Conferences Formed

Hops & Barley are the key ingredients to our ever popular league.

Although the NHL is currently under a lockout (as of midnight last night), the ABC League is showing growth through expansion.  This growth has created a need to divide the teams into conferences.  After much debate and discussion, the conference names have been selected and the teams have been divided into their new divisions.

Hops Conference

Alien Hockey

Puckheads

Red Alert

Voodoo

Barley Conference

Forklifts of DM/Kyles Bikes

Cup O' Kryptonite

Rink Rats

Victors

Although the teams will still have inter-conference play throughout the season, there will be Conference Finals at the end of the season as part of the playoff format, with the Conference champs playing each other for the Fleming Cup.

Draft Day Approaches

This Thursday at 6:30 PM, the first ever ABC League Draft will be held. For the entire summer, the 8 captains have studied film, held training camps, tryouts and had players take part in medical physicals.  After all this, they are ready to assemble what they believe will be the best combination of players to ever take the ice for 4 weeks.

Although each captain has kept their picks a complete secret until draft day, I am providing some insight as to how the draft order will go.  After inputting all the data, here is the way I believe the players will be drafted.  Keep in mind, it is not simply talent and skill, but rather intangibles like attitude, beer drinking ability and locker room moral.

Here is the order:

Dave Lasnek
John Riechart
Larry LePera
Adam Krultz
Erik Keece G
Dustin Gordon
Dave Green
Dave Ross
Nathan Brand
Shon McDonough
Jason Wolf
Rick Kavan
Will Koch
John Coffie
Scott Jacobson
David Stember
Dusty Beenen
Chad Waters G
Dave Gannon
Tony Toigo
Brett Damos
Jason Mrachina
Sean Bremer
Chris Hansen
Jason Seebaeck
Mike Dylo
Dave Natale
Rob Wheeler
Mark Scholz
Joe Bafia
Pat Scholer
Jason Tritch
Matt Johnson
Mark Dylo
Lisa Schumacher
Steve Kuzynowski G
Chris LeFleur
Chris Hill
Josh Lohmeier
Doug Beebe
Dan Becker
Jim Goeke G
Dave Swift
Adam Lowell
Brian Pierce
Mitch Stein
Adam Keller
Mike Herrmann
Brett Swanson
Brent Hanke
Todd Bentzen
Brian Gugat
Nick Dawson
Nataliya Dudechenko
James Chung
Dan Bishop
Dave Miller
Darren Stout
Aaron Clutts
Kacy Reeves G
Ryan Smiley
Davis Stout
Nick Giunta
Paul Adams
Scott Kundell
Ben Hudson
Andrew Mellein
Tony Hansen G
Dan Hoy
Nick Radcliff
Gregory Propst
Dan Koenig
Paul Curran
Shaun Greene
Adam Schneiders
Rich Cohan
Jeff Starr
Mark Wurzer
Marc LePera
Dave Chongo
Mike Fascian
John Evans
Tim Close
Rich Hrabak
Pat Houlihan
Nick Hrabak
Ryan Stout
Jon Rech
Cody Gavin
Nick Worth
Cody Fredericks
Ed Brafford
Pat Cashman
Josh Burkhart
Scott Anderson G
Brad Dean
Monty Brown
Brian Woline
Nathan Pirie
Blake Upmeyer
Javi Rodriguez
Jeff Dayton
Jeremy Knipper
Ryan LePera
Jon Young
Bill Goodman
Tom Kirvin
Caleb Harrelson
Tyler Wallace
Frank Meeink
Mike Bartak
Ryan Parker
Rich Hyuck
Scott Roskilly
Justin Williams
Bret Christensen
Mike Beede
Brendan McCallum
Paul Knight
Tim Kirgan
Derek Hickey
Jerome Miller G
Matt Whipps
Laura Stein
Mark Loverude
Josh Feathers
Brad Bedwell
Ben Paoli
Matt Whitaker
Rick Radcliffe
Don Mudge

Possible ABC Lockout?

As we prepare for the start of our 2012-13 ABC League at Bucs Arena, we read about a possible NHL lockout.  As adult rec league players, you would think we would be immune from any of this types of issues, but you would be dead wrong.

As commissioner of the league, my roles of coordinating the league, refs, registration & schedule are only a minor part of my duties.  The bigger challenge is that of mediating between the captains and players.  Currently there are some big issues dividing the group that could possibly delay our season.

Here are the player's demands:
- Opportunity to choose to skip a shift if they are busy talking to someone on bench
- A dedicated equipment manager to get gear picked up after game
- Sponsored team massages
- On-site skate sharpening available between periods
- Team buses
- Catered meals after game

Here are the captain's demands:
- Players pitch in to pay the captain's league fee
- Private locker room for captain
- All players call captains "Sir"
- 3 practices per week by team (captain exempt)

Although it appears the two sides are far away, I believe we will come together to get an equitable deal done.

Closing Ceremony Starts Countdown

As I watch the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, I realize we are 30 days from our own opening ceremonies for the ABC League.

Although we won't have the same size venue, we'll still have some great things to showcase.  Here is just a sneak peek of some of the great items during our opening presentations.

Replacing the lighting of the torch, we will have the "Filling of the Pitcher".  Approximately 6 months ago, Brendan McCallum from Team Alien flew out to New Mexico and started the "Pitcher Run".  The tradition is that a member of the championship team has to find their "team beer" and have pitcher poured and run it back to Des Moines.  He had a pitcher of Alien Amber Ale poured and started on his way.

As he ran through the states on his way to Bucs Arena, he passed the pitcher to a member of each team for each to run a portion of the leg before finally arriving on Sept 12, to pour it into a Bucs Lounge pitcher to signify the start of our season.  All was almost lost when Gugat from Kryptonite attempted to drink the beer during his leg of the run before being foiled by his captain Johnson.

The national anthem will be sung by Voodoo's very own Todd Bentzen.  His hit single "I'm just a rusty cage" sold over 11 copies in Des Moines and he took time from his world tour to do our event.

With the retirement of Irwin's Dane Maxwell, a short ceremony retiring his jersey will take place.  His number can't be retired since it was unknown what his number actually was.  A combination of his poor attendance and his speed when he was here made his number almost invisible.   A new addition to Irwins this year was caught on tape showing his reaction to Dane's departure.  This video will be aired at the ceremony in Dane's honor, but you can see it it advance here.

Lastly, this season has had the great fortune of adding 2 new expansion teams to the league.  In traditional ABC League fashion, a representative from each expansion team must do the "Slide of Sacrifice" prior to the league's first game.  The Puckheads have chosen John Coffie, while Team Dayton will have their captain Jeff Dayton make the dive.  The dive consists of the chosen player doing a full slide on their belly wearing nothing more than their skates, jock and hockey gloves.

The presentation of events will be nothing short of spectacular which is the expectation of our league.  Thanks to all for making the league a success and we'll see you in 30 days!!!

Sad It's Over.

Another great year for our ABC Hockey League!  A huge thanks to everyone for making this a great 33 weeks.  We saw Alien Hockey win the title in one of the best games ever played for the Championship.  The part that makes me realize that we are doing something right is the fact that we have had 3 different winners in the 3 years we've had the league.

I plan on making even more improvements to the league for next year and have already tossed around a few new ideas.  The survey is also out there now, so make sure you fill it out if you were a player this season.  Keep up to date by following the blog, registering for the the Google Group and also keeping in touch with your captain.  Before we know it, the next season will be upon us.

For now, enjoy your summer, stay in shape and get ready for the next season of hockey!

As the Playoffs Approach

With only 1 game left in the regular season, I looked at the standings to see how things were shaping up. It's always interesting to me how each year different teams are stronger. I was curious to know how all our teams have done in past years as compared to this year.

Here is a list of each team (in order of standings this year) and the place they finished in the 2 years prior.

1) Alien (3)(4)

2) Puck Hawgs (2)(6)

3) Kryptonite (1)(1)

4) Voodoo (4)(3)

5) Irwins (5)(5)

6) Red Alert (6)(2)

I wanted to take it a step further and see what the combined wins (and win %) was over the last 3 season, so Tony Hansen provided the old numbers. Here are the results:

Team W-L-OL (win %) Pts

Kryptonite 65-21-2 (.773) 132

Alien 51-33-4 (.580) 106

Hawgs 48-39-1 (.545) 97

YDD 44-43-1 (.500) 89

Red Alert 32-53-3 (.364) 67

Irwins 23-61-4 (.261) 50

I thought the mix of points, places in standings & win % were fairly good. I've said this a million times, but I'll say it again. In our C League every season there will be a team in first (pretty solidly) a team in last (with not may wins) and 4 teams in between. The goal is that over the long run, each team has an equal chance of winning with all things being equal. By all things equal, I mean, every player shows up for both teams. Since we don't get perfect conditions every time, stats get skewed, teams get beat and even the strong lose a game.

Hopefully everyone has had as much fun as I have this season and good luck to all in the playoffs!

El Logo Cinco de Mayo

Thanks to the excellent work of Mr. Aaron Clutts (of Alien Hockey), we have the jersey logo that will be used for the Cinco de Mayo Tourney. Don't forget to register early to get the early bird discount.

Cinco de Mayo Tourney 2012

In 2011, Mexico won the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships U20 – Division III. This momentous occasion brought the country known for its warm beaches to the forefront of the hockey world.

To honor this triumph, we have decided to dedicate the next 3 on 3 Adult Hockey tournament to those Mexican players. There is much in common between this Mexican team and those of us that play in Des Moines. We come from all walks of life and many times those around us do not "expect" us to play hockey. "Accountants, women, 50+ year olds, short people, police officers, firefighters, comic book readers & vegetarians don't play hockey" is what you may hear. But just a you may not hear "Mexico is a powerhouse hockey team", that was proven wrong and so we prove others wrong every time we take the ice.

It actually worked out this year that the Cinco de Mayo 3 on 3 Tourney will be held on Saturday, May 5th beginning at 3PM. This year's event will be bigger and better than ever! Some of the highlights this year will include:

• Looking to have 12 teams
• 3 games going at once
• Free jersey for all participants
• Free taco bar in lounge during games
• Lounge to sell margaritas
• Pond hockey style goal nets
• Early bird registration discount (details below)
• Prizes for costumes and other random contests (nothing for winning event)

Although the above items will only make the event bigger and better than ever, the following are still part of our traditional 3 on 3 events.

• 4 game guarantee for all players
• 2 - 15 minute periods
• Free food in lounge during games
• Only individual sign ups (will honor request of 1 teammate)
• Great atmosphere

With this being the most epic 3 on 3 Tourney Des Moines has ever seen, we expect this to fill fast. Our player limit at this time is 72 (6 per team), and with as many players as we have in our C & D leagues, and all that have done a 3 on 3 in the past, we anticipate this to be a huge event.

Early Bird Registration- From today until Sunday, February 25th we are offering everyone an opportunity to register for $40. You can register directly on the blog through that date for $40.

As an added incentive, we are offering the same opportunity for anyone wanting to come out to Cup O Kryptonite this Sunday, February 19th or Sunday, February 26th between 8-11 AM. You can pay the $40 early bid fee, get 2 free rolls of tape ($6 value) and 50% off coffee from Matty J himself and be able to socialize with some fellow hockey players.

Spread the word and hope to see everyone registered soon!

The Alien Invasion is Over.

Many doubted that an event of this magnitude would ever actually happen. Last year, 6 hockey players from Des Moines and 1 from Wisconsin decided to give the Labatt's USA Pond Hockey event a try. Once they returned, they feverishly spread the word amongst their teammates and gathered the interest of more players. They thought they could possibly field 2 teams, but with the interest shown by all players, and it was discussed to bring 3 teams. There were 20 players interested in going and in the end 3 teams were indeed formed.

The teams of Polar Alien, Bi-Polar Alien and Tri-Polar Alien consisted of Brendan McCallum, Chris LeFleur, Nate Brand, Scott Blomquist, Adam Keller, Paul Adams, Mike Dylo, Mark Dylo, Pat Houlihan, Aaron Clutts, Mike Beede, Shane Bast, Adam Lowell, Jeremy Knipper, Joe Bafia, Mike Fascian, Matt Johnson, Mike Pedersen and Steve Kuzynowski. This was 100% of the local Alien Hockey team (plus Blomquist and Bast who don't even live in Iowa any more). The addition of Johnson and Pedersen from the Cup O Kryptonite made this a perfect group.

In the past, may groups have tried to get teams together and venture to play some hockey away from Des Moines. This shows that it can be done. We even had the pleasure of running into (and playing against) the Untouchables from DM.

In the end, our 3 teams collectively went 2-7 for the tournament. However, the losses were definitely off-set by the quality "tent time", hot tub, chili gathering, Gee O's bar, pasta dinner night, poker playing, Boondockers, Pick & Save, Fish Fry and so much more.

Glad I could spend 4 days with my closest friends in sub-zero weather, 9 hours from Iowa! 361 days and counting to next year...... can anyone say Quad-Polar?

Hockey Season Update

After 16 regular season games and 2 scrambles, the league is at the midway point. My hope is that everyone is having a great season, and the 2nd half is just as good as the first. Since we have some new players in the league this year, I thought I'd give my usual comments about league play.

After playing in adult leagues for many years, I have come to realize the following is always true. There will be a team that has a majority of the wins and a team that will have a majority of the losses. For our season, our top 3 teams are within 4 points of each other. In a perfect world, every team would be .500, but that is never the case. There are too many variables that can effect the outcome of a game.

• Are your best player's missing during certain games?
• Do you have less players show up for the 10 PM game?
• Was there a mis-match in lines during some shifts where their best players were against your lesser skilled players?

These are just a few of the factors that can affect the outcome of a game and in turn affect the standings. The goal of our league is to get as close to league parity as possible. We try to do this by creating teams that "on paper" are as even as possible. If we list every team's players from most skilled to least skilled and put these lists side by side, we'd like to see an even distribution all the way down the roster.

We also play a sport that is very competitive and most players in the league play hard and play to win. There is nothing wrong with this as long as it does not come at the expense of sportsmanship or over aggressive play. Too often, I see players that think they have to play "angry" or "physical" in order to be competitive. It's these players that end up being reviewed at the end of the season and possibly asked to not return. We have players in our league that are very skilled (I'm sure everyone knows who these are) and I never hear a complaint about them. These players play with the right attitude and can still play competitive.

At the same time, we have players that play with an attitude that may rub others wrong. These players believe that an extra shove or push in a necessary part of hockey, but they don't realize that this only puts them on the radar and doesn't help them. We are not the NHL and we play in a non-contact, recreational adult league. This doesn't mean you won't get bumped or have any contact, but I see times where players want to take this to another level and flex their muscle or show their hockey toughness. This will only get you suspended and possibly banned to play in the future.

In the end, I'm just asking players to look at their own style of play. Ask yourself if your actions are interpreted as "malicious" or unnecessary. Look at other players around you. Are their players you know who are very skilled, but you enjoy playing against? The idea is to have a good time, but to also have those around enjoy playing with you. This is a primary reason for our scramble games... to get to know those that you may not know.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the season!

It's Scramble Time!

Just as the NHL All-Star game is fast approaching, so is our scramble game. There are much similarities between these 2 events, but our event is so much better because everyone is an All-Star! Okay, maybe not everyone is an All-Star, but we did pay our league fees so we should all be allowed to play.

I did my best to mix things up again for this 2nd scramble. That doesn't mean it's an exact science, so don't get all Mitt Romney on me and start taking out attack ads. I believe anyone that played a late game last time, should not have the late game again. Outside of that, I went down last weeks rosters and assigned to a different team as I went down the list. This means you may play again with someone you already have played with. Players that "share" a spot are both allowed to play in the scramble, so everyone in the league should be on a team.

If you believe something is wrong (like if someone is missing), let me know. If you think your team stinks and that the teams are unfair, you should let your new teammates know that in the locker room before your game so they can appropriately beat you down.

The schedule will be the same as last time:

7:15 Team 1 vs Team 2

8:35 Team 3 vs Team 4

9:55 Team 5 vs Team 6

Jersey colors are listed by the team name.

Lastly, no substitutions, swapping teams, trades, etc. without league approval. Also, no playing multiple games as this will only screw up the mathematically calculated team balance I have spent days working on.

Here they are:

Team 1 (white)

Kacy Reeves - Goalie

Richard Huyck

Nataliya Dudechenko

Brad Dean

Dave Gannon

Dave Green

Mark Lee

Mitch Stein

Will Koch

Mikey Dylo

Lisa Schumacher

David Stember

Nick Dawson

Brendan McCallum

Dustin Gordon

Andrew Mellein

Shaun Greene

Team 2 (dark)

Eric Keese - Goalie

Adam Schneiders

Nick Hrabak

Laura Stein - IR

Rich Cohan

Ben Paoli

Rob Wheeler

Dave Miller

Dane Maxwell

Adam Lowell

Chad Beyer

Dan Hickey

Dusty Beenan

Pat Houlihan

Terry Sindelar

Chris Hansen

Nick Giunta

Team 3 (white)

Tony Hansen - goalie

Chris LeFleur

Tom Kirvan

Dan Bishop

Rich Hrabak

Jeremy Knipper

Joe Bafia

Pat Cashman

Aaron Clutts

Mark Ramsey

Jon Rech

Shon McDonough

Nate Brand

Rick Radcliff

James Martinson

Ben Griswell

Team 4 (dark)

Scott Anderson - Goalie

Dan Hoy

Mark Dylo

Andrew Lee

Shawn Topliff

David Ross

Mike Fascian

Justin West

Paul Adams

Dave Swift

Ben Hudson

Nick Radcliff

Josh Feathers

Mike Bartak

Bill Goodman

Mark Scholz

Team 5 (white)

Steve Kuzynowski - Goalie

Chris Hill

Adam Keller

Paul Curran

Javi Rodriguez

Paul Knight

Marc LePera

Dan Becker

Mike Pedersen - IR

Darren Stout

Adam Krultz

Tim Close

Todd Bentzen

Tony Toigo

Mike Beede

Nick Worth

Mark Loverude

Team 6 (dark)

Jim Goeke - Goalie

Matt Johnson

Larry LePera

Monty Brown

Brent Hanke

Brian Gugat

Dave Chongo

Scott Jacobson

Matt Whitaker

Tyler Wallace

Ryan LePera

Dan Koenig

Jason Wolf

Scott Kundel

Dave Natale

Brett Damos

Caleb Harrelson