2014-2015 Manchester Monarchs - 2015 Calder Cup Champions!

[PJ Kings Hockey]

Analysis, Line Combos, and Highlights from Monarchs ECF Sweep

Criticized at times for his play during this playoff stretch, Berube once again stepped up in a big game. While he faced very few grade-A chances, he made all the saves he needed to. After allowing seven goals in the last two games, only one got past the Kings prospect. If he plays as well as he did during Game 4, Manchester becomes a team that can light the lamp and keep the other team off the board – an almost unbeatable combo.

I was pretty nervous about Berube's play during the Portland Pirates series, but I'm glad that J-F is stepping up his game.

Another youngster who seems to have found his groove is Gravel, who played simply outstanding hockey. Positionally, the St. Cloud State alum was top notch. The most impressive aspect on display during Game 4 was his stick work. His ability to use his hands to escape trouble with the puck on his stick was wonderful to watch.

This kid has to be showing the Kings' brass that he's serious about being the kind of defenseman they covet.

On the other end of things, Jordan Weal played below the standards he has set for himself this post season. With Michael Mersch out of the lineup and not able to create space for him, Weal had far less room to work all game.

Weal was dominant during the first 2 series, then Mersch made a splash during the Hartford series. Weal still had assists, but goals, not so much. Do you think this was a result of Hartford targeting him? If Weal makes the Kings next season, who makes space for him a la Mersch?

 

[KingPuckChoo]

god i'm hoping that Weal & Mersch make a splash like Toffoli & Pearson did

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

I am hoping they revise it in case they play Utica.
I can see the 2-3-2 for Grand Rapids. I have never liked the 2-3-2 at all.
Manchester to Utica would probably be a 4-5 hour bus ride.

Well, then we'll root for Utica to win.

Well.... no one ever said the AHL isn't wacky.


Apparently, the Ontario Reign, as well as the 4 other California teams. Will play less games then the rest of the league. The speculation is the rest of the teams would play a 76 game schedule. While the Cali. teams would play a 68 game schedule. How the playoffs are going to work is a bit of a mystery. The commissioner Dave Andrews did say that the league would change to divisional playoff format. Similar to what the NHL is currently using. But it gets weirder when it appears the Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage, who are both in the Pacific division, will play more games then the 5 California teams. The article below speculates that playoff qualification would be based on point percentage format. But I still can't find any direct confirmation that the Texas' teams will be playing a 76 games. I'm not sure exactly how the question was asked by the reporter. Having all the teams in the league play a different amount of games then one division is crazy. To have 2 teams in that division play more games then the other 5 is BAT **** CRAZY!

(Article talks about California teams in the 2nd half of that article)

http://www.syracuse.com/crunch/inde...ent_didnt_include_all_nys_teams_together.html

Weird.

Given those two clowns over saw team operations and the budget, I'm sure they had a big hand in the lack of having a proper player development staff. They just drafted or signed guys and let 'em play without much direction.

I like Leiweke, but the prospect system is seeing its glory days, that's for sure.

Monarchs Complete Sweep Of Wolf Pack

"(Manchester's) a really good team," forward Chris Bourque said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they won it all, to be honest. They're my pick. … They're very talented and seem like they have all the pieces to win."
....
Manchester, though, was another level of opponent. The Monarchs scored first in all four games and were a difficult team to battle back against, continually possessing the puck and pinching Hartford's defensemen in their own zone.
....
"It was really hard for us to generate offense," Hartford coach Ken Gernander said. "I don't know if we were like a real prolific, high-energy, run-and-gun type of offense prior to this series, but we certainly were able to generate offense and sustain offensive pressure and make it hard for the other team's defense, and certainly limit the amount of time that we spent defending … We just couldn't get it done in this series."

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

If they're going to reduce the games for the California based teams, why not just do the same for the rest of the league?

 

[CNS]

If they're going to reduce the games for the California based teams, why not just do the same for the rest of the league?

$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Clinton Comets EHL]

If they're going to reduce the games for the California based teams, why not just do the same for the rest of the league?

The Cali and Alberta teams have caused the AHL to become a huge laughing stock. pathetic.

 

[cali101]

Weal was dominant during the first 2 series, then Mersch made a splash during the Hartford series. Weal still had assists, but goals, not so much. Do you think this was a result of Hartford targeting him? If Weal makes the Kings next season, who makes space for him a la Mersch?

maybe just match up? sometimes one player just does better against a team than another player does, so maybe that's the case with weal/hartford.

could be targeting too. but from what i watched and listened to, weal was still in all the plays, making things happen (hence assists in all but one of games i think?); it's just that mersch and oni were burying the pucks more often.

nice to see that other lines stepped up in this series too, guys like shore, dowd, backman and kempe were grabbing points too.

 

[burnstick]

maybe just match up? sometimes one player just does better against a team than another player does, so maybe that's the case with weal/hartford.

could be targeting too. but from what i watched and listened to, weal was still in all the plays, making things happen (hence assists in all but one of games i think?); it's just that mersch and oni were burying the pucks more often.

nice to see that other lines stepped up in this series too, guys like shore, dowd, backman and kempe were grabbing points too.

Now that we have on the conference I wonder when some credit will go to the defence for the monarchs?
seems majority of the posts focus on three forwards that were nothing short of fantastic!

A huge part of winning a championship is great D

Huge shout out to Bodnarchuk,Loverde ,Schultz,Miller,Forbort,Gravel these players play hard minutes every night!!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

$$$$$$$$$$

I don't know anything about the attendance of most of the Eastern teams, but seeing so many empty seats at some of these games, wouldn't savings from the expenditures of operating costs offset the removal of a couple of games from the schedule?

Or why can't the West teams just play the same amount of games as the Eastern teams, just add more games against division or cross division rivals.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The Cali and Alberta teams have caused the AHL to become a huge laughing stock. pathetic.

Utica Comets are one of the lowest-drawing teams in the league.

Come back and lecture us on western teams being a laughingstock when it happens, thanks.

I have no doubt they'll iron out the details soon.

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

The Cali and Alberta teams have caused the AHL to become a huge laughing stock. pathetic.

Well, I wouldn't say laughingstock, but it is a challenge to make it fair for all. I'm going to miss the Monarchs playing Eastern teams. Now the AHL rivals are going to be the same as the NHL rivals. Not sure how I feel about that.

Shout-out to Driller for your clear and level-headed posts on the Hartford board about Manchester only getting Nick Shore from the Kings. While that one person called you out (unreasonably, imo,) 2 Hartford fans had good posts to support what you said and props to them as well.

 

[cali101]

mos def, burnstick.
the defense deserve mucho credit too!
it takes a team

 

[King'sPawn]

Well, I wouldn't say laughingstock, but it is a challenge to make it fair for all. I'm going to miss the Monarchs playing Eastern teams. Now the AHL rivals are going to be the same as the NHL rivals. Not sure how I feel about that.

Shout-out to Driller for your clear and level-headed posts on the Hartford board about Manchester only getting Nick Shore from the Kings. While that one person called you out (unreasonably, imo,) 2 Hartford fans had good posts to support what you said and props to them as well.

I like the idea of the minor league and major league affiliates being the same. The rivalries will grow amongst the players as they ascend to the NHL.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I remember I read that earlier when it was first announced about the teams moving out west. seems a bit odd if you ask me. not sure why they cant figure out something to get those 8 games in. Is it because of the San Jose and Winnipeg having both AHL and NHL hockey in the same arena?
hopefully if they cant work it out for next season they can get something ironed out for the 16/17 season and have everyone play the same number of games.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I remember I read that earlier when it was first announced about the teams moving out west. seems a bit odd if you ask me. not sure why they cant figure out something to get those 8 games in. Is it because of the San Jose and Winnipeg having both AHL and NHL hockey in the same arena?
hopefully if they cant work it out for next season they can get something ironed out for the 16/17 season and have everyone play the same number of games.

Exactly. I'm sure it will equalize soonish. Sort of like the NHL's unbalanced conferences.

 

[driller1]

I remember I read that earlier when it was first announced about the teams moving out west. seems a bit odd if you ask me. not sure why they cant figure out something to get those 8 games in. Is it because of the San Jose and Winnipeg having both AHL and NHL hockey in the same arena?
hopefully if they cant work it out for next season they can get something ironed out for the 16/17 season and have everyone play the same number of games.

Actually, I think the Western teams have been lobbying for fewer games. They want more practice time for development and eliminate 3 games in 3 nights scheduling.

Since the teams in the West are all owned by their parent franchise, I don't think they care about money as much as independent teams would.

 

[hockeynutz]

Actually, I think the Western teams have been lobbying for fewer games. They want more practice time for development and eliminate 3 games in 3 nights scheduling.

Since the teams in the West are all owned by their parent franchise, I don't think they care about money as much as independent teams would.

the AHL schedule was reduced from 80 to 76 games a few years ago allegedly to eliminate 3 in 3's. didn't happen.

buildings tend to be fuller on Friday & Saturday nights. that should be no surprise.
on the Sunday of a 3 in 3 weekend, for most of the season, people stay home to watch football. again, no surprise.

teams prefer full weekends to dead week nights.

 

[Tadite]

I went to the 4th game in Hartford. Nice arena, expensive beer, and decent people to watch a hockey game with. Nearly empty arena though. Attendance seems to be a real problem. Less people then at some of the Providence Bruins games I been to this year.

I'll give some thoughts a bit later but I've got to say Kempe is a heck of a skater. Very smooth. Not nearly as fast as Weal or let alone Carter but he's surprisingly tall and has that unexpected speed. Tough kid though. Got thrown around a bit and slashed axe chop style deep in the 3rd. Right on the wrist. Sometimes to get that 1st star in the game you've got to take a bit of pain.

 

[KINGS17]

The Cali and Alberta teams have caused the AHL to become a huge laughing stock. pathetic.

No, they just caused the minor league system to be in more than a single area of the country, just like baseball.

How about this. The AHL can move all of it's teams to the Mountain and Pacific time zones. Then it wouldn't be a joke and the NHL's Eastern Conference teams can wait two days for a player recalled from the AHL to arrive and join the NHL roster.

 

[CNS]

Follow @AndyTonge on Periscope. Cool stuff planned for the finals...

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Follow @AndyTonge on Periscope. Cool stuff planned for the finals...

Don't tell me what to do

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

Follow @AndyTonge on Periscope. Cool stuff planned for the finals...

I'm down with Periscope.

What's Periscope?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Grand Rapids won in OT, tying the series at 2-2. More rest for the Monarchs.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I went to the 4th game in Hartford. Nice arena, expensive beer, and decent people to watch a hockey game with. Nearly empty arena though. Attendance seems to be a real problem. Less people then at some of the Providence Bruins games I been to this year.

I'll give some thoughts a bit later but I've got to say Kempe is a heck of a skater. Very smooth. Not nearly as fast as Weal or let alone Carter but he's surprisingly tall and has that unexpected speed. Tough kid though. Got thrown around a bit and slashed axe chop style deep in the 3rd. Right on the wrist. Sometimes to get that 1st star in the game you've got to take a bit of pain.

there were a few Hartford fans making fun of Manchester and the lack of attendance for games 1 and 2, yet they barely had over 2k for games 3 and 4 themselves. Hopefully Manchester can get some good crowds for the Final
Grand Rapids had over 8k for game 4 last night.
Kempe is an impressive young player. Kid seems to be getting better and better.

 

[TonySCV]

Game 1 Final date is set for June 6th.