Titans Put on a Good Show
Every year, once per hockey season, I attend a game in which I sit in the stands as a paying customer rather that obtaining a press credential. I did so yesterday, going to the Trenton Titans' game against the Orlando Solar Bears at the Sun National Bank Center. The Titans prevailed, 5-1.
I attended the game with old friend Anthony Mingioni (whom I first met years ago in the Spectrum pressbox when I was covering Phantoms games for Hockey's Future) and Anthony's son, Alex.
What made the afternoon a little extra special was that it was Alex's first live pro hockey game, and it was cool to see him take in the atmosphere. I can't wait til my soon-to-be four-year-old son, Benjamin, goes to his first game. I might try to give that a go when I do my next in-the-stands outing. I'd like to introduce him to a practice or two in Voorhees first.
Alex helpfully announced the shot on goal totals during the game, and sat through the entire match without getting bored. He enjoyed walking around the arena, taking in the souvenir and food stands and basically having the run of the place to himself. As with many kids, he was impressed by the sight of the zamboni resurfacing the ice.
We sat two rows behind the Titans' bench; close enough to hear Trenton coach Vince Williams beckoning the referee to explain a penalty call. Close enough get a whiff of the familiar stench of sweat-soaked hockey equipment (you know it's been a long NHL lockout when you find that horrific smell almost nostalgic!).
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for minor league hockey. Everyone works just a little bit harder, because everyone's ambition is to move further up the ladder. The players know they can't coast or take their roster spot for granted. The organizations themselves usually go all out to put on a good show for their customers.
Attending an ECHL game is a good reminder of just how skilled the players at the higher levels truly are. The ECHLers are professional hockey players, of course, but you can see the rough edges.
The pace of play is slower, so there are fewer scoring chances that develop in the blink of an eye. The passing isn't as precise. The caliber of many of the defensemen and goaltenders is closer to what you'd see in an average major junior or collegiate hockey game than at the NHL level. For this reason, there are more goals scored on plays that would routinely be stifled by the defense or gobbled up by the goalies at higher levels.
In short, the jump up from the ECHL to AHL caliber play is every bit as pronounced and significant as that final step from the AHL to the NHL. But from an entertainment perspective, whatever drop off there may be in the average guy's speed and skill level, most of these players make up for in will and determination.
In recent years, the ECHL has tried hard to reform its longstanding image of being a goon-driven league. It wasn't all that long ago when teams loaded up on enforcers because so many games were filled with cheapshots, paybacks and brawls. Gone are the days where a player with 300 penalty minutes in a season would not even crack the top-10 most penalized players in a particular year. For instance, in 1996-97, everyone in the top 10 had at least 330 penalty minutes and league leader Kevin Evans had 505.
That's not to say things still don't get rough out there at times. There are still some notorious troublemaking players in the E like Orlando's Mike Liambas (who was basically kicked out of the OHL in his final junior hockey season). But even Liambas is tame compared to some of the players who used to populate the rosters across the league. There is still plenty of fighting but it's not as gratuitous as it used to be, in part because there is less stick-work and sucker punching to trigger brawls.
On the whole, the ECHL has reshaped itself as more of a developmental league for the AHL with stronger NHL team affiliations. The skill level on display in the league is definitely superior now -- especially with the NHL lockout trickle down -- than it was even about six or seven years ago.
By minor league standards, especially in the lower minors, Trenton's arena is a good facility to attend a game. The ice is pretty well-maintained. There is a state-of-the-art jumbotron. The building is reasonably comfortable (even seated close to the ice on a December late afternoon, I didn't need a jacket) and the concourse walkways are large enough to avoid foot traffic jam-ups. The downtown Trenton neighborhood is a bit dicey, but the arena area proper is reasonably safe.
Having also covered a game from the Sun Center press box this season, I'll discuss that experience as well. Up in the arena's press box level, the working space is minimalist, as one would expect. It's easy to get spoiled to NHL press boxes, with their replay station, overhead monitors and real-time stats delivered to your station at every intermission. You won't find that in the minor leagues. Teams simply lack the staff and budgetary resources.
I have wondered how much money gets spent on pressbox paper alone for a single NHL game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. They must go through a couple dozen boxes each night for all those pregame press packets, stat sheets, press releases, etc.
At the early November game I covered, I noticed that there was a good effort made to deliver information in a timely fashion. It may be via passing around a hand-written note on a change of scoring or whatnot, but the hustle was much appreciated. I've covered lower level games where the media folks are basically left on their own.
From a physical comfort standpoint, the Titans' press box area is actually better than the now-demolished Philadelphia Spectrum. In that space created in the 1960s, you had to tuck your elbows into your sides so as to allow the people on either side of you to do their work. The spaces were so cramped that you hardly had room to move around. What's more, your view of the game could be obstructed from certain vantage points (depending on where you were seated).
There are very few positive things I can list that have come out of the NHL lockout. But one thing I can say for the experience of watching a live minor league game -- either as a fan or as a member of the media -- is that it reminds you that everything starts with a love for the game.
When there's no real money to be made, the players and coaches are riding buses for great distances and teams often play three times in as many days, there's little else but that passion and dreams of bigger and better things to keep them going.
The Titans have a wall at their home arena in which they list every former player who played so much as a single NHL game. For every Ruslan Fedotenko who goes on to have a long NHL career, there are many more who never rise up to the AHL level let alone the National Hockey League.
It takes extraordinary perseverance and dedication for anyone at the ECHL level, whether it's a player, coach, on-ice official or team off-ice employee to work their way to even a brief career at the NHL level. That's why even someone like Mike Siklenka, who played one game apiece for the Flyers and Rangers and has since had a long career in Europe, is worth honoring.
Minor league players and officials don't just pay lip service to appreciating fan support. They psychologically NEED it for those long winter bus rides when they are far away from their families and making little money. They do it in the name of chasing a dream they've had since childhood. As the years go by, many come to realize that simply being involved in pro hockey at all (even if one never gets to work a day in the NHL) is an honor.
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Titans Grab Convincing Victory over Orlando
The Titans got off to a strong start in October, but things haven't gone too well in the last month-and-a-half. This weekend's slate of three home games in three days was a high point. The team took five of a possible six points.
Rather than getting down on themselves for blowing a two-goal third period lead in Saturday's overtime loss to Elmira, the Titans put forth a strong 60 minute effort yesterday against Orlando. The 5-1 final score was well deserved.
The Titans won most of the puck battles, outworking their opponents in all three zones. They capitalized on their power play opportunities and made Orlando pay for their turnovers and coverage breakdowns. The Solar Bears got a poor game in goal from John Curry -- two of the goals he allowed were atrocious -- but I think Trenton would have won the game regardless.
Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of yesterday's game was the play of
Niko Hovinen in net for Trenton. He was sharp throughout much of the game and made all the saves he needed to make despite going long stretches without being tested.
With the score 2-0 in favor of the Titans, he made three successive saves in a flurry in front of the net. Later, he denied Orlando's Dan Gendur on a shorthanded breakaway thought could have gotten the Solar Bears back in the game. The lone Orlando tally came on a 5-on-3 power play goal on a rising shot from the circle that beat the Finnish rookie high to the stick side.
Hovinen's performance wasn't beyond reproach. There were two sequences where he probably could done a little better job covering loose pucks sooner. He's still a little too far back in his crease on some plays where could have cut down the angle a little more. There was one isolated sequence where he was caught leaning a bit too much and it would likely have resulted in a wraparound goal if the attacker had not been immediately neutralized by the defense as he tried to skate around the net.
But this is just nitpicking a couple of plays over the course of a solid effort. On the whole, Hovinen looked to be a much tighter rhythm and playing with more confidence than the last time I saw him play in person. There were fewer rebounds allowed and he did a much better job of tracking pucks with some traffic around him. It was definite progress in what has been a rough rookie North American season.
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Noebels Making Case for AHL Promotion
One of the Titans player for whom bigger and better things could await in the near future is rookie winger
Marcel Noebels. There is a lot to like about his game. He has emerging two-way ability, good size and strength.
Yesterday, the German forward scored a pretty goal, starting and finishing a give-and-go sequence on a 2-on-1 rush with a perfectly elevated shot over the sprawling goaltender. Earlier, he made a nifty backhanded pass that had the goalie down and out and the defense befuddled. It should have resulted in a slam-dunk of a power play goal but the shot was partially flubbed and dribbled back into the pileup that formed at the other side.
Noebels takes good routes on the forecheck. Yesterday, that created several hurried clearing pass attempts and a couple turnovers. He also backchecked diligently in yesterday's game.
From a strictly offensive standpoint, Noebels' rookie season has been one of streaks. He opened the year with points in each of the first eight games (2 goals, 7 assists). Then he went pointless in his next nine games. Since then, Noebels has recorded points in seven of the last eight matches (6 goals, 6 assists).
At this point, I think the 20-year-old Noebels is ready for the AHL. The only benefit to keeping him in Trenton longer is the opportunity for more special teams and scoring-line ice time than he'd be likely to get with the AHL's Phantoms.
Long-term, Noebels has the potential to make it to the NHL in a third-line or fourth-line capacity. In the past, I have likened him to former Flyers forward
Andreas Nödl. The German forward is not nearly as good of a skater as his Austrian counterpart but he plays with a little more moxie. A best-case NHL scenario for Noebels would be if he develops along similar lines to
Ruslan Fedotenko and becomes a reliable third-liner who can periodically get hot offensively.
The biggest obstacle Noebels still has to clear is his skating. He is still deficient in that crucial aspect of the game. It is not as much of an issue in the ECHL as it would be at the higher levels. He's been working on it -- there has been modest improvement from Phantoms training camp til now -- but there is still a long way to go.
The rest of Noebels' game just needs fine-tuning and seasoning. He's decent defensively but there is still room for growth. He's gained confidence in venturing into the high-reward, heavy-punishment areas of the ice but that needs to be one of the central characteristics of his game, night in and night out.
What makes me especially hopeful that Noebels can be one of those guys who does make it to the NHL is that he seems very eager to improve. He shows above-average patience and discipline.
It is also heartening to see how he tackled the adversity of his first offensive slump -- after the pucks had bounced his way at the outset of the season. During the slump, he eventually simplified his game and focused on other ways to contribute. Since then, he's worked through the offensive drought to put forth a second sustained stretch of standout play. There will be more adversity to come, of course, but he passed that first test with aplomb.
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