Check out these fight filled Hilites from yesterday. Lefebvre, Peckham, Roy, and goals by Stone, Spurgeon, and Schremp.
After a terrible stretch that saw players like Jeff Deslauriers, Rob Schremp, and Ryan Potulny put up some uncharacteristically horrible statistical performances and the team as a whole was even worse, the Falcons maybe onto something good.
The recent acquisitions of Ryan Stone (trade), Shane Willis (AHL signing) along with Jake Taylor (returning from injury) has the Falcons looking like a team that can compete and win in the AHL's Atlantic Division. For the first time in a long time, the Falcons look like they mean business on the ice.
The return of Ryan Potulny will be yet another huge spark to the team. Potulny and Schremp will give the Falcons a very solid 1-2 punch down the middle (if Schremp is kept there) and Willis and Stone bring 2 veteran offensive wingers to compliment them.
Bryan Lerg is due to get back on track with only 2 assists in his last 16 games after collecting 13 points in his previous 16 games. Slava Trukhno could once again be in the mix as he has been out for a day over a month, and the Falcons could even see the return of 1 or both of Gilbert Brule (he can play only 3 more games before the 4th means that he becomes waiver eligible), Liam Reddox, and maybe even the return of JF Jacques.
Sudden;y there is a light buzz in the air with the Falcons winning their last 2 games, that buzz could urn into a deafening one before long. Taylor Chorney has turned the corner, Rob Schremp is back on track, Derek Bekar and Carl Corrazini are adding solid veteran secondary scoring, Guillaume Lefebvre is bringing a consistent and very effective physical and defensive game to the rink, Dubnyk is back on track after getting a breather from JDD's conditioning stint, the defense is more defensive oriented with Taylor, Young, and Gabinet's returns from injury.
Everything is coming together, a few more moves will get them to where they want to be, barring a rash of injuries on the big club or a quantity for quality trade, the Falcons WILL make the playoffs despite their horrendous 20 game stretch and the fact that they are currently 9 points out of the 4th and final spot with the Pirates having a game in hand, and 10 points out of the 3rd spot with Worcester having exactly 10 more points in the same amount of games. 37 more games for the Falcons to make their move, Friday against Worcester is where they should start.
Will the Falcons finally soar? You better believe it!
11 comments:
Dude, hand over the kool-ade. This is a last place team by a pretty good margain. This is not even a playoff team, let alone a team that will challenge for the Division.
The benchmark for getting into the playoffs at this point is 50 points. Thats's 12 more than the team currently has, and unless they go on a run not seen since the Dynasty days of the Oilers, it ain't gonna happen. Right now they're playing for pride and statistics, not for the standings.
After re-reading, I thought you had mentioned that the Falcons could win the division. I now see it's not the case.
Still don't think this is playoff material though, as they need the 3rd seed spot because of the crossover rule.
3rd seed? Crossover rule? WTF are you talking about man? The top 4 teams in the Atlantic Division make the playoffs. They play a HEAVILY Division weighted schedule (60 of their total 80gp. are against Divisional foes). LOTS of 4 point games. 7 more games against 3rd seeded Worcester, 4 more against 4th placed Portland, 4 more against 2nd place Hartford, 3 more against 5th place Lowell, and 5 more against 6th place Manchester.
If they can get on a role, get healthy, and focus on the goal at hand, they have a shot.
Looked like a solid game. 3 points for Robbie in that one? Nicely done. What was with all the scrapping?
Actually 2 points for Schremp, Lefebvre (#14) was in on the 2nd goal. Lowell was playing really chippy at the tail end of Saturday's game. Lefebvre went after their main culprit 2 seconds into the game.
No love loss between these 2 teams, hell Schremp was even roughing it up a little LOL!
BTW-You've got to love Schremp having a ringside seat for Roy's bout, get that man some popcorn! :)
"3rd seed? Crossover rule? WTF are you talking about man? The top 4 teams in the Atlantic Division make the playoffs."
Not necessarily. Take last year for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007-08_AHL_season
Note that only three teams from the North division made the playoffs while five from the West played post-season hockey.
For example:
If the 5th place team from the West division in the same conference has a better record than the 4th place team in the North divison, the 5th place team takes the crossover and plays the first place team in the North division.
If you're Canadian, it's exactly the same way the CFL operated last year, with Edmonton crossing over to the Eastern division to play the second place Bombers.
With this in mind, you'll see that the Falcons, as well as the Monarchs, Devils and Pirates are all currently chasing the Phantoms, who are 5th place in the East divison.
Dorito-For the last 2 years, I've heard literally dozens of times that the top FOUR teams in the AHL's Atlantic Division make the postseason, I( don't know how it is in other Divisions, but the Atlantic is the tip 4 teams, end of story.
what's with the turnaround with chorney? does he just appear to be playing better or is he putting up numbers too?
"what's with the turnaround with chorney? does he just appear to be playing better or is he putting up numbers too?"
The Falcons page had his listed as being on the third pairing. I'm guessing that has a lot to do with his "turn around"
Bryan:
You stick to your guns, I'll stick to mine, and we'll see who's right come the end of the season. Fair?
Relic-Chorney has more help now and he's not paired with Roy anymore ;)
He's looking to move the puck and be a factor offensively. it seems like ever since Oilers brass came down, he has upped his game.
Dorito-My guns shoot straighter than yours LOL! ;)
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