Calgary Flames NHL Draft Results

The 2014 NHL Draft has concluded, with some new faces that will be coming soon.  Obviously since Calgary's draft picks could be seen in Glens Falls prior to making to Alberta, let's take a look at who Calgary selected during the 2014 NHL Draft.

FIRST ROUND:
#4 - Samuel Bennett (C) - Samuel Bennett hails from Kingston in the Ontario Hockey League.  He has played for Team Canada in the Under 18 World Championship, scoring 3 goals and 4 assists during his 7 teams with Team Canada.

With Kingston he accumulated 91 points in his 57 games during the 2013-14 season, scoring 36 goals and assisting in 55 more.  He was penalized for 118 total minutes during the season.

David Gregory notes that Bennett plays with a high-energy game on both sides of the rink.  And he's able to sustain that energy for the entire season which helped Kingston.  Gregory called Bennett a "top-notch player."

While his favorite NHL team was the Toronto Maple Leafs, perhaps because of the Doug Gilmour connection, it's likely he will change his colors to red and orange.  And he likes hitting the slopes, which could be good on an Adirondack Flames off-day, as he'd only be 10 minutes away from West Mountain.

SECOND ROUND:
#34 - Mason McDonald (G) - This Nova Scotia native had a 3.35 Goals Allowed Average and a .907 Save Percentage during his time with Charlottetown in the Quebec Majors-Juniors Hockey League.  During his time in the Majors Juniors he has put together one shutout, coming during his 2012-13 season with Acadie-Bathurst.

With Halifax in 2011-12, he went 14-1 with a 2.01 GAA as he helped push the Titans to a Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League Championship.

#54 - Hunter Smith (RW) - Hunter Smith was drafted three spots earlier than his uncle, Brad Smith, who was selected 57th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1978.  Brad Smith scored 62 total points in 222 games during his nine year NHL Career, which included some time with the Calgary Flames.

Hunter Smith comes from Oshawa and Windsor in the Ontario Hockey League, scoring 16 goals and 24 assists in his 64 games in 2013-14.  He finished third in the league's "most-improved" category.

According to Chris Edwards, Smith is a role-type player and is one of the more aggressive players on the ice, balancing that with puck-handling skills and good passing ability.

THIRD ROUND:
#64 - Brandon Hickey (D) - Brandon Hickey comes out of Spruce Grove, in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.  In 49 games with Spruce Grove in 2013-14 he assisted in 18 goals and netted four of them himself for a total of 22 points, better than tripling his offensive output from the 2012-13 season.

SIXTH ROUND:
#175 - Adam Ollas Mattsson (D) - Mattsson is Calgary's only draft pick who doesn't hail from Canada, instead comes from Sweeden, where he played for Djurgarden in the Sweeden Jr. Hockey League.

He's not a big point scorer, only netting 20 points during his three years in the junior leagues.  He had 9 points in 33 games for Djurgarden in 2013-14, scoring one goal and assisting in eight others.

SEVENTH ROUND:
#184 - Austin Carroll (RW) - Carroll played 70 games for Victoria in the Western Hockey League in 2013-14.

Now, in hockey, these players are able to continue playing for their junior league teams, so they may not necessarily be with the Adirondack Flames for the 2014-15 season.  Some might have to start with the Alaska Aces in the ECHL and work their way up.  But the path to Calgary for most of these new Flames players will eventually end up through Glens Falls, to which we'll get to see these players grow and perhaps become household NHL names in the future.

Ryan Huska named Adirondack Flames Head Coach

This piece was edited to correct some typographical errors and to add more information.

Ryan Huska has been hired to lead the Adirondack Flames in their inaugural season, Brad Treliving announced to the media on Monday during a Calgary Flames press conference.

Huska comes from the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League.  As head coach of the Rockets, he led them to the WHL Championship in 2009 before losing in the Memorial Cup finals. In seven seasons with the Rockets, Huska's record is 303-164-0-37, including a career best 57-11-0-4 last season.

Prior to Huska's venture as head coach, he was an assistant with the Rockets for five years, and have played in the American Hockey League with the Springfield Falcons and the Lowell Lock Monsters.

He played one game in the National Hockey League, with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1997-98 season.

Huska has also captured a bronze and silver medal as the assistant coach with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships.

"This is a significant hire for us," said Brad Treliving.  "I couldn't be more happy for having him join our organization."

Huska replaces Troy Ward, who coached the Abbotsford Heat for three seasons.  Troy Ward's squad in their last season in British Columbia made the playoffs after going 43-25-5-3, but lost in four games to Grand Rapids.  With the move from British Columbia to Glens Falls, and with the Flames under new management, Ward's contract was not renewed.

Huska's first game with the Adirondack Flames in Glens Falls will be on Saturday, October 11th.

Adirondack Flames Press Conference Highlights

Here's some of the highlights that were discussed during this morning's Adirondack Flames press conference:

The biggest highlight is that the Adirondack Flames will be opening their 2014 home schedule on Saturday, October 11th as they debut "Saturday Night is Hockey Night in Glens Falls", a concept that they hope will result in all or most Saturday night games being played in front of a full Glens Falls Civic Center.

In addition, eight home dates, which includes the home-opener, has been guaranteed by the American Hockey League.  Seven of them will be on Saturdays, with the eight being played on a holiday that is a time-honored tradition in Glens Falls.

During the press conference, Brian Petrovek noted that time is his greatest opponent as the Flames are rebuilding their front office from the ground up.  He also noted that all usage of the Adirondack Flames "A" logo will require either "Adirondack" or "ADK" underneath the logo, due to the trademarks surrounding the old Atlanta logo.

Merchandise will go on sale, including jerseys and other products carrying the Adirondack Flames logo, in August.

In addition, Petrovek hinted once again about a possibility of the Flames having to face a Western Conference schedule.  He alluded to how it's not the ideal setup, but mentioned that fans would get to see a new variety of teams visiting the Glens Falls Civic Center.  The official announcement of the conference/division alignment for the American Hockey League will be announced during the American Hockey League Board of Governors meeting at Hilton Head, South Carolina just after Independence Day. While remarking about igniting a rivalry with the Utica Comets, affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, Petrovek noted that rivalries might require more than one season to fully develop.

He also wants to get more than the immediate Glens Falls area involved in Adirondack Flames hockey, reaching out to nearby Saratoga Springs and even Rutland, Vermont when it comes to newspaper, radio and television.  He quipped briefly about a radio network, although no radio broadcasting plans are in place at this time for the upcoming 2014-15 season.

More details about individual game tickets, flex packages, promotions, and front office staff will be coming in the near future.

Introducing the ...

The Calgary Flames press conference this morning at Heritage Hall in the Glens Falls Civic Center was filled with excited hockey fans, ready to show love for this new team that will be taking over the city come October.

Some of the highlights:
- The team will be named the Adirondack Flames, and their logo is going to consist of a modified version of the old Atlanta Flames logo from the 1970's.

- Season Tickets go on sale today at 2PM at the Civic Center.  Ticket information can be found at the Adirondack Flames webpage.

- Flames on Twitter: @AHLFlames; on Facebook: AHLFlames

- It's sounding like, based on the comment that we're going to be seeing different teams this season, that the American Hockey League will not be moving the Flames to the Eastern Conference, and that the Flames will have to play some Western Conference teams like Lake Erie, Chicago and Rockford.  The official conference/division alignment will not be released until July.

- The mascot has not been introduced to the public, but fans will like it.

Abbotsford's move east should bring AHL division changes

American Hockey League - theahl.com

COMMENTARY:

In the 2014-15 season, the Abbotsford Heat will move east to Glens Falls.  The Adirondack Phantoms, who used the Glens Falls Civic Center as their temporary home until the arena in Allentown, Pennsylvania was ready, will become the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.  

This one year after the Vancouver Canucks moved their farm team from Chicago to Utica, becoming the Utica Comets.  The American Hockey League did not alter the Conferences when that move was made, so as a result the Comets played in the Western Conference even though they are east of Syracuse and Binghamton, two Eastern Conference teams.  

Next year, the St. John's IceCaps will be pulling out of Newfoundland, and moving west to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where they will be closer to their parent club in Winnipeg.

In a league that has so much weight on the east coast, it's hard to set up a true geographical mark between west and east.  And with that pending move of St. John's, the league might not want to pull a realignment immediately. 

This is my suggestion for a divisional alignment for the 2015-16 hockey season.  Keep in mind this is purely a suggestion and outside factors could weigh in on how these teams get aligned.  In addition, note that the divisions are really just for standings purposes, as the schedules do not weigh the divisional opponents evenly. 

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Manchester Monarchs

Providence Bruins

Worcester Sharks

Portland Pirates

Bridgeport Sound Tigers

East Division

Hartford Wolf Pack

Springfield Falcons

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Hershey Bears

Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Empire Division

Adirondack _______

Albany Devils

Utica Comets

Syracuse Crunch

Binghamton Senators

WESTERN CONFERENCEGreat Lakes Division

Toronto Marlies

Hamilton Bulldogs

Lake Erie Monsters

Rochester Americans

Thunder Bay ________

South Division

Norfolk Admirals

Charlotte Checkers

Oklahoma City Barons

Texas Stars

San Antonio Rampage

Midwest Division

Chicago Wolves

Grand Rapids Griffins

Rockford IceHogs

Iowa Wild

Milwaukee Admirals

The toughest decision is figuring out who moves west.  Thunder Bay would be an obvious choice -- they're going to be one of the westernmost teams in the league.  But the second team comes down to who could move without affecting local rivalries.  Therefore moving one of the New York teams west would be difficult, as you could make a case for either Binghamton or Syracuse to go west and join Rochester in their division.  

The same holds true with the Pennsylvania teams.  

You have to figure the league is going to try their hardest to keep the Eastern New York teams together.  

But remember what I said above.  The divisional placement of teams means little in the American Hockey League.  The league's going to schedule the games so that while you will play divisional teams, you're going to play your closest rivals more.

The above was a commentary of the author and the material does not reflect the opinions and thoughts of the station management nor its sponsors.  

The Heat is On! Calgary's AHL affiliate is coming to Glens Falls

On April 18th, 5,000 plus fans roared as the Adirondack Phantoms played their final game at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

At that point, it was unsure whether or not there would be hockey in Glens Falls come October.  Some speculation was made given the recent announcement that the Abbotsford Heat was terminating their contract with the city and leaving to a venue to be announced later, but it was still uncertain the Calgary Flames would choose the city of Glens Falls.

That uncertainty was absolved with the announcement that the AHL Board of Governors approved the move of the Abbotsford Heat from British Columbia to Glens Falls for the 2014-15 season.

"Glens Falls has had a terrific history with the American Hockey League," Flames General Manager Brad Treliving said in a press release, "and will be an ideal location and environment for the development of our prospects."

As the only team in the Pacific Time Zone, the Abbotsford Heat faced long travel schedules.  The nearest team for Abbotsford up until two years ago was in Winnipeg, well over a thousand miles away from Abbotsford, British Columbia.  The Manitoba Moose left for St. John's to make room for the NHL Winnipeg Jets, and with last year's move of the Houston Aeros to become the Iowa Wild in Des Moines, the nearest team became better than 1,500 miles from B.C..

Travel costs were amplified by the Heat only packing 3,000 into the Abbotsford Sports and Entertainment Centre, which placed them next-to-last for attendance in the 2013-14 season.  Portland, who had the worst attendance of the 30 clubs, was playing their season in Lewiston, Maine due to renovations and then a contract dispute with the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

The move will allow the Flames affiliate more time on the ice practicing and less time on planes and in hotel rooms, which will reduce their expenses considerably.

The Heat made the Calder Cup Playoffs this year, but found themselves facing the Grand Rapids Griffins in the first round.  The Griffins, last year's Calder Cup champions, ended the Heat's tenure in Abbotsford with their game four series clinching victory in Grand Rapids, winning the best-of-five series 3-1.

A press conference will take place next week to formally introduce the city of Glens Falls to the Calgary Flames AHL affiliate.  The date and time has yet to be announced.