Isles vs. Kings Quick Hits II

• Slightly altered story about the lack of Tavares from the Star: "Islanders Rookie Star Tavares Won't Be Coming To KC"

• Newsday: "Kansas City Morning Skate"

• Islanders.com game preview

Isles vs. Kings Quick Hits

From Newsday: Big Day For Isles: Game In KC, Zoning Hearing For Wang

Kings official website: Camp Update

Well, Shit

No Tavares.

On one hand, perhaps KC hockey fans should just be happy to get whatever we can as far as NHL action goes. But on the other hand, we're being used as a pawn by a fabulously rich owner in a political game that has nothing to do with us. So is it surprising that ticket sales are so weak that ticket prices have been slashed at the last minute?

Is sending Tavares - the one player with a little star power on either team - to KC so much to ask?

You can see why the Islanders are holding him out - thanks to some brilliant scheduling, the only Islanders home preseason game is the very night after the KC game. No way they're going to play him in back-to-back games, and the Islanders presumably would have suffered a backlash from their fans, who are already upset that the Isles are playing in KC at all, if they'd chosen the KC game over the Long Island game to play Tavares.

But isn't Wang's entire purpose for playing the game in KC to generate pressure on Long Island politicians? The not-so veiled veiled threat? Wouldn't placing the new face of the franchise smack dab in a supposed suitor city be the way to do that?

More Isles vs. Kings Notes

• The Star’s Randy Covitz has this piece today: “Islanders Have More Than KC Game On Their Mind”

• I don’t like the implication in this Newsday story that Tavares won’t play on Tuesday. If it’s accurate that Tavares will play four preseason games total, and he played on the 16th, will be playing today (20th), and both games against the Devils (23rd & 29th)...that means he won’t be playing Tuesday night. I hope the article has that wrong. KC fans deserve to be thrown a frickin’ bone here.

• If you want to brush up on the Kings and Islanders, check out Puck Daddy’s season previews here (NY) and here (LA).

Islanders vs. Kings Game Preview

New York Islanders vs. Los Angeles Kings

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 • 7:00
Sprint Center • Kansas City, Missouri

I can’t speak for the rest of the city, but I’m excited for what I believe will be the 87th NHL game played in Kansas City. The first 86 were made up of two Scouts preseason games, 80 Scouts regular season games, and four preseason games between 1998—2008. The Blues played in all four of the recent preseason games, which means Tuesday’s game will be the first played in Kansas City to not feature a team from Missouri. To make up for the lack of a regional team, I think AEG was banking on the Islanders appearance generating a buzz in KC. As far as I can tell, that hasn't happened. I think KC fans understand the Islanders are not on the brink of moving here, and that we’re being used as a bargaining ploy again. Not exactly inspiring stuff.

In spite of all the nonsense surrounding the game, I’ll just be soaking up the game itself, enjoying the unbeatable atmosphere of a live NHL game taking place in my home town.

The Sprint Center has cooked up this ad for the game. The Kings have posted an interview with assistant coach Jamie Kompon about the two Kings games in Kansas City. It sounds almost like an AEG promo for the Sprint Center:

John Tavares Watch: The much heralded Islanders rookie made his NHL debut on September 16th in Edmonton, but has sat out three of the Islanders’ first four preseason games. That means we’ll be seeing either his second or third game. He didn’t get a point in his first game, so perhaps KC fans will be treated to his first NHL point.

That’s all assuming he’ll play Tuesday night - something I fully expect, but I’ll breathe easier once he’s officially announced.

Here’s some video of Tavares in Islanders training camp:

Looking Back at the Sprint Center's First Hockey Game

A week from the moment I’m writing this, I’ll be sitting in the Sprint Center taking in an NHL hockey game. I’m starting to get excited. Seems like a good time to take a look back at last year’s preseason game between the Blues and Kings.

Fair or not, the game was viewed by many as an “audition” or test of Kansas City’s potential to be a successful NHL market. If it was a test, the venue passed with flying colors. It was clear that watching hockey was in mind during the design of the building. There seems to be no debate that it would be a first-class NHL rink. That much was pretty well known, but it was still a thrill to see that promise fulfilled, if only for one brief night.

More scrutinized was the attendance figure. The crowd was strongly pro-Blues; I don’t know if that was a reflection of a decent Blues fanbase in Kansas City, or if a lot of fans made the trip from St. Louis. Probably a little of both. The announced attendance was 11,603. I’m still not sure if that’s a good number or a bad one - it all depends on how you want to spin it. The Associated Press recap unequivocally stated it was “good numbers for a preseason game.” I dug into attendance numbers from last year’s preseason, and the average attendance in 95 games not played in Kansas City was 14,517. In that regard, 11,603 is clearly not a good number. A factor that was pointed to as hurting attendance was the game being played on a Monday. In Puck Daddy’s comment on the game, Paul McGannon was quoted as saying, “If we have that game on a Friday or Saturday or even a Sunday afternoon, it’d be sold out.” Saying attendance was hurt by virtue of the game falling on a Monday seemed reasonable to me - at least until I noticed that there were seven other games played on the very same night that drew an average of 14,527.

But if you want to spin it in KC’s favor, here is some ammunition for you: the Kings played two games that night, with a split squad in Kansas City and another in Los Angeles. In LA, only 8,221 showed up. The Kings played a total of four preseason games at home, and averaged 10,255. The Blues played three at home, and averaged 11,986. So KC was right on par with the performance of the hometown fans. You could also point out that the Islanders drew under 4,000 for a couple of their preseason games.

Sitting in the rink that night, I remember wishing there was a lot more people. Looking back with some perspective, the attendance was...fine. I’m certainly not convinced that preseason games between out-of-town teams are worth much as a measuring stick of KC’s viability as a market, but there are few if any concrete ways to measure such a thing, so attendance takes on an inflated importance.

As for the game itself, I wasn’t sure what to expect - I'd never seen an NHL preseason game. I wasn’t sure if guys would be phoning it in or if there would be a bunch of young guys killing it trying to make an impression with their team’s suits. As I recall, the game started off at a torrid pace, and I was thrilled. But 8:20 into the game, the first penalty was called, and there were regular whistles the rest of the night as the teams piled up 20 combined penalties, and the game never could settle into a good flow or pace again.

Davis Drewiske earned the distinction of scoring the first goal in arena history soon after the second period was underway. Drewiske, on the penalty kill, got the puck high in the St. Louis zone, and flipped a quick shot/dump-in towards the net. Blues goalie Chris Mason seemed utterly surprised that Drewiske had taken the shot, and the puck fluttered past him. Mason definitely should have stopped it. Besides that one lapse, all four goaltenders were stellar. Jonathan Quick of the Kings foreshadowed the solid rookie year he was about to have (21-18, .914, 2.48), stopping all 19 shots he faced.

According to the Star, “Kings president Tim Leiweke was emphatic that one of the club’s phenoms, 19-year-old defenseman Drew Doughty...(would) make his pro debut in the Sprint Center.” I kept an eye on Doughty throughout the night, and came away impressed. He didn’t do anything especially eye-popping that I recall, but he seemed calm and in control for a kid playing his first NHL game. He carried the puck through the neutral zone and gained the blue line confidently several times. Another guy that I was happy to see was Ted Purcell of the Kings - I lived near Cedar Rapids, Iowa during the time Purcell played in the USHL for the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders and had seen him play many times there.

The Kings seemed to have the game in hand with a 2-0 lead late in the third period when Paul Kariya banged in a gift-wrapped rebound on the power play. (Appropriately, all three goals came on special teams.) This fired up the crowd, and the final minutes had a buzz as the Blues attempted to tie it up. I had no rooting interest in either team, but at this point I was rooting for overtime so that the game could be stretched out a bit more. The Kings held on.

After the game, I marvelled that my drive home would take all of 15 minutes. Every NHL game I’d gone to before was hundreds or thousands of miles away, and so involved a long and expensive trip there and back. I turned to my wife: “I could get used to this.”

Related reading:

Puck Daddy: The NHL’s Exhibition in Kansas City: Pass or Fail?
Puck Daddy: Scouting the NHL’s Chances For a Return To Kansas City
St. Louis Game Time: Blues Open At Kansas City
Associated Press: recap
Canadian Press: Kings Beat Blues In Kansas City (slightly lengthened version of AP story)
NHL.com: scroll down to Making a Statement
ESPN: box score

Scouts Notes: January 1976

• January 1976 proved to be a tumultuous and tortuous time for the Scouts. In doing research on the first year and a half of the Scouts existence, I’ve been somewhat surprised by the number of bright spots. The losses were never far apart when the Scouts played, but a nice victory here or individual performance there seems to have kept things from getting too bleak. Throughout the ’74-’75 season, there was reason to think the Scouts could take a large step forward the next year, and in the first half of ’75-’76, it appeared the Scouts were taking that step. They even had the playoffs in their sights halfway through the year.

But the occasional good times disappeared for good in 1976. The Scouts entered a free-fall that would end with their demise a few months later. Their captain was traded, their coach resigned amid controversy, and the losses piled up at a dizzying rate.

• Appropriately, the month started off with a couple of Scouts getting clubbed by the Philadelphia Flyers. Guy Charron received a seven-stitch gash above his eye and Craig Patrick a broken nose, both courtesy of high sticks from the Broad Street Bullies. “What we need is a couple of guys in here to do the same thing,” said coach Bep Guidolin. “It should be tit for tat. We ought to bring in a couple of butchers who can’t even skate.” (1/2/76 Times) There was a small bit of good news as Denis Dupere returned to the lineup in limited duty after separating his shoulder in practice the day after the first game of the season.

Fans were treated(?) to a Freddy Fender concert after the game.

• After dropping their fifth straight game on the 7^th, Bep said, “We can’t sit back and wait too long to make a move. And we better do it quick while we still got a shot at the playoffs. I can still hear people in the stands who are sticking with us.” (1/8/76 Times) Bep didn’t have to wait; Simon Nolet, the prize of the ’74 expansion draft, captain of the team from day one, and the previous season’s team MVP, was shipped to Pittsburgh the very next day. (C) Ed Gilbert, another original Scout, went with him, and in return the Scouts received (F) Chuck Arnason and (D) Steve Durbano. Durbano was one of the top enforcers in the game at the time. He was third in the league in PIMs at the time of the trade, and finished the year at the top of the list. Guidolin had one of the “butchers” he was asking for. Little good it did them however, as the Scouts went 1-29-8 (.128) after the trade.

Bep said Durbano would “fire up the whole team and a whole building full of people.” (1/9/76 Star) Management no doubt hoped that adding a goon to the roster would stimulate ticket sales.

Arnason and Durbano debuted with the Scouts on the 10 ^th against the Rangers. Both got their names on the score sheet by assisting on a Denis Dupere goal in an 8-4 loss.

• Guy Charron was named captain on the 12^th.

• GM Sid Abel wasn’t done trying to shake the Scouts out of their miserable play. On the 14^th, while in Detroit, Abel sent (RW) Buster Harvey to the Red Wings in exchange for (RW) Phil Roberto an hour before the game. Both players dressed that night, just not for the teams they were expecting in the morning. According to Star reporter Steve Marantz, “Aside from Roberto’s face the Scouts looked the same: Terrible. Goalie Denis Herron continued his swoon in the nets, allowing two short-handed goals and a couple other bad ones among the 30 shots he faced.” (1/15/76 Times)

• After the game against the Red Wings, a group of eight players or more missed Guidolin’s curfew. Guidolin apparently singled out (D) Larry Johnston, and slapped only him with a fine and one-game suspension, served in the next night’s game at home against the Maple Leafs. Seven players came forward in Johnston’s defense, protesting they had also missed curfew. All were fined. “The fines levied by Guidolin come with the Scouts locked in a 9-game losing streak, the longest in their 2-year history, and with several roster changes having been made in the last 10 days. The Scouts’ performance has become increasingly ragged and it was suggested by one departing player that they had become fearful and apprehensive about their security. Several players have indicated privately that communication between Guidolin and the team has deteriorated and that the players’ confidence in Bep has dwindled. ‘I have not lost control of the team,’ said Guidolin yesterday.” (1/20/76 Times)

“Guidolin’s ultimatum to Abel (on the 21^st) was either defenseman Larry Johnston be sent to Springfield of the American Hockey League or he would resign…Abel held a team meeting (on the 21^st) Guidolin did not attend and afterwards told Guidolin that Johnston would remain with the team. An hour later Guidolin informed Abel of his resignation.” –Steven Marantz (1/22/76 Times)

Joe McGuff did a great job summarizing events leading to Guidolin’s resignation:

• While the coaching mess was unfolding back in Kansas City, Wilf Paiement was the Scouts sole representative at the All-Star game in Philadelphia on the 20^th. Paiement said, “I think Guy (Charron) should have made it too. I gotta thank Guy and Craig (Patrick) too for being picked. The other guys have helped. I owe this to my teammates.” (1/17/76 Star) Wilf’s Campbell Conference fell to the Wales Conference 5-7. He does not show up on the score sheet, and the Star had no report on his appearance that I saw.

• Abel was forced to step behind the bench the very day that Guidolin resigned, as the Scouts hosted the Blues and ran their losing streak to ten. Abel didn’t feel too comfortable behind the bench, despite having coached 961 NHL games between 1954 and 1972. “‘I never did feel adjusted,’ he said. ‘I lost my voice. I was really afraid I’d have too many men on the ice or something. One time we didn’t have enough.’” (1/22/76 Times)

Abel was behind the bench for just two more games, both losses. The second game he coached was on the 23^rd in California, and is notable for being goalie Bill Oleschuk’s only game with the Scouts. Oleschuk managed to stop 48 of the Seals’ 52 shots but took the loss as the Scouts could only score once. Oleschuk would go on to play 54 more NHL games, all with the Colorado Rockies between 1977—80. Oleschuk got the start because #1 goalie Denis Herron was laid up in the hospital for a week with a kidney stone. (Did I mention this month didn’t go so well for the Scouts?) Bill McKenzie played all of the other games in Herron’s absence.

• After Abel’s final game as a coach, he said, “I kind of enjoyed myself tonight.” (1/26/76 Star) Nevertheless, new coach Eddie Bush stepped in on the 28^th in Minnesota. Bush had a 26-game NHL playing career between 1938—42 for the Red Wings; Abel was a Red Wing at the time as well. Bush had spent 25 games as a player with the Kansas City Greyhounds of the American Hockey Association in 1938-39. The bulk of Bush’s coaching experience was in the amateur Canadian junior OHA league. His 32 game stint with the Scouts would prove to be his only shot at coaching in the NHL, and he would only enjoy one win.

Of Bush’s first game in Minnesota, a 9-3 loss, Star reporter Steve Marantz wrote the Scouts “shortcomings have become almost second nature. The forwards backchecked sporadically, the defensemen mishandled the puck, and everyone was caught out of position.” (1/29/76 Star) The only Scouts footage that I have ever seen comes from Bush’s first game. Skip ahead to the four-minute mark to see the Scouts getting torn apart by the North Stars:



The Scouts dropped their 14^th straight in Pittsburgh the next night, far and away the longest losing streak in the Scouts short history. Simon Nolet and Ed Gilbert both tallied points for the Penguins that night.

• The Scouts returned for Bush’s KC debut on the 31^st, another game against the Penguins. The Scouts managed a tie, their only point on the month. Despite the losing streak, Tanya inspired a season-high turnout of 12,471 fans.

• The brutal month ended with a 0-13-1 (.036) record, and drew an average of 9,250 in the eight home games. The press had gotten no wind of it if owner Ed Thompson had begun searching for a way to get the rid of the team.