2014-15 Albany Devils and ECHL Thread

[thefiestygoat]

The Albany Devils opened their season with a 5-1 victory over the Adirondack Flames. New Devil, Paul Thompson, led the way with 4 goals, a +3 rating, and 7 shots. Joe Whitney picked up 3 assists on Thompson's goals. Stefan Matteau added a goal and an assist with a +2 rating, 2 shots, and 2 penalty minutes. Seth Helgeson, Brandon Burlon, Dan Kelly, and Scott Timmins each had an assist. Keith Kinkaid made 34 saves on 35 shots to earn 2nd star honors while Thompson was the first star. Adirondack outshot Albany 35-30. Albany was 1/3 on the PP and 3/4 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet. Below are the highlights with some weird musical selections.

 

Scratches: Chris McKelvie (Lower Body Injury), Kelly Zajac (Lower Body Injury), Myles Bell (No Contract Yet), Ben Johnson, Ben Thomson, David Wohlberg, Reece Scarlett, Joe Faust, Maxime Clermont

 

Notes:

-- Alexander Carrier, Tom Hartnett, and Renat Mamashev were released from their tryouts. (Times Union)

-- Myles Bell will be signed by the organization eventually. (TG)

-- The Devils will send players out to various ECHL teams this season. (TG)

[nessus]

Wow, that really sucks for Mamashev. I'm actually pretty surprised he couldn't get signed to an AHL contract. Back to the KHL for him, I guess.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

One of those once-in-a-lifetime games for Thompson...he's never been much of a goal-scorer to date.

[Satans Hockey]

I don't think it warrants a new thread but I'm at the first Leigh Valley Phantoms game for their new arena. Really nice here. I'll post some pictures later.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Satans Hockey

[thefiestygoat]

I don't think it warrants a new thread but I'm at the first Leigh Valley Phantoms game for their new arena. Really nice here. I'll post some pictures later.

Looking forward to seeing them. The arena is just under an hour away for me so I'm going to try to see Albany when they play there. Plus get some Waffle House.

 

 

Albany lost to Bridgeport 5-4 via the shootout. Scoring for Albany was Bernier (Sestito), Timmins (Thompson, Hrabarenka), and Hrabarenka twice (Thomson, K. Zajac, Burlon). Kinkaid made 29 saves on 33 shots and stopped 1 of 3 shootout attempts. Sislo had the lone Devils goal in the shootout. Timmins with 7 shots and Whitney with 5 shots helped the Devils outshoot the Sound Tigers 39-33. Kelly picked up 17 penalty minutes for taking on Pedan who recieved a game misconduct for a hit on Matteau. Matteau didn't play the final two periods. Thomson picked up a fight in his debut. Albany went 1/3 on the PP and 4/5 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and a lackluster highlight package:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-RVqS_QJTA

Notes:

-- Myles Bell officially signed earlier this week to an AHL deal.

-- Albany got to play the new AHL OT rules: 4v4 for the first 3 minutes, then 3v3 for the final 4 minutes.

[Devilsfan118]

I don't think it warrants a new thread but I'm at the first Leigh Valley Phantoms game for their new arena. Really nice here. I'll post some pictures later.

I was there last night as well, really nice little place. Quite an atmosphere for, what, 9000 fans?

Had a blast.

[thefiestygoat]

Albany defeated Bridgeport 3-2. Scoring for the Devils was Thompson twice (Hrabarenka, Whitney) and Janssen (Thomson, D. Zajac). Wedgewood made 24 saves on 26 shots. Thompson, Thomson, and Hrabarenka had 4 shots each as the Devils outshot the Sound Tigers 31-26. Albany went 0/3 on the PP and 4/4 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

Lines and Pairings thanks to Bill Cain:

Whitney-Timmins-Thompson
Boucher-K. Zajac-Sislo
Sestito-Pelley-Bernier
Janssen-D. Zajac-Thomson

Helgeson-McPherson
Harrold-Scarlett
Kelly-Hrabarenka

Notes:
-- Paul Thompson has 6 goals and an assist in 3 games. He had just 8 points in 30 games with Springfield and 7 points in 39 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year. Shooting 46% helps...
-- Raman Hrabarenka has 2 goals and 2 assists in 3 games. Still just 22 years old and in his 3rd professional season.

-- Interesting to see the pairing of Helgeson-McPherson together again this year, they were the shutdown pair last year.

[Devils Pride 26]

Think Hrabarenka could be trade bait?

[Triumph]

I don't.  Teams don't really want other teams' defensemen, and Hrabarenka was an undrafted free agent.  Still, I like his development.

[thefiestygoat]

Albany defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4-0. Scoring for the Devils was Sislo twice on the PP, Sestito (EN), and Boucher. Burlon, Boucher, Whitney, Timmins, and D. Zajac picked up an assist each. Kinkaid stopped all 22 shots he faced. Albany was outshot 22-17 but went 2/5 on the PP and 4/4 on the PK. Sislo, Kinkaid, and Boucher were the 3 stars. The game featured 4 fights with the combatants for Albany being Hrabarenka, Bernier, McPherson, and D. Zajac. Kelly, McPherson, and D. Zajac picked up game misconducts with under a minute left. Here is the gamesheet. I'll edit in the highlights when Albany fixes them.

Notes:
-- According to Bill Cain, Matteau is out indefinitely with an "upper body" injury.

-- Janssen also left the game with an injury.
-- Kinkaid 10th shutout ties the franchise record. He is also 1 win away from tying Frazee's franchise record of 65.

Edited October 22, 2014 by thefiestygoat

[RowdyFan42]

Darcy Zajac also picked up an instigator in that final-minute donnybrook, so an automatic one-game suspension has kicked in.  He will miss Friday's game at Hartford.

 

From the "Where are they now?" file, good old PL3 himself, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, is with WBS.  Not surprisingly, he also found himself participating in the last-minute festivities.

 

Last night's highlights (minus the fighting):

 

[thefiestygoat]

Albany defeated Hartford 7-3. Sislo and Thomson scored 2 goals, while Whitney, Thompson, and Timmins added a goal each. The pair of Hrabarenka and Kelly was a +4 with a combined 3 assists and 4 shots. Kinkaid made 27 saves on 30 shots. Albany was outshot 30-27 and went 1/5 on the PP and 6/7 on the PK. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

Notes:
-- Myles Bell was loaned to Evansville (ECHL).
-- Albany has now earned 9 out of a possible 10 points.
-- Kinkaid tied Frazee's franchise record of 65 wins.
-- Thompson has 7 goals and an assist in 5 games.
-- Sislo has 4 goals in 5 games.
-- Thomson has 2 goals and 2 assists in 4 games.
-- Hrabarenka has 2 goals and 3 assists in 5 games. Edited October 25, 2014 by thefiestygoat

[Derlique]

Huh. Thomson really looks like he's adjusted well to the pro game

[thefiestygoat]

AHL
Albany defeated Hartford 5-2. Scoring for the Devils was Whitney, Pelley, Timmins, D. Zajac, and Hrabarenka. Burlon had two assists while Sestito, Boucher, Timmins, and Bernier each had one. Wedgewood made 26 saves on 28 shots. Albany outshot Hartford 33-28 and went 1/4 on the PP and 5/5 on the PK. D. Zajac, Wedgewood, and Timmins were the three stars. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSTfyGCnuQc

Notes:
-- Albany has now earned 11 out of a possible 12 points.
-- Burlon has 5 assists in 5 games, he had just 6 assists in 54 games last year.
-- Timmins has 3 goals and 5 assists in 6 games.
-- Hrabarenka has 3 goals and 3 assists in 6 games.

ECHL
Evansville defeated Indy 4-2
Myles Bell RW: -1, 5 Shots (Most shots amongst players for both teams)

[NewarkDevil5]

AHL

Albany defeated Hartford 5-2. Scoring for the Devils was Whitney, Pelley, Timmins, D. Zajac, and Hrabarenka. Burlon had two assists while Sestito, Boucher, Timmins, and Bernier each had one. Wedgewood made 26 saves on 28 shots. Albany outshot Hartford 33-28 and went 1/4 on the PP and 5/5 on the PK. D. Zajac, Wedgewood, and Timmins were the three stars. Here is the gamesheet and highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSTfyGCnuQc

Notes:

-- Albany has now earned 11 out of a possible 12 points.

-- Burlon has 5 assists in 5 games, he had just 6 assists in 54 games last year.

-- Timmins has 3 goals and 5 assists in 6 games.

-- Hrabarenka has 3 goals and 3 assists in 6 games.

ECHL

Evansville defeated Indy 4-2

Myles Bell RW: -1, 5 Shots (Most shots amongst players for both teams)

Wedgewood played one helluva third period and in particular in the last five-ten minutes of the game while it was still 4-2.

[Jerzey]

Damn Albany is tearing it up so far.

[ak926]

What's the ticket prices to see the Albany team ? What a 2 hr drive from NNJ ?  I'm in Rockaway

[Chuck the Duck]

Glad to see Albany start off so well.  Hopefully they can keep it up and have a deep run in the Calder Cup playoffs this season.  It will be interesting to see how their attendance turns out by the end of the year if they do have a good product on the ice for the fans to come watch. 

[Triumph]

Thing is, I still don't think this Albany Devils team is any good, but we'll see - always good to get off to a hot start.  If Wedgewood can be a .910 goalie this team has a shot at the playoffs, but I'm curious where this club will be after 20 games.  I doubt it's on top of their division.

[SterioDesign]

Santini is out for the first half of the season, wrist surgery. sh!tty.

[RowdyFan42]

What's the ticket prices to see the Albany team ? What a 2 hr drive from NNJ ?  I'm in Rockaway

 

http://www.thealbanydevils.com/single-game-tickets

 

Game day prices are:

• $17 on the ends
• $20 in the corners (and down low in the end where the Devils attack twice)
• $23 center ice
• $27 on the glass
• Kids and seniors: the Devils site says $2 cheaper, Ticketmaster says $3 cheaper, I forget which one is correct

Advance tickets are $1 cheaper, but if you're buying on Ticketmaster, the fees will more than eat up that dollar.  You shouldn't have to worry about getting your tickets in advance, though, unless you want to; you can almost always walk up to the box office on game day and get decent seats.

[NewarkDevil5]

Another good game for Albany tonight. They won 4-2 in front of what looked like 150 people. Seriously they'd do Fan Cams and show three people with an entirely empty section surrounding them.

[thefiestygoat]

Another good game for Albany tonight. They won 4-2 in front of what looked like 150 people. Seriously they'd do Fan Cams and show three people with an entirely empty section surrounding them.

http://blog.timesunion.com/hockey/black-timmins-help-devils-overcome-two-goal-deficit/18424/

 

Announced crowd of 1,689.

 

Black had two goals while Timmins and Sislo added one each. Matteau had two assists while Thompson, Bernier, Hrabarenka, and McPherson picked up an assist each. Kinkaid made 30 saves on 32 shots as Albany was outshot 32-17 including 14-3 in the third. Albany went 1/5 on the PP and 4/5 on the PK. Black moved back into the lineup for the injured Kelly Zajac and Matteau returned from injury and took Boucher's spot. Here is the gamesheet. Highlights should be coming later, looks like they've are having an issue with them again.

 

Bill Cain has an interesting article on Hrabarenka and the lines and pairings:

Whitney-Timmins-Thompson

McKelvie-Sestito-Bernier

Matteau-Black-Sislo

Pelley-D.Zajac-Thomson

Burlon-McPherson

Kelly-Hrabarenka

Helgeson-Harrold

 

Some Stats:

Keith Kinkaid: 5 GP .934 SV%

Stefan Matteau: 3 GP 1-3-4

Mike Sislo: 7 GP 5-0-5

Raman Hrabarenka: 7 GP 3-5-8

Scott Timmins: 7 GP 4-5-9

Paul Thompson: 7 GP 7-2-9

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Albany is shooting 16.5% as a team...opponents are shooting about 6.8%.  Suffice it to say that won't last, on either end. 

[vadvlfan]

Nice to think we've got some talent 2.5 hours up the road if we need help.