My fearless blog found a major bump in the road on Day Three — a rain-out at Harbor Park. As big of a college hoops fan as I am, the idea of settling into a bar for five hours wasn't going to cut it. Besides I was pretty sure Memphis was going to take care of UCLA.
Luckily, the Norfolk Tides share an owner with the Norfolk Admirals, the AHL team right down the road from our hotel. Thankfully, I was able to get "the hook up" from the Tides — Thanks, Ian! — and headed to Scope Arena for the Admirals' home finale, or "Fan Appreciation Night," against the Albany River Rats.
Nothing says a Saturday night on the road like a goaltending duel between Marc Denis and Michael Leighton.
Let me cut to the quick, pun intended (Buffalo's Kevin Quick signed with the Admirals after being dismissed from the University of Michigan). You're probably wondering about the photo at the top of the column. Well, after the second period's give-aways — more on that later — I took a stroll around the concourse to see what kind of fare Norfolk was hawking (i.e. purchase a beverage).
I ended up running into an injured Admiral signing autographs, and struck up a conversation. Turned out he was Quebec's Mario Scalzo, an undrafted defenseman in the Lightning system (Tampa just finished its first season as Norfolk's parent club). In the course of conversation, we realized we knew some common folk — Scalzo plays summer hockey with friend and fellow quebecois Jason Pominville.
I turned around for a minute, and when I turned back Scalzo was being handed a baby by a lady friend. I asked him what his son's name was, but it wasn't his child. It was former Sabre Norm Milley, recently named Norfolk's 2007-08 Most Valuable Player, and relatively new dad. We got to talking about Buffalo, the NHL and Paul Hamilton amongst other things, and I snapped off a shot of Scalzo, myself and the Milleys — Norm and young Noah. Three nice fellas if you ask me. Scalzo looks like he could Pominville's brother.
Milley's had two very good seasons with the Admirals, and as hard as it is to believe, the Sabres' second round pick in 1998 is just 28 years old. He's played in 14 NHL games since leaving Buffalo, all with Tampa, registering two goals and an assist. He still keeps in touch with a number of the Sabres, including Pominville, Derek Roy and Ryan Miller.
I also met a great guy named Travis Brower, a former Helena Brewers assistant general manager who is the current Tides photographer and Admirals merchandise man. He pointed me in the general direction of a slick Admirals hooded sweatshirt with their battleship logo, and we're going to talk some more before Sunday's doubleheader and series finale at Harbor Park.
So, why all the positive talk? Isn't it my job to make jokes and rip on the idea of a relatively Southern town — and believe me Virginia is the South — having hockey? Some would lead you to believe so, and there is much to discuss on the negative side, but the Admirals fans are pretty hardy. Most were wearing some sort of Norfolk apparel, and I talked to several fans who had favorite NHL teams and just liked watching hockey (Colorado, the Rangers and Pittsburgh among them).
That said, some thoughts:
— The "Fan Appreciation Night" gift I got when I came through the door was a yellow water bottle with a phone company logo on it, and it contained more gifts inside. What, you ask? A plain red towel, blue lanyard, one week pass to a gym and a trial sized pouch of coffee grounds. Yay hockey!
— The Admirals' fans cheered when the team scored, but definitely louder during any one of the four fights between the two teams, and my, were they real brawls, not tap dancing like we see so often in the NHL. Albany's Trevor Gillies opened a mean gash on Norfolk's David Koci early on, but the real beating is one you should research on hockey fights web sites or youtube. Norfolk's Jay Rosehill simply hammered Albany's Ryan Weston. It's actually amazing the referees didn't step in earlier, and I wonder what Weston did to deserve so many punches in the face.
When each fight broke out, the PA would blare some variant of aggressive rock music. The one I recognized was the Avenged Sevenfold song from the Madden 06 video game. For Koci, that has to be the AHL signal call for him: "Gee, I used to fight in the NHL." Nothing says hockey like pseudo-metal and fists.
— Some prospects to look out for: the River Rats' Brandon Sutter and Jamie Johnson, as well as the Admirals' Paul Szczechura and Rosehill. Sutter's the most recognizable name, the 11th overall pick in 2006, and the son of Brent Sutter. The best way to describe his game is sound and smart. He'll be up with the Hurricanes soon enough. Johnson's very good with the puck, and has impressive vision on the power play. I detailed Rosehill's fight, and the 6'4", 215 defenseman must be missing something to not be up with the putrid Lightning. Szczechura had three points in Norfolk's 5-2 win, and that's why he bears mentioning.
— The Admirals gave away some pretty cool prizes. Besides the standard autographed Norfolk and Tampa Bay apparel, there were 16-lap NASCAR races behind the wheel, free roundtrip airfare and golf weekends. Which leads me to a story about the couple sitting in front of me, who might as well have been employees of WHIK. After golf weekend foursomes were announced, the couple said, "Foursomes? Whatever, sign me up for that." After a one night hotel trip was awarded, "One night stand? Sign me up for that." And eleven teeth between the two of them (No proof of this, but an educated guess).
— Denis is cheered like a hero in Norfolk, but I caught him looking around at the crowd a few times during play, as if to think about his former turn as the starting goaltender in Tampa Bay and Columbus.
— Quick will be an interesting prospect to monitor. He's a smooth skating defenseman, and plays his own zone in the same style as Henrik Tallinder. He'll take advantage of a hitting opportunity on occasion, but isn't terribly physical. He uses his stick very well for a 6'0" defender.
— Saw the Sabres highlights. So Thomas Vanek scored another three, huh, finishing with 36 on the year? His 17 power play goals are second in the league? Yeah, stinks that he's under contract for a while. I'm ticked the team missed the playoffs, but certainly doesn't hurt to have Vanek and Roy for a few years, does it? If you'll excuse me, I'd like to tend to all my January hate mail about No. 26, and the February stuff that said Brian Campbell was overrated.
I will say that as a hockey fan, it stung me just now to read the "Next Game: n/a" graphic on Yahoo! sports. It's another season ending with questions about heart. I'm also glad that Joe the Intern will be handling the Whiner Line after Jocelyn Thibault's shut-out, because I'd want to shove swords through my temples with the Ryan Miller talk, though No. 30 opened the door to long-term questions with his March and April. I don't buy the "over-played" excuse unless I hear it from Miller's mouth (Good luck with that, by the way).
— Lastly, Bisons play-by-play man Ben Wagner, clubhouse manager Scott Lesher and myself watched the Kansas/North Carolina contest at the hotel bar, and had a spirited NBA conversation with a young Seton Hall grad. It's good to know there are folks who like to talk hoops in the world.
— Double header tomorrow beginning at 1:15 p.m. Bisons home opener next Friday night at 6:05 p.m. Trust me, you'll want to be there. Go Herd, and see you all in Buffalo very late Sunday evening.
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