After playing two games in the American Hockey League, forward Adam Hobson said it felt like he never left Toledo.

“We got a really solid group in there and I came back and it was like I never left,” Hobson said. “Everyone’s just right at home and that’s credit to the coaches and to the team in there and the leaders in there.”

Hobson made his return known in the first period, scoring 9:37 into the game to give the Toledo Walleye (23-17-4) an early lead they never let go of against the Evansville IceMen (16-25-4) on Jan. 27.

The return of Hobson as well as Jordan Pearce made the difference in the 4-1 victory as Hobson’s first period goal was the only one scored until late in the third period.

Pearce, who was in Grand Rapids for six days, was just 40 seconds away from recording his third shutout of the season. He finished the night with 30 saves.

“I’ve been here for a while and I got to go up to Grand Rapids with the injury up in Detroit and I think it helped out a lot, practicing at that level, seeing the pucks come at us a little fast and be able to step in and play. It was nice to play at this level,” Pearce said.

In addition to Pearce’s defensive effort, the Walleye penalty kill stopped all four of the IceMen’s power plays. Toledo has now killed 14 consecutive penalties.

The penalty killing unit stepped up and killed a crucial penalty when forward Doug Clarkson was called for tripping with 11:46 left in the third period. Evansville, only down a goal at the time, put pressure on the defense and fired three shots on Pearce during the power play.

“The penalty kill, especially with those penalties late, did a tremendous job of cleaning it up,” said Walleye head coach Nick Vitucci. “Your best penalty killer has to be your goaltender and Jordan certainly was doing that.”

Vitucci said while the addition of Hobson and Pearce strengthened his roster, he had to change up his lines after a night he said was “as strong of a performance this team has had throughout the entire roster all season.”

“I just looked at it last night where the [Joey] Martin, [Andrej] Nestrasil, [Trevor] Parkes line was so good we didn’t want to touch that,” he said. “Willie [Coetzee], [Kyle Rogers] and Nino [Musitelli] didn’t contribute offensively last night and we’re thinking, we got Hobson, we’ll put him in the middle and move Rogers down with the grinders. It worked out well.”

Hobson scored the game’s first goal with 10:23 left in the opening period after taking a puck poked away by Evansville goalie Paul Karpowich and smacked the puck to the twine. Defenseman Joey Ryan and Musitelli helped set up the goal.

“The puck just bounced right to me and I took a little baseball swing and went in,” Hobson said.

Coetzee scored his 17th goal of the season when he fired a wrist shot over goalie Paul Karpowich’s glove to make the score 2-0 with 4:39 left in regulation. Musitelli also assisted the play.

“I think that one got a little bit of their D-man’s stick and changed direction just enough to get by him,” Vitucci said.

Coetzee added an empty netter with a minute left in the game to make it 3-0. Nestrasil and Cody Lampl picked up assists on the goal.

Evansville scored 20 seconds later when Kevin Baker got his shot past Pearce with assists coming from Jim McKenzie and Josh Beaulieu.

The Walleye lit the lamp one last time with 15 seconds left in the game to make the final score 4-1. Stephon Thorne picked up a rebound and beat Karpowich with the second-chance shot. Captain Kyle Rogers assisted the goal.

The win caps off a four-point weekend for the Walleye, who dropped their first game against the Kalamazoo Wings 3-1 on Jan. 25.

Toledo bounced back the next night against the Bakersfield Condors, scoring five unanswered goals to win 5-1.

The two wins this weekend came against two teams who are both in the cellars of their respective ECHL conferences. At 30 points, Bakersfield is the last place team in the Western Conference and Evansville is the bottom-dweller in the Eastern Conference with 36 points.

“Our league is one that there are no guarantee nights by any means,” Vitucci said. “We focus and prepare for this game like we were playing Cincinnati or Reading or one of the top teams as well.”

The Walleye travel to Cincinnati on Jan. 31 to face off with their division rival, who have a seven-point advantage over the Walleye in the standings, before heading home on Feb. 1 to host the Elmira Jackals.

The puck is scheduled to drop in Cincinnati at 7:35 p.m.

Tags: echl, hockey, Toledo, Toledo Walleye, Walleye, walleye hockey

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2013 at 11:32 pm and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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COLUMBUS — The Columbus Blue Jackets overcame a two-goal deficit, but could not close out as the Detroit Red Wings spoiled their home opener by winning 4-3 in a shootout on Jan. 21.

In a game that saw a total of 20 penalties, the Blue Jackets (1-0-1) capitalized on two power play goals in the final period to take their first and only lead for a short while.

A defensive breakdown, however, helped set up a back-door goal by Pavel Datsyuk with 6:04 left in regulation to tie the game.

“It was ours to win it at the end, so losing it in a shootout was a tough pill to swallow,” said Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson. “At the very least, we got a point out of it and every point is crucial in a 48-game schedule.”

Detroit’s special teams went 0-for-7 on the power play while the Blue Jackets scored twice on six chances.

“We need that in an 82-game season; special teams can win or lose you in playoffs, but we’re really going to need that now,” Johnson said.

The Red Wings (1-1-0) dominated puck control in the opening period, outshooting Columbus 13-5, but netminder Sergei Bobrovsky stopped every puck fired at him.

“If he’s not good in the first period, with their power play opportunities, we would have been in a very big hole,” said Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards. “In the first period, we were too sloppy. Some of the credit has to go to Detroit and how they played, but we’ve got to play better than how we played tonight.”

Columbus struggled to get the puck on net early on, getting its first shot on Jimmy Howard eight minutes into the game.

“You see your team compete and it makes you want to compete even harder out there for them and make saves,” Howard said. “We did a good job of getting on them quick but we took our foot off the gas a little bit, got into penalty trouble and you can’t do that in this league because they’ll make you pay.”

The Red Wings got on the board first early in the second on a goal by Brian Lashoff with assists from Mikael Samuelsson and Niklas Kronwall.

Detroit made it 2-0 with 5:54 left in the middle period after Ian White fired a one-timer set up by Johan Franzen to light the lamp. Datsyuk also helped set up the goal.

Columbus responded just 1:14 later when Cam Atkinson broke away and beat Howard to cut the deficit to one. The goal was Atkinson’s first of the year and Ryan Johansen and Derek Dorsett assisted the play.

The goal was a turning point for the Blue Jackets as momentum began to shift their way. With an energized crowd, Columbus began outhustling a stout Red Wings defense and started winning more of the battles for loose pucks.

“It was really big because at the time, there was no energy from the crowd,” Richards said. “We really didn’t give them many opportunities to stand up and cheer and Cam scored that goal and it kind of energized our guys.”

The final period saw eight penalties committed, five of them by Detroit, within a 14-minute span.

“It seemed like both teams were going into the box one right after the other, after the other,” said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. “I don’t know what to say, but they’re penalties because [the referees] called them.”

The Blue Jackets scored their first power play goal of the night just 3:24 into the third period when defenseman James Wisniewski ripped a slap shot from in front of the blue line to tie the game. Derick Brassard and RJ Umberger assisted the goal.

Columbus took the lead a little over five minutes later on its second power play goal.

Vinny Prospal found a loose puck in front of the net and beat Howard after Nikita Nikitin sent a shot over the net that bounced off the glass. Fedor Tyutin also assisted the goal.

The Red Wings scored the equalizer a little over five minutes later when Datsyuk took a pass from Kronwall and saw nothing but twine as he lit the lamp. Henrik Zetterberg also set up the goal.

Columbus had a chance to win the game in overtime with 3:17 left. The Blue Jackets had a 3-on-2 advantage, but Howard read the puck and made the save to end the scoring threat.

Detroit came close to scoring later in the overtime period when center Valtteri Filppula, in front of the net, tried to bury a puck past Bobrovsky, but the Blue Jackets defense cleared the puck away.

Atkinson went first for the Blue Jackets in the shootout and his shot was originally called a goal, but after officials reviewed the goal, it was overturned.

Damien Brunner was the fourth and final shooter for the Red Wings and his shot snuck behind Bobrovsky to end the game.

The Red Wings play their home opener on Jan. 22, hosting the Dallas Stars. The puck is scheduled to drop at Joe Louis Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Columbus plays again Jan. 23, heading to Phoenix to face off against the Coyotes. The action is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m.

Tags: Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, hockey, NHL

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 at 1:48 am and is filed under NHL, Sports.
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Within a day, the Toledo Walleye saw both of their netminders promoted to the American Hockey League.

Rookie goalie Kent Simpson was sent up to the Rockford IceHogs and Jordan Pearce moved up to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Jan. 20.

The Detroit Red Wings reassigned Tom McCollum from the Griffins to the NHL and gave Pearce the promotion up to Grand Rapids.

The 26-year-old Pearce has a 11-7-1 record in Toledo and started the year in Grand Rapids, going 0-3-0 with a save percentage of .847 and a 4.38 GAA.

He has two shutouts with the Walleye and is 11th among netminders with a 2.56 goals against average.

Simpson, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has a goals against average of 2.85 and a save percentage of .885 in 20 games with the Walleye (8-8-3).

Rockford hosts the Texas Stars on Jan. 21, the Chicago Wolves on Jan. 25 and the Oklahoma City Barons on Jan. 26.

Grand Rapids plays the Barons on Jan. 23 before facing off against the Houston Aeros on back-to-back nights beginning Jan. 25.

It is still unknown if either goalie will be back to Toledo by this weekend and as of now no goalies have been sent to Toledo, who plays three games in as many nights beginning Friday.

The Walleye host the Kalamazoo Wings on Jan. 25. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:05 p.m.

Tags: hockey, Jordan Pearce, Kent Simpson, Toledo Walleye

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2013 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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For the second-straight home game, fans at the Huntington Center witnessed a shootout and for the second-straight game, it ended with the Walleye falling just short of the win.

The Toledo Walleye let an early lead slip past them as they fall against the Orlando Solar Bears (15-16-4) in a shootout.

After firing a season-high 24 shots on net in the first period, Toledo (19-13-3) got overworked in the second and only got seven shots on net in the middle period.

“We had ample opportunity to and we ran into a good goaltender in the first period,” said Walleye Head Coach Nick Vitucci. “Disappointing in the second period? Yeah because we were overworked in the second period; as much as we outworked them in the first, they returned the favor and I thought the third period was evenly played.”

Orlando netminder John Curry made 39 saves as well as stopping three of the Walleye in the shootout, which they won 3-1.

“Sometimes as a goaltender, you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good and maybe [Curry] was very good and a little lucky, but that was a quality netminder over there,” Vitucci said.

The shootout loss is Toledo’s third of the season and the team is still looking for a way to win their first one this year.

Vitucci said his squad simply needs to “score more and stop more” when games come down to a shootout.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” he said. “From a goaltending standpoint, it’s a crapshoot and you hope you position yourself in a way where you make the saves and you hope their guy doesn’t.”

Toledo went 0-for-4 on power plays tonight, only tallying five shots when they had the advantage.

“We haven’t had time to work on it which is unfortunate with injuries and call-ups and just lack of practice time because of the holidays and so many games in so many few nights,” Vitucci said. “But that is something we have to get back on track and we did have some good opportunities, some of those pucks through the crease were on the power plays that we would have loved to bury, but we didn’t.”

The Walleye had plenty of opportunities, especially early on, having two solid scoring chances in the first minute.

The second of those coming after a shot went off Curry’s mask and began to trickle past him toward the crease, but defender Michael Wilson came in and saved his goalie.

Brandon Svendsen got the first goal on the Walleye’s 12th shot of the game. Forwards Terry Broadhurst and Adam Hobson assisted the Bowling Green alum’s first goal of the season.

The Walleye extended their lead to 2-0 after Kyle Rogers took a pass from Willie Coetzee and found the back of the net. Defenseman Phil Rauch was credited with an assist.

Orlando scored on just their third shot of the game with 4:58 left in the first period when Ryan Cruthers knocked a loose puck past netminder Kent Simpson to make it 2-1. Ryan Blair and C.J. Sveryn assisted the Solar Bears’ goal.

The Solar Bears tied the game at two with 10:12 left in the second on Scott Tanski’s fourth shot of the period. He needed every inch of the goal as his slap shot rung off the post before it broke the crease.

Orlando took the lead a little under a minute later after a turnover sent Ryan Reaves and Severyn on a two-on-none breakaway. Simpson had no chance to stop Reaves’s one-timer.

Toledo knotted the game at three with 2:10 left in the period on Cody Lampl’s second goal of the year. After taking a pass from the boards by Joey Martin, Lampl fired a wrist shot directly to the net from between the circles.

The Walleye had more chances in the third, outshooting the Solar Bears 10-2 in the third and 1-0 in overtime.

“Our backside pressure was really good this game,” Lampl said. “We didn’t really give up many odd-man rushes and that just helps with the overall defense. When our forwards are playing really well and cycling the puck and holding on to that puck possession, then it’s fairly easy to play defense.”

The loss tonight is Toledo’s third straight at home. They have a chance to right the ship tomorrow when Kalamazoo comes into town.

Jordan Pearce recorded his second shutout of the season as Toledo defeated the Wings 2-0 in Kalamazoo on Jan. 3.

The rematch is scheduled to drop on Jan. 6 at 7:05 p.m.

Tags: echl, hockey, Toledo, Toledo Walleye

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2013 at 10:38 am and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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Toledo’s goaltenders had an off night as they allowed five goals on 21 shots as the Walleye fell 5-3 against the Cincinnati Cyclones on Dec. 28.

The Cyclones (18-9-2), who now have a three point lead in the North Division over Toledo (17-13-1), scored two goals in the first six minutes of the game and never looked back.

“They make the most of their opportunities and I think they made the most of non-opportunities, unfortunately,” said Toledo Walleye Head Coach Nick Vitucci. It’s the way it goes sometimes. I think you could line up hundreds of pucks in those areas where they scored and they’re not going to let one by them, but unfortunately three of them snuck by them and put us on our heels against a first place team. It’s tough to come back from a two goal deficit.”

After starting netminder Jordan Pearce allowed the fourth goal, Vitucci swapped Pearce for Kent Simpson to take over between the posts with a little over half the game left to play.

“I thought [Simpson] did a good job; that’s a tough position to come in when you’re shorthanded for three minutes coming cold off the bench,” Vitucci said. Our goaltenders have been so strong for us all year and we’re not throwing them under the bus by any means. You win as a team, lose as a team.”

The Walleye had plenty of chances to keep it close despite the off night defensively. Toledo outshot the Cyclones 37-21 and went 0-for-4 on the power play.

“It was one of those games where we had some chances, but we just didn’t capitalize,” said Toledo forward Joey Martin. “That’s just hockey, it’s the way it goes.”

Cincinnati got the offense started just 54 seconds into play on an odd-angle shot by Michael Pelech that found its way to the twine.

Pelech, who played with Toledo for 10 games last year, had five assists with the Walleye.

The Cyclones added to their lead with 14:03 left in the first on a David Pacan goal. Pacan, who just exited the penalty box, took a pass from forward Dan Eves and led an odd-man rush that resulted in a wrist shot that beat Pearce.

Toledo got on the board with 11:55 left in regulation on Ben Youds’s fourth goal of the year. Youds took a pass from Doug Clarkson and fired a one-timer from the slot. Clarkson’s assist is his first of the season. Forward Travis Novak also assisted the play.

The Walleye had several opportunities to tie the game. Not even 30 seconds after Toledo’s first goal, Andrej Nestrasil fired a shot that rung off the left goalpost.

Also, with about five minutes left in the opening period, forwards Joey Martin and Brad Raedeke had an opportunity to tie the game. Martin sent a past up ahead to Raedeke, who appeared to have beaten his man and had a chance for a quick shot, but he lost the puck in front of the net.

Cincinnati scored in the second period to make it 3-1. Garret Wilson took a cross pass from Eves and sent it past a diving Pearce. Nello Ferrara also assisted the goal.

With 10:51 left in the middle period, Walleye defenseman Cody Lampl was ejected after a hard hit that sent John McFarland head-first into the boards.

Lampl was called for boarding and a game misconduct.

“I was trying to get the team fired up,” Lampl said. “We were down 3-1 right after a goal. It’s hard for me to stop my momentum once I’m committed.”

Lampl said he talked to McFarland, who received stitches and returned to the ice later in the game, afterward and made sure he was OK.

“We all share the same love for the game and family stuff,” he said. “We just want to make sure he was all right and he was understanding and understands where it was coming from.”

Cincinnati capitalized on the five minute power play and scored just 1:13 into the advantage on a Josh Shalla goal to make it 4-1. The goal was Shalla’s 12th of the year.

The Walleye got a spark of life after Joey Martin sent a shot past Foster with 6:04 left in the middle period to cut the deficit to two goals. Kyle Rogers sent a pass from the point to Martin, who turned and scored the shorthanded marker.

“It was time to press,” Martin said. “Rogers made a good second effort and poked it right to me and I was all alone and put it right through the five-hole.”

Cincinnati scored with 8:16 left in regulation to put the game out of reach. Maury Edwards fired a shot from in front of the blue line past Simpson to get his second of the season. Defenseman David MacDonald assisted the goal.

Andrej Nestrasil scored a goal too little too late to make the final score 5-3. Defenders Wes O’Neill and Youds assisted the goal, which was scored with 5.1 seconds left.

The loss keeps Toledo in second place in the ECHL North with 35 points. In addition, the Walleye have now dropped four of their last five games.

They return to action Dec. 29 when they host the Kalamazoo Wings.

The puck is scheduled to drop at the Huntington Center at 7 p.m.

Tags: echl, hockey, Toledo, Toledo Walleye

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2012 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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Due to injuries at the next level, the Toledo Walleye saw four players get called up to the American Hockey League on Dec. 17.

Forwards Andrej Nestrasil and Luke Glendening along with defenseman Gleason Fournier have been reassigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings. In addition, the Chicago Blackhawks sent forward Philippe Paradis to its AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Walleye head coach Nick Vitucci said that while he was expecting Paradis and Fournier to be leaving around now, seeing Nestrasil and Glendening — two of Toledo’s highest point collectors — leave was a “well-deserved surprise.”

“They have been fantastic for us and deserve the opportunity to at least showcase their abilities at the next level,” he said. “We’re thrilled for them.”

As far as filling the empty slots, the Walleye already received forward and former Bowling Green State University player Brandon Svendsen from Rockford. Svendsen was in Toledo and practiced with the team Dec. 18.

Vitucci said left winger Doug Clarkson and center Adam Hobson should be “100 percent” and taken off the injured reserve list by this weekend, when the Walleye face the Greenville Road Warriors on back-to-back nights in Greenville, S.C., beginning Dec. 21.

“We’re replacing good players with good hockey players, number one; it presents an opportunity for players here to step up their game now too,” Vitucci said. “We always look at these as a positive step, number one; good players having an opportunity to play at the next level and number two, good players in our locker room now assuming maybe more of a role. They become more dependent on the success of the team and it allows them to step their game up.”

Svendsen, a native of Maplewood, Minn., played college hockey at BGSU from 2005-09. In 148 games as a Falcon, he scored 32 goals and 44 assists.

After college, Svendsen played with the Idaho Steelheads, Elmira Jackals and Kalamazoo Wings. In addition, he spent time in the AHL with the Binghamton Senators and in Rockford.

Last season, he tallied 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) in 39 games with the IceHogs before being injured in the last game of the season. This weekend will be his first action of the 2012-13 campaign.

Nestrasil departs Toledo in the midst of an eight-game point streak, scoring a goal and 10 assists in that span. He has 24 points on the year (7 goals, 17 assists).

He tallied 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 103 games last season between Grand Rapids and the Walleye.

Glendening, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., lit the lamp 14 times, ranking him second among all rookies in the ECHL in goals scored this season.

Fournier played nine games with the Walleye this year and is a +3 on the ice. This six-foot defenseman recorded four penalty minutes during his short span with Toledo.

Paradis also spent a short time in Toledo, playing in five games after being sent down from Rockford. He had two assists in 14 games with the IceHogs.

The Walleye travel to Greenville, S.C., to face the Road Warriors on consecutive nights. The first of two games at the BI-LO Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 21.

Tags: Andrej Nestrasil, Gleason Fournier, hockey, Luke Glendening, Philippe Paradis, Toledo Walleye

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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Take me out to the hockey game?

Fans typically flock to Fifth Third Field to watch the Toledo Mud Hens play baseball, but in late 2014 that will not be the case.

The Toledo Walleye announced Oct. 11 that hockey will move from inside the Huntington Center to Fifth Third Field as part of Winterfest 2014.

The outdoor game, scheduled for Dec. 27, 2014, will be part of a 10-day Downtown festival, beginning Dec. 26, which will showcase an outdoor ice rink assembled on the field.

“The Toledo Walleye are thrilled to host this unprecedented outdoor event,” said Joe Napoli, president and general manager of the Walleye and Mud Hens at a press conference Oct. 11. “Our fans have been clamoring for an outdoor hockey game and the Toledo Walleye Winterfest is the perfect way to showcase old-school hockey while also featuring other winter sports and events.”

ProMedica is sponsoring the festival.

Kevin Webb, president of ProMedica’s Toledo Hospital, said Winterfest will be working with venues such as the Toledo Museum of Art, Imagination Station, The Toledo Zoo and the Toledo Symphony for the 10-day festival.

“The community can expect this to be one of the best events that Downtown Toledo has seen in years,” Webb said at the press conference.

While specifics are still being planned, there will be other winter and family-oriented events throughout Winterfest. In addition to hockey, Winterfest will feature an outdoor open-skate at Fifth Third Field or the Huntington Center as well as activities such as broomball, curling, live music, ice sculpture demonstrations and fireworks.

“This event is all about our community and our region,” said Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica. “We are extremely proud to be able to present a week of family-oriented holiday activities that will showcase our city and its finest attributes as well as generating a significant positive economic impact for our community.”

The concept of an outdoor hockey game is not new, as the game started on frozen ponds and rivers.

The first NCAA outdoor hockey game was on Oct. 6, 2001, between the Michigan State Spartans and the University of Michigan Wolverines. “The Cold War” ended in a 3-3 tie.

Since 2008, the NHL has hosted its annual Winter Classic on or around New Years Day. The first Winter Classic was held in Orchard Park, N.Y., between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

The 2013 game, which is in jeopardy due to the current NHL lockout, is scheduled to be at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor and will feature the Detroit Red Wings facing off against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For more information, visit toledowalleye.com/winterfest.

An artist's rendering of the Winterfest Walleye hockey game planned for Fifth Third Field in December 2014. Illustration Courtesy Toledo Walleye

Tags: Fifth Third Field, hockey, ProMedica, Toledo Walleye, WinterFest

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Community, Sports, Walleye hockey.
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The teams playing inside the Huntington Center for the Walleye season opener Oct. 13 will look familiar, but the players will be different.

With changes made to both rosters throughout the week, the Toledo Walleye and Kalamazoo Wings teams will not be the same teams that met during exhibition games Oct. 5-6.

After introducing the team during a Media Day on Oct. 10, Walleye Head coach Nick Vitucci said about 70 percent of both rosters had changed since the exhibition games.

The Walleye added goalie Petr Mrazek and forwards Luke Glendening, Willie Coetzee and Andrej Nestrasil from the Grand Rapids Griffins.

In addition, the Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, sent goalie Kent Simpson and forwards Terry Broadhurst and Byron Forese to Toledo.

The rest of the team will add some stability and allow younger players to be built around this older core, Vitucci said.

“We know if [older players are] not called up or hopefully not injured, that they’re going to be here,” he said. “We feel if we have a core that is going to stay intact, then we can certainly get a lot more accomplished.”

Walleye captain and right-winger Kyle Rogers said helping newer players adjust to the system of play is crucial to building chemistry on the ice.

“It’s a matter of getting guys to gel together and buy into the systems the coaches are giving us,” Rogers said “The [defensive] zone, the power play, whatever it is, getting these guys to buy into the system and know that you have another layer behind you and knowing that if you do mess up, you’ve got two other guys that are behind you backing you up. It’s a matter of getting confidence and gelling together.”

Helping the new players feel comfortable will also help the team come together faster, said left-winger Randy Rowe.

“You can’t come to the arena for two hours or three hours a day and expect to get to know someone,” he said. “We’re all here for one reason. We want to win and guys want to get to the next level and you can’t do that by yourself. You need five other guys you’re out there on the ice with or 20 other teammates.”

Rowe, who scored 41 points for the Trenton Titans last season and 49 points for the Walleye in 2010-11, said better chemistry begins off the ice.

“It’s one of those things where you get them to feel comfortable around everybody and [the faster] we all feel comfortable around each other, the faster we’re going to gel,” Rowe said. “The past few days we’ve all been hanging out quite a bit and doing a lot of team things. Every meal is together and we’re all starting to get to know each other and have some fun.”

The Walleye won their first exhibition game 5-4 in overtime in Kalamazoo on Oct. 5, but fell 3-2 the next night at the Huntington Center.

“Those games really didn’t accomplish much more than an introduction to our system and what we want to do, but the teams are going to have new personnel with both hockey clubs,” Vitucci said.

For more information, visit www.toledowalleye.com.

Tags: hockey, Kalamazoo Wings, Kyle Rogers, Nick Vitucci, Randy Rowe, Toledo Walleye, Walleye

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2012 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Sports, Walleye hockey.
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One of the best-kept secrets in local sports is the Toledo Cherokee junior hockey team, which has made the playoffs every year since it formed in 1992.

“That’s a fantastic feat at any level in any league, to position yourself to make the playoffs every single year,” sid associate head coach Chris Tarsha. “That’s another drawing point for kids that want to come play here. They know what they’re going to get when they come to the Cherokee. It’s a first-class organization that is well-coached and disciplined.”

Head coach Scott Syring is in his second stint with the Cherokee after leading the team to a national championship in 1998.

Before he started coaching, Syring played defense at Ohio State from 1985-88.

“I was a take care of business type of guy,” he said. “I killed a lot of penalties for the team. I didn’t play a whole lot my sophomore year. I chipped away and worked my way into the lineup. I ended up playing more than half the games my junior and senior year. I learned the defensive side of the puck. We coach in a defensive manner. We put a lot of emphasis on taking care of our defensive end and knowing that will be a benefit to us in the offensive end.”

The Cherokee hired Syring as an assistant coach for its inaugural season in 1992 and promoted him to head coach the following season. He led Toledo to an appearance in the title game in 1997 and the team returned to win the title in 1998.

“The team we were playing in the championship the previous year had the experience, so our guys were real nervous and we struggled in that game,” Syring said. “We had a lot of veterans returning, so we were loose and did well to win it.”

Syring left the Cherokee in 1999 to spend more time with his family.

“I had newborn triplets, a boy and two girls,” he said. “In 1999, I had basically had enough. My kids were 2, so I stepped down. I knew eventually I would continue to coach youth hockey. I took a hiatus from coaching until my son was 5. Once my son got involved, I pretty much threw my energy at him and his teams. I followed the Cherokee at a distance.”

The Toledo Cherokee play at the Ice House on Alexis Road.

The time spent coaching younger players helped Syring redefine his coaching style.

“I stepped back to youth and really enjoyed my time,” he said. “Kids are different. There are less distractions. They really want to learn. They are very astute and listen well. When you talk with them, you can’t bark as much as you can with the older kids. You have to be a little more politically correct with how you talk with them and correct their errors. It helped my coaching because I learned how to communicate at a different level. Hopefully I’ve brought a lot of that into my second tenure with the Cherokee.”

Syring became head coach of the Cherokee again in March 2010. While he enjoyed his time with youth hockey, he’s happy to be coaching in the juniors again.

“The majority of the kids you have at this level are pretty serious about what they want to do with the sport,” he said. “Very few kids will come to this level and put up with the expectations of the coaches and the team if they don’t want to move ahead. The majority of kids here are trying to play at some level of college hockey.”

According to Syring, one of the main goals of the Cherokee is to help advance players to college or higher levels of junior hockey.

“We really focus on talking to the kids about continuing to play for another four years once your junior eligibility was up,” he said. “I always tell the kids that nobody ever asked me in a job interview how many shifts of Division I hockey I played. They are primarily interested in were you able to balance being a scholar athlete. I took care of my grades, and they would see I got awards for being a student athlete.”

One of the main goals for the Cherokee is also one of the main setbacks to coaching junior hockey.

“We only expect to have kids for a year,” Syring said. “This year we only have three returning veterans. The biggest challenge is meshing all of the attitudes in the locker room in a very short period of time. We’ve always been fortunate that our reputation has allowed us to get a group of kids who are willing to accept the direction that we want to take them.”

One of the returning players is forward Joe Skrzynski, whose 14 points lead the Cherokee this season with eight goals and four assists. Forwards Ryan Kelly and Patrick Smiatacz are tied for second with 13 points each, and Smiatacz is third on the team with 28 penalty minutes.

“We don’t have anybody leading the league in scoring, but we have a lot of balance from top to bottom,” Syring said. “We have a lot of Cherokees in the top 25 of the league. We try to stress we are going to win games through balance. That is throwing four strong lines out there and wearing teams down. We have a lot of depth from top to bottom.”

The Cherokee play junior hockey in the North American Tier III Hockey League (NA3HL). Junior hockey consists of players ages 16-20. The team is 5-4-1 this season through Oct. 13 and is in first place in the North Division.

Syring recruits players from around the world, but the Cherokee roster has plenty of ties to Toledo.

Defensemen Donnie Nagle (featured in this issue’s cover photo) and Brad Wadsworth, both seniors at Northview High School, have been reunited after years of playing for different teams. Both players spent last season playing Triple A hockey in Michigan. Wadsworth played for Sault Ste. Marie and Nagle for Culver.

“We played together a while back when we were real young,” Nagle said. “He moved up to Michigan playing Triple A, too. It was kind of crazy having him come back and be teammates again. Most of the time he’s my penalty kill partner.”

“I played with him on my very first travel team in Toledo,” Wadsworth said. “We kind of went separate ways. We’re reunited here our senior year, probably our last years in Toledo. It’s nice playing with him again and playing in Toledo again. It’s the town I’m from and grew up in. I’ve always known about the Cherokee organization. I used to live two doors down from coach Syring, so I know him pretty well.”

The step up from Triple A has been welcome challenge for both players.

“There is a lot more hitting in this league,” Wadsworth said. “It’s a lot of 20-year-olds trying to make it to the next level. Triple A was a lot of guys under 18 still trying to learn the game. This is a big step.”

“It’s a great experience right now,” Nagle said. “It’s a whole different experience to what I’ve been playing. I was up in Triple A. This is so much faster and so much more physical than any other level I’ve played at.”

The speed of the game has also been an adjustment for goalie Austyn Roudebush, a 2011 Whitmer High School graduate.

“It’s a little faster and some harder shots, but I’m used to it,” he said. “I play Triple A in the springtime, and it’s about the same.”

For defenseman Mareks Kepals, his first season for the Cherokee has been a different level of adjustment. He is originally from Liepaja, Latvia and is still getting used to playing in the United States.

“I was playing in Sweden and I couldn’t play anymore because I was getting older,” Kepals said. “I got a call from the Boston Junior Blackhawks. The coach wanted to see me play in the United States at a higher level. I went to Boston to try out and they took me to play there.”

Kepals came to Toledo to try out for the Toledo Walleye. After they told him he was too young, he came to play for the Cherokee. Just like Nagle and Wadsworth, he is adapting to the physical level of play and has missed time due to bruised ribs. The 19-year-old is the largest player on the Cherokee at 6-ffot-5-inches and 225 pounds. Kepals put his size to use in a 6-3 loss at Queen City on Sept. 11, racking up 27 penalty minutes.

“There is a lot of hitting here,” he said. “Europe is more about the skating.”

For players like Kepals attempting to make it on a professional hockey team, Tarsha serves as an example and an inspiration.

Tarsha graduated from Waite High School in 1988 and played center at Ohio University from 1988-93. The team finished third in the nation twice during his career and won the National Championship the season after he left.

“The experience of playing there was fantastic,” Tarsha said. “It’s nice now that we have three kids who have come through the Cherokee program who are down there now. If we can continue to fill their roster every year, it only helps the Cherokee name.”

The Cherokee host Battle Creek Oct. 21-22 at the Ice House, located at 1258 W. Alexis Road.  Both games start at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are available for $5. Toledo outscored Battle Creek 23-1 in their first two games this season at the Ice House.

“Our kids work extremely hard,” Tarsha said. “It’s very physical hockey. It’s good hockey. It’s a great bargain for anybody in the city of Toledo who is looking for something different to do on a Friday or Saturday night. You get to see a good product on the ice.”

Tags: hockey, Ice House, Toledo Cherokee

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Featured, Sports.
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Self-doubt began to creep in during the third hour, but it all washed away when Matt Mahalak heard his name called. The 18-year-old Monroe, Mich., native was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes June 25 in the sixth round of the 2011 NHL Draft.

“It’s one step closer to living out my dream,” he said. “It’s really an indescribable feeling. It’s an honor and a privilege. There are so many different emotions you feel. You’re excited and nervous, but you know you still have a lot of hard work to do, so you don’t want to be too excited.”

Matt Mahalak

Mahalak went 8-8-4 this season with a .908 save percentage and 3.07 goals against average for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League. He was one of only eight goalies invited to participate in the NHL draft combine and was the 11th goalie drafted.

With several goalies ranked ahead of him falling farther than expected, Mahalak began to worry he might not get drafted.

“The only rough part was the long wait from the second round all the way until the sixth round on Saturday,” Mahalak said. “There were not a lot of goalies being drafted. The guys ranked ahead of me weren’t going. It made me very nervous. It made it that much sweeter when my name did get called, because I was so worried it wasn’t going to happen.”

As Mahalak began to think he might not get drafted, he almost missed hearing his name called.

“Right before the pick, I was getting ready to turn around and talk,” Mahalak said. “I don’t even remember what I was going to say. As soon as I turned around, my brother was grabbing my arm and making me stand up because my name had just gotten called. It was kind of a weird moment. As soon as I stood up and realized he wasn’t joking, I hugged all of my family. It took me almost five minutes to get through the hugs.”

Attending the draft in St. Paul, Minn., was a nerve-racking experience, but Mahalak said he managed to enjoy himself.

“I had a phenomenal time, because I have family from Minneapolis,” he said. “Thursday night I stayed at my grandma’s house. I had around 25 family members there at the moment I got drafted. It was really cool to be able to share all this with my family.”

His family knew to pay attention when the Hurricanes were at the podium because Carolina owner Peter Karmanos owns the Plymouth Whalers. The team has a history of drafting Plymouth players, including backup goaltender Justin Peters. The youth hockey team Mahalak played for is also owned by Karmanos.

After celebrating with his family, Mahalak headed to the podium and was handed a Carolina jersey and hat for a photo opportunity. He then met Carolina’s general manager, scouts, head coach Paul Maurice and former player Ron Francis.

“He’s a guy I used to watch on TV, and now I’m shaking his hand and he’s telling me congratulations,” Mahalak said. “It was really a cool experience.”

Mahalak talked with Maurice again in the Hurricanes suite and discussed the summer schedule, including a weeklong camp and a prospect tournament. They also talked about Carolina goalie coach Tom Barrasso.

“He’s had a lot of success with Cam Ward,” Mahalak said. “Coach Maurice gave me a few pointers about how Tom likes to coach. It was very interesting hearing the head coach’s perspective of the goalie coach. He had such a successful career. I’m excited to meet him, work with him and learn as much as I can from him.”

Ward is one of several young goaltenders Mahalak has kept an eye on, including Steve Mason, Marc-Andre Fleury and Carey Price.

“I’ve followed all the guys who have been junior players like myself and made it big,” he said. “They did it, and I can do it, too. They’ve given me inspiration.”

Mahalak hopes to work with Barrasso on evolving beyond his butterfly style into more of a hybrid goaltender.

“Butterfly is a big part of the game, but it’s not the only part,” he said. “You still need to be very active. My positioning is very sound. If I can find the balance between solid positioning and being active, that can lead to a lot of good things.”

Mahalak is returning to the Whalers for another season while he attempts to earn an NHL contract.

“Just being drafted isn’t a guarantee,” he said. “My focus right now is to play as well as possible for the Whalers and win a lot of games for them. Come next summer, we’ll be able to reevaluate where I stand with the Hurricanes.”

He will again compete for playing time with Scott Wedgewood, who was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the third round of the draft last year.

“I’m going to be able to be much more competitive this season as far as battling for the starting job,” Mahalak said. “I hope to play in many more games than I got in this season. We’ll have to see how that plays out.”

Tags: Carolina Hurricanes, hockey, Matt Mahalak, NHL

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 30th, 2011 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Sports.
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