Linz bids 2008 adieu

With the end of 2008 upon us, the Black Wings bid goodbye to another year of rebuilding. It seems to be one step forward, two steps back with this team and what I am not ashamed to say, I wonky 2008-2009 season disc. I've never seen so many 1D's, centre-only designations, and a 15 goal game is becoming the norm these days.

Kyle Wellwood (one of the 1Ds mentioned above) is no longer lining up with Jason Spezza and Marty St. Louis on the 1st line. Patrick O'Sullivan has taken over the role and performs about as well as Wellwood did last season. Those three score the lion's share of the points for the Black Wings as scoring depth remains an issue. Martin Hanzal's numbers are decent though he needs more work in his own end. Eric Perrin's rating were a disappointment and thus he's not contributing what we expected he would this season. The addition of Steve Reinprecht hasn't sparking any new offense though some line juggling is on the way and after only two games it's too early to tell.
The defense, formerly a Linz strong point, has taken a beating thanks mostly to injuries. The new top pairing of Norstrom and Robidas is sounds, but it falls hard after that. Jordan Leopold's bright spark was snuffed out thanks to injury last season and he's not looked the same since. Andy Greene and Jeff Schultz have also battled injury already this year.
The emergence of Pascal Leclaire in goal has helped, but he's sputtered in 2008 -2009 in the NHL and has lost his job to Steve Mason. Unless he gets traded soon, Linz will once again be without a goaltender in the off-season, a common theme seemingly year after year.
Next year's crop of rookies looked promising at the beginning of this year's NHL campagin. owever, that too has been snuffed out by injury and poor play. The above-mention demotion of Leclaire will hurt, Patrick O'Sullivan spent a good chunk of the early season in the doghouse and this has affected his ratings. Zach Bogosian and Derrick Brassard both started out on fire, but now both are out with long-term injuries. Martin Hanzal hasn't grown as expected, Boyd Devereaux wallows in the minors, and neither back-up goalie is even playing in the NHL anymore.
On a bright note, Michael Ryder has re-emerged as a scoring threat and is on pace for a 30 gaol season. Kyle Wellwood also has found new life in Vancouver and shouldn't be far behind Ryder's totals. Hopefully we've either moved from APBA by then, or he doesn't get saddled with a 1D again. All in all, Linz's fortunes this year have been very much like the NYSE's, a little up, and a lot of down.

Free Agency and Draft Over - Linz Reflects

With summer coming into full swing, the Black Wings management got down to business continuing the rebuild of the team's roster before heading to Croatia for some much needed beach time.
Linz had a few holes to fill with the retirement of Eddie Belfour and the departure of some of the character players that really round out a team. To that end, Linz signed up Bobby Holik, JS Aubin, and Matthias Norstrom.
Bobby Holik played last season with the Dayton Musicmen, but mostly in a supporting role. The massive Czech will likly find a little more playing time in Linz in perhaps a 3rd line centre role, mentoring players like Patrick O'Sullivan and Martin Hanzal in honing their defensive skills.
JS Aubin, a perennial back-up goalie will fill the same role with the Black Wings after the emergence of Pascal Leclaire.
Matthias Norstrom played with the Ronin last season and he's the defensive defenseman that Linz really found lacking last season. He won't find much time on the power play but will be called upon to battle against other teams top forwards.

With free agency tinkering complete, Linz turned to the future and the draft and with their first two picks selected Atlanta Thrashers prospects. Obviously the biggest splash that the Black Wings made was coming up with a gold nugget in Zach Bogosian. Zach is a big, smooth skating defenseman with a big shot and who is not afraid to get physcial. While it might be a stretch to say he'll be in the CCHL next season, don't be surprised if he is.
Linz also selected Daultan Leveille, a 17 year old speedster who surprised many when he was drafted in the 1st round out of Ontario Jr. B. Daultan could be a future offensive star, or could be a complete bust, this pick was a gamble for Linz.
For thier 3rd round pick, Linz selected another defenseman in Quebecker Yann Sauve. We were surprised to see this young man still available this late in the draft but there has been some question about whether or not Yann is developing as well as he could be. Being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks and moving to pro hockey should light a fire under him and get him back on track.
Linz didn't have a 4th round pick, but round 5 saw the Black Wings land Jerome Flaake, a German left-winger who tore apart opposition in the Koln Haie (Sharks) of the DEL last season.
Round out the draft, Linz used their last two picks to grab Darryl Boyce (and over-aged Toronto Maple Leafs prospect) and Samuel Groulx (another Quebec defenseman to join Yann Sauve).

2007-2008 Season Ends - Goodbyes Begin

The 2007-2008 CCHL season mercifully ended last night with a 4-3 loss to the Havana Moon at Eissporthalle Linz. The game was close all night, and tied 3-3 with only 8 seconds to go in the third period when unlikely goal scoring Shane Hnidy scored (his first goal of the season no less) on the power play after Todd Fedoruk took a stupid penalty with less than a minute to go. In the game, Michael Ryder managed to hit the 30 goal mark, and Derrick Walser scored his 9th and Jiri Hudler scored his 2nd.

While some teams get set for the second season, the Black Wings began saying their goodbyes. Tops on the list was Eddie Belfour, who announced his retirement at the end of the season. Other Black Wings that have likely played their last game with the Linz team include enforcers Donald Brashear and Todd Fedoruk and non-scoring centreman Shawn Bates.

The season's best Black Wing was of course Jason Spezza, who with linemates Marty St. Louis and Kyle Wellwood, formed a fearsome scoring line. Spezza managed 38 goals and beat the 100 point mark, a first ever for a Linz Black Wing player (in 2002-2003, Marty St. Louis led the team with 51 points). Kyle Wellwood's 79 points were a happy surprise and leading the team in +/- was a shock considering his well documented defensive liabilities.

Looking to the future, the Black Wings in 2008-2009 will likely see some players providing a much bigger presence while others may fade into the woodwork. Patrick O'Sullivan, Jiri Hudler, Eric Perrin and Scottie Upshall all look to provide more punch next season. They will have to help replace Michael Ryder and Kyle Wellwood who perhaps played beyond expectations this season but will both reutn next year. Pascal Leclaire is the goalie of the future and with Belfour's retirement, Leclaire will look to be the #1 man next year between the pipes. Martin Hanzal also looks to be ready to join the big club full time next season as well.

The Wings would like to thank all their fans for coming out this year, and putting up with a lot of frustration. The team prosmises to be better in the future while maintaining a core of talent that's been with the team for years.

Losing Skid Continues

The Black Wings seem to be heading into the end of the season looking like a train wreck. The Black Wings, perhaps having enjoyed a few too many mojitos, looking like they were playing the wrong sport as the Moon manhandling them 6-0. Outside of the final score, the Moon dominated every aspect of the game, 40-18 in shots on goal, faceoffs, passing. Linz only was able to get one power play in the entire game, and by the time is happened, the score was already 3-0 late in the 3rd. It also marked the second bad outing for Pascal Leclaire after a string of decent if not entirely productive outing of late.

With only four games left in the season, the Black Wings have nothing left to play for than pride, and it doesn't come easy these days.

Leclaire Finally Nets First Win of the Season

Pascal Leclaire (pictured) shone tonight as he picked up his first win of the season, beating the Havana Moon, 3-1. The first line of Jason Spezza, Kyle Wellwood, and Marty St. Louis continued thier hot streak (2 points each) and Michael Ryder added a goal just as Havana looked like they might get back into the game. Jason Spezza was a shocking 22-3 in the face-off circle on the night as well, ripping mainly into Eric Staal and brought his season point total to 95.

Linz took the lead early in the 1st period on Kyle Wellwood's 19th goal of the season on a stellar pass from Spezza. Early in the 2nd period, Spezza added one of his own, this time on a rebound off of a Martin St. Louis shot and Linz headed into the 3rd on unknown ground, holding a 2-0 lead, perhaps the worst lead in all of hockey. Only 32 seconds in the 3rd period, Alex Ovechkin scored his 32nd and brought the Moon within one and many of the fans in the Eishalle thought this was the beginning of another Black Wings 3rd period meltdown. However, midway through the third, Michael Ryder intercepted a Ric Jackman pass and was left all alone to spring down the ice and deposit the puck behind Marty Biron to make it 3-1 and seal the deal.

Overall the game was a small bright spot after a loss against Southwest the night before (despite the heroics of Spezza-Wellwood-St. Louis) and the night before travelling to Karlstad for their third game in three nights. Making tomorrow nights game even more difficult will be the fact that Jordan Leopold, Linz' #1 (when healthy) defenseman left the game again. He'll not suit up in Sweden and may indeed be lost for the rest of the season after managing only 52 games this year. Andy Greene will take his place in the line-up as the Black Wings play out the rest of the season.

Wisborg blows away Black Wings

Scott Gomez and Martin Straka of the Wisborg Donuts dismantled the Black Wings tonight 5-2 in Linz. Heavily outshot 58-22, the Black Wings spent most of the game playing in their own end of the rink and even more time shorthanded as some rather unbalanced refereeing led to 9 power play opportunies (and two goals) to Linz's one chance with the man advantage. The lone bright spot for the Wings was two goals by Jordan Leopold (pictured), his 7th and 8th of the season (with Spezza assisting on both goals). Stephane Robidas took 4 minor penalties himself and Donald Brashear added three of his own.

Linz will continue to play out the season on Sunday against River Cities. Pascal Leclaire and Kyle Wellwood should both be back for that match. The playoffs continue to slide out of view as well, as Portland won tonight.

Linz and Predators play dirty in Stinktown

Linz fell behind three goals early against the Hamilton Predators in Steeltown in a rough and tumble affair for a Tuesday night. Hamilton owned a 2-0 lead 1:11 into the 1st period on a goal by Sheldon Souray and it seems that at that point the Black Wings had already decided the game was unwinnable and began taking it to the Predators physically.

Just over a minute after the 2nd goal, Todd Fedoruk (pictured), perhaps in an attempt to spark his team, laid a beating on Jordin Tootoo and the game only got uglier from there. Midway through the 2nd period, Mark Streit lacde Boyd Devereaux into the boards. This led to an long delay at Jordin Tootoo took revenge for his Fedoruk beating out on Donald Brashear. Neither Devereaux nor Streit returned to the game after the incident. Donald Brashear also got a 10 minute misconduct for instigating and saw no more ice this evening after the incident. Kyle Wellwood also left the game in the second period in an apparently unrelated incident.

The rough play continued in the 3rd period as Todd Fedoruk and Sheldon Souray got into it again, however, only roughing minors were called but in the ensuring chatter, Sheldon Souray was given a 10-minute misconduct was hit the showers early. Somewhere in this mess, Garnett Exelby scored his first goal of the season.

Pascal Leclaire started again tonight and is still hunting for his first win of the season. He faced 35 shots on a night when the Black Wings defensive woes were glaring, 44 completed passes to 16 intercepted, but if you take out Greg Zanon's 13-0 record it's 31-16.

Kyle Wellwood, who has played a surprisingly successful role on the left wing of Jason Spezza and Martin St. Louis will miss a game or two. Boyd Devereaux, not so lucky, will likely be gone for the remainder of the season. Scottie Upshall is rumoured to be replacing Wellwood on the first line tomorrow night. Rookie Patrick O'Sullivan will replace Devereaux on the 2nd line against the Sandblasters of Hawaii on Wednesday to show of parts of what will likely be an integral part of the Black Wings 2008-2009 team.