Mavs Home Opener November 3rd

The Mavs held a press conference earlier today.  You can read about all of the announcements here.  Of the big announcements, we have:

1. The Mavs home opener will be November 3rd at the Independence Events Center, narrowly missing the greatest month of hockey in Kansas City in over forty years.  Oh well.  But, yay, home opener!  The opponent is TBA, and the rest of the schedule has yet to be released.  The CHL has ten teams this year, losing Fort Wayne and Evansville to the CHL, and Rio Grande Valley and Dayton to operations cessation.  The Denver Cutthroats are the only new member.  Still a solid core of teams, though, and it would be interesting to know if the Mavs are biding their time for a move to the ECHL in the future.
2. All of the Mavs 66 games this season will be broadcast on KUDL 1660.  1660 is currently the radio home of the Kansas City T-Bones.  Good to have games on the radio, as any media saturation can only mean more exposure leading to even more sell-outs.  No word on if MetroSports will carry any games like they did two years ago.
3. The Mavs are having a FanFest September 8th at IEC.  Cool stuff.  You should go.
4. The Mavs have signed two players, Brian Bicek and Blake Forsyth.  Bicek had 33 goals last season for the Evansville IceMen, while Forsyth – a former Mav – returns after a year.  He tied Cole Ruwe for the league lead in plus/minus for defensemen with a +26 rating in 2010-11.  

Also, some guy named Gio Flamminio exists.  He doesn't play for the Mavs, but who cares.  What a name!

Oh yeah, and the Mavs are going very 'former Florida Panthers alternate jersey meets Denver Broncos logo' with their new design:

Eh, it's a pass, because why not.  It's fairly simple, even if there's a giant horse head on everything.

Charlie Effinger Leaves Mavs for Shot at the Big Time

Missouri Mavericks goalie Charlie Effinger (Eff-bomb) is leaving the team to pursue better opportunities in the hockey world.

From the Examiner:

Effinger has been flooded with offers following his brilliant 2011-12 season with the Mavericks, where they took eventual CHL champion Fort Wayne to the seventh game of the conference championship series. 

“This was never about money,” Effinger said. “Hilly and Brent know that – and I want the fans to know that they bent over backwards and offered me 18 different ways to stay with the team. But they couldn’t offer me what I can get in the ECHL.” 

When a player signs with the ECHL, he is basically a free agent and can be signed by any AHL team. 

Effinger signed a two-way contract last season with the Mavericks and Chicago, of the AHL. However, Chicago is goalie-deep and there is little chance Effinger can get a legitimate shot with the Wolves.

Effinger holds almost every Mavericks goaltending record by default.  He played 64 regular season games totaling 3,790:01 minutes with the Mavs – the most of any Mav goaltender – and went 41-18-3.  He started all eleven playoff games for the Mavs last season, going 7-4.

It is reported the defending CHL champs the Fort Wayne Komets are interested in signing Effinger.  The Komets made the jump to the ECHL after the end of last season.

You can't blame the guy for pursuing his passion, especially someone who has proven their level of talent is much higher than "AA" hockey.  It's too bad he can't take the spot on the AHL roster in Chicago, but it seems like it's just a matter of time he will land somewhere.  Only 26 years old and he gets to play hockey for a living.  Wicked sweet, eh?

Good luck to you, Eff-bomb, and thanks for the good times!  Have fun in the (real) world.

There Are No Minor Fans in the Minor Leagues : "AAA" and "AA" Attendance Comparison Charts

The Charlestown Chiefs real dedicated fans, not
those bandwagoners at the end of the movie.  Also, whatever
happened to the multi-colored seats in arenas?

I wanted to title this post "Looking at Minors," but I didn't want to send the wrong message.  This site gets weird traffic as it is.

Anyway, after the jump you will find comparative attendance figures for the American "AAA" and "AA" hockey leagues; the AHL, ECHL, CHL, and SPHL.  "AAA" and "AA" are baseball minor-league designation terms, and that is the reason for the " " marks around those acronyms or letters or whatever.  The charts are not sortable, because really, they don't need to be sortable for you to enjoy them.  When we combine the figures, we get some really fun results.  You should stick around for that.



First, let's see the attendance numbers by league from the 2011-12 season.  Overall attendance on the left, average attendance number per game on the right:

The AHL

AHL teams play 38 home games, the most of any American minor league.  Their attendance figures will fall well short of the last place NHL team (Phoenix Coyotes: 12,420), but they should remain above the other minor leagues just based on level of competition alone.  Just look where most of these teams are based: hockey-centric areas like the Northeast, and even in Canada.  One would assume these numbers should be well above the numbers of the feeder leagues.  The league saw 6,426,934 fans overall for a 5,638 per game average.













The ECHL

The ECHL, the self proclaimed "Premier 'AA' Hockey League."  Its teams play 36 home games, and the arenas are typically slightly smaller than what you find at the AHL level.  Featuring teams from Canada, Utah, Alaska, and Stockton, CA, it is no longer just an "East Coast" league.  Much like the CHL, the ECHL fluctuates in size each season with members joining, leaving, and suspending operations often.  At 20 members this past season, it is larger than the CHL, but smaller than the AHL.  Many of these players are on the same level of those in the CHL.  The league had 3,082,764 spectators this season for a 4,282 per game average.



The CHL

The CHL, the smaller of the two "AA" leagues, and home of the Missouri Mavericks.  Merging the "new" IHL and remains of the CHL a few years ago has proven to bring some stability to the league, although, like the ECHL, the league membership does fluctuate each season.  Its teams play 33 home games, and 462 games overall as a league (258 less than the ECHL).  Overall, the league had 1,867,801 spectators attend games this season for a 4,042 per game average.



The SPHL

The SPHL (Southern Professional Hockey League), added to this list due to its number of former ECHL and CHL franchises.  This league does not have affiliations like the ECHL and CHL, and is still fairly new (began in 2004-05).  Its members play 28 home games.  This season, the league saw 704,664 spectators for a 2,796 per game average.

Now, let's look at the combined chart of all four of these leagues 73 teams' attendance figures, sorted by highest average attendance to lowest:

Obviously, the AHL, the league with the highest attendance and higher level of competition has more teams in the top twenty than any other league.  The most surprising stat may be that the ECHL does not have a team until Ontario at #10, or that the ECHL and CHL have the same amount of clubs in the top twenty.  An encouraging thing for the SPHL is its teams interspersed with many ECHL and CHL teams.  Maybe a not-so-encouraging thing is the amount of CHL clubs towards the bottom.  And how about the former KC Blades rival in Fort Wayne?  Maybe that's an AHL town, after all.  Best thing about this chart, and a good sign for the growth of hockey: Knoxville and Huntsville of the SPHL are right there with some of the AHL bottom feeders.  You can look at the chart and infer what you want, though.  It's okay.  Really, you can.

Now, for a local perspective.  First, the Wichita Thunder had a great year on the ice and in the seats, ranking #13 on the list behind only nine AHL franchises.  Also, with over 200,000 fans, they would rank sixteenth in the AHL this season if they played in that league, possibly higher with five more home games.  Second, the Mavericks are number nineteen on a list of 73 teams, and they are only in their third year of existence in the CHL (the smaller of the two "AA" leagues).  They beat out over half of the AHL clubs (18) and almost all of the ECHL clubs (17) in average attendance.  They beat the AHL's Oklahoma City Barons in both average attendance and overall attendance in fewer games (I retweeted a good article from Kukla's Korner on my twitter page about the OKC Barons attendance issues.  Follow me!).  Last season, the Mavs saw 178,425 fans in 33 games, a 5,406 average; and in their inaugural season saw 157,935 fans in 32 games, for a 4,935 average.  The unofficial capacity for the IEC for ice hockey is 5,800, so the Mavs hit a 95.4% full capacity level this season.  The Mavs will need to sell out nearly every game next season to beat this season's total.  

Does this mean that KC can and will support an AHL club?  By no means does this chart say that, but, damn, if the Mavs played in the AHL while still playing at the IEC they would see more fans than half of the AHL just by staying 90% full all season.

Get Pumped

Get pumped.  Thursday night, 6:30pm CT.  Listen live here, or pay to watch on CHL-TV here.

Mavs One Win Away From Final (and One Loss Away From Ending Their Season)

Via

If you like Game Sevens to decide who goes to the CHL Finals, well, then you will love what the Mavs are doing right now.  After losing tonight to Fort Wayne in Game Six, the Mavs set up a Game Seven to decide if they move on to the CHL Finals to take on rival the Wichita Thunder.  Or they could just lose and end their season.  That's pretty intense!  But, don't just take my word for it.  If you want to know what it's like to be a part of a Game Seven series deciding game, just ask any Rangers/Senators/Panthers/Devils/Capitals/Bruins fans you know.  They'll tell ya.

Here are a few recaps of Game Six, and an article from the CHL site on the Berry Conference Champion Wichita Thunder.  Game Seven is Thursday night in Fort Wayne at 6:30pm CT.  Listen live for free on the Mavs site, or watch it live on CHL-TV (that costs money though).

Mavs Site: Mavs Fall To Komets In Game 6

KC Star: Mavs drop game on road

CHL Site: Thunder Advance to Presidents' Cup Finals

The CHL Playoffs: Just as Tough as the NHL Playoffs

Puck Daddy:  Why wait? Hockey fight during ceremonial puck drop before CHL playoff game

Last week I posted the video of the Penguins-Flyers brawl and shouting match.  With the bad blood between those two teams, their upcoming playoff series will be one of the most enjoyable to watch.  Easily, one of the most enjoyable to watch.

Well, not to be outdone, an intense fight broke out this past friday between CHL rivals the Texas Brahmas and the Allen Americans during Game 4 of their opening round series.  Observe:

Yes, that's a fight between Brett Clouthier of the Americans and Ryan Hand of the Brahmas DURING THE CEREMONIAL PUCK DROP!!!!  Of course, the Mavs could very well play one of these teams, but it would not be until the Cup Finals.

Your move, NHL.

Wow, That Was Fast

It only took six days, but the Mavs swept the Evansville IceMen in the first round of the Turner Conference bracket of the CHL playoffs.  Here are links to the summaries of each game, and video highlights (if available).


Game One
Mavs Win 3-2
Game One Summary
Game One Video:

Game Two
Mavs Win 7-1
Game Two Summary

Game Three
Mavs Win 3-2 in OT
Game Three Summary

Game Four
Mavs Win 3-1
Game Four Summary
Game Four Video:

This is the third time in three years of existence that the Mavs have made it to the second round of the playoffs, but the first time they have made it to the Conference Finals (the previous two years the second round was a semi-final round).

The Mavericks are patiently waiting for the winner of the Fort Wayne and Rapid City matchup.  Fort Wayne leads the series 3-1, and can wrap it up at home on Sunday.  As mentioned before, the Mavs tied the season series with Fort Wayne (1-1), and a 4-1 record against Rapid City.

On the Berry Conference side of the bracket, Wichita leads Rio Grande Valley 3-1, with the next game this Saturday in Wichita.  They will play the winner of Texas and Allen(, Texas...).  Their next game is this Friday at (North Richland Hills,) Texas.

Grab some Conference Finals tickets over at the Mavs official site.

Hey, also, you should be reading any and all of the hockey coverage on Grantand.  It's easy to avoid Bill Simmons if that's a problem for you.  So, what are you waiting for?  Go.  GO!

s/t to Katie Baker

2012 Champions: Stat-Nerding the Second Quarter of the Season

Mavs President and GM Brent Thiessen won the Commitment Cup! Whatever that is...

Welcome to the CHL All-Star break!  Your Missouri Mavericks are currently fifth in the seven-team Turner Conference with 35 points.  They are 16-13-3 overall, and are 8-8-1 with 17 points over the course of the second quarter of the season.  The Mavs are technically still a playoff team with this record.  They have 96 GF and 103 GA. 

2010-11 season, after 32 games:

18-11-3

39 pts

103 GF

90 GA

-7 GF and -13(!) GA from one season ago.  Where has everything gone so terribly wrong?

*C-Bass Thinel is still the team leader in points (9+30=39).  He has slipped into a tie for seventh in the league in this category.  There are no Mavs among league point leaders in the top twenty.  Thinel is tied for second in the league in assists, seven behind the leader.  Dale Mahovsky’s 30 points is second on the team (13+17=30).  The league leader has 48 points.

*The Mavs are ninth of fourteen teams in the league in goals for.  They are eighth in goals against.  That is very middle of the road-y.  Not good for a team that started the season with much of the same defense as last year, and brought in A LOT of offensive help.

*48 goals in the first fifteen games of the season (3.2 avg.), 48 goals over the course of the past 17 (2.82 avg.).

*In 2010-11, the Mavs had 103 total goals in their first thirty-two games (3.22 avg.), and 62 goals between Games #16-#32 (3.65 avg.).

*During this seventeen game stretch:

--15 goals over the first six games

--15 goals over the next four games

--The next game was the only time the Mavs have been shutout all season

--18 goals over the last six games

*Ah, but how about goals against?  The Mavs gave up 43 over the first fifteen games (2.87 avg.), but they have given up 60 over the past seventeen games (3.53 avg.).  During the seventeen game stretch:

--30 goals in the first eight games

--30 goals in the last nine games, including one shutout.

*In 2010-11, the Mavs gave up 90 total goals in their first thirty-two games (2.81 avg.), and 47 goals between Games #16-#32 (2.76).

*Speaking of defense, there have been eleven different defenders on this team over the course of thirty-two games.  Last season, the Mavs only used 8 defenders.  In fairness, J.P. Testwuide and Dustin Friesen are with the Chicago Wolves. 

*Remember when only one active defenseman had a negative plus/minus one quarter through the season?  Only Mike Wakita, Zach Carriveau, and David Simoes are in the positive (all with a +3; Carriveau is no longer with the team).

*There are no Mavs among the league leaders in plus/minus.  Wichita has four players in the top five, all with a combined +67.  Andrew Martens, former Wichita Thunder-er and current OKC Baron, has/had a +20.  The top three Mavs plus/minus are a combined +19.  Five current Mavs are positive.  Carlyle Lewis and JS Dickson have the worst plus/minus with -6 each.

*Vern Cooper played in 11 games, had 6 points (2+4=6), was a +5, took 26 shots, and recorded a .077 shooting percentage.  Now he is off to pursue his academic career.  Best of luck to him.

  

*Ryan Jardine, through twenty-seven games, has 8 goals, 10 assists, and 18 points.  After missing five games in the first quarter of the season, he has played every game in the second quarter of the season.  So, that’s encouraging.

*Did I mention the Mavs are not very good on the powerplay?

*The league leader in powerplay percentage is Fort Wayne with 25.45%.  They also have the least amount of opportunities in the league with 110, scoring 28 times.

*The Mavs are ninth in PP% (17.24%) with 116 opportunities and 20 goals.  Only Texas has had fewer PP goals (15).  Laredo also has 20, but only has scored 14.29% of the time.

*Record when the Mavs scored a PPG in the last seventeen games: 4-1-1

*Record when the Mavs failed to score on the powerplay in the last seventeen games:  4-7

*JS Dickson has 14 goals, and 5 of those have come on the PP.  He is tied for sixth in the league in PPG.  The league leader, Brandon Marino of Quad City, has 9.

*Thinel has 11 powerplay assists, which is tied for sixth in the league.  The leader is Todd Robinson of Evansville with 19.

*The Mavs have 3 shorthanded goals, thanks mostly to defenders (Pszenyczny and Kaunisto - before he was traded).  Rapid City, the league leader in this category, has 12.  Oddly enough, three of their top four goal scorers (Les Reaney, league points leader Jesse Schultz, and Shawn Limpright) are all in the top five of this category.

*The Mavs were fourth on the penalty kill at 82.6% with 12 goals against after the first fifteen games.

*They are now tenth at 80.49%, having given up twelve goals on the PK in the past seventeen games.  The league best is Allen at 85.42%.  The league worst is Dayton at 71.43%.

*12 of 43 goals against were on the PK over the first fifteen games, while 12 of 60 goals against were on the PK over the last seventeen games.  Something is wrong, but not just on the PK.

*The Mavs have given up 24 PPGA, which is three less than the league leader, Evansville, with 21 PPGA.  But, the Mavs seventh place standing looks amazing compared to Dayton’s league worst 44 PPGA.

*The Mavs have been shorthanded the third least of any team, 123 times.

*They are now ninth in PIM with 544 minutes, after being fifth for the first quarter of the season with 305.  They have recorded 239 minutes in the last seventeen games.

*No longer do the Mavs have any players in the league’s top fifteen most penalty minutes.  Carlyle Lewis is sixteenth with 78, and Pszenyczny is twentieth with 70.

*Gerry Festa’s stats before being traded:

--8 GP

--2-4-2

--24 GA

--3.00 GAA

--.904 SV%

*New Mav, and former Arizona Sundog, Levente Szuper’s stats this season (one game with Mavs):

--16 GP

--3-6-4

--43 GA (t-last)

--3.16 GAA (19^th)

--.919 SV% (t-4^th)

*Charlie Effinger is back with the Mavs, and is seventh in the league in SV % (.917).  Szuper is tied for fourth with .919%.  The leader is the backup in Dayton, Larry Sterling, with .928%.

*Effinger has started nine games over the course of the last seventeen games, and is 5-4 with 30 GA and one shutout.

*Effinger is fourteenth in the league in GAA with 2.94.  Szuper is nineteenth with 3.16.  The leader is Mark Guggenberger for Texas with 2.29 GAA.

*Just as an example of how injuries have caused turmoil for this team, the Mavs had fifteen players dressed, plus one goalie (Festa) for their game on December 20^th, 2011.

*The Mavs are 6-7-1 at home.  They have gone 5-4 since the first quarter of the season.

*The Mavs are third in average total attendance with 5,456 people per game.  Since the first five home games, the last nine have seen a 255 person average decrease.  The Mavs are safely in fourth in total attendance with 76,388, just under 3,000 behind Rapid City who has played three more home games.

*The CHL is nearing one million total spectators for the season.  The league has failed to achieve over two million total spectators only twice since 2002-03 (2008-09, 2009-10).

*The Mavs are 10-6-2 on the road.  This is among the league leaders.  They have gone 3-4-1 since the first quarter of the season, and 4-6-2 since the 6-0 road start. 

*The Mavs have had one losing streak of three games, and one losing streak of four (0-3-1 over that stretch).

*The longest winning streak, other than the six game streak at the start of the season, is the recent four game winning streak that ended this past Sunday.

*Andrew Courtney is the Mavs only All-Star game representative.  He is fourth on the team in goals (12), fifth in assists and points (10, 22), and is a team best +7.  He was a -2 with seven shots in the ASG.

*Former Mavs Kaunisto and Carriveau played for the hosting Arizona Sundogs in the ASG.

*The Chicago Wolves are in second place in the AHL’s Midwest Division, two points behind the Charlotte Checkers.  They have 106 GF and 96 GA, and are currently on a four game win streak.  J.P. Testwuide has played ten games and is a -2.  Dustin Friesen has played in nineteen games and has three points (1+2=3).  He is a +6.  Craig MacTavish is still the coach.

So, the Mavericks have not played exceptionally well over the second quarter of the season.  They are giving up a lot more goals, but also have to deal with the instability that comes with injuries, big league call-ups, and transactions.  This team still has not lapsed into being “streak-y,” but they do tend to struggle at times.  One area that they cannot afford to struggle is on the PK, where they have been so solid in the past.

The Mavs should not be happy with the offensive output from the first half of the season after bringing in a lot of players to help that issue.  It’s tough to blame the defense for being sloppy over the past few weeks, but the offense must come around for the last thirty games or so for the Mavs to even threaten to make noise in the playoffs.

As always, you can follow your favorite CHL team at their official site and at the CHL's official site.  Also, there is info on the KC Star's site, and every now and then on the Pitch's site.  Be sure to read Mavericks Weekly on the Mavs' site for all of the weekly updates and upcoming events at the IEC.

2012 Champions: Stat-Nerding the First Quarter of the Season

Pic borrowed from the CHL

After fifteen games, your Missouri Mavericks are a mere point out of first place in the Turner Division of the CHL.  That almost guarantees them a spot in the wacky CHL playoffs, and I think a first and second round bye, and a free Blizzard at Dairy Queen.  But, that's not important right now.  Of course, the season is a marathon instead of a sprint and all of that hot garbage, but it doesn't hurt that 80% of the league makes it to the playoffs...

Either way, the first half of the season has been very good to the Mavericks.  At 8-5-2 and with 18 points they have gotten off to the fastest start in franchise history (2009-10: 6-8-1, and 2010-2011: 7-6-2).  There are many factors contributing to the Mavericks success, and it all starts with the offseason acquisitions.

Here are a few bullets to think about:

How did the Mavericks get off to this decent start, well:

*C-Bass Thinel leads the team, and the league, in scoring with 24 points (6-18=24).  In fairness, Evansville's Todd Robinson has 23 points while playing two fewer games, but Thinel is clearly better than him since this is a KC hockey blog and not an Evansville hockey blog.  Although Robinson has one more assist than C-Bass, pushing our man to second overall in that category.  

*The Mavs are 7-3-1 when Thinel has a point.  They are 1-3 when he does not have a point (he had a shootout goal in the one win).

*Fellow forward Dale Mahovsky leads the team, and is in a six-way tie for third in the league, with nine goals.  Both Mahovsky and Thinel are on the positive side of plus/minus at this point, although nowhere near the league leaders.  First-year Mavs Ed McGrane and JS Dickson round out the top four scorers on the team.

*Mahovsky has the best shooting percentage on the team with nine goals on 38 shots (.237%).  McGrane has the most shots with 52, but only five goals (.096%).  Ryan Jardine has 22 shots, but only one goal (.045%), but is only the second worst among forwards (Lachlan MacIntosh, zero goals on ten shots).

*MacIntosh doesn't do much stat-wise (three points/assists, +1, two PIM in eleven games), but must pull his weight on the penalty kill to be starting so often.

*Ryan Jardine is off to a slow start.  He suffered a minor injury, he has five points (1-4=5), and has only played ten games so far.  He has not yet seen any time at the AHL level.  He had 54 points in 66 games a year ago.

*Record in games Jardine has played: 5-4-1.  Record in games Jardine has not played: 3-1-1.

*Does that mean anything?  Probably not yet...

*(Also, there is some guy named Cotton Yellow Horn playing for Allen that I never noticed before!  HOLY CRAP, name of the year candidate!)

*Vern Cooper has six points in eleven games, and is a +5.  Hopefully he is just warming up.

*The Mavs are tied for seventh in the league in goals for with 48.  They had 213 total last season.  One-fourth of that is about 53 goals, which means they are actually regressing in the goal department.  They had 200 total in 2009-10, which means they are ahead of schedule.

*In reality, the Mavs had 44 goals after the first fifteen games in 2009-10, and 41 goals after the first fifteen games in 2010-11.

*8 goals in the last five games (1-3-1).  40 goals in the first ten games (7-2-1).

*The average scoring has not translated well for the powerplay.  The Mavs are twelfth in the league at 17% on the PP.  Twelve goals on 70 opportunities.

*The Mavs have never had a good PP under head coach Scott Hillman.

*The Mavs did not actively seek to improve last year's league stingiest defense, and they have only given up 43 goals.  Last year they gave up 173 all season.  They appear to be just behind schedule in this department.

*The Mavs are fifth in total penalty minutes at this point in the season.  

*The Mavs are tied with one other team for the most players in the top twenty in penalty minutes with three.  Those three (Dave Pszenyczny, Mike Wakita, and Carlyle Lewis) total 136 of the team's 305 total penalty minutes.

*They are fourth on the penalty kill at 82.6%, giving up twelve goals.  At least they are pushing even on special teams.

*The Mavs have had one of the better PKs since last season.

*Only one active defenseman has a negative plus minus:  Pszenyczny with a -1.

*As advertised, Charlie Effinger is getting the majority of the starts (10).  Gerry Festa is not (5 starts).

*Eff-bomb is 6-3-1, the OTL being a shootout loss.  Festa is 2-2-1.  Neither have a shut out.

*Effinger has a 2.49 GAA (the league leader has a 2.15), and a .934 save percentage (the league leader has .939%).  Festa is serviceable with a 2.99 GAA and .901 SV%.  That is still better than Laredo and Rapid City's starters.

*The Mavs have won as many as six in a row (remember when they were undefeated?).  All of those were on the road.

*The Mavs were on a five game "non-win" streak until the other night, gaining one point during that time.  Three of those loses came at home, and make up the three game home losing streak the Mavs have currently. 

*The Mavs are 1-3-1 at home, as opposed to 7-2-1 on the road.

*The Mavs outscored their opponents 24-9 during the six game winning streak to start the season.  The Mavs were outscored 21-10 during their five game "non win" streak.

*Hillman thinks the Kansas-Mizzou rivalry is overrated.  Hmm... I respectfully disagree.

*Through five games, the IEC has the third best average attendance with 5,711.  That's over 98% capacity.  Good job everyone!

*The Chicago Wolves are fourth in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference after eighteen games played.  Needless to say, they are pretty average and do not have any glaring weaknesses or needs.  That can be a good thing for the stability of the Mavs, if you're into that kind of thing.

Bottom line, the Mavericks are 8-5-1 and in third, and the key players have remained relatively healthy (expect for Jardine for a few games).  Last season they really got it going mid-season, and then iced it at the end of the season to get into the playoffs.  If this team can stay away from being so streak-y, they should remain at the top of the standings.  This has to be the most talented team in the three years of the Mavs existence, but they don't play games on stat sheets.

What say you?  Have you been out to the IEC yet this year?  Watched online?  What have you seen?  Comments and opinions are welcome.

If you aren't already, you should be reading Brian McGannon's Mavs Insider.  Brian does a wonderful job gathering great insight from all of your favorite Mavs players, coaches, etc.  Basically anything you wanted to know about what Mavs personnel are saying about anything and everything.  Good stuff.  Read it!  

Also, be sure to read Mavericks Weekly every Monday on the Mavs' site for all of the weekly updates and upcoming events in Mavs World.

Of course, you can always follow your favorite CHL team at their official site and at the CHL's official site.  Also, there is info on the KC Star's site, and every now and then on the Pitch's site.

2012 Champions: The Mavericks Quest for the Cup Starts With Scoring

The Missouri Mavericks will win the Central Hockey League Championship this year.  No, they will.  Why?  Because they have bought all of the good players.  No, no, it's not what you're thinking.  It's not like the Yankees, Heat, or Eagles.  No, how childish of you.  But, yeah, it's totally kind of like that almost.  That's just what the good teams do.  Have good players that win games.




Jump to see how this will happen.









Having recently won the CHL's franchise of the year in 2010-11, the Mavericks are looking to add the Ray Miron President's Cup to their growing trophy case.  Now, it's easy to say that the team has been to the playoffs both of their years of existence, but we all know that's not really that impressive.  But, the Mavericks are looking to make it count this year by adding a little offense.


First, they signed forward Ed McGrane, recently off of a stint in Sweden.  McGrane joins the team with 512 points in 440 career games (1.16pts per game).  As the press release states, the biggest plus for McGrane is that he "played four full seasons with the CHL’s Colorado Eagles where he averaged 1.33 points per game and finished in the top ten in the CHL in scoring every season he was with the Eagles...(he) led the entire CHL with 44 goals during the 2009-10 season, his last season in the CHL."  He played in three championship series, winning the cup once.  He has also spent time in the ECHL and AHL.  Since losing 2010-11 point leader Nick Sirota and Todd Griffith who scored 25 points in 24 games, McGrane should be able to fill the role of a top six forward nicely.  Although there has no mention of last season's leading scorer Mike Berry resigning with the team, McGrane has the experience needed.  Plus, 45 goals in a season is more than 27 last time I checked.


But, it may not matter because they also signed last season's CHL leading scorer Sebastien (Sea Bass) Thinel.  He only had 110 points (35-75=110) last year, so, yeah.  He is also a CHL vet, spending all nine of his professional seasons with the now Junior A Odessa Jackalopes, acting as the captain last season.  "(He) has eclipsed 90 points in each of his last three seasons and has a total of 647 points ( 235-412=647) in 502 games played in the CHL...Thinel is a six-time CHL All-Star and two-time winner of the Joe Burton Award as the league’s scoring champion. He was awarded the CHL’s Most Valuable Player Award following the 2008-09 season when he led the league with 97 points and tied for the league lead with 38 goals."  So, he will probably help improve the 12th ranked powerplay (of 18 teams).  Odessa had the 5th best, scoring 19 more goals than the Mavericks.  He could fit well with McGrane, and with assist leaders Sirota and Toby LaFrance gone and a question mark respectively, maybe the two newbies will be forced to gel together.


Along with the announcement of Thinel's signing, the Mavs picked up former Calgary Flames fourth round pick Kris Hogg.  Only 25, he spent five years in the WHL, scoring 69 points (30-39=70) in his final season, and four years playing at Lakeland University.  He has lofty penalty minute totals (which could be a reason for his NHL demise), 495 minutes in the WHL, but at 5-11 180lbs, he will have to find a place in the top six, or maybe act as an energy guy on the third line.  Maybe the Chester the Terrier to Carlyle Lewis's Spike the Bulldog.

AND THEN....
The Mavs add even more top sixers to the lineup with the signing of one familiar face and three new guys.  Derek Pallardy returns, and despite having his best pro season last year, may get shuffled to the bottom six depending on who returns.  But, at +13, he is a valuable source to have on a penalty kill that was ranked 2nd last year.  He won't take an obscene amount of penalties, an example of the depth and discipline of this team.  Plus, he knows coach Scott Hillman's system and knows the IEC ice well.


23 year old Matt Dias also joins the team straight from the Italian League where he averaged a goal per game.  A scorer first, he had 21 goals in 22 games in Italy, and was 90-88-178 during a four season, 258 game stint in the OHL.  At 5-11 195lbs, he fits a similar mold of guys recently joining the team to provide goal scoring.  As Hillman says, "We have been pursuing him for a few seasons and are very happy to have him joining the Mavericks,” which makes it appear he will fill multiple roles on the team.  Definitely look for him on the powerplay, definitely look for him in the top six in some way.


And finally, the Mavs also grabbed 5'11, 185lbs (!) Lachlan MacIntosh and 6-3 214 pound John-Scott (J.S.?) Dickinson who played together at the University of New Brunswick and won three CIS Championships.  MacIntosh, a points guy, went 38-57=95 while in school and 112-115-227 in 156 games in Tier II.  Maybe a top six, but with so much depth, he may get pushed to a very effective third line.  Dickinson has played at the AHL and ECHL levels.  He doesn't score much, but he will provide the size and physical presence Lewis already desperately provides...


The top nine could look something like this:


McGrane-Thinel-(Berry/Jardine?)
Dias-Pallardy-(LaFrance?)
Lewis-Hogg-Nathan O'Nabigon/Dickinson


So, with a new look top six (potentially) this team can provide a little skill to go with the aggressive play of guys like Lewis, Cole Ruwe, and Mike Wakita.  Also, it's important to note that all defenders were positive in the plus/minus column except Dominic D'Amour who was -1 and is no longer on the team.  Take that!   Five have yet to be resigned, though.  Buy your season tickets now if you want to see the first Kansas City-area pro sports championship since the KC Sporting Wizards won in 2000.  Remember that?  No?  Oh.


Next up, a post on the goaltending situation that will only get better when they sign Michael Leighton or something ridiculous.