Hockey in New Mexico : The off season.

Pictures: Andy Smale & Jamie Herrington , Peter Kennedy , Rob Guinn
It seems that we will have Jamie Herrington with us this year. He played with us in 06-07.
It will be nice to have my favorite singing Scorpion back.
I am glad your back Herry.

Dominic Osman is going to be playing with the Komets. Good luck Dom. You will be
missed here.

Kevin Harvey is off to the Komets. Good luck Kevin.

Jason Tapp from the Rays will be playing for the Komets. If goalies don't count against the
Vets rule as I was told. Someone in the CHL should have been smart enough to sign him.

Vlady Hartinger is off to Italy & I hope he makes it back should we make the playoffs.

Rob Guinn's death makes me ponder life. I hope that the Scorpions organization does
something for the educational fund for his daughter Olivia. He was our Captain & his
memory deserves the respect he got in life. Keep Brooke in your prayers.

Jason Baird is making great progress since his horrible accident. Keep him in your prayers.

We are all one big family. You never know how much you can count on them till you need them.

Hockey in New Mexico

Well it almost hockey season & there are changes in the air.
Unsung hero that won't be returning.
Some Fan favorites that won't be returning,
Old Scorpions that are returning.

Each new season brings ups & downs for the fan.
Players that smile & say the P.C. thing.
It's all part of the dance that is hockey.

A poem by Heather Current

This poem was written by Heather Current.
She gave permission to use it.

Hockey Players

Tommy , Tommy is so fine
Cacciola just blows my mind.

Skiehar is nice & sweet
Doninic Osman loves to eat.

Jay Holiday lives to smile
Aaron MacInnis just walked down the isle

Conrad Reeder is consistent
Chris Robertson is assistant

Andrew Smale is easy to sight
Kevin Harvey LOVES to fight

Andrew Martin is quick , Holy Moly !
Mike Minard is our other goalie

All the others shine
Randy Murphy coaches all the players down the line.

Sylvian Michaud in NM.

The New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League announced they have signed Sylvain Michaud. The 6 foot one inch, 188 pound goalie comes from Le Gardaur, Quebec , Canada.

The 23 year old goalie was a number 9 round draft choice of the New York Islanders in 2004. He was number 276 overall draft pick.

He played in Drummondville from 2001-02 till 2004-05. His 3rd year there he played
53 games. He was 22-23-7 that year. He faced 292 goals , his save percentage was.908. He was traded to Rouyn Noranda mid season where he played 29 games . He had a 17-7-3 season there with 303 goals against .

Sylvain's career moved to Chicoutimi in 2005-06 where he played and had a 30 -12 record. Here he had 4 shut outs for the season. His team gave Patrick Roy fits. The rivalry between the 2 teams was very intense.

Sylvain played at the University of Quebec at Trois Riveres in 2006-07 . There he
a GAA of 2.15 and a .913 save percentage.

Here in New Mexico he might start out as a back up goalie but with hard work
he could share the ice with Andrew Martin. I am looking forward to seeing him
adjust & grow into a even better goalie.

A new Season

Here are pictures of Vladimer Hartinger , Aaron McInnis & Andrew Martin . Our returning players. Billy McCreary is pictured in the article before this one.
History in the making folks. LOL Players signed before September. What is the world
coming too? Some people are such asses.

In fact Welcome to all the resigned Scorpions. I am looking forward to the other
players that haven't been announced yet. I am crossing my fingers for a few more
of my favorites getting resigned.

Corpus Christi isn't going to have hockey this year. I will miss my hockey friends there. Geno Parrish , Adam Hogg , Adam Powell , Brad Smith ( former Scorpion ) &
one of my favorite Goalies Jason Tapp.

Austin Icebats , according to the Central Hockey League won't be in operation next year. I have heard that some players aren't looking for teams yet because they
haven't heard from the owners when I last talked to them. Jason Tessier , RG Flath & Miguel Beaudry will be looking for teams.

The Youngstown Steelhounds are going to a different league. Former Scorpions Chris
Richards , Jeff Alcombrack & David Simoes , Jeff Genovy will be in another league or
look to get back to a CHL team.

There will be a new team in South Dakota. The Rush. They will be getting players from
each team to help fill their first year rosters.

I look forward to the start of the new season and getting to know the new players
as well as being happy to see old friends. Hopefully the price of gas won't stop
me from going on some road trips to see my hockey friends that live away from New
Mexico.

Would you believe it!

Well it's only May 29th 2008 & The Scorpions have 3 players signed. How can this be?
People on the Scorpions boards say this doesn't happen till September. Looks like
someone was full of shit. LOL

Welcome back to Vladimer Hartinger , Andrew Martin & Billy McCreary!
There will be a warm welcome for this trio of players from last year.
Andrew Martin will be a 2nd year rookie. My guess is he will improved from last year.
Vladimer Hartinger was our Captain & I look forward to that repeating this season.
Billy McCreary was a welcomed addition to the defensive corp & my guess is he will
Play even better this 08-09 season.

Welcome back to New Mexico all of you.

Life in the off season & other thoughts.

For a hockey lover nothing is worse than the off season. Players want to play & fans want to watch.
Fans scan emails , websites & MySpace to glean any news of the season to come.

We are waiting for the favorites to return, waiting to see what rookies will appear. Hating the league for
it's stupid "Vet" rules. Who is a favorite for some may not be for others.

We wait to see what "enforcers" will protect our boys. Will there be Coaching changes? Who will be our
Captain?

Owners change , GM changes , teams fold , teams struggle. Ticket prices , barn food , the price of beer.
Can't smoke in the barn , the price of jerseys, auctions , tailgates & taking pictures.

Hockey is the greatest sport ever.
Now the NHL'ers are playing for "The Cup". Lord Stanley's Cup is the oldest trophy in professional sports.
Last year I got to see it and touch it. The names appearing in each ring , representing years gone by. It
gave me chill bumps. Over a year later I still get choked up thinking about the players who struggled so hard
& gave their all to earn the right to hoist that Cup over their heads.

Every player as a boy dreams of that moment. Skating with that Cup held over his head. Every player in every
league has had that dream.

The fans have that dream for their favorite players. Dave Andrechuck played 22 season in the NHL before he
won The Cup. To dream so long & then finally able to savor the pure joy of that last win. Then there is no
pain ! Just happiness.

Minor League Hockey

There is hockey outside the NHL. There are smaller leagues where guys are living the dream.
There is the Central Hockey League, that covers an area from Youngstown Ohio to Corpus Christi Texas. From Broomfield Colorado to Prescott Valley Arizona. Most of Texas has a team or had a team in the CHL.
Yes , Bunkie New Mexico has a hockey team. Rio Rancho New Mexico is home of the New Mexico
Scorpions.
The Scorpions started in Albuquerque 11 years ago. They played in Tingley Coliseum an old metal building that had rodeos & monster trucks shows . But that didn't stop an average of 4,000 plus people from coming for every game.
The players come from Canada , The Czech Republic , Slovakia , Boston, Michigan and anywhere else. They love playing hockey. They are living their dream. They aren't working on the farms or in the factories. They work hard to hone their skills , spend long hours in buses on road trips and entertain the fans home & away.

We have players on our team who have family who have played in the NHL. There are a few rare players from our league
who have made it to the Show. At least for a few game. They had that spark & their love of the game still burns bright.

Check out the smaller league hockey teams in your area and enjoy hockey live & at a price that won't bankrupt your budget like an NHL game would. You can meet the players at team functions &
get to know & appreciate how hard they work & how much they share your love of hockey.

Spread the work & lets get some more poeple loving the game.

Carey Price : The Goaltender of future. 4

I think Carey has played very well for a young rookie. I hope that with this year of experience he will get better
and better. It's nice to see a young guy come into the NHL from Juniors & play so well.

His last 5 outs haven't been his best. I hope he gets back in a groove or he will be back in the AHL.


Carey Price has 19 games played 9 wins 7 losses
His last 5 games he has 2 wins 2 losses 1 pull
He has averaged 30 shots against.

W L GAA Sv % GA SHA
Jan 5, 2008 Washington 0 0 5.00 0.828 5 29
Dec 23, 2007 Dallas 0 1 4.0 0.810 4 21
Dec 18, 2007 Florida 0 1 3.10 0.900 3 30
Dec 15, 2007 Toronto 1 0 1.02 0.966 1 29
Dec 13, 2007 Philadelphia 1 0 1.02 0.968 1 31

Jason Tapp 58 saves

December 13, 2007
Jason Tapp had a hell of a game stopping 58 of 60 shots on goal.
They were playing the Arizona Sundogs. A team that has been hard to beat.
At this writing 23-16-6-1

I wish I could have been there to see this game. It must have been like watching "The Big Unit" throw
a no hitter. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Congrats Tapper on a great game.
Best of luck to you on your season.

Scorpions v/ Bees 12/15/07

It's rare to see 7 goals scored in a game. But The Scorpions scored 7 in the first period. They scored 3 goals in 5 minutes on a talented Goalie from the Killer Bees named Jeff Van Nynatten. The Goalie change at 5:40 of the first period didn't help much.
David Lemanowicz took over and got 7 goals scored on him total. Lemanowicz held the Scorpions scoreless in the 2nd period.

Andrew Martin stopped 21 of 24 shots on goal. He played an excellent game & had help from his defense corp.
Martin is the number eight Goalie in the League with a GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .918.
He has been playing very well in his first year in the CHL.

Here is the link to the game sheet.http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/gamesheet_full.html?gameid=534434

Craig MacDonald scored his first hat trick in the CHL.
Konrad Reeder had 6 assists in this game.
Andy Smale had 2 goals & an assist.
Vladimar Hartinger , team Captain, had 2 goals & an assist.

The Scorpions played well & deserve the win. They should feel good beating the number 2 team in the South East division
of the Central Hockey League. The Killer Bees have some talented player & the took the loss hard.

Scorps 2 game road trip to Odessa

I was in Odessa for 2 games.
I guess they are still having trouble with the ice. That makes it harder to skate on.
The Boys split the Jack's home stand.

Game one , we won. In OT shoot out.
It was a very good game. The excitement of watching the Tenders pit
them against the shooters is so exciting. Minard & Gorman were very good.
Each team worked at getting shots Odessa had more in the 1st , NM more in the 2nd.

The Scorps first goal was by Dominic Osman : asst by Erik Johnson & Ray Ortiz
The next goal by Vladimir Hartinger : asst Konras Reeder & Mitch Stephens
Both of theses were in the 2nd period.
The Scorps scored 2 goals in the 3rd period The first was the 2nd goal by Dominic Osman : asst
by Aaron MacInnis & Craig MacDonald. The 2nd , the 2nd goal by Vladamir Hartinger : asst by Reeder
& Stephens again.
The result was a 4-4 tie.

In the shoot out the Scorps won by Ray Ortiz , Mitch Stephens & Michael Kolarz.

Aaron MacInnis scored his 100th point of his carrer & Michael Kolarz got his first GWG !
Congrats to both.

The second game we just didn't step up our play when we needed too.
The rookie Tender for the Jacks played very well. Vincent is a big kid at 6'4" , 214 & just turned 21. If he keeps it up he will only get better as the season rolls along.
The Scorps only Goal was scored by Andy Smale : asst by Erick Johnson & Jay Holladay.

If anyone you want to make a road trip of it go to Odessa. It's a friendly barn. Don't act like a horses ass and they will
treat you well. If you act like a horses ass don't tell em you heard about their barn from me.