Friday, April 30, 2010

ECHL Update- The Conference Finals are Underway




As many regulars on this blog now, we have been posting more entries about sports since last year simply because I evolved into a bit of a couch potato, but I have yet to watch a single game of the NBA or NHL playoffs so far.

Nevertheless, we thought we'd post an entry about the East Coast Hockey League, which is one of the leading minor leagues in pro hockey.

Today, the impressive Idaho Steelheads, lead by goalie Richard Bachman who is only giving up 1.75 goals in the playoffs, host the Stockton Thunder in Boise, Ida., at 7:10 local time. The Thunder are based in Stockton, Calif. And, Richard Bachman was also a pen name that Stephen King when writing such novels as "Thinner." We think the Steelheads will win this series in five games as they are the top seed with a
48-17-7 record. The Thunder are the sixth seed, and they have a 33-29-6 record.

In the east (the ECHL used to only consist of east coast teams including our beloved Roanoke Express from my hometown of Roanoke, Va. The Express alas no longer exist), the fifth seed Cincinnati Cyclones host the seventh seed Reading Royals from Reading, Pa. The drop of the proverbial puck will be at 7:30 p.m.

My favorite hockey movie happens to be "Slap Shot," a 1977 film about a minor league hockey team with the late Paul Newman which takes place in Johnstown, Pa. One could argue that minor league hockey players don't curse as much as Newman's character did in the film, but somehow we sense this stereotype might actually be fairly accurate!

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