Tuesday Primer: Count Duco, Polls, and Creepy Short Things

People have gone to prison for less sexually ambiguous photos than this.

On to the morning's features from around the globe:

• Panthers prospect (and former Peter DeBoer underling) Mike Duco is profiled in this nice article from the Record: "DeBoer coached Duco for five seasons in Kitchener.
  'I know what Mike's capable of,'"

• On Frozen Pond offers the continuation of a poll asking who are the most popular Panthers of the past 15 years, otherwise known as all-time. Established a few weeks back, now with a couple of additions and subtractions; A typical suspect leads the voting. My campaign to add Brani Mezei went ignored.

• Does King Louie need a bodyguard? Former Cat Darcy Hordichuk thinks so. "Just like new Canucks centre Ryan Johnson, who also played with Luongo on the Panthers, Hordichuk knows the value of Luongo who often found himself in a Florida shooting gallery."

• Up in Rochester, surroundings are getting cozy for the Amerks at The BCA. You want how many clubs in there? "The biggest plus is that the competition for support will encourage the four teams to provide the best possible product." Uh huh. Just ask the Miami market about that.

• At least that's over. Florida's kids finished up the Kitchener rookie tournament - you remember, the one they hosted - with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Baby Leafs. Let's forget the whole thing. Now.

You Can Go Home Again

Lost amid the many varied storylines of the Rookie Tournament, Panthers coach Peter DeBoer returns to the site of so much of his professional success:

"DeBoer's family lives in South Florida now, not in nearby Conestogo. His two young boys are junior Florida Panthers, not Woolwich Wildcats."

Very cool.

Rookie Tourney, Day 2.1: Cats Maul Baby Pens

In a dramatic turnaround from yesterday's drubbing at the hands of the Senators, Florida rookies pounded Pittsburgh 5-2 led by two-points from forward Mike Duco (with two fights!) and Panthers minor-league mainstay David Shantz stopped 23 shots to snag the win. Fun stat of the day: Pittsburgh power play...0-9. Does Groulx have an inside track on the Pens' coaching strategies? Whatever, a win's a win. Not gonna get any easier.

Rookie Tourney, Day 2: Pittsburgh

Florida's chilluns face the Baby Pens at 2:00 pm today. Pittsburgh beat Toronto 5-2 yesterday in their tournament opener in Kitchener, ON.

The Panthers earlier fell to Ottawa, 4-2. Big deal.

Rookie Tourney, Day 1: Sens Double Cats

The brave and gallant Martin-Youth of Sunrise is defeated at the hands of the mighty-but-untested youngling Senators of Kanata, during today's Battle of Kitchener. Note the inaccuracy of the portrayal above: history shall record there were actually only two elephants present on the ice this day.

Yes, the Panthers - in rookie guise - fell to Ottawa's kids 4-2 in the opener of the 2008 Rookie Tournament, featuring the Sens, Leafs, and Penguins up-and-comers.


Given that the only info I could locate on the game came from the Sens' website, there isn't much to report. Even the local paper up there had nothing so far.


In a nutshell, here are the Cats' stats: someone scored a goal, someone else (maybe the same dude!) scored another goal, someone or several someones allowed a combined four goals, or at least three with a possible empty-netter.

It's entirely within the realm of thought that coach Benoit Groulx spoke with the media (cue crickets) and a 99.9% can't-miss wager demands that a player from the team said later: "We've got to play 60 minutes."


There you have it from Kitchener, Ontario, folks. Stick a fork in it.


UPDATE:


Shawn Matthias (who?) scored one of the Florida goals.

ECHL Officials to Work NHL Rookie Games

The NHL made a nice gesture yesterday by allowing several on-ice officials from the East Coast Hockey League to work big-time exhibition, er rookie, games.

“This speaks to the caliber of officials used in the ECHL," - Bryan Lewis, ECHL Director of Officiating

For Cat fans, this "good news" extends to us in the form of ECHL zebras working the upcoming rookie tournament in Kitchener, Ontario. Thanks to this post alone, I imagine Shawn Matthias will be watching most of the tourney from the box.

Seriously, this is a fine idea, and one which is way overdue. Everyone needs a catalyst for advancement, and what better opportunity for the guys slummin' it in double A to work some prime time contests, even if only a prospect camp?

Congrats from TLB to all the participants...this really is a special time for the guys in trenches.

Live from Kitchener!

At this point any Panther-related news is good news, so in preparation for the vaunted 2008 Rookie Tournament, TLB has been scouring numerous media outlets (um, Al Coates of The Record) in Kitchener for info on all things feline.

"The real worry for the Panthers this coming season is the business end of the stick, not the hockey end.

The Florida economy is tanking. The tourism biz is hurting, thanks to four-buck-a-gallon gas and consumer/fan belt-tightening. Housing prices are in the dumpster, thanks to the subprime mortgage mess and the credit squeeze."

No argument there. Things are indeed tight, especially in the construction sector, where I have many friends who are teetering - at any moment - on joblessness.

Anyway, an interesting north-of-the-border take on Florida's economy and it's effect on the Cats at the gate.

Get Ready For: Rookies! The Tourney is Almost On

Where will you get YOUR news? And so what, right? It's not like we're focused on any one guy.

It's a good thing for us - the illustrious twelve - that this deal goes down in Ontario, as opposed to, say, Oklahoma City or Los Angeles or New York, otherwise we'd get nothing.

Scratch that...OK City might bang out a box score for the locals. A-Rod isn't in the way.

God bless the Canadian media - warts and all - because they are our only on-the-scene insight to this event, which begins September 13th. (And in the local media's defense, our intrepid reporters don't negotiate their employer's budget for coverage of the team. How 'bout them FAU Owls?!!!).

I'll of course post links to any news organization that happens to cover this event featuring the Pens, Sens, Leafs, and Cats.

The Whale will do the best he can in covering the tourney but info will not be quick in coming, since I have to go purely on what others have compiled; such is the nature of the game. And the sport. And the region. Have no fear...we still rock.