Chiefs Take Over First Place

Chiefs move into first place after having their way with Vikings;

Manhattan GM says “They’re lucky”

January 9th, 2012

By the end of Week 13, the Deer Park Chiefs hit the trifecta. As of today and for at least the next week, they are the new king of the hockey world. With their 10-2 domination vs. the Twin City Vikings, the Chiefs jumped over the North Bay Warriors and Hamilton Firestorm for the top spot in the AFHL.

“There is something to be said for that,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. “We’re right there at the top, and that gives us confidence going forward. There’s still a lot of hockey to be played, and we haven’t seen our best yet.”

The team is in agreement that being in first place at the start of the new year doesn’t guarantee anything come March. But after four straight wins including an 8-3 win over the Firestorm, the Chiefs are more than happy to be on top of the pack.

“We’ve been playing great,” Chiefs GM Mike Nellany said. “Everyone is fired up and ready to play every night. It’s been great. Nice win vs. Twin City. We really wanted to end last week in a good way to start off this new year. We feel good about ourselves, we feel good about our game and where we are right now.”

Probably the biggest reason Deer Park is now in first place is because of their stability in net. Both Nikolai Khabibulin and Mike Smith have been very solid for the Chiefs when they get their spot starts, but Henrik Lundqvist has been a nearly unstoppable force. With a 1.89 GAA and a .939 SV% on the season he’s been rendering the opposing goalies irrelevant on a regular basis.

“He’s f*cking awesome,” said Chiefs forward Brad Marchand who leads the team with a +19 rating. “He’s just always in the zone. You can’t rattle that guy.”

As usual, Lundqvist downplays his performance and points to the team’s success.

“It’s not just me, it’s everyone in the locker room, and I think we demand more of ourselves this year,” said Lundqvist.  “We have more skill, and more depth this season, so it’s actually hard to have a bad night.”

“When you get to February and early March, points are not easy to come by,” Chiefs forward Tyler Ennis said. “There are so many points you can get at this time of year, and you have to take advantage of them.”

The Chiefs will take on the 14th place Manhattan Supermen in Week 14 and earlier today Manhattan GM Tony Furino told a reporter that the Chiefs and Mike Nellany are lucky.

“He’s lucky he has Lundqvist,” Furino said. “Otherwise the Chiefs would just be a fringe playoff team.”

Nellany, who’s well known for his trash talking antics, has not yet been reached for comment.

“We all know he likes to run his mouth,” said Furino during the Supermen/Chiefs pregame skate. “How’s he going to respond to my comment? I don’t know. Maybe some name calling. He’ll probably call me a scrub even though he’s the scrub. Nellany’s the kind of scrub who… if you’re at his house, let’s say you need to use the bathroom, you ask him where the bathroom is… he’ll tell you to pick a corner.”