Vipers and Red Devils set to resume budding rivalry

Vipers and Red Devils set

to resume budding rivalry

October 25th, 2011

Dirty hits, ungentlemanly conduct, fights on the ice and through the media, heroes and villains… all will be typical of the rivalry between the Victoria Vipers and Toronto Red Devils for many years to come. There is now an animosity between Chris Hartley and Jordan Carbone, two of the proudest GMs in the AFHL, and their rivalry might just reach it’s highest boiling point in this week’s matchup.

This is an exciting season for Vipers fans and Red Devils fans after both of their teams underwent massive overhauls during the offseason. The Red Devils are now boosted with the addition of top-tier goalie Jonathan Quick, who is currently riding a streak of three straight shutouts, and they’re loaded on offense after the acquisition of star forwards such as Ilya Kovalchuk and Jeff Carter.

“We’re off to a good start,” said Red Devils coach Jordan Carbone of their 2-0 start to the season. “But now we have to move ahead here and focus on this next matchup with one of the best young teams in the Canadian Conference, in my opinion, so that’s our mindset right now.”

The Vipers landed the biggest fish on the trading block in Nicklas Backstrom, and are pinning their hope that he and Rick Nash, who won an AFHL Cup with London in ’09, can guide their group of young stars that include Matt Duchene and Jordan Eberle to stardom.

“We’ve just got a very young and talented group so we’re really energized,” Vipers coach Chris Hartley told theafhl.com. “We’re off to a slow start but we can increase our goal output, it’s very possible we can enjoy a successful season with our stud goalie Carey Price backing us.”

It’s certainly going to be an intriguing battle to see which franchise wins this matchup and all the incidents that unfold along the way.

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QUICK HITS:

– Goalies Jonathan Quick of Toronto and Tomas Vokoun of the Detroit Icemen, along with Goldsboro Rebels forward Jason Spezza, were three of the best players in Week 2. Quick had three consecutive shutouts, Spezza had three goals and four assists, and Vokoun went 3-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average, including a shutout.

– “I’ve got ears,” Hitmen goalie Roberto Luongo said when asked if he heard the fans in Comox Valley booing him. “I mean, they’re not happy with my play and I’m not happy with my play. I guess they’re entitled. That’s fine. I understand that.”

– New GM Rick Charron isn’t happy with his star players after an 0-2 start to the regular season. “We’re the defending champs and it’s time we start playing like it,” Charron told theafhl.com. “They’re capable of playing much better. They need to find it quickly.”

– Nearing the end of the first month of the regular season, these seven AFHL teams remain undefeated: the Lakehead Thunderwolves, the Buffalo Phantoms, the Oshawa City Leafs, the North Bay Warriors, the Pittsburgh Heroes, the Toronto Red Devils, and the Detroit Icemen.