[quick-chat]
AFHL teams begin to focus on training camp
January 6th, 2012
The NHL and the players’ union reached a tentative agreement near 5 a.m. Sunday on a 10-year CBA, putting an end to a work stoppage that lasted nearly four months.
Tweeted Washington Wolfpack forward Gabriel Landeskog: “People say it’s like Christmas morning waking up today? I’d say this is a lot better. Couldn’t be more excited!!”
The league is expected to announce a 48- or 50-game schedule. A 50-game season would start Jan. 15, while a 48-gamer would begin Jan. 19.
“It’s a new day,” Toronto Red Devils coach Jordan Carbone said. “I’m thrilled regardless of however many games we can play.”
The great migration of players to Europe is about to go into reverse.
Some of the nearly 200 players who spent the lockout with European clubs had already started trickling back in recent days. That will become a flood after news that the lockout has ended.
They will have the advantage of having played in games in the last three months while those who elected to stay home will be playing catch-up during a quick training camp before the truncated regular season opens later this month.
“I’ve been working out hard on the ice and in the gym and I’m mentally anxious to get back on the ice (for games),” said Hamilton Firestorm forward Brad Richards, who stayed home for the lockout. “We went all the way last year in our Stanley Cup run, so to get a rest and be able to work out and stay in the gym a little longer can be a benefit too.
“You try to make a negative into a positive.”
Richards said players had a variety of reasons for going or staying home.
“Guys have families. Guys have different contracts, or are at different stages of their careers,” he said. “A lot goes into it.”
Buffalo Phantoms star Sidney Crosby, coming off concussion trouble, wasn’t about to risk further injury by playing in Europe. One wonders what his insurance would have cost if he had. Victoria Vipers forward Daniel Sedin said he and his brother would only go home to play in Sweden if the entire season was canceled.
Same with Deer Park Chiefs defenseman Roman Hamrlik. At 38 and near the end of his career, the Czech elected to work out with other locked out players in North America.
“I was just hoping (the lockout would end),” he said. “So I tried to keep in shape by skating with the guys.”
Several AFHL teams have already completed preparations for training camps to open later this week.
A woman answering the phone at the Montreal Xtreme Skate Zone practice rink in Montreal said it’s been a few days since Xtreme players last called in to reserve ice for a morning workouts.
“We’ve been taking weekends off since renting ice to stay in shape during the stoppage,” said Xtreme forward Eric Staal. “As of right now, 12 guys will be there tomorrow. By the end of the week, the whole team is expected to be there as well as the coaches.”
Toronto Red Devils GM Jordan Carbone has been dodging verbal shots from Deer Park Chiefs GM Mike Nellany ever since he won the 2012 AFHL Best Trash Talker Award in August.
“Nellany recently posted a poll on the Yahoo Message Board asking the league if I was a homo,” Carbone laughed after the Red Devils’ first day of training camp on Sunday. “He’s broken the boundaries.”
Carbone said the trash talk actually began in the offseason, shortly after he won the 2012 AFHL Best Trash Talker Award which is an award that Nellany won in the previous two years.
“He [Nellany] was chirping a lot on the Yuku Message Board in the offseason,” said Fort Drum GM Steve Stryska. “I read a rant about Jordan’s mom in the About Me thread.”
Nellany’s comments to Jordan in the About Me thread on the Yuku Message Board:
“And as for your mother, I told you if you’re not happy with the blow jobs she is giving you, you will need to have a set of Home Depot Cum Gutters installed around her head. Ill admit I had a terrible time keeping her head straight as I was hammering them in but after a few loads and a knee to her head, she came to her senses and let me bang away. She has not missed a drop since and isnt half as messy now.”
One GM described Nellany’s comments as “ruthless” and “offensive”.
“I think he’s bitter about Jordan winning that award,” said Ottawa GM Ryan Armstrong. “So you can certainly expect it from him.”
Going into this season, Nellany and the Deer Park Chiefs have the edge over Carbone and the Toronto Red Devils. In their last three matchups, the teams have tied twice and the Chiefs have won once. Nonetheless, it appears to be a rivalry that has the potential to overtake the AFHL’s currently biggest rivalry [Toronto-Lakehead] in emotion and intensity.
“He’s lucky our teams aren’t scheduled to play against each other in this shortened season,” Nellany told TheAFHL.com via email. “But if we meet in the playoffs, the Deer Park mother fuckers, led by Dustin Brown, will smash the ever so soft Alex Semin and that other pussy Kovalchoke smack into the ground. Sure the Red Devils look good on paper but the softness shows up in the playoffs. All they are is a team that shits the bed year after year after year. Ultimately, their legacy will be that of chokers with a disoriented and heartbroken fan base. We look forward to smacking Carbone around in the playoffs should fate have us meet.”
The Red Devil players aren’t worried. They say the next matchup with the Chiefs will be fierce and anything will go, including trash talk.
Toronto right winger Corey Perry figures it will be vicious.
“If someone has a health problem, you kind of stay away from that,” he said. “But the big ones are mothers, girlfriends, things like that. You get into a lot of things out there, but there are a lot of things you can’t really say in the press. Nellany is a ruthless guy. I think him and the Chiefs will get what’s coming to them.”
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