Stingrays: No call-ups expected before the weekend

No call-ups expected before the weekend

Posted 04:38 p.m., November 12, 2008

OK, so I don’t have a lot of time today because I’m caught in Clemson land.

As far as I know no one is being called up or sent down before tomorrow night’s game with Charlotte and Rays head coach Jared Bednar doesn’t expect any moves anytime soon, despite Hershey and Washington going through a little injury bug right now.

However, you might want to pick up a copy of the P&C print edition tomorrow. There will be some breaking news.

That’s all I can say, I’m sworn to secrecy.

See you on the Ice,

APM

Comments

Posted by borohockey8 on November 12 at 5:28 p.m.

Andrew, Is it good or bad news?

Posted by stingraysfan109 on November 12 at 7:42 p.m.

borohockey8, you know a good newspaper man never reveals such info. Gotta be somebody coming off IR if nobody's moving up or down. Or somebody's being traded. All I know for sure is that whoever caused this home game scheduling drought should be punished severely....

Posted by hockeyfanatic on November 12 at 8:20 p.m.

I agree. We need more home games bad!! OKay so the suspense is killing me....

Posted by stingrays01 on November 12 at 8:23 p.m.

Well, Caps Goalie Brent Johnson left the game tonight with an injury. May be a groin injury. We could have a goalie on his way to Hershey after all.

Posted by canesfan1 on November 13 at 2:07 a.m.

Heres what happens when you procrastinate and write papers the night before. You get crappy news like this at 2am.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/nov/13/bednar_forced_trade_goalie61499/

Johnson was traded yesterday to Gwinnett. Gotta hand it to Bedsy for putting JJ in a good place. He is going to be missed and its going to suck having to root against him.
If anyone is going to the Charlotte game tonight (thursday) hit me up. I will be sitting lower bowl behind the Rays bench. I will be the big guy in either the red Rays jersey or this years home jersey. Hope to see a friend or two.

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 7 a.m.

I am really sad that Johnson has been traded. Its a sucky situation. I can't wait to see what happens when our big time goalies get called up.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 13 at 7:30 a.m.

It's tough when you have to trade a guy like Josh, but it had to be done. And yes... chances are we'll wish we had him back at some point this season. Ya do what ya gotta do.

Only reservation I have is.... someone PLEASE tell me our "future considerations" is a quality player, and not a piggy bank full of pennies. Now THAT would sting.

Posted by kaa32 on November 13 at 8:14 a.m.

You have got to be flippin kidding me...get rid of Johnson!!??? You are darn right Bednar is going to wish he kept Johnson later in the season. Big deal that these other two guys got shutouts...what is going to happen when they start sucking later? Let's not forget that Johnson was the one who saved us during the playoffs against Augusta. And who was Augusta's goalie....Bobby! I think Bednar made a stupid decision.

Posted by canesfan1 on November 13 at 8:42 a.m.

As much as I hate to say it, Bedsy did what he had to do. Its simply not good hockey business to carry three goalies. Its like have more than three or four quarterbacks on a football team. There simply isnt a need. Obviously, the powers that be (Hershey and or Washington) like Bobby enough and Neuvirth obviously isnt going anywhere. It does suck that we had to send him to Gwinnett of all places but that worked best for Josh. The Thrashers havent had the best luck with goalies lately.

Posted by hockeyfanatic on November 13 at 8:53 a.m.

I think he made a good decision. Every goalie is going to play poorly at some point in the season so it's not really a matter of "when they start sucking". Even Bobby and Neuvy will play poorly and so will Josh. There's nothing we can do about it.

Posted by hattrik on November 13 at 9:58 a.m.

Coach Bednar's decision shows the type of coach that he is. He has demonstrated his loyalty to his players, his understanding of his role in player development, and his support of his organizational chain.He knows that the Caps expect him to develop Neuvirth and Goepfert. Josh was not in their plans. Bednar trades him to expose him to the Thrasher's organization as reward for his contribution to the Rays.Coach Bednar is the type of coach that the ECHL and the Washington organization needs and rewards.And don't sell him short in his "future considerations" clause in the trade!

Posted by RaysFan34 on November 13 at 11:04 a.m.

It is sad to see Josh go, and I also think that down the road we are going to wish we had him back. But, it is also impossible to carry 3 goalies all season. I applaud Jared for looking after Josh and putting him in a place as nice as Gwinnett with a coach that historically has good teams. They might be floundering a bit right now, but I wouldn't count them out. They definitely just got better with the addition of Josh.

To Josh I say thank you for your dedication and hard work. It paid off in spades when Davis was out last season and during last year's playoffs. Once a Stingray, always a Stingray and I wish you the best in Gwinnett and throughout your career!

Saturday's trip to Gwinnett could prove quite interesting.

Posted by theballsiam on November 13 at 12:49 p.m.

"You have got to be flippin kidding me...get rid of Johnson!!??? You are darn right Bednar is going to wish he kept Johnson later in the season. Big deal that these other two guys got shutouts...what is going to happen when they start sucking later? Let's not forget that Johnson was the one who saved us during the playoffs against Augusta. And who was Augusta's goalie....Bobby! I think Bednar made a stupid decision."
1. Goepfert and Neuvirth are clearly more talented goaltenders with a better track record. Plus Neuvirth was a fairly high draft pick for the ECHL level, and Washington has tons of money invested in him. And as an affiliate of the Caps we develop their players.
2. It's not prudent and it's not a common practice for a hockey team to carry 3 goaltenders.
3. We signed Goepfert with the intention of him getting the majority of the starts when Davis left. Johnson was always intended to be a solid back-up, but now we have 2 #1 goalies.
4. Augusta did not lose because of Goepfert. He's the only reason they were in that series. Had they put a better team in front of him they might have won.
5. Bednar knows much more than you on how to run a hockey team and an ECHL organization, so criticizing a decision he had to make for the reasons listed above is stupid. Not his decision.

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 2:25 p.m.

There is no reason to be upset about Johnson being traded. Yes I am sad that he is gone, but Bednar really didn't have a choice. He couldn't trade the other two goalies because of Hersey and Washington. Josh couldn't be going into a better situation that he was in with us. He is a great goalie and I expect great things to come from him. He deserves to play, and as much as it sucks he wasn't going to get that down here.

Hersey and Washington are like are mom and dad. We don't have a choice but to listen to them.

I am not sure what is going to happen when Gwinnett plays us... but it is bound to be a great game.... I look forward to seeing Josh Johnson in goal. As much as I am cheering on the rays to win, I will also be cheering on Josh... As is was stated above.... once a stingray... always a stingray.

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 2:29 p.m.

sorry I meant that he could be going into a better situation than he was with us.

Posted by kaa32 on November 13 at 3:05 p.m.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 13 at 4:02 p.m.

I have a feeling Bednar also got a little pressure from the front office about making a move too. We are only willing to house and have on our payroll so many players. We had 19 on the active roster and 3 on IR, that's one too many. The logical thing to do was to eliminate a goalie instead of a D-Man or Forward. Couldn't trade Neuvirth, and Goepfert is too good to trade.

It would have been nice if we could have traded Johnson to a team outside the division, but I have a feeling there were no takers. Gwinnett needed a golaie now, if we would have waited, it may have been to late to get something in return.

I wonder if Bednar also got the word from Hershey that no goalie will be loaned to another AHL team, which will leave us a contract goalie (Neuvirth or Machesney) all season, minus the injury callup time of course.

Speaking of injury callup time, we may not lose a goalie to Hershey this week after all. Capitals goalie Brent Johnson injured hip isn't as bad as first though. He won't play in their game tomorrow, but will most likely be able to sit on the bench as the backup. So there's some good news.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 13 at 4:39 p.m.

There were plenty of takers for Johnson outside of our division. Jared could have traded him to half the teams in the ECHL. The move to Gwinnett was strictly out of respect to Josh.

PS: If you call our coach stupid, or trash a player, you can expect someone to criticise you. No need to take it personal. It goes with the territory. Hockey is a contact sport. LOL

Posted by stingrays01 on November 13 at 5:05 p.m.

RaysRsharp:
You say it was strickly out of respect for Johnson. I thought a lot of that may have been just coach speak from Bedsy. Just trying to figure out exactly what that means.

Is it because.....

1. Half the teams in the ECHL ain't worth a crap to play for? I can't see that by the way.

2. Johnson wouldn't reported to just any team, and in turn, we wouldn't get any future considerations later?

3. Johnson is a closet Gladiators fan...lol?

PS: At least the blog is active again...lol

Posted by theballsiam on November 13 at 6:40 p.m.

Obviously this is not a blog where one can express their opinions openly without fear of others getting nasty and talking down to them. theballsiam, I am not stupid...I know we can't carry three goalies...I know Jared knows more about hockey than me...I never said I was the hockey know-it-all. If I am not allowed to criticize a decision, then why are you allowed to criticize me? So what if that is how I feel about the situation? You don't agree with it and that's fine, everyone is going to feel differently about it. But I should be allowed to express my feelings wihtout someone like you talking down about it. Are you going to do that to everyone who leaves a comment you don't agree with?
----------------------
I told you why it's stupid to call Bednar's decision stupid and why it's just as stupid to be upset over it. Something had to do be done about having 3 goalies and Josh was forced out by 2 better goaltenders. Your post was way off base and I was calling you out about it, don't take it personal.

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 8:09 p.m.

ballism you seem like the person who seems to know everything about everything so when you get called out you shouldn't take it personal. This blog used to be good and now its just people attacking each other. I guess this is why blogs don't mean a thing and it's just a place for people to act like they know a lot but in reality it is watered down facts.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 13 at 8:32 p.m.

Wah, wah, wah............

My feelins are hurt, so and so said I was stupid, the know it alls are mean, nobody likes me, everybody hates me.

LOL

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 9:19 p.m.

stingrays01 are you really a stingrays fan? I feel sorry for you and your skewed views of the team and the organization

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 13 at 9:27 p.m.

Hey SR1 you got a nibble........ set the hook. LOL

Good win for the boys tonight. Got a lead, kept our composure, and finished them off.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 13 at 9:29 p.m.

The most important news of the day....

The Stingrays beat the Checkers 6-1.

Goepfert with the win to improve to 3-0 and keeps his GAA at 1:00.

WAY TO GO RAYS!

Posted by stingrays01 on November 13 at 9:31 p.m.

RRS:
It's not fun when the fishing is easy.
Well, unless he/she was a Pee Dee Pride fan...lol

Posted by borohockey8 on November 13 at 10:37 p.m.

Good Win tonight from the boys. Hope they can play the same way on Saturday. Any reason why both Maxwell and Kiser were scratched?

Posted by stingray88 on November 13 at 10:40 p.m.

They both have hand injuries

Posted by theballsiam on November 14 at 2:13 a.m.

Stingray01... where I have I made such off base comments? Please point them out and I will respond to you. No, I don't sit on this site waiting to call out posts, I try to contribute to the discussion. I just saw a ridiculous post and I had to say something about it. But if I make such a post, don't hesitate to call me out.. I have and will never say anything Bednar does is stupid, with all he's done with as a player and coach of this organization. I guess I just show respect when it's earned. My bad if that offends anyone.

Posted by theballsiam on November 14 at 2:15 a.m.

Sorry stingrays01, meant stingray88.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 14 at 6:01 a.m.

These blog things are amazing. If you wanna have a ongoing personal conversation/debate/argument with someone, you can click on their name and send them a "private" message.

How cool is that? :)

Posted by canesfan1 on November 14 at 11:57 a.m.

I was at the game in Charlotte last night. I don’t know how many of you listened to the game, but it truly was a domination fest. The boys played a little slow early on, but then they really started pouring it on. I believed that we had a good team this season, but kept wondering when we would finally gel. Last night was it. Look for some really big things for the rest of the season ya'll. I was impressed with the way they played a complete game. Their passing was sharp, their hits hard, and they really flowed like a team. I am not sure if this stems from Charlotte being in a down hill slide or what.

From what I heard, Kiser was serving a one game suspension for his last tussle. It’s a shame, because Charlotte tried to take advantage of it. It didn’t work out so well for them Props to Josh Godfrey for his lopsided fight victory. Charlotte has a player, Zappala I think it was, he is a real piece of trash. He’s the one who kept charging the bench trying to instigate that fight. Pulled the jersey up over Trent’s face and punched him in it. Trent didn’t go down though.

Posted by smv8618 on November 14 at 1:49 p.m.

Kiser was out due to injury, and he will be out on saturday as well.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 14 at 5:03 p.m.

The Stingrays are 7-2 and in 1st place.
Don't understand why anyone would be upset right now.

Talking about being upset, them Checkers fans sure are. They aren't happy about losing 3 straight to the Stingrays. Their coach sucks, Kiser sucks, dump and chase hockey sucks, etc... Hopefully Wed. the Stingrays can get them even more upset...lol

Just one example of the Kiser hate...

http://i398.photobucket.com/albums/pp63/lastzap0024/bag.jpg

Posted by RaysFan34 on November 14 at 6:31 p.m.

Kiser served his one game suspension on Sunday. Stingray01, you need to be fair to the Charlotte fans about the Kiser hate. There are knowledgeable fans there that called the haters down on their hate.

I imagine they are upset, but I was at that game last night and we do not have any reason to think we "dominated" that game. We were very sloppy in the first, and it was a pretty boring game if one would like to be honest about it.

Yes, I am glad we won, but I have seen us play a lot better than we played last night.

On a more positive thought though, when it was 6-1 with almost 10 minutes left to play, you had the distinct impression that we were killing time and not hammering them any more than necessary. In my personal opinion, it is always best to leave a little respect for your opponent out there on the ice, and I think our guys did that.

Posted by stingraysfan109 on November 14 at 9:27 p.m.

It's clear from the previous posts on this subject that the old adage about opinions has been proven true once again. I won't bore you with the details but it involves a certain circular muscle and odor. The only thing all this yappin' proves is that everybody feels differently about things and some people wear the anonymity of the Internet like armor. As for me, 11-21 can't get here fast enough.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 15 at 8 a.m.

A anonymous person making fun of other anonymous people, for making fun of yet other anonymous people.

This could be the renewable energy source we've been looking for.

Posted by stingraysfan109 on November 15 at 8:48 a.m.

Not making fun at all, raysrsharp, merely an observation about the substance and content of the posts and the obvious fact that people differ in their opinions and how they express them. I do agree with you about the renewable energy source. Perhaps we could store the stuff in LP gas canisters and use it to power the Zamboni in every rink on the planet.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 15 at 3:23 p.m.

In the Gwinnett paper today...

Newcomer Josh Johnson will make his Gladiators debut tonight in net at home against his former team, the South Carolina Stingrays.

Posted by stingraysfan109 on November 15 at 5:01 p.m.

No surprise there, I guess. I hope he does well, even when he's facing us, as long as we get the point(s) at the end of the game.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 15 at 5:22 p.m.

ECHL Transaction - Nov. 15

South Carolina:
Add Viktor Dovgan, D activated off IR
Delete Josh Godfrey, D recalled by Hershey (AHL)
Delete Nate Kiser, D placed on the 3-day IR
Delete Tommy Maxwell, F transferred to the 7-day IR

Posted by canesfan1 on November 15 at 7:26 p.m.

Sasha just dropped the gloves. I don't know about any of you, but I am really impressed with the level of skill he is playing at this year. BTW, its pretty wierd to hear Josh Johnsons name and him not be in a Rays jersey.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 15 at 7:57 p.m.

And Sasha didn't drop the gloves with just anyone, he dropped them with Chris Cava who is no stranger to throwing the fists. Throw in the assist on the shorthanded goal and he is only a goal away from the Gordie Howe hat trick.

Posted by stingrays01 on November 15 at 10:36 p.m.

5 straight wins and 4-0 on the 5 game road trip.

As Borat would say....VERY NICE!

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 16 at 8:10 a.m.

Jared has a problem. The team is winning with less focus and effort than is needed to become a great team. We're getting by on great goaltending and talent. Does he come down on them, and risk burning them out ala Malcolm Cameron? Or does he gently prod them, and wait for the inevitable stumble to get their attention? Sometimes it's easier to coach a average team, than to coach one with great talent.

Decisions.....decisions. LOL

Posted by hattrik on November 16 at 8:24 a.m.

"Less focus"? I question your reasoning, RaysRsharp, but its an interesting statement. Winning five in a row isn't too shabby. They are doing something right.

Posted by RaysRsharp on November 16 at 8:41 a.m.

We're sloppy systems wise, we're sloppy with the puck, and we're playing at about 75%-80% IMO........ hence the comment about "focus". Without great goaltending and some lucky breaks, no way we get a point last night, let alone 2.

Yes we're winning, but we're NOT EVEN CLOSE to becoming the team we can/should be. And yes I realize it's early in the season. I just think it would be very dangerous to start thinking we're an elite team. Much, much, work to be done IMHO.

But if you think I'm way off base, ask Jared about it. :)

Posted by RaysFan34 on November 16 at 4:36 p.m.

Amen RRS.

Canesfan, we were sloppy in Charlotte and worse in Gwinnett. Last night, we were out hustled (beaten to the puck more times than not), out muscled (pushed off the puck more times than not), and were shut down offensively more times than not. There is no doubt in my mind that RRS is absolutely correct in his assessment. If our goaltending falters, so will we, and it won't be pretty.

I am also without doubt that Jared recognizes it and will fix it.

BTW, Nate Kiser will be back on the ice on Wednesday. I am thinking Nathan Saunders might want to keep a low profile after that shot to Trent Campbell during their fight on Thursday.

Posted by hockeynut on November 16 at 4:40 p.m.

Drove to the game at Gwinnett last night. Must say, I thought it was a very exciting game. Strange seeing Josh on the other side. He absolutely played the game of his life. You could tell he wanted to win. Of course if we had made very many shots on goal the score would have been a lot different. Although we have spurts of great playing I have to agree with those who say that goal tending is keeping us winning. Neuvirth was fantastic last night. I wish Jared would stick with the lines that work well together. Perhaps I'm confused but it seemed he kept mixing folks up last night. Final wish....somebody gives us a clue on how to run a power play!!!!!

Posted by stingrays01 on November 16 at 8:14 p.m.

I'm thinking winning ugly is better than losing pretty.
At least we have a lot of talent and good goaltending. I will take that over a lack of talent and bad goaltending any day. I'm sure Bedsy will get things straightened out, and when he does, the rest of the league better watch out.

I guess we have a new player......

ECHL Transactions - Nov. 16

Reading:
Delete Jeff Corey, F traded to South Carolina, 11/15

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=65948

He had 20 points in 56 games in the AHL as a rookie two years ago, so he may be the scoring RW that we have been needing. Played in Denmark last season. Hasn't done much in Reading this season, yet who has done much in Reading this season...lol

Posted by stingraysfan109 on November 17 at 9:08 p.m.

Even if some think we are sloppy right now the important thing is we are winning. I can remember early in the season last year when clearing the puck from our own zone seemed like too much to ask. Look how that team ended up. Things will change as they do in every minor league sport with call-ups etc. Watching the chemistry shift, players develop, and new leaders emerge is part of the fun at this level.

Posted by RaysFan34 on November 17 at 11:49 p.m.

Actually, through the first 10 games last season we were 7-2-1. Not much different than our start through 10 games this year of 8-2-0.

No call-ups expected before the weekend

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