This was a busy weekend in the American Hockey League (AHL). With the NHL on break for the Olympics, more eyes are on the prospects and the league that develops them. The AHL had a full slate of weekend games, with a handful of them on NHL Network or free for all on social media.
This week was the return from the All-Star break. This year’s edition took place in Rockford. Next year’s is in Cleveland, something a handful of people are excited about. It might not be Coachella Valley, where it’s sunny and warmer in the middle of the winter but it’s a prime spot for the event.
Cleveland is one of the best, certainly most underappreciated, cities in North America. It’s one that people who visit come back impressed with and wondering why it took so long to visit. Cleveland is home to the Monsters but for any sports fan, the question is why they don’t have an NHL team or at least are on the shortlist for league expansion.
Cleveland as an NHL Market
Tony Brown is the play-by-play announcer for the Cleveland Monsters and has been for the past decade. Before the game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday night, we talked about Cleveland as a hockey market, and he noted how they sell well for the AHL. The Monsters, year in and year out, are right up there with the Hershey Bears and the other big markets in the league.
Cleveland is a passionate sports market that still supports their teams despite plenty of miserable seasons (the professional teams have one championship in 62 years). It’s fascinating to think about how the NHL would fare in the market.
The obstacles are obvious. Cleveland is stuck between multiple NHL teams, notably the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets, a plus for travel but a red flag for a new team looking to build a fanbase. Plus, the Barons and Crusaders failed back in the 1970s, which will be held against them. On top of that, the population isn’t the same as Atlanta, Houston, or other Sunbelt markets.
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The positives are obvious, with Cleveland being a great sports town that would hold up well with an NHL team. They also check off a lot of the boxes the league would look for in an expansion city.
- A big enough population and corporate backing.
- Infrastructure for hockey with an arena and accessibility.
- Competent ownership.
- Hockey history.
- An airport hub.
The two question marks are the ownership group and the hockey history. The big question is whether Rock Entertainment Group would bid on the team, since its interest could convince the NHL. As for history, the 1970s were a low point but the recent years have shown how hockey can take off in Northeast Ohio, just like it has in Columbus, Ohio.
An NHL team in Cleveland is unlikely. Like Milwaukee, all the pieces are in place to host a team, and it makes sense for the NHL to move there. That said, the league will probably look to swing big with its next move, even if an NHL team in Cleveland would be fun.
What John Snowden Can Learn From Joel Bouchard
The Phantoms are falling apart with five losses in a row. Their 3-1 defeat on Sunday to the Syracuse Crunch saw them stumble out of the gate with minimal effort early on, generating only two shots in the first period. Head coach John Snowden looked spent in the postgame presser afterwards, and it was the least energized he’d been all season. For the first time, he looked like a coach with no answers.
Snowden had answers but it took a few minutes to pry them out of him. He’s an intense coach who is passionate behind the bench and behind the scenes. The issue he’s running into is that the team isn’t responding, and his intensity is backfiring, especially as the losses pile up. That intensity that got the most out of the Phantoms early in the season has worn off and isn’t resonating with the players.
Joel Bouchard, the head coach of the Crunch, is the opposite type of coach. He’s older and more reserved, a coach who had multiple stops in the AHL before landing in Syracuse. He went through what Snowden’s going through now. That experience, the rough times in his younger days, shaped him into a better coach. “Oh my God, everything,” Bouchard stated when asked what he learned from the past. “You get older, you understand the process. You don’t get extreme on both sides, you stay level-headed,” he added.
Bouchard isn’t the first veteran coach to talk about how his experience helped him become a more patient head coach. Multiple head coaches have noted how they’ve learned to adjust and become a calming presence instead of an emotional one.
“In the past, I would have been quicker to make decisions but I’m way more patient knowing the process, and sometimes it’s going to take more time” – Laval Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent
“As long as you got some patience, sometimes it wears thin,” Toronto Marlies coach John Gruden
“I benefited as a player from the coach who was even-keeled. When somebody turns over the puck in their zone and a breakaway happens, I don’t have to go to the end of the bench and say don’t do that, everybody watching the game knows what happened” – former Hershey Bears coach Todd Nelson
Snowden is a great hockey mind who can talk strategy and systems for days. He will be a great coach someday, if he’s not one already. Patience, however, is something he’ll learn over time. The wins and losses, especially in a long season, must be treated the same way, and the head coach can’t overreact to either one. So far, Snowden has struggled in this area, and it’s starting to affect the Phantoms at the worst time.
Other AHL Notes
Speaking of the Crunch, they crunched the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 5-0 and then stomped the Phantoms 3-1. They’ve won five games in a row and have the second-best record in the North Division. They’ve been a great team thanks to a suffocating defense, which allows only 2.56 goals per game.
The Hartford Wolf Pack rebounded with a 3-2 win over the Charlotte Checkers, and suddenly, they are only six points out of fifth place in the Atlantic Division. Their Sunday game was postponed because of ice conditions caused by roof leaks at Bojangles Coliseum. The irony is that this happens to Hartford, a team that saw the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse in 1978.
The postponed game was the fourth Checkers game this season affected by the weather. Go figure that the southernmost team in the Eastern Conference is most affected by the snow. Then again, it speaks volumes to the wild winter the AHL is enduring.
All of the first-place teams are not only playing well but have looked dominant lately. Three of the four are riding winning streaks into the new week.
- The Providence Bruins extended their winning streak to 12 games following consecutive wins over the Bridgeport Islanders.
- The Laval Rocket have won seven of their last eight games and have earned points in nine of their last 10 to sit seven points clear of the second-place team in the North Division (the Crunch).
- The Grand Rapids Griffins have three consecutive wins and still boast the best record in the AHL.
So, maybe the top teams are starting to separate themselves from the rest of the league.
