Insider Fan Blog

I will head back to my roots next week, leaving all my Cajun training behind once again for some good old Yankee rest, relaxation, good food, beer, and family. I have done this every year I have had the website going, it helps to refresh myself from the past season and prepare for the new one.

When I get back I promise I will do a bit of catching up and review how the Mudbugs went from the dumpster to the Penthouse, only to fall out the window and land back into the dumpster for which the once came. So look for some more blogs after the 20th of May, and pass the word that they may be a little rough around the edges and with the intent to leave no stone unturned. Ahh! I can smell the real pizza and chicken wings now.

2007-2008 Central Hockey League Playoff Format

I will try my best to do as i do every year about this time is to cover and explain the playoff format. It needs to be explained every year because it changes every year, either from the mighty wisdom of the CHL, or the in and out of teams in the league. At least I won’t have to spend countless hours trying to figure out the Mulligan System this year. Thank You Hockey Gods!!

Below is information from CHL.com, I will try to break it down in an attempt to make it easier to understand. First I posted a picture of the bracket page I will be using on the Insider as I do every season, and as I said every season it’s been different.

The #4 seed in the conf. plays #5 seed in a 3 game round for the right to advance into Semi- Finals and earning the right to play the #1 seeded team in the Conf. while the #2 team and #3 team in the Conf. square of against each other. The higher seeded teams have the home ice advantage in every round according to where the placed in the seeding at the beginning of the playoffs. Then the rounds go on from there just as normal as can be. Also all rounds after the opening round (4th, 5th) will be a 7 game series. what format that will be however hasn’t been announced yet, in other words will it be a 2-2-1-1-1, 3-3-1- and so on?

Ok now From CHL.com

A total of ten of seventeen Central Hockey League member teams will qualify for post-season play, consisting of five clubs from each conference.

The playoffs will consist of four (4) rounds. Opening Round (#4 vs #5 seeds only in each conference) (Best of 3) Conference Semifinals (Best of 7) Conference Finals (Best of 7) Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals (Best of 7) Each of the 4 division regular season champions (Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, Southeast) will be seeded either 1st or 2nd in their conference for the opening round of the playoffs. The next 3 teams highest in each conference regular season standings, regardless of division, will be seeded 3rd, 4th, and 5th in each conference and will also qualify for post-season play.

The opening round will feature the #4 and #5 seeds in a best of three series in each conference, with the winners advancing to join the #1, #2 and #3 seeds in the Conference Semifinals. The Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals will consist of the victorious two teams remaining from their respective Conference playoffs. Home ice advantage in the Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals will be awarded to the club with higher regular season point totals,
(Ok I am going to jump in here, what they mean is let’s say the 1st and 2nd teams in the Conf. get eliminated and the 3rd seeded team in the Conf. adv. to the Cup and gets matched up with the #2 seeded team from the other Conf. the #2 has home Ice advantage in the Cup Finals) regardless of any earlier playoff seeding. -The higher seeded club in each playoff meeting will receive home ice advantage -The opening round #4 vs #5 seed series will use a best of three game format - The subsequent three playoff rounds will use a best-of-seven game format -Any contests tied after regulation play will not use the shootout to determine a winner as in the regular season.

Any tied playoff games will use additional 20 minute periods of sudden death play.

Should two or more teams be tied in points for any seeding issue throughout the playoffs, the following tiebreakers will be used:

-Most wins

-Head to head record

-Goals for and against differential

Stay tuned for more updated as I get them and feel free to leave any questions or mistakes I have made below.

Few things in life are more fulfilling than seeing someone you care about happy.
I had the opportunity to take my niece to the hockey game Sunday and a new hockey fan was born.

Between my work schedule and the fact that I live in Arkansas, this was the first opportunity I had to take her to a game. And the fact that there are only two Sunday games didn’t give me many opportunities.

To say that she was thrilled at the experience would be a huge understatement. From the time we pulled into CenturyTel the grin was permanently affixed to her face.
She has watched games with me on TV and has seen the pictures that I have taken at the games, so to see it live blew her away.
We loaded up on shirts, pom poms, toys and more food that I think she eats in a week.
We got there in time to see the guys warming up. As we were walking to our seats she squeals “Jen Jen! It’s them. In your pictures!” (It was sooo cute)
We get to our seats and I help her put her new shirt on (she had to have the pink one. She informed me that next time she would get the jersey)
She watched intently and then was a little perplexed when DeCaro skated over and had a puck passed to her. I never understood why people get so excited over a puck. To me it’s just not that big of a deal. Well, it was a big deal to my niece, so it became a big deal to me. She turned the puck over and over in her hand, held it up, tucked it under her jacket and showed it to the people around us. She didn’t understand, I don’t think. She just knew that someone had given her something and for that she was grateful. For that I’m grateful.
The game progressed. She cheered when the Bugs scored, yelled “Go Bugs”, and danced. Towards the end of the game she was getting a little tired, but when the music started for her to dance, she would jump off my lap and commence to shake it.

When she got home, she gathered all of her new things and rambled on and on about what she did and how she was going to play hockey one day. (her mother said it was after 11 before she finally got her to calm down enough to go to sleep)
When I picked her up this morning she was still talking about hockey. She wanted to know when we were going back and when she could skate like “her boys.” I just grinned and told her that maybe we could go back soon.
When we walked into daycare the first thing out of her mouth to her teachers was “I went to the hockey game. I’m gonna play, too.”
I can’t wait to hear what she has to tell me tonight about her day. I have a feeling it will be hockey related. I have a feeling it will be hockey related for many days to come. To me, that’s music to my ears.

As a side note, I’m planning on attending the hockey information night for women. Since my hockey IQ is severly limited, maybe I can come away with a little insight to this game. Wish me luck.

I have been trying to remember back to the past and all the teams and leagues I could remember and was unable to recall any team having a run of such magnitude as the Mudbugs. I mean holy crap! every game it seems this seasons collection of guys are tickling some kind of record, it’s really quite amazing.

Are the Bugs really this good? Is the coaching staff as brilliant as they could ever be, or maybe better than many of us thought they could ever be?

I think its a combination of every part of the team, from the owner to the ticket taker, all are an important cog on the well oiled wheel we like to refer to as Mudbugs Hockey.

The one very very noticeable aspect of this seasons team is that they all as a team look at each and every game with the attitude that each opponent is in the way of a win and two points. They play every game the same despite the opponent, which is an awesome sign of a team with the character of a real winner.

Could this team be the best ever? It is the best I have ever have been thankful to be a part of. Now I know they still have the season to finish and need to get to the cup and win it, but I cant help enjoying what has been achieved so far and the confidence to feel that it will continue.

Every time I even think this team could easily find an excuse to lose they find another way to win. That is truly amazing to me. I love being surprised everytime because it keeps me honest and makes the wins even more appreciated.

I would like to say our goaltending is the best in the league, and the record shows that they are, but alot of it comes from the players believing in a system that is working to perfection. Keep it up guys we as fans are enjoying the rush as well.

Can you say all star goaltending? Holy crap John DeCaro just may have won the game all by himself. He made 19 saves in a lopsided second period against the ‘Hounds. Geez the Bugs were out shot 19-2 in the second and 40-18 in the game and still came out winners 3-2.

It proves several things, let’s start with the obvious - it’s not how many shots, its how many shots cross the goal line that counts. At least it did on this night. It also makes one wonder what was the reason for all the shots on goal? was it bad defense? I think you can’t blame the defenseman entirely, after all it takes all 5 guys to help the netminder prevent scores.

Tonight was payback for a game we lost early in the season, when we were the team that played well enough to win and came away with nothing. Over a long season things have a way of paying you back as long as you just stick with it and never give up working hard.

Of all the games we have won for the better part of this whole season, this was a game we could have and some may say should have lost, but we didn’t and that’s all that counts.

Way to go Chris Brassard for coming through in a clutch in scoring the game winner with less than two minutes remaining preventing the game from going into overtime. Now I know anything can happen in OT or a shootout if need be, BUT the way the game was progressing I was not feeling to comfortable about going into OT. That goal was huge, that’s the best way to explain it.

As far as the 3 stars tonight I wish we could give 2 players the first star because John DeCaro and Captain Chris Brassard were both worthy of the honor. But tonight its was not about who gets the stars as it is about the team pulling out their 14th win in a row increasing their road record to 6 straight and 9-3-3 overall.