3/30/2005
ALRIGHT, STOP! HAMMER-TIME!
3/30/2005
March 30, 2005 - The game chart for tonight is done. The weather is supposed to hit 70 degrees. Seems like a good time to ramble about the Mechanics. It’s time again for Kaufman’s Korner.
How are we everyone? I hope those of you who celebrate had a terrific Good Friday and Easter holiday. I had my own version of an egg hunt…although it basically just involved buying lots of chocolate at a truck-stop in Elmira, New York.
Ah, Elmira…a good time, no doubt. Nothing in the “out-of-this-world” special category or anything of the like…just another “W” for your Mechanics!
If only in Old School, Will Ferrell had ran down the street screaming “We’re going streaking! From the west side of the state to Eastern New York…maybe to the end of the season! Come on, come on, everybody! Bring your souvenir chuck-a-pucks!”
It’s been a fun road as of late…the 3-19-2 Motor City squad is no more. You may still recognize many of the faces but that’s about it. These Mechanics have now won ten of their last eleven games, including seven straight away from The Garage. Tough to remember that 0-10-1 start on the road – Motor City now has more wins away than when tooling around the home rink.
Moreover, the last roadie featured three contests without the NHLers, Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Bryan Smolinski, and Sean Avery, all victories by a combined 12-3 margin. Why point this out? Don’t misunderstand – we thoroughly enjoy having the big leaguers in the line-up (a total of 66 man games, 79 points, and a +39). But the team did admit the wins were a bit more satisfying as the Mechanics of old…with a new brand of on-and-off-the-ice systems.
Overall, the four-game road trip of perfection produced Motor City’s first ever 4-0 week. We assure you, the accomplishments were not overlooked. In fact, let’s look back at the last 11 games. We’ll put aside, for now, the 5-2 blemish against Muskegon.
Nonstop Numbers:
- The leading point man with 19 (4 G, 15 A) was Bryan Smolinski, featuring two five-point contests and a +10. Two weeks ago, he was also named the UHL’s Sher-wood Player of the Week.
- Captain Blair Manning is riding a seven-game assist streak, totaling 15 in the stretch and 17 points, overall, in his last 11 contests.
- The top plus/minus men were Jeff Doyle and Sean Avery, each of whom sported a +11.
- Avery also the leading goal-scorer with 8, adding 6 assists in just seven games. How can you discuss a 10-1 streak and not talk goalie play? Clearly, can’t be done. And Rod “The Tree” Branch is smoking hot! Like former rapper M.C. Hammer, you couldn’t touch him…
In Motor City’s recent stretch, the team-named MVP thus far has been between the pipes for all 11, sporting an impressive 1.81 Goals-Against-Average with a save percentage of 93% and 287 saves, including Motor City’s first shutout in franchise history – a 3-0 win at the Danbury Ice Arena. Branchy is nearly at a .500 record for the first time all season (24-25-6) and has never finished below the even-up mark in his nine-year professional career. For recognition on his recent 4-0 week, Rod was named the UHL’s Southern Supply Goaltender of the Week! That’s two in a row…keep the streak alive boys!
MIRACLES DO COME TRUE
You’ve all seen the movie Miracle with Kurt Russell. You all know it’s based on a true story. The 1980 Olympic team was underrated, underappreciated, and pulled off a heck of a feat still, clearly, discussed to this day. Now, the Mechanics are looking to pull off a Miracle of their own…a one-time pipe-dream from the outside looking in. On the inside, however, this squad never lost its drive and positive collective attitude, despite the revolving door of players and periodic coaching changes. Ownership never gave up and should be commended for that because Motor City, postseason or no postseason, has now found a supreme winning combination.
Under head coach Danton Cole, with assistants Mark Davis and Chris Luongo, the Mechanics are 10-2, hoping immensely to tack another eight onto that first number. The playoff chase has been on for some time...it had been previously been broken down by games remaining, who and how many, etc. Now, the formula is simple to understand, tough to attain. Again, intensity and positivity remain.
Motor City can earn a maximum of 81 points in its inaugural season if it is able to win out. Quad City currently has 80 points and holds the tie-breaker against the Mechanics. Both teams have 8 games remaining. This means, plainly, the Mechanics must win all 8 with the Mallards losing all 8 in regulation. Those contests for Quad City are at home against Rockford (2), Kalamazoo (2), Fort Wayne, and Flint; on the road at Kansas City and Flint. They can not earn any shootout points, otherwise the playoff hopes are over for Motor City
Cole and his players are all aware of the math. They are reminded everyday…not because of the challenge but more so the possibility. These men have a purpose…and stranger things have happened. And, I’ll tell you all this as one man’s opinion: If the Mechanics do qualify for the postseason, absolutely no team will stand in their way.
ONE MILESTONE DOWN…A MORE PERSONALLY IMPRESSIVE ONE TO GO
Assistant captain Joe Burton is just over three weeks from turning 38 on April 23rd. He’s also only five goals from the 600th of his 12-year minor league career! Wow! Entering the season, one year after retiring from an 11-year, 985 point career with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central Hockey League, the Garden City, Michigan native heard about a new local team forming in the area – the Motor City Mechanics. Hockey was still in the blood and the ability was still in his bones…so he returned. Things started a bit slow for the CHL’s all-time leading scorer. He was frustrated but expected his game to return...it would just take time to get back into game-shape. Time passed. And a little over two months into the season, in a game at Kemper Arena in Kansas City on December 17, 2004, the veteran notched his 15th point of the year…more significantly, the 1,000th of his amazing career. No big deal for Joe. Just ask him – he said the 500th goal was a bigger deal. Now, as previously mentioned, Smokin’ Joe’s just five scores away from 600…with eight games to go (the next five at home) and an uncertain playing future.
Joe Burton is already the all-time leading American goal-scorer at any level of professional hockey. He’s never netted fewer than 32 in a season. He’s sitting at 30 now after dribbling one off a defenseman’s skate in Elmira. Can he reach 32? 35? Plenty of time. An abundance of talent. Let’s go, Joe!
PINK AT THE RINK MAKES YOU THINK
On Sunday, March 20th, the Mechanics teamed up with the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation for Breast Cancer Research for a night entitled “Pink at the Rink.” The significance, of course, was to raise money for breast cancer research, highlighted by a post-game jersey auction. The jerseys? Pink…with white lettering.
I’ll be honest, pink’s one of my favorite colors. Well, okay, that’s a stretch…it is the color of one of the post-its on my computer screen. But it’s a keeper! Humor aside, the function was for an amazingly good cause. The players could not have been happier to contribute and the auction raised a very impressive more than $14,000! The leading bid was on Chris Chelios’ number seven, selling for $2,100.
The event also featured some pink Cadillac’s on the ice, quite the sight with many of the Mary Kay women! Again, we would like to thank all of those who contributed, the buyers, the players and, of course, the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation!
THE PRICE IS RIGHT FOR DAN...BUT HE'LL BE MISSED
I remember it well. It was February 1st, one-and-a-half months ago to the day, and Red Wings’ Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, and Kris Draper showed up at The Garage…for a press conference and a practice. The media flocked as well, and then Team President John Tull announced what had been rumored for weeks before, “Today the Motor City Mechanics are proud to add a new coach and three men possibly destined for the National Hockey League’s Hall of Fame.” While everyone is aware that things unfortunately did not pan out with Draper and familiar with the man who gave a household paper-towel a whole new name, things more than worked out with the men known now only at The Garage at Cheli and Hatchy.
Still, there was a skeptic in the crowd back on February 1st. This fellow had no doubts about the moves made by his organization or anything of the like. Instead, his skepticism stemmed from humor. “Is this real? Am I really playing on the same team as Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, and Kris Draper? C’mon! Where’s Ashton Kutcher? We’ve gotta be getting punk’d!”
This 30-year-old knows much of the world to demonstrate even the slightest reference to an MTV cult classic. But, no, the team was not being “punk’d,” or to those unfamiliar with the lingo of General X and XL, “tricked” or “had.” These moves were a reality…and just the beginning of the legacy that followers came to know as the “Comedy Hour” or “Puzzle.”
Why so vague in the description of this man? See, there is much to tell about this four-year star graduate from Bowling Green University. But his significance in the Motor City did not lie in leading the CCHA in scoring his senior year of college, nor in amassing a career-best 97 points (47 G, 50 A) in 64 games for the Central Hockey League’s Austin Ice Bats in 2001-02. It wasn’t even about his role of devoted husband to wife Brooke or father to young sons Luke and Jack, both of whom he adored showing off at his place of work.
For this right-winger from Sarnia, Ontario, our respect and admiration grew most from his hilarity, absurdity, and willingness to put himself out there, damned the shame. Any a moment can reflect.
Take, for example, a story he once told on the air while joining me for an intermission not too long ago: It was the night after he netted the game-winner in a shootout at The Garage, the time at which Assistant Captain Brad Cruikshank would tell you this man most often made his presence known. Charging to the left net, he described, traveling wide right of the slot, he used his patented toe-drag, a move from which he had much success. Skating, hesitating, shooting top-shelf, he had the winner, followed by a celebration leading one to believe he was the inspiration for in Playstation 2’s “NHL 2005.” Did I mention that he requested for the Price Is Right theme song to be played over the Public Address system whenever he scored a goal? Alas, that never happened but it was a nice idea. I digress…
Back to the locker-room, he went, after his on-ice post-game interview. Next to him, as he sat? New Mechanic and Los Angeles King, Sean Avery. “Wow, man, that was great. Just sick. You’ve got the best toe-drag I’ve ever seen! I tell ya, you’d be a rich man if only you could skate!” This, to which he joking said later on the air, “Pump up my tires, inflate my balloon, whatever you want to call it, and then in went the dagger…”
Sure, he is a tad slow. Ask him. He won’t deny it. But the feet they were fleet, perhaps just not as such while balanced on a thin blade as when in his dancing shoes. This man took personal offense when Cruikshank once said on the air that defenseman Kyle Kos was the dancing representative of the locker-room. “Wait a minute. Tell me I’m slow. Fine. Say I only show up during shootouts. Not true but fine. But do not tell me someone else is the dancer!” What can we say; the guy is and always will be just like his named favorite band, Tragically Hip. Always entertaining and a crowd-pleaser.
That brings us to the aforementioned “Comedy Hour” and “Puzzle.” The “Puzzle” was a simple idea. Man asks trivia question. Fans guess. Fan who answers correctly first wins glorious array of prizes. How did it take us so long to come up with? Well, maybe it just needed the right person. Although, this guy was always quick to stress to his public that, no, he was not, himself, a prize for the claiming. Wouldn’t have gone over well with the family, he imagined. But to request him, he would say, was “only human.”
Still, from this first intermission exposure, sometimes live and others pre-recorded, he gained a tremendous following and notoriety across the nation…literally. Fans to the west in Iowa and Wisconsin. To the north in Canada. All over the northeast. One fan, famed for being the first to request an autographed item for winning the “Puzzle” and providing brain-busting gifts of her own, once compared listening to him to watching Superbowl commercials – sometimes, to her, the intermissions became more important than the game, even listening to archived broadcasts if she happened to be out. “Gee, this is like taping a TV show on the VCR so you don’t miss it,” she emailed me. A diehard, indeed.
He’s now gone, shipped to Kalamazoo for more playing time, which had, unfortunately, become sporadic. Do not, however, confuse my tone. The move was a good one for him and a classy gesture by his former organization. He now finds himself as a sniper veteran expecting to see ample playing time on a fifth-seeded playoff team, just over an hour from his home and family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a more than three-hour commute from Fraser.
Will he miss his former teammates? No question. Will he be missed? Words can only attempt to describe. But it’s business, it’s sports, and we’re wishing him the best along the way. In talking to him on his drive to K-Zoo, the move may even extend his career by a year because of proximity, before returning full-time to his work as a car salesman.
In reading this, you’ve probably learned a lot of this guy. In getting to know him, so did we.
This man, as you certainly know, if by nothing else, the picture above, is Dan Price. He suited up for just 36 games. He netted just 24 points. But it’s the Pricey that we’ve come to love off the ice for whom this piece is written, and the Price on it, with whom he’ll take a piece of all of us. As he would say, “Figure it out.”