Pistols Open Season With Winless Week

The Hamilton Pistols know that their championship window isn’t as wide open as it used to be. After going to three straight SHL Finals from 2019 to 2021 and winning a pair of Vandys, Hamilton’s core is aging and getting expensive. In 2022, the team struggled with internal dissension and stumbled to a fourth-place finish. Last season, they rebounded to finish second. Both times, their season ended with a playoff loss to the rival Quebec Tigres.

“Teams go in cycles, and obviously, we’re not on the uphill side of our cycle now,” said Pistols coach Keith Shields before the 2024 season began. “But I’m still confident that we’ve got a couple good runs left with this team.”

Shields’ confidence may have taken a hit after the season’s opening week, as the Pistols got off to an 0-4-0 start. Hamilton is the only team that has yet to record a win. Worse yet, the team is struggling at virtually every aspect of the game.

Steven Alexander

“We suck right now,” said LW Steven Alexander in a typically blunt assessment. “That’s all there is to it. We’ve got to get better quick, or we’re going to get left behind.”

Offensively, Hamilton is tied with the Rhode Island Seekers for last in the league, averaging just 1.5 goals per game. C Calvin Frye, who has scored twice, is the only Pistols players with multiple goals. Alexander has yet to score, with only a pair of assists to his name – and he’s still tied for third on the team in points. Eleven players – more than half Hamilton’s active roster of skaters – have yet to record a point.

The Pistols’ roster lacks depth; due to the high salaries of the team’s stars, the team has had to rely on a revolving cast of youngsters, journeymen, and reclamation projects to fill out the rest of the squad. Their success at doing so has varied over the years, but this year’s motley crew looks especially ragged so far. The team’s bottom six forwards have yet to score; on the second line, only RW Paul Hockenberry has lit the lamp.  The Pistols’ three non-Frye centers – Hilliard Macy, Dale Wilcox, and Drustan Zarkovich – are all pointless so far.

“We’ve got a number of new faces here, and it’s taking a while to find some chemistry,” admitted Wilcox.  “It’s an adjustment period, for sure.”

Defense has never been Hamilton’s strongest suit, but this year has been even worse than normal. Coverage breakdowns are all too frequent, as the team has been prone to allowing odd-man rushes. The Pistols are allowing 30.3 shots per game; only the Portland Bluebacks and Kansas City Smoke are worse.

“I know we can play better than we have,” said D Clayton “Crusher” Risch.  “We’re not playing smart, and we’ve not playing aggressive enough right now. We’re letting other teams get the jump on us.”

Hamilton can typically rely on strong goaltending to cover any defensive lapses. Thus far, though, that’s been another weak point for the club. Their .870 save percentage and 4.25 GAA are dead last in the league. Lasse Koskinen, normally one of the league’s best netminder, is off to an uncharacteristically poor start (0-3-0, 4.33 GAA .877 save percentage). Ageless backup Riley Lattimore was no better, giving up four goals on 25 shots in his first start of the season Saturday.

“My play so far is an embarrassment to me and to the team,” said Koskinen. “I am more responsible than anyone for our losses.”

The perpetually optimistic Shields, however, believes his team will turn things around. “We’re not the first team to have a bad week, and we won’t be the last,” Shields told reporters on Saturday. “We’ve got a lot to work on, obviously, but I’m confident that we’ll get better. I’m not going to panic and claim the sky is falling just because we’ve started off rough.

“Right now, pretty much everyone across the roster isn’t playing up to his ability. That includes the coaching, and myself most of all. But that’s what gives me hope. If we were playing up to our ability and still losing, then I’d be worried.”

Shields pointed to Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Tigres as a step in the right direction. “Quebec’s been to the Finals the last two years, and we played them tough,” said Shields. “That tells me we’re starting to come around. In a couple of weeks, I’ll bet we’ll be back o the winning track and this [first week] will be forgotten.”

Alexander has a point, however. The East is a highly competitive division, with several strong contenders and other teams like Baltimore on the rise. If the Pistols continue to pile up losses – even competitive ones – they may quickly find themselves in a hole they’ll struggle to climb out of.

“This team’s been too good for too many years to overreact to a slow start,” said Shields. He may well be right. But Hamilton’s window of contention may be closing faster than anyone imagined.

2023 SHL Division Finals – Game 3

MICHIGAN GRAY WOLVES 4, ANCHORAGE IGLOOS 3

(Michigan leads series, 2-1)

Both the Michigan Gray Wolves and Anchorage Igloos agreed that Game 3 of the Western Division finals would be a pivotal contest.  For Anchorage, it was a chance to retake home-ice advantage and re-establish control of the series after their stunning third-period collapse in Game 1.  For Michigan, it was an opportunity to prove that the series opener was no fluke, and that the Igloos would have their hands full.

Both teams had some positives to take away from the contest.  The Wolves had the firs two periods, when they dominated Anchorage and seized control of the game.  The Igloos had the third, in which they mounted a furious rally and attempted to do what Michigan had done to them in Game 1.  In the end, though, the Wolves got the 4-3 win and the series lead.

“This was a really important win for us,” said Michigan D Fritz Kronstein.  “We have the upper hand now, and it sets us up in good position for the rest of the series.”

During the game’s first 40 minutes, the Wolves tilted the ice hard in their direction, to the delight of the crowd at Cadillac Place.  It was by far the most dominant stretch that Michigan has had in this series; they outshot Anchorage 24-11 over that time.

“That was just textbook play by us there,” said coach Gilbert McCoyne of those first two frames.  “We made sure they couldn’t get through neutral on the fly, and we made zone entries really hard on them.  A-plus defensive effort on our part.”

The Wolves opened the scoring, taking advantage of the game’s first power play on an elbowing call against Igloos LW Veikko Sikanen.  Anchorage fought valiantly on the penalty kill, but with 16 second left on the man advantage, D Sam Bergdorf found the back of the net.  The Igloos evened it up after the Wolves took two penalties in the span of less than three minutes.  Anchorage D Sebastian Pomfret bullied his way through the Wolves’ exhausted penalty kill and scored to make it a 1-1 contest.

Anchorage knew that they were lucky to be deadlocked after the first period, and hoped to turn things around in the second.  But Michigan stayed out of the penalty box for most of the period, and goals by RWs Benoit Poulin and Jorma Seppa broke the game open, turning a tie into a 3-1 lead.

The Igloos turned up the heat in the third, outshooting Michigan 15-9.  Anchorage dominated the puck during the early minutes of the period, and D Rudolf Kerasov (returning to the lineup after recovered from an injury suffered against Milwaukee in the last round) got a greasy goal to pull within one.  But the Wolves stabilized the situation over the next few minutes, and Seppa restored their two-goal edge by picking off a lazy exit pass and going top shelf.

The visitors weren’t ready to give up yet, however.  They were able to move the puck more effectively as the Wolves’ defenders tired, and with less than five minutes left, they bore down.  Sikanen fired a shot that clicked off the pad of Michigan goalie Dirk Lundquist, leaving a loose rebound in the slot.  Bergdorf attempted to clear but shanked it, and Igloos C Tanner Everest pounced and stashed it on the short side to cut the deficit to one again.  It was the third goal of the series for the 23-year-old center.

Alas for the Igloos, they were unable to come up with the equalizer.  Still, coach Sam Castor liked his team’s pushback.  “We made a real run at this one, and that was good,” the Igloos bench boss said.  “Unfortunately, we dug ourselves a bit too deep of a hole to climb out of.”

Now the Igloos face a pressure situation in Game 4: win and tie the series, or fall into a 3-1 hole that might, as in today’s game, prove too deep.

“Nobody in this room is going to panic,” said C Jake Frost.  “We’ve been in tough situations before and come back.  We just need to put this one behind us, go out and win the next one.”

 

QUEBEC TIGRES 2, HAMILTON PISTOLS 0

(Quebec leads series, 3-0)

After dropping the first two games of the Eastern Division finals at Centre Citadelle, the Hamilton Pistols came into Game 3 hoping that a change of venue – and the famously raucous home crowd at Gunpowder Armory – could help them reset a series that the Quebec Tigres have controlled from the jump.

On the bright side, the Pistols were able to play a faster game, as opposed to the sandpaper style that Quebec had forced on them in the first two contests.  However, though they were able to get more shots on Tigres netminder Riki Tiktuunen, they couldn’t get any behind him.  They were also unable to slow down Quebec’s relentless attack.  The end result was a 2-0 loss that leave Hamilton staring down the barrel of a sweep.

“We’re up against a hurricane,” sighed LW Steven Alexander, who has yet to score in this series.  “The only way we can win it now is to go nonstop.  No more room for mistakes.  This is the only way we can protect our legacy.”

The Pistols were stymied repeatedly by Tiktuunen, who punctuated his shutout with a number of sparkling saves.  Less than three minutes into the game, Pistols C Calvin Frye fired a shot that went wide of the net, but kicked hard off the end boards and back onto his stick.  Frye fire at the wide-open net, only to see Tiktuunen fly across the crease to flag it down.  Late in the first, the Finnish goalie made a tremendous glove save to thwart C Rod Remington’s breakaway.  Just over a minute into the third, Pistols C Hilliard Macy’s bid was ticketed for the corner of the net but met a skate save from Tiktuunen.  Five and a half minutes later, the fabulous Finn robbed Remington again with a fabulous stick save.

“Riki is a master at his craft,” said Tigres coach Martin Delorme.  “When the heat of the biggest spotlight is on him, he remains cool and calm.  Today, he faced a lot of difficult shots and handled them with grace and brilliance.”

Quebec jumped out to a hot start, outshooting the Pistols 19-7 in the first period.  However, it wasn’t until the final minute of the period, when RW Rory Socarra went five-hole on Hamilton goalie Lasse Koskinen.  Thanks to Tiktuunen’s heroics, the Tigres were able to make that one goal stand up until the third, when C Mikhail Ilyushin salted it away with a shot over Koskinen’s left shoulder.

“We can beat them at our game, and we can beat them at their game,” said Tigres RW Stephane Mirac.  “If we can end this quickly, it will be beautiful.”

The Pistols, however, are left with a grim reality: To advance to the Finals, they’ll need to win four in a row (something they only did once all season) in a series where they’ve been outplayed in every game so far.

Coach Keith Shields, ever the optimist, put on a brave face.  “A 3-0 deficit seems daunting, but we’re not looking at it that way,” said Shields.  “We’re not thinking about four in a row.  We’re thinking about one at a time.  Go out and win the next one.  Then win the one after that, and so on.  Like the old joke goes: How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”

But Shields’ comments ignore the (forgive us) elephant in the room; The Tigres might just be the better team, more than Hamilton can handle.

“Nobody’s popping any champagne corks in here yet,” said Quebec LW Walt Camernitz.  “But the champagne’s on ice.  We know it, and we’re ready.”

 

(box scores below the fold)

2023 SHL Division Playoff – Game 4

HAMILTON PISTOLS 4, BOSTON BADGERS 2

(Hamilton wins series, 3-1)

Steven Alexander had been unusually quiet in this series.  Alexander is the heart of the Hamilton Pistols, both as their emotional leader and as their star player.  In this series, though, he had yet to break out; he had scored just one goal in the series’ first three games, and he had also been oddly subdued in his on-ice mannerisms as well.

In Game 4, Alexander finally had his showcase game.  He scored twice in the third period, with the goals that would provide the Pistols with their margin of victory.  With the 4-2 win, Hamilton eliminated the Boston Badgers and moved on to the Eastern Division finals to face the Quebec Tigres.

“Raise a glass!” shouted Alexander in the midst of a boisterous postgame celebration.  “I’ve seen wonders great and small this season, and this is our time! We’re not throwing away our shot!”

Alexander came out firing in front of the hostile crowd at Shawmut Arena, launching eight shot attempts in the first period alone.  Unfortunately, his aim was a bit off, and only two of the eight made it through to the net; the rest were either blocked or fired well wide or high.

“Honestly, Alex was a bit too amped in the early going,” said Pistols coach Keith Shields.  “He wanted to come through so much, but he was so worked up that it was making him a little crazy.  During the first intermission, I took him aside and calmed him down a bit.”

Through two periods, the Pistols were clinging to a narrow 2-1 lead despite being outshot and outplayed by the Badgers.  After Boston’s T.K. O’Neill opened the scoring midway through the first (with a goal that came on an actual shot, unlike Game 3’s bizarre game-winning fluke deflection), C Hilliard Macy tied things up for the visitors a couple minutes later, and RW Nori Takoyaki put Hamilton ahead in the second on a shot that trickled between Orion’s legs and just barely over the line.

Early in the third, the Badgers unleashed a flurry of shots that Pistols goalie Lasse Koskinen turned aside, some only barely.

“I knew we were going to need some more goals,” said Alexander.  “So I went to work.”

A little over six minutes into the third, the Pistols gathered the puck in their own end.  D Torrey Ashmont fired a headman pass to Alexander, who caught it in stride and raced toward the net.  Once in point blank range, with the defense trailing helplessly behind, Alexander unleashed a wrister that beat Orion on the glove side.  The winger celebrated vigorously, jumping into the boards and cupping his hands to soak in the boos of the crowd.

Unfortunately, the two-goal lead didn’t last long.  Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Pistols D Elvis Bodett was sent to the sin bin for tripping, and Badgers D Ted Keefe scored shortly into the power play to pull the home team back within one.

The minutes ticked on and the teams battled to a stalemate, with Boston unable to find the equalizer and Hamilton unable to score and put the Badgers away.  C Warren Marlow nearly tied things up in the middle of the period on a fly-by in front of the net, but Koskinen reached back just enough to knock the puck aside.

Things grew even more tense when Bodett took yet another penalty for holding the stick with three and a half minutes remained.  The Badgers fired one shot attempt after another, but the Pistols threw themselves in front of the puck over and over, blocking three shot attempts and forcing another one wide.  When the power play ended, the Badgers pulled Orion for the extra attacker, still seeking that tying score.  But Hamilton clogged the shooting lanes and frustrated their attempts to get clean looks.

Finally, with about 20 seconds left, the Badgers fumbled the puck.  Alexander pounced on it and raced out of the zone.  Once he got to center ice, he fired it on a line into the open net, pounding the final nail in Boston’s coffin.  Alexander lifted the blade of his stick and blew imaginary smoke off the end, then slid it into an imaginary holster.

“When we needed him the most, Alex put the team on his back and carried us to the next round,” said C Calvin Frye.  ‘Now, bring on the Tigres!”

Meanwhile, the Badgers end another season without a Vandy or a Finals appearance, faced with a decision whether to double down on their core of aging veterans or pivot to a new approach.  “This is a tough one for us,” said coach Kyle Barrow.  “The Pistols are a really strong team, and they earned this win.  But we’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what comes next.”

 

MICHIGAN GRAY WOLVES 4, MILWAUKEE GROWLERS 3

(Series tied, 2-2)

The Michigan Gray Wolves needed Fritz Kronstein.  In Game 1 of this series, Kronstein’s head made contact with the knee of Milwaukee Growlers RW Alberto Fedregotti, leaving him with a black eye, a broken nose, and a concussion.  Doctors recommended that the defenseman remained sidelined for the rest of the series.

Kronstein watched anxiously as his team dropped Games 2 and 3, coming within a game of elimination.  That’s when he realized: he needed to get back out there.

“The swelling had gone down to the point where I could see all right,” said the blueliner.  “And I knew that if we lost again with me out of the lineup, I’d never be able to live with it.  The team needed me, and I was capable of going of there, so I went to Coach [Gilbert] McCoyne and said, ‘Put me in.’”

So Kronstein suited up for Game 4, badly bruised face and all.  His teammates were visibly lifted by his presence.  And the blueliner played a key role in keeping his team alive, scoring a goal and adding an assist in Michgan’s 4-3 win to force a deciding Game 5.

Kronstein’s goal came with under five minutes left in the first period and the score tied 1-1.  RW Benoit Poulin fired a shot that was turned aside by Growlers goalie Lorne Mollenkamp.  D Sam Bergdorf collected the rebound and fed it back to Poulin, who circled back up toward the blue line before coming back down for another shot.  While Mollenkamp turned to face Pulin, Kronstein shook free from his defender and parked himself at the edge of the crease.  Poulin faked a slapshot, then passed to Kronstein, who jammed it home.

“That’s why we love Fritz,” said Wolves C Hunter Bailes.  “As banged up as he is, not only was he playing, he was down there in the dirty areas getting those greasy goals.  It’s inspirational.”

His assist came in the third period, with Michigan up 3-2 and looking for insurance.  The Wolves had a two-man advantage when Growlers LW Troy Chamberlain and RW Britt Cadmium both went to the penalty box.  Milwaukee successfully killed off the Chamberlain penalty, but were still a man down when Kronstein fired a shot from up high that Mollenkamp stopped, but left a juicy rebound.  Kronstein plunged into the fray and snagged the puck, firing it to LW Alan Youngman, who found RW Boris Badenov wide open at point-blank range for a layup, securing what would be the deciding goal.

“Fritz is the man, no question about it,” said McCoyne.  “We’re a totally different team with him in the lineup.  And I know he’s not 100% right now, but you wouldn’t have told it to watch him out there today.  At least, until you got a look at his face.”

The Growlers, meanwhile, rued an opportunity lost.  They had a chance to close out the Wolves on home ice, and they dominated possession of the puck, outshooting the Wolves 30-18.  However, too many of Michigan’s rare chances turned out to be good one.

“This is one we should have had,” said Chamberlain.  “[The Wolves] could barely get the puck over center ice for most of the game.  How we did that and still gave up four, I don’t understand.”

The series comes down a winner-take-all Game 5 back at Cadillac Place.  Kronstein, for one, will be ready to go.  “You’d have to cut my head off to keep me from getting out there,” he said.  “I could be black-and-blue from head to toe and I’d still be out there.”

 

(box scores below the fold)

2023 SHL All-Star Break Transactions

The following transactions occurred during the All-Star break:

• The Baltimore Longshoremen called up RW Trace Walker and D Wojtek Cenovic from their CHL affiliate in Fargo, and demoted D Dean Frater and F Rex Batten to Fargo.  The 23-year-old Walker has been in the CHL since 2018, and makes his SHL debut.  Cenovic started the season with the Longshoremen before being demoted to Fargo three weeks ago; before being sent down, he recorded six assists and 40 blocks in 25 games.  Frater, a 21-year-old rookie, goes back to the minors after a brief cameo in Charm City, appearing in 5 games and making 14 blocks but failing to record a point.  The 27-year-old Batten has spent most of the season as a depth forward for the Longshoremen, recording one point in 15 games.
• The Hamilton Pistols recalled LW Troy Blackwood from the injured list.  Blackwood suffered a serious eye injury during the season’s first week, and he had been sidelined ever since.  In order to make room from Blackwood’s return, the Pistols sent F Jean-Michel Pireau down to their farm team in Oshawa. In addition, the team recalled C Hilliard Macy from Oshawa and returned C Archie Cutshall to their affiliate and released F Michael Sweetin.
• The Hershey Bliss promoted C Greg Enrath and D Conrad van Rijn from their CHL affiliate in Scranton, and demoted C Vance Ketterman and D Nikolai Kulkarov to Scranton.  The 25-year-old Enrath, fresh off an appearance in the CHL All-Star Game, recorded 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in 32 games with Scranton this season.  The 22-year-old van Rijn recorded 21 points (4 goals, 17 assists) and 59 blocks so far this season.  Ketterman recorded 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 32 games for Hershey this season, while Kulkarov notched 2 points and 24 blocks in 19 games.
• The New York Night promoted G Yorke Baxter from their affiliate in Albany and demoted G Mike Ross to Albany.  Baxter, another CHL All-Star, went 10-9-3 with a 2.25 GAA and a .928 save percentage in Albany this season.  The 36-year-old Ross went 3-4-1 for New York this season, posting a 3.84 GAA and an .879 save percentage.
• The Portland Bluebacks promoted RW Zeljko Brankovic from their affiliate in Spokane and sent RW Holden Cadorette to Spokane.  The Bluebacks have had a revolving door on the right side of the fourth line this year.  Cadorette, who was called up from Spokane a month ago, returns to Spokane after appearing in 13 games for Portland and failing to record a point.  Brankovic takes his turn after putting up 17 points (12 goals, 5 assists) in 32 games in the CHL.
• The Saskatchewan Shockers promoted RW Hank Diehl from their affiliate in Thunder Bay and demoted F Florian Theroux to Thunder Bay.  Theroux, who was signed to bring some veteran expertise to a young rebuilding roster, irked some in the organization by claiming in a newspaper interview that he preferred being a healthy scratch to playing because it gave him more time to watch YouTube videos.  The 26-year-old Diehl, who will make his SHL debut when he plays in a game, record 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) and 29 blocks in 32 games with Thunder Bay.
• The Utah Blizzard called up D Marshall Kreitzer from their affiliate in Colorado Springs and demoted D Hampus Olsson to Colorado Springs.  The 21-year-old Kreitzer, acquired from Kansas City in a deadline deal last season, put up 23 points (5 goals, 18 assists) and 56 blocks in 32 games this season, earning an All-Star start along the way.  Olsson recorded 33 assists and 59 blocks in 24 games with Utah this season.