KINCH'S CORNER
Brought to you by Lasse Kinch
Date: 19/5-02
TWHL3, here we go!!
The TWHL3 seaon is finally on its way, most teams have played 7 games and its time for me to give my view on the first week of action.
For a brief moment in the beginning of a season we had a full set of GM's but the curse on TWHL continues. The newly appointed Berlin GM resigned after only a coupe of days. The New York Rangers are also looking for a new GM after Corwins resignation earlier this week. Santiago has finally got a new GM, Dave Valenzuela. We're looking forward to see him in action. We all know that Santiago suffered from poor management last season so now are we all looking forward to see what Dave can do with this team. Welcome to the TWHL.
The Trades
What trades ? After a crazy off season it now looks like almost all GM's sits still and is watching the show. Once the streaks'n slumps kicks in we'll see more action, I'm sure of it.
The Divisions
ALI
Oboy, Three teams in the division are under .250 for the moment. Vancouver and Toronto have already gotten a jump start on the other teams. Demi Moore predicted that Vancouver ould finish in last place in the ALI. I don't know from where she got that idea, but it sure looks stupid now. Greenpeace's coach Susie Derkins is dreaming of dates with Calvin and Hobbes. Susie get over it, both those guys are well out of your league. Hobbes is a REAL tiger for crying out loud!! Toronto are unbeaten in their last 5 games and are looking good. They lost their two opening games of the season and for a while it looked like a re run from last season, where the TML got off to a terrible start but still managed to win the division in style. L A, the once so proud team that was known for their goalscoring, has scored 1 goal or less in 4 of their 7 games. Coach Bowman needs to make changes. Even though the team has lost its scoring touch they are still in third place in the division. Jimmy Waite shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets, could someone please call the loony central. Chicago is in forth place with 3 points after 7 games. Key players like Sittler, Albelin and Elias are already slumping bad. Coach kneebrake is in deep trouble. Its no longer a question as to IF Kneebrake will be sacked, its WHEN will he be sacked ? Montreal and NYR are currently outside the playoffs. Montreal have the potential to challange Chicago but the injury to Cowan was a hard blow to the whole team. NYR has lost six straight games and are now without a gm. Perhaps its time for El Cid to come out from retirement and help this poor team.
PELE
Talk about change, last season this division was so much worse than the ALI, this year it seems to be the other way around. Rio, Havana, Mexico, Cairo, Santiago, Cape Town. The standings in this division makes no sense to me. Rio, has a strong team offensivly, but they have always lacked those top notch defensive guys. This year they have traded for guys like Jason Ward and Dan Trebil and look how good they're playing. With the addition of Kultanen they are a force to be reckonned with in the PELE. Havana signed Josh Green from the Ratz as a FA this off season. He has scored 7 goals and leads the team in points so far. GO Green!! However I don't think that Havana is good enough to maintain the second place in the division that they currently hold. There are only 2 points separating Havana in 2nd and Cape Town in 6th place. It looks like this division will be an exciting one this season. We haven't heard anything from Hogan in a while, thats a good thing. The sunney Santiago Sol are in 5th place. GM Dave is surely looking forward to the day when he is allowed to make his first trade. Former Ratz defensman Mark Eaton was appointed assistant captain for the Sol earlier this week. Good choice! Meet Cape Towns one man army, Saku Koivu.
BORG
The weakest division both on paper and on the ice by the looks of things. Two teams, Stockholm and Prague are on .500. The other four teams are below. Stockholm had a tough schedule the first couple of game including away games at both Tokyo and Taipei but have now climed up to first place. The Moscow Bulldozers have surprised everyone up to this point I would expect. 3 wins in 7 games. In the preseason the team only managed to get 2 points in 16 games!! It looks like coach Zinetula Bilyaledinov has a never ending source of magic. Can this team really make the playoffs ?? Berlin have the same amount of points as Moscow. Rome has fallen down to 5th place after a good start. Rome currently have the best PK units in the league. 1 goal against in 36 attempts is impressive. London are in last place. Both London and Rome are having problems scoring goals. Both teams have only scored 16 goals in 7 games. Its the teams Swedish key players that are having difficulties to find the net early on. Renberg only has 1 assist for Rome and Arvedsson in London has only scored 2 goals so far. these two players need to step forward and take their responsibilities. London gave up a lot to get Arvedsson but so far that deal has been nothing short of a disaster for the Aces.
LEE
Two teams in the Lee are still undefeated, hated Tapei haven't lost a single point and Tokyo are 6-0-1 after seven games. The LEE division seem to be stronger than ever. Do we even have to have an AST just to confirm that ? Taipei have 4 among the leagues top 6 scorers. But it isn't just the scoring that is impressive about this team. Both goalies, Vokoun and Brodeur has played outstanding. Brodeur has a GAA of 1.75 after four games played. Vokoun has 2.67. So what about Tokyo, the so feared line with Bure, Fedorov and Mogilny hasn't dominated like I thought they would, but with the deapth on this team the don't have to. The reigning champions the Singapore Dips sits in third place so far. Calcutta arte of to a good start, which they'll need now that their GM has gone on vacation. Hong Kong are outside the playoffs with a .583 record so far. They have games in hand though and should climb past Calcutta. Melbourne is in 6th place despite of good play. they have scored more goals than Stockholm.
Thats it, until next week, I'm lasse Kinch