At least the B-Sens are winning

The Binghamton Senators are now 4-0-1, with four wins and a shootout loss in their first five games. They are tied for second place in the league, just a point behind league-leading Hershey Bears, with a game in hand. And they're winning games with a pretty strong defence, too, with just nine goals against in the five games (or about 1.8 per game).

Goaltender Jeff Glass is second in the league in both goals-against average (1.00) and save percentage (.960), although he's only played on game, and started Brian Elliott has been extremely strong, fifth in goals-against average (1.68) and sixth in save percentage (.940).

Defencemen Brendan Bell and Tomas Kudelka have four and three points, respectively, and the defence will only get better if Brian Lee is down there for a little while.

Secondary scoring has become primary scoring, as Zack Smith, Ilya Zubov, and Ryan Shannon are outscoring Denis Hamel and Josh Hennessy--the latter two were last year's leading scorers.

As described so well by the big man in B-Sens land Mike Sharp, Bingo's enforcers are protecting their skilled players: Mixed martial-arts veteran Jeremy Yablonski (who I'd love to see up here for a game) pummeled Tim Conboy after the Albany defenceman kneed captain Hamel (who, unfortunately, is expected to miss 3-4 weeks after the event). And then to add insult to injury, Smith dangled around Conboy to tie the game in the third period, and then won it in overtime--make them pay physically AND on the scoreboard. Genius.

How come the Binghamton Senators seem to have addressed all the problems the Ottawa Senators seem to be dealing with right now?

At least it's reassuring that prospects like Elliott, Glass, Smith, Zubov, and Kudelka, along with guys like Mattias Karlsson and Peter Regin are developing as expected. They may be called on for help sooner rather than later.

On the farm: Bingo starts 2-0

With a 2-1 shootout victory over the Toronto Marlies followed by a 3-1 win over the Rochester Americans, the Ottawa AHL-affiliate Binghamton Senators are off to a 2-0 start on the year. Thanks in large part to goaltender Brian Elliott, who's stopped 66 of 68 shots (a .970 save percentage) so far this year.

Newly-acquired forward Ryan Shannon (1G, 1A) and defenceman Brendan Bell (2A) are tied with the 2008 third-round draft pick Zack Smith (1G, 1A) for the team-lead in points with two apiece. Josh Hennessy and Ilya Zubov each have one goal, while Bell and captain Denis Hamel scored in the shootout victory.

Disgruntled forward Alexander Nikulin is back practicing with the team, although it is unclear if and where he fits into a strong forward lineup for the B-Sens. Rumours are that some team(s) are interested in his skill, if only they could be assured SputNik would remain in North American rather than return to his native Russia.

Centre Peter Regin has returned from his concussion, and is slotted at centre with Hennessy and Hamel on the B-Sens' top line. According to Binghamton beat writer Michael Sharp's blog, the depth chart looks like this:

Hamel-Regin-Hennessy
Zubov-Smith-Shannon
Mauldin-Bass-Bois
Yablonski-Weller-Johnson
Nikulin, Daugavins

Hamel captain on Binghamton (of course)

As reported by Michael Sharp on his blog, Denis Hamel will once again be the captain of the Binghamton Senators. The 'A' will rotate between five players: Brendan Bell, Ryan Shannon, Danny Bois, Matt Carkner, and Jeremy Yablonski.

Good on Bell and Shannon, two newcomers who must be making good impressions. And Yabo? I guess he's expected to lead the charge in pugilism.

Denis Hamel named AHL's Man of the Year

Denis Hamel, long-time Binghamton Senator, was awarded the Yannick Dupre Memorial Award as the AHL's Man of the Year, according to the Sharp on the Sens blog.

According to the AHL website, Hamel's off-ice exploits this season have included fundraisers like the Toys for Tots dinner, Spaghetti on Ice campaign for muscular dystrophy, the Magic Paintbrush Project, the Step for a Healthier New York program, a Face-Off Against Cancer, as well as visits to schools and hospitals. What a guy.

In the better part of four seasons with Binghamton, Hamel has played 299 games and accumulated 155 goals and 135 assists, good for 290 points. He's leading the B-Sens in scoring this season with 54 points (31G, 23A). He's the type of player you love to have in your organization, and he can't be anything but beneficial to be leading the charge in the Sens' training grounds.

And I'm not going to lie, I'm a little disappointed he's just on a one-way contract. Even though his NHL success has been limited, Hamel would be pretty valuable for the Sens considering the injury problems we've run into leading up to this playoff run.

On the farm: Bingo picks up steam

While the Ottawa Senators have lost two in a row, Binghamton had a perfect weekend and has now won two consecutive. On Friday the B-Sens won 4-3 over the Norfolk Admirals and they followed that up with a 3-1 win over the Rochester Americans.

Matt Kinch opened the scoring against Norfolk and Tyler Donati scored the game-winner late in the second period. Defenceman Brian Lee and winger Niko Dimitrakos both recorded two assists, and Brian Elliott stopped 39 of 42 shots to record his sixth win of the year.

The next night, Josh Hennessy scored the game-winner and added two assists in the 3-1 victory over Rochester. Elliott was in nets again, and stopped 31 of 32 while Larry Nycholat also moved up the team scoring chart, netting one goal and an assist.

Binghamton is now 15-12-4 and tied for third in the East Division of the AHL. Denis Hamel is now tied for second in the AHL with 17 goals. Top scorers for Binghamton, as of Dec. 23, 2007:

1. Denis Hamel: 28GP, 17G, 8A, 25P
2. Lawrence Nycholat: 31GP, 5G, 18A, 23P
3. Josh Hennessy: 30GP, 10G, 12A, 22P
4. Ilya Zubov: 31GP, 7G, 14A, 21P
5. Alexander Nikulin: 25GP, 5G, 14A, 19P

On the farm: weekly Binghamton update

If Alexander Nikulin was angry with being assigned back to the B-Sens of the AHL after a forgettable two-game stint with Ottawa, it sure didn't affect his performance. After missing a game due to visa problems (how do the Sens let that happen? Come on, Tim Murray!), Nikulin scored once and set up three goals in a 4-0 blanking of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Denis Hamel scored twice, while Jeremy Yablonski rounded out the scoring and Ilya Zubov notched two assists. Jeff Glass got the shutout.

The next night must have been an amazing game to watch, and ended with an 8-5 victory over the Norfolk Admirals. After going down 5-4 in the third, the B-Sens rallied to score four unanswered in less than nine minutes to settle the score. Yabo extended what must be a career-high goal-scoring streak to two games. Hamel scored another two goals, giving him an AHL-leading 16 on the year. Larry Nycholat scored once and added three assists, and Niko Dimitrakos assisted on three consecutive goals, including the game-tying and game-winning goals.

As mentioned, Hamel now leads the league in goals, and his five goals over three games earned him AHL player of the week honours.

Binghamton earned 5 of a possible 6 points this past week, and is now 5-0-1-1 in he past seven games. Their record is 11-8-2-1 overall, worth 25 points and good for fourth in the AHL's East Division.

Top five scorers for Bingo, as of Dec. 3:

1. Denis Hamel: 22GP, 16G, 6A, 22P
2. Alexander Nikulin: 16GP, 4G, 11A, 15P
3. Larry Nycholat: 22GP, 2G, 13A, 15P
4. Niko Dimitrakos: 17GP, 8G, 6A, 14P
5. Josh Hennessy: 21GP, 5G, 9A, 14P
   

On the farm: Bingo's picking up speed

After starting the season with only one win in the first four games, the Binghamton Senators are now in third place in the East Division of the AHL with a 4-3 record.

They went 2-1 this past weekend, in large part because Denis Hamel woke up: he's got 6 points in his last two games (3G ,1A versus the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Penguins, 2A versus the Rochester Americans) to give him 9 points in 8 games on the season.

Defensive prospect Brian Lee is tied with Hamel for the team lead in points with 1 goal and 8 assists in eight contests. The Russians aren't far behind, Alexander Nikulin leading the way with 7 points (1G, 6A) and Ilya Zubov close with 6 (2G, 4A).

The B-Sens have two games this weekend, on Friday against the Bridgeport Sounds Tigers (3-4, fourth in the East) and Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch (3-7, sixth in the North).

Notes from Binghamton

The newest news of the B-Sens:

• Alexander "Sputnik" Nikulin wrote a new blog entry about his first North American pro goal. He also mentioned Ray Emery's games on the farm, noting that while Rayzor wasn't outstanding, he was classy. Apparently Sputnik's also received a shipment of his favourite type of stick;
  

  "I'm happy that I received some of my favourite sticks, which I'm very much used to, I even scored my first goal with one of them. Hopefully it won't be the last, either in the AHL or in the NHL."

• Since Brian Elliott is back on his way to Bingo, the B-Sens released Joel Martin, who'd served as Jeff Glass' backup. They'll run with Elliott and Glass as the tandem.
• Mattias Karlsson, Ottawa's 4th round pick in 2003, played his first game for Bingo on Saturday against Hershey. Scouting report by Tim Murray: "Moves the puck well. Power-play type guy. Just hope he can bring a bit of offense to a group that's holding our sticks too tight right now, and having a hard time scoring." He was -1 with 2 shots in his debut. He had 32 points in 44 games for Bofors IK of the Swedish league Allsvenskan. At 6'2 and 192 pounds, he's apparently able to play physical and not afraid to hit.
• Blue-chip prospects Nikulin, Brian Lee, and Ilya Zubov are all tied for the team lead in points with Danny Bois, who I guess is still a good prospect.
  
• After fog problems on the ice for Bingo's home opener, management has initiated a "The Fog has Cleared" promotion, offering ticket rebates. Hilarious.
• Nik Dimitrakos is leading the team in goal-scoring. I think that was the intention of signing him, so it's always nice when something works out.
  
• Binghamton (1-2 on the year) will play two games against the Norfolk Admirals (1-3) this weekend. Although Emery stole the show in their first win, Elliott has a pretty good shot of stealing a game or two at the AHL level. If Denis Hamel can pick up his scoring pace, the B-Sens will be fine.
  

Senators of Ottawa will settle the roster of team!

*Written in English and translated to Russian and back to English in honour of Ottawa's two Russian prospects, Ilya Zubov and Alexander Nikulin. Here's hoping you're with the Ottawa Senators soon enough.*

On October 1st, Senators of Ottawa club of hockey have chosen the final roster for the team, appointing five players on their branch of insignificant league in Binghamton. Defenders Brian Lee and Larry Nycholat just as forwards Denis Hamel (the not big surprise there), Ilya Zubov, and Alexander Nikulin all will go.

That it means, draft-choice in volume 2006 of the project, Nick Foligno, earned a spot of the roster during a season, and good for him. I imagine, that he will play on third- or the fourth-line, or if he does show some offensive skill then can be advanced for a second- or even a role of the first-line. It also means, that Luke Richardson will play as the seventh defender of Ottawa, and that Christoph Schubert could play very well be starting defenceman to begin a season.

Unfortunately, two strong Russian prospects of Ottawa, Zubov and Nikulin, both withdraw to the farm. Apparently Nikulin has chosen not his contract to return to Russia, and will report to Binghamton. On blog of Nikulin, he has told, that he expected to make the team of Ottawa:

"To tell the truth, I counted on spot in the basic roster. Also, I consider, I can benefit Senators."

-Alexander Nikulin

It is probable, that Russians sent to Binghamton for some reasons:

1. To study English language.
2. Further to adapt to North American game.
3. As there was only one spot of the roster, holding Nikulin and Zubov--as two friend Russians--on the same team together possibly will help their progress.
4. The senior Senators require the help of depth, not such big help with grace and scoring.
5. Binghamton really requires the help of a scorer.

On defence, should be disappointed is Nycholat. He had decent educational-training camp, but only it was so difficult to crack the defence list of Ottawa that there was no room for him. Probably that, as he must clear waivers, Nycholat will have an opportunity to play on other team of NHL. Lee was first-round choice in 2005 draft of Ottawa, and the majority of people doubted that he is able to make defence of Ottawa consisting of all-stars already.

“I feel that I have played pretty well when I was here. It would be desirable, and hopefully they are able to call to me if someone will be injured or something as this."

-Brian Lee (in English, then Russian, then English again)

Apparently the line of CASH--Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, and Jason Spezza--it is reunited (and it feels so good) for the beginning a season. I do not know why, but it matters not. John Paddock is primary coach, and I am simply a fanatic.