Not that the horse is dead and all, but ...

[admiralszone]

There are a bunch of letters between ABC and Z.  I dont think he is planning a Calder Cup celebration in Syracuse and I am not sure how anyone could read that article and think that he is.  Now if he is smart he will make big deal about getting the Tampa affiliation, because it makes his on ice product better, so he should flaunt that as a business man. 

Basically I think folks are jumping to conclusions; you dont like the guy, cool, but not everthing he does is a slap to our organization.

It was just I jumping to a conclusion because of the way he was wording the move and how great the Admirals were this season.  Likely he is just doing all of this to sell tickets because who wouldn't want to watch this group of players. My hope is he celebrates the affiliation but not our cup.

[ShawnD]

Do what I do, stop reading the syracuse news.

[fordaith]

Im gonna die laughing when everyone either gets called up, traded, or signs elsewhere, and you have like 3 guys from the cup team left.

And he's left with the mess Tampa brought to Norfolk.

[NYR99NHL]

Yes Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon had better not count his chickens....I looked at Norfolk's roster changes from 10-11 to 11-12 and only 7 players from the previous year were on this year's team to start with. You know some will make the Lightning roster and some free agents may not be resigned. With call-ups and possible trades that could lessen the number even more. However I foresee a championship team trying to stay together (speaking from the players side of things) considering how close they were. Only time will tell....but the odds are it will be a completely different team. Also one other HUGE factor....and I'm not a hater...but I hope the architect (Coach Cooper) is in the NHL.

[Geoff Fox]

Im gonna die laughing when everyone either gets called up, traded, or signs elsewhere, and you have like 3 guys from the cup team left.

This is what was gonna happen next year no matter where the affiliation.  In a developmental league its silly to stay status quo.

[admiralszone]

Im gonna die laughing when everyone either gets called up, traded, or signs elsewhere, and you have like 3 guys from the cup team left.

This is what was gonna happen next year no matter where the affiliation.  In a developmental league its silly to stay status quo.

Unless you're Hershey....

[Chad O!]

Damn that's some painful truth right there.

HOWEVER:  Our big league coach is their former big league coach and maybe he really was a key component in that development.

[Norads]

Im gonna die laughing when everyone either gets called up, traded, or signs elsewhere, and you have like 3 guys from the cup team left.

This is what was gonna happen next year no matter where the affiliation.  In a developmental league its silly to stay status quo.

I don't know, we had alot of rookies that would only go up if there was a opening.  That team could be about the same next season.  Well maybe just 3-4 different players.

[ShawnD]

I think they'll keep the rookies for bait when lindback can't be a starter and they want luongo who apparently only wants to goto the panthers lol

[Adshawksfan]

Yea unfortunately I see most of this year's team back in Syracuse next year and likely coop with them. And God help the league if there is a lockout they may all be back minus picard and a few others.

[LetItSnow]

Hello from Syracuse!  I'm not here to troll your forum; that's fruitless.  I'm more than happy to tell what's going on on this side of the fence, so long as we can keep things on the up 'n' up, yeh?

There's a lot going on in this thread.  I'll try my best to express the way I've seen things, and it might give a better interpretation of Kramer's article and Dolgon's quotes.

If there's anyone who knows that a team that's good on paper can turn out to be a poor product, it's Dolgon and the Syracuse fans.  We've had more than one season where, looking at the roster, we had plenty of reason for a positive outlook and wound up in a completely different area of the standings than we'd expected!

To say that you'd expect a Calder Cup winning team to back it up handily is kind of silly, especially in the story of Binghamton: best of the best to bust in the basement, just one summer apart.  As roster lineups change, the product on the ice can be night and day between seasons.  The Calder Cup doesn't follow a parent club as a rule.  Believing that Dolgon would be simple enough to hold this concept is kind of nuts.

Dolgon's excited to be involved with a new affiliate.  I can't speak for the actual relationship, but I know a good share about what went wrong with Columbus and what didn't work with Anaheim, and it looks like they were both tough roads - Anaheim being the worse of the pair.  Communication and coordination with Anaheim are told to have been dreadful.  If things with Tampa Bay are much improved from that, well, why wouldn't he have the huge fanfare?

Kramer's not exactly Dolgon's BFF.  There was a point in time where the Crunch got nearly zero press in Syracuse.  I understand that they easily fall in the shadow of SU sports, but after you fall behind the oft ignored SU women's sports and behind high school track, you've got a 3x5 square next to the weather on the back page.  Things are quite different now, and (speculate honestly) maybe it's got to do with maneuvering of green rectangles or maybe the story's more worth telling, but I don't see the tie otherwise.

There will always be mixed reviews on new logos.  I can see that some of you are less than fond of your "Love Boat".  It's not the most important part of the team, but it helps to like it.  I've never been a fan of Al the Ice Gorilla, but I understand the logic behind it.  For him to be gone in any form is a relief to me.  Crunchman, as generic as he seems, is at least the Crunch's own animatable mascot.  You can have Crunchman walk through the stands.  Tricky with a boat!    The Americans have the Moose, which are not only uncommon in Rochester, but something something Manitoba.  The suit came with the arena, it's told.

Besides, I thought Frozone was cool. 

Hey, I don't know everything about the team - the players, the staff, and the affiliates or the communications, conflicts and coordinations between them - but there are definitely some misconceptions around here.  Maybe some of them stem from a little envy (be honest!) and maybe some are legit.

I know some folks aren't going to care about what I have to offer, and that's fine.  If I get hit up with a question, though, I'll see what I can do.

Last season's Crunch turned out to be very exciting in the last quarter.  If you get a third of them, you're in for a wild ride!  Tarkki jumped the pond, though, and it's a drag.  He was fun to watch and very personable.

[Randy]

LetItSnow, thanks for the update.  And I do appreciate the way that you approached this. People around here are still raw about having the rug pulled out from under us by BrisBois et als.  But we do very much care about the guys who took us on that incredible ride last season.  And there are many others who along with me will be following them.  Please come back when you can.

[Roman]

LetItSnow,

I'm happy for your excitement up north. If there is ever a fanbase that understands dreadful on-ice product, Norfolk is at least in the top 5. Our first years with TB were awful. If we were still in the dark ages, Lawton would've been hung from the gallows. Either way, I think you all have every right to be excited about a new affiliate (headed up by Vinik and Yzerman--who wouldn't be happy?). Anyone here that ridicules just forgot to wash down the sour grapes they were chomping on.

There is a hatred toward Dolgon that I find to be misplaced, or at least hyperbolized around here. I don't care one way or the other about whether he is the douchiest douche of all douches or if he is the most misunderstood owner in AHL history.

I don't think we're envious that you all got TB. I, for one, was just lilted by the fact that we have to go through yet another affiliation change. While changes of this nature are common, there is also a precedent for lasting, long term relationships. That's the sort of thing I hope for, through the thick and thin, till death do us part, I want a golden age marriage of Norfolk and a single affiliate. That's the only thing that irritated me about the move. That and Brisbois' reason for doing so. Total inanity if you ask me.

I may be the only one, and I didn't speak up in the actual thread about it, but I actually like the logo. I think some folks around here made some interesting and apt critiques but there are far worse logos than the Crunchman (or whatever he's called).

Thanks for posting, and from all of us here in Norfolk, I wish you a season full of NHL injuries, AHL callups, and a narrow miss of the playoffs.

[ShawnD]

There won't be a whole lot of communication to Tampa from Dolgon if BriseBois runs the same system they did here lol

[WranglerSM]

My opinion of Kramer is that he's still an ass.  He posted rumor and speculation as facts, with his justification being "I'm going to report the news when I hear it."  There were never any doubts that Tampa was looking for greener pastures, but there was also no way for Kramer to get any more information than the rest of the public as early as he started pushing the TB to Syracuse agenda. 

I'm not in the slightest bit jealous of Syracuse.  In fact, the affiliation change, leading to the roster change, is just as old hat for Norfolk as it is for most any AHL city.  The roster changed from 2 years ago to last year, and again from last year to this year.  It's the nature of the beast, and as any fan of an AHL franchise will tell you (and Jon Cooper summed up), the fans will cheer for whomever is wearing the uniform.

The team developed quite the chemistry, and with any luck (for the players) many of them will get to play together again.  I won't be happy to see the players in another uniform, but it is just the way of the AHL.  Neither Howard Dolgon, Lindsay Kramer, Steve Yzerman, Julien Briesois, nor Dave Andrews can take away the Calder Cup or the winning streak record from Norfolk.  They will always stay here, this past season belongs to the fans of the Norfolk Admirals, and nothing or no one can ever change that. 

As it goes in an AHL city, fans will again cheer for the Love Boat With Guns during the 2012-2013 season, only when the team is announced, it will be prefaced for the entire season as "The Defending Calder Cup Champion Norfolk Admirals!"  There are no words and no way of spinning it otherwise.