–> Here’s the official Calder Cup Finals press release from the league. If you haven’t heard, it’s Toronto Marlies and the Norfolk Admirals.

Norfolk scored the most goals in the regular season (273) while Toronto allowed the fewest goals in the regular season (175)

Should be an interesting matchup against two teams which have never played each other. (which I still find hard to believe) Marlies are missing 28 playoff points and 119 regular season points in Matt Frattin (out for season with a knee injury), Mike Zigomanis and Nazem Kadri.

Marlies are 11-2 in the postseason and have won 23 out of 29 games overall.

Norfolk is 39-3 in their last 42 games. Let me type that again: 39-3.

Should be a very exciting series. One that you can’t watch on TV in America, which is a travesty. You can watch it in pretty much every other country outside of America, but not here. That is a joke. AHL Live charges you $12.99 for a grainy works when it wants to game and is flat out unreliable. The fact that the second highest level of professional hockey in North America, some would say the world, can’t find a way to put its championship series on television in America, rife with programming which can best be described as garbage, is downright outrageous.

Deep breaths, Jason. Deep breaths.

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Elsewhere:

–> Washington re-signed G Dany Sabourin for another year. He will mentor Philipp Grubauer, who was third in goals against overall for ECHL South Carolina.

–> Speaking of the ECHL, it released its 2012-2013 schedule Wednesday. If you are looking for an .ics format of the Wheeling Nailers for your iCal, iPhone or iPad you can e-mail me and I can send you my self-built schedule.

–> Keith Wozniak, mastermind behind LetsGoAmerks.com, had an article about hybrid icing which could be implemented in the AHL as early as next season. Read all about it here.

–> Oh, my prediction for the Calder Cup Finals is Norfolk in six. Marlies are a tough team, but I don’t think they have seen anything like Norfolk out in the Western Conference. The fact that they are missing key guys makes it that much more difficult.

Check me out on Twitter for the latest, as always.

Have a great weekend!

–> We have our first Penguin defection. Jason Williams tweeted today that he is signed for the next two years with Ambrì-Piotta in the NLA in Switzerland. Here is the already translated release from Ambrì for you.

The 2012 Offseason Moves chart has been adjusted accordingly.

–> If you really like having fun with translation machines, check this article out. It’s translated from Czech regarding Washington goalie Tomas Vokoun. In summary, he’s not planning on returning to the Caps in 2012-2013. This would mean that mean goaltender Braden Holtby could be graduated to the NHL.

–> Staying with Washington, they traded Chris Bourque to Boston on May 26 for Zach Hamill. Bourque is an unrestricted free agent. It was clear he was not returning to the Caps next year. Hamill is a bit of an underachieving forward. He was 8-13-21 and a +5 in 41 games for the Providence Bruins. He is a restricted free agent.

Good move for the Caps, because they get something for nothing basically.

I could have my next blog post tomorrow, or I could have my next blog post in ten days. Who knows. Up to date on Twitter as always. Keep cool.

Series begins June 1 in Norfolk.

Could be a hell of a series. Early projections look like both teams match up with the another well. Toronto is a stingy, defensive team while Norfolk is an offensive juggernaut. One of those immovable force meets an unstoppable object type thing.

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

A quick payoff of the poll question one post down was how you would rather lose in playoffs, in seven vs. an opponent who is your equal or swept away by a team that did what it wanted with you. Overwhelmingly, you all chose losing in seven. Can’t say I disagree with you.

Leading into that, the St. John’s IceCaps were swept by the Norfolk Admirals on home ice. They scored two goals the entire series. Yet, IceCaps fans did this. Find me a team, anywhere, at any level, that would do that given the circumstances.

It looks like the Admirals opponent could be the Toronto Marlies, as they won last night to go up 3-1 in the series. Game 5 is Friday in Toronto.

The Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals extended their affiliation for two more years. This should not come as a shock to anyone.

Also announced in the affiliation extension was the news that Head Coach Mark French and Assistant Coach Troy Mann would also return behind the Bears bench for the 2012-2013 season.

Two former Bears are hopping the pond. Danny Richmond to the Pelicans in the Finnish league SM-liiga and Alexandre Giroux to the KHL’s Dinamo Riga. The links are in Finnish for Richmond and Latvian for Giroux. You can play the famous “Fun with Babelfish” to see how funny the translation to English is.

Congrats to the Florida Everblades who captured the Kelly Cup last night in a 3-2 overtime win in front of their fans over the Las Vegas Wranglers.

The Adirondack Phantoms look to be marooned in Glens Falls for the foreseeable future. Their destined home in Allentown hasn’t even been built yet. Here is the story out of Glens Falls on the situation. The arena was rejected in Hanover Township and Bethlehem Township.

Penn State’s fledgling hockey program will play one of its games in the Penguins living room on October 13 at Mohegan Sun Arena vs. American International.

In reviewing the above, not a single link or mention at all about news on the Penguins. No news is good news?

Latest news as always on Twitter, @nafsnep

Leaguewise, the Toronto Marlies lead the Oklahoma City Barons 2-1 in the best of seven. The Norfolk Admirals just finished off a sweep of the St. John’s IceCaps winning 4-0 tonight.

I have not watched a second of the action, but in following on Twitter, the Admirals completely outplayed the IceCaps top to bottom. They outscored them 14-2 and outshot them 140-115. Dustin Tokarski had shutouts in Games 3 and 4. In other words, total domination. The Manchester Monarchs, an 8 seed, got a game against the Admirals and lost in four in the best of five in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Connecticut Whale, a 6 seed, got two games before losing in six games in the best of seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The IceCaps, a 3 seed and the Atlantic Division Champions, were swept in four games and totally overmatched by every stretch of the imagination in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Penguins battled tooth and nail with the IceCaps, goals were even, as was every other category imaginable as you peeled back the onion of the series. I called it an even series against two evenly matched teams.

But the IceCaps were manhandled by the Admirals and swept in four games.

So the poll question is as follows. Assuming that the Norfolk Admirals win the Calder Cup, how would you have rather the Penguins gone out? Losing in seven games against an opponent who was basically your equal or against an opponent in the Admirals who basically skated you out of the rink for four straight games?

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I’ll have the Calder Cup matchup later in the week, with any news of relevance up before that if need be. Until then, back into obscurity.