I don't know why this says AJB; that lazy excuse for a blog writer hasn't been on here in forever. This is Justin Rosa, with my first-ever blog. Read it and like it.

Get ready hockey fans for the best time of the year, that’s right… Playoffs!  The Inferno will open their run towards the Kelly Cup with a best of five series against the Florida Everblades.  The Inferno had some success this season against Florida going 4-3-1 during the regular season.  Columbia heads to Florida after winning their final two regular season games to earn the fifth seed in the South Division.
The Inferno should receive a lift in the dressing room when Tyler Doig, Peter Tsimikalis and Patrick Wellar return to Columbia after spending time with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.  Doig was the Inferno representative at the ECHL All Star game and will add depth and a scoring threat to the offense. Wellar will certainly be a welcome addition to the lineup as Coach Mann named him the Inferno’s Defenseman of the Year at the recent team banquet.
    As you know, many teams that go on to win the championship do so with stellar net minding.  The Inferno have used a rotation most of the season with Todd Ford and Jeff Jakaitis, as each have seen significant playing time.  Columbia will look to these two stoppers to lead them through the playoffs.
    The series between the Inferno and Everblades will begin in Florida on Wednesday, April 9th.  Game 2 is scheduled for Friday April 11th and the two teams will then travel north to Columbia for Game 3 on Saturday April 12th.  Saturday’s game will be the first playoff game at the Carolina Coliseum since 2006.  If necessary, Game 4 will be played at Columbia on Monday, April 14th and Game 5 would be in Florida on Wednesday, April 16th.
    The next couple of weeks you will see 23 men leave their blood, sweat and tears on the ice for a chance to win the Kelly Cup.  The intensity rises tremendously in the playoffs as every hit, every shot, and every shift could be the difference between a disappointing season, or a championship season.  It is time to win or go home--so you better buckle up and enjoy the ride as the Inferno look to capture their first ever Kelly Cup!

Resident PA announcer extraordinaire, Roger Hyde, took some well-earned vacation time and followed the Inferno on their recent road trip through the Gulf Coast. Stopping in Pensacola and Biloxi, Hyde took some notes and pictures to commemorate the experience and share with all of yas.

Gulf Coast Road Trip

Greetings from the Voice of the Inferno, Roger Hyde!  My wife and I just
returned from a trip to Biloxi, Mississippi and Pensacola, Florida following
our favorite ECHL hockey team.  Four hockey games, 2 Mardi Gras parades, and
several nice restaurants later, we're back in the Palmetto State ready for
Friday night's game with the Texas Wildcatters.  We left our home in
Lexington on Wednesday morning (1/30) and made the trek to Biloxi.  Other
than a half hour standstill due to an accident on I-10, the trip was quite
pleasant.  We arrived at the Holiday Inn on the beach about 5 minutes from
the Mississippi Coast Coliseum at around 8 PM CST.


The next day we spent poking around the Biloxi/Gulfport area.  We were
amazed at the amount of damage still left over from Hurricane Katrina.
Originally Beach Blvd. was a strip of beautiful old antebellum homes, with
beautiful trees and landscaping.  The casinos were all literally "on the
water" on huge barges.  Hurricane Katrina saw to it that all casinos were
moved to the land.  One landed directly on another Holiday Inn and one came
down on one of the old mansions.  Most of the debris has been moved away,
leaving vacant lot after vacant lot.  The casinos have been rebuilt as
high-rises on the land (no more barges) and some of the homes have been
replaced with replicas of the mansions or newer designs.  The Coliseum where
the Sea Wolves play shows no sign of the damage she incurred.  In fact, it's
a pleasant place to see a game or two, and would have been even better had
we won a game or two.  In both games in Biloxi, the Inferno could
have/should have won, but were frequently their own worst enemy, turning
over the puck at the worst times (anyone remember Travis Lisabeth), and
going 0-7 on the power play in game one, including a 4 minute PP with only 1
shot on goal!  The second game saw more of the same, but with a little
better effort on the part of our boys.  An empty netter was the only reason
that wasn't a one goal game as well. 

Claire and I spent Saturday morning in Gulfport at our first ever Mardi Gras
parade.  As you can tell by the pictures, we managed to get a few beads!


Sunday we made the short drive to Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, Alabama, about
45 minutes from Pensacola.  Monday's game started at 12 noon for some
unknown reason, and my wife and I and about 500 Ice Pilot fans witnessed
another 2-1 Inferno loss.  In what appeared to be a replay of the first
Mississippi game, we couldn't get enough shots on the Pilots goaltender, and
they played just well enough to beat us.  I had the opportunity to chat with
Coach Mann before the game, and he expressed his concern with our power play
as well. "No matter who I put out there, they pass the puck around the
perimeter, but don't get the puck on net!"

Tuesday was spent on the beach, and at another Mardi Gras parade, and, of
course, more beads!  Dinner before the game at McGuire's Irish Pub was
grand, as was their micro-brewed root beer (hey, I was driving). Game two
with the Ice Pilots started well as things began to click on the PP. We took
a 1-0 lead midway through the 1st period, only to be trailing 2-1 after two.
The Inferno scored on the power play (thank Heavens!) to tie the score with
just over 2 minutes to play.  How they scored is still a mystery to me and
the Ice Pilots and their fans.  After a scrum in front of the net, and a
couple guys pushing and shoving behind the goal, the puck suddenly appeared
in the back of the net.  The referee signaled a goal to the protests of the
Ice Pilots.  The linesmen checked the twine for holes but found none, and
the ref pointed to center ice.  Our own "Phil the Conductor" would have been
proud of the Pilot fans at that point, as the vocally displayed their
opinion of the referee.  My wife and I and the Inferno actually felt that
the ref was a fine upstanding young man, who clearly showed wisdom beyond
his tender age! Off to overtime, and, much to the dismay of the boy in front
of us who wanted to see his first shootout, Reid Cashman slammed home a
rebound that the Pilot goalie couldn't cover in time, and the Inferno had
the two points! Wednesday we packed up the Expedition, and headed back home,
happy to be on a one game winning streak!  We met some great people in both
arenas, and hope to return next year. 


If you folks ever get the chance to
see the Inferno on the road, and you don't mind a little driving, the Gulf
Coast is a great place to chase away the winter blahs! See on on Thursday! LET'S GO INFERNO!

Hockey new year, everybody! We understand that many of you weren't able to call in sick for our midweek matinee on Jan. 2 against the Gwinnett Gladiators. So, to help make up for it, here are some great photos from the game. The Inferno have three or four photographers taking pictures for every game, so we should be able to do more post-game photo galleries.



Tsimikalis helps to tie up Jeff Campbell while Jakaitis collects a shot and denies the rebound. Jakaitis had another solid outing while Todd Ford is in Toronto with the Marlies.



Owen Fussey was celebrating a goal in the second period that would've put the Inferno up 2-0. However, Fuss was ruled by the referee to have kicked the puck into the net. Fuss and his teammates say it was just an inadvertent deflection.



Fussey may or may not have kicked the puck in, but Gwinnett's Jamie Milam definitely kicked it out of the net.



Late in the second period, former Inferno player and current Gladiator Bryson Busniuk scored the 1-1 tying goal. The shot hit off the post, got caught in Jakaitis' gear. When Jeff moved, the puck fell onto the goal line, and Busniuk was credited with the goal. While this may not be the definitive shot of the goal, it still looks a little suspicious...



At any rate, the game went to a shootout after a 2-2 score during regulation and overtime. Daniel Sparre scored for the Inferno when he beat Dan Turple with a fantastic deke, pushing Turple to his glove side and backhanding the puck up near the crossbar and into the net. If you look at the center of the crossbar, you'll see Sparre's shot going into the net.



On the other end, Jakaitis used his quickness to deny Gladiator Mike Hamilton's shootout attempt.



Reid Cashman beat Turple with a sweet shot blocker side that pinged off the near post and into the net.


Got any more pictures? Send 'em to me at ajbembry@columbiainferno.com

Also, be sure to check out Martial Image for some more shots.

Greetings and welcome to December! Today's been a pretty slow day around here, so I wanted to try and get as caught up as I can for this week. First of all, many, many thanks to all the fans who helped make our WMHK 89.7 FM Sixth Annual Teddy Bear Toss a success! It doesn't hurt at all that Owen Fussey let everyone toss their bears just 40 seconds into the game, but WMHK and the Inferno collected nearly 700 bears for the event. Those toys will go straight to local emergency responders and handed to children following tragedy.

As those of you who were at the game on Saturday undoubtedly noticed during the second intermission, our Zamboni was met with some "technical issues." OK, a T-shirt got stuck in the Zam's elevator, and none of the accumulated snow was making its way into the collection bin at the front of the machine. So, Charlie, our ice operations guy, had to shut down the Zam and figure out what the deal was.



If you look closely, Charlie's legs are sticking out directly underneath the blade. Kinda looks like he got run over, though.  Even though our Zam was inoperable for the rest of the night, we luckily had the Colonial Center's machine on hand just in case a alternator belt situation on our Zam worsened. So, (a cut hand and nicked knuckle later) Charlie was able to get himself out from under our Zam, he ran to the back of the Coliseum and used the Colonial Center's Zam to finish the ice. While it was a pain, at least it wasn't as bad as this.

In other news, new defenseman Dan Glover made his way to Columbia and participated in his first practice this morning. I haven't had a chance to meet up or talk with him, but I have heard that his name is pronounced GLOH-ver, not GLUH-ver. He'll be in the lineup on Wednesday night against Johnstown.



Some of the Columbia Inferno team went to Pine Ridge Middle School last week to participate in the Big Brother program.  Eleven players ate lunch with ten students from the middle school and then played a game of touch football.  The players will serve as the students’ mentors for the next four months.  Their next visit to the school will be December 11. I'll post some more pictures of these meeting when they become available.

Finally, I have a few game/action shots from the last several games. If you have any digital photos or anything from a team function or game, please email them to me at ajbembry@columbiainferno.com. I would really like to get some more fan photos on this site.



Jeremy Hall scoring his first goal of the year against Charlotte last week. Photo by Steve Weart.


Tyson Marsh trying the backhanded wraparound against Augusta on Saturday. Photo by Juan Blas.

That's all for today. I'll try to get some more info later this week....

Greetings again! Hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving. The Inferno have returned to Columbia after posting a 1-2-0-1 record while on their four-game road trip in the cold, bleak northeast. While the three points aren't the four wins I'm sure many were hoping for, it's not half bad when three of the team's best defensemen were all recalled back to Toronto right before the trip. With Reid Cashman, Phil Oreskovic and Patrick Wellar all gone, the team had four healthy defensemen and wound up using Mac Faulkner and Steve McJannet back on the blueline. Faulkner only lasted at that spot for a period or two, while Coach Mann was pleased with McJ's efforts. Evidently, McJannet played a little defense at Lake Superior State University. Wellar did rejoin the team on the trip, but Cashman and Resko haven't, and probably won't for a while. Oreskovic is exactly the kind of player that the Maple Leafs organization needs; he's not likely to be coming back any time soon.

Some good news on the trip is that Todd Ford played absolutely stellar hockey. He had his first shutout of the season against Trenton and stopped all but one shot against a very good Elmira club. Here's hoping Ford-o regains some of his swagger when the club comes back to host the Checkers on Thursday night.

I've got very little player or practice news as Coach Mann has given the team Monday and Tuesday off after the trip. But I'll be back tomorrow with some more info (we're filming a commercial!) and some nuggets here and there. I've done a lousy job so far of keeping up with the blog; it's time to remedy this situation.

BTW, if you like your Columbia Inferno, please head on over to this logo contest. Blaze the Flaming Dog Head is up against Cilly the Bucktoothed Cyclone from Cincinnati. I just made up that last name.

Also, please feel free to send me any pictures from our games. If you think you have a great action shot from the game, I'll post it either here or in a special section on the webpage. Who knows, it may even become the leading picture for a release! Please send all photos to ajbembry@columbiainferno.com

So sorry that it's taken me this long to update the blog. If you had any idea how crazy it's been in the office since the start of training camp, you'd definitely cut me some slack. But now that the majority of my preseason duties are complete, I should be able to update this here blog on a regular basis; I should also be getting a brand-new edition of the Coach's Corner on here within the next week.

First things first, how's about the recent performance of the team? The club has won four of their last six, dating back to the home opening victory against the Lynx. Daniel Sparre and Jeff Miles have been battling for the team's points lead, and as of Thursday Miles was the No. 1 scorer in the ECHL with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists). Sure, sure it's still early yet, but the team is definitely headed in the right direction with two more road games to play before they host the Florida Everblades on Tuesday. Coach Mann isn't sure who he's going to start in net for the Friday game against the Blades, as rookie goalie Jeff Jakaitis won the first game of this three-game swing with a 6-0 shutout against Pensacola. Coach Mann was very pleased with the effort against a very scrappy Ice Pilots team, as he said the Inferno put pressure on the Ice Pilots the entire game.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, WIStv's Brian DeRoy is a big supporter of the Inferno and has already done a couple of stories/pieces on us. He even spent some time in training camp, as evidenced by this video.
Be sure to catch Brian as co-anchor of the Sunrise News from 5-7 a.m. every morning on WIStv.

Since the website has been up-and-running (and supposedly bug-free) for a couple of days now, what do you think? What do you like best? What do you like least? Lemme know through the message boardsor by shooting me an email at ajbembry@columbiainferno.com. This site is supposed to be friendlier and easier to access. That's the idea, anyway, so we can't make it better without more feedback.

Speaking of websites and such, I'm in the process of making some downloadable wallpapers for everyone. Outside of the obvious choices (Ralph, Miles, Ford), who are some players you'd like to see highlighted with their own wallpaper? I'll try to get them posted in the next week.

Finally, from here on out I'm going to be attaching links to Inferno photo galleries to the blog and to the game stories themselves. We've had some issues with trying to find the proper way to host these images, but I think we've got everything worked out. There definitely needs to be more multimedia on this site; it's just going to be a work in progress.

AJB

So, it's been two weeks since the last posting, and even that one wasn't me. Much thanks to Sarah for filling in during an otherwise exceptionally busy week. Now that most of my pre-season duties ( designing schedules, ordering in-arena signage, etc.) are completed, I should be able to get this blog thing up and rolling. I'm hoping for at least two updates per week during the season, and maybe, just maybe, daily updates.

As I'm sure you're all well aware, the Inferno made a pretty big announcement over this past weekend. The land site for the new building has finally been firmed, and I promise you, no one is more excited about this than the office staff. We had heard rumblings about the new building going up over there in the St. Andrews area, but until everything was completely in tip-top shape, we couldn't say anything for certain. A lot of people, including those of you over on the message boards, had been asking about what was going on with the new place; I wasn't lying when I said that I had no more information to give. But now that the plans have been released, I can share with you some of the pictures.

As you can see, this building has a "corner-centric" design, much like the Colonial Center. Whereas the Coliseum has the same basic shape and look on all four sides, this building will have a legitimate front door, highlighted by a sky light atrium.

The previous designs had called for a dome-shaped roof, and as you can see, this building has an A-frame style roof. I think this looks a lot better; the last designs looked like an igloo. This building looks like a palace in comparison. I will try and post some pictures of the inside as they become available.

As many of you noticed in your email inbox yesterday, Coach Mann signed center Marc Cavosie, while releasing forwards Kelly Thomson and Matt Caranci. There are still a few more cuts that have to be made today by 3 p.m., but a player of Cavosie's caliber is a big boost to the club. He's played four years in the American Hockey League with the Houston Aeros and Philly Phantoms, where he scored 99 points (26 goals, 73 assists) in 252 regular season games. Coach Mann wasn't really planning on adding anyone else to the roster this late in camp, but when you have the opportunity to bring in a guy like Cavosie, you have to do it. His impressive resume will further bolster an already talented lineup that includes snipers such as Jeff Miles, Daniel Sparre, Brad Ralph, Anthony Battaglia and Peter Tsimikalis.
While the team may not have had the kind of preseason results we all would've liked, it's important to note how meaningless the preseason really is. Most teams play the guys that they're a little unsure about, or are trying to make the team. Preseason wins and losses don't mean a whole lot, and as an example, look at the Atlanta Thrashers in the NHL. They had a pretty good preseason, and as of Tuesday night they were the only team in the league without a point in the standings. Once the Inferno have some time to jell and get their lines figured out, they'll be just fine.

Training camp is starting to wind down, but not before WIS TV's Brian DeRoy had a chance to hit the ice. Brian is the host of the Sunrise show from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., and he's a good friend of the Inferno. At any rate, he came out to do a segment (which should run on the Sunrise show sometime next week) on training camp. He came in for the full effect; he was there for breakfast , video analysis, and a full skate.

Hiya folks, Sarah here. I decided to take some of the fun from AJ this week.
We are just a week away from our little campers coming to town, and everything is falling into place. Things are taking shape. The painting and flooding of the rink is happening as we speak. Find it hard to believe hockey is just days away when it is a sweltering 100 degrees outside? Well believe it. Hockey is coming. Want proof? Two words. Twisted Sister. Three more words for you. “I Wanna Rock”.


If that doesn’t make you think hockey, professional help is recommended. Which brings me to my next point…arguably the best song ever played on cassette has become our pre-season office anthem. Take a stroll through the Inferno office one day, chances are you can hear the timeless rally cry of Dee Snider somewhere between my corner and AJ’s desk.

I digress. While we are still a week away from hockey here at the Carolina Coliseum, AHL camps are in full swing. Going toe to toe in an exhibition game this week was the Inferno’s big wheel, Mac Faulkner turning heads in a Hershey Bears sweater and Tyson Marsh pulling on a WBS Penguins jersey for camp. Mac lit it up with a goal in a 4-1 exhibition victory over the rival Penguins.



Mac shouldn't stick out too much in Hershey. There he is at the end of the year banquet.
 
Joining Mac up in sweet sweet Hershey, Penn. is Tim Songin. Newcomer Jeremy Hall is at the Hartford Wolfpack camp, Sean Offers is with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Bryan Rodney is in Worcester for training camp and try outs.

Just a hop, skip and a jump away, we have Daniel Sparre, Patrick Wellar and Tyler Doig lacing up the skates at the Toronto Marlies camp. Julien Brouilette is our lone player at the Iowa camp. Last but certainly not least, our very own Owen Fussey is at training camp in his home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba with the Moose.

We’d like to extend a warm welcome back for the return of Anthony Battaglia to Columbia. Battaglia played in 47 regular season games for the Inferno, tallying up 16 goals and 29 assists for a total of 45 points. To complete the equation, lest we forget the 13 games, 6 goals and 7 assists for a total of 13 points with the Manchester Phoenix of the EIHL. We are very happy to have Anthony back for the 2007-2008 season.



Anthony is a big movie buff, so there he is associated with one of the biggest movies of all time. 'sides, his name is Battaglia. Fuhgettaboutit.

Even though it was real early in the morning, we hope you were able to catch your Columbia Inferno Live with Lucas on the WIS Sunrise news program on Monday. Lucas came through the Coliseum and interviewed Troy, equipment manager Joe Schachner, head trainer Jessica Judge and ice operations manager Charlie Reynolds. Even though the staff had to be up and at the rink by about 4:30, we all had a great time.

So get your Columbia Inferno jerseys washed and pressed. Get out your t-shirts, rally towels, hats and helmets; whatever it is you wear to the games. Come painted, face, belly, one and all. The one minute of madness is upon us ladies and gentlemen. Will you be ready? For additional help, click here.

Ahoy, Inferno fans!

Sorry for the delay, but it's been a really hectic week around the office. But to start everything off, I'd like let you know what's happening here with the rink. Our ice installer, Charlie, and his team of workers have gotten most of the framework done for the ice. Putting in an ice surface for an arena that was never supposed to have it in the first place is a little bit difficult, but I think we can all agree that it's well worth it. First, the installers must erect the dam; this acts as both pond and sandbox, and it serves as the foundation for the boards themselves.

You can sort of see the dam to the right of the boards.

Once the ring-like dam is up, sheets of styrofoam insulation are laid to cover every square inch of concrete arena floor inside the confines of said dam. Massive sheets of plastic are then put down to help keep sand and water off the floor and styrofoam.

On top of the plastic, a vast network of tubing is laid, with each tube being only an inch or so away from the next. This network will later be pumped with hundreds of gallons of antifreeze, or glycol. The glycol is supercooled in the massive chiller behind the Coliseum, and then pumped through these tubes. Once everything is inspected for leaks, weakness, and problems, the glycol can be pumped through and then we can begin to flood the dam with water. We're still about a week away from being able to flood, but after the ice is firmed, it's only about 12 hours before blades can hit.

On to other news... As most of you have probably seen by now, the Inferno have hired Paul Marriott to be the club's Vice President of Business Operations.  Paul has spent a lot of time in minor league baseball, most recently with the single-A Batavia Muckdogs in New York. It may seem like something of a stretch for a baseball guy to switch over to hockey, but the last several ECHL Executives of the Year have backgrounds in baseball. In fact, at the league meetings this year in Vegas (baby, Vegas), representatives from the Toledo Mudhens gave a seminar for clubs to use some of baseball's strategies in promoting hockey.  Paul will pick up the nuances of the hockey business quickly, and I'm sure that his successful strategies for promoting and maintaining sports will wear off on the office just as fast.


This past week, Coach Mann, Brad Ralph and head trainer Jessica Judge went out on a golf outing with Golf the Midlands magazine. The story is about the parallels between golf and hockey, and why so many hockey players play golf, too. It will be published in the Oct.-Nov. issue of the free magazine, available at golf courses and chambers of commerce across the Midlands. I'll post another update once the issue becomes available.


Speaking of Coach Mann, he has been invited to help as an assistant coach with the Hershey Bears training camp this week in Pennsylvania. He joins Jared Bednar, coach of the rival Stingrays, as well as Inferno players Mac Faulkner and Tim Songin. You can follow all of the happenings at Hershey's training camp here.     It's quite the honor for Coach Mann to be asked to help with this camp, and especially with an AHL organization with the history and tradition of Hershey's.


For those of you who are morning people, be sure to watch WIS' Sunrise morning show. The co-anchor over there, Brian DeRoy, is a HUGE hockey fan. Don't just take my word for it. Here's a picture he sent me from his days in Raleigh...


Check out Brian's own blog here.  He's on the air from 5-7 a.m., so help support a good guy who supports your Inferno!


We have some player news, too. As you've seen here and here, the Inferno have recently brought in a pair of defensemen. First, as many of you are happy to know, Ren Fauci has returned to the Inferno. Ren's a great guy who lets his actions on the ice do most of the talking. Coach Mann has routinely praised his work ethic and his desire to compete.



Unfortunately, Ren wasn't the easiest guy to get a hold of the day we issued his release. So, that left the office to determine his graphic, which is never a good idea. Ideas such as putting him next to Stimpy popped up, but Wendy Hennessy (the director of communications) drew the correlation between Fauci and faucets, hence this, um, creative graphic. I called Ren, and true to his easy-going spirit, he was A-OK with what happened.

As for Patrick Wellar, Coach Mann is pretty excited about this signing. Wellar has been described throughout the league as a good teammate and a great community guy, though you wouldn't know it based on his on-ice performance. Wellar is a big, mean player who's not afraid to knock the daylights out of someone. He doesn't fight all that often, but he enjoys laying the wood on big, open-ice hits. I called Patrick the other day, and he said he likens his game most closely to those of the St. Louis Blues' Barrett Jackman and the Atlanta Thrashers' Garnet Exelby.  Having spent some time in the Thrashers' organization myself, I can promise you that if Wellar hits like Exelby, every fan in the building will love him.




The big fella (6'3, 210 lbs.) is from Saskatchewan, where he said he spent plenty of time in the province's vast grain fields. What better way to honor that heritage than by putting him back out in the fields?


Well folks, that's all for this week. I hope to have more information for you next week, and once training camp starts I should have updates daily.

 Any questions or comments, drop me a line or check out the message boards.

 

The first week of September... school and college football aren't the only things that are starting to pick up at this time of year. With training camp just a few weeks away, new players coming to town almost on a daily basis and the ice installation process slowly coming to life, we here at the Inferno front office are as busy as referees at the bottom of a bench clearing brawl. For instance, one of our corporate sales executives, John C. Schuck IV, has been told that he is no longer allowed to go home. Instead, he is officially Inferno property, and is tethered to the office.



Folks, I can't make this kind of stuff up. John found an old hockey net somewhere near the locker room, and well, without adult supervision, this is what happened.

On to bigger and brighter news... Coach Mann today announced the signing of Kelly Thomson. Thomson has just a year of professional hockey experience (one season with the Muskegon Fury of the former UHL), but he's done his fair share of bruising. Last season he tallied 94 penalty minutes in 37 games. Coach Mann explained Kelly's game to me as a player very similar to a Matthew Barnaby or Sean Avery; this man is a pest. He's not overly huge at 5'10, 200 pounds, but he's not afraid to drop the gloves with nearly anyone in an opposing sweater. In just two years of juniors in the OHL, Thomson amassed 317 penalty minutes in 107 games. But Thomson has some offensive upside, as well; he had six points in Muskegon and 38 points in junior. 

I called Thomson earlier today, and as you can tell from his graphic, he likes to hit the links when he's not hitting someone, anyone, else.



On a more serious note... I've gotten some emails recently asking for updates on the new arena. I've been in contact with our owners, and they assure me we'll have some news to release very soon. Trust me folks, I'm as eager to see that building go up as most of you are.

And for the final bit of news: ColumbiaInferno.com now has a message board. So, go and check it out. And please, POST! It's no fun if it's just one person talking to themselves.




Submitted for your approval (and hopefully some great message board conversation) are some of Kelly's fights from last season. If you have any questions, post 'em on the board or email me ajbembry@columbiainferno.com

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