Portland Matrix Options

[Wildcat48]

It hasn't come out yet, but..... I know no one will like it.

Here is some of it....

Bridgeport - 10G (5H/5A)
Hartford - 8G (4H/4A)
Providence - 12G (6H/6A)
Worcester - 12G (6H/6A)
Manchester - 12G (6H/6A)
Springfield - 10G (6H/6A)
Norfolk - 4G (2H/2A)
Binghamton - 2G (1H/1A)
Hershey - 2G (1H/1A)
Charlotte - 4G (2H/2A)
Adirondack - 2G (1H/1A)
Albany - 2G (1H/1A)

No Wilkes-Barre, Syracuse or Rochester

This post has been edited by Wildcat48: Jul 13 2010, 09:33 PM

[penaltyboxattend...]

Come to deal with it. Sucks, but I will move on. I have no issue with playing Providence 12 times, and no one else usually does. I do have an issue with playing Springfield a lot because it is a far drive and they tend to be rather boring. But they changed affiliates to Columbus, so that may have a positive effect on that.

I would like to see Rochester in Portland, but I guess not. I hope we get Syracuse here as well.

Bridgeport seemed to become a bitter rival last season with fights and brawls, as well as some great comebacks.

All in all, I am looking forward to this upcoming season.

[Pirateman]

No Wilkes-Barre?

Haha, what?

[Wildcat48]

I'm still waiting to hear from the Pirates, but based on the information that I have it looks like the Pirates will play 64 games in their division.... They essentially swapped out a game with WB/S for a second game with Charlotte and everything else should be same.

[PleasePlayTheWes...]

I don't blame the Pirates for not wanting to go to Syracuse after the mess that happened at the War Memorial arena last season. They probably have that same goal judge tool openly cheering for the Crunch. 6 games in Worcester? I think we have an idea for our next road trip.

At least we have Hershey coming again. I always love the playoff like atmosphere at those games.

[penaltyboxattend...]

Here is my question though. Put aside the fact 98% of us all hate Brian Petrovek. Let's just say he is a normal/well-liked GM. What goes through his mind when he requests dates for games. I know that there are limitations, but, you know Hershey draws well, and you only get them 1 time at home?! What a mistake. Get them to come up for 2 games in 2 nights like they did in 05-06. What was wrong with that? I dont' get it.

[PleasePlayTheWes...]

Here is my question though. Put aside the fact 98% of us all hate Brian Petrovek. Let's just say he is a normal/well-liked GM. What goes through his mind when he requests dates for games. I know that there are limitations, but, you know Hershey draws well, and you only get them 1 time at home?! What a mistake. Get them to come up for 2 games in 2 nights like they did in 05-06. What was wrong with that? I dont' get it.

I think that is more on Hershey's end. To their credit, they try to play a wide variety of teams every season. This means they can only play most of their out of division opponents just twice a season. Portland is usually part of a long New England road trip for da Bears. Their players would be too exhausted to play another game in New England. Just my theory.

[Wildcat48]

Here is my question though. Put aside the fact 98% of us all hate Brian Petrovek. Let's just say he is a normal/well-liked GM. What goes through his mind when he requests dates for games. I know that there are limitations, but, you know Hershey draws well, and you only get them 1 time at home?! What a mistake. Get them to come up for 2 games in 2 nights like they did in 05-06. What was wrong with that? I dont' get it.

There are two processes......

1.) The Pirates submitted 55 dates to Steve Crane, GM of the CCCC for his approval. He can request changes or accept them as they are based on events.

2.) Once he gives approval on the dates, Petro and Co. sends them, along with a list of potential opponents to the league, and the matrix building begins.

[Pirates First]

Any word on if or how many games we will be playing with Albany or Adirondack?

[Wildcat48]

This is not official from the team. But, based on other team press releases and my conversations with other I've been able to put this together.

Bridgeport - 10G (5H/5A)
Hartford - 8G (4H/4A)
Providence - 12G (6H/6A)
Worcester - 12G (6H/6A)
Manchester - 12G (6H/6A)
Springfield - 10G (6H/6A)

Portland will play 64 games within the division among six teams.

Norfolk - 4G (2H/2A)
Binghamton - 2G (1H/1A)
Hershey - 2G (1H/1A)
Charlotte - 4G (2H/2A)
Adirondack - 2G (1H/1A)
Albany - 2G (1H/1A)

The remaining 16 games will come from the East Division.

Portland will not play Rochester, Syracuse or Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. The lone question mark will be Albany. The Devils haven't released anything officially, but I've heard they will be playing the Pirates. If not, Portland is playing Hartford 10 times, if they are then it will be eight times.

This post has been edited by Wildcat48: Jul 13 2010, 10:12 PM

[Wildcat48]

Story on Maine Hockey Journal

[BTV]

Story on Maine Hockey Journal

Just a quick note on your article - you mention this will be the first time in franchise history the Pirates will play a North Carolina team. This is actually not true, as the Pirates played 4 games against the Carolina Monarchs (two home, two at the Greensboro Coliseum) during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. One quick fun fact, one of these two home games was played at the Central Maine Civic Center (now the Androscoggin Bank Colisee) due to a weather cancellation that could not be rescheduled in Portland.

[PleasePlayTheWes...]

Pirates just announced it today. Great job, Wildcat, figuring out the matrix for next season. I was hoping you were wrong just so we could see different opponents. Having 64 games in the division including 12 against Providence, Worcester, and Manchester is just ridiculous. I don't think any of the AHL fans are happy with their schedules except for Abbotsford, Hershey and maybe Providence. Again, why are we not playing WBS? They are closer to us than Hershey and we have had some memorable games with them in the past.

http://www.portlandpirates.com/newsarticle.asp?Id=2070

[t114]

It makes me laugh when terms like "distance" and "additional costs" are tossed out there yet Portland has played Bridgeport more than Hartford the last two years... Same thing with WBS... That's closer than Hershey yet it's not too far from Binghamton... The same thing could be said about Syracuse as well...

I understand that other teams have their own plans, especially those that have a close proximity to Northern Division teams, but not playing everyone at least once in the conference is pathetic... I try not to complain about the lack of variety of the Portland "we don't travel far" Pirates schedule because it's always the same old - same old, but this is the saddest one I've seen in my 7 years as a fan...

[Radar19]

I don't think any of the AHL fans are happy with their schedules except for Abbotsford, Hershey and maybe Providence.

Haha, nope! Providence saw Abbotsford last year, so that's old news. Also, they only play five of the eight teams in the East (no Adirondack, Norfolk, Syracuse), meaning they get the Atlantic pounded down their throats like everyone else.

Am I shocked? Absolutely not. Over the last couple of seasons, it's becoming more and more of a joke to see just how bad the matrices can get.

Three or four years ago, it was great. Providence played teams from the West (Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, Rockford, San Antonio), and Manchester played teams from the North (Grand Rapids, Hamilton, Lake Erie, Toronto), so even if you lived in a New England city that didn't play the other conference, you could still travel a relatively short distance to see different teams.

I understand the whole thing about saving money on travel, and the crappy economy, yadda yadda yadda, but an 80/20 ratio of division games is just stupid. If a first round series goes seven games, you could see teams play each other 17 or 19 times in 87 games. The Red Sox play the Orioles 19 times in 162 games.

But then again, this is the same league that won't get video replay after years of controversy, so there's really no surprise.

EDIT: Forgot the Crunch were in the East!

This post has been edited by Radar19: Jul 14 2010, 11:38 AM

[Pirateman]

Not playing TWO teams in your conference is beyond pathetic. I was numb to the fact that we hardly venture out of the conference but when we're skipping multiple teams in the neighboring division, that is absolute horse shit.

Anaheim's affiliate? Nah, that probably wouldn't have drawn any interest at all...

[Wildcat48]

Story on Maine Hockey Journal

Just a quick note on your article - you mention this will be the first time in franchise history the Pirates will play a North Carolina team. This is actually not true, as the Pirates played 4 games against the Carolina Monarchs (two home, two at the Greensboro Coliseum) during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. One quick fun fact, one of these two home games was played at the Central Maine Civic Center (now the Androscoggin Bank Colisee) due to a weather cancellation that could not be rescheduled in Portland.

That's right..... Good catch!!!

[BTV]

Anaheim's affiliate? Nah, that probably wouldn't have drawn any interest at all...

As someone else mentioned above, I wonder if the Syracuse Screwjob from last season played into the Pirates not wanting to go back there.

[Wildcat48]

I think the schedule matrix is a product of a poor economy and higher travel cost due to fuel cost.

It just not the Pirates or the Atlantic Division, but it's league wide.

Even Hershey has cut back on travel this season only playing four teams in the North Division.


I know Andrews has worked toward putting a format in place that would ensure teams would play more of a variety of team yet keep your rivals for 10 times a season.... The problem is if the owners don't vote for it.... It won't happen.


This is just a product teams tightening their belt....

[BTV]

I think the schedule matrix is a product of a poor economy and higher travel cost due to fuel cost.

It just not the Pirates or the Atlantic Division, but it's league wide.

Even Hershey has cut back on travel this season only playing four teams in the North Division.


I know Andrews has worked toward putting a format in place that would ensure teams would play more of a variety of team yet keep your rivals for 10 times a season.... The problem is if the owners don't vote for it.... It won't happen.


This is just a product teams tightening their belt....

This is a good point, looking around at the other teams it seems they are all worse than normal. Skipping over teams in the same conference seems to be happening to a lot of teams this season, which theoretically seems so absurd. Due to the cross-over rule, we could have two teams who never met during the regular season battling for the last playoff spot (potentially Portland/WBS in our case).