Tend The Farm

Photo by Rob Ferguson.

Much has been said about the Oklahoma City Barons attendance. Some positive, but a lot of it negative. Warranted? I don’t really think so. I’d like to think that a team like the Oilers would care a lot more about the results on the ice, than the results in the box office, especially when it’s no secret that the players love the area and playing here. But let’s face it, when you’re across the street from the Oklahoma City Thunder and a block from the downtown entertainment district that also includes a Triple-A baseball diamond, there are many other things fighting for the dollar in the area.

There has been talk of a new convention center being built in downtown OKC with the passage of the latest MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) measure, and many think that it is set to replace the Cox Convention Center, current home of the Barons. The Cox is a bit unique for a convention center in that it has an arena built in, and the meeting rooms and conference rooms are built around said arena.

Ground broke for the building in 1970, officially opened in 1972, and was the go-to arena in Oklahoma City. Over the years, it has served as the home of the Oklahoma City Blazers (Central Hockey League), Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (Af2 arena football), and other sports events, as well as housing four NHL games (regular and preseason) through its existence before becoming the home of the Barons in 2010. Able to seat 15,000 fans for concerts, that’s cut down to 13,399 for hockey though the Barons curtain off half of that to have a capacity of 7,500. Despite receiving $4.5 million in upgrades prior to the Barons arrival, it’s becoming more obvious that the building may be too big and is becoming too old, and may not even be available in the coming years should they decide to replace it. So that brings up, do you build a new arena, where do you put it, and would it be viable?

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Sorry, Cris. Photo by Rob Ferguson

Game five. At home. A chance to clinch a spot in the Western Conference Finals for a second straight season.

Knowing those things, it’s quite remarkable what happened in the Cox Center on Thursday night. The Oklahoma City Barons would score five straight goals to dominate the number one seed (West) in the Calder Cup playoffs, and leave the ice with another trip to the West Finals to face either the Toronto Marlies or the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Absolutely incredible is the only way I can explain what the Barons have done in the past week. Three straight victories against a very good Texas Stars hockey team with great coaching, sharp young forwards, solid defensive posturing, and first-round-other-worldly goaltending. To knock out that team in only five games, out score them 16-4 in the final three, and continue a run that has surprised so many, again, is absolutely incredible.

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Now that’s joy. Photo by Steven Christy.

Oregon native, successful NCAA track and field coach, and three-time decorated Olympian, Bill Dellinger, once said of long distance running, “Good things come slow – especially at a distance”. If you’ve ever run a distance greater than to “the corner and back” you know this statement to be true. What you may not realize is how much weight this statement has in virtually every part of the sports world. Dellinger isn’t asking us to be slow or move slowly, but to see the end before the race begins. Know your destination, focus on it, stay the course, be prudent, be productive, accomplish that task.

To begin the season of farm play in Oklahoma City, prior to the inevitable NHL lockout, the going mantra was “Unfinished Business”. So many on the Barons/Oilers had accomplished a great deal in the 2011-2012 season, and there was a public outcry to go much further than they did in the previous season. That was the goal. Bill Scott assembled the pieces, Todd Nelson maneuvered bodies throughout the lineup, and here lies the Oklahoma City Barons on the doorstep of a potential spot in the Western Conference Finals – that’s if they can beat the Texas Stars first. One more game, one more victory, and another step on the path towards seeing a bit of redemption on the farm.

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The one where I talk about Barney! Oh, and minor league hockey. Huge thanks to Allan for having me on, and I look forward to doing it again VERY soon. Begin listening at 19:00 of May 15th, hour one (or listen to all of them!)

Hugs by Cornet. Photo by Rob Ferguson.

Forget good hockey. Forget good sports. The Oklahoma City Barons are performing high drama. After taking a 2-1 series lead on Monday, game four was bound to be a close one. With Anton Lander out for the remainder of the series (maybe more), it was bound to be not only close, but possibly a timid one for OKC.

I’m glad that the above paragraph proved to be completely false.

The resiliency of the Barons proved too much for the Texas Stars as OKC rebounded from a 3-2 loss to lambast their opponent 7-3 on the wings of a five goal third period.

The first period was typical Stars vs. Barons hockey. Lots of shots, great goaltending, good puck movement, and a 0-0 score through 20 minutes of highly entertaining playoff hockey. Sixteen shots for Oklahoma City was quite remarkable, especially given that Toni Rajala accounted for six of those. The bottom two lines, that now featured Ben Eager on the forth line centered by Tanner House and Antti Tyrvainen on the right, and a third line of Josh Green, Chris VandeVelde, and Tyler Pitlick. I’ve long said that AHL teams are only as strong as their weakest parts, and if you consider those six your weakest parts, I’ll take weak any day. Yann Danis was great. Cristopher Nilstorp was greater. The first period stayed 0-0.

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Lander down! Lander down! Photo by Steven Christy.

One man does not a team make, but as Oklahoma City sports fans know, one man a team can break (Russell Westbrook shoutout). Anton Lander could be one of those men.

First and foremost, his worth to his linemates is hard to discount. Toni Rajala and Teemu Hartikainen clearly benefit from Lander in ways that we don’t even understand as fans. On the ice, Lander is the glue holding the uber-crafty Rajala and the uber-sturdy Hartikainen together in one seamless piece of fabric. That’s the centerman’s role, after all. In his absence, things might seem a bit discombobulated, but remember, Todd Nelson is a smart man. He’ll figure something out, and he’ll likely tweak with it if things go south quickly.

Second, he’s a special teamer. Both on the kill and the power play, Anton Lander has a gifted sense of open ice, spacing, and timing. This instantly makes me question who steps into his role. CVV, Tanner House, Pitlick? All of the above? Watch this, it will be interesting.

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