Minor League Hockey 2007 Preview
Dan HICKLING
MLNSportsZone.com
The hockey world in the post NHL-lockout Era continues to evolve, or revert...
It was just two autumns ago, coming out of the lockout, that hockey fans were promised a faster, slicker, cleaner game.
Rules regarding defensemen and contact are still in place that reshape not only the pace of the game on the ice, but how to prepare players, particularly defensemen, for a major league career. The Anaheim Ducks co-opted the Stanley Cup with a show of might and muscle. Now the modus operendi in player development seems to be "tougher, stronger, harder to play against.”
Which sounds a lot like the way the pucks were chased before the lockout.
For those of you who keep track of the league tectonics in hockey: In: IHL, MAHL; Out: UHL. Toss in a turf war, and it's a normal season.
As the Canucks say: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. (The more things change, the more they stay the same.)
MLN Sports has caucused with prominent figures in all the professional hockey leagues, from the NHL on down, to get the best possible take on the impending 2007-08 season, resulting in the most comprehensive and insightful minor league preview that we have ever undertaken...
