Barracuda Bytes: The Wheels Are In Motion
Sep 2, 2015What’s the good word Barracuda fans!? Eric Lindquist (PR and radio voice of the Barracuda) checking in to provide you with an inside scoop on everything Barracuda and whatever else I find interesting! Things have certainly picked up since the last time we have spoken. The AHL schedule was released, the Barracuda facilities are close to completion, and players have started to arrive in San Jose in anticipation of training camp!
First Thing's First... The AHL schedule was released on Thursday, August 27. Did anyone have the Rockford IceHogs as our opponent for the home opener on Oct 9? – I certainly did not! The schedule looks sick (in a good way!) on several fronts. Weekend heavy for the fans, no 3-in-3 scenarios (when the team plays three games in three days), some really good road trips, and only a couple of tough back-to-back scenarios.
Barracuda Facilities… The new Barracuda facilities at Sharks Ice at San Jose is even closer to completion. All the equipment from the Worcester locker room was moved into today (Wednesday) and the training staff is working hard to make sure that the locker room is ready to rock when Barracuda training camp opens up later this month. I will make sure to snap a few more pictures over the next week or so and post on twitter at @BarracudaVoice.
Barracuda Training Camp… I have gotten a lot of inquiries on whether or not the Barracuda training camp will be open to public. The answer is YES. We plan on announcing the training camp schedule in the next few weeks. Will keep you posted.
New Website… The Barracuda marketing department has done a great job to make sure the new SJBarracuda.com website was up and running before the schedule release. The roster feature is my favorite new piece of the website and there will be some more new bells and whistles as we get closer to the start of the season.
Captains Ice... More and more players have arrived in San Jose over the last week or so and have been participating in a captain’s ice at Sharks Ice. I have bumped into several players over the last week including: Alex Stalock, Antti Niemi, Joe Thornton, Tommy Wingels, Brendan Dillon, Jeremy Langlois, Ryan Carpenter, Joonas Donskoi, Bryan Lerg, Matt Tennyson, Mirco Mueller, and Matt Nieto. (I may have missed a guy or two… and the group has been growing every day!)
Outdoors?... The American Hockey League today announced that the Stockton Heat will host the Bakersfield Condors in an outdoor regular-season game on Friday, December 18, at Raley Field in West Sacramento, Calif. Interesting… I will make sure to provide an update during intermissions as the Barracuda visit the SD Gulls that night!
Best Logos?... The Hockey News has been counting down the “Best” AHL logos from 30 to 1 over the last few weeks. The Utica Comets was ranked the 13th best logo today (Wednesday)… which means the Barracuda ranks in the Top 12! Get the full countdown here.
Possible Barracuda players (no update from last week)… Any player on a two-way NHL/AHL contract with the San Jose Sharks or any player on an AHL contract (Parkes and Young) is eligible to play for the Barracuda. (Does not mean that they will necessarily play for the Barracuda). Players on 1-way NHL contracts would have to clear waivers before playing with the Barracuda; unless it is on a conditioning assignment – like Mirco Mueller, James Sheppard, and Tyler Kennedy last season.
Here is a list of players that are currently under 2 way NHL/AHL contracts or AHL contracts for the upcoming season: (in no particular order…I am just going to rattle them off!)
Forwards: Bryan Lerg, Micheal Haley, Chris Tierney, Barclay Goodrow, Trevor Parkes, Petter Emanuelsson, Nikolay Goldobin, Nikita Jevpalovs, Ryan Carpenter, Joonas Donskoi, Daniel Doremus, Jeremy Langlois, Tomas Hertl, Chris Crane, John McCarthy, Vincent Arseneau, and Frazer McLaren.
Defensemen: Gus Young, Karl Stollery, Dylan Demelo, Joakim Ryan, Julius Bergman, Mark Cundari, Mirco Mueller, Patrick McNally, and Rick Pinkston.
Goalies: Troy Grosenick, Aaron Dell, and Joel Rumpel.
A good mix of these players will suit up for the Barracuda at some point this season! Barracuda fans can expect a few more signings before the start of training camp in mid-September. I will keep you posted!
Tickets… The Barracuda ticket staff have been working hard all summer selling full and half season tickets and are now offering group seats for our six guaranteed dates. Individual tickets will not go on sale until September. Give our crew a call at 408-977-4747 for more ticket info.
Questions?... If you guys have any questions about the Barracuda, AHL, or anything else, shoot me an email at barracudavoice@sjbarracuda.com and I will make sure to have you covered in the next Barracuda Bytes!
Until next time Barracuda Fans…. See Ya!