First of all, this isn't the big news I referenced in the previous post. You will have to wait to hear that news.
I had heard rumblings that Austin, Minnesota was looking at joining the NAHL. This was confirmed today in an article in the Albert Lea Tribune which you can read here: http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2010/jan/07/austin-could-get-junior-hockey/ . According to the article, there is an owner in place who wants to come to Austin, the NAHL has already approved him to own a team, and the city council/park & rec folks seem to be on board with the idea.
My take: This is great news for the Express organization. Worst-case scenario: the Austin franchise takes the place of the Albert Lea Thunder, and the Central Division stays at 5 teams. Best-case scenario: the Thunder stay alive in Albert Lea, and the Austin franchise makes the Central a 6 team division. A 6-team division would likely mean one less trip to Bismarck and one less trip to Alexandria each season. Two expensive trips replaced by a couple of short trips down Highway 218 to Austin. The other major benefit of a 6-team division is it makes the schedule more fair. In the current 5-team setup, there are far too many quirks in the schedule where one team is playing their 3rd game in 3 nights, while their opponent hasn't played for a week, or a team playing 3 straight nights in 3 different area codes. Let's hope the Austin franchise comes to fruition.
Next up for the Express is a huge 2 game series in Bismarck against the 1st place Bobcats. There is a nice article from the Bobcats media folks that you can read here: http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3948663 . On the way back from Bismarck, the Express will wrap up the weekend with a Sunday 5pm game against the Blizzard in Alexandria.
The 6-game losing streak is in the rear-view mirror, the goaltending situation is solved, and the Express train is once again picking up speed. I'll see you at the rink.
--Big Kahuna
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