Who to Watch: Opening Night Pt. 2

So tonight is opening night for the rest of the league. After last night's mixed results there are a lot more options to check out tonight.

On the slate: Moose and Marlies, Falcons and Bears Baby Pens and Sound Tigers, Amerks and Comets, Ice Caps and Wolfpack, Crunch and Phantoms, Devils and Senators, Checkers and Wild, Admirals and Wolves. Rampage and Stars, Reign and Condors, Griffins and Gulls, Icehogs and Heat.

A lot of games, with Moose and Marlies going back to back after a decent game last night. Icehogs and Amerks also coming off of a win. Top three games in no particular order:

3. Hershey Bears at Springfield Falcons
Get ready Springfield, your new look Falcons should be more competitive. I will be there live at the game providing the in depth coverage all two of my readers expect of me. Keep an eye on this game by following me on twitter, @dmenty17.

2. Rochester Americans and Utica Comets
Comets have had a meteoric rise, so the question is can the Amerks follow up their home opening win with another against a stronger opponent. Plus, the Amerks radio broadcasters are pretty entertaining. Might be worth a listen just to hear them babble on.

1. Grand Rapids Giffins and San Diego Gulls
Both have pretty talented big brothers. In the past the Griffins were pretty good, and the AHL affiliate for the Ducks, not as much. However, the Gulls did pretty good in the lower prospect leagues. The big questions are if the Gulls are going to pull in the numbers and gain the energy to help make them more competitive in the new market. Hockey isn't new to the city, but now its a bigger hockey stage. I wanna see how the new energy and uniforms translate to their performance.

PS. Screw you Condors. It's you and the Wolfpack that are my rock-bottom most hated teams. I hope you lose all your games. You know what you did.

Who to Watch: Opening night

Wow, it's October. #isitoctoberyet is finally done.

Remember 15 blogs in 17 days? Ha ha ha ha. Past two weeks have sucked. But hockey is here and it's time to get excited for minor league hockey!

Anyway, for opening night, providence hopes to get a better start to the season than big brother did against Wilkes Barre. You got the marlies vs the moose in a non division match up. Monsters and amerks. Rockford and San Jose, griffins and condors.  What games should you pay attention to? My top 3 in no order.

3. Wilkes Barre and Providence.
It's a division game where the teams are rivals at all levels. It is going to be interesting to see how they handle the division moves and see If the hate can be building.

2. Lake Erie and Rochester
I wanna see how Rochester handles opening the season at home for their historic season.  Probably the game I'm going to be keeping an eye on the most due to where its scheduled

.

1. Rockford and San Jose
Sharks and blackhawks have been great teams over the past 10 years or so, and a lot of that comes from roster depth and development. Probably the best match up. With the new team location, I want to see San Jose justify their new team and show me that San Jose deserves more hockey.