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2010 A SALMON KINGS YEAR and BRAVE KEELY REMEMBERED


Salmon Kings Booster Club

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As Old Man 2010 prepares to hand off responsibilities to Baby New Year 2011, lets look back at a year in all things Salmon King. On Dec 31, 2009 Mike Hamilton would help extend a win streak to 10 with a shootout winner. A few days later, in Anchorage, Hamilton would again use the shootout to make it a 12 game streak. The Alaska Aces would end the streak the next night. David Shantz, on Jan 6 was named for the second time as the ECHL Reebbok Goaltender of the Week. Call-ups are a fact of ECHL life, and Neil Petruic (Binghamton) and Olivier Latendresse (Abbotsford) would move on to finish the season at the next level. Captain Wes Goldie passed Ryan Wade’s "ironman record" of 265 consecutive games played in a Salmon Kings jersey on Feb. 11. In an extremely tight race the Victoria crew made the last Conference playoff spot by two points. Subsequently they would be eliminated in 5 games in the first round playoff series with the Bakersfield Condors. On June 10, CHEK TV and the Salmon Kings released a Year End Video. A month later, July 14, Andy Brandt was dealt to the Gwinnett Gladiators, triggering the biggest player personnel shake up in team history. In what could be termed "the Wes Goldie situation", the popular player in the number 16 jersey was informed the "C" would be elsewhere. Once the dust had settled, Goldie was headed north to Alaska and the Salmon Kings brass brought in veteran Pete Vandermeer to be the captain for 2010/11. Training camp saw many new faces, a few holdovers, and the return of former Salmon Kings. Following a home exhibition series with the UBC Thunderbirds, the Salmon Kings split the opening road trip to Idaho and Las Vegas. Rookie goalie Riley Gill would be selected as ECHL Goaltender of the Month, then was dealt to Kalamazoo to complete the "future considerations" of the Rick Cleaver deal. A highly successful Armed Forces Night proved entertaining and informative. A SAR team rappelled from the arena cat walk to deliver the game puck. The ECHL announced that voting could be done to select an ECHL All-Decade team. Derick Martin was on the ballot, and when voting was finished, former captain Wes Goldie was on the final list that made up this dream team. On Dec 29, PJ Atherton was selected as one of the defensemen for the starting six in the ECHL All Star game. Rob Hennigar is 3rd overall in ECHL assists. One major difference from last season's team is that the PIM totals are reversed from last years lowest in the league to a current league lead in that category. As the Salmon Kings prepare to once again bring in the New Year in Utah, it is time to paraphrase Jeff Harris and say "that was a year in the life of the Salmon Kings, a very interesting year for the team."

KEELY WE WILL NOT FORGET YOU....this Christmas , Marty's Angelz lost our inspiration, brave Keely who was our sponsored camper and a big Canucks and Salmon Kings fan. She was a huge fan of Wes Goldie and Marty the Marmot made her smile. For the balance of the season, this blog will be dedicated to the memory of our brave Keely. She will live on as an inspiration for many of us, and at the 24 Hour Relay when one feels they just cant make that extra lap, thinking of Keely will make you want to finish it for her.

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