The VERY latest in Falcons media

This just in from Joe Babik and the cool ECHL new department:

Jack Carnefix, ECHL Vice President of Communications, (609) 452-0770, Ext. 16

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL announced on Tuesday that fans can now access game scores, game summaries and league standings on their cellular telephone and wireless devices at http://wap.echl.leaguestat.com/.

The “Wireless Application Protocol” site is a plain text miniature version of the statistics information available on the official web site at www.ECHL.com which is formatted to fit on a smaller screen.

In addition to the current day’s games, fans have the ability to see scores from the previous day as well as the schedule for the upcoming day and there is a link to the league standings.

"Wireless Application Protocol", if that doesn't sound like hockey, I don't know what does.

The latest in Falcons media

Listen to the Falcons live at 1550snr.com or archived - the new radio man, Joe Babik, is great by the way.

Read the new player blog at FresnoFalcons.com - good luck bringing it up though.

Watch the Falcons on B2 Networks or on Channel 32.

Also, coming in the next couple weeks, a regular Falcons report by me on the Dorktown Podcast.

Kelly Quest begins

The Falcons overcome a bad and smokey first period to beat the Wranglers and end their winless streak against Las Vegas - maybe Vegas ate too much bad Italian food in Bakersfield.

OPENING NIGHT
There was a real buzz going through the northern concourse before the game -very cool.

Seeing the Pacific Division Champion banner unveiled was great. What wasn't was the on-ice fireworks and the ensuing smoke that setoff a coughfest throughout the Save Mart Center. The smoke didn't really dissipate till the second period.

There was no radio broadcast playing in the restrooms for the game. Hopefully that was just an opening night glitch and the restroom radio will return.

I was really hoping Murphy, after making a comeback from last season's injury, would score the first goal, but assisting on it will do just fine.

Did you take some pictures from opening night? Don't forget to post them on the Falcons Flickr Page.

Other scores from the ECHL's Opening Night.

New bee season approaches

The Fresno Bee has a spanky new redesigned website, go check it OUT. If you scroll down to the bottom of the front page, look under sports, you'll find this chippy Falcons page that brings together links to Falcons news.

Hopefully, we will see more coverage of the Falcons this year in the Bee. I wouldn't count on it though, they're barely mentioning the NHL this year. It's a good thing I have NHL Center Ice and NHL.com, otherwise I wouldn't know the season had started.

Vegas' pacific smack begins

The Las Vegas Wranglers haven't even unpacked their bags since moving into the Falcons Pacific Division and already they're trash talking.

Go check Bako writer N.L. Belardes' blog for the delusional Wrangler fan musings.

Find out why Vegas has moved into Falcon territory by clicking HERE.

Fresno, meet the NHL

Save Mart Center fans were treated to a very solid pre-season game by the Ducks and Sharks this past Saturday night. Check out a recap of it from Yahoo Sports, complete with a picture gallery.

I was disappointed that Cheechoo didn't play (resting up) ,also fellow Shark and Hanford native Scott Parker didn't see much action either. To compound the lack of local flavor, former Fresno Falcon and current San Jose Shark - Nolan Schaefer didn't get to play due to an injury.

Hope the Sharks keep coming back but next time let's get my team, the Vancouver Canucks, to play them.

The Evil Condors

It's never too early to talk about beatin' down some Bako Condor - Hell, forget about talking about it, let's watch it:

Message Board Duel

One message board is not enough forum for Falcons Fan, Falcons Fan needs two! In what may be a ECHL record, Fresno Falcon fans have two, count'em TWO forums.

Disgruntled with the Falcons official board, one fan went rouge and started his own board and it has got some people coming over. It's called The Official Unofficial Message Board - In no way affiliated with this blog The Unofficial...Officially.

I Don't know if the Falcons' "official" Board Moderator is offended by this rival board.

Post Your Falcons Pictures

You can't take enough pictures of your favorite team the Falcons (or favorite rival in Bako's case), can you? But what the hell do you do with them? Even your mom doesn't care, she doesn't even know what 'bad ice' is. Well, maybe your mom doesn't care, but Falcons fans do.

Here is your chance to share your Falcons photo's with the rest of the fan base. If you have a flickr account, just click this link: Fresno Falcons Group, join the group and post your Fresno Falcons pics to the group. If you don't, join up! It's free and not that hard to use: Flickr.com (then join the group and start position'!!!

New Falcons Site - No Forum Yet

You may have noticed a newly designed Falcons website. It looks good so far but some of the features aren't working yet - namely the Fan Forum (The Unofficial will review the new site once it's done).

For all you Fresno Falcons forum junkies, here is a quick fix Old Falcons Forum. I don't think you can post anything on it though, just wander through.

For those needing to do some Falcon related posting, while we wait for the new forum, just click the comment link in this post (or any post) and comment away.

Start Planing Your Falcons Games

The 2006-2007 ECHL schedule is now out and about. The Falcons open with the tough Vegas Wranglers; that's a solid opener. Check the new schedule out by clicking HERE.

Unfortunately, Fresno doesn't play Bakersfield until November 28th. Does that mean The Unofficial has to wait till the end of November before we can talk smack to Condor Blogger NL Belardes?

Doesn’t matter, we ain’t waitin’ – CONDORS PLAIN SUCK.

New Radio Dude - It's Official

Sorry for the long bloggin' break. I Just got over that overtime Alaskan heartbreaker. So, back to it.

Just in case you get all your Fresno Falcons news from The Unofficial (What are you thinking if you are?), here is the latest from Kattie Smith:

GOOD BYE "CLARKY" HELLO JOE
Fresno, Calif. – Fresno Falcons CEO John Tull announced today that the team has hired Joe Babik as Director of Media Relations. Babik will be responsible for all of the team’s media relations efforts, in addition to serving as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for all Falcon radio broadcasts.

“Joe brings five seasons of play by play experience to Fresno and we look forward to starting a new era of Fresno Falcons hockey on radio,", said John Tull.

A native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Babik graduated from Syracuse University in 2001 with a degree in broadcast journalism. While at Syracuse, he served as an intern with the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch for three seasons.

Babik spent four seasons as the Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations with the ECHL’s Pee Dee Pride from 2001-2005. During the 2003-04 season, he was selected as one of three broadcasters for the radio broadcast of the ECHL All-Star Game in Peoria, Illinois. Last season he worked with the Adirondack Frostbite of the United Hockey League.

“I’m excited to join the Falcons organization. I’ve heard nothing but good things and am excited to start,” said Joe Babik.

Season tickets for the 2006-2007 season are on sale. Guarantee yourself great seats to 36 action-packed Falcons home games at the Save Mart Center! Starting as low as 3 easy payments of $108 per month for three months. For more information contact the Falcons front office at (559) 485-PUCK.

Too Big Of A Talent - One Amazing Game Seven

Second longest game in history. What an incredible game,comeback and effort by the Falcons. I almost had to change what I began writing at the beginning of period three. Unfortunately, I didn't have to change it:

Alaska goaltender Cris Beckford-Tseu is too damn tall; It's not fair to the rest of the league.

A six foot three goaltender with Spiderman like reflexes - How is this guy not in the NHL? I know a certain Vancouver Canuck team that could use him.

The Falcons went further than they should have. The Unofficial takes its hat off to them. But how can you expect the Falcons to win four games against some guy whom should be blocking shots by Shaq instead of shots by Luke Curtin.

Congratulations to the Fresno Falcons on a great season. And to American Conference champ Gwinnett: Have fun getting one past Beckford "Spidergiant" Tseu.

Only In The ECHL

NEWS FLASH: DREW, the Falcons Zamboni driver, is suspended for game five.

I'm not making that up. Apparently, after game two, Drew got into an altercation with Alaska Ace player, Kimbi Daniels (number ten). As a result, Drew won't be drivin' the Zamboni for game five.

So, it will be up to Falcons fans to booo Daniels every time he touches the puck.

And it will be up to Falcons fans to buy Drew a drink at Shooters, after the game.

Time For Stepping Up

The Falcons must win game five. They do that by having a solid power play; something they've been lacking this series.

The Falcons must win the series. They must just so I can see if Fresno will give a damn that they're playing for the Kelly Cup.

JUST Two Bones More Eh?

I love going to Falcons games. I would go to all of them, if I could. And I love playoff hockey, which is something the Falcons are in the middle of right now.

But, why do I have to pay two dollars more to see them in the playoffs?

Isn't this [playing in the playoffs] considered "bonus time" in the overall yearly budget? The owners are getting EXTRA games to sell tickets, why can't they just charge everybody the same price as the regular season? I'm sorry but the tickets are already a little pricey for a minor league hockey game.

Yes, this is high-end minor league hockey in a new arena, but it still isn't Vancouver vs. the New York Rangers in GM Place.

It's Fresno guys. We love the Falcons, but there isn't too many ponds freezing over around here, know what I'm sayin'?

Moving On Here Boss

After that tremendous series between the Falcons and the Condors, the Unofficial would like to say: Thank You.

Thank you to the Falcons team for not panicking after the game five and six loses and stepping up to win game seven.

Thank you to the Bakersfield Condors for giving us a true Highway 99 rivalry. The Condor's, in The Unofficial's opinion, is now the Falcons #1 rival, replacing San Diego.

Thank you to Bakersfield writer Matilda Kay for being a cool person to hang with during game two (even if she ripped the Save Mart Center). And to Nick Belardes for being a worthy smack talk adversary throughout the series. In fact, his writing frequency and style kicked the crap out of The Unofficial. But we're still waiting for that Podcast from game two...

Start The Chant Fresno

Alright, enough goofing around with the Consucks. It's time to....BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O! BEAT-BAKE-O!

Hang In There, Bako?

At this moment, the Falcons are up 3 games to 1 to the Bakersfield Condors (I really need to come up with a clever put-down-name for the Condors), and part of me wants Bakersfield to win Wednesday night.

That's because, Fresno needs a weekend playoff game. These Monday + Tuesday games just ain't fair. Fresno should be getting the weekend sales, not the lesser opponents.

Speaking of lesser opponents, I think I nailed Condor blogger and podcasterNL Belardes into the boards, so to speak, when we had a nice smack-off during game two of the Condor series. Though I was helped by a strong Falcons performance. The podcasting proof will be up soon.

In the meantime, check out the great rundown of game two, that N.L. gives on his Condors Blog.

Condors Call Up Belardes To Help Tuesday

"We've been to Bakersfield, Bakersfield has NOTHING on us!" that's how John Tull started the evening, pumping up the crowd. One thing is for sure, the Condors have nothing on Fraser Clair. Fraser had a playoff "career night" by beating Bako' almost single handed.

Even though it wasn't a big crowd Monday night, the Save Mart (or "The Cooler", as I call it) had a real playoff edginess - It felt good.

Tuesday night's game will have a sharper "edge" in the stands, as Bakersfield blogger and man about town N.L. Belardes will be in the Save Mart Center - and I will be sitting next to him.

I may need some back-up; somebody to pull his sweater over his head at-the-drop-of-a-puck.

**FYI: New pics from FalconsvsCondors game one can be found on the Flickr badge, down on the right.