PrairieThunderWednesday, May 2, 2007 8:17 PM CDT

Comments (1) |

E-mail this page |

Print this page |

Enlarge type |

Reduce type |

Search archives |

RSS feeds |

Add to My Yahoo!

Booth pleased with late-season play

By Douglas Hamm
dhamm@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON - As the losses and the injuries mounted during the first half of the season, it was tough to tell who was playing for the expansion Bloomington PrairieThunder even with a scorecard.

Once the revolving door started to slow, the Thunder made a belated run for the United Hockey League playoffs before finishing with a last-place record of 25-45-6.

It was a typical up-and-down, but always-interesting campaign for a first-year franchise that earned the respect of its UHL counterparts by playing hard to the end.

"When you start a franchise and bring in all new players obviously you're going to struggle a little bit, and we did," Thunder coach Derek Booth said Tuesday. "Trying to find and bring in those right players is difficult. When it all finally came together with the right players, things kind of jelled a little bit.

"The last two months of the season we were a (near) .500 hockey team, and if we could have done that all year we're in the playoffs."

A dizzying total of 46 players wore the Thunder colors before things began to stabilize in late January. Not surprisingly, Bloomington's most successful months were February (6-6-2) and March (7-6-1) before the team finished with a four-game winless streak in April.

"The front office was like, 'Hey, is this ever going to end with the changing of players?' " Booth said. "I said you'll know once it ends because you'll start seeing the progress this team's going to make. And it did in January.

"We flat-lined with the players we wanted and with the addition of (goaltender Kris) Tebbs at the trade deadline, I thought that pushed us right over the edge to really be competitive and be in every game. Once we started winning and competing at a high level, I stopped bringing in players."

Booth has started the evaluation and recruiting process for next season, beginning with Monday's player exit interviews. The Thunder owns the rights to all of its players until 90 days into the 2007-08 season.

Captain Tyler Rennette, who was voted most valuable player by his teammates, is the only Thunder player who has a two-year contract. Booth declined to comment on any other current Thunder players who have been offered contracts for next season.

"We've talked to the players we think we want back, and I feel very comfortable those guys want to come back," Booth said. "It's a process. Other teams are going to start searching now. Then you get into the negotiations of it. Some guys want more money and some guys want to go to a higher level.

"If you can get back eight to 10 of your core guys it's a good start for the next season. With us not winning a lot of games you can't bring back the majority of the guys. You have to bring back who you feel are your best players and go on the search for other players you think can help shore up the team."

Booth identified three specific areas the team needs to improve the most.

"First and foremost I'm looking for goalies. I felt that was one of our weak points this year," Booth said. "We need two more solid veteran players that can bring great leadership. We need to pick it up a little bit in the defensive corps. I'd like to bring in two solid veteran D-men because I think we have a core here with our remaining four."

Booth said he will use the team's strong finish, solid fan base and U.S. Cellular Coliseum as recruiting tools. The Thunder ranked third in the UHL in average attendance at 3,763.

"All those things are going to help with player agents that I call," Booth said. "They understand the organization survived for a year, and they paid all their bills. They know we were third in the league in attendance and have a beautiful building. All of those things are very attractive to players.

"I think word of mouth is spreading like wildfire about Bloomington. A lot of players that played against us want to come here, and that's a great feeling."

Losing wasn't such a great feeling for Booth, who posted a combined record of 63-43 the last two years with the Fayetteville (N.C.) FireAntz of the Southern Professional Hockey League.

"I learned how long a season can be when you're not winning," Booth said. "It was very frustrating. But again, if everything is perfect, how do you learn. You have to stay positive and you have to make sure the guys are positive, and that's what I tried to do.

"We never really got outplayed or beat 10-1 or 9-1, which expansion teams usually get. I thought we were very competitive. We were just four or five players from getting over that edge and really competing."

Thunder echoes

Here is the Bloomington PrairieThunder’s month-by-month record during its inaugural season in the United Hockey League:

Month.....W.....L.....SOL

October.....1.....5.....0

November.....5.....6.....0

December.....2.....11.....2

January.....4.....8.....0

February.....6.....6.....2

March.....7.....6.....1

April.....0.....3.....1

Total.....25.....45.....6

Thunder echoes

Ads by Yahoo!

Accounting Solutions Info

1 rule of a Flat stomach : obey

See How I Make 5k A Week