The Salmon Kings started off their 07/08 season with their best start to date in the teams 4th season, going 10-3-0 in their first 13 games.  The stellar goaltending of Julien Ellis, and the offensive prowess of the returning Wes Goldie and his newly acquired brother Ash, along with Milan Gajic, had driven the Salmon Kings to their division leading record.  They looked to continue their dominance last week in Boise, for a 3-game set against the defending Kelly Cup Champs, the Idaho Steelheads.

The Salmon, backed by Ellis in net, knocked off the Steelies in their first matchup with a convincing 4-1 victory to improve their record to 11-3-0.  After game 1 however, things took a turn for the worse.  The team point leader Gajic was acquired by Houston of the AHL, and team goal-scoring leader Ash Goldie had to leave the team for a funeral; both were to miss the final two games of the series.  The Salmon Kings went on to drop the final two games, 5-1 and 3-0, and as indicated by the lack of scoring, both A. Goldie and Gajic were dearly missed. Despite their 2-game slide in Idaho, they remain atop the West Division at 11-5-0, good for 22 points.

The Salmon are back home this week for a 3-game series (Wed, Thurs, Fri) against the recently struggling 6-8-0 Phoenix Roadrunners.  Don’t think that facing a weaker team means easy wins though, as earlier this month when the confident Salmon, fresh off a 4-game win streak, went into Utah to play the basement dwelling Grizzlies and got hammered 7-1 in the opening game.  I expect a more intense team this time around, as they look to snap their 2-game losing streak and improve on their 7-game home win streak and overall ECHL leading home record of 7-1-0.

Who to watch for this week:

Look for the Goldie brothers to continue working their magic, especially Ash who will be hungry for some action after missing the last 2 games.  I also expect veterans Ryan Wade and team captain Kiel McLeod to pick up the slack of the missing Milan Gajic.  Ellis, as usual, should stop most pucks that come his way.

Transactions:

Nov 22—Forward Milan Gajic was acquired by the Houston Aeros of the AHL.

Nov 24—Defenseman Eric Nelson was put on waivers to clear a spot at the back end.  With Luc Bourdon returning to the Moose, it is likely that either Daniel Rahimi or Matt Kelly will be shipped back to reinforce the Salmon Kings defense.

Nov 26—Forward Robin Gomez was suspended for 3 games for an elbow to the head of Steelhead Colin Sinclair during Friday’s game in Boise. Gomez, who sat out Saturday's game, will miss the next two games against Phoenix.

Discuss it "Down On The Farm."