Howdy SenShot readers, sorry for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, these summer months really slow down the hockey news. There have been a few B-Sens stories lately that I’ll recap and give my thoughts on. Enjoy.

The B-Sens have announced their 2010-2011 schedule. Their season will begin at home versus the Adirondack Phantoms on October 8th with a 7:05 p.m. start time. Two dates to look out for are when the B-Sens play the Hamilton Bulldogs in Montreal and Ottawa. The first game will be on Friday, November 5th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and the second game on Friday, November 26th at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Both games start at 7:30 p.m. and will give a chance for both franchises to see their prospects in game action. 

In other scheduling news, the AHL and CBC have reached a one-year agreement to broadcast 10 AHL games to help celebrate their 75th anniversary season. All 10 games will feature AHL teams affiliated with one of the six Canadian NHL teams. The first game will featured the B-Sens on Sunday, Oct. 17th at 1 p.m. against the Toronto Marlies. Unfortunately, this will be the one and only game for the Binghamton Senators that will be broadcast on CBC.

The Binghamton Senators announced the hiring of Steve Stirling as an assistant coach to head coach Kurt Kleinendorst. 60 year old Stirling brings a wealth of coaching experience to the B-Sens bench, having coached at the college level, for numerous teams in the AHL and in the German elite hockey league. Stirling also had a brief stint in the NHL as head coach of the New York Islanders and also lead the Islanders AHL affiliate to the Calder Cup.

The Binghamton Senators held a press conference to introduce head coach Kurt Kleinendorst and assistant coach Steve Stirling to the Binghamton media and community. Got to like the communication and enthusiasm from Kleinendorst. He made a strong first impression.  

Jonathan Cheechoo, last seen doing nothing much for the B-Sens, has been invited to the Dallas Stars training camp on a tryout. After being bought out by Ottawa this past summer, hopefully Cheechoo can get his career back on track.

The Ottawa Senators have announced the 22 player roster that will participate in the four team round robin rookie tournament in London, Ontario. The rookie tournament will run between September 11th to the 14th. The other three teams in the tournament are prospects from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Senators rookies will be coached by Kleinendorst and Stirling with Ottawa’s hockey management team looking on. The rookie team will be made up of two goaltenders, six defencemen and 14 forwards. The players on the rookie roster are listed below:

 Goaltenders:  Brandon Foote, Robin Lehner

Defencemen:  Jared Cowen, Eric Gryba, Matthew Hobbs, Craig Schira, Adam Sedlak, Patrick Wiercioch

Forwards:  Jason Bailey, Bobby Butler, Erik Condra, Corey Cowick, Jakub Culek, Kaspars Daugavins, David Dziurzynski, Colin Greening, Mike Hoffman, Jim O’Brien, Tim Spencer, Mark Stone, Shawn Szydlowski, Adam Wallace

This rookie tournament will give us a first glance of a few of the Bingo hopefuls for the upcoming season. It is only a few days away and we’ll be able to see if the hype Cowen, Wiercioch and Hoffman receive is deserved.

The schedule for the rookie tournament is as follows:

Saturday, Sept. 11: Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa at 2 p.m.; Chicago vs. Toronto at 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 12: Ottawa vs. Chicago at 2 p.m.; Toronto vs. Pittsburgh at 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 14: Chicago vs. Pittsburgh at 2 p.m.; Toronto vs. Ottawa at 7 p.m.

The Binghamton Senators only need 126 more fans to “Like” their Facebook page to have the draw for their Facebook contest to win autographed B-Sens gear. Tell your friends.

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The future...

In continuation with SenShot’s review of this year’s Binghamton Senators, we take a look at the future of the franchise, goaltender Robin Lehner. With goaltending always being the Achilles heel for the Senators organization, Lehner is the great white hope. Read on to find out how Lehner’s upcoming year could turn out.

Standing 6’4” and 225 lbs, Lehner is a big boy who plays a butterfly style and covers a lot of net. Playing this past season in the OHL for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Lehner had a record of 27-13-3 with a GAA of 2.80 and a SV% of 0.918.  On top of these impressive numbers, he also had five shutouts and guided the Greyhounds back to the playoffs after they spent the previous season at the bottom of the standings. After the Greyhounds bowed out of the OHL playoffs, Lehner signed an entry level contract with the Senators and suited up for two games in Bingo. In the summer, the Senators informed the Greyhounds that Lehner would not be returning this season as he will be playing at the pro level either in the NHL or AHL.

Where will Lehner be playing this upcoming season? With Leclaire and Elliott in Ottawa, most likely he will be suiting up for Binghamton and battling Mike Brodeur for games. With Brodeur now being considered a legitimate goalie prospect, he has earned a chance to be the starter for Bingo. This means Lehner will have to earn his playing time. However, playing two games last season gave Lehner a taste of where his game needs to be to be successful in the AHL.

In Lehner’s back pocket is his father, Michael Lehner, who coached NY Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and has had a big influence on his career. Scouting reports say Lehner looks very similar to Lundqvist as he makes himself look very big in the net and likes to challenge shooters. Lehner does have a swagger to him which you got to love in a goalie, and he is not afraid to drop the gloves when needed.

Lehner looks to be slated for Bingo, but he will get a chance to be the starter for the World Junior U-20 Sweden team at this year’s IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo. This tournament will give us a chance to see how Lehner handles pressure at this very competitive event.

Lehner will either be the back-up to Brodeur or be in a 1A-1B tandem with him this upcoming season. Depending on how well he plays, he could see action in 30 to 40 games. Being fourth on the Sens goalie depth chart means Lehner most likely won’t see any NHL action this season. But Sens management is high on him and will give him all the time he needs to develop into an elite NHL goalie. Look for Lehner to push for an NHL position in the 2011-2012 season depending on how the goalie situation plays out in Ottawa.

Prediction: 18 AHL Wins and 3 Awesome Goalie Fights.

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