#josiah didier

[hauntedppgpaints]

Jersey numbers faceoff

Vote for which player you think would win in a fight between other players wearing that number! Follow the 'numbers faceoff' tag on my blog to see the other polls.

[goalhofer]

2023-24 Grand Rapids Griffins Roster

Wingers

#17 Taro Hirose (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

#20 Elmer Söderblom (Göteborg, Sweden)**

#26 Tim Gettinger (North Olmsted, Ohio)*

#32 Tyler Spezia (Clinton Charter Township, Michigan)

#48 Jonatan Berggren (Uppsala, Sweden)

#54 Carter Mazur (Jackson, Michigan)**

#65 Dominik Shine (Putnam Township, Michigan) A

#71 Cross Hanas (Highland Village, Texas)

Centers

#11 Joel L'Esperance (Brighton, Michigan)

#12 Zach Aston-Reese (Staten Island, New York)*

#21 Nolan Stevens (Pennsauken Township, New Jersey)*

#27 Austin Czarnik (Washington Charter Township, Michigan) A

#92 Marco Kasper (Innsbruck, Austria)**

#93 Amadeus Lombardi (Newmarket, Ontario)**

Defensemen

#3 Jared McIsaac (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)

#4 Antti Tuomisto (Pori, Finland)**

#5 Eemil Viro (Vantaa, Finland)

#22 William Wallinder (Sollefteå Stad, Sweden)**

#23 Albert Johansson (Karlstad, Sweden)

#25 Brogan Rafferty (Dundee Township, Illinois)*

#40 Wyatt Newpower (White Bear Lake, Minnesota)

#44 Josiah Didier (Littleton, Colorado)* C

#77 Simon Edvinsson (Onsala, Sweden)

Goalies

#33 Sebastian Cossa (Ft. McMurray, Alberta)**

#35 Michael Hutchinson (Barrie, Ontario)*

[pavelzacha]

Josiah Didier let’s make it a captain trick

[mitchbeck]

HARTFORD WOLF PACK RALLY FALLS SHORT. LOSE GAME 3 TO PROVIDENCE BRUINS

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Providence Bruins received multi-point nights from Jack Ahcan, Oskar Steen, and Josiah Didier, and two goals from Justin Brazeau to deny a Hartford Wolf Pack comeback effort in a 6-3 win at the XL Center on Wednesday in Game 3 in the best-of-five series. The Wolf Pack lead the series 2-games-to-1 with game 4 to be played at the XL Center on Friday at 7:00 PM. "We didn't have the start we wanted to. We gave up chances. When you get guys back, and they return to your lineup, there's always a tendency that guys take a breath and figure they'll take over, that they will do it for you. "The players that got you here don't feel the need to play the way they were. In the third period, we had a good pushback. There was a chance to tie the game. We had opportunities. We were inches from tying the game up and going to overtime. "I saw something out there that was out of character for us. We didn't play the way we have. We're going to have to put it behind us and get ready for Friday," Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. The Pack's fourth-year bench boss gave props to the Bruins. "Players know it's going to be hard. That's a good team. They won the Atlantic Division, so to sweep them in three was pretty much unrealistic before the series started. We're not going to win that last game until we get back and play the game with the details, and we got away from the things we usually do," Knoblauch stated. "That will be addressed by the coaching staff. I don't think nothing much has to be said. They know it too. We'll be ready for Friday." THIRD PERIOD In the third period, the Pack scored a shorthanded goal early to cut the lead to one goal and began to rally a comeback that would ultimately come up short. Anton Blidh was able to get two shots on the net. Tim Gettinger followed in and blasted his second goal past a screened Brandon Bussi at 2:21. The Bruins restored their two-goal edge by taking advantage of a bad defensive change by the Wolf Pack. Ahcan was left alone, walked in, and registered his second point of the night on a clean breakaway. Ahcan put his shot over Dylan Garland's glove hand at 5:58. The scrums continued as they had all game. It helped the Bruins in slowing the Wolf Pack down. Connor Carrick, Lauri Pajuniemi, Ryan Carpenter, and Steen were all tagged with roughing minors at 7:49. "It's that time of year. Everybody has one goal in mind (to win). I like the physicality. We're not looking for big hits or big fights. If it comes, it comes," remarked Zac Jones. KEEP FIGHTING The Wolf Pack clawed back again. Lauri Pajuniemi was in front of the net. Jones sent a crisp left-point pass to Tanner Fritz. The Pack forward sent a pass in front from off the right boards to Pajuniemi, who buried it at 13:34. "We wanted to finish it off tonight, but we didn't," Fritz said, "We kinda beat ourselves tonight. We'll get back in the room and practice tomorrow and get ready for Friday." The Pack had a golden chance to tie as Bobby Trivigno won a one-on-one battle, came out of the right-wing side fired a pass over to Pajuniemi, who had an open half of the net. But instead, Bussi showed why he was one of the top goalies in the AHL with a remarkable glove save, reaching back to snare what would have been a game-tying goal with 2:21 left in regulation. It was the Pack's last gasp. "We had the setup. The bench stood up (we) thought it was going in, but it's a game of inches and we had other chance, a couple of back door plays, that got deflected or just missed. We had our opportunities in the third period. We're built to play 60 not 20 (minutes)," remarked Knoblauch. EMPTY NET GOALS Brazeau registered the first of two empty-net goals with 1:23 left. Then, with 7.7, Lettieri potted the second empty net goal to make the 6-3 final. Switching the netminder for Friday is a tricky proposition. "We have a great possibility (of winning) with either one of them. I have lot of confidence with both goalies. Dylan has played very well; tonight, we lost. Something we'll think about (goaltending) and make a decision tomorrow," Knoblauch said. He's scheduled a morning practice for 10:00 AM. "Louie (Domingue) was our starter for most of the season, till the last four starts when the playoffs started," Knoblauch added. The Bruins pressed hard with their forecheck and were all over the Pack. The pressure led to a 5-2 edge in shots. The score became 3-0 as the Bruins got to more loose pucks and converted them into opportunities. Achan came out of the Bruins' end, rushing through center ice. He fed Luke Toporowski, who went with speed down the right wing. He established an outside position and sped around Wyatt Kalynuk. Toporowski then snuck it past Garand off his post, on the short side for his second of the postseason at 14:03. BIG HIT The first of playoff nastiness occurred with 2:21 left in the second period as Clendening caught Fabian Lysell, crossing to the center from the right wing, and just after releasing the puck, clocked him with a brutal hit which left him crumpled on the ice. A scrum ensued, and Joona Koppanen came to Lysell's aid. Clendening received an interference major and a fighting penalty. Koppanen received two as the instigator and then five-for-fighting and a ten-minute misconduct. Jones scored for the Pack just seconds into their third power play. He blasted a shot from the right point with 24 seconds to go after a Jake Leschyshyn faceoff win. Jones nearly got another tally with 12.6 seconds left when he came in on a breakaway going backhand-to-forehand but ran out of real estate and was in too close, and failed to score. "I over-complicated it a little bit. I tried the same move in Springfield and it worked for me, tonight it didn't," remarked Jones. "It could have been a nice turnaround to score again just after we scored. We did that (early) shorthanded goal in the third. It was 3-2. We scored and then they scored. Jones played well if he got that goal at the end might have changed the outcome of the game at the end," commented Knoblauch. In the first period, both teams had chances, but both goalies stood their ground. The Bruins broke through as Libor Hájek, who returned from being part of the "Black Aces" in New York and replaced Blake Hillman. Unfortunately, he took a needless crosschecking penalty that would cost the Pack as the Bruins tallied on the early power play. Puck management left much to be desired. "No, we made plays we typically don't do and ultimately, we had less (offensive) zone time. We had to defend more than they did. Those turnovers cost us the game. A lot of times they do. The last goal they scored it did," Knoblauch recounted. Carrick fired one from the right point. Garand made the initial save with the left pad, but there were three Bruins in front, and Brazeau could find it and put it in at 15:54. The Bruins made it 2-0 in the dying seconds of the first period with 2/10ths of a second remaining with Didier at the right point. He took a shot off Lysell's pass. Steen deflected it and put it over Garand's glove for his first of the postseason at 19:59. There were numerous after-whistles and scrums in the first. LINES: Trivigno-Carpenter-Elson Fritz-Pajuniemi-Blidh Henriksson-Gettinger- Lockwood Cullye-Leschyshyn-Brodzinski Jones-Emberson Hájek-Scanlin Clendening-Kalynuk Garand Domingue SCRATCHES: Talyn Boyko #40 Adam Sýkora (healthy) Blake Hillman (healthy) Matt Rempe (upper body, day-to-day) Louie Roehl #4 (healthy) Bryce McConnell-Barker #8 (healthy) Brett Berard #27 (healthy) Parker Gahagen #35 Maxim Barbashev #18 (healthy) Ryder Korczak  #38 (healthy) Matt Robertson (upper body, may return in the latter half of this  round of the playoffs) Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery). C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season) NOTES: Providence was without Chris Wagner due to the birth of his daughter earlier in the afternoon. In addition, Marc MacLaughlin (upper body) is out for the series, with Lauko taking his lineup spot. Ex-Pack Vinni Letterieri has been nursing a lower-body injury suffered in Boston late season, and complications have arisen. Maxim Barbashev's older brother, Ivan Barbasev, of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, scored twice in a 6-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers in a track meet of a hockey game. Utica recalled former UCONN defenseman Jarrod Gourley from the Adirondack Thunder (ECHL). The Comets hosted the Toronto Marlies last night on Utica at the Adirondack Bank Center. Ex-Pack Carl Klingberg leaves EV Zug (Switzerland-LNA) and heads back home to play next year for the HC Frölunda Indians (Sweden-SHL). Reports out of the desert paint a grim picture for the Arizona Coyotes. The pending arena referendum may be defeated, prompting a possible relocation to Houston that keeps the NHL's 16 West and 16 East formulas intact. It's one of four reasons, despite great attendance numbers for the Quebec City junior team, the Quebec Remparts at the Videotron Centre recently built to NHL specs that Quebec City won't be getting the Coyotes or anyone else. Should they move, they will likely impact their AHL team out of Tucson and somewhere closer to Houston, which is heavily rumored to be the location they would be heading. Seven possible markets could see a relocated AHL team if NHL relocation comes to pass. One old AHL market, one old ECHL, and one current market, three old WPHL markets from the league that folded in the early part of this century. One city (Austin) became an AHL city. In no particular order. Beaumont, Texas, was an old ECHL market for five years early in this century. It's East of Houston on the Texas-Louisiana border that played in the Ford Arena in South Beaumont, seats 8,500 seats perfect for the AHL run by OVG along I-10. San Antonio, which saw the NHL strong-arm the AHL Rampage to be sold to the Avalanche to become the Colorado Eagles. The NBA's San Antonio Spurs run the AT&T Center building. It seats 18,000 and is easy access for Houston down I-10 Southwest of Houston and due South from Austin, now home to the AHL Texas Stars. The old WPHL market down the Southeast Coast in Corpus Christi, with a new one, is currently home to US junior A  hockey in the NAHL, the Corpus Christi Ice Rays. The original Memorial Coliseum was demolished a la the New Haven Coliseum in 2010. Another WPHL market on the radar is Waco. They played in the Heart O' Texas Coliseum (now called the Extraco Events Center) seats 9,000. San Angelo is home to the WPHL San Angelo Outlaws, who played in the central Texas city, and the arena, the San Angelo Coliseum (now Foster Communications Coliseum), seats 5,260. The Amarillo Rattler played in the Amarillo Civic Center seats just under 5,000. The wild card would be flipping the ECHL Allen Americans, a suburb of Dallas, to the AHL. The team calls home at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center, which seats 6,275. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[bqstqnbruin]

We asked the guys what they do for a living… wrong answers only

[carolinahurricanes]

NHLCanes: Good luck this weekend Checkers!

[fromthe-point]

BOSTON - Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced today, July 1, that the Bruins have signed the following unrestricted free agents: signed forward Par Lindholm to a two-year NHL contract with an annual cap hit of $850,000; signed forward Brett Ritchie to a one-year NHL contract with a cap hit of $1 million; signed forward Brendan Gaunce to a one-year, two-way contract with a NHL cap hit of $700,000; signed goaltender Maxime Lagace to a one-year, two-way contract with an NHL cap hit of $700,000; signed Josiah Didier to a one-year AHL contract.

Sweeney also announced that the team has signed the following restricted free agents: signed defenseman Connor Clifton to a three-year contract extension through the 2022-23 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $1 million; signed forward Ryan Fitzgerald to a one-year, two-way contract with an NHL cap hit of $700,000.

[theamericanhockeyleague]

bstvschar3-2 by Bridgeport Sound Tigers

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 3, No. 8

Photo of the Como Mamas by Zach Smith

This week’s collection of short reviews spans the sacred and the profane, from gospel to sleazeball r ‘n r.  It includes two Armenian singers (one current, one historic), a wild marimba, a batch of Haggard covers and a collection of 15 compositions for solo bass.  This week’s contributors include Justin Cober-Lake, Ben Donnelly, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Derek Taylor, Mason Jones and Jason Bivins.

The Como Mamas — Move Upstairs (Daptone)

The Como Mamas — the trio of Ester Mae Wilbourn, Della Daniels, and Angelia Taylor — come from a deep gospel tradition. Their career might be marked by their appearance on Daptone's Como Now compilation from a decade ago, but they've been singing together since forever, and their harmonies and locked-in vocals show it. For Move Upstairs, they're backed by a group a Daptone musicians called (for this gospel disc) the Glorifiers Band. Tight as always, the musicians stay out of the way, letting the powerful singers drive the record, but they add a necessary element. The Como Mamas might have stretch back to pure gospel, but while you'll catch a few songs connected to Dorothy Love Coates and the like, Move Upstairs is more a funk/soul album. Sonically, the group has more to do with, say, Sharon Jones than the Soul Stirrers. It works, sounding fresh and traditional at the same time. With an impeccable track list led by “99 and a Half Won't Do” and “I Can't Thank Him Enough” and a potent, updated sound, the Como Mamas sound like church energized, funk redeemed, or the meeting place of both.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Banana – Live (Leaving Records)

LIVE by BANANA

Marimba and vibraphone are unruly things to arrange, so bright and chiming, they can make a tune turn queasy, like strobe lights left on too long. In rock, from Zappa to Cate Le Bon, they're a signifier for things are getting odd.  Composer and producer Josiah Steinbrick keeps vibes under control, both literally and figuratively, with these four creations performed by LA art rock regulars, including members of Warpaint and Le Bon herself. Vibraphones are the lead, but reeds and woodwinds also accompany guitar, bass and keys.  Locked in 4/4 time, these instrumentals cycle like Glass, but the woodwinds provide a resistance to the percussion that remind me of the sweetly unnerving quality Henry Cow's Lindsay Cooper brought to the world. The second track, "B," winds an oboe through gamelan chiming, an exercise in hypnosis until the key changes unexpectedly and a George Harrison slide guitar starts to weep. The last one has piano chords stepping out into the ocean, deeper and deeper while the reeds swell like breeze, more minimal than the minimalism that came before it. Yet there's momentum throughout this, with the tracks detaching from time, rolling and shifting until you can't see the shoreline and are lost in the waves.

Ben Donnelly

 Abdou El Omari—Nuits De Printemps LP (Radio Martiko)

Abdou El Omari, we hardly knew you, and more’s the pity. The Moroccan keyboardist recorded one album and five singles in the mid-1970s, then disappeared from the world of recorded music until a recent reissue campaign yielded three similarly packaged LPs. The third, Nuits De Printemps, suggests that El Omari was on a roll when he ran out of studio access. Where the first LP focused on psychedelic Farfisa forays and the second his talents as an arranger and accompanist, this one is about instrumental experimentation. El Omari plays most of the lead lines on a synthesizer, which amplifies his music’s otherworldliness. One suspects that he was relatively new to the instrument, since he switches off to Farfisa whenever he needs to get nimble. The settings for his keyboard melodies are a mélange of au courant funk licks and more traditional hand percussion patterns. There’s no evidence that he was running out of gas, and one wonders what he might have done had he kept recording.

Bill Meyer 

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy — Best Troubadour (Drag City)

Best Troubador by Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Will Oldham has long admired Merle Haggard, not so much the ubiquitous 1960s stuff, but the later, more lived in material from the 1980s on. He had convened a band for an all-Haggard show in 2015 and was already considering a tribute album when Haggard died in 2016. This album, like What the Brothers Sang, 2013 Everly covers album with Dawn McCarthy, eschews hits (“Muskogee”) for more obscure territory, breathing warm, unassuming life into modestly arranged originals. Oldham’s voice is a good deal more cracked and weathered than commercial country ever allowed Haggard to be, and the settings tend towards the naturalistic (the album was recorded live to two track in Oldham’s home), so the covers sound a good bit less polished than the originals. But there’s a lovely, light filled lilt in cuts like “If I Could Only Fly” where Drew Miller’s sax weaves around artfully plucked banjo or in the slow, swampy interplay between Nuala Kennedy’s flute, wheezing accordion and that same banjo in “Pray.”  “Haggard (Like I’ve Never Been Before)” swaggers and slinks bluesily, although in a homespun, acoustic kind of way, while the story song “Leonard” (about troubled hit maker Tommy Collins) frolics light-heartedly – that flute again – around a narrative of heartbreak. Even diehard Haggard fans may have forgotten about some of these songs, resurrected lovingly but not worshipfully by a crack band of indie folk players.

Jennifer Kelly

 Michael Pisaro — Resting in a Fold of the Fog (Potlatch)

Composer Pisaro is often associated with pieces that play with duration, instrumental aggregation or paring down and the exploration of tone. Those preoccupations are certainly audible on these two pieces, performed by Pisaro (here on laptop), guitarist Didier Anschour, and percussionist Stéphane Garin. “Grounded Cloud” sounds as impossible as its title, not just an evocative image but maybe also a statement of compositional intent. For quite a spell, various elements emerge almost imperceptibly, and seemingly spread apart: a high tone, a low thrum, then a minor detonation. But steadily, they come to sound as if they’re circling a common object. Lapping waves, big resonances and gusts of wind move through these recurrent events, which grower denser and more tense until they coalesce and the cloud opens for rainfall. Even better is the latest in Pisaro’s “Hearing Metal” series. “Hearing Metal 4 (Birds in Space)” opens with an extended meditation on a brilliantine single tone. Patiently over nearly 25 minutes, they conjure an absolutely riveting oscillation and overtone fantasy (and kudos to Garin for his tonal and timbral versatility in joining the singing tones). As notes pull in different directions, things get occasionally ragged and almost overdriven, and there’s even what’s basically a more staccato phase. But the music is drawn to convergence once more, ultimately returning to a thick hive buzzing and powerful single notes. Another enchanting document from Pisarao.

Jason Bivins

 Don Messina — Dedicated To… (Cadence Jazz Records)

An erstwhile sideman to Tristano-influenced pianist Sal Mosca, Don Messina seems amicably resigned to the reality that he will never achieve anything resembling household recognition as a master of the bull fiddle. That relative obscurity translates to a probable reason why his instrument is listed in parentheticals after his name both on cover and spine of Dedicated To… a disc of 15 pieces for solo bass. Some of the honorees are obvious. Oscar Pettiford, Sonny Dallas and Red Mitchell each receive richly-textured remembrances that reference the respective idiosyncrasies of their playing styles. Others like “Uncle Vinnie” and “Michael: The Odyssey” are harder to pin down (Burke and Scoppettuolo, respectively) by name, but prove equally effective at elucidating individual technical traits inherent to their subjects. Messina also serves as recording engineer, a role that’s a bit erratic in the program’s opening minutes, but smoother sailing as the disc progresses. Reliable throughout is the bassist’s supply of talent as he puts his strings through a rigorous set of paces and covers a gamut of stylistic bases.

Derek Taylor  

 Low Cut Connie — Dirty Pictures (Part 1) (Contender)

If you want to be reductive enough, you can just about trace a history of rock 'n' roll through Low Cut Connie's albums, digging up some Sun Records on Call Me Sylvia and touching on some classic R&B for Hi Honey, all built on Adam Weiner's boogie piano. New release Dirty Pictures (Part 1) gets swampier in its rock, and the Rolling Stones make their first appearance. For all of Weiner and company's thrill in old-time r'n'r, they're still inimitable, throwing in theatrical touches along with their general sense of abandon.  

Weiner's always sounded at home among the marginalized — the outcasts, the transgressives, the drunks. There's an edge now. “Death and Destruction” captures the current state of the world, and resists it by turning it into two and a half minutes of rock. The darkness still creeps in, maybe influenced by the political climate as well as the death of some musical icons. The band's live version of “Suffragette City” stuns, but it's Prince's “Controversy” that appears on the album, a fitting revelation of that artist's influence on Weiner's music (and not just his attitude). Tracks like “Angela” and “Montreal” show Weiner as a wry outsider, aware of the consequences of this entropic life. “Forever” is a farewell from a spotlight on a stage. But Low Cut Connie hasn't become maudlin or heavy. “Revolution Rock 'n' Roll” and “Dirty Water” provide rally cries from nowhere. The best way to fight the darkness is by standing on a piano bench, and Weiner doesn't sound ready to sit down any time soon.  

Justin Cober-Lake

 Luis Lopes/Fred Lonberg-Holm — The Pineapple Circumstance (Creative Sources Recordings)

 The pineapple is a symbol of hospitality, so perhaps this record is the product of some act of welcoming? Whatever the circumstance, Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes and American cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm sound free of inhibition on this set of scrappy duets. Scrappy as in pugilistic — both players go at it from the get-go, slinging looped raygun blasts, shortwave static blasts and the occasional bent note or blasted chord that lets slip for a second that stringed instruments are involved. And scrappy as in repurposed metal — this stuff sounds like it is being hammered into shape, contorted into some new shape. But that welcoming fruit contradicts the impression that this music was born of conflict. No, this is a collegial comparison of coarse textures. Handle with care.  

Bill Meyer

 Zabelle Panosian — I Am Servant of Your Voice (Canary Records) 

I Am Servant of Your Voice: April-May, 1917 by Zabelle Panosian

Panosian came to America as a child, before tragedy was fully unleashed upon Armenians a hundred years ago, but as the notes to this release suggest, it's hard not to hear the violence weighing upon her as she recorded for the Armenian community in Boston. The music of the Caucasus works from a baseline of lament, but there's an extra creak of sadness to these six songs, even with the whispers-from-beyond feel that characterizes digitized 78s. Some of her melodic lines end with a Near East quaver, while other swoop like the light opera of the Anglophone world at the time. But these recordings feel caught between many worlds — sweatshop vaudeville and the folk of a vanished village, concert hall formality and memorial service elegy. There are two recordings of two of the songs, a testament to her popularity within a close-knit American subculture. The second take of "Groung", a song that truly claws at the heart, is dotted with the chirp of birds. "Groung" is Armenian for crane, but these chirps are more like sparrows on a windowsill. They do not lift the mood, rather they emphasize the inconsolable cry of Zabelle. Even under the blanket of pocked shellac and a century's passing her voice couldn't be more clear.

Ben Donnelly

 Pact Infernal — Infernality (Horo)

Following a pair of darkly rhythmic EPs, Pact Infernal release their first full-length, and with titles like "Initiation,” "Meditations,” "Talismans" and "Transmutation" it's fair to say they're perhaps giving away the plot ahead of time. While the concept may be overly obvious — yes, it's dark and murky and ritualistic and rhythmic — the album does deliver the goods. If you picture a marriage of Muslimgauze and Akkord, you'll arrive pretty close to Pact Infernal's sound here: a blend of intricate percussion, pulsing low end and horror movie cellar aesthetics. At times, it's almost too reminiscent of the late Muslimgauze, but the cavernous reverb and decidedly more shadowy hisses and bass tremors push it into a somewhat different realm. There's a lot of this style making its way around these days, but Pact Infernal have a good handle on it and Infernality is a solid offering on the doomy sacrificial altar.

Mason Jones

 Clara de Asís/Bruno Duplant—L’inertie (Marginal Frequency)

The cassette format begets humility, and there’s nothing bigheaded in the way that Clara de Asís and Bruno Duplant present their music. They might even be pulling our legs a bit; the album’s title L’inertie translates as Inertia, and its side-long pieces are named “La Paresse” (“Laziness”) and “La Lenteur” (“Slowness”).  But there’s nothing tossed-off about the patience and close listening that went into making this music. It is, essentially, a pair of drones built from de Asís’ continuous guitar sounds and Duplant’s organ chords. But within each apparently monolithic sound is a world of change; it’s just enacted, in the tradition of Eliane Radigue and Phill Niblock, in slow motion. Listen close and the drone splits into hums, whistles, and a subsonic presence that’ll make you think that someone has hidden a black hole in your boombox. Splendid stuff.  

Bill Meyer  

 Shamir — Hope (self-released)

Shamir's debut tracks were shiny electro r'n'b, edging close to indie with their lack of guile but backed with a sharp voice and persona that felt ready for the wide success, the kind occasionally visited upon eccentrics with a unique delivery and good pop instincts. For whatever reason, Ratchet didn't take off like it could have. The follow-up suggests there was a lot of strain behind the glow of "In For the Kill" and "Call it Off." Heck, those titles seem more tense in retrospect. Hope dispenses with r'n'b entirely. This is a hastily created collection of lo-fi guitar with bedroom overdubs. Arguably, r'n'b isn't quite entirely gone. "Like A Bird" retains the structure of Shamir’s previous work with beatbox loop, synth pads and careful belting. The result is stark, but wildly different than most low fi starkness, 'cause his voice has so much panache. "One More Time Won't Kill You" bunches up fuzzed notes-from-the-underground guitar and clumsy drum throb into a cruel and glorious mess of emotions. Shamir heard his vocal delivery compared to Juliana Hatfield and pieced together a Blake Babies cover, demonstrating the sort of crash-course in history that music streaming makes possible. This record brims with freedom, and consequently loses shape at moments when it's poised to really transcend. But who cares? It's pretty clear this guy is going to transcend soon enough. Hope melts down prior expectations and molds them into shapes that make Shamir even more of a standout. 

Ben Donnelly

 Bedouine — Bedouine (Spacebomb)

Azniv Korkejian sings effortlessly, in a soft, unaffected tone embellished with only the most modest jazzy flourishes. She sounds — no shade intended — a good bit like Karen Carpenter, although, perhaps a Karen Carpenter unobserved and free to sing as she pleased. And indeed, though, Korkejian’s background reads like a game of Risk (Armenian by ethnicity, raised in Syria, Saudi Arabia and the American south), it is her current sojourn in California that shows most in this debut. Give her a time machine, and she’d slip very comfortably into a sunny, sophisticated Laurel Canyon circa the early 1970s. Accompanied mostly by acoustic guitar, occasionally with swaths of string or brass, she manages to keep her songs pure and unfiltered, as if she were performing them in the chair across the room. And yet, though there’s a laid-back air, Korkejian never slouches. Even her spoke-sung intervals sound resonant and melodic; in a trill or jazzy slide, she turns casually arresting. You have to be confident to be this unassuming — and indeed it takes a certain amount of reverse chutzpah to name the lead-off track of your debut “Nice and Quiet” — but there’s something strong and self-assured in Korkejian’s reserve. Don’t expect to be grabbed but rather gradually subdued by charm.

Jennifer Kelly

[habseotp]

In English it is known as the ‘farm team’; a place where young players are staged, awaiting their opportunity for the a call-up to the main team. In French the term is le club école, ‘the school team’, and this is probably a much better description of how Head Coach Sylvain Lefebvre runs the club of hopeful future Montreal Canadiens.

[read more]

[goalhofer]

2023-24 Grand Rapids Griffins Players By Nationality

American: 12 (Zach Aston-Reese, Austin Czarnik, Josiah Didier, Tim Gettinger, Cross Hanas, Joel L'Esperance, Carter Mazur, Wyatt Newpower, Brogan Rafferty, Dominik Shine, Tyler Spezia & Nolan Stevens) Canadian: 7 (Sebastian Cossa, Cross Hanas, Taro Hirose, Michael Hutchinson, Amadeus Lombardi, Jared McIsaac & Nolan Stevens) Swedish: 5 (Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Elmer Söderblom & William Wallinder) Finnish: 2 (Antti Tuomisto & Eemil Viro) Austrian: 1 (Marco Kasper)

[mitchbeck]

GAME 3, HARTFORD WOLF PACK LOSE TO PROVIDENCE BRUINS

By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack HARTFORD, CT – After taking the first two games of the Atlantic Division Semifinals on the road, the Hartford Wolf Pack returned to the XL Center on Wednesday night, eyeing a sweep of the Providence Bruins. The Pack challenged Providence late, but the Bruins stifled the comeback attempt, forcing Game Four with a 6-3 decision. Jack Achan potted his first career playoff goal about six minutes into the final stanza. Achan intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, sped towards the Hartford net on a breakaway opportunity, and ripped a wrist shot under the glove of Dylan Garand and into the Hartford net. The goal made the score 4-2 at the time and stood as the eventual game-winning tally. Providence broke the ice just under the 16-minute mark of the first period. With Libor Hájek in the penalty box for tripping, a scrum for a loose puck ensued in front of the Hartford net. Garand denied Connor Carrick's initial attempt, but Justin Brazeau collected the rebound and slid the puck through the five-hole, giving Providence a lead they would not give up. The goal was Brazeau's first career Calder Cup Playoff goal. Oskar Steen stretched the lead to two just before the final buzzer of the opening stanza. John Beecher won a battle along the wall and found Fabian Lysell in the right-wing circle. Lysell fed the puck to Josiah Didier at the blue line, and the Providence captain stepped into a shot that was redirected into the net by Steen. The shot beat the buzzer by .2 seconds and put the Bruins up by two, heading into the second period. Providence gained their biggest lead of the night just over 14 minutes into the second period. Zac Jones was sent to the box for tripping, setting up the second Bruins powerplay of the night. In the waning seconds of the man advantage, Luke Toporowski managed to sneak behind the Wolf Pack defense and flip a shot that beat Garand on the short side, giving the Bruins a three-goal lead. Jones finally put the Wolf Pack on the board at 19:35 of the middle stanza. Penalties to Steen, Joona Koppanen, and Adam Clendening initiated a four-on-three powerplay for Hartford. Jake Leschyshyn won a faceoff in the Providence zone, and Jones corralled the puck. Jones blasted a one-timer that Brandon Bussi never saw, cutting the lead to two heading into the final stanza. Hartford stayed hot to begin the third period. With Clendening still in the box serving a five-minute major for interference, Hájek rimmed the puck around the boards to clear it. Anton Blidh won a footrace for the puck and blasted a shot that Bussi denied with the blocker. Tim Gettinger tipped the puck toward the goal, and Blidh attempted to jam it home but was again denied. Finally, the rebound bounced to Gettinger, who stepped into a blast that beat the Providence netminder to bring the Wolf Pack within one. The goal was Gettinger's second career playoff marker. Achan converted on the breakaway at 5:58, putting the game out of reach for good. The Wolf Pack drew back within one at 13:34, as Lauri Pajuniemi tipped a pass from Tanner Fritz over Bussi for his team-leading third goal of the playoffs. Pajuniemi was again set up with a glorious opportunity, but Bussi flashed the leather to keep the Bruins ahead by a goal late in regulation time. The Bruins would then get a pair of empty net goals from Brazeau and Vinni Lettieri to cement the victory. Game Four of the Atlantic Division Semifinals between the Wolf Pack and the Bruins is now set for this Friday, May 5th, at the XL Center. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. To get tickets, visit HERE. ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team's inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack is the top player-development affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and plays at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers' newest faces, including Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, and Ryan Lindgren. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[fromthe-point]

RALEIGH, NC - Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has assigned forwards Steven Lorentz, Cliff Pu, Aleksi Saarela and Spencer Smallman, defensemen Josiah Didier, Michael Fora and Josh Wesley, and goaltender Jeremy Helvig to the Charlotte Checkers (AHL).

[theamericanhockeyleague]

Josiah Didier by Tori Hartman

[goalhofer]

Thank you, Josiah Didier.