Another One Bites The Dust: NSEDC Jumps Ship To County StarCom Node

In the year or so since the Cook County Sheriff upgraded their older (but working just fine) analog Motorola Type II SmartZone system to be Zone 5 of the P25 StarCom21 system, and encrypting every single piece of traffic that goes through their airwaves, they’ve somehow managed to convince others that their way is best, and have sucked up a few agencies. The list just grew longer. Around a week ago, Des Plaines’ repeater on 155.745 (easy to remember, since the nationwide emergency channel is 155.475, called ISPERN in Illinois) went completely silent. While there were reports sometime in 2011 that North Suburban Emergency Dispatch Center (their consolidated dispatch center) was going to switch to the county system to comply with narrowbanding laws going into effect later this year, I had never heard follow up on it as to whether it was going to happen or not. Well, it did, and now both the Des Plaines and Park Ridge police departments are talking (maybe) on the 100% encrypted, 100% of the time Cook County radio system. This includes their talkgroup for weather alerts. That’s right, the county doesn’t want scanner listeners to hear their weather alerts. Still trying to figure out the logic behind encrypting that.

Why? Because encryption gives them a false sense of security. While it is illegal and extremely difficult, breaking encryption is possible. It does nothing but hide things. I do agree that some things should be encrypted. EMS channels where they’re giving personal information? Yes. Police channels where they’re running social security numbers? Absolutely (Chicago does this over the air unencrypted all the time. I’m not exactly sure how it’s legal, but they do it). A Sheriff’s Deputy running radar on the Eisenhower? Probably doesn’t need to be encrypted. I also get that officers need to be protected. But let’s just take a look at Bloomington/Normal and McLean County for a minute. While it’s nowhere near the population of Chicago, the county also uses StarCom for communication, as do both Bloomington and Normal. The patrol channels are in the clear. Channel 2 (for Normal and the county at least) are in the clear. But all the aforementioned agencies have encrypted, or “secure”, channels that they can fall back on should a delicate situation arise. A lot of agencies take a “community policing” approach, but not the Cook County Sheriff. They take steps to distance themselves from the people that pay their paychecks.

So looking forward, Northwest Central Dispatch, who handles Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, Schaumburg, Palatine, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights, and Rolling Meadows, is scheduled to upgrade their current systems to a StarCom node of their own. As of right now, for all the above agencies (most police and fire), NWCD runs 3 separate radio systems that aren’t really compatible with each other. 1 is a Motorola Type II SmartNet system that Streamwood and Hoffman Estates share, 1 is another Motorola Type II SmartNet that serves Schaumburg only (they joined NWCD in 2007 but continued to use their own system), and then a Motorola Type II SmartZone system running P25 for the rest of the towns. While it will be very nice to have everybody on one system (not only for scanning, but for interoperability purposes), my worry is they will follow the Cook County model and “encrypt first, ignore questions later”. It would be a shame to see a large chunk of the northwest suburbs blacked out from listening, all because of poor planning by the designers, or fear of the public hearing something they shouldn’t. More recently, look at DU-COMM, who handles the vast majority of DuPage County outside of Naperville and Aurora. They switched to StarCom this year, and ~80-85% of their channels are in the clear, including all their routine patrol channels. If they need to go secure, they have those channels, and I’m perfectly fine with that. Illinois State Police is the same way. Their patrol channels are in the clear, but they have encrypted channels to go to if they need them. It wasn’t all that long ago that the Cook County Sheriff was using an old-as-dirt VHF repeater system. It worked just fine. It’s still in service today, although the only thing that ever cracks the repeaters these days are deputies talking about what they had for dinner the night before (not kidding, heard that this past morning). They worked back then without encryption, so they CAN live without it.

In conclusion, while I don’t like it, encryption is a necessary evil in today’s world. It can be a good tool to put in the hands of police officers. However, if someone gives you a hammer to build a house, you don’t go putting up walls keeping everyone else from seeing what’s going on. Unfortunately, that’s what Cook County has done with their use of encryption.

RIP NSEDC. Hope to hear you on ISPERN or the Interop channels someday.

Hossamaniac Sez: NHL Western Conference Quarterfinal Predictions

While this blog had been taken over by the Express for the past year or so, my general sports self is taking over again. So deal with it. I am leaving the copies of 5 Minutes & A Game Misconduct up though, in case you wanna take a trip down memory lane.

Anyway, to the preview!

Western Conference

1 Vancouver Canucks vs. 8 Los Angeles Kings

The Canucks come into this year’s playoffs with their 2nd consecutive President’s Trophy win, after beating Edmonton 3-0 in game 82 of the regular season. Vancouver’s record was 51-22-9 (feels weird to only type 3 numbers in a record, after writing a ton of ECHL stuff) for 111 points, and LA was 40-27-15 for 95. While LA is a very good team, I think Vancouver home ice advantage will be the straw that breaks Quick’s back. Plus, the Northwest Division champ hasn’t lost in the opening round of the playoffs since Minnesota in 2008.

• Hossamaniac Sez: VAN wins series 4-3

2 St. Louis Blues vs. 7 San Jose Sharks

Much to many Chicago fans’ despair (not mine), the Blues are a very good team this season, coming 2 points shy of winning their first President’s Trophy since 2000. They ended up with a 49-22-11 record (109 points), and the very tough Central Division championship (first team since 2000 to win it other than Detroit or Chicago. The team that did it back then? Them). San Jose ended up with the 7th seed after their overtime winner against LA in the last game of the regular season. San Jose has much more playoff experience (this is their 8th straight year in the postseason), but it hasn’t gotten them anywhere before (they’ve never made it past the conference finals), and it won’t this time either. The younger, faster Blues will come out on top of this one.

• Hossamaniac Sez: STL wins series 4-2

3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 6 Chicago Blackhawks

Phoenix won the…well, less than wonderful Pacific Division on the last night of the season, fighting off San Jose and Los Angeles, and in return gets a series with Chicago. This is their first division championship. This is their 3rd straight year in the postseason, but they have lost to Detroit both the past 2 seasons in the first round. They haven’t made it any deeper than the first round since 1987, when they were still the Winnipeg Jets. Chicago has made it to the postseason 4 straight years now, with only 1 1st round exit (last year’s 7 gamer in Vancouver). Phoenix is not all that great of a team that won a bad division, and I wonder if yet another first round exit might be the factor that sends the Yotes somewhere else.

• Hossmaniac Sez: CHI wins series 4-2

4 Nashville Predators vs. 5 Detroit Red Wings

Detroit is old, and has great goaltending. Nashville plays the trap, and has great goaltending. It’s going to be slower, not exciting to watch at all times, and a long grinding series. But I think the Preds are just a tad better than this Red Wings team, who finished lower than 2nd in their division for the first time since 1991. Detroit is going to have a very tough time in the Bridgestone Arena (or whatever it’s called this week), and Nashville is going to have a tough time in the Joe Louis.

• Hossamanaic Sez: NSH wins series 4-3

Express: What Do We Do Now? Edition 1

All hail the magic conch! LULULULULULULULULULU!

One of the big concerns whenever any kind of business closes up shop is the loss of jobs. However, I jumped in my time machine and saw what some of the team will be doing next season and beyond; after they consulted the magic conch, of course. Here’s a little taste of what I saw, more of these to come this summer:

• Rob Madore: After his impressive showing in the Express net to end the year, he gets a job between the pipes with Columbus. However, old habits die hard, and he leaves team midseason in fit of rage after no one else besides him shows up to play. (Quick note: In real life, he signed with South Carolina. Good luck to him in that organization)
• Head Coach Steve Martinson: With his tendency to yell and get angry, he gets a job as a drill sergeant in the Army. His troops can’t shoot or push the line, but they sure move around well.
• Chaz Johnson: After showing off his dance moves in celebrations this season, he is chosen to be a player on NBC’s answer to “Dancing With The Stars,” “Dancing With The Mildly-Talented Minor League Hockey Players”
• Nathan Lutz: Known for his high +/- rating, he moves to Vegas to become a card dealer. No one ever comes out positive against him.
• Chad Painchaud: Known for his extremely low +/-, he moves to Vegas looking to hit it big. He doesn’t, and ends up cleaning the floors in the press box for the Las Vegas Wranglers, where he spent the end of the season with the Express.
• Trax: Despite claims to the contrary, Owner Craig Drecktrah believes Trax is a real horse, and enters it in the Kentucky Derby. He comes one race away from winning the Triple Crown. After all the publicity from the race is over, Trax is sent off to the Island of Misfit Mascots, where he becomes good friends with Petey the Sexual Harassment Panda, and the two marry and start New Traxtown in the concourse of the Sears Centre (which has long been abandoned, since the management scared off its’ last tenant years beforehand).

Now I would like to note here that I had many possibilities for this one. This is just what I went with.

• Devin DiDiomete: Since no team would take him, he ends up on the Island of Misfit Idiots, where he meets up with…you know what, it’s better for the world if he stays on the island.
• Pierre-Luc Faubert: After hearing of the team’s fate, he leaves his house to “find himself”. However, his stuff is never picked up, because he doesn’t ever come back to get anything.

Stay tuned this Summer for more, “What Do We Do Now?”

"In the yeaaaaaar 2013, in the yeaaaaaar 2013"

RIP Express: 2011-2012

Well, it’s officially over.

The Hounds Express announced today they’re withdrawing from the ECHL, a move I’m not overly surprised at, considering I had heard it from a couple different sources; they join the Hounds in the “one season stand” graveyard. While the attendance picked up towards the end of the season, not enough money was made (shocking for a Sears Centre event, I know), and money makes the world go ’round. So looks like we’re back down to 2 professional leagues in Chicago. Pretty much the only thing I’m actually surprised at is that they didn’t wait until after the playoffs to announce it.

I’m sure I’ll be putting up a “what went wrong?” post. Or I might not, I don’t know.

So Close, And Yet So Far Away: 2011-2012 Season In Review

52 SHOTS? SERIOUSLY?

Had to get that out of the way early. First of all, I was at work reffing (No penalties, but I did have to call a hand pass. It was a slow day.) for the first two periods Saturday night, and was on my way to the Sears Centre for the Slaughter game (they lost too, by the way, 70-65) for the first half of the third. The only thing I kept thinking while I was listening in the car was “2 goals will not be enough to win this game”. Unfortunately, I was right. From what I could tell on the radio broadcast, Madore was getting absolutely shelled in the 3rd (which was a continuation of the 3rd period of Friday night’s game against Kalamazoo), and sooner or later, a goalie will miss one. You put 52 shots on net, some are bound to go in. While the Express had everything to play for, Cincinnati didn’t really after the 3rd started, with South Carolina and Reading both winning, officially eliminating them. When I heard Bob Mills (who’s a great follow on Twitter if you’re not following him already, @mills_bob) call that Chicago had taken a penalty in OT, I had a gut feeling that even though Cincinnati’s power play was not great by any means this season (18th in the league at 16.4%), that it would be our downfall. And again, unfortunately I was right. It had seemed like the penalty kill had finally turned things for the better, but the bad penalty kill once again reared its’ ugly head, and Aubin’s 30th on the season was enough to bury the hatchet in the season. This isn’t a recap by any means (since I heard, not saw, only about 10 minutes of the game and OT), but I’m sure you had your own thoughts after that all went down, and those were mine. Anyway, we’ve all had a day to process what happened, and while the outcome wasn’t what we had hoped (thanks to apparently no actual defense being played), this season was a good building block for the future. Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?

It all started that warm (Was it warm? I don’t remember) October Saturday night against Kalamazoo. A good crowd (5K+) got going early when Ostrow put one past Gill 33 seconds into the game. That game then saw Kalamazoo come back to tie it (with goals from Anthony and Cherrypicker), until Ostrow gave us the lead once again and for good, with Faubert adding the Fade To Black goal later in the game. They then proceeded to kick off the season going 7-3-0-0 in their first 10 games.

After the good start through the first ten (including a stint with the division lead and best record in the East), the team went on a slightly-above mediocre run, ending up at 15-11-3-1 on New Years’ Eve, roughly halfway through the season, where the Royals managed to end Chicago’s 2011 with an extremely confusing overtime win (Hole-gate, as I call it). We then lost the next 2 by a combined score of 13-4 (ouchies), including the 9-2 pistol-whipping given to us by the Royals in one of the worst hockey games I’ve ever seen.

After the New Year, the team went on their equivalent of the Hawks’ Circus Trip, all losses except for one 4-3 win in Cincinnati (one of only 7 games they lost in regulation at home this season). We finished out January and kicked off February with a nice 5 game win streak, with 2 wins over Cincinnati in the mix. We took off for yet another road trip, winning 2 in Trenton, winning in Elmira (who was almost unbeatable at home at the time). We then ripped off 5 losses in a row by a combined score of 24-15.

We entered the month of March 26-21-6-3, in 3rd in the division, and with the 8th spot very much in reach. With Dainton and Mannino elsewhere, the Express were having to rely on Allen York every single night, and I think that ultimately hurt them. However, the big news to kick off March was the signing of Rob Madore, who I actually didn’t expect to start more than once or twice before the season ended. Then York got called up to the Blue Jackets. Madore’s first test was a tough one, a game in Kalamazoo. He stopped 41 of 46 in that game, at the time a record for the Express. That game was also the one that DiDiomete decided he’d knock a Wing out in the last minute of the game, giving him the 7 game suspension that despite the team letting him go, he still served without actually being on a roster (still not sure how that works). Madore bounced back in impressive fashion the following night, recording a 26 save shutout in Kalamazoo, his first as a professional. Following 2 more wins, the Express only managed to get a point out of a bad Trenton team that had nothing to play for, on a weekend that they had all the help they needed to take away 8th place, but just couldn’t pull it off, and they got the point in recently-signed backup goalie Brooks Ostergard’s first (and only) start. They followed that up with a 4-1 loss in Cincinnati (which ended up being their last regulation loss). After that was a 4-3 win in Kalamazoo, and then the remarkable 5-4 comeback win against Kalamazoo on the back end of the home-and-home (The game which DiDiomete returned to the team. Coincidence? Totally. He got kicked out in the 2nd period). After that game, Madore seemed to take his game to a new level, only giving up more than 2 goals once in the final 4 games. Those final 4 saw the Express extend their win streak to a franchise-record-tying 5, holding onto the 8th spot by their fingernails. Unfortunately, Madore ended his (and everyone’s) 2011-2012 season with the Express the same way it started, getting massively outshot and losing a game he deserved to win.

The big story of this season was really how much player turnover there was. It started early in the season, when Darcy Campbell was assigned to AHL Springfield the day before the home opener. Johnson made a trip up to Springfield in November on a tryout offer, but was returned shortly thereafter. There was of course the revolving door of goaltenders, between Nolan (who was shipped off to Toledo in January for some reason), Dainton (who made a couple stints in the AHL before being assigned to Reading, then AHL Springfield), Mannino (who was eventually assigned to AHL Portland), and of course York (who is currently playing for the Blue Jackets in the NHL, and not doing all that bad as of late). There were players like Blair Riley, who was called up to AHL Bridgeport, never to return. Same thing happened with Bobby Robins, who went to AHL Providence and never came back. They let players like Yannick Tifu go for Chad Painchaud (more on this in a bit, but this actually turned out to be a good trade for both teams), and picked up players like Devin DiDiomete (for some reason) from Wheeling for…um…something, I guess, unless they just wanted him gone (I could totally understand that). They also picked up Anthony Maiani, who put up decent numbers in about half a season here. Then there were guys like Drew Paris, who started out the season here, went up to the AHL (played in Toronto with the Marlies for a while) and then came back. There was Matt Gingera, who was given a ATO contract and for some odd reason was released a week or two into it, despite looking very promising on a line with Marvin (who is an underrated player and faceoff man, in my opinion) and Embach. We picked up Danick Paquette in a trade with Utah for Evan Stephens, a great trade on our end; Paquette having all the fight that DiDiomete had and the head to know when to use it, plus the same if not more scoring ability.

Then there were the injuries. A big loss to the team was Donati going down in the last month of the season, as was Painchaud, who didn’t play for at least the last month. Johnson had a period on the IR, albeit a short one. I could go on and on about players that weren’t available, either because of trades or injuries. But this team never really had a chance to get comfortable with each other until around the last month or so, when the roster (finally) remained relatively unchanged, and the team started to click just a touch too late.

So where do we go from here? First of all, despite the numbers improving slightly in the last month or two of the season, the penalty kill overall this year was absolutely atrocious. They ended up 16th in the league at 80.2% killed (compare to the league-best Ontario Reign at 87.5% killed), but spent most of the season killing somewhere around 78% and sitting in 18th. The penalty kill for a long time wasn’t much better, although it turned around in a major way in the latter half of the season, ending up 7th best in the league at 18.6% converted (compare to the league-high 23.0%, in Florida), helped in part by a 4-or-5 game scoring streak early in March. This was a problem for a majority of the year, though, and in the end the penalty kill is what effectively ended our season; the tying and winning Cincinnati goals Saturday were both on their power play.

So what’s going to happen with this team next season? Well, depending on where you look, there may not be one. My source said they’re guaranteed 2 years, and I’ve heard that a couple different places. But, I’ve heard very conflicting reports from different people. One fact that people are going off of is that no season tickets have been offered for next season. But…this last one just ended. It’s 7 months (Really? Wow. That’s a long time) until the season kicks off again, give them time to refund all the playoff tickets they sold (Heh. Yeahhhhh, about that) before you use that as a measuring stick.

So what’s going to happen with this blog? Well, I’m going to take a little time off, because I’m quite frankly sick of having deadlines to meet. At some point, it may move slightly to it’s own dedicated domain name (if I can come up with a good one. I’m not going to if I don’t have anything better than The Red Line, which FYI is a pun on the CTA Red Line that probably no one got; it’s funny because it’s found on a hockey rink too). If anything happens, I’ll throw something up here. Any other news on the team or anything ECHL related I feel like, I’ll put up as well. Until then, I’ll see you all next season. Have a great summer!

Going Out With A Bang: Express 4, Wings 2

What a way to wrap up the 2011-2012 season at home. Right to the bullets:

• The attendance is listed at 4663. Too bad it took a Dollar Drunk Night to get that number, but still very nice.
• I’ll get around to talking about the playoff picture, keep reading.
• DiDiomete is still nothing but a total clown. He spent the first 7 minutes on the bench chirping around the partition at the Kalamazoo bench, then fought Harty on his first shift. Then in the 2nd, fought Harty AGAIN and did some stupid showboating thing on the way to the box that he’s lucky he didn’t get teed up for. Then, he comes out of the box, goes out for the first faceoff after, and shoots the puck out of play for delay of game. He then spent the rest of the game (and all the time in between the other stuff) trying to instigate and throwing his elbows at people. And we brought him back….why?
• Closing the hand on the puck is my all time favorite call, mainly because it’s one of the dumbest ways to get a penalty.
• Speaking of dumb ways to get a penalty, had Johnson not deliberately skated to center to dance after his PP goal, he probably wouldn’t have gotten teed up for it. But he did, and he did.
• Even though that game seemed extremely long, it really wasn’t; game sheet says it lasted 2:27, not much longer than normal.
• Kalamazoo was dominated through the first 2 periods, then it was like they shifted into passing gear in the third while the Express ran out of gas. While the shots were tied up at 21 after 2, Kalamazoo managed to outshoot us 17-3 in the third.
• The officiating tonight was…well, interesting to say the least.
• Maiani’s penalty shot goal was a case of him just firing the puck hard and blowing it by Gill, something I don’t think is done enough in penalty shot/shootout situations. Beat him clean to the glove side.
• Johnson’s goal was a beautiful shot after a good face off win and a nice 5 on 3 passing play. Zion set him up perfectly, Johnson teed it up and rang it off the crossbar and in. The ref then teed him up. But it was a nice goal nonetheless.
• Kalamazoo couldn’t catch a break in the second half of the third. First they had a goal waved off because the net was dislodged before the puck went in, then had one waved off because it was knocked in with a high stick (it actually was a nice play though), both correct calls.
• Did you notice Kalamazoo pulled Gill for the 3rd? Me neither.
• The first Express goal was contested by the Wings, who said Gill had it covered, and I think they had a valid point. But the whistle never blew, so they kept on playing.
• Madore looked VERY solid again tonight. He had a couple unbelievable saves in the third while he was getting shelled, and absolutely deserved the first star.
• This whole “leaving one D-man on the point” thing while the other takes it in deep has to stop. They got caught on at least one 3 on 1 because of it, and that’s just what I remember.
• Chicago ends up 20-10-3-3 on home ice in their inaugural regular season. Not too shabby for a first year expansion team that saw a lot of player turnover over the course of the season.

Now onto what some of you may care a little about: the playoffs. Yes, as of right now, Chicago holds the last playoff spot (by one point over Reading, who lost to Elmira in overtime tonight). Let’s just go over each scenario, because it’s just really too complicated to try to sum up. Also, the first round matchups could potentially change; Elmira and Gwinnett are still fighting it out for the first seed in the East. Anywho…

• If we win tomorrow night, we’re in no matter what else happens. If South Carolina loses, we’d be the 7th seed and have Gwinnett in the first round. If SC wins, we’d be the 8th seed and have Elmira in the first.
• If we lose in overtime or a shootout tomorrow, we’d be in with a Reading loss of any type OR South Carolina regulation loss. We’d be at 80 points; the most Reading could reach with a loss would be 79, and South Carolina would be at 79 with a regulation loss, putting the Express in 7th. However, we’d be out if Reading and South Carolina both win.
• If we lose in regulation, we’re out, simple as that. Cincinnati would jump up to 79 points and a tie with us, but they hold the tiebreak. While they’d be higher up than us, it still wouldn’t guarantee them a playoff spot, but that’s for them to worry about.

And of course, it all comes down to tomorrow night. Chicago is on a hot 5 game win streak against good teams. Cincinnati is only .500 in their last 10, but has won 8 of their last 10 at home. Chicago is only 4-5-1-0 in their last 10 on the road. We have something they want. There is no love lost between the two teams. Madore is playing very well, going up against a team that takes a lot of shots and scores a lot at home. All it takes to extend the season is a good road game and at least a point against a very good home team in a very tough building.

Does it sound tough? Good. Because it will be. Let’s git-r-done.

It’s The Final Countdown: Wings @ Express Preview

Told you it would come down to the last weekend. Anyway…

The Bipolar Express (33-26-7-4, 77 pts.) vs. Kalamazoo Wings (37-25-2-6, 82 pts.)

Tale of Two Cities

• Leading Scorer-CHI: Tyler Donati (IR) (14G, 47A, 61 pts.), KAL: Trent Daavettila (17G, 55A, 72 pts.)
• Top Goaltender-CHI: Rob Madore (2.41GAA, .920sv%, 7-3-0-0), KAL: Riley Gill (2.88GAA, .904sv%, 24-14-1-4)
• Standings-CHI: 2nd North, 9th East; KAL: 1st North, 3rd East
• CHI Home Record: 19-10-3-3, .629
• CHI Last 10: 7-2-1-0, .750
• KAL Road Record: 19-11-1-3, .618
• KAL Last 10: 5-4-0-1, .550
• Last Meeting: KAL 4 @ CHI 5 (3/24)
• Season Series: CHI leads 9-5