Well, the early season has produced the usual hand-wringing and fretting from Alaska Aces fans. Love the passion and the concern, but the whining gets a little much, especially in November, when no one ever won anything in hockey.

They have complained about the preseason release of Luke Erickson. Ditto for the regular-season release of Brett Hemingway and lamenting how it might concern his older brother, Colin -- this is one of my favorites, so many people believing they have some insight into what's going on in Colin's head. (Short version -- he's not happy his brother is gone, but he's a pro and will deal with it like one.) Moans about letting Moises Gutierrez go. Some aren't sold on first-year coach Brent Thompson. Then there was that nine-game stretch without a win in regulation, the longest such skid in six-plus ECHL seasons for the franchise. All those injuries on the blue line -- oh, the humanity!
(At this point, I'm guessing the Cowbell Crew doesn't want to hear that last Friday night, as I pulled out of a near-empty Sullivan Arena parking lot at 11:20, a black cat walked along the sidewalk in front of the building. I am not making that up).

Anyhow, guess what? With an 8-4-2 record for 18 points in the standings through 14 games, the Aces are on a nearly exact pace to match last season's 93 regular-season points. The Aces have averaged 1.2857 points per game. Multiply that by 72 games in the regular season and you get 92.57 points. So we're rounding up. Bingo, 93 points.

Now, what say you, Cowbell Crewers?