Free Blades win for real!
Posted by japanstats on 2009 September 30日 Wednesday
Thanks to the outstanding performance by the hometown goalie Michio Hashimoto, the Tohoku Free Blades notched their first victory in only their 4th regular season game in their young Asia League history with a 5-3 win over the upgraded Nikko Ice Bucks team in the second game of the two game series in Nikko. Hashimoto turned away 39 of 42 shots for a well deserved hero of the game, while his counterpart Naoya Kikuchi had a terrible game letting in 5 goals on only 26 shots. Looks like the league might be even more competitive than my initial prediction for the 2009-10 season.
Congrats Blades, and we look forward to more fierce battles in a league with that may have the most parity ever in the short history of AL. Korea-Japan games start this upcoming weekend in October, and this should be very interesting in terms of giving us a clearer outlook on the season.
Japan, Hockey, Baseball, etc. 
Shawn said
I’m worried about the attendance figure for Tohoku already. They drew 515 in Hachinohe, 322 and 374 in Misawa. How can they maintain a team with figures like that? Also, the league was sure nice scheduling them the China Dragons for their first home stand.
simoncurrie said
A. the games were against China, always the lowest drawing team.
B. opening game was a weekday on the day of the big typhoon.
C. the last 2 games of the series were in Misawa, not Hachinohe, the true home of the team.
I expect better attendance in the upcoming games. In other news, the Bucks are drawing well again.
Shawn said
Well, that’s good to hear. I hope they do well. It’s seems they are safe from finishing in the bottom spot. I love to move back to Japan and help them out in some way.