Farmer's Almanac: All-Star Karlsson Does it All for B-Sens

You're in for a double-dose of Almanacky goodness this week (I have been busy with school, sue me) as we cover the B-Sens through the period that saw tumultuous reign, brief exile, and subsequent return of one Martin Gerber. Off the ice, there are rumours floating around that this could be the last season the Senators prospects will spend in Bingo. The conjecture posits that that Rangers are seeking to return to Binghamton, and that the Senators are moving their operation to Syracuse. The Columbus Blue Jackets - who are currently the affiliate for the Syracuse Crunch - are rumoured to be setting up shop in nearby Cincinatti. Binghamton ownership vehemently denies the rumour, but apparently a lot of people are talking about it. Check out this blog entry by Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin columnist Michael Sharp for more.


Fri, Jan 16th 2009 - Binghamton 6; Wilkes-Barries/ Scranton 4
Key Contributors
Peter Regin - 2G, 5 SOG, -1.
Shawn Weller - 1G, 1A, GWG
Ilya Zubov - 1G, 2A, +1

Key Stat - Goaltending
Martin Gerber - 43 SV, 4 GA
John Curry - 25 SV, 6 GA

Notes: Gerber played well in his Binghamton debut, keeping the B-Sens in a contest where they were badly outshot. B-Sens coach Cory Clouston on Gerber's maiden voyage: "Sometimes he didn't get a lot of help from us. You know, he hadn't practiced in a long time, so it was good for him to get a game like that under his belt, where he's got a lot of shots. I thought at times he just looked a little bit shaky, but overall, he was probably our best player..." Zack Smith (2A) Danny Bois (2A) and captain Denis Hamel (1G, 1a) also had multi-point nights.


Sat, Jan 17th 2009 -Bridgeport 3; Binghamton 1
Key Contributors:
Danny Bois - 1G, 2 PIM, -1
Denis Hamel, 0P, 7 SOG, 6 PIM.

Key Stat - Goaltending
Martin Gerber - 26 SV, 3 GA
Nathan Lawson - 29 SV, 1 GA

Notes: Gerber was out-duelled by undrafted goaltender Nathan Lawson. Clouston on the team's effort: "I think we played better (Saturday) than we did (Friday in a 6-4 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). We had some breaks around the net last night, and tonight we didn't. I thought that it was a very even hockey game. They just capitalized on a couple bounces around the net on rebounds, and tonight we didn't."

Wed, Jan 21st 2009 - Binghamton 3; Philadelphia 0

Key Contributors:
Ryan Shannon - 2A, 2 SOG, +2
Marc Cavosie - 1G, 1A, +2
Zack Smith - 1G, 7 SOG, +1

Martin Gerber - 32 SV, 0 GA

Key Stat - Shots on Goal
Binghamton - 41
Philadelphia - 32

Notes: In his 3 starts, Gerber was 2-1-0 with a 2.37 GAA and .935 sv%.

Sat, Jan 23rd 2008 - Albany 4; Binghamton 1
Key Contributors:
Josh Hennessy - 1G, +1, 2 SOG
Ryan Shannon - 6 SOG

Jeff Glass - 26 SV, 4 GA

Key Stat - Power Play
Binghamton - 0/8
Albany - 3/8

Notes: Michael Sharp describes this one as a close game where Binghamton's effort fell off the rails due to a five minute stretch of futility at the beginning of the thrid period. the B-Sens were tied with the River Rats after 40 minutes, but gave up 3 goals in the first five minutes and nine seconds of the third with two of those comming eight seconds apart. Binghamton never managed to put together a reply.


Sun, Jan 24th 2009 - Hamilton 5; Binghamton 3
Key Contributors:
Josh Hennessy - 2G (1 PPG), 3 SOG
Ilya Zubov - 1G, 1A, 3 SOG
Matt Carkner - 2A, 5 PIM, +1

Key Stat - Goaltending
Jeff Glass - 18 SV, 4 GA
Cedric Desjardins - 32 SV, 3 GA

Notes: Jeff Glass was pulled after allowing his aofrementioned allotment of goals. He had been crusing along nicely through the first two periods before giving up two goals in nine seconds for the second striaght outing. Backup Mitch O'Keefe stopped all five shots he faced in relief. Clouston was at his wits end with his Jeff Glass: "We need Jeff and/or Mitch to step up. I mean, people talk about opportunities, you can't get much better of an opportunity than this... Jeff has to come up with a big save."


Spotlight - Mattias Karlsson
Position: D
Shoots: Left
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 228 lbs
Birthdate: April 15th 1985
Hometown: Orebro, Sweden
Drafted: 2003 4th Round, 135th Overall

With the All-Star break having just wrapped up, it seems a fitting occasion to shine this week's Spotlight on the only Binghamton Senator to attend the festivities - 23 year-old Mattias Karlsson. Karlsson is a product of Sweden, having played the bulk of the last four years in the Sweden's Tier-2 pro league, AllSvenskan. In 117 regular season games in the league, Karlsson recorded 21 goals and 37 assists to go with his 146 PIMs. Karlsson has played sparingly in the Swedish Elite League. Oddly enough, his longest stint in the league came when he was 18, playing 39 games for Bryans IF Galve, recording no points. His best season to date in Swedem came with Bofors IK of AllSvenskan in 2006-07 when he registered 11 goals and 21 assists in 44 games, earning him an entry level deal with the Senators.

Karlsson was invited to the Senators' main camp in the fall of 2007, and assigned to Binghamton to start the year. Karlsson was dealt a blow in the pre-season when he suffered an injury, and was unable to earn a spot in Binghamton's regular defence corps. He was encouraged to Sweden after playing only two games in the AHL, where he split last season between Bofors and Bjorkloven of the AllSvenskan and Farjstads of the SEL. He finished the year in the SEL recording 2 goals and 2 assists in 12 regular season games, and a goal and a goal and 3 assists in the playoffs. While Karlsson was disapointed to be sent back to Sweden, Cory Cloutson insinuated the demotion was not a reflection of Karlsson's ability "The fact that he had hurt himself. ... Really had no time to condition. Skated for, I think, five or six days up in Ottawa. Came down here, had one practice, and then had to play. And just, it was a real tough situation for him."

Karlsson has caught fire in his first full year in North America. He is playing on the power play and killing penalties, and has arguably become the team's number one defenceman in the wake of Brian Lee and Brendan Bell being called up to Ottawa. He has accumulated 4 goals and 25 assists in 38 games, and was chosen to represent the PlanetUSA side in the 2009 AHL All-Star Game. He recorded 3 assists, and allegedly scored a goal that he was not credited for.

Karlsson has a big frame, uses it to put weight behind a rather impressive slapshot. He placed thrid in the hardest shot event in the AHL All-Star Skills Competion, clocking in at 94.9 mph. Karlsson is an offensive minded defenceman at heart and apparently has a willingness to play a physical game. Clouston gave a brief scouting report on Karlsson in a feature article last month.

"He's got to work on his foot speed, but what he makes up with a lack of his foot speed is his positional play. And he's a big strong guy, so because he's in good position, he's able to make guys go around him and go through him. And he's able to muscle guys off the puck."


But that's one thing he's really got to work on, is his foot speed. And then, over the next couple years, if he can really work on that ... he's got a real bright future ahead of him. Because he's been able to adjust to the North American game very quickly." - B-Sens Coach Cory Clouston

The only video of Karlsson I could find was him taking his pre-game warm up. Oddly enough, there are several videos consisting solely of Karlsson's pre-game routine on YouTube. I included a longer one if you care to view it, but you really don't get much of a sense of how he plays the game.