HBO said that they can edit the episode up to about an hour before it airs sometimes and last night we were shown why that flexibility is important to making a series named 24/7 be just that. Claude Giroux was only JUST officially diagnosed on Tuesday with a concussion and that was shown last night. We got to see him entering the quiet room for testing, saw more testing the next day and then saw him with a sheet of paper that looked like some type of maze that he had to solve. At the end if this it was established he was concussed. Just think, we only saw a small portion of it and this protocol is done in full everyday to check on the status of a players brain. It was nice to get more of a feel as to what happens since the concussion epidemic is alive and well.
Other things we learned this episode along with Bryz wisdoms (he's a rockstar)
-Laviolette was the first to drop the f-bomb. The good people who unofficially track this stat said there was a total of 43 in this episode. Of the 4 coaches we have seen in 2 series, Bylsma is a boy scout.
-The f-bombs that were used were well placed and not just for the hell of it. I managed to understand what the coaches wants and they seemed to fire up the players.
-Max Talbot managed to 1-up his own ugly sweater from last year.
-Dan Bylsma made a cameo and ripped on Talbot for suddenly being a goal scorer now with the Flyers.
-Jagr has no clue whether his heart or his head made the decision to come to Philly (he said this summer his heart was in Pitt). He claims you have to follow your head not your heart sometimes and fully is aware that the odds his jersey ever hangs from the rafters with Lemieux's are slim to none since he signed with the Flyers. This was the fancy foreigner way of saying " I took the money and ran."
-Wayne Simmonds is one of twenty-eight black players in the league. There's a fact for you. He also concussed his teammate Giroux with a knee to the head. Another fact. Simmonds is going to be fact machine. Fact that I liked best: HBO refrained from playing hard-core rap music while Simmonds was driving through downtown Philly since the moment Simmonds opened his mouth he sounded just like a hipster. Have he and Sean Avery met?
-A group of Rangers took a group of kids from the Garden of Dreams program to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. They needed to wear 3D glasses. Why I would love to know. So glad I got to go before it got all wacky. Highlight for the kids: meeting the Rangers. Highlight for the Rangers: meeting the Rockettes.
-Ryan Callahan has the coolest 90 year old grandma. I hope they manage to fit in her and her fur every chance possible. Rock on grandma C.
-Bryzgalov is the greatest philosopher to ever lace on skates. He moved to Philly to tend goal while players told him Philly would be like "going to hell" and that's its a "miserable market for goalies". At least there are parks in this hell. He also said his son is his mini-me (future generations rejoice, you will still have a Bryz to receive wisdom from) and gave his two cents on the solar system and Russian liquor bottles. The solar system is "humongous" although it sounded more like hu-man-gous coming from him.
-Peter Laviolette believes Bryz "is different". You got that right sir.
Final Bryz quote, "Don't worry, be happy."
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Concussion All-Star Teams
“Crosby is an ambassador for people who have brain injuries and who have endured head trauma, " said Keith Primeau, a 14 year NHL vet said earlier this week. "The fact is, Sidney had the courage to speak up when something wasn’t right. Good for him. Maybe people don’t realize it, but that’s a true sign of courage. It really is.”
And because of his speaking out, being concussed is almost a cool thing to admit to (in a twisted way), so I bring to you the concussion All-Star team. When the actual All-Star teams are determined (by popular fan vote, not just on skill) I will then also make up 2 teams of the concussed (or formerly concussed) players that have earned All-Star distinctions in my book. The determinations will be based on length and star power among other facts that are honestly still to be determined. There's enough people going around that maybe we can even play a legit game (we have two goalies already). Any player who has suffered games lost this season are eligible for this pool. Below I have a assembled a list of players that is probably somewhat inaccurate since it seems almost anyone who plays in the league has visited concussion-ville this season.
Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
*Tyler Kennedy (Penguins)
Kris Letang (Penguins)
Zbynek Michalek (Penguins)
Milan Michalek (Senators- yes he's Z's little brother)
*Ryan Miller (Sabres)
Claude Giroux (Flyers)
Chris Pronger (Flyers)
Andy McDona (Blues)
Brayden Schenn (Flyers)
Mike Richards (Kings)
Marc Staal (Rangers- he was concussed by his own older brother Eric of the 'Canes!)
Jay Beagle (Capitals)
**Marc Savard (Bruins- was shutdown before the season even began)
Robert Bortuzzo (Penguins)
Jeff Skinner (Hurricanes)
Joni Pitkanen (Hurricanes)
Nathan Gerbe (Sabres)
James Reimer (Leafs)
*Aaron Asham (Penguins)
*player had a concussion but is currently back on the active roster and playing
**never played a single game this season
You'd think that with all the players concussed this season that the NHL would compile a running list to help us out at home, but alas they have not. A simple link for each week of the running injury pool would be of great help. But from here on out, I am going to do my best to write down every name I come across that has concussion attached to it.
Now to get ready for 24/7: Rangers-Flyers :)
And because of his speaking out, being concussed is almost a cool thing to admit to (in a twisted way), so I bring to you the concussion All-Star team. When the actual All-Star teams are determined (by popular fan vote, not just on skill) I will then also make up 2 teams of the concussed (or formerly concussed) players that have earned All-Star distinctions in my book. The determinations will be based on length and star power among other facts that are honestly still to be determined. There's enough people going around that maybe we can even play a legit game (we have two goalies already). Any player who has suffered games lost this season are eligible for this pool. Below I have a assembled a list of players that is probably somewhat inaccurate since it seems almost anyone who plays in the league has visited concussion-ville this season.
Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
*Tyler Kennedy (Penguins)
Kris Letang (Penguins)
Zbynek Michalek (Penguins)
Milan Michalek (Senators- yes he's Z's little brother)
*Ryan Miller (Sabres)
Claude Giroux (Flyers)
Chris Pronger (Flyers)
Andy McDona (Blues)
Brayden Schenn (Flyers)
Mike Richards (Kings)
Marc Staal (Rangers- he was concussed by his own older brother Eric of the 'Canes!)
Jay Beagle (Capitals)
**Marc Savard (Bruins- was shutdown before the season even began)
Robert Bortuzzo (Penguins)
Jeff Skinner (Hurricanes)
Joni Pitkanen (Hurricanes)
Nathan Gerbe (Sabres)
James Reimer (Leafs)
*Aaron Asham (Penguins)
*player had a concussion but is currently back on the active roster and playing
**never played a single game this season
You'd think that with all the players concussed this season that the NHL would compile a running list to help us out at home, but alas they have not. A simple link for each week of the running injury pool would be of great help. But from here on out, I am going to do my best to write down every name I come across that has concussion attached to it.
Now to get ready for 24/7: Rangers-Flyers :)
Monday, December 12, 2011
Videos, Jeopardy and 24/7
Shanahan has quietly cornered the market on NHL.com videos. He and his team of experts explain hits and penalties methodically, outlining the 5 W's and one lone H on what happened and what the punishment is and why it fits. But the NHL decided they needed to challenge for the video crown with this gem: The Video Rulebook. In theory this is a great idea that was executed horribly. After watching just 2, I was disappointed and felt like an intern did this to prove to his college that he really did something that didn't involve making coffee. It's just not NHL pro level; just video clips of the action that accompanies the rule. The rule is not given through a voice over, its written next to the video. Once you play the video, you can't see the written rule till its done playing. Good in theory, but bad execution. Shanahan you may keep your crown for now.
Crosby is out for the time being with concussion symptoms. He passed his imPACT test with flying colors compared to January's mess of results, but he won't play till 100% again. He believes that David Krecji's elbow in the 3-1 loss against Boston last week is what did him in. Bylsma had this to say, "It is obviously frustrating for Sid. Sid knows his body better than anybody else. He is not feeling 100 percent. He will return to practice and playing when he is feeling 100 percent." I'm thinking this is far more frustrating for Bylsma who is currently rocking a list of walking wounded that tops out at 9, with 2 listed as day to day. Of the 9, 6 are D men and of that 6, 3 were starters. If you check out the WBS transaction page, they have been one busy little team, signing guys off their ECHL team like they are candy since Pitt keeps taking the next guy on the depth chart.
The LA Kings are the next rumored team in market for a new coach. Winning one more game than they've lost on the season will tend to put a bulls eye on someone's back. At 13-12-4, something has to change and it's usually the coach. Ouch.
In case the Kings want some company in their misery, Mike Murphy of the Hurricanes boasts the strangest record in being the first goalie to lose a game while never having had allowed a goal. Brian Boucher, the Cane's backup goalie was injured so they called up AHL goalie Mike Murphy to replace him. When Ward was pulled, they were already losing 6-3 to Calgary and Murphy got to taste his first NHL action. He blocked 2 shots in 9 minutes but was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. With the net empty, Calgary scored their 7th of the night. Since Murphy was listed as the goalie, even though he was not on the ice when the goal happened, he still gets credited with allowing the goal. In conclusion, he never gave up a goal and stopped all shots he faced, but still has to take credit for Ward's disastrous 6 goal allowance. Awesome rule. This is totally going to be a Jeopardy question one day. Also under new Coach Kirk Muller, the team has gone 1-5. Wonder if that BBQ turned into a party....
Wednesday night marks the return of 24/7, this time featuring the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. Having recently re-watched episodes 1-3 of last years series with the Penguins and Capitals, a few things stand out that I know I'm interested in seeing. Can anyone make practice seem more fun than Disco Dan and who could be more excited about ice cream at 9am than Bruce? We found that Sid is a coach in training and Ovi is learning the English language quite well. Well at least the one that includes curses thanks to a record number of f*ck's that fell out of Bruce's mouth in a speech. Green rides a Vespa and Rupp wore crazy Santa shirts. Sid is just all out crazy superstitious, while Talbot is an anything goes type guy and Ovi has an array of strange tattoos. The Penguins seemed to have been a cohesive group that shared the ups and downs, while the Capitals seemed more like a bunch of guys who just meet and decided to play some hockey.
Since the two teams being featured are a 2 hour car ride from each other, this will be an all out Atlantic Division war. Rangers coach John Tortorella might have the chance at beating Bruce's f-bomb count, though the Rangers are currently riding a hot streak so there might be less ammunition. Peter Laviolette's Flyers are currently without their Captain Chris Pronger who was suffering from a virus that turned into a knee injury that has since manifested itself as a concussion. Not confusing at all. Over the summer there were rumors that the Flyers locker room had a divide and it was Jeff Carter and Mike Richards versus Pronger and co. I wonder if part of the reason Carter and Richards were jetted off to new teams had anything to do with the fact the cameras would be catching every move this December and Ed Snider didn't want his team looking like fools. You don't tend to just trade players that you signed to crazy long contracts that had good stats. Well you do if your the Flyers and needed a goalie that held all the wisdom in the league I guess.
And in case you had any wonder about who will be providing some awesome quotes, look no further than goalie extraordinaire, Ilya Bryzgalov. This is what he told the media about leaving the game the other night. "It was an equipment issue. No, I'm a bad liar. It's an old boo-boo. It's still sore a little bit." Whatever you say Mr. Bryz.
Crosby is out for the time being with concussion symptoms. He passed his imPACT test with flying colors compared to January's mess of results, but he won't play till 100% again. He believes that David Krecji's elbow in the 3-1 loss against Boston last week is what did him in. Bylsma had this to say, "It is obviously frustrating for Sid. Sid knows his body better than anybody else. He is not feeling 100 percent. He will return to practice and playing when he is feeling 100 percent." I'm thinking this is far more frustrating for Bylsma who is currently rocking a list of walking wounded that tops out at 9, with 2 listed as day to day. Of the 9, 6 are D men and of that 6, 3 were starters. If you check out the WBS transaction page, they have been one busy little team, signing guys off their ECHL team like they are candy since Pitt keeps taking the next guy on the depth chart.
The LA Kings are the next rumored team in market for a new coach. Winning one more game than they've lost on the season will tend to put a bulls eye on someone's back. At 13-12-4, something has to change and it's usually the coach. Ouch.
In case the Kings want some company in their misery, Mike Murphy of the Hurricanes boasts the strangest record in being the first goalie to lose a game while never having had allowed a goal. Brian Boucher, the Cane's backup goalie was injured so they called up AHL goalie Mike Murphy to replace him. When Ward was pulled, they were already losing 6-3 to Calgary and Murphy got to taste his first NHL action. He blocked 2 shots in 9 minutes but was pulled in favor of the extra attacker. With the net empty, Calgary scored their 7th of the night. Since Murphy was listed as the goalie, even though he was not on the ice when the goal happened, he still gets credited with allowing the goal. In conclusion, he never gave up a goal and stopped all shots he faced, but still has to take credit for Ward's disastrous 6 goal allowance. Awesome rule. This is totally going to be a Jeopardy question one day. Also under new Coach Kirk Muller, the team has gone 1-5. Wonder if that BBQ turned into a party....
Wednesday night marks the return of 24/7, this time featuring the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers. Having recently re-watched episodes 1-3 of last years series with the Penguins and Capitals, a few things stand out that I know I'm interested in seeing. Can anyone make practice seem more fun than Disco Dan and who could be more excited about ice cream at 9am than Bruce? We found that Sid is a coach in training and Ovi is learning the English language quite well. Well at least the one that includes curses thanks to a record number of f*ck's that fell out of Bruce's mouth in a speech. Green rides a Vespa and Rupp wore crazy Santa shirts. Sid is just all out crazy superstitious, while Talbot is an anything goes type guy and Ovi has an array of strange tattoos. The Penguins seemed to have been a cohesive group that shared the ups and downs, while the Capitals seemed more like a bunch of guys who just meet and decided to play some hockey.
Since the two teams being featured are a 2 hour car ride from each other, this will be an all out Atlantic Division war. Rangers coach John Tortorella might have the chance at beating Bruce's f-bomb count, though the Rangers are currently riding a hot streak so there might be less ammunition. Peter Laviolette's Flyers are currently without their Captain Chris Pronger who was suffering from a virus that turned into a knee injury that has since manifested itself as a concussion. Not confusing at all. Over the summer there were rumors that the Flyers locker room had a divide and it was Jeff Carter and Mike Richards versus Pronger and co. I wonder if part of the reason Carter and Richards were jetted off to new teams had anything to do with the fact the cameras would be catching every move this December and Ed Snider didn't want his team looking like fools. You don't tend to just trade players that you signed to crazy long contracts that had good stats. Well you do if your the Flyers and needed a goalie that held all the wisdom in the league I guess.
And in case you had any wonder about who will be providing some awesome quotes, look no further than goalie extraordinaire, Ilya Bryzgalov. This is what he told the media about leaving the game the other night. "It was an equipment issue. No, I'm a bad liar. It's an old boo-boo. It's still sore a little bit." Whatever you say Mr. Bryz.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Greetings Once Again
Since I have successfully moved, the NHL decided they too needed a change and managed to vote on a realignment in an hours time yesterday. Yes, they did it in an hour (faster than my move took) and got 26 of 30 votes. It's still nameless and they say they will deal with the naming issues later. Will it become the names of 4 great players or something much more boring? For now, I've dubbed them all something- some are just boring and others have too many fun options)
Conference A (lets just call this the West because that's what it is)
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
LA Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Conference B (lets call this the "make Detroit happy conference since we won't let them be in the East")
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
Conference C (lets call this the Eastern conference, or East part A. Snowbirds could also work thanks to very North to the very South travels)
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightening
Toronto Maple Leafs
Conference D (so many names, where to begin. It's really the East part B but technically its the old Atlantic Division with some new toys, or the "Gary Bettman needs to make us all happy because we are a cash cow", but really the best name is "The All-Staal Conference".)
Carolina Hurricanes (Eric is the Captain and Jared is in their farm system)
NJ Devils
NY Islanders
NY Rangers (Marc)
Philadelpia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins (Jordan)
Washington Capitals
I personally like this division of teams. It keeps many rivalries alive that Bettman and Co. can't afford to lose and of course harbors their love for the Ovi-Sid match-up more often (which vaguely still exists in the back of someones' brain somewhere). The Western teams draw of big name talent to warm all those arena seats still is there while attempting to make the Red Wings happy with central timed games and teams in the same travel circle, rather than all West Coast teams.
The travel budgets are going to inflate wildly as Eastern teams are expecting $500,000 to a $1million extra per season due to added expenses headed West that much more often. It does attempt at evening out some of the travel and a team could probably be relocated much more easily (Phoenix). Of course this whole thing began because Winnipeg is playing the current Southeast and they could have done a much more simple swap. 2 Florida clubs playing teams more North than their Atlantic counterparts just shows you how important that Atlantic area is to the revenue the league can make. Being in the same time zone though helps to alleviate the travel a bit.
In other news....
Bruce has settled in with his new team, the Anaheim Ducks (thank god they aren't on 24/7- can you imagine all the potential screw ups just waiting there for him?) and the Caps are slowly trying to find some wins with Hunter. The Hurricanes don't seem to know what happened when they got a new coach and are having a welcome to Carolina BBQ for him I suppose.
The Penguins must have a secret clause in this years agreement with the league to always have a concussed player and since Sid proclaimed that he did time, Kris Letang and Zbynek Michalek have stepped up to the plate. Tyler Kennedy also served his time this season already. No timetable of course. They also have a boatload of injuries: Deryk Engelland is day to day with some unspecified issue and Richard Park is day to day with something lower body (also unspecified). Dustin Jeffrey had a setback in his knee rehab, while Ben Lovejoy (broken thumb) and Brian Strait (elbow) are another 2-4 weeks per the club. Whose left? Has anyone managed to play every game thus far for the team? Wild.
Finally this past May at just 28, Derek Boogaard, a feared enforcer who was known as Boogeyman died of an overdose. His family donated his brain to science at Boston University and in October it was announced they found he had C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which can be caused from getting hit in the head constantly. It bears many of the same symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Although the lethal drug mixture did kill Boogaard, they believe had he lived,he could have started to experience dementia by his mid-forties. The New York Times has a great (but long) 3-part piece on Boogaard. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Conference A (lets just call this the West because that's what it is)
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
LA Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
Conference B (lets call this the "make Detroit happy conference since we won't let them be in the East")
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
Conference C (lets call this the Eastern conference, or East part A. Snowbirds could also work thanks to very North to the very South travels)
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightening
Toronto Maple Leafs
Conference D (so many names, where to begin. It's really the East part B but technically its the old Atlantic Division with some new toys, or the "Gary Bettman needs to make us all happy because we are a cash cow", but really the best name is "The All-Staal Conference".)
Carolina Hurricanes (Eric is the Captain and Jared is in their farm system)
NJ Devils
NY Islanders
NY Rangers (Marc)
Philadelpia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins (Jordan)
Washington Capitals
I personally like this division of teams. It keeps many rivalries alive that Bettman and Co. can't afford to lose and of course harbors their love for the Ovi-Sid match-up more often (which vaguely still exists in the back of someones' brain somewhere). The Western teams draw of big name talent to warm all those arena seats still is there while attempting to make the Red Wings happy with central timed games and teams in the same travel circle, rather than all West Coast teams.
The travel budgets are going to inflate wildly as Eastern teams are expecting $500,000 to a $1million extra per season due to added expenses headed West that much more often. It does attempt at evening out some of the travel and a team could probably be relocated much more easily (Phoenix). Of course this whole thing began because Winnipeg is playing the current Southeast and they could have done a much more simple swap. 2 Florida clubs playing teams more North than their Atlantic counterparts just shows you how important that Atlantic area is to the revenue the league can make. Being in the same time zone though helps to alleviate the travel a bit.
In other news....
Bruce has settled in with his new team, the Anaheim Ducks (thank god they aren't on 24/7- can you imagine all the potential screw ups just waiting there for him?) and the Caps are slowly trying to find some wins with Hunter. The Hurricanes don't seem to know what happened when they got a new coach and are having a welcome to Carolina BBQ for him I suppose.
The Penguins must have a secret clause in this years agreement with the league to always have a concussed player and since Sid proclaimed that he did time, Kris Letang and Zbynek Michalek have stepped up to the plate. Tyler Kennedy also served his time this season already. No timetable of course. They also have a boatload of injuries: Deryk Engelland is day to day with some unspecified issue and Richard Park is day to day with something lower body (also unspecified). Dustin Jeffrey had a setback in his knee rehab, while Ben Lovejoy (broken thumb) and Brian Strait (elbow) are another 2-4 weeks per the club. Whose left? Has anyone managed to play every game thus far for the team? Wild.
Finally this past May at just 28, Derek Boogaard, a feared enforcer who was known as Boogeyman died of an overdose. His family donated his brain to science at Boston University and in October it was announced they found he had C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which can be caused from getting hit in the head constantly. It bears many of the same symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Although the lethal drug mixture did kill Boogaard, they believe had he lived,he could have started to experience dementia by his mid-forties. The New York Times has a great (but long) 3-part piece on Boogaard. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Monday, November 28, 2011
Cyber Monday: Coach Sale?
I guess in honor of Cyber Monday, the NHL wanted to get in on the action and two coaches were upgraded/replaced. The Capitals and Hurricanes have no one to blame for their coaches firing other than their lackluster efforts.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Bruce Boudreau of the Capitals could be on his way out the door and last night the rumblings became louder than a training rolling into the station. It was only a matter of hours before he was a goner. Dale Hunter, former Capital who has his number in the rafters of the Verizon Center, has taken over the reigns. For the past ten years he worked in the juniors and it seems on the surface he should right at home. He's inherited a team loaded with talented players who on paper should never lose, yet managed a 5-1 loss to the Sabres lineup that was ripped straight off the lineup card from the Amerks, their AHL team. When you have a lineup sporting the names of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and so forth, how do you lose to what is essentially an AHL squad?
Can Hunter light a fire under them and get Ovi and Semin to care again? Those are just 2 of the 3 million questions Hunter needs to begin to answer. He's used to dealing with teenagers and that's what the recent run of the Caps seems to have become: a locker room of teenagers that are very overpaid for their after-school jobs. They don't care and do the bare minimum required to keep their jobs. Ovi won't be traded, but Semin is the next to be on the sale block if the coaching change isn't enough, or if they don't respond to Hunter. The biggest issue against Hunter- he has no experience coaching close to this level. A bunch of 18 year olds are different. They are all trying to show off and get that one shot at the AHL/NHL; meanwhile these guys have been there, done that. They are already pros and won't drop lower than the AHL. Their contracts ensure they will get their millions regardless.
One side thought about the Capitals situation: Since Ovi was named the Captain, his play has suffered. Not everyone is cut out to be a Captain and guys in the past have given back the C to focus more on their own play. Not saying this is the solution, but maybe he needs to focus on himself and not have the added pressure of being Captain. Just my .02cents.
The Hurricanes couldn't let the Capitals have all the attention and fired head coach Paul Maurice and hired Kirk Muller in his place. The Hurricanes essentially asked for this to happen. They have been bringing up the end of the standings since the season commenced. Captain Eric Staal has been in a funk all season. Nothing about this team has been exciting, clearly another coaching change was in order. Best part: Maurice was fired for a second time by the same organization. Isn't there a reason you break up to being with? This was just a matter of time based on the history.
Surprised there wasn't a firing trifecta to be honest. Islanders head Coach Jack Caupuano should probably be thanking his lucky stars he can't get one healthy goalie for more than a game at a time because it takes the heat off the rest of the disaster ship that is the Islanders. Still, the plank is short and I don't see it holding on much longer.
It wasn't all coaching changes on Cyber Monday. Sidney Crosby was named first star for the week which shouldn't be all that surprising. In 4 games, he collected 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and reminded the league why he's the best. At this pace he should be the points leader before the years out. He's already back up to an average of 20 minutes of playing time and making his mark on the season. If Crosby's return and a new coach doesn't wake Ovechkin up, I deem that his career is officially on the decline. At a whopping 26. Couldn't even try to hold on till 30 Ovi? It's ok. We will always have memories of your head floating around in lockers for that extra creepy commerical and that awesome tramp stamp tattoo.
Saturday I have come to realize is the day the most crazy stuff happens in hockey, so if you want to see a good fight, just wait for Saturday. It's a worldwide phenomenon. A Finnish team on Saturday amassed the most penalty minutes in a game and the KHL forgot to play hockey and just had line brawls and goalie fights all game.
Also James Neal decided he disliked Carey Price's goalie stick and broke it with a shot. Max Pacioretty, whose face meet the turnbuckle last season, decided to defend Price's stick with a nasty hit on Kris Letang, who was dripping blood from his broken nose. Letang on the hit, "Obviously, I had my nose broken and the doc put it in place, so I was ready to go". I've broken my nose and it's a kind of a biggie. It's dripping blood and aches like hell. Breathing is also next to impossible till it stops bleeding, but Letang came back and scored the game winner. NO BIG DEAL.
Finally December is almost here (yippee!!) and the cameras will be joining the Flyers and Rangers for their filming of 24/7. CAN NOT WAIT for this. Chris Pronger will be out for the next 4 weeks (will he miss the winter classic?) with knee surgery to fix something that has been bugging him. Meanwhile the Flyers have said he's out recently because of a virus. Knee injury or virus? Anywho, hopefully because of this we won't be seeing him as much on 24/7. No offense, I'm not sure I want to see him on tv screen up close and personal. Few hockey players are great looking but he's right down there on the bottom rungs. In fact the Flyers might be one of the worst looking teams collectively.
Max Talbot of the Flyers and Mike Rupp of the Rangers (both formally of the Penguins) will be participating for round two of 24/7. Talbot will be playing in his 3rd winter classic which earns him a new ugly Christmas sweater for this strange distinction. Catch a preview of the new series here. Can't wait to see if they are able to stifle us from the wisdom of Bryz!
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Bruce Boudreau of the Capitals could be on his way out the door and last night the rumblings became louder than a training rolling into the station. It was only a matter of hours before he was a goner. Dale Hunter, former Capital who has his number in the rafters of the Verizon Center, has taken over the reigns. For the past ten years he worked in the juniors and it seems on the surface he should right at home. He's inherited a team loaded with talented players who on paper should never lose, yet managed a 5-1 loss to the Sabres lineup that was ripped straight off the lineup card from the Amerks, their AHL team. When you have a lineup sporting the names of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and so forth, how do you lose to what is essentially an AHL squad?
Can Hunter light a fire under them and get Ovi and Semin to care again? Those are just 2 of the 3 million questions Hunter needs to begin to answer. He's used to dealing with teenagers and that's what the recent run of the Caps seems to have become: a locker room of teenagers that are very overpaid for their after-school jobs. They don't care and do the bare minimum required to keep their jobs. Ovi won't be traded, but Semin is the next to be on the sale block if the coaching change isn't enough, or if they don't respond to Hunter. The biggest issue against Hunter- he has no experience coaching close to this level. A bunch of 18 year olds are different. They are all trying to show off and get that one shot at the AHL/NHL; meanwhile these guys have been there, done that. They are already pros and won't drop lower than the AHL. Their contracts ensure they will get their millions regardless.
One side thought about the Capitals situation: Since Ovi was named the Captain, his play has suffered. Not everyone is cut out to be a Captain and guys in the past have given back the C to focus more on their own play. Not saying this is the solution, but maybe he needs to focus on himself and not have the added pressure of being Captain. Just my .02cents.
The Hurricanes couldn't let the Capitals have all the attention and fired head coach Paul Maurice and hired Kirk Muller in his place. The Hurricanes essentially asked for this to happen. They have been bringing up the end of the standings since the season commenced. Captain Eric Staal has been in a funk all season. Nothing about this team has been exciting, clearly another coaching change was in order. Best part: Maurice was fired for a second time by the same organization. Isn't there a reason you break up to being with? This was just a matter of time based on the history.
Surprised there wasn't a firing trifecta to be honest. Islanders head Coach Jack Caupuano should probably be thanking his lucky stars he can't get one healthy goalie for more than a game at a time because it takes the heat off the rest of the disaster ship that is the Islanders. Still, the plank is short and I don't see it holding on much longer.
It wasn't all coaching changes on Cyber Monday. Sidney Crosby was named first star for the week which shouldn't be all that surprising. In 4 games, he collected 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and reminded the league why he's the best. At this pace he should be the points leader before the years out. He's already back up to an average of 20 minutes of playing time and making his mark on the season. If Crosby's return and a new coach doesn't wake Ovechkin up, I deem that his career is officially on the decline. At a whopping 26. Couldn't even try to hold on till 30 Ovi? It's ok. We will always have memories of your head floating around in lockers for that extra creepy commerical and that awesome tramp stamp tattoo.
Saturday I have come to realize is the day the most crazy stuff happens in hockey, so if you want to see a good fight, just wait for Saturday. It's a worldwide phenomenon. A Finnish team on Saturday amassed the most penalty minutes in a game and the KHL forgot to play hockey and just had line brawls and goalie fights all game.
Also James Neal decided he disliked Carey Price's goalie stick and broke it with a shot. Max Pacioretty, whose face meet the turnbuckle last season, decided to defend Price's stick with a nasty hit on Kris Letang, who was dripping blood from his broken nose. Letang on the hit, "Obviously, I had my nose broken and the doc put it in place, so I was ready to go". I've broken my nose and it's a kind of a biggie. It's dripping blood and aches like hell. Breathing is also next to impossible till it stops bleeding, but Letang came back and scored the game winner. NO BIG DEAL.
Finally December is almost here (yippee!!) and the cameras will be joining the Flyers and Rangers for their filming of 24/7. CAN NOT WAIT for this. Chris Pronger will be out for the next 4 weeks (will he miss the winter classic?) with knee surgery to fix something that has been bugging him. Meanwhile the Flyers have said he's out recently because of a virus. Knee injury or virus? Anywho, hopefully because of this we won't be seeing him as much on 24/7. No offense, I'm not sure I want to see him on tv screen up close and personal. Few hockey players are great looking but he's right down there on the bottom rungs. In fact the Flyers might be one of the worst looking teams collectively.
Max Talbot of the Flyers and Mike Rupp of the Rangers (both formally of the Penguins) will be participating for round two of 24/7. Talbot will be playing in his 3rd winter classic which earns him a new ugly Christmas sweater for this strange distinction. Catch a preview of the new series here. Can't wait to see if they are able to stifle us from the wisdom of Bryz!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
5:24
That's all it took for Sidney Crosby to remind the hockey world he's the ruler of their kingdom. 2 goals, 2 assists, just north of 15 minutes of ice time and 21 shifts. By next week he should have more points than Alex Ovechkin. And Ovi has 20 games on Sid.
He beat a rookie goalie, Anders Nilsson, who is now the trivia answer to whose life Crosby ruined his first NHL start. The Islanders make some truly baffling decisions since glass jaw DiPietro was "healthy" and on the bench for the show. Meanwhile Marc-Andre Fleury put on a goal tending clinic, stopping everything that came near him for his second shutout of the season.
If you need an article to read about the joyous occasion, just google Crosby. You'll find plenty. Avoid the Ottawa Citizen like the plague though. In an effort to cut costs, they hired a 12 year old to write their articles and fired the copy editor.
And because everything the Penguins do has to have some sort of symmetry to it, last night was no exception. Game tickets were printed in August and guess whose face was on it? Mario Lemieux made his debut post retirement against goalie Garth Snow (who happens to be the GM of the Islanders these days) and collected a goal and 2 assists (Sid managed to one up him with a second goal). Mario also asked that they make signs that say "Sid" for the fans to hold up as they did when he returned to the ice. And his dad Troy decided during the fathers trip to Florida last week (before Sid even saw the doctor) that he would hang around for the Islanders game before heading back to Canada.
I'm beginning to wonder if this was all a dream, like we were a human experiment of Inception and Sid was controlling us all, because it looked like he had never missed a shift, let alone a game.
He beat a rookie goalie, Anders Nilsson, who is now the trivia answer to whose life Crosby ruined his first NHL start. The Islanders make some truly baffling decisions since glass jaw DiPietro was "healthy" and on the bench for the show. Meanwhile Marc-Andre Fleury put on a goal tending clinic, stopping everything that came near him for his second shutout of the season.
If you need an article to read about the joyous occasion, just google Crosby. You'll find plenty. Avoid the Ottawa Citizen like the plague though. In an effort to cut costs, they hired a 12 year old to write their articles and fired the copy editor.
And because everything the Penguins do has to have some sort of symmetry to it, last night was no exception. Game tickets were printed in August and guess whose face was on it? Mario Lemieux made his debut post retirement against goalie Garth Snow (who happens to be the GM of the Islanders these days) and collected a goal and 2 assists (Sid managed to one up him with a second goal). Mario also asked that they make signs that say "Sid" for the fans to hold up as they did when he returned to the ice. And his dad Troy decided during the fathers trip to Florida last week (before Sid even saw the doctor) that he would hang around for the Islanders game before heading back to Canada.
I'm beginning to wonder if this was all a dream, like we were a human experiment of Inception and Sid was controlling us all, because it looked like he had never missed a shift, let alone a game.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Weekend Wrap Up
Lots has been happening in the hockey world and we'll get to them in a bit. First off, this Thursday is Turkey day (gobble gobble) and I'll be traveling back to NY to see my grandparents and co. As I work in retail, I'll be trekking back home while in my Turkey coma to get sleep for anyone who can justify sleeping outside my workplace for some "deal" that's just not that great. I'm not jealous (I've been asked at the register if I was one year since I looked miserable per a customer) and I am miserable, but believe me I'm far from jealous. I'm miserable because you ruined my holiday and forced me to wake up at the crack of dawn to deal with you. And I will continue to be miserable and uncaring towards you since my company throws out all complaints logged on Black Friday. You think your getting the deal of year, but really I am. Hehehe. Secondly, I am moving (yay) and have been packing and cleaning and have lots more to go. I'm being brutal (or attempting to) in my cleaning and packing and this is taking up majority of my time.
Onto hockey.
Sidney Crosby has been cleared for his first game. Oddly enough, I think this was the last of the easy steps. If you thought the media was all over him in the 10 months he hasn't played, they are just getting warmed up. No goal or assist tomorrow night and someone will question if he still IT. If he can still be THE best, but lets remember he's a human being not a robot (although you do sometimes wonder about that). He'll see probably 10-20 mins of ice time and they will tear him down as much as they've been building up his return. I almost want him to just pick up where he left off to just stick it to everyone. They also don't have a game Tuesday so that gives him a day off immediately and a chance to confer with his conference of doctors on how he's feeling. Have I ever said that this is going to be the new unofficial protocol for how teams handle concussions because it totally is.
Crosby and Malkin and Staal make up what is called the three-headed monster of centers in the league. The three-head monster of centers will be taking on the three-head goalie rotation of the Islanders. It can only be considered a monster if you look at their injury records. No team has ever been able to legitimately carry 3 goalies without being looked at like a nut, but technically they are a 4 goalie team now. The Islanders had to recall a goalie from the AHL since Rick DiPietro is the lone man standing (and we know he can't stand up for that long). Evgeni Nabokov is on the IR and Al Montoya is considered unfit to play. Do they have the Mary Poppins bag of goalies? 4 are currently on their NHL roster that has a 23 man limit. You do the math on that one!!
Puck Daddy had a headline the other day that read "Jeff Cater, Rick Nash still going down on the Columbus Titanic". You can read the story if you want to, but honestly the headline says it all. (And it's possibly the best headline in forever)
The Dallas Stars are quietly tearing up the Western Conference and got themselves an owner. Congrats kids. An owner is always helpful and he seems willing to spend some dough.
The Coyotes may not be the desert dogs next season since the NHL is holding firm that this season is the last they plan on owning the team, but Twitter superstar Paul Bissonnette scored his first NHL goal last night, and his mom was there to witness the event. Twitter star that he is, he took to his account following the game to thank everyone who kept him on their fantasy hockey team. And this is why he's a superstar. He keeps it all on perspective. The Coyotes are also holding firm on Kyle Turris and his sign or sit date of December 1. Turris might be calling Europe home soon.
Bryz gave his goalie stick to an 8 year old Winnipeg boy after warm ups and of course logic dictates he sits this game. So the fans that came to boo him, booed him while on the bench. Ouch. Even worse, the Jets won over the Flyers. Guess the lack of parks in Winnipeg means the Jets practice and ensure they play when they need to shut people up.
Back to some more cleaning and prepping for the Giants-Eagles showdown that will be taking place in my living room. I'm a Giants fan and my roommate is an Eagles fan. Should be a good one.
Onto hockey.
Sidney Crosby has been cleared for his first game. Oddly enough, I think this was the last of the easy steps. If you thought the media was all over him in the 10 months he hasn't played, they are just getting warmed up. No goal or assist tomorrow night and someone will question if he still IT. If he can still be THE best, but lets remember he's a human being not a robot (although you do sometimes wonder about that). He'll see probably 10-20 mins of ice time and they will tear him down as much as they've been building up his return. I almost want him to just pick up where he left off to just stick it to everyone. They also don't have a game Tuesday so that gives him a day off immediately and a chance to confer with his conference of doctors on how he's feeling. Have I ever said that this is going to be the new unofficial protocol for how teams handle concussions because it totally is.
Crosby and Malkin and Staal make up what is called the three-headed monster of centers in the league. The three-head monster of centers will be taking on the three-head goalie rotation of the Islanders. It can only be considered a monster if you look at their injury records. No team has ever been able to legitimately carry 3 goalies without being looked at like a nut, but technically they are a 4 goalie team now. The Islanders had to recall a goalie from the AHL since Rick DiPietro is the lone man standing (and we know he can't stand up for that long). Evgeni Nabokov is on the IR and Al Montoya is considered unfit to play. Do they have the Mary Poppins bag of goalies? 4 are currently on their NHL roster that has a 23 man limit. You do the math on that one!!
Puck Daddy had a headline the other day that read "Jeff Cater, Rick Nash still going down on the Columbus Titanic". You can read the story if you want to, but honestly the headline says it all. (And it's possibly the best headline in forever)
The Dallas Stars are quietly tearing up the Western Conference and got themselves an owner. Congrats kids. An owner is always helpful and he seems willing to spend some dough.
The Coyotes may not be the desert dogs next season since the NHL is holding firm that this season is the last they plan on owning the team, but Twitter superstar Paul Bissonnette scored his first NHL goal last night, and his mom was there to witness the event. Twitter star that he is, he took to his account following the game to thank everyone who kept him on their fantasy hockey team. And this is why he's a superstar. He keeps it all on perspective. The Coyotes are also holding firm on Kyle Turris and his sign or sit date of December 1. Turris might be calling Europe home soon.
Bryz gave his goalie stick to an 8 year old Winnipeg boy after warm ups and of course logic dictates he sits this game. So the fans that came to boo him, booed him while on the bench. Ouch. Even worse, the Jets won over the Flyers. Guess the lack of parks in Winnipeg means the Jets practice and ensure they play when they need to shut people up.
Back to some more cleaning and prepping for the Giants-Eagles showdown that will be taking place in my living room. I'm a Giants fan and my roommate is an Eagles fan. Should be a good one.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Twilight and Some Hockey Talk
In case you live under a rock, there's there mini-phenomenon called Twilight that began to sweep the nation a few years ago, first in book form and then in movie form. I read the books and enjoyed them and have slowly gotten around to seeing the movies (though I honestly can't recall if I saw the last one or not, which shows my level of commitment to this) but I would never camp outside a week before it opens to get tickets. In fact there's not much I'd camp outside for. My step-dad and I established it could be worth camping out for debt relief but when it comes to Black Friday specials and movie premieres, I just don't get it. I am just not that dedicated to anything that much.
This blog has some pictures and info about the camped out fans awaiting Twilight's latest premiere which is happening at the Nokia Theatre in LA. Incidentally the Staples Center is across the street and is home to the LA Kings, and the twi-hard fans feel hockey fans are in their way attending games while they make a tent city to see a movie. Um ok then.
The Penguins last night rebounded from what could have been a big lose into an epic winner in the 3rd period. It's rumored Aaron Asham fired up team before the 3rd. I'm not sure if he said would fight them each personally if they didn't step up or what, but Orpik, Malkin, Neal and Letang all decided to avoid the rash of Asham and each scored (to add to Staal and Dupuis' 1st and 2nd period goals) to win the game 6-3 over the Avalanche. Neal also continued his rockstar point streak to 17 points and a goal in every home game. Crosby who? Crosby still won't communicate with the media about his status and I'm trying to figure out why he didn't cut them off months ago. He was just feeding them like a drug dealer feeds his druggies. The media will still speculate on everything anyway so why bother giving them a soundbyte?
Last night I was at work doing an overnight and trying to figure out why every time I'd check my phone for the score, the battery was literally dying by the second. Turns out the latest update to NHL Game Center turned on my location services and it was constantly using my 3g and I can't use the app without location on anymore. Many other users already voiced their issues and anger so hopefully they fix this soon, as I know have to use the web to check league scores (unreal, since there's an app for that!!)
The GM's had a meeting in Toronto and many voiced concern over goalie protection. My head is spinning trying to understand how everyone is talking themselves in a circle and contradicting previous statements. What has been established is if something like the Lucic hit on Miller happens again there could be a suspension on that play. How can that be since the precedent was not set? Lucic smooth talked his way with the Hammer and said what he knew the principal wanted to hear like a perfect little boy. Read more here if you want to be more confused on the GM's stances.
Cool read on why hockey players should wear visors from The Score.
The Islanders revealed the worst kept jersey secret ever. I'm hoping tomorrow they hold a conference and say "April Fools!! Just kidding and we don't expect people to actually pay money for these, we just wanted to take some of the heat off the three-headed goalie rotation." I'm not even sure there's anything redeeming about these. It's the like Mets and Knicks decided to make a hockey jersey because they were bored in arts and crafts class.
Finally the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted 4 new players on Monday and as always, Down Goes Brown has their imagined take on the event. If your ever bored just go through their archives, you won't regret wasting your time. I promise.
This blog has some pictures and info about the camped out fans awaiting Twilight's latest premiere which is happening at the Nokia Theatre in LA. Incidentally the Staples Center is across the street and is home to the LA Kings, and the twi-hard fans feel hockey fans are in their way attending games while they make a tent city to see a movie. Um ok then.
The Penguins last night rebounded from what could have been a big lose into an epic winner in the 3rd period. It's rumored Aaron Asham fired up team before the 3rd. I'm not sure if he said would fight them each personally if they didn't step up or what, but Orpik, Malkin, Neal and Letang all decided to avoid the rash of Asham and each scored (to add to Staal and Dupuis' 1st and 2nd period goals) to win the game 6-3 over the Avalanche. Neal also continued his rockstar point streak to 17 points and a goal in every home game. Crosby who? Crosby still won't communicate with the media about his status and I'm trying to figure out why he didn't cut them off months ago. He was just feeding them like a drug dealer feeds his druggies. The media will still speculate on everything anyway so why bother giving them a soundbyte?
Last night I was at work doing an overnight and trying to figure out why every time I'd check my phone for the score, the battery was literally dying by the second. Turns out the latest update to NHL Game Center turned on my location services and it was constantly using my 3g and I can't use the app without location on anymore. Many other users already voiced their issues and anger so hopefully they fix this soon, as I know have to use the web to check league scores (unreal, since there's an app for that!!)
The GM's had a meeting in Toronto and many voiced concern over goalie protection. My head is spinning trying to understand how everyone is talking themselves in a circle and contradicting previous statements. What has been established is if something like the Lucic hit on Miller happens again there could be a suspension on that play. How can that be since the precedent was not set? Lucic smooth talked his way with the Hammer and said what he knew the principal wanted to hear like a perfect little boy. Read more here if you want to be more confused on the GM's stances.
Cool read on why hockey players should wear visors from The Score.
The Islanders revealed the worst kept jersey secret ever. I'm hoping tomorrow they hold a conference and say "April Fools!! Just kidding and we don't expect people to actually pay money for these, we just wanted to take some of the heat off the three-headed goalie rotation." I'm not even sure there's anything redeeming about these. It's the like Mets and Knicks decided to make a hockey jersey because they were bored in arts and crafts class.
Finally the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted 4 new players on Monday and as always, Down Goes Brown has their imagined take on the event. If your ever bored just go through their archives, you won't regret wasting your time. I promise.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Weekend Rage and a New Team in Miami?
Maybe since the holidays are approaching and more people are out and about, that traffic and just the general public has gotten nuts, but my rage levels are beginning to reach epic heights. Like the person sitting at the red light, with their right blinker on, with no traffic coming NOT TURNING. Or the idiot that pulls into the wrong lane in the wrong direction (the arrows on the ground I guess were guidelines, not the law). Or the person waiting for the green arrow to turn more green before making the elusive left turn that's impossible unless you go when you have that arrow. I had enough time from the light turning green and him not moving, and me noticing to remember I have a horn to honk. I NEVER use my horn. In fact I could easily be given a car with no horn and would probably never notice since I never use it.
To go along with my weekend rage, some hockey players felt they should get in on it. Like the Dallas Stars not appreciating the fact that ex-player James Neal scored on them 2 times Friday night while the Pens took the game to be number 1 in the league (for the night at least). Mr. October lives on. The Hurricanes took out their rage on the Pens Saturday night after being killed by the Rangers on Friday night. The first period of the Pens-Canes was a blood bath. Just minutes in you could see this was going to be a high penalty game as the first fight broke out minutes into it. Penguins got very angry in the 3rd and scored all the goals they could muster, but Canes were too angry to let this mean anything but they should score more goals. Poor Brent Johnson.
The worst of the rage came last night when Milan Lucic of the Bruins attempted to decapitate Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. Millers helmet goes flying and shockingly that's all. Miller had some choice words that he felt needed to be said so he stuck around to meet with the press to give his 2 cents. Watch it here. I wonder if Mr. Miller could explain just a bit more how he feels about this hit, because I'm not entirely sure if he was upset at all. WOW.
The NHL will be getting NFL film -style treatment coming to them thanks to the ever impressive Ross Greenburg, who is beyond bringing us 24/7 and Hard Knocks on HBO. He has joined NBC Sports to produce original programs that will allow fans more looks into their favorite hockey team, players and moments in the game. Greenburg has done some awesome stuff so hockey should be thankful for him.
Tomorrow the Hockey Hall of Fame will be inducting 4 people, one of which bears a famous last name. Mark Howe is the son of Mr. Hockey himself, the great Gordie Howe. Nicholas Cotsonika of Yahoo! Sports has a great write up on the younger Howe, and how he grew up with such a famous last name to be a great player in his own right.
Finally I must have missed the memo but as of yesterday the Florida Marlins baseball team died and from their ashes rose the Miami Marlins. Um ok. They are also sporting a new logo and about 1000 different colors to represent the culture and vibrancy of Miami. Right. What happened to the Florida Marlins again? Oh as part of the deal to get a new stadium, they agreed to become the Miami Marlins. Their colors are: black (boring), international orange (what?), sky blue (ahh I know this color!!), sun yellow (as opposed to sun blue?) and white (again,boring). In their first season they will also have 4 uniforms. A home, an away, an alternate and an alternate to their alternate. An alternate to the alternate? What the heck is going on? Personally this new logo makes me want to go find a street carnival more than hit up a baseball game. You can view it all here.
To go along with my weekend rage, some hockey players felt they should get in on it. Like the Dallas Stars not appreciating the fact that ex-player James Neal scored on them 2 times Friday night while the Pens took the game to be number 1 in the league (for the night at least). Mr. October lives on. The Hurricanes took out their rage on the Pens Saturday night after being killed by the Rangers on Friday night. The first period of the Pens-Canes was a blood bath. Just minutes in you could see this was going to be a high penalty game as the first fight broke out minutes into it. Penguins got very angry in the 3rd and scored all the goals they could muster, but Canes were too angry to let this mean anything but they should score more goals. Poor Brent Johnson.
The worst of the rage came last night when Milan Lucic of the Bruins attempted to decapitate Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. Millers helmet goes flying and shockingly that's all. Miller had some choice words that he felt needed to be said so he stuck around to meet with the press to give his 2 cents. Watch it here. I wonder if Mr. Miller could explain just a bit more how he feels about this hit, because I'm not entirely sure if he was upset at all. WOW.
The NHL will be getting NFL film -style treatment coming to them thanks to the ever impressive Ross Greenburg, who is beyond bringing us 24/7 and Hard Knocks on HBO. He has joined NBC Sports to produce original programs that will allow fans more looks into their favorite hockey team, players and moments in the game. Greenburg has done some awesome stuff so hockey should be thankful for him.
Tomorrow the Hockey Hall of Fame will be inducting 4 people, one of which bears a famous last name. Mark Howe is the son of Mr. Hockey himself, the great Gordie Howe. Nicholas Cotsonika of Yahoo! Sports has a great write up on the younger Howe, and how he grew up with such a famous last name to be a great player in his own right.
Finally I must have missed the memo but as of yesterday the Florida Marlins baseball team died and from their ashes rose the Miami Marlins. Um ok. They are also sporting a new logo and about 1000 different colors to represent the culture and vibrancy of Miami. Right. What happened to the Florida Marlins again? Oh as part of the deal to get a new stadium, they agreed to become the Miami Marlins. Their colors are: black (boring), international orange (what?), sky blue (ahh I know this color!!), sun yellow (as opposed to sun blue?) and white (again,boring). In their first season they will also have 4 uniforms. A home, an away, an alternate and an alternate to their alternate. An alternate to the alternate? What the heck is going on? Personally this new logo makes me want to go find a street carnival more than hit up a baseball game. You can view it all here.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Here's What We Know
1. Mark Letestu was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 4th round pick in the 2012 draft. Shero claims this has nothing to do with Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy possibly getting ready to come back to the lineup. (All 3 are forwards)
2. Dustin Jeffery and Steve MacIntyre have been placed in conditioning assignments in Wilkes Barre. (Both are forwards)
3. Crosby refuses to speak to the media, while all the hockey media in North America is currently in Pittsburgh waiting to speak with him.
4. Dan Bylsma says today Crosby will not play in the next 2 games. Since when do we use numbers? Strange Disco Dan, very strange.
I have been saying for over a week now Crosby wouldn't play tomorrow nights game at home versus the Dallas Stars simply because its a back-to-back game with Saturdays being in Carolina. I don't seem them bringing him back till its a game followed by an off day or just practice because if he gets less minutes the second game of a back-to-back someone will maintain he's hurt in some way. The Penguins are far too smart to let this happen.
It seems like there's been a lot of roster space cleared this week and its all in the place where there is a log-jam, forwards. Don't read too far into it, but Shero would have held 7 draft picks without trading Letestu for one. He now has 8 in next years draft. Regardless of Letestu being a healthy scratch many nights this season, Shero doesn't trade away a healthy player like this unless he's got a log-jam. And if Crosby and Kennedy are ready to come back, it's a log-jam.
Speaking of healthy scratches, Paul Bissonnette is often one for the Phoenix Coyotes. He is also the heir apparent to the NHL's media guru position. Professor Paul has called his first two classes if Hockey 101 to session. Episode 1 Episode 2
The Washington Capitals didn't seem to respond to much from Coach Boudreau last season from what we saw on 24/7. This season he decided everyone would have to be accountable. Wow, what a concept. How do we make the players accountable? Punish them with bag skate practices when they play horrible games . Also take away minutes from players. Or not really. It really just depends on how you do the math.
Fylers goalie Bryz finally was able to speak to the media again (after a game of course since he's on lock down). This is about how he and the d-men are communicating better. “Oh, it’s wonderful. We’re starting to understand each other … from just the look.” The look? The look of what? Terror, happiness, love, sadness. Do they have that much time on the ice before needing to stop the puck that they can look into each other eyes? Such mysteries surround him....
Don't forget: 3 games is the Avalance in Pitt. It's also a televised game. Could this be the one? Do you think the media will ever leave Pitt or do you think they have bought the hotel out for the rest of the season, just in case?
2. Dustin Jeffery and Steve MacIntyre have been placed in conditioning assignments in Wilkes Barre. (Both are forwards)
3. Crosby refuses to speak to the media, while all the hockey media in North America is currently in Pittsburgh waiting to speak with him.
4. Dan Bylsma says today Crosby will not play in the next 2 games. Since when do we use numbers? Strange Disco Dan, very strange.
I have been saying for over a week now Crosby wouldn't play tomorrow nights game at home versus the Dallas Stars simply because its a back-to-back game with Saturdays being in Carolina. I don't seem them bringing him back till its a game followed by an off day or just practice because if he gets less minutes the second game of a back-to-back someone will maintain he's hurt in some way. The Penguins are far too smart to let this happen.
It seems like there's been a lot of roster space cleared this week and its all in the place where there is a log-jam, forwards. Don't read too far into it, but Shero would have held 7 draft picks without trading Letestu for one. He now has 8 in next years draft. Regardless of Letestu being a healthy scratch many nights this season, Shero doesn't trade away a healthy player like this unless he's got a log-jam. And if Crosby and Kennedy are ready to come back, it's a log-jam.
Speaking of healthy scratches, Paul Bissonnette is often one for the Phoenix Coyotes. He is also the heir apparent to the NHL's media guru position. Professor Paul has called his first two classes if Hockey 101 to session. Episode 1 Episode 2
The Washington Capitals didn't seem to respond to much from Coach Boudreau last season from what we saw on 24/7. This season he decided everyone would have to be accountable. Wow, what a concept. How do we make the players accountable? Punish them with bag skate practices when they play horrible games . Also take away minutes from players. Or not really. It really just depends on how you do the math.
Fylers goalie Bryz finally was able to speak to the media again (after a game of course since he's on lock down). This is about how he and the d-men are communicating better. “Oh, it’s wonderful. We’re starting to understand each other … from just the look.” The look? The look of what? Terror, happiness, love, sadness. Do they have that much time on the ice before needing to stop the puck that they can look into each other eyes? Such mysteries surround him....
Don't forget: 3 games is the Avalance in Pitt. It's also a televised game. Could this be the one? Do you think the media will ever leave Pitt or do you think they have bought the hotel out for the rest of the season, just in case?
Monday, November 7, 2011
This, that, and alot of Crosby yapping...
The web and the hockey world have been busy this weekend with teams throwing up baseball scores and possibility of Crosby returning soon reaching epic proportions. But first off, as I was on the Pens website, an ad for the Black Ice jersey was across the top and it's just ugly (for almost every team in the league). Who was the one who came up with this concept and which drunk executive signed off ? Really you think I'm going to pay $160 bucks for this? It looks like I took a magic marker and colored it in. If I ever catch a person wearing one, I'm totally stalking them for a picture. And maybe a reason for buying it.
Does it glow in the dark?
I'm still shocked Dan Bylsma hasn't blown a gasket over the "when will Sid return" questions. I wonder if he goes home and just screams really loud and then shoots pucks with his son all night to relieve the stress. I'd go nuts. Here is Coach's take today on his star players' absence. "We are not waiting for an epiphany to make a decision. He’s progressing. He’s going down that road. I’ll reiterate to you again, there is not a timetable or date right now that we know and you don’t. He’s continuing to practice with the team. He got back out there after the weekend. He’ll continue to practice with the team this week. There is no timetable."
Here's to believing that Sid will just skate out one night and take the first draw, with no warning. It's much more stealth mode. Also does anyone else detect the signs of annoyance from Bylsma or is it just me? Who could blame him really.
Mr. Superstitious himself had this to say about the rumor swirling about Friday being a possible date (11-11-11), "I’m superstitious, but I wouldn’t let that affect whether I came back that night or not. When I’m ready, I’ll be back as soon as I can – no matter what the date is." He talked a lot about how he wanted to come back already and how any game could possibly be the one. Like I said, stealth mode.
The Penguins walking wounded gained another member as Ben Lovejoy went down with a broken wrist Saturday and is wandering around life in a plaster cast. I wonder if the Penguins have a secret injured reserve minimum that just happens to rival a starting lineup, yet they are number 1 in the league. Are the Penguins the Hogwarts of the NHL? It seems like it's magical there and nothing ever seems to bother them. Only thing they seem to be missing is the spell to fix the injuries..
The Flyers and Bruins had some magic on their sides when they to attempt to one-up each other on Saturday night with their baseball-like scores. The Flyers attacked the Blue Jackets with 9 goals, by 8 different players. Good to know anyone can score when called upon. The Bruins dominated the Leafs while Tyler Seguin scored his first hat trick in a 7-0 shutout. I can't decide which is more impressive? 8 players scoring 9 goals (versatility) or a 19year old dominating his team.
While the Flyers and Bruins tried to be the biggest winner Saturday night, some fans on the Island were moved from their seats due to a burst water pipe. So about the new arena that was voted against this past summer....
And if Disco Dan starts to get frustrated with all the questions about Crosby, he can always try the technique of the KHL coach Andrei Nazarov. Fans started throwing plastic bottles so he threw hockey sticks. Sharp edged hockey sticks. He has been banned 2 games which is just enough time to figure out his next plan of attack. Literally.
And where the hell is the quote machine that is Ilya Bryzgalov? The Flyers media needs to loosen the strings a bit. I need someone to laugh at :)
Does it glow in the dark?
I'm still shocked Dan Bylsma hasn't blown a gasket over the "when will Sid return" questions. I wonder if he goes home and just screams really loud and then shoots pucks with his son all night to relieve the stress. I'd go nuts. Here is Coach's take today on his star players' absence. "We are not waiting for an epiphany to make a decision. He’s progressing. He’s going down that road. I’ll reiterate to you again, there is not a timetable or date right now that we know and you don’t. He’s continuing to practice with the team. He got back out there after the weekend. He’ll continue to practice with the team this week. There is no timetable."
Here's to believing that Sid will just skate out one night and take the first draw, with no warning. It's much more stealth mode. Also does anyone else detect the signs of annoyance from Bylsma or is it just me? Who could blame him really.
Mr. Superstitious himself had this to say about the rumor swirling about Friday being a possible date (11-11-11), "I’m superstitious, but I wouldn’t let that affect whether I came back that night or not. When I’m ready, I’ll be back as soon as I can – no matter what the date is." He talked a lot about how he wanted to come back already and how any game could possibly be the one. Like I said, stealth mode.
The Penguins walking wounded gained another member as Ben Lovejoy went down with a broken wrist Saturday and is wandering around life in a plaster cast. I wonder if the Penguins have a secret injured reserve minimum that just happens to rival a starting lineup, yet they are number 1 in the league. Are the Penguins the Hogwarts of the NHL? It seems like it's magical there and nothing ever seems to bother them. Only thing they seem to be missing is the spell to fix the injuries..
The Flyers and Bruins had some magic on their sides when they to attempt to one-up each other on Saturday night with their baseball-like scores. The Flyers attacked the Blue Jackets with 9 goals, by 8 different players. Good to know anyone can score when called upon. The Bruins dominated the Leafs while Tyler Seguin scored his first hat trick in a 7-0 shutout. I can't decide which is more impressive? 8 players scoring 9 goals (versatility) or a 19year old dominating his team.
While the Flyers and Bruins tried to be the biggest winner Saturday night, some fans on the Island were moved from their seats due to a burst water pipe. So about the new arena that was voted against this past summer....
And if Disco Dan starts to get frustrated with all the questions about Crosby, he can always try the technique of the KHL coach Andrei Nazarov. Fans started throwing plastic bottles so he threw hockey sticks. Sharp edged hockey sticks. He has been banned 2 games which is just enough time to figure out his next plan of attack. Literally.
And where the hell is the quote machine that is Ilya Bryzgalov? The Flyers media needs to loosen the strings a bit. I need someone to laugh at :)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Reading Rainbow Time
A few articles to pass the time while avoiding something that you really should be doing :)
Investigators believe the plane crash that killed the KHL team Yaroslav Lokomotiv in September could have been avoided. TSN has the story.
And he's back. Sean Avery and the art of avoidance. "I just want to help this team win," says Avery.
Ovi was benched last night. And it seems like he muttered some of Bruce's famous f-bombs under his breath. The video is all over the interwebs and apparently it's now water under the bridge per a media scrum today. The real questions isn't whether Bruce made a mistake in benching him over players who were playing hot, it's whether this is the new Ovi. Last season and this one (so far) have been sub-standard by his sky high standards. Could the best of Ovi already be on the highlight reel?
Speaking of sky high standards, Trib writer Dejan Kovacevic, talked with Crosby about what that first game back on the ice might be like. Apparently all is right in the the world of Crosby as he as envisioned it 10-15 different ways the first game could go. Good god, he really does dream about hockey.
Finally, only click here if you have some time to read this wacky list. Punch Drunk Love has likened each of the NHL teams to a band. In particular I like the Spice Girls as the Florida Panthers and the Coyotes as Celine Dion.
No Bryz quotes since the muzzle is on. Hopefully soon he'll be free to talk to the world again.
Investigators believe the plane crash that killed the KHL team Yaroslav Lokomotiv in September could have been avoided. TSN has the story.
And he's back. Sean Avery and the art of avoidance. "I just want to help this team win," says Avery.
Ovi was benched last night. And it seems like he muttered some of Bruce's famous f-bombs under his breath. The video is all over the interwebs and apparently it's now water under the bridge per a media scrum today. The real questions isn't whether Bruce made a mistake in benching him over players who were playing hot, it's whether this is the new Ovi. Last season and this one (so far) have been sub-standard by his sky high standards. Could the best of Ovi already be on the highlight reel?
Speaking of sky high standards, Trib writer Dejan Kovacevic, talked with Crosby about what that first game back on the ice might be like. Apparently all is right in the the world of Crosby as he as envisioned it 10-15 different ways the first game could go. Good god, he really does dream about hockey.
Finally, only click here if you have some time to read this wacky list. Punch Drunk Love has likened each of the NHL teams to a band. In particular I like the Spice Girls as the Florida Panthers and the Coyotes as Celine Dion.
No Bryz quotes since the muzzle is on. Hopefully soon he'll be free to talk to the world again.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Halloween Scrooge
So yesterday was Halloween and personally I'm not really into it. Maybe I'm a Halloween scrooge but you can buy candy at the store and not have to go door-to-door to get it off strangers in the freezing cold. I'm also really not into the whole dress up and go to parties as adults. To me it's a kids holiday that's become so overblown (thanks Hallmark). Thank god I don't live in England because they do "fancy dress" parties all the time. But since the rest of the world doesn't share in my Halloween issues, we have been graced with some hockey players donning costumes.
Raffi Torres of the Coyotes dressed at Jay-Z and his wife completed the look as Beyonce with a sparkly dress and baby bump. And since he is white, he blackened his skin to better match the look of Jay-Z. And then someone screamed racism. How exactly I don't get. I thought when you dress like someone or emulate them, it's a tribute to them as you like them in some way. Torres is supposed to be a huge Jay-Z fan, and honestly I'm shocked no one thought of this sooner. Jay-Z and Beyonce are two of the biggest superstars in the industry today. He couldn't exactly have pulled the costume off if he didn't "blackface" himself and why should only a black person be able to be Jay-Z for a costume party. Some are calling this racist, I'm calling it "I have nothing better to do with my time and needed something to complain about." I'm sorry but this is nuts. I wish Jay-Z would give a statement about it, but if he doesn't like it what would he say? And if did like it, someone somewhere would mange to contort it into meaning he doesn't see himself as black or something else equally as wacky. Props to Torres and his wife on a great and well done costume. Of course the Coyotes PR department also don't seem to get the massive controversy and they said so in defense of their player.
In the non-controversy corner of Halloween, we have a bunch of random Penguins being rather low-key in comparison. Geno went as a pimp from the 70's complete with a creepy mustache and purple satin shirt. Sid was a gladiator (fan of the movie or does he view himself like one? better question, where do you keep your wallet?), Lovejoy was a banana (and eating one in the picture he tweeted), and Kennedy and Staal teamed up to be Dumb & Dumber (one of the most over done costumes ever in my opinion). There is also a picture of Letang floating around the web where he is holding a dog dressed in some random costume that looks like half a bad superhero costume. I don't even want to know what he was supposed to be.
Moving on, I've had my fill of strange costumes and would like to talk about something more interesting. Like Mike Rupp of the Rangers hurting his knee and Torts calling up Sean Avery. The fans have been dying for this to happen and at noon today he cleared re-entry waivers, meaning no one but the Rangers will deal with him. Maybe his trip to Hartford has taught him something on how to deal with coach Torts better. Hopefully he keeps his mouth shut long enough for his trip back to the Big Apple. Of course don't doubt he might be on the first train back to the AHL once the Rangers are healthy again. I would love for him to stick around through the new year though. Torts versus Avery versus the Flyers on 24/7...it's been than a scripted comedy on NBC.
The Flyers have had enough of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's wacky comments and changed their media policy a number of times regarding Bryz talking with reporters. As of today it's that he won't talk to them the day before a game or game day. So basically after a game or 2 days before at most. Talk about a muzzle! A Sportsnet writer has pointed out this might not be allowed as some reporters don't travel with the team they cover and therefore would only talk with him limited times during the season. This is exactly what the Flyers want to do, but the Professional Hockey Writers Association is looking into the matter since they are the only team to do something this radical.
In Penguins news, Matt Cooke recorded 4 penalty minutes all month and 4 goals. If he keeps this pace up, he will have a career year, in more ways than one. Congrats to him. Staal has some sort of lower body injury but should be able to play this upcoming Western roadtrip. Crosby on the other hand will not be playing. He admits that he's probably got to get hit a bunch more times in practice but that's it. He says he can't be any more conditioned. People now think November 11 is the date. I wonder how much money is up for grabs for the person who guessed right?
And finally, today is November 1, which means the Penguins held their usual mustache boy shootout. Joe Vitale lost, so here's hoping he was planning on celebrating movember because he will be sporting a mustache for the month!!
Raffi Torres of the Coyotes dressed at Jay-Z and his wife completed the look as Beyonce with a sparkly dress and baby bump. And since he is white, he blackened his skin to better match the look of Jay-Z. And then someone screamed racism. How exactly I don't get. I thought when you dress like someone or emulate them, it's a tribute to them as you like them in some way. Torres is supposed to be a huge Jay-Z fan, and honestly I'm shocked no one thought of this sooner. Jay-Z and Beyonce are two of the biggest superstars in the industry today. He couldn't exactly have pulled the costume off if he didn't "blackface" himself and why should only a black person be able to be Jay-Z for a costume party. Some are calling this racist, I'm calling it "I have nothing better to do with my time and needed something to complain about." I'm sorry but this is nuts. I wish Jay-Z would give a statement about it, but if he doesn't like it what would he say? And if did like it, someone somewhere would mange to contort it into meaning he doesn't see himself as black or something else equally as wacky. Props to Torres and his wife on a great and well done costume. Of course the Coyotes PR department also don't seem to get the massive controversy and they said so in defense of their player.
In the non-controversy corner of Halloween, we have a bunch of random Penguins being rather low-key in comparison. Geno went as a pimp from the 70's complete with a creepy mustache and purple satin shirt. Sid was a gladiator (fan of the movie or does he view himself like one? better question, where do you keep your wallet?), Lovejoy was a banana (and eating one in the picture he tweeted), and Kennedy and Staal teamed up to be Dumb & Dumber (one of the most over done costumes ever in my opinion). There is also a picture of Letang floating around the web where he is holding a dog dressed in some random costume that looks like half a bad superhero costume. I don't even want to know what he was supposed to be.
Moving on, I've had my fill of strange costumes and would like to talk about something more interesting. Like Mike Rupp of the Rangers hurting his knee and Torts calling up Sean Avery. The fans have been dying for this to happen and at noon today he cleared re-entry waivers, meaning no one but the Rangers will deal with him. Maybe his trip to Hartford has taught him something on how to deal with coach Torts better. Hopefully he keeps his mouth shut long enough for his trip back to the Big Apple. Of course don't doubt he might be on the first train back to the AHL once the Rangers are healthy again. I would love for him to stick around through the new year though. Torts versus Avery versus the Flyers on 24/7...it's been than a scripted comedy on NBC.
The Flyers have had enough of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's wacky comments and changed their media policy a number of times regarding Bryz talking with reporters. As of today it's that he won't talk to them the day before a game or game day. So basically after a game or 2 days before at most. Talk about a muzzle! A Sportsnet writer has pointed out this might not be allowed as some reporters don't travel with the team they cover and therefore would only talk with him limited times during the season. This is exactly what the Flyers want to do, but the Professional Hockey Writers Association is looking into the matter since they are the only team to do something this radical.
In Penguins news, Matt Cooke recorded 4 penalty minutes all month and 4 goals. If he keeps this pace up, he will have a career year, in more ways than one. Congrats to him. Staal has some sort of lower body injury but should be able to play this upcoming Western roadtrip. Crosby on the other hand will not be playing. He admits that he's probably got to get hit a bunch more times in practice but that's it. He says he can't be any more conditioned. People now think November 11 is the date. I wonder how much money is up for grabs for the person who guessed right?
And finally, today is November 1, which means the Penguins held their usual mustache boy shootout. Joe Vitale lost, so here's hoping he was planning on celebrating movember because he will be sporting a mustache for the month!!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Debates Galore!
There's so many things to debate these days in the NHL. From visors, to Shananabans to realignment, what isn't up for debate? The December GM meetings are quickly approaching and everything of any concern will be voiced and put out on the table for all to hear.
Lets start with visors, because honestly this is fascinating to me. To be blind or not to be is the question? All fights I've seen, guys throw the helmet and gloves off before the first punch is thrown, wearing a visor isn't going to change this protocol. Wearing a helmet wasn't always mandatory but it has never stopped the guys from not removing it for a fight and the visors are attached to said helmet. This is more a psychological issue than anything. Doesn't the NHL pay for therapy?
Jarret Stoll of the LA Kings started wearing a visor this season for the first time. He tried a for a few training camps to use it but always gave up. This time he told the trainers to not let him quit, and after a 3 week period of adjustment, he is used to it. After a few almost injuries last year, he said his mom, girlfriend and sister all pestered him to start wearing one. Stoll believes that they should mandate the change and just grandfather people in as they did with helmets. “Change happens. Things evolve, you have to realize it could be you. It might be too late before you realize that," Stoll told ESPN. So here's a guy who grew up wearing one (he's only 29 and had to wear one in lower levels), gave up wearing one, and now is wearing one again. How come I feel this is going to fall on dead ears.
Chris Pronger apparently has decided Stoll might be wrong, and doesn't seem to have jumped on the visor train yet. He refused to say whether he will wear one, but the Philly team doctors have said they won't clear him without one. If you have blurry vision and need eye drops to relieve pressure and swelling, wouldn't you try to avoid this again? It's like saying you have a weak ankle and not taping it up to give some extra support. I won't view you as weak for taking every medical precaution offered. That's one of the greatest things about being in a first world country, you have access to the best medical options out there. Your livelihood is literally beating your body up for a living, therefore I think your ridiculous for NOT taking advantage of everything available to you.
Brendan Shanahan has a Sunday date and Monday date with more players to be suspended. This make his grand total 13 players as 11 have already been suspended, a few more than Colin Campbell had suspended at this point last year. Shanahan has added almost $600,000 to the players emergency fund and has been consistent in his rulings. It will be interesting to see as the season goes on if the guys are learning from his after-school specials on why someone was suspended for a play. It seems going after the guys wallets is when they start to pay attention more. No one wants to lose their salary for something they could have avoided.
James Neal ends his October in 2nd in scoring with 9 to Phil Kessel who managed to score his 10th. Kessel apparently decided this was the year to come and play hockey. Matt Cooke apparently decided he doesn't want a date with Shanahan and would like to be more productive on the ice so he put in his 4th goal of the young season. When did he become the goal scorer? He's got 2 more than Malkin. The Penguins have a league leading 18 points right now and they have yet to put out their entire lineup. The factory in Pitt is well oiled and Mr. Crosby hasn't even played a game. Rumor is he's "flying" in practices. ESPN has their trophy tracker up (already) and Disco Dan is in 2nd place (to F-bomb himself) for the Jack Adams.
The Habs fired assistant coach Perry Pearn in an effort to wake up the team and they won 2 games without him. Is this the answer to fixing them? No. Are more firings possible for them? Yes. They used him as a scapegoat since his power play was horrible but the power play was one of their three thousand issues.
The Coyotes GM is toeing the hardline with Kyle Turris and refusing him a trade since he refuses to sign with the team. I have so many thoughts and opinions on this I don't even know where to begin. Don Maloney won't trade Turris since the CBA gives them rights over players. If Turris hasn't signed a contract by December 1, he is ineligible to play this season. This is screwy on so many levels. First off Turris is only 22. He might not like the way the Coyotes have developed him, but if he just agrees to something for this season, he'll be on the first plane out of town when possible. On the flip side, Maloney is wasting his time leaving Turris in his system if he refuses to sign. Keeping a player that spites you just to spite him is really mature. A few teams have expressed interest in Turris and I think the Coyotes will benefit from trading him now and moving on. No offense to the Coyotes but your owned the league, I'm not exactly sure you should be playing hardball with players. I think the League is over owning this team and as much as they don't want to move the team, I have a feeling patience in NY is growing thin for a ownership deal that will keep them in the desert. I think Turris should sign so he won't lose a year and then another team will hopefully make an offer Maloney can't refuse. Of course if Maloney wants to really be spiteful and Turris does finally sign, he can chose to not trade him. But why would you want to keep a guy that hates your guts?
Realignment will continue to be a hot topic since Winnipeg is located in Western Canada which in case you failed geography is not located near the Southern East coast of America, yet the Jets are in this division so someone needs to move. The Wings claim they were promised in a future realignment they would be put in the Eastern conference. I think a full shake up will happen before the Wings move East, like this nifty chart shows. It will be interesting to see what is approved as 20 of the 30 votes from the board of governors must approve it, but word is its picking up steam in the inner circles. I also think where its DET/CBJ the Wings will be staying in the West while the Blue Jackets will get the East. The travel will lessen a bit for the Wings even staying West under this and they will always be a money cow. The Blue Jackets are just bleeding money and even a few less games further away might help them in the finance department. Those 747's are expensive transportation...
Finally the Flyers goalie who cost them half a team this off season (it seems that way) Bryzgalov seems to be a Russian quote machine. Everything is a bit left of center and lets face it, it began with his comments about needing parks when the Coyotes were on the table for a move to Winnipeg. But he just can't be stopped and I can't get enough of them, so I think I'm going to just start posting random ones (possibly every blog since he's a machine!). When was asked about how bad his loss to the Jets was he said "I was lost in the woods". Guy loves nature apparently, but after his most recent outing against the Hurricanes he found his way, or as he put it "I found a compass". Awesome.
Now if he can ever top Mike Lange that will be something!
Lets start with visors, because honestly this is fascinating to me. To be blind or not to be is the question? All fights I've seen, guys throw the helmet and gloves off before the first punch is thrown, wearing a visor isn't going to change this protocol. Wearing a helmet wasn't always mandatory but it has never stopped the guys from not removing it for a fight and the visors are attached to said helmet. This is more a psychological issue than anything. Doesn't the NHL pay for therapy?
Jarret Stoll of the LA Kings started wearing a visor this season for the first time. He tried a for a few training camps to use it but always gave up. This time he told the trainers to not let him quit, and after a 3 week period of adjustment, he is used to it. After a few almost injuries last year, he said his mom, girlfriend and sister all pestered him to start wearing one. Stoll believes that they should mandate the change and just grandfather people in as they did with helmets. “Change happens. Things evolve, you have to realize it could be you. It might be too late before you realize that," Stoll told ESPN. So here's a guy who grew up wearing one (he's only 29 and had to wear one in lower levels), gave up wearing one, and now is wearing one again. How come I feel this is going to fall on dead ears.
Chris Pronger apparently has decided Stoll might be wrong, and doesn't seem to have jumped on the visor train yet. He refused to say whether he will wear one, but the Philly team doctors have said they won't clear him without one. If you have blurry vision and need eye drops to relieve pressure and swelling, wouldn't you try to avoid this again? It's like saying you have a weak ankle and not taping it up to give some extra support. I won't view you as weak for taking every medical precaution offered. That's one of the greatest things about being in a first world country, you have access to the best medical options out there. Your livelihood is literally beating your body up for a living, therefore I think your ridiculous for NOT taking advantage of everything available to you.
Brendan Shanahan has a Sunday date and Monday date with more players to be suspended. This make his grand total 13 players as 11 have already been suspended, a few more than Colin Campbell had suspended at this point last year. Shanahan has added almost $600,000 to the players emergency fund and has been consistent in his rulings. It will be interesting to see as the season goes on if the guys are learning from his after-school specials on why someone was suspended for a play. It seems going after the guys wallets is when they start to pay attention more. No one wants to lose their salary for something they could have avoided.
James Neal ends his October in 2nd in scoring with 9 to Phil Kessel who managed to score his 10th. Kessel apparently decided this was the year to come and play hockey. Matt Cooke apparently decided he doesn't want a date with Shanahan and would like to be more productive on the ice so he put in his 4th goal of the young season. When did he become the goal scorer? He's got 2 more than Malkin. The Penguins have a league leading 18 points right now and they have yet to put out their entire lineup. The factory in Pitt is well oiled and Mr. Crosby hasn't even played a game. Rumor is he's "flying" in practices. ESPN has their trophy tracker up (already) and Disco Dan is in 2nd place (to F-bomb himself) for the Jack Adams.
The Habs fired assistant coach Perry Pearn in an effort to wake up the team and they won 2 games without him. Is this the answer to fixing them? No. Are more firings possible for them? Yes. They used him as a scapegoat since his power play was horrible but the power play was one of their three thousand issues.
The Coyotes GM is toeing the hardline with Kyle Turris and refusing him a trade since he refuses to sign with the team. I have so many thoughts and opinions on this I don't even know where to begin. Don Maloney won't trade Turris since the CBA gives them rights over players. If Turris hasn't signed a contract by December 1, he is ineligible to play this season. This is screwy on so many levels. First off Turris is only 22. He might not like the way the Coyotes have developed him, but if he just agrees to something for this season, he'll be on the first plane out of town when possible. On the flip side, Maloney is wasting his time leaving Turris in his system if he refuses to sign. Keeping a player that spites you just to spite him is really mature. A few teams have expressed interest in Turris and I think the Coyotes will benefit from trading him now and moving on. No offense to the Coyotes but your owned the league, I'm not exactly sure you should be playing hardball with players. I think the League is over owning this team and as much as they don't want to move the team, I have a feeling patience in NY is growing thin for a ownership deal that will keep them in the desert. I think Turris should sign so he won't lose a year and then another team will hopefully make an offer Maloney can't refuse. Of course if Maloney wants to really be spiteful and Turris does finally sign, he can chose to not trade him. But why would you want to keep a guy that hates your guts?
Realignment will continue to be a hot topic since Winnipeg is located in Western Canada which in case you failed geography is not located near the Southern East coast of America, yet the Jets are in this division so someone needs to move. The Wings claim they were promised in a future realignment they would be put in the Eastern conference. I think a full shake up will happen before the Wings move East, like this nifty chart shows. It will be interesting to see what is approved as 20 of the 30 votes from the board of governors must approve it, but word is its picking up steam in the inner circles. I also think where its DET/CBJ the Wings will be staying in the West while the Blue Jackets will get the East. The travel will lessen a bit for the Wings even staying West under this and they will always be a money cow. The Blue Jackets are just bleeding money and even a few less games further away might help them in the finance department. Those 747's are expensive transportation...
Finally the Flyers goalie who cost them half a team this off season (it seems that way) Bryzgalov seems to be a Russian quote machine. Everything is a bit left of center and lets face it, it began with his comments about needing parks when the Coyotes were on the table for a move to Winnipeg. But he just can't be stopped and I can't get enough of them, so I think I'm going to just start posting random ones (possibly every blog since he's a machine!). When was asked about how bad his loss to the Jets was he said "I was lost in the woods". Guy loves nature apparently, but after his most recent outing against the Hurricanes he found his way, or as he put it "I found a compass". Awesome.
Now if he can ever top Mike Lange that will be something!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Visors, Necklaces, and a New Owner?
So much to touch on so lets just dive right in!
No visor = stick to the eye. Chris Pronger of the Flyers will now miss at least 2-3 weeks due to not wearing a visor. I will never understand the arguments to not wear one. It's clear. Of course I am semi required by life to wear contacts or glasses every day and you do adjust to the glare (and I'm sure they can develop anti-glare visors if they haven't already). Apparently this should be another thing on the agenda for the NHL to police better.
Just like they did with helmets, grandfather the guys in and require everyone entering the league to wear one. I think this has unofficially become protocol to be honest since all junior players are required to wear a visor and the AHL mandates it also. Very few guys coming up now have NOT played with a visor but the Players Association feels mandating it takes away their freedom. Freedom from what? Being blinded? This is almost as ridiculous as guys not wearing the skate guards. That little blade can slice your tendons. Jordan Staal can tell you all about that since he sliced his during the '10 playoffs and missed the beginning of the following season rehabbing. (He of course missed the second part of the first half of the season after breaking his hand in a freak accident right before he was ready to come back.)
The Penguins are playing on the Island tonight and hoping to never relive last seasons fight night after the glass-jaw incident. Since both teams would like to avoid this, the Islanders are starting last season waiver hold-out Evgeni Nabokov versus Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury. I guess they really are trying to move on. Of course, guess who the backups are? Rich "Glass Jaw" DiPietro and Brent "Knockout" Johnson. Hopefully they will stay on the benches because Eric Godard is now in Dallas manning their benches.
Speaking of the Dallas Stars, they are so popular that they received exactly one bid in bankruptcy court. This was expected and should go smoothly since everything seems to be good. Tom Gaglardi who is the winning bidder it seems even has said he wants to keep the team in Dallas. So Dallas will be owner less for less than half a season and the Thrashers managed to not only find an owner, but a new town and arena in even less time. Your move Coyotes.
Alex Ovechkin has a wax statue at Madame Tussaud's in DC. It's even missing a tooth and has shaggy hair. No offense to those that enjoy these things but I've always found this a bit creepy and I have a feeling seeing a wax Ovi would be especially creepy.
Realignment talks won't ever end. Even after the Jets no longer play in the Southeast, this issue will never be put to bed, but at least some players have the right attitude. "...Nothing is certain at this point. I just hope we won't be realigned to the KHL," Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk said in an interview on Puck Daddy. I like his attitude. Read the complete interview here and find out his potential Halloween costume and his plans for next season in case of a lock out.
Montreal Canadians coach Jacques Martin is the heavy favorite to be the first coach of the season fired. They managed one win and are off to one of the worst start in 70 years, many fans are not dealing with it well. Hopefully they find other ways to deal with their anger since I think Vancouver has dibs on that rioting stuff.
As the Rangers are heading to the City of Brotherly love to play the Flyers in this years Winter Classic, getting your hands on tickets is next to impossible. First off the game which has traditionally been on January 1st is being played on the 2nd to avoid competing with the NFL's last regular season Sunday. The alumni game will still be on the 31st of December and the AHL is throwing in an outdoor game for the festivities.....almost a week later. And if your a Flyers faithful, you will be paying a steep price. As a season ticket holder, you get first dibs but you do have to buy a ticket to each event. This schedule is sounding more like a tour schedule for a vacation, rather than a hockey game.
I can just imagine it: Welcome to our outdoor hockey extravaganza. I hope you brought at least 1 down jacket or parka since it is January in Philadelphia. Our week long festivities will being with watching the Alumni game on the 31st. After the game, I encourage you to roam the streets of our fair city for the ball drop. There are bars on every street corner in case you are frozen from earlier and cheese steaks are readily available. You will have the 1st to explore Philly or more bars to watch the NHL conclude it's regular season. On the 2nd, tailgating will begin at 12noon. Please bring extra blankets, scarves and hats because someone is going to lose something along the way. Around 8pm we shall begin the game. Pronger may or may not be wearing a visor. At the conclusion of the game, we ask you safely make your way back home or to your hotel. If it's not snowing, you may leave the area for a few days to do some individual sightseeing, but we ask you return on the 6th to watch our final game of this extravaganza as players you have never heard of would like to play on the now melted ice. I hope you all enjoyed our hockey tour of Philly and join us again next year at a location TBD.
BTW the tickets for the AHL game are about $40. I can get awesome seats at WBS for around $30 so WHY the hell would I pay another $10 per ticket to freeze my ass off in January when I can just chill indoors in a much smaller venue?
Of course if you are a Rangers fan and think you can attend this game, keep on dreaming. You won't be subjected to the tour of Philly (thank god!) but you must be season ticket subscriber from 1950 to have a shot in hell at getting a pair of tickets. The oldest subscribers are going to be asked first and then limited to 2 even if you usually have 4 seats. From one extreme to the other. Since the Rangers are the visiting team, they were already super limited on their allocation to allocate. Ya know where I'll be watching from? The couch. Without a parka, scarf, hat and gloves. Not only will I be comfortable, food and drinks will be easily accessible and won't require me to take out a loan.
"We sucked form head to toe," said John Tortella in an interview after the Rangers lost on Saturday night to the Oilers. This in my mind is a preview of whats to come out of his mouth on 24/7 this December. Can you smell the greatness brewing?? I can!
Finally jewelry and the NHL or any sport really doesn't go hand in hand in my mind, but apparently shop NHL thinks I might like a necklace with my teams logo as a pendant. Or maybe earrings. I suppose they are gearing up for the holidays with this stuff, but none of this is my cup of tea. This is like going down the road of pink jersey, which make me nuts. I understand the NHL having stuff in purple for their "Hockey Fights Cancer" campaign but the jerseys look creepy in purple. Their regular player t-shirts with the purple are acceptable in my planet but I will never understand their desire to make variations of jerseys that will never be worn on the ice. The Fair Isle jersey with its knitted look and their black jerseys that look like they should glow in the dark are also out of left field. View the goodies here. You will have to choose a team from here to really get the full picture of what strange things are made and I'd suggest you pick a more popular team as they will one of everything. Like a bikini. Never thought of shopping here for a bikini but I guess it limits your choices fast than a department store would.....I'll to my kid sized, regulation colored Crosby jersey, thankyouverymuch!
No visor = stick to the eye. Chris Pronger of the Flyers will now miss at least 2-3 weeks due to not wearing a visor. I will never understand the arguments to not wear one. It's clear. Of course I am semi required by life to wear contacts or glasses every day and you do adjust to the glare (and I'm sure they can develop anti-glare visors if they haven't already). Apparently this should be another thing on the agenda for the NHL to police better.
Just like they did with helmets, grandfather the guys in and require everyone entering the league to wear one. I think this has unofficially become protocol to be honest since all junior players are required to wear a visor and the AHL mandates it also. Very few guys coming up now have NOT played with a visor but the Players Association feels mandating it takes away their freedom. Freedom from what? Being blinded? This is almost as ridiculous as guys not wearing the skate guards. That little blade can slice your tendons. Jordan Staal can tell you all about that since he sliced his during the '10 playoffs and missed the beginning of the following season rehabbing. (He of course missed the second part of the first half of the season after breaking his hand in a freak accident right before he was ready to come back.)
The Penguins are playing on the Island tonight and hoping to never relive last seasons fight night after the glass-jaw incident. Since both teams would like to avoid this, the Islanders are starting last season waiver hold-out Evgeni Nabokov versus Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury. I guess they really are trying to move on. Of course, guess who the backups are? Rich "Glass Jaw" DiPietro and Brent "Knockout" Johnson. Hopefully they will stay on the benches because Eric Godard is now in Dallas manning their benches.
Speaking of the Dallas Stars, they are so popular that they received exactly one bid in bankruptcy court. This was expected and should go smoothly since everything seems to be good. Tom Gaglardi who is the winning bidder it seems even has said he wants to keep the team in Dallas. So Dallas will be owner less for less than half a season and the Thrashers managed to not only find an owner, but a new town and arena in even less time. Your move Coyotes.
Alex Ovechkin has a wax statue at Madame Tussaud's in DC. It's even missing a tooth and has shaggy hair. No offense to those that enjoy these things but I've always found this a bit creepy and I have a feeling seeing a wax Ovi would be especially creepy.
Realignment talks won't ever end. Even after the Jets no longer play in the Southeast, this issue will never be put to bed, but at least some players have the right attitude. "...Nothing is certain at this point. I just hope we won't be realigned to the KHL," Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk said in an interview on Puck Daddy. I like his attitude. Read the complete interview here and find out his potential Halloween costume and his plans for next season in case of a lock out.
Montreal Canadians coach Jacques Martin is the heavy favorite to be the first coach of the season fired. They managed one win and are off to one of the worst start in 70 years, many fans are not dealing with it well. Hopefully they find other ways to deal with their anger since I think Vancouver has dibs on that rioting stuff.
As the Rangers are heading to the City of Brotherly love to play the Flyers in this years Winter Classic, getting your hands on tickets is next to impossible. First off the game which has traditionally been on January 1st is being played on the 2nd to avoid competing with the NFL's last regular season Sunday. The alumni game will still be on the 31st of December and the AHL is throwing in an outdoor game for the festivities.....almost a week later. And if your a Flyers faithful, you will be paying a steep price. As a season ticket holder, you get first dibs but you do have to buy a ticket to each event. This schedule is sounding more like a tour schedule for a vacation, rather than a hockey game.
I can just imagine it: Welcome to our outdoor hockey extravaganza. I hope you brought at least 1 down jacket or parka since it is January in Philadelphia. Our week long festivities will being with watching the Alumni game on the 31st. After the game, I encourage you to roam the streets of our fair city for the ball drop. There are bars on every street corner in case you are frozen from earlier and cheese steaks are readily available. You will have the 1st to explore Philly or more bars to watch the NHL conclude it's regular season. On the 2nd, tailgating will begin at 12noon. Please bring extra blankets, scarves and hats because someone is going to lose something along the way. Around 8pm we shall begin the game. Pronger may or may not be wearing a visor. At the conclusion of the game, we ask you safely make your way back home or to your hotel. If it's not snowing, you may leave the area for a few days to do some individual sightseeing, but we ask you return on the 6th to watch our final game of this extravaganza as players you have never heard of would like to play on the now melted ice. I hope you all enjoyed our hockey tour of Philly and join us again next year at a location TBD.
BTW the tickets for the AHL game are about $40. I can get awesome seats at WBS for around $30 so WHY the hell would I pay another $10 per ticket to freeze my ass off in January when I can just chill indoors in a much smaller venue?
Of course if you are a Rangers fan and think you can attend this game, keep on dreaming. You won't be subjected to the tour of Philly (thank god!) but you must be season ticket subscriber from 1950 to have a shot in hell at getting a pair of tickets. The oldest subscribers are going to be asked first and then limited to 2 even if you usually have 4 seats. From one extreme to the other. Since the Rangers are the visiting team, they were already super limited on their allocation to allocate. Ya know where I'll be watching from? The couch. Without a parka, scarf, hat and gloves. Not only will I be comfortable, food and drinks will be easily accessible and won't require me to take out a loan.
"We sucked form head to toe," said John Tortella in an interview after the Rangers lost on Saturday night to the Oilers. This in my mind is a preview of whats to come out of his mouth on 24/7 this December. Can you smell the greatness brewing?? I can!
Finally jewelry and the NHL or any sport really doesn't go hand in hand in my mind, but apparently shop NHL thinks I might like a necklace with my teams logo as a pendant. Or maybe earrings. I suppose they are gearing up for the holidays with this stuff, but none of this is my cup of tea. This is like going down the road of pink jersey, which make me nuts. I understand the NHL having stuff in purple for their "Hockey Fights Cancer" campaign but the jerseys look creepy in purple. Their regular player t-shirts with the purple are acceptable in my planet but I will never understand their desire to make variations of jerseys that will never be worn on the ice. The Fair Isle jersey with its knitted look and their black jerseys that look like they should glow in the dark are also out of left field. View the goodies here. You will have to choose a team from here to really get the full picture of what strange things are made and I'd suggest you pick a more popular team as they will one of everything. Like a bikini. Never thought of shopping here for a bikini but I guess it limits your choices fast than a department store would.....I'll to my kid sized, regulation colored Crosby jersey, thankyouverymuch!
Friday, October 21, 2011
It's starting to become clear..
..that some teams will never learn since the Jets (the former Thrashers) and Senators are among the bottom 5 teams. The Blue Jackets currently have the honor of the worst team as they are win less. It's still early and hard to truly judge teams since some teams like the Rangers and Capitals have only played 5 games, while the Penguins will play their 10th tomorrow, but eventually it will become clearer. The Pens have played the most games in the league. Break time? I would say so.
One person who might not enjoy a break would be James Neal. He has been on fire and scored 7 goals in 9 games and is currently tied with Phil Kessel for leading goal scorer right now. Of course it's October and history says he is "Mr. October", but we hope we can be "Mr. Every month I score crazy amounts of goals" so Ray Shero can't deny him those millions come contract talks. It seems an off-season to bond with the guys, move out of a hotel and get some quality time to study their system has done him quite well.
Those who might welcome a break in play would be the $8.7 million dollar men. Malkin has sat out the past few games because of soreness to his surgically fixed knee and Crosby can't get the contact he would like since practices are so limited. Of course when Crosby is cleared, we will see the lines roll out 3 big centers again and Crosby very well could have Mr. October on his wing. Another science experiment from the lab of Dan Bylsma. This already looks better than Staalkin did on paper, let alone the actual ice. Imagine Mr. October can play the entire year this way with Crosby. And everyone stays/gets healthy. And no meltdowns.....
Brooks Orpik and Dustin Jeffery both returned last night in the lineup and suddenly the line up is looking deep but is going to be an eventual logjam. When Kris Letang returns from his suspension, they will have to decide who will be the D scratch as they only dress 6 per game. The bigger question will be roster moves as they have 4 guys on IR right now but a complete 23 man active roster. When Crosby is ready to come back, someone will have to be waived and could potentially be lost in transit on his way to Wilkes Barre due to 24 hours of being exposed to the league to be picked up. That is unless someone makes their way to the IR which is entirely possible since its seems how they like to operate these days. Brian Strait, the call up to replace Letang during his suspension was hit and has a hyper extended elbow, which puts him on the IR. Not even sure the trainers knew how to explain it to Bylsma, since even he seemed a bit confused.
In non-jersey foul but seriously questionable territory, the IHL Fighting Falcons will be hosting Star Wars night wearing these jerseys. It's awesome and terrible all rolled up into one.
Jet's Dustin Byfuglien pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his summer boating incident. He apparently passed the breathalyzer but the policeman wasn't happy with that and wanted a urine sample. Byfuglien refused and that was apparently against the law. Can't wait to see where this soap opera goes. His off ice antics are more exciting than the play of his entire team. Pathetic.
Brad Richards was the star free agent this off season and he's doing exactly what the Rangers wanted: scoring and making opportunities for Marian Gaborik. Since he's doing what has been asked, why are the Rangers still struggling? Seems the rest of the team is missing chemistry now. See saw much? Can it be the black cloud named Sean Avery who won't stop going on about being hated by Coach Torts and how he'd never get called up from the Whale. Imagine the drama we almost got to see on 24/7!! And the Oscar goes to....Sean Avery. He's done a lot this year. The police incident in LA, the talking crap on his now ex coach who controls if he ever sees the Garden again. Busy year for him.
And if anyone had any real question about how a few back to back concussions can affect your life, ask newly retired Kris Chucko, who is only 25 years old. A former first round draft pick for the Flames, he played mainly for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. Unfortunately his last game was a year ago when he suffered his second concussion after having missed a bulk of the previous season because of the first concussion. Problem is he isn't sure if he suffered others and never knew. Glad that he is taking control and realizing living with the pain is not worth it, but is this showing the league and all sports just how serious concussions can be? When a 25 year old decides he needs a career change because of how crappy he was feeling, that's saying something. Hopefully more and more people come forward with their stories and are honest about how bad it is.
Brooks Laich might think all this "awareness crap" is well crap, but since Sidney Crosby has made it trendy to say they are not robots, I have a feeling we will continue to hear more and more from various athletes in sports.
Finally a topic that I've been semi-following is the University of North Dakota who are nicknamed the Fighting Sioux and their battling to keep their name and mascot. Of course this goes back their nickname and logo being linked to Native American's and some are finding it offensive. The school estimates it would cost around $750,000 to retire their nickname and logo. This only includes changes to practice and game day uniforms for all sports, equipment, stationary and the website. The cost could skyrocket to $20million to change the logos and names at the privately owned stadium that they use. O-M-G. That's just insane.
My high school went through a similar ordeal when our logo was deemed to be offensive. They were able to keep the Warrior name (not entirely sure how, it is truly a mystery) but they had to remove the Indian head off of everything. For 98 years my high school was the Warriors with the Indian head, but for the past 9, they have been having an identity crisis. I graduated just when this was happening, so no class after me has ever had anything that said Warrior with our Indian head underneath it. 4 years after I graduated they finally decided on a Knight in our colors (a Knight??), but within a year, the Knight was essentially deemed unworthy. It appears only on the city's website for the school, not even the school's own site (that bad huh?). I think eventually they will drop the Knight completely and just be the Warriors with no mascot. They already seem to have given up on uniforms and just go with the school name on them.
At the end of the day, this was a high school who makes no money off apparel and is only known locally, not nationally, so I can't even imagine rebranding an established and storied university. It's not the just money involved, but it's the future students who wanted to be apart of the Fighting Sioux tradition and the alumni who have invested in the school after graduating because of their memories and nostalgia. Of course since it's a powerhouse in hockey (in particular) all those banners will still hang from the rafters with the Fighting Sioux name and mascot on them as a memory for all to enjoy. I personally don't have any issue with these types of names. Better than everyone being a Charger or Dog or a Duck.
One person who might not enjoy a break would be James Neal. He has been on fire and scored 7 goals in 9 games and is currently tied with Phil Kessel for leading goal scorer right now. Of course it's October and history says he is "Mr. October", but we hope we can be "Mr. Every month I score crazy amounts of goals" so Ray Shero can't deny him those millions come contract talks. It seems an off-season to bond with the guys, move out of a hotel and get some quality time to study their system has done him quite well.
Those who might welcome a break in play would be the $8.7 million dollar men. Malkin has sat out the past few games because of soreness to his surgically fixed knee and Crosby can't get the contact he would like since practices are so limited. Of course when Crosby is cleared, we will see the lines roll out 3 big centers again and Crosby very well could have Mr. October on his wing. Another science experiment from the lab of Dan Bylsma. This already looks better than Staalkin did on paper, let alone the actual ice. Imagine Mr. October can play the entire year this way with Crosby. And everyone stays/gets healthy. And no meltdowns.....
Brooks Orpik and Dustin Jeffery both returned last night in the lineup and suddenly the line up is looking deep but is going to be an eventual logjam. When Kris Letang returns from his suspension, they will have to decide who will be the D scratch as they only dress 6 per game. The bigger question will be roster moves as they have 4 guys on IR right now but a complete 23 man active roster. When Crosby is ready to come back, someone will have to be waived and could potentially be lost in transit on his way to Wilkes Barre due to 24 hours of being exposed to the league to be picked up. That is unless someone makes their way to the IR which is entirely possible since its seems how they like to operate these days. Brian Strait, the call up to replace Letang during his suspension was hit and has a hyper extended elbow, which puts him on the IR. Not even sure the trainers knew how to explain it to Bylsma, since even he seemed a bit confused.
In non-jersey foul but seriously questionable territory, the IHL Fighting Falcons will be hosting Star Wars night wearing these jerseys. It's awesome and terrible all rolled up into one.
Jet's Dustin Byfuglien pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his summer boating incident. He apparently passed the breathalyzer but the policeman wasn't happy with that and wanted a urine sample. Byfuglien refused and that was apparently against the law. Can't wait to see where this soap opera goes. His off ice antics are more exciting than the play of his entire team. Pathetic.
Brad Richards was the star free agent this off season and he's doing exactly what the Rangers wanted: scoring and making opportunities for Marian Gaborik. Since he's doing what has been asked, why are the Rangers still struggling? Seems the rest of the team is missing chemistry now. See saw much? Can it be the black cloud named Sean Avery who won't stop going on about being hated by Coach Torts and how he'd never get called up from the Whale. Imagine the drama we almost got to see on 24/7!! And the Oscar goes to....Sean Avery. He's done a lot this year. The police incident in LA, the talking crap on his now ex coach who controls if he ever sees the Garden again. Busy year for him.
And if anyone had any real question about how a few back to back concussions can affect your life, ask newly retired Kris Chucko, who is only 25 years old. A former first round draft pick for the Flames, he played mainly for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. Unfortunately his last game was a year ago when he suffered his second concussion after having missed a bulk of the previous season because of the first concussion. Problem is he isn't sure if he suffered others and never knew. Glad that he is taking control and realizing living with the pain is not worth it, but is this showing the league and all sports just how serious concussions can be? When a 25 year old decides he needs a career change because of how crappy he was feeling, that's saying something. Hopefully more and more people come forward with their stories and are honest about how bad it is.
Brooks Laich might think all this "awareness crap" is well crap, but since Sidney Crosby has made it trendy to say they are not robots, I have a feeling we will continue to hear more and more from various athletes in sports.
Finally a topic that I've been semi-following is the University of North Dakota who are nicknamed the Fighting Sioux and their battling to keep their name and mascot. Of course this goes back their nickname and logo being linked to Native American's and some are finding it offensive. The school estimates it would cost around $750,000 to retire their nickname and logo. This only includes changes to practice and game day uniforms for all sports, equipment, stationary and the website. The cost could skyrocket to $20million to change the logos and names at the privately owned stadium that they use. O-M-G. That's just insane.
My high school went through a similar ordeal when our logo was deemed to be offensive. They were able to keep the Warrior name (not entirely sure how, it is truly a mystery) but they had to remove the Indian head off of everything. For 98 years my high school was the Warriors with the Indian head, but for the past 9, they have been having an identity crisis. I graduated just when this was happening, so no class after me has ever had anything that said Warrior with our Indian head underneath it. 4 years after I graduated they finally decided on a Knight in our colors (a Knight??), but within a year, the Knight was essentially deemed unworthy. It appears only on the city's website for the school, not even the school's own site (that bad huh?). I think eventually they will drop the Knight completely and just be the Warriors with no mascot. They already seem to have given up on uniforms and just go with the school name on them.
At the end of the day, this was a high school who makes no money off apparel and is only known locally, not nationally, so I can't even imagine rebranding an established and storied university. It's not the just money involved, but it's the future students who wanted to be apart of the Fighting Sioux tradition and the alumni who have invested in the school after graduating because of their memories and nostalgia. Of course since it's a powerhouse in hockey (in particular) all those banners will still hang from the rafters with the Fighting Sioux name and mascot on them as a memory for all to enjoy. I personally don't have any issue with these types of names. Better than everyone being a Charger or Dog or a Duck.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
'Im not here to score goals' and the Hammer comes down again...
My my, it's been a busy few days in the hockey world. I've also had a rather uncalled for frustrating day of dealing with customers that had an extra side of stupidity with them, so this should be lots of fun! Lets go to the video tape.....
Seriously though, head over to nhl.com and see the Kris Letang boarding video suspension. Shanahan dropped the hammer on Letang for 2 games. There's tons of chatter as to whether or not he deserves to be suspended but it's done with and not as if we can get the ruling overturned. As of 10am this morning the Penguins knew some sort of disiclpline was coming down because they recalled Brian Strait from WBS who just happens to be a d-man to meet them across the country for tonight's game. No way were they flying him to Minnesota just for the hell of it.
Who knew the first Penguin to feel the wrath of Shanahan would be Tanger? (If you guessed correctly you should be entitled to the $37k he is forfeiting for those 2 games.) Anyways, with Letang now suspended and Crosby, Malkin, Jeffrey, Orpik and Kennedy all tending to various aches and pains, there's somewhere in the ballpark of $25million unable to dress for games. Maybe this means part 2 of the season will be excellent because they are doing the opposite of last season. Of course that means Fleury will be having a mental breakdown in his cage somewhere around June just in time for the finals. Yikes.
When Jaromir Jagr came back to the NHL, he picked his team by choosing the GM which would pledge his bank account enough money and would be willing to play cat and mouse with him, but Jagr didn't come back to score goals apparently. Per Jagr in an interview he is quoted as saying "At my age [39], it doesn’t matter if I score. If the team wins and the lines score, that makes me happy. We got scoring chances. But it comes in cycles." Good to know the Flyers won the bidding war for the non-scoring forward.
The Zamboni driver from the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2004 Cup win is auctioning off his ring on ebay, in pursuit to raise money to drive around the world. Yes drive. About those bodies of water in between countries....
Every sport has their way of celebrating a great play. Football players make up crazy end zone dances, tennis players often fall to their knees, but hockey players love themselves some hugs. All you need is at least one other person, but the more guys that can get in on it the more joyous the occasion can be. Harrison Mooney wrote this awesome piece profiling hugs from this young season.
Down Goes Brown is a hilarious blog and up to their old tricks with this post about MLB vs NHL in honor the World Series that begins tomorrow. Too bad that unless you live in Texas or St.Louis, you probably won't be tuning in to the series.
Finally Rick Rypien was sadly one of the many hockey players to die this past summer and most people didn't know much about him, except he worked his way up and had battled mental illness. His former Canuck teammate Kevin Bieksa opens up about who Rypien really was on and off the ice. Very touching and it's nice to know he wasn't alone.
So the Pens minus $25million dollars worth of players (give or take) square off against the Wild tonight. If they can make it through this game without an injury or suspension, I will call this game a success. Wins and losses, need not apply.
Seriously though, head over to nhl.com and see the Kris Letang boarding video suspension. Shanahan dropped the hammer on Letang for 2 games. There's tons of chatter as to whether or not he deserves to be suspended but it's done with and not as if we can get the ruling overturned. As of 10am this morning the Penguins knew some sort of disiclpline was coming down because they recalled Brian Strait from WBS who just happens to be a d-man to meet them across the country for tonight's game. No way were they flying him to Minnesota just for the hell of it.
Who knew the first Penguin to feel the wrath of Shanahan would be Tanger? (If you guessed correctly you should be entitled to the $37k he is forfeiting for those 2 games.) Anyways, with Letang now suspended and Crosby, Malkin, Jeffrey, Orpik and Kennedy all tending to various aches and pains, there's somewhere in the ballpark of $25million unable to dress for games. Maybe this means part 2 of the season will be excellent because they are doing the opposite of last season. Of course that means Fleury will be having a mental breakdown in his cage somewhere around June just in time for the finals. Yikes.
When Jaromir Jagr came back to the NHL, he picked his team by choosing the GM which would pledge his bank account enough money and would be willing to play cat and mouse with him, but Jagr didn't come back to score goals apparently. Per Jagr in an interview he is quoted as saying "At my age [39], it doesn’t matter if I score. If the team wins and the lines score, that makes me happy. We got scoring chances. But it comes in cycles." Good to know the Flyers won the bidding war for the non-scoring forward.
The Zamboni driver from the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2004 Cup win is auctioning off his ring on ebay, in pursuit to raise money to drive around the world. Yes drive. About those bodies of water in between countries....
Every sport has their way of celebrating a great play. Football players make up crazy end zone dances, tennis players often fall to their knees, but hockey players love themselves some hugs. All you need is at least one other person, but the more guys that can get in on it the more joyous the occasion can be. Harrison Mooney wrote this awesome piece profiling hugs from this young season.
Down Goes Brown is a hilarious blog and up to their old tricks with this post about MLB vs NHL in honor the World Series that begins tomorrow. Too bad that unless you live in Texas or St.Louis, you probably won't be tuning in to the series.
Finally Rick Rypien was sadly one of the many hockey players to die this past summer and most people didn't know much about him, except he worked his way up and had battled mental illness. His former Canuck teammate Kevin Bieksa opens up about who Rypien really was on and off the ice. Very touching and it's nice to know he wasn't alone.
So the Pens minus $25million dollars worth of players (give or take) square off against the Wild tonight. If they can make it through this game without an injury or suspension, I will call this game a success. Wins and losses, need not apply.
Friday, October 14, 2011
"Awareness Crap"
This might be my new favorite phrase. "Awareness crap" was brought to us by our friend Brooks Laich of the Capitals. Apparently he's taken the stand of not enjoying the concept of "being babysat" in a quiet room with a doctor if you possibly suffer a concussion during a game. That's sweet of him to be a big boy, but maybe others like this protocol. Or maybe he needs to be knocked out to further understand what the league is doing by making you sit in a quiet room to readjust and evaluate yourself. Whatever. If you care to read more of his feisty opinion you can do so here.
Speaking of the Capitals they won in OT over the Penguins. And without some major DRAMA. Jay Beagle and Aaron Asham had it out. Asham said post game he regrets his actions after the fight. Seriously the most drama of this fight was how he acted after. I accept his apology since he was rather stupid and seemed to have realized it immediately. But at the same time, as Laich said in the ESPN article "We accept that there's going to be dangers when we play this game and you know that every night you get dressed." Moving on.
The Islanders have a $4.5 million dollar goalie that is currently the 3rd in line due to a concussion. I'm serious. Rick DiPietro has a concussion which he sustained in practice. You can't make this stuff up. Here's the major list of injures he's sustained....
Hip surgery: 9 games
Knee surgery: 60 games
Swollen right knee: 41 games
Various knee injuries: 36 games
Lower body injury: 1 game
Groin: 13 games
Neck injury: 2 games
Concussion: 1 game
Personal reasons: 3 games
Flu: 2 games
Headache: 8 games
Cracked Orbital Bone: 21 games
(swiped from the article here)
I can't even fathom how he gets out of the bed in the morning and he only JUST TURNED 30. Oh My God.
Finally if you were a rioter after Vancouver lost, you can get your nails or hair did for free if you agree to turn yourself in. This topic does not deserve anymore words or fame than its already managed so read what ESPN has to say on it.
Speaking of the Capitals they won in OT over the Penguins. And without some major DRAMA. Jay Beagle and Aaron Asham had it out. Asham said post game he regrets his actions after the fight. Seriously the most drama of this fight was how he acted after. I accept his apology since he was rather stupid and seemed to have realized it immediately. But at the same time, as Laich said in the ESPN article "We accept that there's going to be dangers when we play this game and you know that every night you get dressed." Moving on.
The Islanders have a $4.5 million dollar goalie that is currently the 3rd in line due to a concussion. I'm serious. Rick DiPietro has a concussion which he sustained in practice. You can't make this stuff up. Here's the major list of injures he's sustained....
Hip surgery: 9 games
Knee surgery: 60 games
Swollen right knee: 41 games
Various knee injuries: 36 games
Lower body injury: 1 game
Groin: 13 games
Neck injury: 2 games
Concussion: 1 game
Personal reasons: 3 games
Flu: 2 games
Headache: 8 games
Cracked Orbital Bone: 21 games
(swiped from the article here)
I can't even fathom how he gets out of the bed in the morning and he only JUST TURNED 30. Oh My God.
Finally if you were a rioter after Vancouver lost, you can get your nails or hair did for free if you agree to turn yourself in. This topic does not deserve anymore words or fame than its already managed so read what ESPN has to say on it.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Today's Date is Important for Many Reasons
It's Thursday October 13. This is vaguely important to my daily life since I sign papers all day at work and our system messed up majorly deciding to print the date as the 11th and 12th with no rhyme or reason. Talk about confusing. Today is also important because Sidney Crosby was cleared for full contact practice for the first time since his concussion. Want to know how the world found out?
The Pens tweeted a picture of him wearing a black helmet saying all the guys are wearing black helmets. Subtle. Much classier than Jeremy Roenick's rant about Crosby and his concussion coverage. (To be fair, he is right it was getting a bit wacky but the NHL is still not as big as the NFL or MLB and they need a player like Crosby.)
After their morning practice, Disco Dan has a media presser (shocking) and they questioned him about Crosby's return to full contact (even more shocking). Since they have a tough schedule for the next 2 weeks with lots of games and travel, practices are less intense and therefore have less contact. Therefore getting Crosby contact might have to be more forced. The man for the job in Bylsma's eyes: Ben Lovejoy. Ya know the one that reads to school children in his downtime....
"We’ve joked about it. Have you ever seen Ben Lovejoy in the morning skate on the penalty kill? That’ll be enough. Ben never stopped going when Sid was healthy. Sid and him always had battles as long as Ben’s been out there. So we’ll just put him on penalty kill during our morning skate and that should be enough for Ben to play 100 percent and give him some contact. I think Sid’s the type of player that he instigates contact. He’ll do something that will warrant that from a player. He’ll go out and do something, I don’t think anyone has to worry about that. There’ll be some jossling and some hitting going on, and during training camp when he’s been healthy there’s been jossling with a player or the ire’s gotten both guys, and that will happen again just because of the way Sidney competes. He’ll go after someone or go to the net. He’ll do something and there’ll be some contact there during the normal course of events." -Bylsma
So there ya go. Lovejoy is the man or Sid will cause someone to hit him. Totally normal. I've also seen Lovejoy knock a guy high into the glass when in Wilkes-Barre due to the power of his hit. I think Lovejoy is a fine choice.
The Penguins also resigned Chris Kunitz to a 2 year deal that begins next season. Another great signing by Ray Shero. When your over age 30 Shero is a 2 year type of guy and Kunitz knew that going in. He was happy with that wanted to stick around. He also admitted that having key players like Crosby, Geno and Staal like him as a person and a player helps.
Malkin after sitting out a practice is back in the lineup tonight. He and Alex Ovechkin did a ceremonial puck drop for the KHL's Lokomovtiv team that died in the plane crash. The league has been raising money for the families by selling bracelets at games. Game worn jersey's that have special patches in memorium are also going to be auctioned off. If Malkin wasn't in the lineup, he still would have been a part of the puck drop as he and Ovi were two of the key Russian NHLer's to work on this benefit. Very nice gesture by the league and players.
Realignment is the hot issue and is only going to heat up even more as December approaches (ekkkk). My head is spinning from all the options but if you have the brain capacity to attempt viewing any of them, here ya go. Legendary reporter Bob McKenzie actually gives you a bathroom break in his article, it's that long and intense. This one is a bit shorter and Puck Daddy to the rescue for the cliff notes edition!!
Au revoir for now
The Pens tweeted a picture of him wearing a black helmet saying all the guys are wearing black helmets. Subtle. Much classier than Jeremy Roenick's rant about Crosby and his concussion coverage. (To be fair, he is right it was getting a bit wacky but the NHL is still not as big as the NFL or MLB and they need a player like Crosby.)
After their morning practice, Disco Dan has a media presser (shocking) and they questioned him about Crosby's return to full contact (even more shocking). Since they have a tough schedule for the next 2 weeks with lots of games and travel, practices are less intense and therefore have less contact. Therefore getting Crosby contact might have to be more forced. The man for the job in Bylsma's eyes: Ben Lovejoy. Ya know the one that reads to school children in his downtime....
"We’ve joked about it. Have you ever seen Ben Lovejoy in the morning skate on the penalty kill? That’ll be enough. Ben never stopped going when Sid was healthy. Sid and him always had battles as long as Ben’s been out there. So we’ll just put him on penalty kill during our morning skate and that should be enough for Ben to play 100 percent and give him some contact. I think Sid’s the type of player that he instigates contact. He’ll do something that will warrant that from a player. He’ll go out and do something, I don’t think anyone has to worry about that. There’ll be some jossling and some hitting going on, and during training camp when he’s been healthy there’s been jossling with a player or the ire’s gotten both guys, and that will happen again just because of the way Sidney competes. He’ll go after someone or go to the net. He’ll do something and there’ll be some contact there during the normal course of events." -Bylsma
So there ya go. Lovejoy is the man or Sid will cause someone to hit him. Totally normal. I've also seen Lovejoy knock a guy high into the glass when in Wilkes-Barre due to the power of his hit. I think Lovejoy is a fine choice.
The Penguins also resigned Chris Kunitz to a 2 year deal that begins next season. Another great signing by Ray Shero. When your over age 30 Shero is a 2 year type of guy and Kunitz knew that going in. He was happy with that wanted to stick around. He also admitted that having key players like Crosby, Geno and Staal like him as a person and a player helps.
Malkin after sitting out a practice is back in the lineup tonight. He and Alex Ovechkin did a ceremonial puck drop for the KHL's Lokomovtiv team that died in the plane crash. The league has been raising money for the families by selling bracelets at games. Game worn jersey's that have special patches in memorium are also going to be auctioned off. If Malkin wasn't in the lineup, he still would have been a part of the puck drop as he and Ovi were two of the key Russian NHLer's to work on this benefit. Very nice gesture by the league and players.
Realignment is the hot issue and is only going to heat up even more as December approaches (ekkkk). My head is spinning from all the options but if you have the brain capacity to attempt viewing any of them, here ya go. Legendary reporter Bob McKenzie actually gives you a bathroom break in his article, it's that long and intense. This one is a bit shorter and Puck Daddy to the rescue for the cliff notes edition!!
Au revoir for now
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tis the Season for Hockey
Before each season begins, people often make their picks for who will rule the standings and who will tank based on changes from the off-season and injuries. Someone forgot to mention to everyone on planet earth that moving the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg wouldn't change who they are at the core. They are still looking like the Thrashers of yesterday with a new logo and name slapped on them. At least the moving trucks did in fact lose those ugly ATL jerseys on the long ride up north. Hopefully someone in the front office will wake up and make some type of personnel change by the trade deadline. Of course the people of Winnipeg are so damn excited they have a hockey team of their own again, they might not notice if they finish in the bottom of the standings a la the Thrashers of yesteryear.
Moving on. Goalie issues were a hot topic this off season and the Phoenix Coyotes lost Ilya Bryzgalov (to Philly and it's parks) and in turn named Mike Smith the starting goalie for opening night. No pressure since the teams current owner is the league and want to find a buyer like yesterday. Since there was no pressure, he let 6 goals in. Of course there was 52 shots on him since the entire team in front of him forgot the season began. Can't blame it all on the goalie. They can only go up from here. I think. I hope.
And in other goalie news, Islands long-term investment Rick DiPietro isn't starting the season. When he does start that season, that will be news. If he ever plays half a season, the Islanders might feel semi-good about having signed him till he retires and enough cash to sink the Titanic. In the meantime one of the underpaid and over worked backups will start. I think DiPietro technically could be considered the best paid backup goalie. Ever.
Coming back from season ending knee surgery, the Devils' Zach Parise made his mark known scoring 2 goals and trying to right the ship of the Devils and not begin this season like last.Brad Richards also got his first goal for the NY Rangers, showing everyone exactly why he was the prized free agent this off season.
Jordan Staal is having hydration issues per the Penguins, which means what exactly?! The next day it was reported his foot might be tweaked. Fancy way of hiding something or throwing people off their scent? Maybe, maybe not. The Penguins are like the international men of mystery at times. The newest rumor is Crosby should be cleared this week for contact after meeting with the doctors. After he's cleared for contact, I assume he will presume his mission of destroying NHL records which was abruptly ended thanks to David Steckel knocking him out in the Winter Classic.He's been on the bench for 10 months now, the longest time off the ice since he learned to skate (assuming here but it seems like it would be accurate). I'd guess nothing would make him happier than coming back better than ever.
Finally imagine one day your the Captain of the Buffalo Sabres and a few seasons later your the oldest player on an ECHL team. This is the life of Craig Rivet. After spending the last season in Columbus with the Blue Jackets, he made the choice to play for the Elmira Jackals (ECHL team names are strange to say the least) and they have welcomed him with open arms. At least he made the decision himself, but my god. Going from the top-tier in US hockey to basically playing with 18 year old kids that are trying to make a name for themselves. At least he will be a wealth of knowledge for them, like their own skating encyclopedia.
BTW, it's only Monday and I'm ready for the weekend. Going to be a longgggg week. Yikess
Moving on. Goalie issues were a hot topic this off season and the Phoenix Coyotes lost Ilya Bryzgalov (to Philly and it's parks) and in turn named Mike Smith the starting goalie for opening night. No pressure since the teams current owner is the league and want to find a buyer like yesterday. Since there was no pressure, he let 6 goals in. Of course there was 52 shots on him since the entire team in front of him forgot the season began. Can't blame it all on the goalie. They can only go up from here. I think. I hope.
And in other goalie news, Islands long-term investment Rick DiPietro isn't starting the season. When he does start that season, that will be news. If he ever plays half a season, the Islanders might feel semi-good about having signed him till he retires and enough cash to sink the Titanic. In the meantime one of the underpaid and over worked backups will start. I think DiPietro technically could be considered the best paid backup goalie. Ever.
Coming back from season ending knee surgery, the Devils' Zach Parise made his mark known scoring 2 goals and trying to right the ship of the Devils and not begin this season like last.Brad Richards also got his first goal for the NY Rangers, showing everyone exactly why he was the prized free agent this off season.
Jordan Staal is having hydration issues per the Penguins, which means what exactly?! The next day it was reported his foot might be tweaked. Fancy way of hiding something or throwing people off their scent? Maybe, maybe not. The Penguins are like the international men of mystery at times. The newest rumor is Crosby should be cleared this week for contact after meeting with the doctors. After he's cleared for contact, I assume he will presume his mission of destroying NHL records which was abruptly ended thanks to David Steckel knocking him out in the Winter Classic.He's been on the bench for 10 months now, the longest time off the ice since he learned to skate (assuming here but it seems like it would be accurate). I'd guess nothing would make him happier than coming back better than ever.
Finally imagine one day your the Captain of the Buffalo Sabres and a few seasons later your the oldest player on an ECHL team. This is the life of Craig Rivet. After spending the last season in Columbus with the Blue Jackets, he made the choice to play for the Elmira Jackals (ECHL team names are strange to say the least) and they have welcomed him with open arms. At least he made the decision himself, but my god. Going from the top-tier in US hockey to basically playing with 18 year old kids that are trying to make a name for themselves. At least he will be a wealth of knowledge for them, like their own skating encyclopedia.
BTW, it's only Monday and I'm ready for the weekend. Going to be a longgggg week. Yikess
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Off Season Memories
Since we can now count down in hours instead of days till the first puck drops on the 2011-2012 NHL season, a reflection on the off season that was is in order. From concussion-gate to retirements to “Shananban-ing 101” it’s been a unique off season for sure.
Sadly this off season saw the loss of more players than ever before. Starting with a lethal mixture of pills and alcohol that lead to the accidental overdose of NY Ranger Derek Boogaard and ending with the loss of the KHL’s Lokomotiv team due to a plane crash. In between we lost Rick Rypien who finally seemed to have gained control of his depression and was looking forward to starting over with the Jets, and Wade Belak, who was just days away from appearing on the CBC’s Skating with the Stars. Former Assistant Coach to the Detroit Red Wings, Brad McCrimmon, had just taken the job as head coach of the Lokomotiv earlier this off season and was on his way to his first KHL game with the team when the plane crashed. Many of the players on the plane had a connection to the NHL in various ways, being former stars while others where just young kids drafted and not ready to make the jump yet.
The Atlanta Thrashers played their last game unceremoniously and seemed to have disappeared from Atlanta like no one knew they were even in town. The people of Winnipeg welcomed them with open arms and christened them the new Winnipeg Jets. After a few details were sorted out (like how Bobby Hull’s retired number 9 could actually be worn again) they played in front of a sold out crowd to begin the pre-season. Now if they could find enough warm clothes, they might be onto something.
Mark Recchi won the Cup one last time and decided to hang up his skates while Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings decided he was still God like and enjoys the game too much to retire. While Mike Modano signed with Dallas for a day to retire as a Star, Jaromir Jagr spurned the Penguins and Red Wings and signed with the Flyers, opening a new can of worms since ‘it wasn’t about the money’. In case the Flyers wanted to give the Penguins anymore motivation, they lured Max Talbot away which gave Evgeni Malkin more fuel to his fire and show the league in the pre-season the Conn Smythe winning Malkin of ’09 is back and better than ever.
Concussions still ruled the headlines and Sidney Crosby has kept his recovery carefully guarded. It seems he’s further along than most will let on, but 10 months later he’s still not cleared for contact. Many believe the Penguins are using Marc Savard as a model of what not to do. Savard rushed back too quickly and it’s looking like he played his last game. Thankfully the Bruins were able to petition to have his name on the Cup and managed to bring back almost their entire Cup winning team. Can they repeat is the question? The Capitals made their biggest off season moves in goal, but many believe they will still choke in the playoffs, as it is their tradition.
The NY Rangers named Ryan Callahan captain (finally) and won the golden prize in free agency that goes by the name of Brad Richards. They also decided they had enough of the Sean Avery show and have sent him to Connecticut since the entire league hates him and passed on gaining the NHL’s #1 pest. The Devils found a coach to named a new captain in Zach Parise. Hopefully they try to not repeat last season since they fired their coach by the holiday and traded their captain by the deadline. Baby steps for the Devils.
The Phoenix Coyotes are STILL owned by the league after a number of failed suitors. I wonder if people can start adopting them since finding them an owner who the City of Glendale likes might be as a hard as getting into The White House. Meanwhile the Dallas Stars declared bankruptcy in Delaware (don’t ask) and are in line to have new owners by November. Interesting. This time next year, I anticipate the Coyotes having had an owner for a day before filing for an annulment just because. Maybe they can send Paul Bissonnette to Vegas for All-Star break with a bag of cash to quadruple and he can buy the team himself. I mean he’s going to Vegas anyway.
This will also be the last season with the current divisions. Most likely when they move the Jets to the north, everyone will be shuffled. Can’t wait to hear how this goes because someone is still going to be upset. Ahmm Red Wings, I’m talking about you.
Finally Brendan Shanahan took over Colin Campbell’s Wheel of Justice for discipline in favor of fair and balanced rulings. Just from the preseason alone we have taught the players what is legal and illegal thanks to some boring videos breaking down each rule. Maybe the guys should be required to attend college for a year so we can be sure they can read their copies of the CBA BEFORE stepping onto the ice. Thankfully the video’s in slow motion seem to making an impact so hopefully we never have another person saying maybe Crosby should retire at the ripe age of 24 due to a concussion.
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