Wednesday, April 25, 2007

 

What are they doing to our game?

The last time I saw refereeing as inconsistent and out of touch with what I would expect in a game seven of the playoffs was the gold medal contest between the Canadian and American women in 2002 when Canada was whistled for I believe eight straight penalties and something like eleven of twelve in what was the most incompetent, brutal officiating in the history of the sport of hockey. Check that, the three guys who did the World Junior game in Piestany, Czechoslovakia (as it was still called then) on January 1, 1987 were worse.

If that women’s game was the worse then game seven in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Stars has to rank up there. I won’t name the officials, you can find that information on line if you really want to but my beef today is I feel I was deprived of a better game because of the officiating which included among other things – a call where the Dallas player did not even touch the Canuck player, plain to see on replay. A non-call after a Vancouver d-man knocked the net off without any assistance from a Dallas player and a mixed up call where the wrong player was signaled off. Not to mention the penalty to Stu Barnes for ‘tapping’ Trevor Linden on the arm or Joel Lundquist for impeding Henrik Sedin. I know that by the letter of the new NHL law, those stick fouls are supposed to be called all the time. Not some of the time but all the time. I guess I’ll show my age again. To me in a game seven I want to see the players decide the contest not a half dozen power plays to one team in one period that totally changed the flow of the game. Sure I picked Vancouver to win and yes I want as many Canadian teams as possible to advance but not like this. That was embarrassing. The NHL really needs to look at this. The officials are instructed to call the game a certain way and it’s my belief that with this mandate they have become somewhat over zealous. I don’t think the referees are any better or worse than compared to 20-30 years ago but I do believe that with our continued push for an anti-septic league we are putting the cart before the horse. We have games like this aforementioned contest where some of the most inconsequential contact is called and yet other times when cheap shots, these hits to the head, are deemed totally acceptable in the game. I just don’t get it. It’s brutal to watch and it’s made the referee’s the show not the game. No good.

As for the Canuck victory, what is Trevor Linden drinking? Whatever it is figure out a way to bottle it. Is this 2007 or 1994? Was he flying. Incredible game by Linden and it was very appropriate that he scored the game winner. I also think the critics of Marty Turco can put a sock in it. His play was exceptional especially in the last four games and especially in game seven given how many power plays he had to face. That’s a 2-1 game if you take away the empty net markers. I think it all ends here for the Canucks though. I believe Anaheim will shut them down fairly easily. Te games should all be close due to Luongo but I just cannot see Vancouver winning this series. I’ll call Anaheim in five.

San Jose- Detroit should be a beauty. I’ll call the Sharks to prevail in this one in six games. Lidstrom is looking as good as ever so the match up with him on Joe Thornton should be fun to watch. I want to see how Hasek responds in the second round of the post season facing a team that can score unlike Calgary. The other variables of course are the injuries specifically to Holmstrom on Detroit so we’ll see what happens, if he can play or not. I’ll say this; Todd Bertuzzi looked very, very good in those last few games against the Flames but I still think San Jose is to strong.

In the east I’m probably picking with my heart here. The Devils have home ice advantage, they won the season series and they looked very good in the last two games against Tampa Bay. However I feel this is the strongest Ottawa team I’ve ever seen in any post season. The most depth, snipers, well coached although Bryan Murray has his own demons to conquer in terms of second round success, still – I believe the Senators will get ‘er done as my buddy Jeff Cavanaugh is fond of saying. I’ll call Ottawa in six.

There are those in some circles who think the Rangers could be the sleepers of the East if not the entire playoffs. Perhaps. Personally I think they will be over matched against a very determined Buffalo team eager to pick up where it left off in last years post season with all of their injuries. Tim Connolly is looking particularly sharp. I’m concerned a bit about Paul Gaustad missing some action with the severed heel injury. He would be a valuable counterpart to what we’ll see from Sean Avery in this series and Avery has already begun with the pre-game comments so as usual, it makes the first game a beauty to watch. We’ll see what develops. Feel free to email any thoughts on these selections or anything else you’ve read here on my blogs. Gidday.

Liam Maguire
Liam1@ca.inter.net

Friday, April 20, 2007

 

Playoff rivalries alive and well

Oh doctor!! Wow. We’re two thirds of the way through the first round, a little further for some other teams and whammo – have we got it going on. By my count so far in this years post season there have been ten game misconducts, twelve misconducts, eighteen fighting majors, two suspensions already and one match penalty for attempt to injure. No question those media pundits know what they’re talking about every year when they say there’s no fighting in the playoffs. You think these guys came to play this year? Well other than Atlanta. Although they did play much better in game four with two leads that’s still got to be a bitter pill to swallow losing four straight. Other observations so far;

Ottawa-Pittsburgh. Called it in six but the Sens went one better. Game four was the best game of the series. Sydney Crosby was outstanding in my view conversely the shut down duo of Phillips and Volchenkov have been equally impressive. The Pens don’t have the same depth as Ottawa nor are they as tight defensively and those two things have hurt them the most in this series. Gary Roberts did as expected other than emerge victorious against Ottawa. And yes, I’d have to agree that he got away with a few late hits, no doubt about it. In another era that type of play would have been…….ah forget it. I’ll save that for my next appearance on OTR. (Friday April 27)
Daniel Alfredsson was outstanding and I think was Ottawa’s MVP in this series. Now he needs to bring it again in the second round. Ottawa has yet again dispatched a first round opponent rather easily that didn’t reside in the same province as they do. The tone for their second round loss to Buffalo last year was set in game one in Ottawa when they lost 7-6 in overtime blowing a very late lead and subsequently giving the OT marker up early. Personally I don’t think they ever recovered from that loss despite two other defeats coming in the extra frame. Buffalo is out of the picture until the third round at least. That’s good news.

Calgary-Detroit. I was taking it on the chin after two games but once again the Flames have rallied at home. Two huge wins have tied the series. Truthfully I should have looked at that Flame roster from ’04 before my prediction. Look at the guys who are not here from ’04. Martin Gelinas, Shean Donovan, Chris Clark, Chris Simon, Andrew Ference, the Doors – Mike Montadore and Steve Commodore. All gritty, hard nosed guys who really filled a role in ’04. I probably should have given this series more thought other than assuming Jarome Iginla would be able to carry the mail and set the table for the boys. Can you imagine if the Flames went into Detroit tomorrow night and stole one? After what everybody said about them at the conclusion of game two. I did call them to upset, I have to stick with it even though winning one in Detroit seems impossibility, we’ll see. That’s why they play the games.

Vancouver-Dallas. Not sure how many of you stayed up for game one but I did. It ended at 3:31am EST. I would not define it as a classic but certainly any game that goes that length of time and now sits as sixth longest all time creates its own history. The fact that Vancouver survived a 5 on 3 in the second OT was amazing even if it was only for thirty-nine seconds. They still killed the rest of the power play anyway. Very impressive as was Luongo through out the overtime. I know a lot of fans and media have put it on Turco to get the job done for Dallas this time around. He’s had a tough go of it and frankly the Canucks right now remind me a lot of Calgary in 2004 especially because of the goaltending. The only problem is what lies ahead of them in the West. That was a huge win for Dallas last night. By my count that was the 42nd time in NHL history a playoff game went into OT 0-0. No mid-morning ending this time but for the record, that’s three out of five games ending in OT in this series. I still think the Canucks emerge as winners.

Anaheim-Minnesota. At least the Wild did not go down with out a fight. Literally. One of the more comical things, Derek Boogaard and Teemu Selanne getting into it verbally at the end of game four and then the Boogaard-Parros mini-scrum prior to game five, ah, the memories. Twenty years ago the Habs and the Flyers engaged in a pre game brawl for the ages. In fact Eddie “Boxcar” Hospodar was suspended for the remainder of the playoffs for his role in the fracas. Great stuff though. I called it to go the distance but the Wild just couldn’t deliver. When’s hunting season? Those ducks look strong.

NY Rangers-Atlanta. Bob Hartley is one of the few current coaches with a Cup ring but he hardly showed that expertise. I don’t think it’s the fact that Tom Renney out coached Hartley but it appears as if Hartley reacted poorly to certain situations, case in point the Thrashers goaltending dilemma and secondly, you absolutely have to figure out a way to get your big guns going. The latter point is certainly more problematic given that two of them, Tkachuk and Hossa are notorious non-performers come playoff time. Do you know that there are still Ottawa fans bemoaning the Hossa-Heatley deal and who claim Martin Havlat and Chara are two holes Ottawa will never fill? That’s another story for another time. Atlanta made their first foray in to the playoffs. GM Don Waddell has taken extreme heat for the deals to bring in players such as Tkachuk. His neck might be on the line after his team’s quick dismissal on the ice.

San Jose-Nashville. This is the series that I think many people had the hardest time picking a winner. For the second year in a row the Sharks enjoy a 3-1 lead in games with game five poised to go later tonight as I write this. Nashville are a game bunch but Paul Kariya has not looked real sharp. Forsberg has had flashes but you have to deliver. San Jose is getting scoring from a number of different players and obviously so far has used the cheap shots to Jonathan Cheechoo and Steve Bernier as inspiration although their quick returns no doubt helped that. I have called the Sharks to win this series; they appear poised to do so.

Buffalo-Islanders. See ya; it’s over now with the suspension to Sean Hill that’s for sure. What in God’s name was he thinking? I guess in this case as in many others in sports, you don’t think, you look for that edge and unless there’s word of an appeal of some sort it appears as if this suspension will join the ranks of the longest in NHL history sitting at twenty games for failing the NHL’s substance abuse policy. Meanwhile the Sabres just go about their business. I thought the Islanders played one heck of a game the last time out. In fact it was similar to the effort the Pens put out in game four but when the opposition is just that much better it’s tough to get it done. So far so good with my call on this series.

Tampa Bay-New Jersey. Hold on to your hats for game five in this one tonight. The Devils dodged a huge bullet in game four winning in OT. Brodeur has been ordinary at best, with twelve goals allowed in four games. Unheard of. Maybe Patrick Roy’s records are untouchable. These are all playoff markers. Most games by a goalie 247 (Brodeur 157 and counting, in fact Roy’s mark in the overall NHL record not just for goalies)
Most minutes-15209 (Brodeur 9781)
Most shutouts career-23 (Brodeur 21)
Most wins-151 (Brodeur-91 and counting)

Going to be tough to touch some of those. We’ll see, we have not seen the best of Brodeur yet but does he have the best still to bring is the question? If New Jersey loses this series Lou Lamoriello should be chagrined for making yet another late coaching change. More on that later, let’s see how the series goes. Enjoy the action.

Liam Maguire

Monday, April 09, 2007

 

Road to Lord Stanley bypasses Montreal and Toronto

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum. Perhaps if the Habs were still playing in the Forum talk of missing five of the last eight post seasons would be treated with the same disdain as the left wingers in the media do about fighting in hockey. Don’t worry folks, I’m as tired of that debate as you are and with the post season upon us meaning there will be no more than fifteen or twenty fighting majors, we should be able to avoid this examination for another few months.
As for my predictions last week, I guess you could say I got it half right. I thought Montreal would crash and burn because they just do not have enough in the tank five on five and as good as young Halak was in net down the stretch I didn’t think he’d be able to stem the tide in New York against the Rangers. Unfortunately his team couldn’t score anyway, other than Souray five on three so not enough goals regardless. Then on Saturday five goals should have been almost a guarantee to win the game however Toronto’s relentless power play attack – which benefited from their back-to-back five on three’s, allowed them back in the game. The critics who are more likely revisionists, who have been second guessing Montreal’s decision to start Huet need to shake their heads. His play was outstanding in the first period and yes, he did allow one bad goal but Halak allowed a bad one in New York and Huet was ready to go despite only playing the third period against the Rangers. What are you going to do? At the end of it all they were a day late and a puck short.
For the Leafs that had to be the most agonizing way to watch yourself be eliminated in the history of the NHL. It would have to rank right up there if not surpass the Chicago Black Hawks scoring five goals into an empty net on route to a 10-2 win over Montreal on the last day of the regular season in 1970 to eliminate Montreal from the post season. The Habs needed to score five goals to make the playoffs, no matter how many they allowed. Goals for was the number one tie breaker in those days and when beating Chicago did not become an option the only thing coach Claude Ruel could do was continually pull his goalie Rogie Vachon. Needless to say that rule was changed right after that season. To think that the Leafs got another lease on life with that last second goal by New Jersey, unbelievable, it really was, to watch that. You’d have to think it was destiny for Toronto to get in but the dreaded shootout raised its ugly head as we all feared. Wade Dubielewicz, try spelling that one, the Invermere, B.C. kid might want to cancel any sight seeing tours in TO anytime soon. I can only imagine the talk shows in Hog town today, actually for most of the rest of this week if not longer. I certainly felt that Toronto would get it done against the Islanders last Thursday night but C’est la vie – which is the tune the Habs were singing as well.
For our New York brethren, take a bow Garth Snow, Ted Nolan and Co. The much maligned franchise got back in the post season with an unlikely set of circumstances but that’s why they play the games. The Isles missed the playoffs last year but were in three straight years prior but losing in the first round each time much like they will this time around. And with that we’ll take our run at the first round match ups.
The Sabres will feast on the Isles, very quick I think, four, five at the most.I believe Ottawa will prevail over Pittsburgh which given that I am writing this in Ottawa will go a long way to quelling the Gary Roberts no-deal to Ottawa banter which was all the rage after the trade deadline. The fact that Ottawa is playing the team that not only picked up Roberts but has Crosby et al. is the perfect opening series for this team as it flies under the radar big time for the first time since 1998.I’m calling the Rangers over the Thrashers in six and New Jersey over Tampa Bay in five games.
Out west, hold on here, let me just roll my dice…… right, it says here that Calgary will upset Detroit in six games. I like Vancouver over Dallas in six, maybe even five. The next two should just be as good as it gets. My heart is calling Minnesota over Anaheim but I can’t go against the dynamic duo on D for the Ducks just yet. So I’ll call Anaheim over the Wild in seven. Nashville and San Jose should be priceless and I can hardly wait to watch this one. Tough call, a coin flip but I’m calling the Sharks to get ‘er done, again in seven games. So, we’ll see how this plays out. What will be the first controversy of these playoffs? Oh wait, I’ve got the FAN 590 on line right now and there’s a call from Bob on the 401……………………………..sorry folks, it wasn’t much. He’d like Pat Quinn as GM, Red Kelly’s pyramids under the home bench all season, ‘Fifty Mission Cap’ as the opening song when the players hit the ice and a huge portrait of Harold Ballard to hang in the one end of the rink much like the shot of the Queen that used to hang at Maple Leaf Gardens. I’m sure they’ll get right on that. Buckle up the chin strap, its playoff time.
Liam Maguire

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

 

Playoff races finally edging out fighting in hockey

Keep those cards and letters coming folks. Lots of reaction via email from the last few blogs that have appeared here and I appreciate everybody’s time and effort to relay their opinion. Fortunately I would say for hockey’s sake, the tight playoff races, especially for a spot in the dance in the East have slowly taken over the tedious pulpit pounding diatribes on fighting emanating from Mt. TSN among other places.

In fact the irony which is not lost on me was listening and reading many accounts of the New York Ranger victory over Toronto this past Sunday night, ( April 1) and hearing how Sean Avery picked up a ‘Gordie Howe’, with his two goals, one assist and a fight. The Howe reference to anybody who does not know – meaning any player who scores has an assist and a scrap in the same game gets glorified or certainly at the very least, identified as having accomplished said feat. I also thought how ironic that Craig Conroy would identify Jarome Iginla’s first minute fight with Willie Mitchell during Saturday’s victory for his Calgary Flames over the Vancouver Canucks as ‘setting the table’ for the rest of the period and for what turned out to be a Calgary victory. How ironic. A player espousing the virtue of a teammate dropping the gloves, where is the vilification? Harry Neale said it best years ago. “They better get fighting out of this league or they will have to build bigger rinks.”

Here’s the really upsetting element of all of the violence talk. To the hand wringers out there and I liken all of you to the reporter who had the misfortune to cover the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 – you know the famous quote as the massive air ship is coming down to the ground at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, “oh the humanity, the humanity,” that quote. I picture most of you uttering this anytime somebody throws a punch in an NHL game. What is really upsetting to me is where the hell were all of you after Ville Nieminen of the St. Louis Blues rammed Detroit’s Brett Lebda face first into the stanchion at the end boards not only knocking Lebda out of the game but out of the next several games? Lebda suffered a concussion and was carried off the ice on a stretcher, just like Stephane Robidas, just like Todd Fedoruk. Where were the letters, the indignation, the concern, the angst? Not one single email to me from anybody and I typically get 30-40 a day, not one comment on this atrocity. Incidentally Lebda is the third Red Wing player to sustain a concussion this season because of a hit to the head. Jason Williams who is now with Chicago and Johan Franzen were the other two. That’s just this one team. That’s a night’s work for Ryan Hollweg.

Anyway folks, you get my drift. And the other really funny part of this whole debate is reading the comments in the letters-to-the-editor sections of our dailies here in Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun. They are from parents, current and past minor hockey coaches, fans, et al. Yep, nobody can seem to understand that if Jarome Iginla, a player anybody would love to have on their team, does not fight Willie Mitchell early in their game last Saturday night that you do in fact end up with a more vicious, back stabbing game. Some of you people just can’t seem to get that through your heads. Incidentally, there have been 28 fights in the NHL since Mark Bell KO’d Jon Sim on March 21st. There has been nary a word about any of them and not an injury to be found. I can’t figure you people out. And please, don’t try and equate what happens in the pro game to little Johnny’s Novice House C game on Saturday morning at 7am. If you as a coach, and I’m six years in as a minor hockey coach, if you cannot teach your children how to play the game even after they may have witnessed whatever from the night before in the NHL, if you cannot differentiate on the ice during your practices you don’t deserve to be a minor hockey coach. What shameful, pitiful remarks from anybody who either was or is a minor hockey coach. “I don’t see where fighting is in our manuals, I don’t see where we’re suppose to teach our kids how to fight.” Grow up you idiots. You sound like you just got your pants pulled down in the school yard and while you’re waiting for the teacher you’re sucking your thumb crying your eyes out. Caterwauling bitches. Please get as upset with the rest of the atrocities that are prevalent in the game today if you hope to garner even one shred of respect for your comments.


It says here that my Habs will not make it to the dance this year. I think they pick up two of four points against Boston and the Rangers while the Leafs pick up all four available against the Flyers and the Islanders and then hold off Montreal with an empty net goal to cement the win on Saturday night. We’ll see how I’ve called it in next week’s blog.

As for my friend Claude Julien who was unceremoniously dumped by the Lou Lamoriello, GM of the New Jersey Devils, that’s a tough one to swallow. One of the first times I ever heard of this happening so late in the year was when Phil Esposito replaced Michel Bergeron with the Rangers in 1988-89 with two games to go in the regular season but this was an 82 point club, not 102. Still – when you factor in Lou’s resume he will probably get a mulligan on this especially as his own track record of replacing Robbie Ftorek with Larry Robinson in 2000 worked so well. Time will tell. Hang tight for the week, should be one heck of a ride. Gidday.

Liam Maguire

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