Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Champagne at the ready - Can Anaheim close the deal?
Hard to imagine a team playing better in the finals than Anaheim has so far against Ottawa. If you take the last ten Cup winners, Carolina, Tampa Bay, New Jersey, Detroit, Colorado, Jersey again, Dallas, Detroit twice in a row and Colorado again, there have been a lot of great teams but this Duck team at this point is as solid a hockey club as I’ve seen in the past 10-15 years. None of this means any automatic repeat to the finals as we well know but the facts are that this organization were in the final in 2003 and they made the semi’s last year before losing to Edmonton in their roller coaster ride to the final. Many of us are guilty of underestimating Anaheim and to date, after twelve periods against a pretty good Ottawa club, they have been dominating. We’ll see if they can close the deal tonight.
Observations on the series to date. Daniel Alfredsson made a believer out of me with his play through the first three rounds. He and the rest of the crew have struggled through four games in the final albeit they did explode for five goals in game three. Alfredsson’s bone head play at the end of the second period of game four when he shot the puck at Scott Niedermayer was absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for. I don’t feel it takes much away from his fantastic playoff year I just feel it was a very, very stupid thing to do. Players are accustomed to taking a lot of crap on the ice. Some of it leads to suspensions and obviously Anaheim has been dealing with two of them to Chris Pronger. (Incidentally there is no rule that a second suspension in the playoffs sees an increase in the number of games missed. It’s still at the discretion of the leagues disciplinarian) Mark Messier gets a free ride in NHL history and he ran guys or threw cheap shots that rank right up there as have many captains in the past however shooting the puck at somebody is in my view one of the worst things you can do. I don’t know what it is – I’ve been on the receiving end of many a head shot but I only had the puck fired at me once and I wanted to decapitate the guy. It’s an incendiary move akin to spitting in my books. Compounding the problem is I also believe Anaheim used this as a rallying cry for the third period of a 2-2 game in Ottawa’s barn after a period of hockey that was ironically one of Ottawa’s worst versus one of their best in period number one. Go figure.
Alfredsson answered a lot of critics with his play through three rounds especially those who feel perhaps he should step aside as captain or have the C removed for him. With that one shot I feel he has opened up that debate again. We’ll revisit this after the series is over, maybe the Senators are poised for a ’42 Leafs type comeback. You never know.
Certainly the play of other members of the Senators will be examined closely depending on the final outcome of this series. Wade Redden has largely struggled and others on Ottawa have had their problems. If it’s revealed that some of these guys were playing with injuries at the conclusion of the playoffs then people should back off with their fire and brimstone comments. Joe Thornton was not supported by the GM of the Boston Bruins Mike O’Connell, in 2004. O’Connell and many Bruin faithful were livid after Boston blew a 3-1 lead against Montreal and lost in a preliminary round match. It was revealed that Thornton had been playing with a flak jacket to protect badly bruised ribs. The guy could hardly breathe and yet he suited up and gave it his best which placated the fans just not O’Connell for some reason. San Jose has been thankful ever since . Boom-Boom Geoffrion cut a cast off his arm in 1961 to try and help Montreal against Chicago in the semi-finals, Bobby Baun had a broken ankle frozen in game six of the 1964 finals and came back to score the winner forcing a game seven which his Toronto Maple Leafs won. Players will do anything to be in the lineup and this could be the case with a couple of the Ottawa guys. If not, if there are no health issues then perhaps it’s time to take a long look at Mr. Redden and his six million dollar plus salary. Call it the Larry Murphy syndrome or whatever you want but sometimes, after a period of time it’s just the right move to look elsewhere and Reddens play has been anything but up to par for a front line D-man. Again, as with Alfredsson, let’s see how the series end.
If the Cup is awarded tonight my pick for the Conn Smythe is Scott Niedermayer. He is remarkable. Man how we could have used him in last years Olympics. He has won a Memorial Cup, a World Junior championship, a World Championship, three Stanley Cups and an Olympic gold medal. He took less money and went to a team off the beaten NHL path to have a chance to play with his brother. You have to love that kind of stuff. Some might be surprised to learn this would be his first Conn Smythe if he was to win it. Claude Lemieux copped the award during the Devils first Cup win in 1995. Scott Stevens for the second in 2000 and a member of the losing team won it against the Devils in 2003. The team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the players name, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Hockey always comes full circle.
I attended game four at Scotiabank Place. 20500 people, that’s a big crowd. And they were loud. According to various sources, friends and media types, the crowd for game three on the Saturday night were louder and that makes sense with it being on a Saturday as opposed to a Monday but I can tell you this much. Nothing, absolutely nothing I have ever witnessed including the raucous Ottawa crowd which in itself is an oxymoron, nothing compares to the Montreal Forum on May 10, 1979, game seven semi-finals, Montreal-Boston and Guy Lafleur tying that game at 4-4 with a little more than a minute to play. That my friend is still and always will be the loudest I have ever, ever heard a crowd in a hockey rink. Yes I’m biased but given the circumstances and what Lafleur meant to that team at that time, the type of goal it was, slap shot from his favourite position, top of the right circle, man that was something. Boston goalie Gilles Gilbert still has not seen that puck and as God is my witness, the railing shook that night when Lafleur scored. Great moment in hockey. Next week I’ll have a full recap of the finals and more corrections for the NHL media relations department. IE Sydney Crosby is not the youngest captain of all-time? Do you know who is? Drop back in next week to find out.
Liam Maguire
Observations on the series to date. Daniel Alfredsson made a believer out of me with his play through the first three rounds. He and the rest of the crew have struggled through four games in the final albeit they did explode for five goals in game three. Alfredsson’s bone head play at the end of the second period of game four when he shot the puck at Scott Niedermayer was absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for. I don’t feel it takes much away from his fantastic playoff year I just feel it was a very, very stupid thing to do. Players are accustomed to taking a lot of crap on the ice. Some of it leads to suspensions and obviously Anaheim has been dealing with two of them to Chris Pronger. (Incidentally there is no rule that a second suspension in the playoffs sees an increase in the number of games missed. It’s still at the discretion of the leagues disciplinarian) Mark Messier gets a free ride in NHL history and he ran guys or threw cheap shots that rank right up there as have many captains in the past however shooting the puck at somebody is in my view one of the worst things you can do. I don’t know what it is – I’ve been on the receiving end of many a head shot but I only had the puck fired at me once and I wanted to decapitate the guy. It’s an incendiary move akin to spitting in my books. Compounding the problem is I also believe Anaheim used this as a rallying cry for the third period of a 2-2 game in Ottawa’s barn after a period of hockey that was ironically one of Ottawa’s worst versus one of their best in period number one. Go figure.
Alfredsson answered a lot of critics with his play through three rounds especially those who feel perhaps he should step aside as captain or have the C removed for him. With that one shot I feel he has opened up that debate again. We’ll revisit this after the series is over, maybe the Senators are poised for a ’42 Leafs type comeback. You never know.
Certainly the play of other members of the Senators will be examined closely depending on the final outcome of this series. Wade Redden has largely struggled and others on Ottawa have had their problems. If it’s revealed that some of these guys were playing with injuries at the conclusion of the playoffs then people should back off with their fire and brimstone comments. Joe Thornton was not supported by the GM of the Boston Bruins Mike O’Connell, in 2004. O’Connell and many Bruin faithful were livid after Boston blew a 3-1 lead against Montreal and lost in a preliminary round match. It was revealed that Thornton had been playing with a flak jacket to protect badly bruised ribs. The guy could hardly breathe and yet he suited up and gave it his best which placated the fans just not O’Connell for some reason. San Jose has been thankful ever since . Boom-Boom Geoffrion cut a cast off his arm in 1961 to try and help Montreal against Chicago in the semi-finals, Bobby Baun had a broken ankle frozen in game six of the 1964 finals and came back to score the winner forcing a game seven which his Toronto Maple Leafs won. Players will do anything to be in the lineup and this could be the case with a couple of the Ottawa guys. If not, if there are no health issues then perhaps it’s time to take a long look at Mr. Redden and his six million dollar plus salary. Call it the Larry Murphy syndrome or whatever you want but sometimes, after a period of time it’s just the right move to look elsewhere and Reddens play has been anything but up to par for a front line D-man. Again, as with Alfredsson, let’s see how the series end.
If the Cup is awarded tonight my pick for the Conn Smythe is Scott Niedermayer. He is remarkable. Man how we could have used him in last years Olympics. He has won a Memorial Cup, a World Junior championship, a World Championship, three Stanley Cups and an Olympic gold medal. He took less money and went to a team off the beaten NHL path to have a chance to play with his brother. You have to love that kind of stuff. Some might be surprised to learn this would be his first Conn Smythe if he was to win it. Claude Lemieux copped the award during the Devils first Cup win in 1995. Scott Stevens for the second in 2000 and a member of the losing team won it against the Devils in 2003. The team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the players name, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Hockey always comes full circle.
I attended game four at Scotiabank Place. 20500 people, that’s a big crowd. And they were loud. According to various sources, friends and media types, the crowd for game three on the Saturday night were louder and that makes sense with it being on a Saturday as opposed to a Monday but I can tell you this much. Nothing, absolutely nothing I have ever witnessed including the raucous Ottawa crowd which in itself is an oxymoron, nothing compares to the Montreal Forum on May 10, 1979, game seven semi-finals, Montreal-Boston and Guy Lafleur tying that game at 4-4 with a little more than a minute to play. That my friend is still and always will be the loudest I have ever, ever heard a crowd in a hockey rink. Yes I’m biased but given the circumstances and what Lafleur meant to that team at that time, the type of goal it was, slap shot from his favourite position, top of the right circle, man that was something. Boston goalie Gilles Gilbert still has not seen that puck and as God is my witness, the railing shook that night when Lafleur scored. Great moment in hockey. Next week I’ll have a full recap of the finals and more corrections for the NHL media relations department. IE Sydney Crosby is not the youngest captain of all-time? Do you know who is? Drop back in next week to find out.
Liam Maguire
# posted by Liam Maguire @ 10:40 AM 
