Liam's Lament

The cyclical nature of sports is the perfect teeter totter. You go up – you go down. Sometimes you stay in the middle long enough, like the St. Louis Blues for almost three decades but in the end you usually go up or down. After a couple of inspired Cup runs from East especially the South East division, notably Tampa Bay in 2004 and Carolina after the lockout in 2006 the West is awake and really flexing it’s muscles.

Anaheim looked like the most dominant force in hockey last season and seemingly built for at least a two to three year run mind you the loss of several foot soldiers, Dustin Penner, Shawn Thornton and the delay in getting Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer back clearly played a factor in their quick demise at the hands of the Stars mind you coupled with their undisciplined play especially early in games the Ducks set themselves up for a fall from grace. Detroit is a different breed. With the Ducks you have a franchise that took a small nucleus from a Cup run in ’03 and translated that into success four year’s later. The Wings are two wins away as of this writing from a fourth Cup in the past eleven seasons, ten if you minus the lockout. That is about as close as we’ll see to a dynasty right now.

The Wings play with extreme discipline; they are dedicated shot blockers, all of them. Clearly Coach Babcock has preached successfully a defense first philosophy whereby the talent up front particularly Zetterberg and Datsyuk are as adept and committed to their own end and yet are able to dominate offensively. Nashville exposed some weaknesses by being able to establish their fore check whereas the Penguins have not as of yet. The Stars rode the heart and soul of Brendan Morrow and Marty Turco but so rarely do teams who play in those lengthy OT games achieve the ultimate prize. As a result although the Wings were pushed a bit by the Stars and the Predators, they walked on the Avalanche and seem to be in cruise mode again against the Penguins. What does that mean for possibly a repeat trip to at least the final next season? Historically not a lot but with ten players who have Cup rings this franchise who by the way have one of the most successful alumni will rally around those who have not yet tasted a drink out of Lord Stanley, like a Dallas Drake and the Motown tradition continues.

The fine feathered Penguins are more likely feeling tarred and feathered after those first two games. Tough enough to win when you can hardly score let alone get a shot on goal. Kudos’ to Sid the Kid who after two outings was 0 in the +/-, nine shots on net and in game two was 12-9 in the dot, the only Penguin over .500 on face-offs. He has set up almost everybody he’s been on the ice with including the D at least once and has done all but scored himself. He turns 21 in August. I’m curious about the pundits and experts who only a few short weeks and months ago were heaping praise on the next Russian superstar, Gino Malkin now to watch him not only be ineffective but play uninspired and disinterested hockey. He should be sat down, given that rest he wants and watch a game while his spot is taken by an Adam Hall or a Tyler Kennedy. Malkin is a spectacular player but Wayne Gretzky said it best. ‘There are four parts to every season, the pre-season, the regular season, the playoffs and the finals. Each gets more difficult to play especially physically.’ What you have to play through to have success in the post season let alone the finals is a different world that many never get to experience that’s why you absolutely have to leave it all out there every shift. So Gary Roberts threw a few cheap shots. Get over it. If Franzen deems himself fit to play and is medically cleared to do so then he has to take the risks that come with it. I don’t believe he was targeted any more than any other Wing by any of the Penguins; he just happened to be there and had the other sweater on. Will Roberts ever win the Lady Byng, my guess is no but frankly for the better park of his entire career, including right now, he could play on my team any day.

Interesting tidbits if you’re into history at all; the last time Detroit and Pittsburgh pro franchises met in a final was the 1909 World Series when the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in games in a very hard fought baseball final. Honus Wagner of the Pirates and Ty Cobb of the Tigers were the games respective superstars at that time. Although not as old, we think, Chris Chelios then with the Montreal Canadiens lost in the Cup final to Gary Roberts Calgary Flames in 1989. Chelios is having a hard time getting back into the series. Lidstrom and Rafalski dominate the ice time while Brad Stuart and Nikolas Kronwell are the +/- dynamos having been on the ice for all of Detroit’s even strength goals to date.

Last comment, although many names are always missing that was a very solid World Championship. I’ve never been a fan of Ilya Kovlachuk but those were two big goals at opportune times. Canada played text book hockey for two periods and fell asleep a bit in the third in their OT loss to Russia in the gold medal game. And although it's a tournament that routinely does not attract all the big names, even Sweden had twenty-one players say no this time around, the final standings do affect matchups in future events including the Olympics and with their high finish again Canada is ranked number one in International hockey and that ranking will carry over to the Olympics which are being held in Vancouver. This is huge news for Canada. We will not face an equal power house until the quarter-finals at the earliest. Heck of a run for the boys, one loss in 18 games. Steve Yzerman has a lot to be proud of and he and his crew did a hell of a job. And if you don’t think fans here in this city – Ottawa – weren’t watching how Jason Spezza was handled by Ken Hitchcock…..guess again. More on Ottawa’s new coach-to-be next article and more international comments re the top moments in IIHF history.