Liam's Lament

NHL pre season builds anticipation

2008-10-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

NHL camps opened later this year and even if it had been done by design it’s doubtful the league could have whetted our appetites any more. Whether it’s Chris Chelios in season number twenty-five or Steve Stamkos playing number one this hockey season seems to be filled with more anticipation than in years past.
I’m trying to recall if this is how I feel every year at this time and to an extent that’s the case but there is absolutely no question there are seven things I’m waiting for this year that have not materialized or had the same impact just a few short years ago. In no particular order – actually that’s not true because in honour of all my media brethren who cry like babies when there’s a fight this is exactly where I’m going to start.
1) Wednesday October 15th, Montreal versus Boston. Although there’s a chance they could be in the line up against each other as early as October 1st in an exhibition game I’ve circled the mid-October date as the matchup of the Big Z, Zdeno Chara and Montreal’s first real enforcer in years, Big George Laracque. They dropped the gloves twice last year, roughing minors initially then five for fighting the second time albeit a very mild scrap by their standards. My view is that however it plays out it will be quick with minimal shots landed but I am eagerly anticipating this fight.
2) Speaking of the Habs, Carey Price has been nothing short of spectacular this exhibition season. If he is the heir apparent to the legacy hockey fans, Montreal fans, should know in the next few months and beyond. In their 100th anniversary year this looks to be a very exciting Montreal team and a serious contender in the East.
3) Although he has not garnered the same excitement as Sydney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin , Steve Stamkos is a solid blue chip prospect and playing behind Vinny Lecavalier in Tampa should help insulate him on a team that made as many successful summer moves as anybody in the NHL. Regretfully Canada won’t have him at the World Juniors but good for him to make the NHL.
4) The Ottawa Senators. We do our show, ‘In The Net,’ in Ottawa so it can be centric toward the nation’s capital at times but there is no question that after their start last year, their collapse and subsequent house cleaning this is a fragile team albeit one that can still score so they bear watching.
5) As much as the Penguins caught our imagination last year with their youth many eyes are focused on Chicago and their renaissance. Led by the dynamic duo of Patrick Kane and newly named captain Jonathan Toewes, free agent Bryan Campbell, this is the most exciting Chicago team to come down the ice in a long, long time. They bear watching.
6) Can Detroit repeat? They are the last franchise to do so, ten years ago and there’s a reason for that. A year ago nobody was picking Detroit due to a series of collapses in previous years but now t hey are heralded as the second coming of the ’77 Habs. We’ll see. They are a very strong franchise, well coached and managed but with the hockey prostitute on their roster, Marian Hossa and the pensioner Chris Chelios it says here, as strong as they’ll be they will not repeat. But they definitely bear watching.
7) Crosby-Ovechkin. I’ve mentioned them both already but let’s be honest; we have a window here to this generations Gretzky-Lemieux. My hope is they stay healthy and if so we’ll see a great matchup here especially in the games against each other which usually feature at least one Ovechkin run at Crosby at some point in the game. Never a dull moment.

Free agent frenzy awaits the final pieces of the puzzle

2008-08-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

Free agent frenzy awaits the final pieces of the puzzle- Sundin-Sakic-Shanahan

July 1 did not disappoint in terms of signings with more than 400 million dollars committed to a variety of players. To date ( August 17 ) more than 200 players have signed or resigned with the 30 NHL parent clubs, many of them on two-way deals, some of them, hello Jeff Finger and Mike Commodore, on inexplicable deals of a life time. In an informal chat with Ottawa GM Bryan Murray a week ago we both mused at the value of an escalating salary cap and what if anything the NHL learned from a 301 day-full season work stoppage just four short seasons ago.

In my view as ridiculous as the two aforementioned contracts are the most atrocious act was reserved for Marian Hossa who now I am declaring is a hockey prostitute. This deal will be the death knell for the Red Wings as they attempt to match their franchises good fortunes from a decade ago and repeat as Cup champs. Not likely. Hossa turned down three offers from the Penguins to sign a one year deal with Detroit at seven million and change. Thanks for coming. No question he played his best hockey of the playoffs in that final heart stopping game which ended with a potentially game tying goal just sliding wayward off of his stick as the final seconds ticked down. And throughout the playoffs his play although very, very spotty was good enough to record 26 points in the twenty games played. One behind Sid the Kid yet had he been able to convert Crosby’s seeing eye passes he would have had double that twelve goal total. Hossa signed a one year deal with who he believes will give him the best chance to win the Cup. Then with his one ring in place he can sign the long term big ticket deal that will take him to retirement. It says here- by me – that Detroit will not make the finals next year. Hossa will still get a big ticket somewhere. The cap will continue to go up and inside of five years we will have another work stoppage. Along the way though, the hockey will be good. Incidentally, of the 92 players who signed with other teams as free agents in 2007 only six improved their point totals from the season previous by ten or more points. Four of those, Scott Gomez with the Rangers, Petr Sykora with the Penguins, Viktor Kozlov with the Islanders and Robert Lang with the Blackhawks were in a group of eighteen who in 2006-07 recorded more than fifty points. As you can see, as it is in most years, free agents typically don’t do as good once they sign that big deal.

The hockey world now waits for a trio of Hall-of-Fame players, Mats Sundin, Brendan Shanahan and Joe Sakic, to make up their minds or act on existing offers. Sundin’s case remains the most compelling given that he did not waive his no-trade in Toronto, was subsequently courted by Montreal and has a twenty million dollar two year offer on the table from Vancouver and now word emerges about potentially the New York Rangers in the mix. This is a very confused man in my opinion. I’ve felt for some time that retirement was the direction he was headed even though he clearly can still play. But New York?? Bizarre. We’ll see.

The Hall of Fame has announced their newest inductions and the Glenn Anderson snub has been rectified. Anderson will join Igor Larionov in the players’ category. Anderson’s induction is long overdue. Larionov’s a head scratcher for me at least. 644 points in 921 NHL games. I’m sorry, I can’t get all gushy about his play in the Russian league or internationally when that hockey is so watered down by comparison to the NHL and its incredible grinding season. The Hall of Fame selection committee, filled with legends of the game both from the ice and off it, continues to astound me with their induction principals. I’m quite certain we will see a woman inducted within two years and more Europeans while bonafide NHL stars are overlooked. You have to face the facts, when you put in a Bernie Federko, when you put in a Cam Neely then guys like Doug Gilmour, Steve Larmer, Dino Ciccarelli even Eric Lindros should very seriously be considered.

Liam Maguire

Draft day to free agent frenzy. How to improve your team in two weeks

2008-06-30T12:19:00.001-07:00

MCN Sports had a ring side seat for the Steve Stamkos draft in Ottawa two weekends ago. As most predicted, although you never really know until the name is called, Stamkos went as projected, first overall and it was a sight to behold in the stands with what looked like as many as forty family and friends present to congratulate him on becoming an instant millionaire. Not to suggest he didn’t work for it because despite raw talent which you must have clearly this is a young man with a tremendous work ethic. If that alone did not improve the Lightning’s lot on life their transactions since certainly have. Bagging Ryan Malone is the coup de gras at the moment but no less of an impact was the signing of Gary Roberts and yesterday, (June 29) the announcement that Brian Rolston has joined the fold after three seasons in Minnesota where along with being a veteran presence he has worn the C. Tremendous acquisitions for Tampa Bay. They are far and away the most improved team since Lidstrom hoisted the Cup in Pittsburgh after game six.
Other notes from the draft; appearing soon on our site mcnsports.com will be interviews with Dave Brown from the Flyers, Eddie Mio, with Phoenix, Phil Myre with the Florida Panthers and a couple of beauties to finish off – Steve Yzerman with Detroit and Cam Neely with the Bruins. Neely has been brought into the Bruin fold and has made his presence felt big time. Interesting to note various connections in the hockey world as to a large extent it remains an old boys club but in addition, contacts made in some cases as young men end up being a mainstay reason that the same two parties will hook up years later. Case in point with the Boston Bruins super scout in the making, Wayne Smith who jumped over to the Bruins from Columbus two years ago under the Peter Chiarelli regime, is a long time friend of Chiarelli’s. Also on their mast head as Director of Player Personnel, long time Bruin Don Sweeney who played in Harvard with Chiarelli. In hockey the long time adage, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’ does not hold. You see this all the time and frankly the cases of it leading to success far outweigh the stories where it doesn’t as in Tampa with the Esposito brothers or the other high profile example, in Phoenix with Wayne Gretzky. The Bruins are another team headed in the right direction only problem is the whole NHL is so competitive right now there are no guarantee’s of anybody making it back to the final let alone winning a second Cup in a row. As much as many fans think this Detroit team is the cock of the walk, let’s see how they do next year. My view is they are not as good as the ’02 team and I put that right to Yzerman in the interview where of course he downplayed the notion but again, just my opinion, I think the ’02 team which was the most experienced team to ever win the Cup would have handled this version of Detroit for sure. Then again, you’ve got eight players on both of those rosters so hard to compare. 14 players on that ’02 roster were 30+ in age. That’s an all time high in Cup history.

Aside from being present for a record thirteen transactions in the first round the other eventual sight on first round night was the ovation given to Wayne Gretzky by the Ottawa fans. Remember that Ottawa was the city where he played his last game in Canada and I’m quite certain that was not lost on the crowd, a full house by the way, 18,500 and the ovation gave me goose bumps. It was great to see. Captain Daniel Alfredsson also received a huge roar of support but he cut the salutation short by taking the microphone while the crowd was still verbally ringing his name. Still a great moment.

So now it’s on to the free agent feeding frenzy. GM’s have been very careful to avoid any tampering charges or so it seems. The rumour mills are all flourishing right now and all that’s left are for the cards to fall on the table. I said it on my show today, master the obvious but I just can’t see Sundin signing with Montreal. As much as I’m sure Bob Gainey attempted to broker a tremendous deal for the big Swede at the end of the day I think they’ll refocus on Marian Hossa and we’ll see how that plays out because frankly, if they offer him any more than 7m a year to me that will be a colossal mistake. Time will tell. It’s officially Canada Day tomorrow but for some players it’s going to be Christmas in July in a big way.

Detroit too much for young Penguins

2008-06-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day or more appropriately, the end of the game, Detroit was just too much for Pittsburgh. Too much Zetterberg, too much Lidstrom, too much the whole experienced package. But what a final 1:27 of action. I felt so bad for Marc-Andre Fleury who put on a performance of the ages in game five, now ranked as the fifth longest game in Stanley Cup final history, only to allow a couple of weak goals get by him in the deciding game six. When Hossa deflected Gonchar’s point shot in at the 18:33 mark who else sat bolt upright and hung on for that final minute and a half? Literally another split second and who knows, maybe Hossa gets that puck in right at the end of the game. You could see it in the body language of the Detroit players on the ice, there was a moment of stunned disbelief that they had hung on. I believe when or if the Penguins watch any of that last game video they’ll see some of the same ailments that plagued them throughout the series. Couldn’t get the puck deep, couldn’t generate a fore check, and couldn’t generate enough shots on net. Even in the dying seconds, two or three times, pucks were shot into Detroit’s end only to be easily grabbed by the D and fired back out. I mean literally grabbed by the hand – Pittsburgh's shoot in was just not high enough or off the boards hard enough to get the puck deep. Sometimes when you have as talented a team as these young Pens are the tendency is to hang onto the puck. That’s all well and good down low, when you get it and are cycling or attempting to keep possession but sometimes the most successful game plan is the simplest one but there’s no question, against this particular Detroit defence at this time it was a very, very tough task.

Nice of Malkin to return from his vacation in game six. What a learning experience for him. He need look no further than across the hall at countryman Pavel Datsyuk who will turn thirty this July. Datsyuk scored three goals in his first thirty-seven playoff games as a Red Wing. Look at him now. Or Zetterberg, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, same thing, at twenty-two and twenty-three years of age he was a spare part for the Wings. Malkin is twenty and a superstar in the making. My only thought is that when it was apparent he had hit the wall and it was painfully apparent – I would have sat him down for at least a game. His giveaways’ and complacency added up to extreme ineffectiveness that should have been addressed in a dramatic fashion in my view. Sydney Crosby will lead Canada to a gold medal in Vancouver in 2010. His vision is Gretzky like, he’s a bull down low with the puck, he’s excellent on the draws and I believe he’s a great team guy. Why is he hated by so many fans? I don’t get it. I guess either I’m showing my age because I remember Gretzky’s first few years in the league or I’m more open minded. Crosby could have dove a dozen times and probably drew an additional 4-5 minors on Detroit but he did not. He tied for the points lead in playoff scoring in his second time ever in the playoffs. If he has a relatively healthy season in 2008-09 he will win the Art Ross again by 10-15 points for fun.

For the record – Nick Lidstrom becomes the fourth Cup winning captain born overseas. He is the first born and bred European captain but not the first to have been born across the ocean. Dunc Munroe with the 1926 Montreal Maroons, Charlie Gardiner with the 1934 Chicago Blackhawks were both born in Scotland. Johnny Gottselig with the 1938 Chicago Blackhawks was born in Russia. Speaking of Lidstrom and the rest of team Sweden, AKA Detroit, it’s been funny to listen or read so many people who are acting like this is the first time a Cup winner has had Europeans on it. Granted it is the least amount of Canadians on a Cup winner ever – nine. The previous mark of ten was held by the 1995 New Jersey Devils, thirteen years ago. On that squad were eleven Americans. The 1997 and 1998 Cup winning Red Wings each had five Russians on those respective teams. Numerous Europeans dotted the Cup winners o f Colorado in 1996 also. The trend deviated back to a very strong Canadian base of players with Dallas in 1999 and then again on the five Cup winners prior to this Red Wing team led by Anaheim’s nineteen Canadians who played at least one playoff game in their Cup run of 2007. So which trend goes forward you ask? Easy. The cycle continues. There has not been a team to win the Cup with all Canadian born content since the 1975 Philadelphia Flyers. Conversely no team has ever won it without some Canadian content nor will they in our life time. The bigger question is can the Red Wings repeat and duplicate what they themselves accomplished last in 1997 and ’98? You look at their cap room and their team makeup and you’d be hard pressed to not pick them next season. Only thing going against that is history at the moment. All of the Cup winning teams since 1998 have looked pretty good in winning their respective years. Yet nobody can repeat. Very, very tough physically to turn right around ten weeks later, report to camp and get right into it for the next nine months. We’ll see how it goes. For now, congratulations to them, they certainly deserved the Cup and Zetterberg the Conn Smythe.

Fragility of life jumps out at us again

2008-05-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

I hate motorbikes. I never rode one, never will. My brother Mike owned several but thankfully not long after a cross Canada tour he rid himself of the last one and has been in cars ever since. He did have one spill, an accident in Ottawa in which he went flying but was basically uninjured. He was fortunate. Not so much for Luc Bourdon who died tragically May 28th. Officials are now speculating that a very strong gust of wind hit Bourdon and forced his bike into the path of an oncoming tractor trailer. Game over immediately. It’s when you sit back and wonder about the coincidences in these types of accidents that you sometimes are convinced there is a higher power involved. I don’t know, for whatever reason God must have needed a kid with all heart and a tremendous appetite to succeed. Why would the gust come up at that time, why was there a truck coming the other way, why anything at all at that precise moment? The agony of trying to determine what happens mere seconds either way can drive you crazy. Imagine the family. I’ve lost numerous friends to accidents. So many, I can’t even count them all and when we lose an athlete who has in a brief time captured our hearts for me at least it brings home many of the other needless deaths including people like Neil Janz on a motorbike just last summer or my very good friend Mike Doyle on a ski-doo two winters ago. It’s very tragic and upsetting. Condolences to the family and friends of Luc Bourdon, may he rest in peace.

The Penguins answered a lot of people in game three first by scoring, secondly by winning the game or more appropriately hanging on. If you could bottle what element of desire Gary Roberts has and transpose it in the bodies of twenty young men you’d have the ultimate dynasty. In his prime he could score fifty, rack up 200 pim’s and play twenty minutes a night. He’s half that player now but with eight to nine minutes of ice time per game he is by far the most effective player with the least amount of time in this entire playoff – at forty-two years of age. Will this series mirror Ottawa-Anaheim last year in which the Senators won game three and battled gamely in game four only to lose before bowing out in five or are these young Penguins poised to put their mark on the 90th Cup final in NHL history? My head says Detroit wins tonight, my heart says Pittsburgh. So, when in doubt go with your heart, I mean what kind of trouble has that ever got us in?

I appeared on a local TV station with former Montreal Canadien Murray Wilson on Monday May 26th. Wilson indicated that he’d be surprised if Pat Burns re entered the coaching fraternity of the NHL. Despite a successful run as one of Ken Hitchcock’s assistants at the recently completed World Championship and with rumours abound that Burns may have his hat in the ring for the Senator job Wilson feels that his recent triumphant battle with cancer was extremely draining and that he is just not up for the rigors and the stress of the job. We will soon know. Other names that are in the mix include Pat Quinn, Bob Hartley, who we believe have at least interviewed for the job. Craig Hartsburg, Kevin Dineen, Pete DeBoer who supposedly was on the short list last season, my choice of Randy Cunneyworth and now possibly John Tortorella from Tampa Bay. The core of the Senators needs to win yesterday. With Alfredsson in the mix they’ve got maybe two seasons so a real ball breaker coach is what’s needed which means I’d relent on my original choice of Cunneyworth and agree that Tortorella would be a prime choice if he was available – pending a no go from Pat Burns At some point, somebody is going to give Cunneyworth a shot and they’ll be a better team for it.

If I were a Leaf fan right now I’d be livid at Mats Sundin. After he accepted the Mark Messier Award stating that, “perhaps the Leafs were not his only option” going forward for next season. Are you kidding me? He doesn’t wave his no-trade, states he does not want to be a rental player, wants to finish his career in TO and then says this? Speculation is that he was quite miffed at being asked to waive his no trade in the first place. With all due respect to Sundin and he deserves a ton of respect for the way he’s played during this current three year hiatus from the playoffs but he needs to understand that interim GM Cliff Fletcher was trying to improve the club. Dealing Sundin would have paid huge dividends and Sundin could have simply resigned in the off season. It’s not like he played his whole career there ala Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic. Sundin was in Quebec for four seasons including a playoff stint in 1993. Granted he has more than made his mark on Toronto including breaking long standing records held by the likes of Darryl Sittler and Dave Keon but if I were a Leaf fan I would be extremely upset that he seemingly has misplaced their loyalty, put his ego first and has clearly not looked at the big picture.

A small group of historians picked the Miracle on Ice as the number one international hockey story over Team Canada 72. Actually the second story they picked was Henderson’s goal in game eight which to me is a huge slap in the face and ignoring the totality of the comeback and Henderson’s goal scoring in game’s six and seven. Granted the theatre of game eight can never be duplicated. If you compare it to the Miracle game – Canada was down 5-3 after two periods. Clearly the officiating was extremely bias, the off ice officials as well – they did not even turn the goal light on after Yvan Cournoyer had scored to tie the game at 5-5 leading to the whole debacle involving Alan Eagleson, the Soviets then declare they will take victory in the series due to the goals for over the eight games only to have that yanked from them in the last minute by THEE goal. Team Canada 72 was about the last three games, not one game. It was about heroics and a never-say-die attitude. It was about a man who for whatever reason took this opportunity to score three of the biggest goals in the history of the sport. It’s about another man, Phil Esposito who played the best twenty minutes of hockey anywhere, any time in the third period of game eight. I wonder where these historians were from. Let me guess. What a complete and utter joke. Case in point, to justify their selection, after it was announced one of the European minion’s states, ‘we’re glad it was an Olympic moment selected as the number one.’ Sure you were Alexi. Because that means it wasn’t something favouring Canada who you hate. That’s okay. We get the picture we always have that’s why for every single time in every single event that Canada wins, which is many, guys like me remember comments like yours. Otherwise you can just go to sleep every night hearing Foster Hewitt. ‘Henderson has scored for Canada.’

Dream final being derailed by dominant Wings

2008-05-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Thoughts and observations from the third round

2008-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Just a few short days ago I eagerly awaited the semi-finals in the Stanley Cup playoffs thinking we’d be in for fireworks between the Flyers and the Penguins and hoping that the Stars magical run could continue. That was before the four overtime period marathon which clearly sucked the life out of the Stars, at least at this point. Coupled with the Wings phenomenal efforts to date that makes tonight’s game three a must win for the Stars otherwise a terrific ride that has seen them knock off the defending Cup champs and the prohibitive favourite will go for naught. Unfortunately that’s the way the puck bounces sometimes. Thanks to the inspiration of Captain Brendan Morrow the Stars have crashed and banged their way to the semi-finals behind the great goaltending of Marty Turco. Despite a less than stellar record on home ice the Stars will need to go to that well one more time. Detroit actually out hit Dallas 39-26 in game two, this against a Stars team that have averaged close to 40 hits in most of their games. And the game two victory came with Dan Cleary back in the Wing lineup along with Darren McCarty as the surprising news of Johan Franzen’s concussion symptoms made the news pre game. Most of the talk post game centered on the Ott-Riberio-Osgood fines which emanated from two separate incidents toward the end of the contest. Ott drilled Kris Draper and tried to fight him but Draper was unwilling as most Wings other than McCarty are. It’s a lesson in discipline and with the rules the way they are today also a further reminder that as long as you are willing to initiate physically on the fore check and go to the dirty zones you can survive and thrive in today’s NHL without worrying about dropping the gloves. Do I like it – no I don’t. It’s spawned a new breed of player, the Ruutu’s of the world who are shameless. I’d say gutless but frankly I don’t think that’s the case. I think they have some guts. I’ve seem them fight a bit when pressed but overall their antics are a disgrace to the NHL and when Jarrko was called for his dive last night after his exchange with Martin Biron of the Flyers I thought, right on, call that on him every time and maybe he’ll stop getting away with this blatant style of BS crap that makes me want to puke. I digress.
The Wings right now look like a team possessed. As much as I eagerly awaited the semi-final I now find myself saying the same thing about a potential Penguin-Wing final although Detroit’s experience looks like it could be a factor personified. We’ll see. As for Ribero and Osgood, again the right call was made with the fines. Osgood through the first shot with that butt end. Granted it did not hit but if somebody throws a butt end they should expect to get hit and that was a love tap Ribeiro gave Osgood yet he still went down like he was shot from the grassy knoll. That was a joke so it was good to see no suspensions come out of that.

Back to the Penguins and the Flyers and you shut down Malkin, along comes Sid the Kid. Playing his best hockey of the post season Crosby was a dynamo last night and easily could have had two more goals and two or three more assists on top of his one and one. Unfortunately for the Penguin fans this series is looking eerily similar to Detroit-Colorado where bodies are dropping for the Flyers much like the Aves and they are trying to make a game out of it. Braydon Coburn has played a ton of hockey this year for Philadelphia. Losing him two minutes into the contest with a puck in the face was disastrous. With Coburn’s absence and Timonen’s blot clot the Flyers were grossly short staffed on defense. Hatcher played more than 28 minutes, Randy Jones more than 26. That’s a ton of ice. What’s also fun to watch on the Penguins is they have somebody physical on every line. Ryan Malone, Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy and the entire fourth line featuring Big George all can bang and they bring it. If you don’t think the fact that George Laracque is a factor on this team or in this series you are crazy. I can count the times on one hand I’ve seen Derian Hatcher take a backward step from any kind of shot, punch, stick or otherwise and when hit by Laracque early last night, even though he drew the penalty, he wanted no part of him nor does anybody. It’s a quick trip to the hospital, do not pass go and I love the fact that Therrien has his on the ice to finish almost every game that they are going to win. Wayne Gretzky said it best, ‘intimidation is still part of our game today,’ amen and thank God Wayne, that’s all I have to say.

Last point today, how much more can be written about the video review of Finland’s goal against the States in the World Championships. The IIHF reported immediately after the game that the man in question was dismissed and will not work again this series. Where did he go, right to the next figure skating event? What an absolute farce, a disgrace, a black mark for the sport, just a total sham. The tree huggers all bemoan anytime somebody throws a punch in hockey. You know, watching those three blind mice try and corral that situation at the end of that game was the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in the sport of hockey since the grossly inadequate zebras’ who worked the Piestany punch up at the World Juniors between Canada and Russia on New Years Day, 1987. Those clowns left the ice during a brawl and had the arena lights turned off. Yep, it’s just great hockey overseas and even better officiating. Let’s face it folks, like the NFL and the CFL this is the same sport, played by different rules, different sized surfaces and officiated wildly different than what either side of the ocean thinks is right. I like my eggs over easy, my pints cold and a server who lets me know its last call. I also like my hockey rough, accountable and if necessary, violent as need be. That eliminates me from next season’s hockey pool in Europe. Let’s hope some level of competence referee’s the medal rounds.

Liam Maguire

A quick look half way through round two 2008

2008-04-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Aren’t the playoffs beautiful? Who could have possibly predicted any of what is going on right now in the league quarterfinals or more commonly referred to as the Conference semi-finals. As of this writing Montreal are down 2-1 to the Flyers despite greatly out shooting them, greatly out chancing them and in the nine plus periods played so far there have been entire 20 minute segments that Montreal has simply owned; case in point the third period of game three. Yet they find themselves down two games to one. Carey Price while not at total fault for many of the goals against finds his GAA at 3.79 and his save percentage at .875. No matter how you slice it that’s simply not good enough. He has to be better or at least step up and match his counterpart Martin Biron who has been the first star in each of the past two games. Colour the Habs done if they lose tonight.
The game within the game; The goaltending match up has been the dominating story but don’t discount Steve Downie doing all he can to impress his mentor the one Robert Earle Clarke, known for years as Bobby, now simply as Bob. Of course I say that in jest, Downie wasn’t born when Clarke retired and the more heir apparent to that throne is the next captain of the team, Mike Richards. Downie is a super agitator with a resume that has officials watching his every move and then some however he also has decent hands and a couple of gold medals courtesy of Team Canada’s junior program. Did he slew foot Carey Price in game three? Yes he did. Although we were treated to a breath taking assertion from Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman that Downie assured him in passing that he had no idea he had struck Price nor had he any intention. This in response to Greg Millen of Hockey Night teeing off on Downie’s reckless play and frankly, it was just that. Had it been any one of 6-700 other players in the NHL I might be inclined to believe him but my take is he knew what he was doing, he did it deliberately and it’s a very, very reckless play. It wasn’t a slew foot in the traditional sense with a player’s foot doing the tripping from behind but it was akin to that and an extreme cheap shot none-the-less. That play coupled with the Richards shot to Halak’s head and the Derian Hatcher run from behind on Francois Bouillon has left the Habs reeling both on the score board and on the ice. In its simplest terms all Montreal needs tonight in my view is to score first. We’ll see how it goes from there if they can get that goal and take the Flyers out of that comfort zone.

Elsewhere the league is looking at three series all 3-0. We could have made a killing in Vegas. Are the Stars for real is the question? A fortunate deflection in OT in game three gave Dallas a most unusual win – that being on home ice, in the playoffs. Neither of those situations has been good to the boys from the lone star state in the past 5-6 years. More so when playing the Sharks. Of the previous sixteen contests between these two teams the home team had won precisely three contests. But they got ‘er done last night and now find themselves poised to get to the one round removed from the big dance. After a great first round I keep wondering where the next great series is coming from because at this point it hardly looks like its going to be in round two.

Elsewhere in the 3-0 world, the Aves are beat up big time and are valiantly trying to gut it out, Forsberg included. I commend the effort but at the end of the day this Detroit team appears poised to eliminate many of the past five season’s doubters of which I am one. If the Montreal Canadiens are taking heat in some circles for the abundance of Europeans up front what the heck does that say about Detroit? Then again, Johan Franzen at 6’3”, 220lbs hardly represents Kent Nilsson in stature but he sure can bring it on the scoreboard and at this time of the year that also differentiates himself from many of his Swedish predecessors. His eight goals lead the show in the post season right now. It was all Ryan Clowe for the Sharks in the first round, Franzen in the second, Malkin overall and of course Sid the Kid but a Detroit-Dallas match up could be one for the ages – seemingly – at this point.
Lastly, speaking of Malkin and Sid the Kid, as much as Jagr would like to say these are not your fathers Penguins without Mario and Co., which I assume by extension he means himself circa 1991-92. No Jaromir, they are not but guess what, you guys never went 6-0 let alone 7-0 to start a playoff year. Have to say one thing though; Jagr’s play has been impressive. The goal he scored last night, ( April 29th) in the Rangers 5-3 loss was a beauty and his physical engagement with Malkin, when you see guys like that going at it I don’t know about you guys but I’m inclined to say, “hey, what part of Alberta are you guys from?” It’s good to see the stars battle. I don’t expect everybody to be a Brendan Morrow who is hitting more guys than my old rock’em’sock’em toy used to but it sure shows a level of commitment when the rich and famous get down and dirty. Stay tuned for a round two recap. Might be coming sooner than we thought.

A quick look half way through round one 2008

2008-04-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

The top story in the first round of the playoffs at this time has to be the Dallas Stars going into the lion’s den in Anaheim and winning not once but twice and frankly in rather convincing fashion. Six power play goals of the nine scored so far by the Stars is an outstanding stat for the boys from the Lone Star State. Last season after the Ducks first two games against Minnesota they were short handed ten times and did not give up a shorthanded goal so if you’re looking for a telling stat comparison right off the get-go from last year to this – there it is. Credit Dallas’s power play but no question that statistic says it all. Can a team come from two down after two losses on your home ice? Sure it’s happened. The 1966 Habs spring to mind and that was in the finals against Detroit but right now you’d have to say it’s Duck hunting season and to me this is a huge upset in the making despite the Stars winning the season series. Obviously we’re not talking about the President Trophy winning Anaheim team here but who cares about that trophy anyway. Detroit won it this season for the sixth time since 1995 and only one of their three Cups since then came in the same year so as usual it remains a trophy that has little or no correlation to the team that eventually wins the Cup.
My pick in the East to make the finals is the Rangers. They never recovered from that devastating game five loss against Buffalo last year and this season I think they’re poised to take a big time run. They’ve got great goaltending, very balanced scoring and if they can survive the antics of Sean Avery on their roster they are quite capable to make a run to the finals in the wide open East.
Speaking of Avery, good for the NHL to act as quickly as they did in stemming the tide of his idiotic behavior. Imagine having a rule amended because of your play – unreal but that’s the type of guy he is. The incredible part of that whole highlight was watching his own teammate, Scott Gomez actually skate to him while the play was going on and try and get him to either turn around or do something….anything, other than that chicken dance he was doing in front of Brodeur. That quite frankly was farcical.
Carey Price looked very good in his three games of action so far. Game three between Montreal and Boston was an excellent hockey game matching Philly-Washington game one, any of the San Jose-Calgary games and really any of the Minnesota-Colorado games. It’s been great hockey. I’m a little disappointed there as not been more fights though. Lot’s of roughing penalties and the usual face washing but in each of the past 2-3 seasons there have been quite a few rumbles in the first round. Not so much yet, although we’re far from done.
Here in Canada’s capital the sky has all but fallen on Chicken Little and the rest of the faithful minions that support the Senators. Despite the amazing return of Alfredsson for last nights contest, scoring the first goal and having the home crowd, the Sens still lost 4-1 with the Penguins scoring three unanswered goals in the third period. We all know the stat about being down 3-0 in games. Bottom line here the Pens are the better team. If they can keep this team together, especially the top three centers, Crosby, Malkin and Staal, what a lineup that could be. One more win to close out the deal, we’ll see if they can get it done tomorrow night. The only negative for them and this is only from my perspective as a fan is the diving of Ruutu at the end of game two drawing that penalty on Lapointe and then again last night, Malone on Stillman. How the officials could call that and effectively put the Sens two men down once an earlier Penguin penalty was over was baffling. Used to be you had to carve somebody’s leg off to get a second call but the double minor against Heatley was called by Paul Devorski and Mike Leggo called the Stillman trip which frankly was ridiculous. Moot point in the big picture because the better team is winning the series but the inconsistencies of the officiating whether it be Art Skov calling holding on Bobby Orr in game six of the 1974 finals or some of the calls or non calls this season, never seems to change. Then again, that’s pro sports.
Lastly, for those of you interested in some great reading material you really should go to http://www.terryfrei.com/ and purchase any of the three books Terry has for sale there. Mr. Frei was a guest on my show, In The Net earlier today, (April 15, 2008) and in conversation with him we discussed his literary work and they sound awesome. By trade he's a writer for the Denver Post and ESPN.com and he covers the Avalanche but in conversation with him today he told us about some of his other interests. Thought I would give him a plug here. You gotta love the first round of the playoffs although it’s hard on the liver.

Last ten games of NHL Schedule best there is

2008-03-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

You could make a case that this particular block of games is almost as good as it gets in the NHL season. No question, nothing really can beat the first round of the playoffs with eight games going in some way, shape or form every night or every other night. This last couple of weeks of the schedule would be close though.
Leaf mania aside, the playoff race is what it’s all about especially for the eighth position. To many teams these days can win a round in the playoffs despite opening on the road or despite finishing lower in the standings so I don’t think when push comes to shove we’ll see teams going all out for that higher seed but you sure as hell will until they secure that spot in the post season dance. The Devils won the Cup in 1995 and opened every series on the road and the Pens won the cup in 1991 despite losing the first game of every series so the proof is there, it can be done.
Couple of thoughts going from the past few days and weeks in the NHL; Daniel Carcillo of the Phoenix Coyotes is my new favourite player. I love this guy. As of this writing he’s amassed 259 pim’s in 46 games. Over a full season that would work out to 462 pim’s, thirteen shy of Dave Schultz’s all time record set with the Flyers in 1975. Carcillo is 23 years old and is from King City, Ontario. He hits everything that moves and asks questions later, he’s emotional, impulsive, borderline irrational which is one of the reasons he was sent back down to the AHL by Gretzky and company earlier this season but he backs all of his teammates instantly and will fight anybody all the while being a plus player and amassing 15 points, on approximately twelve minutes of ice time. Excellent. Dave Schultz’s name may conjure up a number of different notions or memories all depending on your age but he did play a regular shift, he played in three straight finals and was on the two Cup wins by the Flyers, he was a 20 goal scorer, he scored an overtime goal, something Gordie Howe never did in the NHL and he scored game winners. All on top of having arguably the greatest reputation as a hockey pugilist even though he was far from the greatest fighter. Daniel Carcillo is cut from the same mould and I love it.
I also love Chris Pronger but how he’s escaped a suspension for the skate stomp on Ryan Kesler is beyond me. Kesler is a bit of a S**T disturber along with Alex Burrows on the Canuck roster but he did not deserve that and luckily he was not injured. In my estimation it was not as severe as the Chris Simon incident with Jarrko Ruttu but it was a heinous act none the less and Pronger should have received at least five games in my opinion. I love the rough stuff, hockey is after all controlled violence so I don’t want to appear to be the pot calling the kettle black but the line that I refer to quite often as the difference between what’s acceptable in terms of violence was certainly crossed by Pronger in this instance.
The rookie race is once again going to be a beauty with two, or even four names warranting some consideration. There is no question in my mind that the best rookie is Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks but the games lost due to injury will probably preclude him from winning. His teammate Patrick Kane is the most likely candidate for the award and should get a real healthy run from Nicklas Backstrom of the Capitals and a late run possibly from Carey Price of the Habs but the winner will probably be Kane. Maybe we’ll see a repeat of 1992, a most bizarre year in the NHL for rookie voting when Pavel Bure finally signed with Vancouver after sitting out the first fifteen games or so and ended up winning the Calder Trophy yet was not voted to the all-rookie team in his position instead that distinction going to Tony Amonte. Figure that one out. Then again this is the same league whose forefathers gave the Hart Trophy to Al Rollins in 1954 and Tommy Anderson in 1942. Both of those players were on last place teams that year and frankly it’s hard to imagine given that scenario that their teams were any more valuable with them in the lineups. Can you say collusion?? That’s another story for another time.
Stay tuned for the biggest question of all as it gets set to raise it’s ugly head again in a few short weeks; Will we get screwed out of playoff games on Hockey Night in Canada on our typical Saturday night so the vast American audience is pandered to again by Mr. Bettman and Co.? Answers to be known shortly.
Liam Maguire

Trade deadline chat

2008-03-03T03:54:00.000-08:00

Trade deadline comments and other hockey news

Heard a great nickname the other day for the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey players who refused to waive their no trade contracts – the frozen five – how good is that? Very appropriate. Sundin, Tucker, McCabe, Kaberle and Kubina. If there ever was a time you’d think at least one of them would want out of this situation it would have been now as they are on route to their third straight season out of the playoffs. You can’t put a price on loyalty but it has to be the absolute most incredibe scenario ever seen leading up to the trade deadline. What will transpire in TO now is Cliff Fletcher who did the best he could shaving more than 3 million off the cap and recouping several draft choices, he now will very seriously comtemplate buying out one or more of these contracts this summer. At two thirds of the total worth pro rated over a number of seasons it is still a cap hit albeit one that Toronto will no question look long and hard at.
So what happens going forward with these no trades and no movement contracts? The no movement is even more restrictive, that means you can’t even put the guy in the minors. I think we’ll see these slowly disappear. Probably not 100% but certainly to a large extent after the frozen five, Wade Redden, Rob Blake and seemingly others of the 104 that have this restriction on their contract, froze their respective GM’s. Granted Brad Richards waived his and promptly went out and tied a franchise record with five assists in one game in his first contest as a Dallas Star but the list of those who would not go and the impact they could have had more importantly how their movement could help their respective franchises will no question lead to this clause disappearing.
Bob Gainey did not make a mistake dealing Christabal Huet. Huet is unrestricted as of July 1, he was making 2.3 million and was not going to be resigned and he was not going to be any kind of saviour for this team come playoff time. In addition his play his last 6-8 games was atrocious and to be fair Carey Price was no stalwart in the pipes either during that stetch and now since the deal, Huet picks up a shutout in his first game with Washington and Price is 3-0. Go figure. No question the deal was done to also clear cap room for Hossa who was snapped up by Pittsburgh but at the end of the day, the deal seemed to be received to the same extent the drafting of Carey Price did. Hab fans and hockey fans scratched their heads when Montreal selected Price who since then dominated the World Juniors, dominated the AHL and is obviously one of the best young goalies in the game on a team that has a history of having young goalies come in and perform miracles in the playoffs. Patrick Roy, Steve Penney, Ken Dryden, Rogie Vachon, Jacques Plante, all burst on the scene in a big way very early in their NHL careers. Can Price do the same? Yes he can but the difference is the team in front of him is no where near as good as their current record indicates. Not with respect to success in the post season. They’ll make some noise and depending on their first round opponent Montreal could win a round but winning two is still a larger forward or two away who can play. After missing the playoffs last year though this is a huge turnaround and Bob Gainey deserves nothing but full credit for this especially given what has happened to him personally.
And while I’m on the topic of Marian Hossa....hell of a player. More talent in one finger than half the league has in their whole body but in my opinion he will never play for a Cup winner. At this point of his career Hossa needs to prove to me that he has the ability to perform in the playoffs. In addition he orchastrated his departure from Ottawa by indicating to John Muckler that if he did not get the money he wanted he would test free agency. Fair enough says Muckler. Here ya go Hossa. And then ten minutes later traded him for Dany Heatley in argueably the second best trade ever in Ottawa history. Subsequent to that and this says it all – Hossa and Co. Indicate to Atlanta GM Don Waddell that they want to know what Atlanta is going to do to improve their lot in life and become a contender. Umm, guess what Marian, they were to become a contender with you part of the process. Your play was to be a cornerstone of the turn around in Atlanta not your exit which you’ve now made. Once Hossa is back from his knee tweak and suits up with a healty Crosby, we’ll see what he has in the tank. If this opportunity does not inspire him to play outside his comfort zone in the post season then nothing will.

Number 19 to the rafters-Canadiens honour Larry Robinson as he joins other greats

2007-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

The late Ted Blackman once said that there are two organizations in the world that continually get it right in terms of being able to supply the proper pomp and pageantry required for a showing of any magnitude, the House of Windsor and the Montreal Canadiens. Heady company for a sports franchise but the Montreal Canadiens is not your average sports franchise.

As the early plans began to roll out a few years ago for the Habs 100th year anniversary in 2009-2010 one of the defining themes was it was high time to begin retiring sweaters again. There had been a bit of a lull for Montreal fans, enough so that the Boston Bruins actually surpassed Montreal in terms of overall sweaters retired and frankly for anybody who is worth their weight in hockey pucks this was a bit of an affront because you can argue your New York Yankees and maybe your Manchester United or the Harlem Globetrotters but there is certainly no hockey franchise anywhere near close to Montreal in terms of success combined with notoriety and as such their list of Hall-of-Fame players is more lengthy than anybodies and more richly deserving of the continuation of the sweaters being raised to the rafters.

Point of clarification that has been missed by a number of main stream media, the sweater numbers did not hang up high in the Montreal Forum. This is a new thing for the Bell Centre. The only thing that hung in the Forum was the Cup banners, no Prince of Wales Banners, no finalist banners, nothing else at all other than the actual Cup banners. Having said that Larry’s went up to join a growing list that at this rate could soon see the sweaters retired come close to the actual number of Cups, ( 24) although even with Montreal’s storied history that’s quite a leap. As it is, Robinson’s number 19 joins Jacques Plante 1, Doug Harvey 2, Jean Beliveau 4, Bernie Geoffrion 5, Howie Morenz 7, Rocket Richard 9, Guy Lafleur 10, Dickie Moore and Yvan Cournoyer 12, Henri Richard 16, Serge Savard 18 and Ken Dryden 29. Bob Gainey’s number 23 will be next giving the Habs a total of thirteen sweaters retired for a total of fourteen players. Recently I had a chance to talk to Dick Irvin about this and we both questioned as to what happened with previous documentation indicating that Montreal had in fact retired number 4 for Jean Beliveau and Aurel Joliat and number 16 for Henri Richard and Elmer Lach. There are media guides and NHL guides a few years back that indicate those numbers were retired for all four players yet there is no indication of that now. In my next column I’ll attempt to have found out what’s transpired there. Frankly I was disappointed that number five was not also honoured for Guy Lapointe. Lapointe won six Cups and was a huge factor in the ‘big three’ on defense for Montreal. To think that Savard’s number 18 and Robinson’s number 19 are retired and not Lapointe’s I think is an over site. But that’s what you get when you are as loaded as the Habs are with Hall-of-Fame players.

Cheap shots continue-in fact they will never end

Are you a fan of the NHL? My guess is if you’re reading this you are. Are you a fan of cheap shots, the gutless play, hitting from behind, increased stick work and the overall lack of respect that permeates the league now? My guess is you are not. So far in his newly appointed role with the NHLPA Eric Lindros has visited with four NHL teams. In fact there’s been probably more now because this bit was aired on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada two weeks ago. In his initial conversations with these teams Lindros was told unequivocally by these players, these are the guys who play the game folks, get rid of the instigator rule!! Get it the hell out of our game. What’s amazing to me is why anybody would be opposed to this. Are there none of you who are old enough to remember the NHL prior to the inception of this piece of crap rule that has done more to harm the league and its players than anything ever in the history of the sport? The Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia ruled the day in the mid-1970’s. That’s more than 30 years ago. Since then and prior to this inane rule, the Habs dominated, the Islanders dominated, the Oilers dominated, the Penguins dominated all teams with superstars, all teams who had a makeup of players who could play it tough, who could or would fight if need be but in the end almost all of their roster players could play the game. As a result in that time period, you rarely, ever saw a hit from behind. You rarely ever saw the type of slash Mattias Ohlund put on Miko Koivu. You rarely ever saw a Steve Downie type of hit. These types of plays almost never happened. You did see a fair amount of fighting but by 1988 bench clearing brawls went the way of the Do-Do bird and you were left with a league that policed it self, that had a huge measure of respect and produced some of the greatest hockey you’ll ever see. Is that what you think we have now? No, it’s not. Unfortunately we have to continue to get back up on our soap box to preach this but now a new man in the NHLPA is getting the same information and maybe for once somebody will listen to the damn players rather than seemingly a collection of suits most of who can’t skate. Keep your stick on the ice, talk to you in a few days, gidday.

Liam Maguire

Free agent mania rules the day

2007-07-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Back to the Future movies starring Canadian born Michael J. Fox has nothing on the NHL after the first few days of July. Buckle up the chin strap because there are still a few beauties out there.

Notwithstanding the debacle involving Michael Nylander and the Oilers and the Capitals, it still was a scene very reminiscent of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as the large market teams waded into free agency with reckless abandon. Clearly the focus at this time as opposed to then is the length or the term of the contract in conjunction with the obscene money. Teams are obviously attempting in at least a small way to guard against the rising cap by locking up players for longer periods of time thereby having that money guaranteed over the length of the contract. Truth be told Rick DiPietro played pretty darn good when he was in nets for the Isles last season and I know more than one person was saying ‘hold on here, we’ve ridiculed Garth Snow like crazy over that signing – but what if DiPietro really becomes a top 3-4 goalie does that make his salary of 4.5 million a year a bargain? Yes it does even though a fifteen year deal still sounds foolish. Let’s take a look at some of the other deals so far in the free agency frenzy.

The one that I like the most is Petr Sykora to the Penguins. I have to tell you, it was funny being in Columbus on draft day when the Penguins finally selected Angelo Esposito whose stock had fallen to the point that he was finally taken by the Penguins in the 20th position much later than he had been anticipated to go earlier last season. First reaction was the Penguins had landed another marquee scorer albeit one whose stock had dropped. In Sykora it has the same feel. Even though he was only a fifty-five point guy last year in Edmonton the feeling is as one of the top six forwards with Pittsburgh he could easily surpass that combined with time on the second unit power play and simply put on one of the most gifted offensive squads in the league. Getting Darryl Sydor on D should help as well as the Penguins continue to improve and ride the Crosby wave.

The next favourite of mine at this point are the Boston Bruins. I’ll admit an open bias. I know some of their personnel and I think this will be a vastly different team right from the get go. Manny Fernandez lost the goalie struggle in Minnesota but he has emerged immediately as the starter for an Original Six team that I think will be better right from the get-go. Fernandez is going to be paid the same as DiPietro, 4.5 a year. Ton of dough obviously for a guy who will be 33 next month and has a decent record outside of the NHL in both Laval and Houston respectively but I feel he’s a solid ‘tender and I think we’re going to see the absolute best out of Zdeno Chara this year so we’ll see how that translates for the Bruins. Also don’t discount signings that appear as trivial on the press releases. Picking up Shawn Thornton is exactly the type of player a rejuvenated Bruin team with aspirations to get back to the Big Bad Bruins needs to do.

My number three pick of teams in the “I like what they’ve done department” is the LA Kings. Of their new additions the one with less likely to have a significant impact would be Tom Preissing and his 2.75 per year deal. Reason being LA still has veteran Rob Blake and Lubomir Vishnovsky to anchor the power play and Jack Johnson is in the lineup now. These three will eat the most minutes on D. Preissing will not be as insulated as he had been on Ottawa and it’s doubtful he will match last years impressive +40 or his 38pts however as mentioned this is an LA team that should be on the way up. You have to love their top two centers, Mike Cammerelli and Anze Kopitar, a solid rookie from last season. Newly acquired Michael Handzus will probably go to one of the wings, Dustin Brown is a player I like a lot and although many may not have a lot of faith in the acquisition of Kyle Calder or Ladislav Nagy don’t write these guys off yet. If LA gets off to a good start on the left coast this could be one of the more improved teams in the Western Conference this year.

Last up on the docket for today. The Hockey Hall of Fame. Fortunately the glut of great names available this season gave us a break from the committee espousing the virtues of another Russian player from the Summit Series of 1972. Bad enough we have not seen Paul Henderson’s rightful induction yet but if anymore of the losing team from ’72 get in I’m afraid you might be reading about me on the front pages of your local paper as I’ll have to stage my own private sit in or some other sort of demonstration out front of the hallowed Hall. All kidding aside, Mark Messier, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens are obviously all worthy inductees. Does it not boggle the mind about Glenn Anderson’s omission? Granted there are those of you who would debate Henderson’s candidacy but Glenn Anderson??? Does it really matter that he was a ‘free spirit’ or of his off ice incidents? Who out there even reading this can cite them verbatim? Likely no more than 5% of you. Next to Henderson’s annual rejection this is the biggest farce in hockey. Six time Cup winner, 498 goals, 214 points in 225 playoff games, 83 game winners in the regular season….what a joke, what an abject farce that he is not in. I get the fact that Paul Henderson is out of the main stream consciousness, there are bigger plans for him and the rest of the team brewing anyway but for Glenn Anderson to be overlooked time and time again when almost every single one of us would have taken this guy in his prime over most of the last ten forwards inducted speaks volumes about how screwed up this whole selection process really is. Got a comment, please let me know. Next week we’ll look at the six Canadian teams and their free agency romp.

Liam Maguire

Muckler is shown the door - draft day talk

2007-06-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

Muckler is shown the door- Patrick Kane is welcomed by Chicago and MCN sports lights up the draft proceedings in Columbus

There are those who claim Cassius Clay never really landed that ‘phantom’ shot to Sonny Liston’s melon during their rematch in 1964. “We never saw it,” claim many boxing fans. Well I never saw John Muckler being shown the door by Mr. Melnyk and the Ottawa Senators just a few short weeks ago. That came out of nowhere in my opinion, just like Clay’s (soon to be Muhammad Ali) shot all those years ago.

As mentioned in my last blog I was going to talk to team President Roy Mlakar about playoff injuries during the airing of Tony House’s Big Bad Sports Show on Rogers Cable 22 here in Ottawa. Given that the Muckler firing transpired a mere 72 hours prior to the show it was not that big a surprise when Mr. Mlakar chose not to make the live TV appearance. Unfortunate but not surprising. Senator radio colour voice Gord Wilson was on the show however and his words were most enlightening to those of us who do not follow the team day-to-day.

I admonish myself actually for not picking up on this sooner but here are the nuts and bolts of it; Bryan Murray was set to become a free agent on June 30th. Despite leading the Sens to the finals for the first time, posting one of the best records ever from Christmas on and looking to most as a sure lock to continue coaching the team, despite all of that Bryan Murray still had no contract offer on the table to coach or otherwise several days after the season had ended. Unacceptable. It appears at this time Mr. Melnyk interceded and although I am not privy as to how the conversation went I think it’s safe to assume that Mr. Muckler was less than thrilled about keeping Mr. Murray on board and in fact Mr. Murray was less than thrilled to be a part of any organization that included Mr. Muckler. Faced with that Mr. Melnyk made the only decision he could – and he let go Mr. Muckler. This was not an amicable pair of hockey personnel. Most unfortunate but that’s the way she goes. We can debate Mr. Muckler’s tenure as a GM and for the most part my own opinion is it was satisfactory. Not anywhere near exceptional but certainly satisfactory. According to Mr. Melnyk at the press conference one of the deciding ‘last straw’ events was the trade deadline when Mr. Muckler was unable to acquire Gary Roberts. As Gord Wilson correctly stated on the show a week ago Monday, (June 18th) there are only a couple of people who really know for sure what transpired in the Roberts negotiations and whether Jacques Martin would have actually moved Roberts to Ottawa. Maybe that will come out down the road. At this point what is obvious is Mr. Muckler did not want to part with much to make the Roberts deal happen and it appears as if that was a huge detriment to his continuing as GM through the final year of his contract.

So, JM is gone. The search for a coach continues and my pick is Randy Cunneyworth. We’ll see how that goes in the next few days. I believe all of the writers and media types have it bang on, John Paddock will get a long look, Cunneyworth obviously is on this short list and we’ll see if somebody emerges as a dark horse. Peter DeBoer from Kitchener of the OHL is an interesting name that has also been mentioned.

Columbus, Ohio hosts the world’s biggest hockey convention

I had the good fortune to attend the NHL draft this past weekend, (June 21, 22) in Columbus, Ohio, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets. I was there working for MCNsports.com Feel free to check their site out and if you have audio and a high speed enough operation for a computer you’ll be able to see some of the interviews I did for this site. They should be up in the next week or two, certainly I would think by early July. Ton of fun. Among them were Steve Yzerman, Randy Carlyle, Rick Nash, Peter Mahovlich and numerous others. Hanging with the various hockey personnel was the best part of the whole thing frankly. Columbus’s strength and conditioning Coach Barry Brennan, is an Ottawa guy originally so he acted as our tour guide – to make sure we hit the best bars. Great job there Barry!! One of Barry’s closest friends and mine is a scout for the Boston Bruins, Wayne Smith. Smitty introduced my self and Marc Brunet, president of MCN sports, to numerous hockey personnel and we had a fantastic time attending some of the other scheduled events in and around draft weekend. Our conversation with Guy Lapointe was a classic, I'll have stories on that in the next blog.

All the talk about the Americans going as high and as often as they did is somewhat comical. The lack of Russians being taken because of no transfer agreement plus the weaker than normal crop of Europeans meant more Americans were taken than normal but overall there still was 102 Canadians drafted out of the 211 picks so once again, almost 50% of all drafted have a passport from north of the 49th parallel. If you are able to see those interviews check out the one with Montreal’s pick in the second round out of Belleville, PK Subban. Is this kid ready to go or what? It was quite something. In fact while we were dining and having a few pops with Brian Kilrea and the 67’s staff including owner Jeff Hunt on Saturday night they spoke very highly of this young man brimming with confidence. We’ll see how it goes at camp for him but he is very, very confident of one day playing for Montreal – sooner rather than later it would appear.
Later on Saturday evening I had the good fortune to have a few pops with Cam Neely. Neely is beginning to explore some off ice work with his alma mater, the Bruins and as such he was with their crew for the draft and for the social night that followed Saturday evening. Let’s just say this- Ulf Samuelsson will not be getting any dinner invitations anytime soon from Mr. Neely. That was a total treat talking hockey with him.

Next blog we’ll talk a bit about the upcoming Team Canada- Russia eight game exhibition junior series that is being held to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Summit Series. I had a discussion with Brent Sutter at the airport leaving Columbus and we’ll have his thoughts for you here.

Trivia time. Last blog I talked about the first American to have his name engraved on the Cup as a player. NHL.com claims this to be a player named Johnny Sherf with Detroit in 1937. Only one problem with that, Clarence ‘Taffy’ Abel did it with the Rangers in 1928. To my knowledge he is the first in the NHL to have his name engraved as a player who was born in the States. Problem with birth locations is there is many errors with these the further back in hockey history you go. Abel I know for sure, that is documented in many sources but there could be another. As I said though, not to my knowledge. So Abel is number one in my book.
This blogs question pertains to the draft. Being selected twice is not an anomaly anymore in draft history. In fact it might surprise some of you just how far back you have to go to find this particular player who was the first in NHL history to be drafted twice. Any ideas? Let me know who you think it is. Keep your stick on the ice!!

Liam Maguire

All hail the new Stanley Cup Champions!

2007-06-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

For the sixth season in a row the NHL has a new Stanley Cup champion. Colorado 2001, Detroit 2002, New Jersey 2003, Tampa Bay 2004, Carolina 2006 and now Anaheim in 2007. Gary Bettman wanted a salary cap and parity; I think that’s been achieved.

The table was set early in game six thanks to the usual array of ridiculous penalty calls. If there’s one thing that the league somehow has to get a grasp on it’s the BS marginal calls that actually can have an impact on a game. Case in point the hooking penalty called on Anton Volchenkov. That was a brutal, brutal call. It put Ottawa down two men, Anaheim scored just as the first penalty expired, which was a fair call to Tom Preissing for interference and the Ducks were off to the races. Corey Perry set up Rob Niedermayer to make it 2-0 ten seconds after Perry got out of the box. That goal came with less than three minutes to play in the first period and our next image on TV was that of the Stanley Cup arriving in the building. Can you say foreshadowing?

I think Anaheim were destined to win the Cup regardless especially after how game four unfolded in Ottawa however, it should be noted that Daniel Alfredsson did all he could in the second period to erase the Ducks advantages he just could not stop the puck as well so the Sens are out of luck this year. The trick now is hoping there’s enough gas left in the tank to take another run at this next season. Here in lies the rub. Of those six teams, including Anaheim on the above list, the Hurricanes and the Devils are the only other teams that made the finals additionally in that same time period. That’s it of those past twelve entries. 25%, those are not good odds. Ottawa will have to guard against that and hope a few off season changes will be enough to whet the appetite of those wishing to imbibe out of Lord Stanley’s mug.

Speaking of which, for the record it takes seventeen 12oz pints of Molson Export Ale to fill up the bowl of the Stanley Cup. I know this because I did it at Chris Vickers house in Manotick on July 1, 1993. Undoubtedly some of the Ducks will discover this during their respective day with the classic Cup. Although Ex might not be the beverage of choice it will I’m quite certain see at least that many pints of beer especially Canadian beer with so many passports from north of the 49th on the Duck roster. By coincidence this was the best year the Senators ever had in the post season also with a record setting number of Canadian born players – since they made their first playoffs in 1997. How did Alanis put that? Isn’t it ironic? Yes, I guess it is.

Anthem singer’s aside changes for next year for the Senators should include a couple of tough calls. I think it’s time to give Wade Redden another lease on life as I mentioned in an earlier post. Granted there are elements of what goes on behind the scenes that many of us including most in the media know nothing about. I would still deal him. I think he still has the potential to have one heck of a career I just feel his service to the Senators has outlived his ability to deliver solidly enough for them. Rumours abound about Edmonton. It is a possible scenario given Redden’s western Canadian roots, regardless; I would look at options of giving him his ‘Larry Murphy’ lease on life.

The aforementioned Tom Preissing appears to be done for sure, Dean McAmmond may want to come back and finish a job that he was handed as a member of the Senators or he may want to take his cleared head and shuffle off to greener pastures in the south. Ottawa missed his 10+ minutes of ice time after the Pronger hit no question about it. Speaking of which the NHL could certainly have given Chris Pronger maybe an extra game given the severity of the McAmmond injury however if you have a huge issue with Colin Campbell’s call of this you need to debate whether the finals are worth more or if they should just be treated like another hockey game. Myself I feel they are worth more and at the end of the day although I thought two games were more deserving I was okay with the one.

Bottom line, Ottawa were beat by a hungrier, better hockey club. We now know that Dany Heatley was quite banged up as were other players and numerous Ducks including Chris Pronger who was popping his shoulder back in place several times in game five after being nailed big time by Antoine Vermette and Chris Neil. My question that I will pose to Senator President Roy Mlakar on TV next Monday night June 18th (Big Bad Sports Show- Rogers cable 22 – 7pm) is at what point does a coach consider pulling an injured player and dressing a healthy reserve? Granted its Bryan Murray’s decision as the coach but I’ll be interested to see what Mr. Mlakar’s response will be. I’ll print it for you here next week after the show.

Speaking of Bryan Murray, I believe he will be back to coach this team again. John Muckler has one year left on his contract. He’ll be 74 next year. Regardless of how Ottawa does next season Muckler will be off to the land of consultants and the stage will be set perfectly for Murray to ascend to the position he relishes more than any. I don’t believe that these guys are going to be dinner guests at each others house anytime soon, just my opinion but I don’t think they are really tight. Still, this is too good a situation for Murray to pass up. Coach one more year and he should be set for a solid 3+ year run as GM of this franchise and frankly after his work in Florida and Anaheim in that position Ottawa will be well served.

Congrats to the Ducks for a well deserved win. It will be interesting to see how they play next year and if they can shake off the bad karma that has followed the previous winners.

Trivia time

The answer to last weeks question, the youngest captain in NHL history is not the newly named Sydney Crosby with the Penguins but Brian Bellows with the Minnesota North Stars who was a full six months younger than Crosby when he was named interim captain in January of 1984. Why the NHL does not acknowledge this is beyond me. Here’s another one for you hardcore researchers out there. Andrew Miller and Todd Marchant join a long line of American born players to have their name engraved on the Cup. Who was the first? Answer in next week’s blog. Have a great week.

Champagne at the ready - Can Anaheim close the deal?

2007-06-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007 Cup final set to begin

2007-05-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Finally tonight, May 28th, the Cup final will get underway. No sense picking against the Senators right now. They have beyond a shadow of a doubt elevated their game more than any other team that I’ve seen in this years playoffs. The challenge for Anaheim will be to win that first game. Knowing full well that Ottawa has done this in all three rounds should be huge motivation for the Ducks, not that you would think anybody needs extra motivation come playoff time let alone the Cup finals – still – their pro scouts must be telling them that this is the real deal and one hell of a team in Ottawa. Getting behind in this series cannot be an option for the Ducks in my view.

Conversely, Ottawa must keep doing what they have been. The big line has picked up points in every game but one. Daniel Alfredsson is on a mission. Ironically the first Swede ever to play in the NHL was Gustav Forslund with the old Ottawa Senators in 1932-33. He only played the one year. He was born in Sweden but grew up in Canada and now there’s an opportunity for the first Swede ever to captain a Cup winning team. Incidentally, to be 100% accurate, three players have captained Cup winning teams that were born overseas. Dunc Munroe with the Montreal Maroons in 1926, Charlie Gardiner with Chicago in 1934 who was also their goaltender and Johnny Gottselig also with Chicago in their second Cup winning year in 1938. Gardiner was born in Scotland also and Gottselig in Russia. Daniel Alfredsson would become the first European born, raised and trained player to captain a Cup winning team. Although many in Canada are viewing this as a foregone conclusion the Ducks will be a very formidable opponent. For the first time this playoff season somebody will be able to match Ottawa physically. The Ducks are extremely sound in net and obviously they have a great defense. This should be a very, very interesting game tonight.

Anaheim got here by closing out Detroit. In my last column I stated Datsyuk and Zetterberg would have to step up. They did their part. A wild finish in the third period of that contest almost saw Detroit force OT but it was not meant to be. I would say for forty minutes, the first two periods, Anaheim looked as good as any team I’ve seen in this years playoffs. We’ll see if they can bring that tonight against a very, very hot Ottawa club. I’ll call the Sens to win this series in six games.

My last comment for today is regarding TV coverage. For a number of years now those of us in Canada have come to expect what was for years a normal playoff schedule being jerked all over the place to accommodate American TV networks. I have no problem with the various networks that have broadcast the playoffs nor any of the on air crew. In fact there have been several broadcast teams over the years from our hockey brethren in the south that I enjoy listening to and watching as much or more than what we have on Hockey Night in Canada. Having said that – enough is enough. There is no multi million TV deal with NBC. In my view the NHL had their best years they will ever see with an American audience from 1988-1994. The Gretzky trade to LA, Mario’s Cup wins in Pittsburgh, LA going to the finals with Gretzky in ’93 and the Rangers winning in 1994. All of that added up to a richest TV contract the NHL ever saw from an American rights holder. Regretfully the league rolled right into a 103 day lockout and did not recover for ten years and not until a full season was lost in 2004-05. Folks, it’s time for Gary Bettman to realize this is a sham how we ended up with afternoon games specifically when it left Hockey Night in Canada with nothing in several instances. That’s an abject farce. It’s a freakin’ joke and what I’d like to know and will attempt to find out for the next blog is what recourse does HNIC have given they are shelling out their largest amount of capital ever for their rights and they ( and us ) end up getting stiffed. The fact that NBC left a playoff game going into OT for pre Preakness coverage is the most disgusting thing I have ever, ever heard of in the history of TV broadcasting of hockey. The one saving grace ironically is that with a team from the West coast in the final the league obviously could not schedule a game at 2 or 3pm EST on a Saturday afternoon. Can you imagine – an 11am playoff game locally in Anaheim? Who knows, maybe that’s next so NBC can cut away to an NFL parole hearing or something of equally profound importance to their so-called hockey audience.

Facts for the playoffs

The Ducks' Rob and Scott Niedermayer will be the first brothers to appear in the Final as teammates since the Philadelphia Flyers' Rich and Ron Sutter in the 1985 Final against Edmonton. The last brother combination to win the Stanley Cup was Brent and Duane Sutter, who captured their second consecutive title together with the New York Islanders in 1983. The Niedermayer’s became the first set of brothers on opposing clubs in the Stanley Cup Final since 1946 when Scott's New Jersey Devils defeated Rob's Ducks in 2003. In 1946 Montreal's Ken Reardon faced his brother Terry Reardon with the Bruins in the final.

Ducks right wing Teemu Selanne, who has played 1,041 regular-season and 81 playoff games in his 14-year NHL career, will be making his first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. The series will cap off a memorable 2006-07 campaign that featured his 500th career goal (Nov. 22 at Colorado) and his 1,000th game (Dec. 31 at Minnesota). At 36 years of age (born July 3, 1970), Selanne became the first player in NHL history 35 or older to record consecutive 40-goal seasons and the oldest player in League history to score 45 goals in one season. He finished the campaign with a club-leading 48 goals, third in the League overall.

The Stanley Cup Final will feature 17 players who were selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, nine from Ottawa and eight from Anaheim.From Ottawa: C Patrick Eaves (#29, by Ottawa, 2003); LW Dany Heatley (#2, by Atlanta, 2000); LW Dean McAmmond (#22, by Chicago, 1991), D Andrej Meszaros (#23, by Ottawa, 2004); D Chris Phillips (#1, by Ottawa, 1996); D Wade Redden (#2, by New York Islanders, 1995), LW Oleg Saprykin (#11, by Calgary, 1999); C Jason Spezza (#2, by Ottawa, 2001); D Anton Volchenkov (#21, by Ottawa, 2000); From Anaheim: C Ryan Getzlaf (#19, by Anaheim, 2003); G J.S. Giguere (#13, by Hartford, 1995); LW Brad May (#14, by Buffalo, 1990); C Rob Niedermayer (#5, by Florida, 1993); D Scott Niedermayer (#3, by New Jersey, 1991); RW Corey Perry (#28, by Anaheim, 2003); D Chris Pronger (#2 overall, by Hartford, 1993); RW Teemu Selanne (#10, by Winnipeg, 1988).

Somebody pay the baby sitter ( thanks Sweden) Canada reclaims stop spot

2007-05-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

Icing their youngest team ever and with a couple of shaky starts at the beginning, Team Canada jelled – to say the least – and picked up another gold medal at this years edition of the World Hockey Championships played in Russia. Granted its not a tournament that the whole hockey world stops and watches but the hockey is still very spirited and high quality and recently it’s been a breeding ground for medals for Canada and that’s never a bad thing.

The recent trend has seen Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Sydney Crosby and now Rick Nash lead Canada. Crosby is the only one of that group that did not win gold but he did lead the tournament in scoring and he was voted the top forward. That’s a nice feather in the cap for Nash, the former Rocket Richard Trophy winner who has seen his goal total drop in each of his past two NHL seasons since he copped that award in 2004 along with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk. Nash’s second goal of the gold medal game against the plucky Finn’s was a classic. It was very reminiscent of the Peter Mahovlich short handed marker against the Soviet National team in game two of the Summit series in 1972. Both were huge goals at the time and what it shows is that thirty-five years later, the more things change the more they stay the same.

Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman should be feeling awesome after that victory, his first win in his first try as GM of any hockey entity. And with somewhere in the vicinity of 18 or 19 players saying no that they did not want to go to Russia that makes it all the sweeter. Great job to a guy who will do down as one of the top captains in hockey history and now he begins his formal foray into executive life with a Gold medal.

Actually I guess technically Yzerman’s first job as a hockey executive began this season with the Red Wings. As of this writing Detroit is down three games to two with game six to be played in less than six hours in Anaheim. Buckle up the chin straps folks. It should be a beauty. This series has been impossible to predict so who knows what will happen tonight. You would think that the nature of how game five ended might be enough to drive a stake in to the hearts of any Red Wing player and their supporters. In fact speaking of goals that were eerily similar, Scott Niedermayer’s game tying marker in game five against Dominik Hasek looked very much like Trevor Linden’s goal to help Team Canada tie the Czech’s at 1-1 in their semi-final game at the 1998 Olympics. In that instance Linden fired a shot that also hit a stick and beat a surprised Dominik Hasek. Fortunately in the case of the Ducks there is no shoot out in the NHL. Bad bit of luck by Andreas Lilja to lose the puck right in front of Hasek but give credit where it’s due to Selanne and Co., for hanging around in a game that by rights they should not have won. As for the Chris Pronger one game suspension I think he deserved it. It was a gutsy call but the right one to make even though the call on the ice was incorrect with the five minute major and game misconduct going to Rob Niedermayer. Tomas Holmstrom could play on my team any day. To take the abuse he does, let alone coming back from that head shot to play after taking thirteen stitches was pretty impressive. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datysuk better get their acts in gear and play a bit like Holmstrom or its golf season tonight for the Wings.

The Eastern side is all set thanks to the Ottawa Senators who for the third consecutive time cleaned out an opponent in five games. Accolades are wide spread for the Senators. In each of their past two series wins they closed out their opposition in game five both times in games where they were down 1-0 and in both instances these were the first games in those series where the team not scoring first went on to win. Very impressive. The reaction here in Ottawa has been phenomenal. Thousands greeted the players when they arrived by plane from Buffalo and the crowd was reported to be around 8000 that headed out onto Elgin Street now dubbed ‘Sens mile’ amid a sea of red garments and red faces. Possibly a few pints were had but there were no reports of any bare chested ladies however Ottawa has not played their first game of the finals yet either. Stand by on that one.

Bottom line - this is an Ottawa team that deserves credit. Ironically they are sporting their most Canadian lineup in the past ten years that they’ve made the post season. I hate to always put on the big collar and crow from the pulpit but the facts are that this lineup is vastly grittier with the likes of Chris Kelly and Dean McAmmond than Marion Hossa and Martin Havlat. Take a guy like Dany Heatley who is leading the playoffs in scoring; Heatley chops guys back who cheap shot him. He’s not shy of using his body in front of the net to create the room he needs to cradle the puck for the .01 of a second that he needs to release his shot. It’s just an infinitely different attitude and I think it starts with the coach. Bryan Murray was a very tough senior hockey player in and around the Ottawa area years ago and he takes no crap from anybody. Players reflect the coach they play for. In the case of Ottawa – for eight very long seasons- this was Jacques Martin and God love him because he is a great coach but to go to this next level Mr. Martin did not have the capability. Ottawa sported fifteen players on their roster in game five that were born in Canada. Second only to Anaheim’s seventeen. Like I said earlier, the more things change……

Notes

-The last all-Canadian team to win the Cup was the 1975 Philadelphia Flyers.
-local Ottawa area reporter Ian Mendes came up with a beauty regarding Cup winners and the years ending in ‘7’ check this out – this is since the NHL began in 1918.
1927- Ottawa
1937- Detroit
1947 – Toronto
1957- Montreal
1967 – Toronto
1977 – Montreal
1987 – Edmonton
1997 – Detroit

In other words either Detroit or a Canadian team has won the Cup every year ending in ‘7’ since the NHL began.

Liam Maguire

Shane Doan lunacy overshadows Team Canada and NHL playoffs. Briefly.

2007-05-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

I love to read about Canadian history especially through the 20th century where we were at the forefront of so many of the most important things to happen in the world. I talk about several of these moments in time every occasion I have to speak publicly and I try and leave the house every day with something, anything, that has the Canadian flag on it. This makes me a proud Canadian, not a special Canadian by any means but I am without question someone who is fiercely proud of our Country. It made sick to my stomach to have to read, listen and see the gutlessness, the absolute farcical events of last week that saw several of our politicians grilling Bob Nicholson of Hockey Canada over the selection of Shane Doan as our captain at this year’s World Championships.

Gilles Duceppe, Jack Layton and Dennis Coderre or anybody else of a political persuasion who have voiced a concern over Shane Doan’s captaincy because of this unfounded verbal incident almost a year and a half ago – these politicians are vermin. They are despicable and an abject farce given their roles as our leaders. To think that time was spent to have Mr. Nicholson come in to attend to this 17-18 months after an investigation was conducted by the NHL which treats these matters very, very seriously, to think that time was taken by members of our government sets us back a hundred years in my view in the eyes of the world. When you’ve got Rene Fassel of the IIHF backing you up, which Team Canada does in this case, that folks says a lot about which side of the coin we all should be on this issue.

I was born in Montreal. My mother is from a small town north of Quebec City. I love the province; I have many, many family members that live there still and numerous friends. I’m a die hard Hab fan. I say all this because it’s so easy these days to take a gratuitous shot at the Bloc Quebecois. They are so disjointed. Thank God their control, such as it was, appears to be waning at the moment. I do not know of a more hypocrite bunch of jerks than those in that political party with their Bill 101 and every other element of their separatist attitude. Why not drag Ted Lindsay into court for his verbal infractions against Rocket Richard? Mr. Lindsay has admitted numerous times in countless interviews that he called the Rocket ‘a frog’ although I think we all know it was much worse than that. What’s stopping a full investigation into all slurs against French players going back as far as we can trace? Oops, probably just gave those morons an idea. It would be their first. Suffice to say this was the lowest moment ever in the history of hockey as far as I’m concerned. Not Bertuzzi-Moore. Not Green-Maki, not the Richard Riot, Shore-Bailey or even Masson-McCourt, the only on ice murder in Canadian hockey history. None of that matches this shameful display of Canadian politics if you can call it that. Thank God and I mean that sincerely, Thank God Mr. Nicholson and every other power that be from Steve Yzerman right on down have continued to tell these misguided idiots to get stuffed. I’d love to tell them a whole lot more.

On the hockey front, got a few right last series, got a few wrong. Ottawa and Buffalo got the wins I was calling. Same with Anaheim but for the second time Detroit has surprised me. Those are two huge playoff series victories for the Senators. I believe Buffalo are the better hockey club. I think the Sabres are every bit if not more so, destined to win a Cup much like Senator faithful extol in many a radio call in show however, I simply cannot go against the Senators right now. They have stepped up and to be honest the fact they are having this success without Hossa, without Chara, without Havlat, I absolutely love. For those of us who live here in the Ottawa area, we’ve got to listen to people phone in or write in to our dailies and complain about those players not being here and how it will hurt us in the playoffs then in the next sentence say that Jason Spezza has to do more corner work for the Senators to be successful. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. This is a very new group by and large to the sport. They have turned on to this team over the past decade since they’ve gotten good and other than not needing an explanation for an offside or an icing call there is very little difference with the main stream Ottawa Senator fan and a Nashville Predator fan. But they’re having a great ride with this team and I think it’s going to continue. I’ll call the Sens in six games over the Sabres.

I really think that Detroit is going to miss Mathieu Schneider. That’s an easy statement to make obviously. His six points in 12 games are not outstanding by any means but his 30+ minutes a game are definitely going to be missed. Lidstrom and Chelios picked up the slack through the rest of game five and then game six but this is the start of a new series against arguably the most physical team in the NHL so I predict that Detroit will not be able to stay with the Ducks over this best-of-seven. Hasek maybe could step up again and steal this one. Anaheim is four years removed from their Cup final run but Detroit is five years beyond their last Cup triumph. They should be a great series, both of them.

Coming soon to a TV station near you, a new reality show; “how to be an incompetent politician.” Be well folks and we'll talk to you next week.

Liam Maguire

How long before somebody suggests a shootout?

2007-05-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

I just had a discussion with an old school hockey fan that has picked up on the latest rage in hockey - that being to complain about the double overtime games. "I can't believe all these double OT games," he stated. "I think they should go to a four on four in the second over time for sure." At that pointI reminded him that based on percentages this year's playoff is headed to a similar amount of double OT games to what was played in 2003, just four years ago. In fact all this talk about how much these games take out of teams baffles me. I don't doubt for one second that it's exhausting to play an extra period let alone two or more but in 2003 New Jersey went into a third OT period against Tampa Bay, one of six OT games they played that year in winning their third Stanley Cup. They lost four of those OT games by the way. Why was it okay for them to play five on five and go on to win a Cup and not a team today? Why was it okay for Montreal to play eleven OT games in 1993 including a double OT game on route to winning their 24th Stanley Cup? How many more changes are we going to suggest to the game of hockey? Here's a novel concept. Fix the inconsistent refereeing and you'll improve the game overnight. There's not a whole lot else wrong. With the coaching today and the quality of the goaltending it's that much harder to score at all let alone in OT when the hatches are really battened down. But I still want to see a game decided in the traditional way. For God's sake don't screw around with the playoffs. Please. There's a reason that the Stanley Cup is regarded as the toughest trophy to win in sports and playing extra periods is one of those reasons. Baseball doesn't go with eight men in extra innings. Basketball doesn't pull a guy off the floor in OT. Why suggest that in hockey? Because of six double OT periods when in the last ten seasons we've averaged nearly five a year? And now it's a problem because why?? Because some lame brained twit in the media probably couldn't get to the bar quick enough to order his Shirley temple so he's upset at the length of the games. Brutal. Please leave the infrastructure of the game alone come playoff time. Incidentally, for the record there were nine double OT games in 2003.

Eddie Shack would not have survived in today's NHL. Well, he would have survived but probably not long. A life time suspension would have been right around the corner at every whistle. For the second time in a month I had the pleasure of working with him. This latest event was the St. Catharine's Home Show. I spoke at that event years ago with Pierre Pilote a three time Norris Trophy winner. Shack has his own records to mull over more than 30 years after his retirement. Four times a Cup winner, scored the Cup winning goal in 1963 for Toronto, was the first recipient of the MVP award in an all-star game, again in 1963. He was the first player to score twenty goals or more for five different teams. He played more than 1000 games and he accumulated 1437 pim's plus he was arguably one of the most entertaining hockey players of not only his era but any era in hockey. Hence the nickname. He also was involved in a couple of the more vicious stick swinging fights of all time. By his own admission he loved to fight and he loved the rough stuff. He broke a stick over Larry Zeidel's head, he speared Reggie Fleming, he knocked out Gordie Howe with a body check, he head butted Henri Richard and cut him badly just to name a few of his moments on the ice. I point this out for people who think the 'old' NHL was a kinder gentler league. Believe me folks, the further back you go the rougher it was there just wasn't as much video evidence. Now someone throws a cheap shot and fifteen cameras record it, CNN picks up on it, Larry King weighs in and the moral majority scream from the hill tops about the monsters in hockey, all Canadian according to some of these idiots, hello Jim Kelley and then these people go to bed at night thinking their spineless words have evoked a tidal wave of support to ban the sport. Of course they turn in before those games go into double OT. Those of us who are fans, the true fans, must continue to speak up and make ourselves heard. Don't think that every single one of you do not have the power to be heard. If you have not already done so you should join the NHLFA immediately. It's free and they are a group nearly 30,000 strong. They think like you do because if you are reading my blog the odds are you are a traditional hockey fan. Maybe not every one of you but most of you and even your one voice whether it be a letter-to-the-editor, a call in to a sports radio show or a well timed email to somebody who is taking a cheap shot at our national sport- fight the good fight. I'm right there with you. Need any help, just let me know.

Liam Maguire

What are they doing to our game?

2007-04-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

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

Playoff rivalries alive and well

2007-04-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

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

Road to Lord Stanley bypasses Montreal and Toronto

2007-04-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

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

Playoff races finally edging out fighting in hockey

2007-04-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

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

And the hits just keep on coming

2007-03-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

Another week another punch, another week, another stretcher case. Such is life in the NHL. Not a whole lot different if at all from the past, less frequency if anything but still – the collective conscious of the non-hockey fans and the mind set of some in the main stream media have raised a verbal fist of anger at hockey for it’s seemingly blind-eye to these barbaric acts. Please hold my calls while I dab my eyes with Kleenex.

We didn’t have to wait long for the next suspension after Chris Simon’s melt down. Jordin Tootoo took care of that with one, albeit lucky shot, to the incoming Stephane Robidas. Tootoo has amassed nearly 30 fighting majors at this juncture of his brief NHL career. He is no shrinking violet and Canadian hockey fell in love with this guy during the 2003 World Junior Championships in Halifax. From game one against Sweden right through the gold medal tilt against the Russians he hit everything that moved and this only a short while after his brother had committed suicide so the story wrote itself and he took care of business on the ice. In my opinion he was the most effective, truculent player I had seen in a Team Canada sweater since Eric Lindros first burst on the scene and Wendel Clark was in his prime. Granted both of them had much more skill however it should be noted that Tootoo scored over 100 goals in his junior A career and over 200 points to go along with his 874 pim’s. He had been a regular part of the Nashville landscape this season and his five game suspension was too long in my opinion. Given how he plays the game, hit first ask questions later, Robidas had to know he was going to engage a very willing combatant. And this after yet another ‘clean’ hit of a megastar, this time Mike Modano. What really baffles me is the exclusion of Modano from most of the discussion even though he smacked Tootoo in the back with his stick right after Jordin caught Robidas on the button with a wild right hand. It reminded me of the situation involving Scott Niedermayer who chopped Peter Worrell right over the head with his stick not long after the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident. Niedermayer received a ten game suspension for that act which if anything shows even the superstars can ‘lose it’ in the game of hockey yet you’d be hard pressed to read any account of that now. In the annals of hockey history a number of the top players have been suspended for brutal stick work but throw one punch and it’s the anti-fighting activists who lobby so passionately they make the anti-Vietnam protests look like a Boy Scout meeting.

Next up was Todd Fedoruk of the Flyers taking it on the chin, literally from Colton Orr of the New York Rangers. Fedoruk should not have been in this game much less back in the league after his destruction at the hands of Derek Boogaard earlier this year. Sometimes a guy just has to know when to hang it up and it’s my hope that this is the case with Fedoruk at this time even though thankfully he does not appear to have been hurt badly in the Orr fight so who knows – he may and the Flyers might just allow him to continue at some point.

Fedoruk earns 450,000.00 US a year. How many of you reading this right now make that kind of money? He has been a pro for seven years, more than 300 games and of course his contract is guaranteed. If he decides to play again and fight again and gets hurt again – that’s his decision. It’s not yours, it’s not mine nor should it be.

This is what you backward thinking neophytes need to understand about the game. When you play pro sports you assume a risk. There is an inherent risk of getting hurt no matter what sport you play. Hockey is vastly different. With the speed of the game and the collisions of bodies at more than thirty miles an hour you also have players carrying weapons. A hockey stick. Contact with the stick in some way, shape or form even sometimes when deemed to be clean – has led to some of the most drastic consequences that you can imagine. No sense revisiting history, most of you have heard it and know it. Unless you have felt the sting of a slash, the spear of the blade, the shaft of a cross check, the butt end, you are incapable of forming an opinion of what is right in terms of retaliation, retribution or otherwise. These men know the risks going in and for more than 100 years these men doled out their own form of punishment to those who crossed the line. For the past 10-15 the rule changes have made these reprisal acts a moot point. For the most part they only exist now in the most heinous way, McSorley on Brashear, Bertuzzi on Moore, Niedermayer on Worrell and Simon on Hollweg. And the list goes on. Several media out of Toronto are championing their editorial right with this grandiose statement, ‘somebody is going to get killed,’ Yes guys, in fact players have already been killed on the ice. From stick work, from skate blades and one death already recorded in the NHL. Bill Masterton died in 1968 after striking his head on the ice. All anybody has to do is google this and you’ll find it. Not that hard but that would deflate some of these pompous asses. In their typical callous listen-to-me, know-it-all attitude, they of course don’t mention this. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If you are that much concerned about the player’s safety and the elimination of anything, absolutely anything that could be construed as life threatening then lobby for a non-contact league with protection from head to toe, no slap shots and what the heck, while we’re at it let’s not keep score because that could only incite nastiness late in a game that’s not winnable.

Sorry for the length folks but this is a serious issue. It’s serious enough for me to say that I have a dream. I have a dream of an NHL that I watched as a young boy growing up. This is an NHL of accountability, of respect, with dazzling plays and incredible goals and yes, controlled and sometimes uncontrolled violence. It’s my opinion that no amount of legislation or punitive measures will eliminate all acts of violence in the NHL just like the non-fighting rule in the NBA has not eliminated some of the wildest out of control moments you’ll ever see in sport or the endless bean balls and bench brawls in baseball.

Does anybody know the name Eric Medlen? He was a drag racer. He passed away on March 23, 2007 – that’s three days ago folks, three days ago. He is the 127th person do die in a race car of some sort since 1980. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_racing_drivers_who_died_in_racing_crashes) I simply cannot believe the callousness and wash-your-hand-of-it mentality of you the know-it-all who wants to dictate how hockey should be played but who obviously cares nothing about the endless carnage and violence in other sports. To me that’s gutless. Please leave my sport alone, you have no business even watching it and clearly are unable to suggest any cognitive solutions.

Liam Maguire

Simon suspension just right - but we're not done yet

2007-03-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

After viewing several weeks worth of late hits and cheap shots NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell finally put his stamp on this current season with a 25 game suspension (minimum) to New York Islanders Chris Simon for his slash to the face of New York Rangers Ryan Hollweg. It was an appropriate call in my view given the severity of the stick work however it should not be extended beyond that like Marty McSorley’s and Todd Bertuzzi’s nor was it by far as bad as others in the history of the NHL. Incidentally, why the main stream media don’t report this is beyond me but the longest suspension handed down in NHL history for an on ice incident was to Boston’s Bill Coutu in 1927. Coutu flattened both game officials during a wild bench clearing brawl at the conclusion of the 1927 Stanley Cup final between Boston and the Ottawa Senators. Jerry Laflamme and Billy Bell were the two officials and Coutu, in plain view of league President Frank Calder, drilled both officials with punches and had to be restrained from doing more damage than that. Calder saw enough from that action to suspend Coutu for life from the NHL. Coutu toiled in the minors for two seasons and in 1929 his life time ban was lifted but he was through with hockey at that point and never did play in the NHL again. Somewhat similar to the Marty McSorley story.

If you are a fan of the game though, there is a major cause for concern. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, what we have now is a vastly different culture of hitting through out the league. Shifts are short, players can all skate, they are all well built and equipment is light yet has increased in size and in the capability of it to hurt. When you are hit anywhere with today’s elbow pads and shoulder pads you feel it unlike ‘back in the day’ when the soft padding and small yet solid enough shoulder cup was all that prevented us from injury to those upper parts of our body. Anybody with children playing or if you are playing yourself you know that the equipment from our youth has been replaced by hard plastic that has been the cause for many of the concussions we see today. I still use my shoulder pads that I wore in Juvenile and college hockey, 25-30 years ago and yes they are old and old looking but compared to the Robocop type of equipment of today they are archaic. Funny thing is I played full contact until I was 24 years old and the only concussion I suffered was as a result of a shot to my face, not from being hit with any type of check which I was many, many times. I digress.

The culture of hitting today is predatory by nature and it’s conducted primarily by a type of player that has flourished in today’s NHL with its lack of accountability and lack of respect. Players like Ryan Hollweg are making a career of playing 7-8 minutes a game and by going out in 40 second shifts to hit anything that moves. The hit on Chris Simon should have been penalized. Who knows, had one of the officials been signaling a penalty perhaps that might have been enough to stem Simon’s rage. Then again Hollweg skated right back at him I suspect because he knew damn well he had a tiger by the tail and was hoping for a retaliatory strike. Boy did he get that!

Folks, this type of reaction by Chris Simon will happen again. Probably sooner rather than later. If you have never played contact hockey you are incapable of knowing the extreme venom that wells inside of you in a very brief moment where in a 20 or 30 second period you would commit the most heinous act on the ice because you simply ‘lose it.’ I guarantee you that somewhere here in my home town of Ottawa or the Valley, somewhere every single night there is some sort of confrontation between two or more players because of a perceived or real transgression. And this is in men’s leagues where everybody is getting up to go to work the next day. Multiply that by 1000 to get the feeling in a pro game where you are paid to play – where you are the elite of the elite even the enforcers and where any little thing in a game can have consequences on you, your team or your season. These guys are already on the razor’s edge and their very livelihood depends on it.

This is why players HAVE to be allowed to police themselves to some extent. We’ve had three major situations in the past three weeks. Chris Neil on Chris Drury, Cam Janssen on Tomas Kaberle and now Chris Simon on Ryan Hollweg. None of the original hits were penalized yet I can tell you time and time again – there will be repercussions from these types of hits at the NHL level and their darn well should be! Whether you call them all clean or whatever – they are dirty shots that you would not have seen in the NHL 15-20 years ago. If you threw a shot like that in that time period or before you knew very well that somebody or more likely everybody would be gunning for you immediately and because of that you picked your spot. You rarely saw a player hit in a vulnerable position. You almost never saw a blindside hit. You virtually never saw hitting from behind. These are all products of the ‘new’ NHL. Welcome to it. It sucks. It’s brutal. It’s spawned a new sort of gutless player which is ironic to say because these perpetrators of these hits in most cases are pretty tough lads in their own right but believe me when I say this – if you think I’m wrong ask somebody you know who knows the game from ‘back in the day’ these types of hits would not happen just a few short decades ago. The NHL needs to lose the instigator rule immediately and they need to eliminate gratuitous shots to the head. I don’t care that Chris Neil said he ‘hits to hurt.’ That’s fine, he’s young. When he’s older he’ll see how stupid a thing that was to say but for now please allow the players the ability to bring the respect back into the game. Believe me, they will, in a hurry and we’ll have a much better, much cleaner league for it.

Liam Maguire

Culture of hitting + lack of respect = cheap shots

2007-03-07T11:57:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago while appearing on the Ottawa Senators pre game show on radio station TEAM 1200, TSN’s Bob McKenzie hit the nail right on the head with regards to the body checks or more to the point the type of body checks that are being dished out by today’s NHL players. To quote, “the culture of hitting is different now than what it was 15, 20 or 25 years ago,” exclaimed McKenzie. And he was bang on ladies and gentlemen. In today’s game a player will take an opportunity to finish a hit no matter what the situation or the vulnerability of the player on the receiving end. Not so ‘back in the day.’ If a co-captain of any team had been hit the way Chris Drury was by Chris Neil you would have had an all out bench clearing brawl in five seconds in any era of the NHL prior to 1990. Chris Neil would have known that going in and perhaps, like his predecessors he would have held off smoking Drury, perhaps not. Neil is a physical player who enjoys it, has been quoted that he likes to hit to hurt and my guess is that he’s more than willing to be as accountable as anybody wants to try and make him. Having said that, I whole heartedly endorse Lindy Ruff’s response in sending out his tough guys – I would have done it a bit differently however. I simply would have waited for Chris Neil to finish serving his major for fighting Stafford and would have instructed Andrew Peters and Co. to go get him then rather than try and get something going with Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, etc.

Naturally there was quite a bit of verbiage regarding this situation. Here’s my view of the whole thing. If I were the Buffalo owner I would have offered Lindy Ruff a contract extension immediately following the game. The longest serving coach currently in the NHL made an immediate statement with the players he sent out on the next shift. His responsibility as a coach is to his team and his organization and his response was noted by everybody in that organization. Further more neither Adam Mair or Andrew Peters continued to fight Jason Spezza or Dany Heatley after they showed they were less than interested in throwing the knuckles and good for all parties on that front. This is why Peters made a beeline for Ottawa goalie Ray Emery after his easy dismissal of Martin Biron. Everybody in hockey knows of Emery’s reputation and he was not the first nor will he be the last goaltender to fight a position player in the NHL. Still, somebody, anybody should have jumped in on Emery’s behalf as Peter’s was winging the right hands in even though very few if any actually landed. The optics of the whole situation from the Neil hit right through the Peters-Emery tilt was not good for the Senators or their fans.

Part two. The rematch. I was at that game, three rows off the ice. Brian McGratton was worth the price of admission in the warm up alone. His tilt with Peters was preceded by a near Peters-Redden tussle that undoubtedly was not going to erupt into something major but with McGratton on the ice it had no chance to really start anyway and that’s why you want him out there. McGratton took a huge shot early in that fight and did not go down. In fact he came back to get the decision which was followed just minutes later by a Chris Neil –Adam Mair bout clearly won by Neil. Ottawa blew a 4-1 and a 5-3 lead in that game but hung on for a 6-5 victory but who cares? Lindy Ruff was quoted as saying after the Thursday game, ‘that he could care less if they had of lost the game 10-1,’ the team made a statement, he initiated it, and he endorsed it and fully supported it. His counter part Bryan Murray responded in kind on Saturday night by dressing McGratton and it was a classic. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife in the building and to be honest it felt like being in the Montreal Forum on a Saturday night as they were getting ready to play Boston or Philly in the 1970’s. That’s what hockey is all about. Emotion, instant reaction, accountability, nastiness and sometimes uncontrolled violence. All tree huggers please exit stage door left. Take your drinks with straws in them with you.

In an interview I did with Pierre Pilote several years ago he told me that he tried at least once a game to hit a guy so hard that he’d have to be carried off on a stretcher. Most of you probably never heard of Mr. Pilote. He won the Stanley Cup in 1961 with Chicago and was a three time recipient of the James Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL. He was an incredible defenseman. The very nature of hockey dictates that there are going to be flare-ups that sometimes are brutal in nature. What the league needs to realize is that in the anti septic makeover of the NHL they have eradicated almost all levels of respect and the very nature of their rule changes (instigator penalty, defensemen restricted in playing the body, retaliators penalized rather than original cheap shot artists) have contrived to create a terrible mess that will have at some point in the not to distant future a scene that will make the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident look like a boy scout get together. Give the accountability back to the players. Penalize blind side hits to the head and let the defensemen play the body like they used to. Cam Janssen’s hit on Tomas Kaberle of the Leafs was a late hit and I have no problem with the suspension but again – if this were in the era I grew up watching and say that was the Flyers Dave Schultz hitting Montreal’s John Van Boxmeer with a late shot you would have had a war on your hands. Wait a minute…………that happened in 1974. In fact I have the incident on tape. Montreal historians point to that moment as the coming out party of Larry Robinson or the coming together of the organization that would go on to win four straight Stanley Cups. Buffalo personnel are making similar statements for their team’s reaction to the Drury hit by Chris Neil.

I love the skill players and all they bring to the game. I also love the fact that I grew up in a time when they could be protected by their peers. It was a better league and believe it or not a much cleaner league. Any comments, send ‘em on. Love to hear them.

Liam Maguire

Finally-GM’s discussing the worst rule change of all time

2007-02-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

When goal scoring was up at the start of this current NHL campaign and maintained a higher pace as the season progressed fans and media alike wondered if the league had finally taken a step back in time, to the free wheeling 1980’s where the run and gun style of the Edmonton Oilers spawned like minded copy cat teams with the end result being a shoot out not only at the Calgary Corral but at every other rink in the NHL. In fact in 1985-86 fifteen of the twenty-one teams in the NHL scored more than 300 goals during an eighty game regular season. Last year, the twentieth anniversary of that season, two teams out of thirty in an eight-two game season scored more than 300 so we’re not quite there yet folks.

The other glaring difference to me and if this dates me so be it but from the time I began watching the game in the mid to late sixties right through the raucous seventies and the free wheeling eighties, the major difference between then and now is the lack of respect and the cheap shots that are prevalent in today’s game. Let me be more specific. There are more gutless twerps and more cheap shot artists in the game today than at any other time in the history of the sport and a huge reason for that is the most ridiculous rule in hockey, the instigator, that was brought in under Gil ‘The Thrill’ Stein’s watch. Regretfully he’s always going to be known for being the guy who tried to orchestrate his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame instead of the guy who arguably had as much to do with the changing of the game as the New Jersey Devils did with their ‘trap-style’ winning the Cup in 1995.

The real irony of the instigator rule is that a version of it has been on the books going as far back as 1976. Referees from that time had at any opportunity the ability to further penalize the player deemed to be the instigator in any fight. For the life of me I can’t tell you when it was applied in fact it would be a good trivia question and one that I’ll have to research but at their (the referees) discretion they had the ability to call an instigator penalty and have said player kicked out of the game. Regardless of when it was first called the bottom line is it was rarely called and for that reason players were accountable. If you ran a goalie, you were going to take a pounding. If you smoked somebody from behind, which was as rare as a Montreal loss on home ice in those days, you were going to take a pounding. If you went after Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and a host of other talented but non-fighting type of players you were going to take a pounding. You played hard, the game was tough, very tough and that had to be backed up. Even after helmets became mandatory in 1979, even after visors became part of the landscape when Ric Seiling began wearing one in 1981 due to an eye problem, players still had a high level of respect for each other and the code of the game that had existed for decades. Not today.

Today’s game is filled with a new style of hit and run player and a style of player that to quote a recent email I received is ‘euro tough.’ These are the European players who now populate the NHL landscape who have either won Cups or major awards, play hard, start or are involved in a lot of crap on the ice but never, ever would back it up by dropping the gloves. And to be fair to them, dropping the gloves is not the option it was ‘back in the day.’ For the first time in recent memory the instigator rule is being discussed at the GM’s meeting. Brian Burke, GM of Anaheim opined that it definitely needs to be amended and its punitive measure reduced. Last night on local TV here in Ottawa, (February 19) President and CEO of the Ottawa Senators, Roy Mlakar stated that the entire instigator rule should be tossed out! Now that’s more like it. When questioned by Sportsnet Rob Faulds why he would like to see it tossed Mr. Mlakar replied, “What do you like about it?” Faulds was at a loss for words briefly. What is there to like about it? The removal of this rule will protect Sydney Crosby like it did Wayne Gretzky. The removal of this insane rule will save a goalie from serious injury. The removal of this asinine rule could undoubtedly save someone’s career. Why? Because you have to think twice before drilling somebody with a cheap shot that’s why. It will bring the respect level back to the game of hockey and that for one is reason enough to throw that piece of garbage rule right out the window. Got any comments? I’d love to hear them.

Liam Maguire

Emery shows his mettle

2007-02-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

Ray Emery shows first signs of life in NHL

The passive tree huggers have roared to life like a dying man being shocked with a debibulator. The cause for the outbreak of venom, Ray Emery’s three game suspension for hitting Maxim Lapierre of the Montreal Canadiens in the second period of the Ottawa-Montreal game this past Saturday night, February 10th.

Emery has shown incredible resolve during his short time in the NHL after a brief but mercurial career in the AHL where he was suspended a couple of times and involved in some of the wilder altercations in the past 3-4 years. For quite some time many fans and media in Ottawa have pondered at what point his past behavior and temper would get the better of him – now we know. Is this a big deal? No it’s not but regretfully some on both sides are making it out to be.

From the Ottawa perspective. You never want to lose your starting goaltender be it to injury or suspension and in the midst of a tight playoff race it’s even worse timing however with only three games in the next seven days and with Martin Gerber already slated to start tomorrow’s game against Florida Ottawa may dodge a bullet of course we’ll know more about that in seven days. The fact remains that many goaltenders before Ray Emery and many after him will at some point assert themselves clear their crease or take matters into their own hands. Terry Sawchuk fought and hit everything that moved anywhere near his crease. Billy Smith was the most truculent goaltender in the history of the sport until Ron Hextall came along and made him look like a choir boy routinely posting 100+ pim seasons and taking several suspensions. Patrick Roy was once suspended eight games for a slash so bad on a Minnesota player named Warren Babe on October 19, 1987 that he put Babe out of action for two weeks. Those are some pretty good goaltenders in the history of the NHL. All of them Cup finalists and all but Hextall Cup winners. Frankly, from the Ottawa perspective I’m not that upset to see Emery finally blow a fuse. I think it would be good if he also takes an occasion or two and drops the gloves. I wouldn’t recommend he take on the Derek Boogaard’s or George Laracque’s of the world but winging a few shots at the numerous crease crashers in today’s game is never a bad idea in my opinion.

From the Montreal perspective. The Habs accomplished several things with this incident. Clearly they got under Emery’s skin and that bodes well for future games and maybe a playoff series at some point in time. Montreal scored on the power play so that really makes it worth while and lastly they got a suspension that frankly nobody in hockey circles feels was warranted so the hype and reaction in Montreal helped lead to that and if at the end of the day the Senators struggle with Gerber in the lineup then it’s really a win-win for Montreal. Of course all of this is easy to say because Lapierre was not hurt on the play despite their being significant intent to do so.

From the leagues perspective. The NHL continues to evolve in to a joke status. A league that was once revered for its respect level among its brethren and a code of conduct that player and fans espoused for decades continues to look Mickey Mouse as player after player night in and night out run the goalies. With the threat of 2-5-10 hanging over any body who comes to their defense or worse, taking twenty-seven minutes like Sheldon Souray did against Colby Armstrong on February 1st only to see Armstrong drop his gloves and get nothing - the NHL continues with this lack of accountability prevalent in the game today to slip into the back channels, literally, of the viewing public. Who can state with any conviction that they recall crease crashing in the 1980’s, 1970’s, 1960’s or before to the degree that we are getting it now? If you ventured near a goalie in those era’s retribution was swift. If you hit somebody from behind you were made accountable – on the ice. Not in the boardroom. Or in the case of Alexandre Ovechkin’s hit on Daniel Briere just a few weeks ago, not even in the boardroom. At least Paul Gaustad tried to get him for that brutal hit on Briere. I digress. Folks, this too shall pass. Ray Emery has finally shown his mettle as far as I’m concerned and I’m way more impressed that he’s had the season he’s had to date than worrying about a three game suspension.

Liam Maguire

2007-02-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

Dryden ceremony just right.

Seems we can’t get up in the morning without listening to or reading somebody’s crying about something in the world of sports. The latest missives in the print and electronic media world came as a result of the Ken Dryden retirement party held in Montreal on January 29th. For starters the date was picked to coincide with his sweater number. The Montreal Canadiens have chosen to add this element to these special nights for their latest inductees. Yvan Cournoyer and Dickie Moore each had their number 12 retired on November 12, 2005. Serge Savard’s number 18 was hung up on November 18, 2006. In the case of Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion his number 5 was done on March 11th 2006 because it coincided with the funeral of his father-in-law the late great Howie Morenz. Morenz died on March 8, 1937 and his funeral was held in the Forum the only time that has ever been done in NHL history. The date was March 11, 1937. Rocket Richard’s wake was held on the ice surface of the Bell Centre but no other player’s funeral was ever held in an NHL building. Morenz’s number 7 was brought down and then raised simultaneously with Geoffrion’s number 5 in one of the greatest ceremonies you will ever see and in addition, March 11th is the anniversary of the final game ever played in the Montreal Forum, another Monday night only this time in 1996 and another Montreal victory, 4-1 over the Dallas Stars.

See the trend? No. Let me spell it out for you. The Montreal Canadiens could care less what a bunch of over paid, over hyped, out of shape cartoon characters masquerading as hockey media types think. Don’t like the ceremony, don’t watch it. The Ottawa Senators were given the time line long ahead of this night. They chose to set their schedule accordingly and with the warm up beginning after the ceremony was completed all it did was push the start time of the game back, no visiting player was required to stand or participate over any length of time. Yet we still had the hand wringing the next day. Boys, here’s a suggestion. Grab another plate of wings and take an hour to wonder how your life might have been different had you made that dodge ball team in grade seven instead of being one of the first cuts. All of these players be it Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman or Ken Dryden, they deserve their nights and with that comes a price to be paid – in time. I won’t be the hypocrite that I feel Ken Dryden is and say that I’m his number one fan. I don’t like the fact he was not in favour of Toronto sweaters being retired during his tenure as GM and/or President nor am I a fan of his anti-fighting stance given how guys like Robinson, Bouchard, Lupien and others kept his crease clear during those spectacular Montreal years. Regardless, he was deserving of this night and I thought the ceremony was absolutely excellent as they all are in Montreal. Like the late Ted Blackman, long time reporter in the Montreal area once stated, “The only other group that could pull off a celebration like the Montreal Canadiens is the House of Windsor.” Truer words were never spoken.

Liam Maguire
Liam1@ca.inter.net

Tie Domi press conference

2006-09-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

I watched the Tie Domi press conference or should I say I saw hilights of it on our various all-sports stations and I read about it in both our daily papers here in Ottawa. I enjoyed the coverage and although I don't know Tie personally I have met him a few times and I privately saluted him for the longevity of his career especially doing what he did night in and night out. Very few enforcers play over the 1000 game mark and very few were as colourful and controversial as Domi was throughout his career. Granted he was given a media send off more appropriate for the superstars of our day however both the print and electronic media must have felt it was needed as they all attended.

As I understand it Sportsnet only aired its coverage in Ontario. TSN who is poised to be Domi's new employer gave it national coverage as did The Score and as mentioned the daily's. Reaction from the 'left winger's' in the media however was much more entertaining. So Tie Domi got a press conference. Who cares? Why would any of you give a damn that he received an additional fifteen minutes of fame due primarily to his popularity? Watching Darren Millard on the simulcast Sportsnet/FAN 590 show was down right comical. The guy was bursting a blood vessel. Relax bud. I don't think he personally ever took any money out of your pocket or insulted you or your loved ones. Holy liftin', the way some of our so called media hacks whine and cry over various antics of athletes makes one wonder where the line is between broadcast journalism and abject partisan reaction.

Tie Domi should have been thrown a parade after hammering Ulf Sammuelsson. His bouts with Bob Probert in the early nineties were extremely entertaining and I'll bet you if you talked to the overwhelming majority of his teammates since he broke into the NHL many more were happy to have him a part of their team than did not. In fact unlike many in his trade he almost always played regularly in the playoffs as witnessed by his more than 100 playoff games in the NHL. Shaddup ya bunch of cryin' whining babies and go hug another tree.

Liam Maguire
liam1@ca.inter.ent

Liam's Lament: Apr 20, 2006.

2006-09-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

Playoff Predictions and Quinn Firing.

Long time no talk folks. How the heck are ya? I’ve been away looking for any healthy starting goalies with playoff experience. Seems as if there are about a dozen teams that could use somebody to fill that void right now. I guess for every Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy or Ron Hextall there’s a Jim Carey, Andre Racicot or Bob Essensa. You never know about the playoffs. In the 1990’s there were eleven 100 point teams to lose in the first round and typically there’s at least one upset, the challenge for us poolies is to try and pick who that could be this time around.

My heart is with Montreal, maybe not my head but if there is a team that has upset more teams or won more playoff games and rounds when they are least expected to do it, it’s got to be Les Canadiens. Incidentally, to digress for a moment, I recently saw the movie ‘The Rocket’. Unbelievable. Phenomenal movie from start to finish. Pretty cool to see about a half dozen NHL players make cameo’s including Mike Ricci who got the most screen time playing Elmer Lach. No question he had the nose down to perfection. Very entertaining. I highly encourage you to check it out if you have an opportunity. Back to the Habs. I’ll go with my heart and call them to knock off the Hurricanes in six games. Ottawa will floor the Lightning in five. Jersey and Buffalo will both win their respective series in six also.

Out west I’ll take Calgary, Detroit, San Jose and Dallas over Colorado. As you can see I really went out on a limb. I’m hoping Edmonton can give Detroit the series some are predicting. I feel they really need to steal one of the first two for that to happen. San Jose with their dynamic duo leading the way and sleepers like Tom Pressing and Serge Bernier chipping in are really the team that can make some noise as the new kids on the block. Could they be this years Florida (1996) Washington (1998) Buffalo (1999) Carolina (2002) Anaheim (2003) or even the Cup winner and finalist of 2004, Tampa Bay and Calgary, not exactly favourites by most people to be in those positions come final time in ’04. This year I think that could be the Sharks but clearly it will be a tough road. I love the fact that Nashville has stuck with David Poile who was the GM the first time Washington made the playoffs and Barry Trotz who is an outstanding coach. Still, with out Vokun that’s a tall order even though Chris Mason out scored three quarters of his defense down the stretch. Small joke. We’ll check back here after round one and see how I did.

Finally, on the Pat Quinn firing, no question he was going to be the guy who got it. I know many people out there think Johnny Jr. should have gone also or been the one and Quinn should have moved back to GM. Tough call. One thing is for certain in the hockey world. When you hire a new GM and he did not hire the coach, the coach will always lead him out the door. Same thing happened here in Ottawa. There are fans in this city who still are in love with Jacques and rightfully so from a respect point of view but after the run to the semi’s in ’03 was followed up with Lalime debacle in game seven of the first round against the Leafs in ’04, see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya. I think the world of the Ferguson family. John Sr. is a friend of mine and I’ve met John Jr. a few times but I don’t think he’s going to have much rope here. Belfour has to go. Buy him out, eat the contract. Ian White should be playing on this team full time. Stajan, Wellwood and Steen are all three good young players, Sundin’s play down the stretch shows he still has it but you have to get the guy some wingers to work with. For the love of God. You know the real irony, seven years ago when Gretzky was in his final season with the Rangers, GM Mike Smith did not make a deal for Pavel Bure because he did not want to part with Manny Maholtra. Had he done so I believe Wayne would have flourished for another season or two instead he was saddled, and when I say this I mean at that time, he was saddled with Mike Knuble on his wing. Look at Knuble now. There are a dozen guys out there who can play like Knuble right now especially on a wing with Sundin. There names don’t have fifteen letters in them and start with a P or an A. You know who would be perfect there? Todd Bertuzzi. I’ll leave it at that for now. Comments, thoughts, salutations or whatever, it’s all good, fire it of at will. I answer each and every email. We’ll talk again soon, Gidday,

Liam Maguire MaguireLiam1@ca.inter.net

Here’s a shot, Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot, right in front, THEY SCORE, Henderson has scored for Canada!