Ponds and Pucks

Some of the highlights of Sean Avery’s career that have little to do with hockey:

• Avery first made his presence known when he spoke out during the 2004-2005 NHL lockout, claiming the NHLPA had lied to its members about the lockout.
• In the 2005 season, Avery made his now legendary comments regarding French-Canadian players and visors. After Denis Gauthier gave Jeremy Roenick a concussion, Avery said this was typical behavior for French players with visors, to play rough and not back it up. Avery later apologized for his comments.
• Later that same season Avery was accused of calling Georges Laraque a “monkey” during a heated exchange on the ice. Avery continues to deny that allegation.
• Still that same season, Avery became the first player in NHL history to be fined under the new “diving” rules. He was fined just over a month into the season.
• Avery was fined again the next day for mouthing off about the fine and the NHL’s Colin Campbell, claiming the fine wasn’t about diving, but something about Avery himself.
• At the end of the same season (still in 2005-2006), Avery was caught up in a very public feud with former player and current announcer Brian Hayward. Avery took exception to Hayward’s comments that Avery had backed down from a fight, and slammed Hayward’s abilities as an announcer and a player. Hayward famously retorted, “How would you know? When I played, you were in your third year of eighth grade.”
• Unsurprisingly, near the end of the season, the Kings suspended Avery, saying he was arguing with coaching staff and refusing practice drills. However, the Kings signed Avery to a $1.1 million deal in the off-season.



• Avery was traded to the New York Rangers in February of 2007. Within two months the Rangers had made the playoffs despite being well out of contention for most of the season. Coaches and players credited Avery as being the catalyst behind the turnaround, saying he had acted as a leader, pumped up the team and led by example.
• However, by the time arbitration came around the following off-season, even the Rangers labelled him a “detriment to the team” and “not a mature player”.
• All wasn’t rosy by the beginning of training camp either.

Avery returned from injury on November 3. It took a week for the madness to return.

Sean Avery, Denis Gauthier, Jeremy Roenick, Georges Laraque, Colin Campbell, Brian Hayward

Did Sean Avery finally take it too far?

By now the story is known throughout the hockey world: During the warm-up of the Saturday night game between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Avery decided to stir things up. In classic Avery fashion, he said something volatile to Toronto’s Jason Blake (so say the Leafs).

Blake, if you remember, was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year, so there’s a lot of speculation Avery’s comments were related to that.

Whatever they were, Darcy Tucker — not exactly of the cooler heads variety himself — overheard and took exception, and the next thing you know, the teams are having to separate Tucker and Avery.

And that was just the warm up.

Naturally, Tucker and Avery fought in the first and Tucker made it sound like their battles weren’t even close to over when he was interviewed by the CBC in the first intermission.

They didn’t fight again, but Avery managed to set up Brendan Shanahan for one goal and scored his own a few minutes later, which was sure to irritate the Leafs further.

Now Colin Campbell wants a word with Mr. Avery.

You can find more coverage at ESPN, Canoe.ca, and the Globe takes it up a notch by saying Avery is equally angry about the public accusations from Tucker. This is going to get interesting.

(more…)

Sean Avery, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Jason Blake, Darcy Tucker, Brendan Shanahan, Colin Campbell

Does Eric Lindros belong in the hockey hall of fame?

According to the Hockey News’ Mike Brophy he does.

Brophy puts up Lindros’ numbers as evidence and sidesteps the ever-discussed political history by saying other players were also political and have made it to the Hall of Fame.

Hmmmm, somehow saying Bobby Hull sat out one game in protest doesn’t quite align with refusing to play for a team that legitimately drafted him. Twice.

Lindros was a player I loved to hate. From the moment he made his controversial stance in Quebec, to most of his years in Philly, I cursed him, derided his talent, and questioned his heart.

He was one of those players that no matter how well he was playing, I just couldn’t pick him in my pool, which led to a number of catastrophic playoff pool losses in the 90s. (more…)

Eric Lindros, Bobby Hull

The always great Eric Duhatschek has a fun piece on Mike Keenan and the woes of the Calgary Flames, touching on the well-anticipated meltdown of Keenan himself.

I swear, half of the sport in Calgary is waiting for Keenan to lose his mind. If he hasn’t after back-to-back-to-back 4-1 losses, then when?

In all seriousness, how long can the Flames ride the talents of Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff? As Duhatschek points out, only 5 forwards are scoring regularly (regularly being more than 2 goals), and even some of those are starting to cool.

Where is the Keenan eruption? There’s no way he’s reformed that much. Just ask Roberto Luongo.

Is Keenan waiting for Iginla to stand up and call out his teammates? That might never happen, Iginla has never been the type of player to publicly blast his teammates — he’s much more likely to suck it up and try to do it all himself.

Maybe that’s what will finally set Keenan off.

Eric Duhatschek, Mike Keenan, Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, Roberto Luongo

ESPN’s Power Rankings are out. Some notes:

• I love parity. The Canes, the Habs and the Islanders all in the top 10. The Flyers shining again after such a dismal season. Columbus finally making some noise!
• Conversely, seeing the Devils scraping the bottom alongside the Coyotes is something I will never get used to.
• Detroit and Ottawa at the top? Ho hum.
• Who knew the Habs had the league’s best power play?
• Who knew the Blue Jackets had the best PK?
• (Best Seinfeld voice) And what’s the deal with the Sharks?
• Did I just read the phrase “Central heavyweights Detroit, St. Louis and Columbus.” Seriously, I love parity.
• Maybe I’m crazy, but did anyone really think the returns of Mark Bell and Kyle Wellwood was really going to help the Leafs that much?

Every year around this time I start ranting about the All-Star voting. We’re right on schedule so far, and at first glance at the ballot released today….. yes, I’m already annoyed.

Olaf Kolzig? Really?

I realize the All-Star ballot is hardly worth even debating. Players are nominated and selected for their years of service, not any recent streaks or current play (we’re not going to mention Jim Carey).

But that same limitation is how you get campaigns like “Vote For Rory”. Fans see the same names year after year — including players who haven’t been relevant for years. I’ve fully disclosed my fandom of Mike Modano many times on this blog, but seriously, Mike Modano?

The All-Star selection was actually less of a joke when every team was required to have a player. Who could forget Wendell Clark representing….. Tampa?

I’m not even sound to sound off on the skills competition (anyone else remember the goalie scoring drill? I was there and got to see the look of disgust on the goalies close up!), or the god-awful game, or the fact everyone just watches American Idol instead, according to TV ratings. No, that’s fodder for another post.

Is it not too much to ask for the actual players to be relevant? I realize there’s no way in hell Tomas Vokoun or Ales Hemsky are making it to the team (wait, if there’s still a one-player per-team requirement, Hemsky might have a shot), so why not throw a couple of guys on there that are having good seasons? Patrick Kane has more points than Rick Nash, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thornton and Paul Kariya. Want a non-rookie, ok Rod Brind’Amour, Cory Stillman, Alex Tanguay and Matt Cullen are all in the top 30 scorers and well ahead of MIA players such as Brendan Shanahan (8 points!), Jonathan Cheechoo, Andy McDonand, …. hold on, KEITH TKACHUK is on the ballot?

‘Nuff said.

Olaf Kolzig, Jim Carey, Mike Modano, Wendell Clark, Tomas Vokoun, Ales Hemsky, Patrick Kane, Rick Nash, Alex Ovechkin, Joe Thornton, Paul Kariya, Rod Brind’Amour, Cory Stillman, Alex Tanguay, Matt Cullen, Brendan Shanahan, Jonathan Cheechoo, Andy McDonand, KEITH TKACHUK

Am I the only one not feeling a ton of love for the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ Mark Bell?

Having completed his 15-game suspension for drinking and driving, Bell is full of vim and vigor and ready to take on the league powerhouse Ottawa Senators.

It’s not like I want to see the guy crying in the corner or crippled by guilt, but it seems like his only comments on the whole affair have been about how rough it’s been on him.

Nothing about letting his past or present teammates down, nothing about, oh you know, the person he hit while drinking and driving, and the fact he fled the scene, albeit only a few blocks.

Bell still has a jail sentence to serve, and he’s got many legal challenges stemming from the accident as well. He says he has not touched a drop of alcohol since the accident and there’s no reason not to believe him. He’s right to focus on hockey right now.

But I’m not so sure he’s right to pretend his woes in San Jose only affected him.

Toronto Maple Leafs, Mark Bell, Ottawa Senators

Many online outlets are reporting that Peter Forsberg is close to retirement.

Forsberg has reportedly pulled out of the Karjala Cup after only an hour of skating, saying his ankle didn’t “feel good.”

Forsberg later allegedly told reporters everything from “I just can’t do it” to saying he “made a fool of himself.”

TSN has more retirement comments.

The Globe and Mail article has some more info as well.

According to ESPN, Detroit, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Dallas, Vancouver, Los Angeles and Colorado are all interested in Forsberg.

All my Forsberg issues aside (and there are many), I just don’t see why Ottawa, Detroit or Philly would be interested in a pricey, injury-prone player who is nearing the end of his career (and likely wants a lengthy contract). Vancouver, LA.. ok, I totally get why they’d be willing.

Either way, it may never happen. And that really sucks. No matter what you think of the guy, this is never a cool way to end your career, especially if you were looking for a Jeremy Roenick-type resurgence.

Peter Forsberg, Karjala Cup, Jeremy Roenick

I’m not one to mix hockey and politics — especially Quebec politics — but I gotta sound off on this whole crazy French language saga going on in the eastern side of the country.

In case you’re not up to speed, the leader of the Parti Quebecois, Pauline Marois, has stirred up language debate in Quebec by saying reasonable accommodation for non-French speakers (notably religious and ethnic minorities) has gone too far, and to “protect” francophone culture, Quebec must restrict the rights for people who haven’t demonstrated an “appropriate knowledge” of the French language.

This has little to do with hockey of course, until the debate brought a high-profile Quebec lawyer to comment that Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu doesn’t speak workable french after living in the province for over 10 years. Marois agreed and took it even further by saying the Habs should force their players to learn French if they want to play for the Bleu Blanc et Rouge. And the debate exploded in the media.

Not even getting into the political details of sovereignty and culture and French vs English in Canada — such as pointing out that Marois has not yet managed to acquire an “appropriate knowledge” of the English language — the hockey angle alone is stunning.

Could you imagine GM Bob Gainey trying to solidify deals while having to ensure the new players would take the time to learn French? Can players specify certain teams in a no-trade clause, because I’m guessing they might start.

Due to the international nature of hockey, many players are already struggling with having to learn English once they’re drafted. Try telling a player from Russia or Sweden that he’s got to make sure to have French under his belt as well.

Do the CFL Montreal Alouettes need to sign their players up for French lessons too? Could you imagine American college football players trying to reconcile the nuances of the CFL game and learn French on top of that?

Koivu has handled this with a lot of class, first by admitting that in a perfect world his French would be better, and then last night by recording a message for Canadiens fans that was broadcast before the game. In French. The fans went wild.

The recording was actually made over a week ago — long before he was brought into this debate.

A comment from a fan on one of the news stories absolutely nails why this is only an issue for those who are more interested in making headlines and causing trouble than any real concern for Quebec culture. He mentions that when he goes to a hockey game, everyone there — Francophone, Anglophone, immigrant, black, white, whatever — is there to cheer on the Habs, and there are no differences between them.

That says more about Quebec culture than any French lesson could.

Pauline Marois, Montreal Canadiens, Saku Koivu, Bob Gainey, Montreal Alouettes