Ponds and Pucks

There’s been a lot of brouhaha in the hockey world this week regarding the Flyers’ latest suspension and warning from the NHL.

And on the heels of that, the Flyers have recalled Steve Downie, the minor-leagues whose 20 game suspension before the season was even underway began the new era of the Broadstreet Bullies.

First things first — Riley Cote was given a three-game suspension for an elbow on Matt Niskanen. I haven’t seen the play, and I think my head will hurt too much if I try to understand how an elbow could warrant a three-game suspension. Especially while not one but two Bruins players were absolutely drilled — one while the guy was on his freakin knees — and that’s only worth two games each. NHL, inconsistency is thy name.

Then Commish Gary Bettman essentially put the Flyers org “on notice” (with apologies to Steven Colbert). Does the NHL even have any power to do anything about this? If Downie runs someone else, can the NHL prove that coaching and management sent him out to do it? And wouldn’t that be a tad obvious on the Flyers’ part?

Philly plays Minnesota tonight. Considering these two teams play once a year if they’re lucky, there shouldn’t be any of the usual intensity that leads to vicious hits and shots to the head. But then, Vancouver’s Ryan Kessler probably thought the same thing before he met Jesse Boulerice.

Downie has already been quoted as saying he doesn’t plan to change his style of play, saying it’s what’s gotten him “this far”. I’m not sure what “this far” means, in terms of the NHL, since he’s been suspended from the NHL for, oh 20 games more than he’s played in it, but hey, whatever works.

Steve Downie, Riley Cote, Matt Niskanen, Gary Bettman, Steven Colbert, Ryan Kessler, Jesse Boulerice

So after yesterday’s revealing of the Official Mascots of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, a story began circulating that the NHL is considering skipping the 2014 Olympics.

Thank God.

and

It’s About Freakin’ Time.

There’s something about professional athletes competing in Olympic events that always rubbed me the wrong way — especially since most countries carry a National Team anyway. Those guys get royally screwed, playing for four years without getting to play in the big show.

NHL players always handled it a lot better than say, the NBA players and their “Dream Team” did (I’m ignoring the room-trashing story from Nagano). But there was still something that stank about the pro-athletes coming in and taking the spotlight away from the people who live in near poverty to be able to compete at this level.

Not to mention, stopping the season for the handful of players who get to compete, while hundreds of other players wait for games to start up again is just insane and brings way too many factors into the season. Teams get a break to heal, but the best players do not get a break, resulting in tired play and a higher likelihood of injury when they return. The playoffs are usually a joke. And God forbid any player gets hurt in the Olypmics. You can’t tell me players aren’t pressured to skip the Games entirely.

I can’t argue the excitement of a Canada/US Gold medal game and the near chaos it created in…. well Canada. The rest of the world didn’t care.

One thing that worries me is Gary Bettman’s stance on addressing it year by year. I almost read that as: Olympics in North America, we’re in. Olympics overseas, we’re out.

The NHL should be out. For good.

Continuing on the train wreck that is the Toronto Maple Leafs, today the President of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, Richard Peddie, told the media the ownership group isn’t going to make any “kneejerk decisions” about the team.

Which is funny because the Toronto Sun has Peddie calling the hiring of John Ferguson Jr a mistake.

Supposedly it’s a mistake because JFJ is a first-time GM and Toronto is such a hockey-crazed fishbowl that the job was too much pressure.

Which is why they’re rumored to be looking at other people like Mark Messier and Steve Yzerman, because of all their GM experience. And no one will be scrutinizing their every move, not at all.

But don’t worry — Ferguson is cool with those comments. You know, about his hiring being a mistake and all.

Turns out he was young and experienced then, but he’s all good now. He’s got four years of misguiding a team under his belt.

This is a joke. Peddie has to either stand up and back his GM and coach or fire them, replace them and move on so the Leafs can get back to winning hockey games, or at least competing in hockey games without the three-ring circus. The Washington Capitals are only 4 points behind the Leafs and climbing (since firing their coach of course) and if the Leafs think things are tough in the 14th spot in the East, wait until they see 15th.

Richard Peddie, John Ferguson Jr, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman, Washington Capitals

Wow, I was WAY off when it came to Scott Hartnell — dude has a nasty streak. While perusing YouTube I found a selection of Hartnell’s hits and fights worthy of any NHL tough guy.

Hartnell smokes Boyd Gordon and Chris Clark takes exception (Chris Clark is the Caps captain?):

Hartnell chops Vincent Lecavalier with his stick, Lecavalier chops Hartnell with his fists:

I don’t know the French word for “ass-kicking”, but it must be in there somewhere, as Komisarek beats the living snot out of Hartnell:

Here it is in English (I just thought the French was more fun, but the TSN announcers are good too):

This is the first video that’s not from the current season. A brief duker between Hartnell and Sami Hell-on-Ice:

Hartnell versus Dan Fritsche — this one we’ll call a draw:

Even Jiri Fischer had a go at Hartnell. No audio on this one:

Those were all from Page One of a search for Hartnell on YouTube. Check out YouTube for more…

Scott Hartnell, Boyd Gordon, Chris Clark, Vincent Lecavalier, Komisarek, Jiri Fischer

I figured the Boston/Philly game could go any number of ways, however the one thing I didn’t expect was that Philly would rough up yet another Boston Bruin.

Here’s the hit for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it:

I never thought Scott Hartnell was that kind of player. What are the Philly coaches putting in the water bottles?

Hartnell has been suspended (2 games of course). I’m glad the NHL is taking shots to the head seriously again (is my sarcasm clear enough?). I’d love a count of Flyers’ suspensions compared to every other team in the league. The Jesse Boulerice suspension alone probably totals more than all the other teams in the NHL combined. But those Flyers, they keep on trucking…. top of the division and no sign of stopping now.

Scott Hartnell, Jesse Boulerice

I’m glad TSN.ca had the preview of the Boston Bruins/Philadelhpia Flyers game on their front page, otherwise I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

For those like me who forgot, the last time these teams met, Patrice Bergeron was taken from the ice in a stretcher after being checked face first into the boards by Randy Jones. Jones received a two game suspension from the NHL, adding to a string of dirty hits and suspensions for the Flyers.

I wasn’t aware that Bergeron has yet to return to play. He has a Grade 3 concussion and a broken nose, and may not return this season.

So, like so many other “re-matches” of the season, this game is being hyped, by TSN anyway. Maybe it’s a slow hockey day.

Is any revenge going to be exacted tonight? These are both good teams playing well, in the case of Boston, shouldn’t they be more concerned about gaining more points in the standings, increasing the distance between themselves and the Sabres… and Toronto?

The Bruins have too much going on to be distracted by revenge. As much as a big brawl is fun to talk about, as the Boston Globe points out, the media is making more out of this than the players are. (The Boston Herald also went with the points over revenge theme today).

Some of Boston’s biggest heavyweights are hurt, making a fight seem even less likely.

But I have a feeling someone will go after Jones, just to enforce a certain code of honor, even if it’s just to duke it out, then get on with the game.

Boston Bruins, Philadelhpia Flyers, Patrice Bergeron, Randy Jones

Trust me, there are few out there watching the Toronto Maple Leafs meltdown as closely as I am.

What else would make me sit through a Leafs/Coyotes game on a Saturday night? It wasn’t to see good hockey, that’s for sure.

The Leafs aren’t even playing that badly. Ask Capitals or Coyotes or Oilers fan about true misery. But Leafs fans are hungry, and have a certain sense of entitlement to the Cup. Not that that’s a bad thing — it forces the team to address the problems quicker.

Or so one would think, but according to this reports from Sportsnet.ca, Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr tried to fire head coach Paul Maurice last week.

First off, am I alone in thinking Maurice isn’t the problem here? Update: Apparently, I’m not. The players have stepped up in defense of Maurice.

Second, isn’t “trying” to fire a head coach and failing just another display of how powerless this GM is?

Third, can’t the Leafs do anything without the Toronto media getting wind of it? Sieves have less leaks than this organization.

The rest of the article… meh, I take with a grain of salt. The GM “replacement” list reads like a HOF inductee list — doesn’t anyone really think Steve Yzerman is going to take over as GM of the Leafs? — but I guess it’ll keep Leaf fans talking. Update: More on replacing Ferguson here.

Which is better than actually watching the games.

But all this talk is just that — talk. If the Leafs are going to turn it around and get themselves out of the slump/goaltending controversy/excuse of the week they’re in, they need to act now. Their division isn’t exactly waiting for them: Ottawa has a league-leading 33 points, Montreal is playing strong enough to lock down second with 27 points, and the Bruins — yes the Bruins — are in third with 24 points. Toronto is tied for last with Buffalo, and that’s only by virtue of 5 OT losses. Buffalo is actually a .500 club and is pulling away from Toronto.

When was the last time the Leafs were out of the playoffs by December?

Toronto Maple Leafs, John Ferguson Jr, Paul Maurice, Steve Yzerman

During last night’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Calgary Flames, Ryan Smyth went for the puck along the boards behind the net. Seeing a red jersey rapidly heading his way, he turned to protect the puck, and took a brutal hit into the glass, cutting his nose.

We could debate the legality of the hit for pages (”It was a hit from behind” “He turned toward the glass as he saw the skater coming”), but Smyth fell to the ice, knew he’d likely hurt his nose, got up, skated to the bench and went to the locker room for repairs.

No rolling around on the ice, no crying to the ref for a penalty, no accusations of dirty play. Even the announcers treated it as a typical play that Smyth would be involved in: No analysis of how he purposely turned away from the hit, no debate of poor play. This was simply Ryan Smyth playing his brand of hockey.

Smyth returned just a few minutes later, with a repair done to the bridge of his nose, some cotton in one of his nostrils and a decidedly crooked looking schnooze.

God, I love this guy. (more…)

To be honest, I haven’t really been giving the NHL All-Star ballot a lot of thought. All-Star weekend seems pretty far off (and as always, rather insignificant), and while hockey is always Number One in my heart, I’ve been enjoying the CFL playoffs (I still crack up when I hear the phrase “The Banjo Bowl”). This is also the time of year I start watching the NFL with one eye, wondering if the Pats are really going to pull it off and if the Dolphins will win a game this season.

But thank goodness not everyone is distracted as I am. NHL.com has a story on Sidney Crosby leading the balloting, but Sportsnet.ca is covering it a little differently (gotta find that Canadian angle, or is that Canadien angle?). Apparently Andrei Markov is leading the eastern defensemen in voting.

In any case, I have say I haven’t really been following Markov much. I still remember his rookie year when he played here. He was on the point on the power play, and he couldn’t hit the net to save his life. It was so comical, even the home fans were yelling “hit the net” every time he teed up. That’s sorta stuck with me. (more…)

Sidney Crosby, Andrei Markov

In honor of the Devil’s Martin Brodeur and his 500th win the other night, here’s a YouTube selection of some of the goalie’s best moments:

From the Stanley Cup Finals of 2000. Dallas was trying to repeat, the Devils were having none of it. I love this video because it shows just how good Mike Modano can be and how good Brett Hull was. But Brodeur was better.

Not only can he stop them, he can score them! Brodeur scores what I think is his first NHL goal here. The goal itself is one of the nicest goalie-goals I’ve seen, not touching the ice until it’s past the red-line. And while you can’t see Brodeur’s face too clearly, he looks pretty darn pleased with himself.

Right up to his 500th win, Brodeur was making those incredible saves. Check out:

Rapid fire drill, All-Star game 1999. I was lucky enough to see this live. Bonus: Close up of the Jagr mullet.

Sean Avery bowls over Brodeur. Brodeur won’t stand for it and goes after Avery, and complete and total chaos erupts. His teammates rush in to help out, but I think Brodeur would have liked to have taken care of Avery all on his own.

Still not sure what this is, but it’s nice to see Brodeur doing his best to keep the fans amused. Scratch “Russian dancing” off his list of talents though.

They weren’t all good goals. Marty managed to pot one on himself in a rare misstep in the 2003 Stanley Cup finals.

But mostly, he is busy making saves like this. Enjoy.

Martin Brodeur

I can’t believe we’re talking about this again.

The NHL has suspended Mattias Ohlund four games for his vicious two-handed slash on Mikko Koivu. See for yourself here:

We could sit here and debate the length of the suspension and the rise of violence in the NHL today, especially among Philadelphia Flyer type players (I kid, I kid), but something else got me thinking.

When Ohlund slashed Koivu, breaking the bone, Koivu was the leading scorer of the Minnesota Wild. Vancouver is a mere 3 points behind Minnesota in the thus far disappointing Northwest Division. The teams plays again on Wednesday.

Koivu is out for a week, so when the teams play again, Vancouver will have an advantage.

So thanks to a Vancouver player’s dirty work, both teams will be missing players, but the Wild will feel it most of all. Even with the suspension, Vancouver comes out ahead after the slash.

If a team is essentially rewarded for dirty play, why stop?

Should players who go after players of teams in their own division face a stricter suspension?

When the Flyer’s Jesse Boulerice injured the Canuck’s Ryan Kessler, it did the Flyers no favors. But if Koivu were out for an extended time and the Wild lost a few games from it, who would benefit more than a team that plays them eight times a year?

(This could turn into another argument against playing the teams in your division a thousand times a season and not seeing half the league for three years, but I promise I won’t go there. Today anyway).

Now, I know, one team’s players shouldn’t be more important than another team’s and it’s tough to get the suspensions warranted for half the stuff we see anyway, and we don’t want to take the intensity out of the divisional rivalries that we do have. I’m not talking about fighting injuries or those injuries that happen during the regular course of play. Just the really brutal obvious stuff.

I can’t get past the fact that a Vancouver player willfully injured another team’s player — I mean the slash broke the bone — and even with a suspension, they come out ahead for the next matchup. I mean, they give up Ohlund, but the other team loses the play Koivu. I’d make that trade a hundred times.

Wouldn’t you?

Mattias Ohlund, Mikko Koivu, Philadelphia Flyer, Minnesota Wild, Jesse Boulerice, Ryan Kessler

Going Five Hole’s post on the NHL Officials Association site got me thinking about that age old incident between the New Jersey Devils‘ head coach Jim Schoenfeld and NHL ref Don Koharski.

To refresh your memory, during the 1988 playoffs, Koharski was reffing a game between the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils. Schoenfeld was less than impressed with the quality of the officiating and waited for Koharski after the the game to “discuss” the matter with Koharski. Their discussion disintegrated into a screaming match with Schoenfeld eventually shoving Koharski (ok, it does look like Koharski tripped, but that’s been debated to death, and it’s more fun to say he was shoved) and uttering the now famous “you fat pig”, quickly followed by the even more famous “have another doughnut”.

Naturally, because this is the NHL, everything was caught by nearby cameras:

The NHL suspended Schoenfeld, but he was re-instated after the Devils got a court-order. As a result, NHL referees stood by Koharski and boycotted the playoff game. The league had to use replacement officials for the game.

As silly as our refs can be, at least the NHL has never had to deal with an NBA-type ref scandal. Yet.

Don Koharski still refs in the NHL and runs an Officiating and Development Camp in Canada in the summer.

And of course, the incident was immortalized in the movie Wayne’s World, with a character called Officer Koharski (police… doughnuts… c’mon it’s funny!).

New Jersey Devils, Jim Schoenfeld, Don Koharski, Boston Bruins

Mike Keenan watch update:

Flames managed to stop their losing skid at 5 after beating the Wild 3-2 last night, so Mount St. Keenan may have cooled off a tad.

Here’s something odd about the Flames’ streaks this season: They started slowly, then hit their stride around the time they first played Minnesota — and broke Minnesota’s unbeaten in regulation streak. Minnesota then hit a rough patch, played the Flames again, and beat them soundly. Since then Minnesota has regained previous form and the Flames went on a downward spiral.

Now the Flames have beaten the Wild again…. be curious to see if this sets off another reversal of fortunes…

***

I was always taught that if I can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. I’m not sure how well that applies to hockey OR blogging, but to play it safe, I’ll just link to Going Five Hole’s photos of the NHL All-Star jerseys.

Mike Keenan, NHL All-Star jerseys

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who did a double-take when I saw Brett Hull had been named co-interm GM of the Dallas Stars (or maybe I was — sometimes the most obvious moves pass me right by). Allan Muir of SI.com has a good write-up of the situation and why this could backfire dramatically for the Stars.

I hadn’t released how poorly the drafting had turned out for Dallas, but now I can’t think of a single rookie who has stuck. As Muir outlines some of the deals that dismantled the 1999 Stanley Cup winning team over the years, it’s a sobering look at more than 5 years of mis-management. One by one, the deals don’t add up to much, but put together, one releases how much the Stars have let go and how little they’ve gotten in return. And how little they’ve done about it.

Brett Hull, Dallas Stars, Allan Muir

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