The Hockey Thread

[Simey]

Hey, I just wrote a massive long response to that scary stuff, BC, but apparently the website was too busy to deal with it and it's lost, so I'll just say for now that that sucks and maybe they should clean things up ASAP.

[Black Cat]

Argh, same thing just happened to me.

Anyways, as I was saying, the same newspaper that came up with the Kostitsyn story came back this week saying that the Habs might be for sale since George Gillett (who also owns 50% of FC Liverpool) has asked some banks to evaluate his assets. Gillett has to find a few hundred million $ to refund the money he borrowed to buy Liverpool, so he might want to sale something to get the cash.

Strange as it is once again not the sport department that came up with the story but the financial one. And it is the second time in five months that the team is reported to be for sale. The first time, in November, it was once again the financial section of the newspaper that came up with the story. It tells you how the sports department and all the journalists that follow the day-to-day activites of the team in other medias are very cautious when they report things.

You are going to have fun if you watch the Habs vs Thrashers game. For once, the Habs played well.

[jan]

Has anyone of you ever tried this little trick ?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP_1o_kkLho

[Black Cat]

Yes, Marek Malik did the same thing for the Rangers the year after the lock-out.

As for myself, I was never able to do this on the ice, but I remember doing it a few times when playing street hockey with my friends.

EDIT: Speaking of great goals, The Sports Network (the Canadian version of ESPN) often makes top-10s on different aspects of sports: top-10 catches of the NFL season, top-10 crashes in Nascar history, top-10 most beautiful female athletes in the world... Well, they did a top-10 of the best Alexander Ovechkin's goals of his career (wait until you see#1... Best. Goal. Ever!) which is still only starting... he's 23 and already has already 410 points in 318 games (that's 1.29 points per game). His rival at super-stardom, Sidney Crosby, started his career at the same time and has 390 points in 283 games (1.38 points per game). Crosby's teammate, Evgeni Malkin, who has played one season less than the other two, has 297 points in 235 games (that's 1.26 points per game).

Now, the big debate in the NHL right now is who is the best of the three? You could say it's Crosby because of his higher percentage of points per game, but in all honesty, I say Ovechkin is the best followed by Malkin and then Crosby. Crosby's points comes mostly from assists on goals (he never got a season over 40 goals) while the other two score more often and, because of that, are more spectacular than Sid The Kid. However, I say that the 87 of the Penguins will be the first to beat Gretzky's record of 2,857 points in career, along with his record of 1,963 assists. On the other hand, Ovechkin will probably also beat Gretzky's record of point in career, but after Crosby, but he will surely be the first to beat the 894 goals record.

[Simey]

Okay, I watched that No.1 goal over and over and I cannot see how he put the puck towards the goal! Astonishing!

And Jan, that's an awesome clip - beautiful manoeuvre! (And the Marek Malik version, too!)

BC, as a journalist yourself, what do you think about the sports reporters of these newspapers avoiding publishing these big stories about the Canadiens for fear of losing their privileged access?

I don't like the sound of what some of the Habs' players are getting into at all. There is always going to be a lot of temptation for these sports stars who are paid vast amounts, but unless the individuals in question clean up their act - assuming it's true about what they've been up to - I think maybe heads should roll over the summer.

Was Guy Carbonneau perhaps made a Fall Guy - ho-ho - to cover for all the unadmitable ills going on at the club?

It's a far cry from the relatively lowly paid world of Coventry Blaze. Of my three favourite players: one is a part-time painter and decorator who has come to love Coventry since moving there from Sweden; one is a part-time business lecturer at Coventry University who is frustrated at being forced to return to the U.S. over the summer because of work visa rules; and one - Jonathan Weaver, one of the very best British hockey players - is a high-scoring defenceman who is apparently so much more interested in playing his part for the team than getting the glory that he can't really remember the goals he scores.

And I'm two periods into the Montréal vs. Atlanta game - just about to go and watch the third period - and it's very good; the second period was indeed very satisfying. Clearly the Habs do have the ability - they just need to keep things together game after game (one good game is not enough after a five game losing streak).

BC, what do you think of Carey Price? From what I've picked up, he's capable of brilliance - certainly at least one superb save against Atlanta - but has one or two weaknesses that are maybe what cause his performances to be inconsistent. He;s young yet, but does he have the ability to improve and become a great goalie, do you think?

[Simey]

Some unfortunate news about the U.K.'s Elite Ice Hockey League: next season there will only be nine teams in the league, rather than ten. The Basingstoke Bison have been struggling financially and have had a torrid season results-wise, winning only eight of fifty-four league matches.

The Bison are applying to compete in the English Premier League, which is the second tier league.

It is probably a sound decision for the team, considering that things seem to have been getting steadily worse rather than showing any signs of recovery, but it's a shame for an already fairly small league to have become that little bit smaller. I can hope that in a season or two's time another team might take the opportunity to try and gain membership of the Elite League, but I don't know how realistic that is; even within the remaining members are two teams - Hull and Edinburgh - that don't attract particularly big crowds, and whilst there are three or four teams in the EPL that actually get better attendances, the financial gamble of trying to move up may make such a thing unlikely. But we must dream!

For my part, I must admit that the prospect of seeing Coventry play Basingstoke at the Skydome has not attracted me much since I started going to matches; Hull and Edinburgh have struggled, but both teams have put in surprise performances to trouble the top teams every so often, whereas a match against Basingstoke seems to have meant two points in the bag before the game has started.

The sentiment from the Bison organisation appears to have been that they're grateful simply to have made it to the end of the season, so it is perhaps best to try and draw a positive from their having done so and made a move that will hopefully benefit the team, the supporters and the EPL.

So here's to Basingstoke' success in the EPL!

And here's to the slightly slimmer EIHL moving on positively and having another great competitive season start in September!

[Beowuuf]

Awwwww, I blame myself - I went to a match just when they were starting to get out of their hole last year, and I think I was a jinx!

[Simey]

I wondered if I was doing the same to Coventry this year; they won 38 of their 54 league matches this season and the first four times I went to see them they lost! Okay, so I kept going to see them play Sheffield who eventually won the league, but even when I deliberately went to watch them play Edinburgh just to make it likely that I saw a win, they were outclassed on the night! I guess I deserved that one!

Thankfully, the final match I saw against Belfast was a thrilling overtime win for the Blaze, which was not only an awesome match to see, but a considerable relief!

I really hope that playing in the EPL will benefit Basingstoke overall. Much though I'm always obviously on Coventry's side during matches, it's not nice to see a team getting so comprehensively squashed by pretty much everyone else - I don't think that helps anyone long term.

I don't know what the capacity is at the Basingstoke rink, but Guildford, Bracknell, Swindon and Milton Keynes - EPL teams - all posted higher average attendances this season than Edinburgh and Hull, so hopefully the Bison will be able to draw decent crowds playing in the EPL, having more competitive matches with a lesser outlay for player salaries and, you'd assume, league membership.

[Beowuuf]

If only people knew you got 30% off your pizza at dominos if you produce a ticket after the match!

[Black Cat]

Woah! I thought I had replied to you. Sorry for the delay. So here we go:

Mar 28, 2009 19:39:21 GMT -5 Simey said:

BC, as a journalist yourself, what do you think about the sports reporters of these newspapers avoiding publishing these big stories about the Canadiens for fear of losing their privileged access?

It's a shame but at the same time, I understand. There is so many local journalists covering the Habs games that it is insane: 4 daily newspapers, three sports network, at least one radio station, not counting all the internet websites. Compare to this, there's one journalist working for a newspaper following the activities of the San Jose Sharks, the best team in the league! So if a journalist in MTL loose the privileged access for his media (being newspaper, radio, tv), he has put his company in trouble. It is so competitive in the media market that you have to try to avoid putting yourself in trouble.

Mar 28, 2009 19:39:21 GMT -5 Simey said:

BC, what do you think of Carey Price? From what I've picked up, he's capable of brilliance - certainly at least one superb save against Atlanta - but has one or two weaknesses that are maybe what cause his performances to be inconsistent. He;s young yet, but does he have the ability to improve and become a great goalie, do you think?

Price will become an excellent goaltender, that's for sure, but will he be a great one, that's another story. It's a little bit too early to say so. But yeah, he's capable of brilliance (he won three straight games before a virus put him out of the next two), but yesterday against the Rangers, he did a few mistakes that costed at least one goal. With two games left, the Habs now only need one point or one defeat of the Florida Panthers to be qualified for the playoffs. After that, it will be a completely new season (who wants to bet that the Boston Bruins will be their first opponent in the playoffs?).

Hey, if you think that a league with only 9 teams sucks, think again: when the NHL started in 1917, there was only 5 teams... but the Québec Bulldogs actually never played a game that season (financial problems) and the second team based in MTL, the Wanderers, played only 6 games before their rink burned down. So there was only 3 teams at the end of the season!

[Simey]

Apr 8, 2009 11:49:16 GMT -5 Black Cat said:

It is so competitive in the media market that you have to try to avoid putting yourself in trouble.

Right, so the big public interest you might get short-term if you broke the story would probably not be worth the long-term damage you'd do to your relationship with the organisation. Makes sense, I suppose.

Price will become an excellent goaltender, that's for sure, but will he be a great one, that's another story. It's a little bit too early to say so. But yeah, he's capable of brilliance (he won three straight games before a virus put him out of the next two), but yesterday against the Rangers, he did a few mistakes that costed at least one goal.

I remember last year that he was terrific for the Habs for the remainder of the regular season after they traded Huet, but during the play-offs he became arguably their greatest weakness. It comes of his only being very young, I suppose, but sometimes - even in the tiny amount that I've seen him play - he looks a little too casual about things; when things work out, it makes him look like a genius, but when they don't, he can look a bit silly. I'm sure experience will see him improve.

With two games left, the Habs now only need one point or one defeat of the Florida Panthers to be qualified for the playoffs. After that, it will be a completely new season (who wants to bet that the Boston Bruins will be their first opponent in the playoffs?).

It's looking very likely! Yikes!

Mind you, last year it was almost all change come the play-offs as Montréal's regular season mastery over Boston became a seven game struggle of a play-off series. So perhaps things will change round again the other way this time - I certainly hope so, though with the addition that Montréal still win, of course! ;D

Hey, if you think that a league with only 9 teams sucks, think again: when the NHL started in 1917, there was only 5 teams... but the Québec Bulldogs actually never played a game that season (financial problems) and the second team based in MTL, the Wanderers, played only 6 games before their rink burned down. So there was only 3 teams at the end of the season!

Woah! How, erm, unfortunate!

I don't think that only nine teams sucks really - the league was very exciting this season, and it practically was nine teams already with Basingstoke struggling badly. But obviously I'd like to see the league expand rather than contract, and whilst a league with twenty or thirty teams could fairly easily cope with losing one or two, a league of only ten (though I think it was only eight originally) can't afford to be losing teams too often!

I think the Elite League will still be terrific next year, but I can't help but be concerned for the future. Still, I can best help out by attending as many games as possible, which is a fun thought!

[Black Cat]

It's that time of the year again: the Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Each year, I go with my predictions for each rounds where I say who will win each series. I don't go as far as saying how many games it will take for each team to win, but simply who will win the match-up. I even make my brackets and compile my stats on how many predictions I got right. Last year wasn't good since I finished with a record 6 right and 9 wrong, but the year before I only had one wrong guess.

So here we go for the first round:

BOSTON vs MONTRÉAL: What a contrast with last year! In 2008, the Habs were in first place and the Bruins in 8th and everybody were saying that the Canadien were going to win it easily. How wrong were they! It took seven games for Montreal to access the second round. This year, the roles are inverted: Boston is in first place and Montreal in 8th. Even if MTL had won the previous 3 meetings between these teams in playoffs (including a historic 3-1 comeback win and another win when both teams were exactly at the same positions), I say that Boston will get this one. Hey, on all the 31 series between these two teams during the playoffs, the Habs have only lost 7 times, so they owe to loose one soon. Oh, and Boston was way better than the Canadien during the games between the two teams in the regular season.

WASHINGTON vs NEW YORK: For the Capitals, it's all firepower: Ovechkin, Semin, and now Mike Green... As for the Rangers, well, they have a coach that has won the Cup before, but it is not for nothing that they finished the season in 7th place. The Capitals have to much talent to lose against New York. Their firepower will probably compensate for all the bad goals their porous defense will allow. Washington will access to the second round.

NEW JERSEY vs CAROLINA: On one side, you have Martin Brodeur. On the other, a team that is on fire ever since the beginning of the last month. The Hurricanes have a team that have experience in playoffs just as the Devils. Both teams have veterans that has won the cup. Both teams have great coaches. But the real difference between the two will be in net. Brodeur is way to much experienced to drop this series. Plus, because of the injury he suffered during the season, he got some rest that Cam Ward didn't get. New Jersey will win this series.

PITTSBURGH vs PHILADELPHIA: The Battle of Pennsylvania! Sid the Kid and Malkin have now both good experience in Playoffs after last year's drive to the final. And the Penguins finished the season on a good note against the Habs. As for the Flyers, they struggled a little bit in the last few weeks, loosing to the Rangers twice and to the Leafs and Sens, both teams that are not even the playoffs. And I'm not counting the one goal wins they got against the Panthers and the Islanders, two other temas not even in the spring tournament. I think Pittsburgh will access to the next round.

SAN JOSE vs ANAHEIM: Meh? The best team in the league against the worst one to access to the playoffs? This is going to be a short one I think. Go Sharks Go!

DETROIT vs COLUMBUS: First time the Blue Jackets are in the playoffs. Finally! It was the only existing team in the NHL to not have played in spring. Because of that, they don't have lot of playoffs experience while the Red Wings were last year's champions. Young Steve Mason is good, but I doubt he'll be able to stop Zetterberg, Hossa, Lidstrom, Datsyuk...

VANCOUVER vs ST. LOUIS: Luongo is on fire! Only one goal allowed in the last three games, which allowed him to receive the first star of the week in the NHL. However, the Blues were pretty good in the end of the season. It will be a though one, but I think the Canucks will go to the second round.

CHICAGO vs CALGARY: Once agian, this all come down to playoff experience. Toews and kane are good but with no experience in this heated situation, it might be hard for them. The Blackhawks do have a good goaltender in Khabibulin along with a good backup in Huet. But the Flames will prove that they are serious this year even if they ended in 5th place. We might see the Flames taking on the Sharks in the second round...

So there we go, my first round predictions. Notice that EA Sports used their NHL 09 game to predict the winner of the cup: according to the simulation, Boston will win the big bowl against Chicago. Yeah, last year, they said that the Habs were going to win... Tsk!

[Black Cat]

Surprise surprise! The Rangers has won the two games in Washington, and the Blackhawks won the games at home! Even more surprising, the Ducks won a game against the Sharks! Mmmh... this deserves some thinking... Well, as for the rest things are going alright for me: Pittsburgh, Boston, Detroit and Vancouver won 2, the Devils are tied with the Hurricanes. So I think I'm doing good in my brackets.

Today, I got my first Habs jersey ever. It was a birthday gift from my bestfriend. And we then went to watch the game in a bar. The Habs lost, but we had fun. I hope that the Canadien wins at least one game at home so that they can play a fifth game next weekend so that I can go out once again with my friend watch a game in a bar. ;D

[Simey]

Okay, I'm late on this, but have been avoiding seeing most results from the past week until catching up with the recorded hockey later on, so I can pitch in with my far-less-educated-and-more-based-on-personal-preferences-than-BC's predictions for the first round of the play-offs. I've even not read BC's last post before writing this, so I could post it and immediately find I'm terribly mistaken!

To start in the West:

San Jose vs. Anaheim: I agree - the Sharks' record this season is way too phenomenal for them to lose this one, surely!

Detroit vs. Columbus: I dearly, dearly would want Columbus to win this one - Detroit are an amazing team, but I just don't like 'em - but even in a random prediction based largely on personal preference I can't stretch to suggesting that the Blue Jackets have any chance at all. Sorry! I hope I'm wrong!

Vancouver vs. St. Louis: I saw one of the Canucks' games a couple of weeks back and they looked goooood. And if you'd asked me to name off the top of my head all the teams that had made the play-offs, I reckon St. Louis is the one I would've struggled to remember (maybe Anaheim too), so little have I noticed them - Vancouver all the way!

Chicago vs. Calgary: This is where my usual Canadian bias goes out the window, because I've fallen for the Blackhawks in a big way over the last eighteen months. And this could well be the most exciting of the Western Conference (or indeed all) quarter finals! It's Chicago all the way for me. They are a thrilling team to watc! And their goalies names' together surely have more syllables than any other pair in the league! They can't lose!

Meanwhile, in the East:

Boston vs. Montréal: This is possibly the most likely prediction to make me look silly as soon as I see the first week's results later, but I have to go with my heart and say that Montréal will find a way. I've no idea how they'll do it, but it can't be impossible, can it?

Washington vs. New York: The Rangers started the season so very well, but have long since ceased to be such a force to be reckoned with. And who wouldn't want to see Ovechkin through to the next round? Capitals for me, please!

New Jersey vs. Carolina: Okay, what I know about the Hurricanes could be written on the back of a postage stamp-sized piece of mark-resistant paper. They're in the Southeast Division and they're not the Washington Capitals - what are they doing in the play-offs? Apparently they've done well recently, but I'll take New Jersey, thanks.

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia: On paper it should be Pittsburgh, but out on the ice they've underperformed pretty much all season. Still, after last year's Stanley Cup final, Marc-André Fleury's probably my favourite goal-tender in the NHL, so I'll pick the Penguins on that alone.


Okay then - it's time to find out that it's all going against my random choices....

[Black Cat]

Habs have been sweeped. Sad thing in a sense. I knew that they weren't going to win, so that's no surprise. What disturbs me is how the last game ended: people cheering in derision Carey Price for a little save and Price answering by waving to the crowd. It reminded everyone of the last game Patrick Roy played with the Habs (he did exactly the same thing and the following days, he was traded to Colorado). Price wasn't responsible for the goals he allowed and most people agree that the crowd was rude to him for no reason. Of course, Price shouldn't had answered by waving to the crowd too.

And then, there was the "Carbo! Carbo!" chanting (Carbo, nickname of Guy Carbonneau, the coach that has been fired during the season) and the bottles thrown on the ice at the end of the game. With 10 players that are going to be free agents in July, do you thing the crowd gave them a good reason to stay in Montreal by acting like this? Luckily, most of the persons at the Bell Center gave the team a standing ovation before leaving.

Oh, and the Blues have also been sweeped. And Pittsburgh is leading its series 3-1 while Detroit is about to sweep the Blue Jackets. The series between New Jersey and Carolina and between Chicago and Calgary are tied 2-2. What is surprising is that the Rangers are leading 3-1 over the Capitals and that the Ducks are also leading 2-1 over the Sharks.