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Open Ice Hitter is now on facebook as Open Ice Hitter - Pure Hockey Star Pheonix blog link : http://communities.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/blogs/openicehitter/ HITS OF THE DAY
April 7 - Live comedy as the Blackhawks score three goals in quick succession while Keith Tkachuk of the Blues tries to announce that he is retiring during a visit to the press box. Tkachuk nearly became a Blackhawk years ago, when he signed an offer sheet that would have put him in Chicago after starting his career with the Winnipeg Jets ... - Glen Sather must have enjoyed watching the Broadway Blueshirts shell the Leafs last night, keeping their playoff hopes alive. Realistically, the Rangers are not likely to make the post season. They have to win both remaining games against the Flyers to get in, and why this isn’t likely to go down is because the Rangers have been too hot lately, the Flyers too cold, and those trends likely won’t last. If the Flyers win one game they are in. Boston have 3 games left, and 2 wins, or 1 win and a Ranger loss, will seal the deal. - Windsor sweep the Plymouth Whalers in pursuit of a repeat as Memorial Cup champ. Taylor Hall outgunned Tyler Seguin easily. The NHL draft lottery is just around the corner, but the real gong show is going on in Edmonton. This team has been so poorly run over the last few seasons that it is easy to believe they will find a way to mess up having one of the top 2 picks April 6 - Story of the Day : Calgary Flames eliminated from the post season. The Flames lose to the San Jose Sharks, scoring a whopping 1 goals. Meanwhile, rookie Matt Duchene makes Roberto Luongo move laterally in the sham shootout, opening up the entire net, and scores an easy goal. Colorado in, Calgary out. If the Sutter brothers get another shot in Calgary, it will be a mighty big surprise. Gotta love them, but Darryl Sutter panicked with the Dion Phaneuf trade, and then showed that he has lost all of his judgement by signing Matt Stajan to a ridiculous contract extension. - A frantic finish is setup in the east, though Philly and the Habs look to be in the second season. The Flyers blanked the Leafs while Henrik Lundquist couldn’t get his oversized equipment in front of the puck as the Sabres chased the cheating Swede. Jaro Halak lost for the Habs in a sham shootout, but they only need Philly to win one against the Rangers, or the Leafs to beat the Rangers, and that will put both the Flyers and Habs in the post season - Marc Fleury was not good as the Capitals beat the Penguins 6-3. Hopefully for the Pens, this was Fleury getting the bad game out of the way for crunchtime - Nobody talks about Barry Trotz, but he has the Nashville Predators back in the playoffs. If Lou Lamoreillo was ever able to get his hands on this guy, New Jersey would be a very, very stable team.... April 5 - With any hope of a better finish long gone, the Oilers hang a loss on Martin Havlat and the Minnesota Wild. The Oilers are going to have a crack at a legit franchise player at the entry draft. There was a time when Martin Havlat and his agent tried to pass of the one dimensional / frail forward as a franchise player. Unless a doofus like Pierre McGuire ever gets a GM job, it is safe to say that Havlat will not land another big dollar / big dog contract.... - Interesting showdown between Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin in the OHL playoffs. Oh yeah, Cam Fowler is playing in that series, too. With the top 3 prospects all on the same sheet of ice, the pressure is on. So far it is all Hall and Fowler, as the Spitfires are dominating Seguin’s Plymouth Whalers April 4 - The Flames get pounded by Chicago 4-1, and the playoffs start to look distant. Jay Bouwmeester has not been an impact player. For a player who has never been in the post season during his entire major junior or NHL career, this is a crushing blow. And a blown opportunity. This season with the Flames was to be Bouwmeester’s step onto the big stage as a game changing superstar. Hard to say, but Bouwmeester has been a bust. - Never in a million years would I have picked Henrik Sedin as a 100 point scorer or Art Ross Trophy winner. Good for him, I suppose, but he is going to have to put up those numbers a few more times to be a legit superstar... April 2 - If the habs do not know who is their number 1 goalie after Jaro Halak blanked the Flyers 1-0 in a crucial game, then they need to replace the whole front office. When the Flyers were pushing hard in the third period, dominating play, Halak was unbeatable. For Montreal, it is simple. Halak wins them games. Carey Price loses games - The Rangers hammer Tampa in an effort to get a playoff spot and possibly salvage the job of one time boy genius / current has been Glen Sather. Slats has run quite a collection of personalities through Madison Square Garden in his day, with every combination failing. How he has kept his job this long is baffling. Time will run out someday, if the Rangers ever want a shot at winning again, and if they are smart, this summer is the year to make the move - The Flames cling to their faintest of faint playoff hopes with another victory, basically hoping to catch Colorado, which they have, though the Avalanche have a game in hand. The Avs could have opened up a near impassible gap had they beat the Flames, but Colorado still control the destiny of their improbable Cinderella season .... April 1 - Crush Job of the Night : The LA Kings demolish the Vancouver Canucks. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault leaves Roberto Luongo in net for the entire game as the youthful Kings hammer the Canucks 8 – 3. This can be looked at in one of two ways : A good game by the Kings, powered by a young squad of eager players, or a really bad game by an over rated goaltender, Luongo. The Canucks goalie is known for giving up at least one bad goal per game, tonight he just gave up a lot more. Must be good to know this guy is your backstopper heading into the playoffs, especially when you recall his shaky play at the Olympics, and, horror of horrors, his post season play in the NHL .... - Desperate for an upgrade on the beer league calibre goaltending they have received from Brian Boucher, the Flyers have signed former NHL goalie Sebastian Caron, who will be goaltender number 7 on the year for Philly. The Flyers season is basically toast because of goaltending, as well as the rest of the team playing mediocre. This franchise has not had an impact goaltender in nearly 25 years. Look for that to change this summer .... - What is the difference between Cory Clouston and Craig Hartsburg ? .... the Playoffs - Detroit woke up late in the season and realized that missing the playoffs would tarnish the careers of several esteemed members of the team. They have been on a roll ever since, not content to sneak in as an 8th seed. Keeping Chris Osgood stapled to the bench has helped them immensely. The unmatched experience of the rest of the team has taken care of the rest. Jimmy Howard was a huge question mark for most of the year, but he seems to have learned how to stop the puck over the past few weeks. March 31 - Colorado should have been in the poll regarding teams that could fall out of a playoff spot, and look very vulnerable. The kids and castoffs are close to having their Cinderella season ruined. Craig Anderson was shelled by the Ducks, making aged sniper Teemu Selanne look like a 25 year old superstar .... - The Sharks seem to have hit their late season swoon a few weeks early. Maybe this is a good thing, to get beat badly at the end of the regular season, and have time to get their act together for the playoffs. This is showtime for Todd McLellan. He has one of the most talented rosters in the league, but every hockey fan on the planet know the Shark reputation for choking in the playoffs .... - The Sabres have put together a great season with another group of castoffs under long time coach Lindy Ruff. Don’t forget that when Dan Briere and Chris Drury arrived in Buffalo, they were castoffs. When they left town, they were big tickets. The big stars are Miller, Myers and Vanek. After that, a group of journeyman and and slightly above average players are going to be a division winner March 23 - Goal of the Night : Martin St Louis uses sniper Steve Stamkos as a decoy, allowing the dimunitive forward to skate between 2 Carolina Hurricane defenders just inside the Hurricane’s zone. St Louis was able to keep control of the puck just enough so that when he was almost right on top of Cane’s goalie Manny Legace, he was able to shovel the puck into the top corner over Legace’s shoulder .... - The Edmonton Oilers are suddenly competitive, beating the Canucks after drubbing the Sharks. Of course, it is too little too late, but a couple wins will be appreciated the Oil faithful, as long as Edmonton finish the season in a position to claim Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin ... - On the Hot Seat : Colin Campbell – After laying an egg of a suspension on Wisniewski, Campbell has to deal with the fall out of the Flyers – Senators game, which had rock hard defenseman Anton Volchenkov throw an elbow to the face of Dan Carcillo and then lay a dangerous hit from behind on Simon Gagne, with both plays unpenalized ...... the catch here is that if Carcillo had been the perpetrator, would those plays have gone uncalled? And what kind of suspension would Carcillo receive? Campbell has a track record of questionable suspensions in regards to the Flyers ... - High End battle in the West division last night between the Black Hawks and .... the Coyotes?? Nobody, not even the most diehard Coyote fan, or player, would have predicted this before the season .... March 22 - Tough run of luck for Pavol Demitra after leading the Olympics in scoring .... Demitra has had major injury problems, and has not been an impact player in the NHL since leaving St Louis many years ago ... - Has the end finally come for Chris Osgood ? Ozzie was thought to be done when he was struggling for the Islanders, but returned to Detroit, and somehow managed to win a Stanley Cup .... Jimmy Howard has been handling the puckstopping in Detroit as of late, and though not to be confused with a Vezina –calibre goaltender, Howard has backstopped the Wings hot run and ascension into a post season slot ... March 21 - Losing a weekend home and home to the Atlanta Thrashers kinds of sums up the season for the Flyers. After putting together a decent run and getting in position to move into the top 4 spots in the East, comeback player of the year Mike Leighton goes down to injury. The Flyers are forced to turn to number 3 goalie Brian Boucher, a career journeyman. This says it all : The Flyers badly outshot the Thrashers on Sunday, and lost. That has been the hallmark of their goaltending for more than 20 years now ….. - Still trying to understand how James Wisniewski, a “ repeat offender “ gets 8 games for hitting a player that never touched the puck, while Steve Downie was slapped with a 20 game ban on his first “ offense “, a late hit on Dean McCammond, after McCammond had actually played the puck ….. - Game of the Night : The laughingstock of the league, the pint sized Edmonton Oilers, put a whipping on the San Jose Sharks, 5 – 1. Devan Dubnyk has been motivated after it was suggested here that he could be headed into dubious company with the likes of Red Light Racicot and Hardy Astrom …. Dubnyk won his 2nd straight game, and the Oil looked like a team of hard charging fire spitters. Too bad about Theo Peckham, the big rearguard seemed to be claiming a spot in the NHL. It was a bad fall, nothing more …. - Fight of the Night : This was awesome !!! Mike Comrie slugged it out with Manny Malhotra. This guys really went at it, with some pride on the line. Decision to Comrie, who hammered Malhotra with a decisive and bout ending right directly into the mush. Malhotra must have thought he was getting hit with a solid oak coffee table from one of Comrie’s dad’s stores ….. Comrie doesn’t drop the mitts on a real frequent basis, but when he does, he seems to invoke the ghost of Ted Lindsay … - Bye Bye Flames playoff chances, and likely bye bye Sutter brothers. The Viking area farmers looked to have a solid plan and roster in place last fall, but Calgary has not played anywhere near their potential. It may not be fair to bring the axe down on the Sutter’s, but life is seldom fair. Darryl Sutter’s wheeling and dealing was basically panic for the entertainment of the public heading into the trade deadline, spurred on by a roster of players who could not put it all together. Who would have guessed that after the signing of Jay Bouwmeester, the Flames would only go downhill??? March 20 - Story of the year as far as the NHL goes has to be the Pheonix Coyotes. Late in the season, the Desert Dawgs are poised to overtake the San Jose Sharks for the Pacific Division lead. A team of castoffs and youngsters, playing for a team bankrolled by the league, in a city that seems indifferent to the team ... the Coyotes have surprised everyone by being competitive for the first time in recent memory, since Keith Tkachuk and Jeremy Roenick were the faces of the franchise, anyways.... - Cory Clouston’s Ottawa Senators played like champs at this point last year, shortly after Clouston took over the team. This year, they are playing like they are ready to go golfing. Their goal differential is finally catching up to them - What exactly went wrong with Jonathan CheeChoo ?? How does a players game fall apart so badly in a few seasons that he goes from 56 goal scorer, to AHL busrider? - Still a bit choked at Jacque Rogue’s comments about the lack of competition in women’s hockey. It makes the guy look stupid. How many other sports are basically up for grabs by only a couple countries? Where was the IOC during the communist era when the Soviets were drugging and cheating their way to dominance? If this guy wants to can a few events from the Olympics, he would do well to start with speedwalking, whatever that is.... leave the womens hockey alone. If Sweden, Slovakia, China, et al, don’t want the US and Canada pummelling them, then get better - The Jansenns – LeBlond fight didn’t impress me .... in fact, I thought it was bad. It showed us what the critics of hockey always point at. Two thugs pounding on each other in a bout that had zero affect on the outcome of the game. I don’t know these guys, maybe they are quality people, very intelligent individuals and whatnot, but they looked and acted like a pair of dark alley thugs, kind of like your stereotype comic book goon, all brawn and no brain, “ duh, whus happenin boss? Want I go smack dat guy for ya ? “ ..... March 17 - 8 games for Wisniewski .... hmmm, kind of thought that one would have rated a longer suspension than what Steve Downie received for his infamous corking of Dean McCammond. The difference ... McCammond had actually played the puck. Seabrook never had the puck. I guess that explains it .... oh, but that would be backwards. Of course, this is Colin Campbell we are talking about..... - The Wisniewski hit should lay to rest any notion that players have any kind of respect for each other. And don’t think that they did in “ the olden days “.... just look back at pictures of some of the brawls that took place, or check the steel plate in Ted Green’s head. What is disturbing is that this incident took place so soon after the breaking story of a new head shot rule .... - The Habs are putting together one of the most improbable winning streaks heading into the homestretch of the regular season that I can recall. St Louis last year had a good run to get into the post season, and one of the ultimate runs was by New Jersey in the spring of 1988, getting in on the last game of the season thanks to a John McLean goal. What is so surprising with the Habs run is that the team had shown little determination in any regard for several years, and now they are winning at a crucial point in the season ..... maybe it is a good thing that they did not name a captain, especially Scott Gomez... - The Capitals are closing in on the President’s trophy as the team with the most points in the regular season ..... - Are the Flyers a total write off now with their top 2 goalies done for the year? This team needs to get a plan in place to land a legit long term NHL goalie. The love em or hate em Flyers have not had a franchise goalie in over 25 years, and in that time have only played in 2 Stanley Cup Finals, after being regular contestants in the Grand Finale between 1974 and 1985, winning twice in 5 trips.... - Tyler Myers for Rookie of the Year ..... Buffalo’s best defenseman. I like Matt Duchene, too, but Myers is incredible. For such a big frame, he skates so smoothly, and is putting up big numbers ..... John Tavares is having a tough time of late on the Island, and James Van Riemsdyk has really slowed in Philly.. March 15 - It is going to be interesting to see how Tim Thomas bounces back next year after the nightmare 09-10 season he has had.... last year, everything went right for him. This year, everything is going in the net - The emergence of Alex Burrows as a star goal scorer is a great story. Burrows has fit well with the Sedin twins, and obviously takes the heat on the line from other teams. Burrows will likely score 40 goals, no small feat in the current NHL ... - Watching the Calgary Flames struggle, the obvious question is if the Sutter brothers will get the axe should the Flaming C’s miss the playoffs. Losing to Detroit was not a good move by the Flames, as they now have to catch up to a veteran club with more experience winning than any other team in the league .... - Is Devan Dubnyk going to go down in NHL lore as one of the worst goalies ever, along with Hardy Astrom and Red Light Racicot? Dubnyk was awful in the Oilers loss to the Blue Jackets last night, and has yet to pick up a win in the NHL .... he was getting a peice of the puck, but still letting it in. He looked like a beer league goalie. One bad performance is understandable, but a whole season??? - The latest head scratcher by the Oilers brass : Jordan Eberle to the minors. With Twerp Gagner getting a free ride in the NHL since he was 18, putting Eberle in the AHL has to be considered an insult. Eberle seems to have his attitude in line ( more than can be said for Twerp ), so it likely won’t be an issue. I don’t know the salary cap implications, but if there are none, Eberle should be in the NHL. His skating is far superior to Twerp Gagner’s, Eberle is a true sniper and Mr Clutch. Twerp Gagner is Mr Soft, Mr Lazy, Mr Selfish, all rolled into one .... March 13 - Fight of the Night : All purpose pest Rick Rypien drops the gloves with Ottawa Senators thug Chris Neil, and the two exchange a furious barrage of haymakers .... though Neil has a distinct size advantage on Rypien, the Canucks player was right in Neil’s face, not backing off for a second. Rypien was cut under one eye, but this was a great scrap from his point, showing that he won’t back down from a heavy hitter .... this shows the proper impact of scrapping in the game, if Rypien is not bothered by a goon like Neil, he will definitely make a pansy like Dan Alfreddson feel intimidated .... - New Jersey continue their inconsistent play, losing to the Islanders .... though the Devils have over achieved by great lengths again this season, does anyone aside from their fans see them winning a playoff series???? - The Battle of the Basement dwellars was actually kind of entertaining, with the Leafs topping a woeful Edmonton squad 6-4. A player making a name for himself with Edmonton, if they have an eye to the future, is Theo Peckham .... the big rearguard has been asserting himself physically, and doing it well. Time will tell if he can carve out a spot in the big league, but he looks to be a definite upgrade on Zach Stortini ..... Yes, Twerp Gagner is putting up some points, in the same manner he did as a rookie, in meaningless games, after the season is lost .... Until he helps the team win and be a contender, he will always be viewed as an immature, selfish and soft player by Open Ice Hitter. Want to know what that means? Watch Twerp Gagner score a goal when the Oilers are getting hammered by someone. He acts like he just scored the Gold Medal Olympic goal ... living in his own little world, oblivious to the fact his team is getting creamed - The Wings are making a serious run at the post season, even without a real NHL goalie ... Nik Lidstrom looks like he is 25 years old out there, across from Runt Rafalski, who looks like is 50 .... seriously, who would want the Wings as a 7 or 8th seed opponent in round one? They do have some weapons, if they can prevent the other team from getting any shots on goal... - Needing to bounce back after getting destroyed by the Bruins, Philly pull off a big time rally, tying the BlackHawks with under 3 minutes in the third period, then winning the game on a goal from Chris Pronger with 2 seconds left. Pat Kane might want to work on his professionalism a bit more, as he sidled over to the bench as the Flyers made their rush to win in the dying seconds .... though Cris Huet is a decent goalie, he always fail to come out on top when the Hawks need him ... March 12 - Kovalchuk finally shows up in Jersey, and does it in fine fashion, icing Sid Crosby and the Penguins with a 3 point night. Kovalchuk looked to have some jump, and the Devils were fortunate with a goal scored when Travis Zajac smacked Marc Fleury on the glove ... - Sorry Habs fans, but your team is not going to keep winning games 4 at a time, and Gomez will not keep putting up points like he has over the past few games. Don’t agree? Doesn’t matter, as the next few weeks will show, Gomez is not a point per game player, and the Habs are a soft and weak team, the most likely team currently in a post season spot in the East to fall out of the top 8 ... before their run of 4 wins, the Habs would not have been in the top 8 by percentage of possible points ..... - Steve Stamkos as a 50 goal scorer? The young sniper looks like he is going to make it happen, though he was held off the scoresheet in the Tampa win over the Capitals ... - Though John Tavares and James Van Riemsdyk look like they are going to be solid NHL players, it is hard to ignore how they have disappeared over the second half of the season ..... ........Matt Duchene has had the biggest impact of all rookie forwards, and Tyler “ Tower “ Myers has been an impact player for the Buffalo Sabres ... March 11 - Some original 6 teams on the playoff bubble stated their intentions tonight, as Detroit manhandled Minnesota 5-1 and Boston pummelled the Flyers 5-1 ..... this could be taken as a statement game by the Bruins, as they chased Mike Leighton in a one sided drubbing of the Flyers, with some timely saves by young goalie Rask ... For the Red Wings, they are struggling to salvage the season, but with Nik Lidstrom growing old, and some awful goaltending, the Wings have been bound to fall out of the playoffs... - Another original 6 team, Montreal, showed their gumption by lucking out against the worst team in the league, beating the Oilers in a shootout, thanks to one of the Kickin Kostytsin’s, of all people ... March 8 - Sheldon Souray is one of the most physically gifted athletes in the NHL, a big and mobile skater, a tough hombre, and a feared shooter. Unfortunate for Souray, he is also one of the most injury prone players in the league, now hospitalized with an infection in his broken hand, the result of a great scrap with Jarome Iginla ..... - Dallas beat the Caps at home, that is no big deal. Washington is home to one of the hottest tickets you can get in hockey, a winning and exciting team, with one of the best players in the game on their team ..... but also Jose Theodore in net, and a still unproven Varlamov behind him .... Does anyone really think the Capitals can win the Stanley Cup with that goaltending ???? - The Kings continue to serve notice that they have arrived, one year ahead of schedule, as they hammer the once promising Columbus Blue Jackets 6-0 ....... keep in mind that the Kings have a ton of depth in defense prospects, and will eventually turn some of those into an even better forward corp. Do not blame Dean Lombardi for trading any of his young players for an over rated and past his prime Ray Whitney, especially if Whitney wanted a long contract extension ( basically asking for free money, as the Kings would have to continue to pay him even after he became useless, due to his age and where he fits in the CBA rules ... ) March 6 - Pleasantly surprised that the NHL came down with a suspension on Max Lapierre from the Habs after his cheap and dangerous cross check on San Jose player Scott Nichol .... Lapierre figured it was no big deal, and was laughing on the bench. That makes him, Lapierre, a piece of garbage. What I am wondering through all of this is why the name Brad Hornung never came up. Hornung was paralyzed in a similar incident more than 20 years ago in a WHL game, but instead of falling into the boards sideways as Nichol did, Hornung crashed into the boards headfirst, breaking his neck .... to read more on Hornung, check out the archived story from ESPN ....- http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=1889837 - Ovechkin and Crosby atop the stats board again, and likely both to be Hart Trophy nominees ... Crosby is on pace for 50 goals, and has changed his game a bit, becoming more of a sniper, similar to his junior and minor hockey days, making him a more dangerous player. Ovechkin is playing with a very good supporting cast in Washington, and has taken his physical game to a new level. Tough to pick between the two ... - Detroit is hanging around the 8th spot in the West, trying to weasel into the playoffs, which will be a stunner, considering the dropoff in team play and the awful goaltending they have.... - Tough luck for Carey Price, as he played a gem of a game in San Jose the other night, only to have the Sharks come from behind and win in the third period. The once highly touted Price can’t win for losing in Montreal, and though the Habs seem determined that he is their future in goal, the better goalie over the past 3 years has been Slovak Olympian Jaro Halak .... Mar 2 - Recently read an article ( newspaper, maybe THN ) that stated some surprise at the success Steve Downie is enjoying ..... makes one wonder how some shmoes get jobs in the media that actually pay. For the record, Downie was a first round draft pick, 2 time WJC Gold medal winner for Team Canada, and before the NHL and media vilified him for his devastating ( and late ) hit on Dean McCammond, a blue chip prospect. How does this get forgotten or overlooked? Is it not the job of hockey writers to verify or know what they are writing or who they are talking about? A bit more on Downie, he was an impact player for Team Canada, an extremely effective player, who was not only a very annoying agitator, but a skilful offensive force, great with the puck low and close to the boards ..... - Alexei Ponikorovsky to the Pens ..... this should be good. No pressure Alexei, but it is time to put up some big numbers, playing on a good team. Pittsburgh actually picked the ex Leaf up for journeyman d-man Martin Skoula ( a former bluechip prospect ) and a prospect. Not sure how Skoula fits with the Leafs, but it will likely only be for the rest of this year, and no more ... - So the Habs trade a player with size, youth, speed, and maybe even a bit of grit .... what is going on in Montreal? Are they trying to make the dumbest moves possible? Good bye Matt D’agostini ... - Time to start thinking of first round playoff matchups ... as it stands right now, the playoff matchups in the East would be awesome. Sid against Miller Part 3, The Habs and Devils, Bruins vs Capitals and Philly taking on Ottawa .... I would love to watch each and every game of those series’ .... Mar 1 - Still trying to get squared away with “the runt” being named Top Defenseman at the Olympics ... seriously, Brian “ the runt “ Rafalski, top d-man ? Did the media not see him getting pushed off the puck at all ? Sure, he scored twice against Marty Brodeur. Does that make his whole tournament a success ? What I do not understand is why a big team like Canada did not set out to physically punish “ the runt “, as their is no way he could handle guys like Richards, Morrow and Getzlaf finishing checks on him for even a couple of shifts ..... - I have liked Darryl Sutter’s approach in running the Calgary Flames up to the last month, when he unloaded Dion Phaneuf for Ian White and some spare parts .... now Sutter gives Matt Stajan a $3.5 million per year contract ... not a good move for a player who has only ahandful of appearances for the Flames, and will prove to be no more than a second line center ... - Get ready for the madness of the trade deadline .... already the Oilers have moved Denis Grebishkov, to Nashville of all places .... What are the Flyers up to with their roster moves, and placing Ray Emery on long term injured status? Tom Vokoun would look good in Philly ... Brian Burke has one day left to continue the Maple Leaf makeover before summer .... Feb 28 - In a tense and heart-stopping final, Canada beat the USA for the Gold medal in Men’s Olympic hockey, the marquee event of all Olympic team sports ... After Team Canada pulled out to a 2-0 lead, the US scored a weak goal on Luongo, then stunned 35 million Canadians by scoring to tie the game with 25 seconds left, thanks to the goal scoring talent and instinct of Zach Parise. Sid Crosby made Gold for Canada with a quick 5 hole wrist shot that caught Ryan Miller in a brief moment of lapse, 7 and a half minutes into overtime, and history will now look favourably upon a Canadian Team that was under unimaginable pressure to show hockey superiority on home ice .... - Ryan Miller is a big winner, even though he sports silver, carrying a US team on his skinny little shoulders all the way to the Gold medal game. Miller has been the go to guy in Buffalo since the departure of Dom Hasek, but had never been nearly as dominant. This Olympic tourney may be Miller’s launchpad, as he was superb ... - Another player who was excellent was Pavol Demitra, the Slovak dynamo who has kind of faded out of the NHL picture over the past few years, due to poor team selection, line combinations and injury. When he is on his game, Demitra is a difference maker, as he showed in the Olympics .... it would be nice to see him succeed at the NHL level again ... Feb 27 - Almost beyond belief, the collapse of the Slovakian’s, as they allow Olli Jokinen to score twice and key Finland’s rally from a 3-1 deficit to claim bronze. The Slovakian’s looked to have the game in hand, leading 3-1 with 16 minutes left in the third period. The tiny country, a massive underdog coming into the tournament, were so close to picking up a medal, but completely fell apart, allowing the Finn’s, a team that played mostly uninspired hockey in their final 2 games, to fire 4 goals past Jaro Halak. Halak had been very impressive up to that point, but now the Habs face the prospect of playing 2 goalies with shattered confidence ... Feb 26 - USA demolish the Finns with a first period barrage of 6 goals. Good thing that Mikka Kiprusoff shot off his mouth about starting or he would not play..... wow, this team of basically kids are having a dream run just across the border ..... The signature of the US team is not only youth, but blazing speed, which will give them an advantage over Canada similar to what the US WJC team enjoyed. As for the Finns, the Cindarella run is over, and the team sent to Sochi, Russia for 2014 Olympics will undergo a facelift much the same as the US team experienced this year.... - The Canadians got by the Slovaks in a much different manner than the rabid home fans had wanted. In fact, the Red and White nearly emulated the choke job of curler Cheryl Bernard earlier in the evening, narrowly outlasting the Slovaks 3-2. Slovakia had Canada on the run for the last 10 minutes, with the tide turning after a signature Roberto Luongo gaffe, allowing a horrible goal. Luongo made clutch saves at the end of the game, but hardly inspires confidence..... This was the ultimate game of possum by Slovakia, who looked to be on the ropes after falling behind 3-0, but they stuck to the gameplan, and came very, very close to tipping Canada. - If Canada can take something from the late game collapse against the Slovaks, it will be a day to review what exactly came undone, and a chance to steel their nerves. The USA kid team have already over achieved, and will go all out for glory. Canada loses, they will wear a badge of shame, as anything other than Gold in hockey is a failure, as Canada had the largest and most talented pool of players to pick from, as well as a wild home ice advantage ... Feb 25 - Team Canada women claim a third straight Olympic Gold medal as Shannon Szabados shuts out the USA 2-0. The shots were 29-28 for Canada, with 18 year old Marie Philip Poulin scoring both goals for Canada in a role reminiscent of John Tavares in his first stint with the WJC Team Canada ...... - Some hilite reel goals from Finland as they top Tre Kronor for the bronze in womens hockey... in overtime - Colin Campbell has set a new mark for incompetence, suspending Cam Janssen for a hit that took place so long ago that footage had to be dug out of a museum... umm, good job their Colin, glad that you are right on top of things.... - Some old geezer, think the name is Rogue, shot off his yap about womens hockey and the need for parity.... guess the US and Canadians are not paying him off enough to keep his corrupt yap shut. What is up with the whole “ parity “ thing ? Do people not appreciate successful programs? If you are the best at something by a wide margin, so be it.... and if you want to start examining the Olympic events, well, it would not be hard to eliminate loads of events.... speedwalking?? Are you kidding me ? ...... Feb 23 - No gold for Sweden, as they fall to the Slovaks .... not even all of Hank Lundquist’s oversized equipment could cheat Tre Kronor into the medal round. Slovakia boast some awesome talent, Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik, Big Zed Chara and a reborn Pavol Demitra ... Sweden countered with the bobblehead twins and Dan Alfreddson. Flair definitely won out this time - The Russian bear got steam rolled big time against a Canadian team that finally showed up, hammering Russia 7-3. If not for a couple of posts hit by Canada and a few nice saves by the Russian netminding tandem, along with Roberto Luongo’s sub par play in goal for Canada, this game could have easily been 10 – 0 .... it was that one sided |
