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2010-04-16T16:48:00.001-04:00

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Montreal French Media: The Morning After

2010-04-16T11:30:00.004-04:00

Friday morning, we get wall-to-wall interviews and talk about game 1 of the Habs-Caps series on CKAC:

Former coach Bob Hartley:

We all talk about Ovie’s no SOG but Mike Green didn’t do anything either. The Habs neutralized both Ovie and the whole Caps’ D squad.
The key with stars like Ovie is to keep them out of their comfort zone.
The Caps aren’t the best team in the league but the team with the most talent; it’s two different things.
If I was Bruce Boudreau, I’d try to match Ovechkin against Gomez. He doesn’t speak French so no worries that he’ll get this secret.
Montreal’s only weak point, last night, was faceoffs. [60-something% to Caps]
Prediction for Saturday: Montreal has excellent chances to win and come back to Montreal with a 2-0 lead.

Former coach Michel Therrien:

I’m surprised that Montreal won game 1.
If I am Boudreau, I remind the players of the comeback the team made in 2009 in the first round against the Rangers. Use this as a wakeup call.
What worries me about Ovie is that it’s not a 1-game thing. He hasn’t been the same since the Olympics. Bruce Boudreau will have to sit with him and have a serious talk.
Lapierre’s line really impressed me.

During the Gérant d’estrades (Monday morning quarterbacks?) show, Jacques Thériault, Bernard Brisset and Jeremy Filosa go on and on. Some snippets:

Jacques Theriault:

I originally said that the Caps would win in 5. I have to be logical and say that Washington will win Saturday. I hope that I’m wrong!

Jeremy Filosa:

Washington will win Saturday on a tight game.

Bernard Brisset:

People are cautious; if Montreal wins Saturday, then there will be a huge hockey fever here.
Ovie and Semin had terrible games. Backstrom and Knuble played really well.
Apparently that Ovie’s personal doctor, from Russia, is in town and that if he’s there, there must be serious.
Washington will win Saturday.
In response to Theriault raving about some NHL team that is successfully building around young defensemen, he interrupts and says that Montreal banked on old fogies who were successful last night!

Later in the day, call-in shows are lined-up where fan are likely to see the Canadiens knocking the Caps out of the playoffs!

Photo credit: flickr/dan4th

Montreal Fans on OT Win

2010-04-15T22:55:00.006-04:00

Less than an hour after the OT win against the Caps in game one, Ron Fournier takes calls on CKAC Sports. The question? What do you think of tonight's game? Original, huh?

Before taking calls, we learn from a geek statistician that this was only the 4th time in Ovechkin's career that he got no shot on goal in a game. Call sample:

Caller Francois: I thought that Montreal would win. Good game from Halak.
Caller Karim: GO HABS GO! - WE'LL WIN IN 4. [bunch of drunks signing in the background]
Caller whoever: Montreal just took back the home ice advantage. Mission accomplished.
Caller Francis: Very happy - I think that they'll win in 4. [14-year old who'll get wiser over the years]
Caller whoever: The beast [Caps] has been awoken. Watch out Saturday.
Caller Alex: For once, we played as a team. It was great.
Caller Maxime: Nice win but we can't get too excited. Washington will come back strong. Stopping Ovechkin is quite something.
Caller Peter: GO HABS GO! [same bunch of drunks signing in the background]
Caller Steve: Tonight, we played as a team, which we haven't done in quite a while.
Ron Fournier: We have a nice team but we don't have a team built for the playoffs. We have small players and if we make it further than one round, our small size will catch up with us. Not physical enough. We do have heart, though.
Caller Marc: Playoff hockey tonight. I don't know if Montreal can do better than tonight but the Caps sure can. 25% odds that Montreal can win this series.
Ron Fournier: Ovechkin was flat. Looks like Boudreau knew, right off the bat, that his team wouldn't win tonight. I think that Montreal has 40% chances to win the series.

Over and out, mon Ron!

Photo credit: flickr/clevercupcakes

Post Game French Media on Habs Win Over Caps

2010-04-15T22:20:00.012-04:00

Post game show on Montreal's French CKAC Sports radio station after the Canadiens' 3-2 overtime win against the Caps. Ron Fournier - yes, the former NHL ref - along with Dany Dubé of the game broadcast team:

Fournier: Isn't ironic that Plekanec got the game winning goal against Theodore after the little controversy? [Plekanec saying that the Caps didn't have a dominant goalie; Theodore asking about Tomas Jagr]
Fournier: No shot on goal from Ovechkin; the guy is injured. But watch out, he's going to explode at some point. Let's not get too excited.
Fournier: Montreal can keep up with the powerful Caps.
Dubé: if Montreal had lost in OT, I would have said that this game was a positive, proving that the Canadiens can hold their own against Washington.
Dubé: I don't think that Theodore deserves to be replaced but I wonder if he'll be back for the next game, given his poor relationship with Boudreau.
Fournier: 64.2% [according to some number crunching geek] of the time, the team that wins the first game of a best-of-7 series ends up winning. Before tonight, I thought that Montreal had 25% chances of winning the series. Now, I think that they have 40% chances of winning it.
Dubé: Washington deserved to win more than Montreal, because of their domination on shots on goals.
Fournier: Montreal deserved the win because of their desire and energy during the game.

Post game interview:

Jacques Martin: It's only one game. We'll have to make some adjustments and work hard for game 2. [talk about a boring coach - good thing we have Plekanec, Theodore, and Boudreau]

Post game show is over. Next, Fournier starts the call-in show. Stanley Cup parade will likely be the subject of discussion.

Montreal's French Media on Series Against Caps

2010-04-15T13:03:00.008-04:00

The Caps-Canadiens series is starting tonight and, as a service to our readers, HockeyZonePlus is bringing you some snippets of what is being said in Montreal's French media.

Let's start with Solide comme le rock, the noon-to-3 call-in show on CKAC Sports, hosted by Jean-Charles Lajoie. CKAC is a 24-hour Montreal sports station; hockey being the focus 22 hours a day, 352 days per year.

Lajoie predicts that the Caps will win... in 7!

Let's listen in and provide interesting snippets:

One of CKAC's reporter in DC (remember, it's Montreal; they probably have 23 people with the team): the Caps are a class organization that provided a bus to the media for transportation to the practice facility in Arlington and then downtown for the game. A cab driver (disappointing that the Caps didn't send a bus to pick him up at the airport!) told him that the Habs are the toughest opponent the Caps could have gotten in the first round. Not sure that this is a very scientific or representative opinion but apparently, if a cab driver says that, it's a prevalent opinion in DC...
Caller Francis: Gomez/Gionta/Gill will be in playoff mode with Maxim Lapierre pulling a Dale-Hunter on Theodore to keep him off his game. I might be naive but if we lead 2-0 once we're back in Montreal, we can put doubts in their mind and win it.
Caller Felix: on 5-on-5 and penalty killings, we're last in the league. We need to mess with them and make them take penalties to win with power plays. We can do it.
Caller Kevin: no way we can do it unless the crowd makes a huge difference as a 6th player. This year, the fans are not as enthusiastic as they were last year in the playoffs against Boston when we almost made it.
Caller Guy: Kind of ironic to see that the Caps are so nervous. Montreal has no pressure; all the pressure is on the Caps to meet the expectations. It's going to be a great series.
Caller Richard: There's no playoff fever in Montreal right now but if the Canadiens come back from DC with one win, things will change. Montreal in 7 but we won't win the Cup!
Caller Francoise: First time caller, long time listener! No way Montreal will win. Washington in 4.
Caller Philippe: to win, we have to be arrogant and destabilize them. Maxim Lapierre is a shit disturber and needs to be all over Ovechkin. Bergeron will need to be on top of his game with his shots from the blue line and the power play will be key for Montreal.

More later!

Olympics! Trade Deadline! Drama! Excitement!

2010-03-02T07:44:00.007-05:00

photo courtesy Flickr user s.yume, displayed under Creative Commons

A few notes possibly of interest on the recently completed Olympics and the quickly upcoming trade deadline:

- What a great finish for the gold medal game on Sunday. Really, you couldn't have scripted it any better if you were a Canadian screenwriter: an overtime winner in a tense game against the US scored by Canada's best hockey player. Amazing. Congrats to team Canada.

- On the other side of it, how great a run by the US was that? Reaching the gold medal game after most people had them out of the medals going in...that's just good stuff. I hate to sound too "everybody's a winner! Yay!" about the whole thing, but really, great job by team USA too.

- Brian Rafalski's been in the NHL, what, ten years now? Can't say I've ever seen or heard of him putting together a stretch of games quite like that. In the preliminary round game against Canada, he was dominant. Just goes to show how far a stellar defenseman and good goaltending can take a team.

- Most invisible player on team Canada: Joe Thornton. Easily. I hate to go negative on a guy after a win like that, but Thornton really didn't look involved at all. It's too bad too, I can remember him on the 2004 World Cup team playing brilliantly in a shutdown role and I thought he'd be able to pull that game out again. He's lucky his Sharks linemates Heatley and Marleau were there to prop him up, otherwise he'd have spent a lot longer on the bench.

- Speaking of which, how worried are you right now if you're a Sharks fan? Not only did Thornton disappear in a big tournament (again), but goaltender Evgeni Nabokov completely melted down against Canada in the quarterfinal. Considering San Jose's team reputation for cracking under pressure, that's not good. At least Sharks' defenseman Dan Boyle had a good tournament for Canada after a slow start.

- Conversely, how much are Ducks fans fantasizing at the idea of a first round rematch with the first place Sharks? Anaheim is three points behind the eighth place Red Wings with both Dallas and Calgary in between, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that the two teams could meet in the playoffs again after the Ducks upset the Sharks last year. Scott Niedermayer, who hasn't been too good in Anaheim all season, also had a slow start to his Olympics but in the gold medal game he was Canada's best defenseman. If he can carry that over to the rest of the year with the Ducks, they'll be in good shape.

- If Slovakia had won the bronze medal game you'd have to think Pavol Demitra would've won the best forward award for the tournament over Canada's Jonathan Toews. He was brilliant. Why can't Demitra always play like that?

- I know Denis Grebeshkov wasn't having a great season in Edmonton, but is this really how the Oilers are going to rebuild, by dealing defensemen in their mid-20's for mid-second round picks? I realize a lot of the players they really want to move have virtually untradeable contracts, but Steve Tambellini better have a pretty nice rabbit ready to be pulled out of his hat before the deadline, or Oiler fans will be even more unhappy than they are now. And considering the team is mired in the worst season in franchise history, they're already pretty unhappy. Grebeshkov was a Russian Olympian and wasn't worth more in a trade than Dominic Moore or Andy Sutton? Really?

- Others have done a nice job of breaking down who's likely to be moved by the trade deadline already (including The Score's Jonathan Willis, who I would highly recommend if you aren't already reading him), so I won't do a big breakdown like I did last season. But there's really two teams I'm most interested in following what they do at the deadline: Buffalo and Washington. Several other contenders (New Jersey, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Calgary) have already made moves, while a few more (Vancouver, San Jose, Philadelphia) will probably stand pat. But with the lingering feeling that almost any team could come out of the Eastern Conference, Buffalo and Washington could be players.

- You'd have to think that if Buffalo's stingy ownership were ever going to throw off the restraints and go for broke, it would be now, what with Ryan Miller playing so well. Buffalo probably needs an experienced puck-moving defenseman and a scoring forward to really be a contender at this point. A Joe Corvo & Ray Whitney package from Carolina might look nice, or if they're a little more adventurous, Lubomir Visnovsky from the Oilers might work.

- Washington should definitely be going for broke this season. The Caps badly need an experienced defenseman. They were rumoured to be interested in Grebeshkov, but might be better off with someone a little more physical and defensively sound, like Nashville's Dan Hamhuis. There's also a lingering feeling that the Caps need an upgrade in goal. I don't really buy it, especially since many of the goalies on the market, particularly Marty Turco, Dan Ellis, or Martin Biron, aren't necessarily better options than what they've already got. Jose Theodore is just as likely to have a hot playoff streak as Turco, Ellis or Biron, and Varlamov, if he's healthy, probably has a better chance than any of them. It might be intriguing if they went hard after Florida's Tomas Vokoun, but there's no indication at this point that that's likely to occur.

- Finally, I heard a lot of talk about Jaromir Jagr possibly returning to the NHL next season in the preliminary round, when Jagr had good games against Slovakia and Latvia. That talk pretty much died off completely after that hard check from Alexander Ovechkin in the Russia-Czech Republic game nullified Jagr for the rest of the games, and deservedly so. I loved seeing Jagr in his prime, but it would be painful to see him come back and play a bit role with a lot of time on the injured list. Just ask fans of Peter Forsberg...

1-976-Paul-Coffee Only $8.33 per minute!

2010-02-05T15:02:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Chris Nilan and his business partner, you can now dish out $8.33/minute* to talk to Paul Coffee on the phone! Not so much into Coffee? No worries, there are forty-or-so other former NHLers available for similar prices. Stu Grimson and Kevin Stevens are bargains at $6.67/minute*!

It’s good to know that for just a few dollars, you can connect to hockey stars that will pretend to care while you fawn over them with your wallet wide open.

Go to www.vizzitt.com (Get it? Visit!) Right now if you can’t wait for this 1-976 hockey opportunity. Don’t have too much expectations, though, as the last news on the site are over 1 year old and you get a “Please check back for availability” message when clicking on a player. At $499.99/hour, you’d think that they’re all standing by the phone!

*Minimum 30 minutes, apparently to give you time to really become best buddy with your new former-NHL friend.

Idiotic Comments from Kovalchuk/Waddell

2010-02-05T09:55:00.003-05:00

After the announcement of the trade that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils, GM Don Waddell and Kovy both made comments to the press* that prove that sometimes hockey people should stick to just... play hockey (or pretend they know what they do, in Waddell's case):

Kovalchuk: "For sure. I’m not going to put my home up for sale. Atlanta is going to be my second home probably forever now. It’s great weather. My kids in school there. I will be there."

Come on. Stop the charade. Why would a Russian guy who will soon walk around with a $100M contract, without real ties to Atlanta, want to have a second home in Atlanta? The great weather? Sure. Miami, where he spends time in the summer, the south of France or a whole bunch of exotic islands don't have good weather, apparently. Schools?! That's a good one. The kids will stay in Atlanta in order to continue their education in some great unique school? Georgia is known for its great schools after all.

A big $5 that he doesn't own property in Atlanta comes 2011. Nothing wrong with that.

Waddell: "This isn’t a knock on Kovy, but Kovy’s been here eight years and we still haven’t won a playoff game. This team has to take a different identity."

Waddell has been GM of the Thrashers since the beginning and they still haven't won a playoff game. This IS a knock on Waddell! Time to go back peddling portable toilets.

*Press, in Atlanta, means the one journalist following the team. Doesn't include the guys on the team's payroll who pretend they are journalists.

Atlanta Thrashers: Will the Last One to Leave Please Turn Off the Lights?

2010-01-08T15:19:00.002-05:00

Since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, the folks at Philips Arena, in Atlanta, don’t bother turning on the impressive wall of hundreds of Philips television monitors showing sporting events on the way between the upper and lower concourse during Thrashers’ games.

Makes you wonder if management has not already given up on the franchise when it doesn’t even bother turning on a huge display of products from the arena sponsor! It sure conveys that message.

We can just imagine the meeting before the season:

“OK, we’ll unlock the doors and have a few beer stalls for the last few coming to games. Send Larry to the gift shop; maybe we can sell a few Kovalchuk jerseys before the trade deadline.”

To be positive, let’s hope that they just decided to be very green by using less electricity and power for frivolous reasons. But, really? The company that paid big money for the arena’s naming rights would forego a spectacular display of its products to go green?

Will the last one to leave please turn off the lights?

Next NHL Phenom?

2010-01-07T10:11:00.003-05:00

He shoots, he scores!

HYS The Hague vs. the Heerenveen Flyers (part 2): Hockey in Europe

2009-12-22T16:11:00.005-05:00

HockeyZonePlus contributor Brian Pike is currently living in The Hague, Netherlands, working for a large international organization. As a Canadian hockey fan who's never been outside of North America before, curiousity about European hockey is high. The local team is defending league champions HYS The Hague, who play in the 8-team Eredivisie, the top league in The Netherlands. The game took place on November 13, 2009, against the Heerenveen Flyers. Here are Brian's observations as a non-Dutch speaking but passionate hockey fan from De Uithof, HYS's home rink,"live blog" style from his hand-written notes. Part one, covering the warmups to the end of the first period is here. Today we present part two, picking up in the first intermission with the score 2-0 Flyers. All photos were taken by the author.

First Intermission: There's a speed skating rink in this complex. I've never actually seen people speed skating for fitness, like how people run around a track. It must be a European thing. The view of the speed skating rink is from a window in the business concession area of the hockey rink, where they're selling wine and chips.

- My search for something more substantial than chips to eat ends in failure when the large concession stand in the corner of the rink promising "BEER AND HOT DOGS" doesn't have any hot dogs. Because of the 8:30 game start and me not eating beforehand, I'm so hungry.

- On the way back to my seat I see a guy wearing a Hartford Whalers jersey. Long live the Whale!

2nd Period: #16 for HYS The Hague goes straight into the opposition end after the teams come out of the dressing rooms and starts a chat with #4 on the Heerenveen Flyers. Initially I wondered if #16, who's name is Ronald Wurm, is some kind of Avery-esque disturber. But no, they just have a very friendly chat. Kind of disappointing, really.

17:40: HYS look a bit disjointed. A defenseman nearly puts the puck into his own net on a straightforward clearing attempt out front of his net. This is probably not good.

17:19: And a partial breakaway for the Flyers #7, Bert van den Braak (you've got to love Dutch names) results in a goal. It's 2-1 for HYS now, but you get the feeling the home side might be in a bit of trouble...

16:35: On a power play HYS goalie Tim Knudsen tries to play the puck up ice but his pass is picked off. The Flyers guy tries to go back against the grain and shoots high blocker, but #49 comes up with the save. Really bailed himself out with that one.

13:32: After an ineffective HYS power play, the Flyers promptly take another penalty, as an HYS player was breaking for the net and gets his stick on a quick pass across, but not quite enough for the redirect. I thought the defenseman played it fine, but he gets called for hooking anyway. Maybe the Eredivisie is cracking down on obstruction near the goal.

11:45: #24 on HYS, defenseman Josh Mizerek, feathers a beautiful saucer pass along the blueline to the other point. He looks like a good player at this level. Never made it higher than the ECHL in North America, though. That pass is the highlight of this power play, as there's no real chances. HYS are going to regret not scoring on these opportunities, I think.

11:05: Wurm gets called for cross-checking. Honestly, it looked like he just pushed the guy to me. Maybe the way the boards rattled when he pushed the guy into them startled the referee.

10:31: A slap shot from the point by John "Flash" Gordon (I don't really know if his nickname is Flash. If I personally knew anyone with the last name Gordon, though, they would automatically be "Flash" to me) beats Knudsen clean, with perhaps a slight screen in front of him. According to HockeyDB, Flash played NCAA hockey at Hamilton College, then played for Heerenveen in 2007-08, HYS in 2008-09, and now he's back with the Flyers this season. I wonder if he was traded or if it was free agency? Either way, the home crowd should be booing him, clearly. No one does, though.

8:08: Nice glove by Stephane Cesar, the Flyers goalie. He hasn't seen much action this period but has been sharp after some early jitters.

8:00: An HYS defenseman gives a Flyers forward a shove along the wall. The six kids sitting in front of me with one beleaguered set of parents watching them start hooting. It's pretty funny.

6:02: Alexander Selivanov's linemate blows the saucer pass across to him on a 2-on-1. Selivanov, the biggest former NHLer in the Eredivisie (that I know of), looks a little frustrated by the talent level of his teammates sometimes. On the other hand, he doesn't really have much to complain about, since he's been invisible all period. Tampa Bay Lightning fans are saying "That's the Alexander Selivanov we know!"

5:22: Coincidental roughing minors to HYS's #44, Marcel Bruinsma, and the Flyers' van den Braak for a pretty minor scrum/facewash incident. The crowd really gives it to van den Braak when he gets to the box, which is fantastic. van den Braak doesn't take it sitting down, though; he gets up and starts yelling back. At this point I start noticing just how little separation there is between the crowd and the players. Nothing happens, of course, but it's worth noticing. Somebody tries to throw a napkin or a similarly flimsy bit of paper at van den Braak. It doesn't make it. This is as close to a fan/player incident as we get.

4:30: Selivanov seems to inspire his teammates to try and make way too many cute passes to set him up. That doesn't work too often. The kids sitting in front of me all get cups of a foul-smelling sugary concoction to drink. Which is just what a bunch of overstimulated 8 year old boys need, obviously. I cringe a little.

2:40: Knudsen flashes the leather for two nice stops in a row. The game is slowing down a lot from all the stoppages.

1:20: An HYS forward in on the forecheck plants a solid check on one of the Flyers defensemen. One of the kids in front of me barks like a dog for ten seconds in appreciation.

:30: Knudsen gets caught on his puckhandling again, and once again it almost ends up in his own net. Honestly, if he's this aggressive on the puckhandling every night, the opposition probably gets a goal from it once every two games or so. This time he bumps the puck right out into the slot with his paddle instead of covering it. Dumb. Luckily it gets cleared.

Second Intermission: Once again, the second the buzzer goes, half the crowd immediately heads out one of the rink's many doors to get a smoke. Is the number of smokers higher in Europe than back home? Probably.

- The arena zamboni sucks. It stops ten feet into it's run and needs a full minute of prodding before it gets going agin, then it leaves huge dry spots all over the ice. It's a big go cart that spills hot water, people, it's not supposed to be this complicated...

Third Period: Would someone PLEASE come over here and high five these kids??? PLEASE. Come on (picture on left).

19:25: A hit in the near corner. One of the kids quacks like a duck.

18:30: I become aware of the arena music. It's like a bad 90's arena mix CD (2 Unlimited, that kind of thing) crossed with tunes they played at the old Junior B rink in Wetaskiwin when I used to watch games there with my Dad, with the occasional happy Dutch kids song tossed in. Van Halen's "Jump" just started playing. They loved that song at the Wetaskiwin Icemen Junior B games.

16:38: van den Braak takes another penalty, a rather questionable hooking call, and the fans give it to him again. Awesome. He just sits down this time, though, rather than yelling back. Probably a good idea.

15:39: The referees give the Flyers a make-up call with a hooking penalty on HYS's #91, Jan Bohac. Don't tell me make-up calls don't happen, because they do, even here.

13:28: Just after Bohac's penalty expires there is, as Oilers radio voice Rod Phillips would say, a mad scramble in front of the HYS net. In the confusion, the puck comes back to the point and the Flyers player floats one over a sprawled shot-blocker that somehow finds the top of the net. Not sure who the shooter was, but forward Hans Kroon gets credit, so it might have been tipped. "Flash" Gordon gets the second assist, and it's 3-2 for Heerenveen.

12:47: With HYS threatening, #63 on the Flyers, Jamie Visser, gets a completely mystifying holding penalty that confuses everyone. Nobody saw it, nobody knows who's getting the penalty until they pick out Visser, and I think they might've even blown it dead when HYS had the puck. Bad refereeing is the same all over.

12:05: When HYS has pressure on the power play and the fans want a goal they start going "aaay-YUP, aaay-YUP." This is fantastic. The first fans who start doing this at an NHL rink, I promise I'll cheer for your team for the next two years.

10:31: The power play doesn't go anywhere. Shortly thereafter the Flyers have a 2-on-1, only to be foiled on a classic pass block with the outstretched stick by #19, Victor Ignatjev. He's had a good game. Apparently, Ignatjev had a cup of coffee in the NHL back in 1998-99 with Pittsburgh and played in the old International Hockey League, back when they were on equal footing with the AHL. He'll be 39 in April, but he can still play.

9:15: The Flyers really have all the momentum after that penalty kill. Offensive zone pressure results in a holding penalty to HYS defenseman Brian Mullally. The Heerenveen coach appears to have called a timeout. Odd.

- Ok, apparently it wasn't a timeout, because this is way too long a break for a timeout. I have no idea what the delay is. There's no announcement. Not that an announcement in Dutch would help me understand what's going on, but hey, other people might like to know.

- A good five minutes later, play is blown in again. Weird. I have no idea what that was about.

7:44: #76 on the Flyers, Erik Landman, just saved a goal by sliding behind his out of position goaltender. He looks like quite a strong two-way player. Of course, the bad news is that this chance happened with his team on the power play. They're looking a bit disjointed.

7:09: Selivanov takes a dumb slashing penalty. He may have just killed his team's comeback chances with that one. Selfish play.

6:10: Heerenveen kind of look like they're just trying to kill time on this power play. Maybe the big chance against on the last one was a confidence killer?

5:53: Apparently, it was all just a cunning ploy, because after a minute of hanging back on the power play, Flash hits a streaking Paul Vincent and he breaks right up the middle, untouched. He's stopped, but Visser scores on the rebound. On a related note, look at Vincent's HockeyDB page! He's played EVERYWHERE. He's played in leagues I've never heard of. What the heck is/was the ACHL? The QSMHL? The WHA2? Anyway, I'd like to stress once again what a bad penalty that was to take by Selivanov.

4:32: Mizerek eliminates his man behind the net who had the puck in his feet. Good solid defense, but the referee calls charging. This is a HORRIBLE penalty call. I mean, he was standing still! You cannot get a charging penalty when you are standing still. This is contrary to the very nature of charging.

4:20: Wow, "Radar Love" comes over the arena speakers! We're back to the Wetaskiwin Junior B playlist. What's next, "Living on a Prayer"? We can only hope!

3:56: Nice arm stop on the redirect by Knudsen. Selivanov and #20 Matt Korthuis, the penalty killing forwards, have spent the whole time on the kill looking for breakaway passes. This is not going to end well.

3:35: Knudsen looks like the only one on his team who still cares. An HYS defenseman makes a lazy turnover but Knudsen stops the ensuing breakaway. His skaters left him out to dry on that one.

2:30: The kids in front of me are apoplectic, screaming for HYS to score. I like their enthusiasm.

2:20: The Flyers jump on another turnover and van den Braak streaks in alone. He's stopped, but Landman scores on the rebound. One of the kids sounds like he shouts "f*** you" at Landman, but I can't be too sure. It might've been Dutch. Hopefully.

2:04: The kids turn on each other, attacking with empty pop bottles. This is actually more entertaining than the end of this 5-2 game.

1:14: "Cotton-Eyed Joe" comes over the speakers. Back to the bad 90's arena "classics" playlist. The crowd is deathly silent.

:49: Landman and Ignatjev are given coincidental minors for no particular reason. The official scoresheet actually has it as a hooking penalty on Ignatjev, and a diving penalty on Landman. That kind of says it all about the quality of officiating in this game. You can't even chastise the referee for forgetting his glasses, because he's actually wearing glasses under his visor and helmet. Seriously.

:00: Mercifully for the home team, the game finally comes to an end. Ignatjev is named player of the game for HYS, really for a lack of any better options. I look at my watch and find it's 11:15, then wonder what that delay in the middle of the third could possibly have been for. Time to see if I can figure out Den Haag transit in this end of the city to get home.

How To Pronounce Ovechkin & Kovalev - Who Cares?

2009-12-19T12:03:00.003-05:00

Apparently, everybody pronounces Kovalev and Ovechkin incorrectly. Much like the name of many other NHLers. Sadly, most of these players just don't care either and won't ask or teach announcers and broadcasters to do it properly.

Why bother? Call them all Moe Smith if you like. As long as the checks don't bounce.

Just in case you care, though, it's "Aeyvitchkin" and "Kovalyov."

2 down, 134 to go.

You Might Be a Redneck - Niedermayer Stick & Mugshot

2009-11-27T16:50:00.003-05:00

You might be a redneck if you go to a hockey game and come back with a Scott Niedermayer stick, black eye and mugshot.

What's up with that? The SoCal Jerry Springer Fan Club managed to get tix by the glass?

HYS The Hague vs. the Heerenveen Flyers (part 1): Hockey in Europe

2009-11-22T08:03:00.010-05:00

HockeyZonePlus contributor Brian Pike is currently living in The Hague, Netherlands, working for a large international organization. As a Canadian hockey fan who's never been outside of North America before, he hopes to see games from as many nearby European hockey leagues as possible, time and travel budget permitting. First up is local Eredivisie team HYS The Hague, the defending champs of the 8-team elite league in The Netherlands. The game took place on November 13, 2009, against the Heerenveen Flyers. Here are Brian's observations as a non-Dutch speaking but passionate hockey fan from De Uithof, HYS's home rink,"live blog" style from his hand-written notes, starting with the pre-game warmups. All photos are taken by the author.

15:00 to Faceoff: Welcome to De Uithof! This rink is in the far west of the city, and man, is ever hard to get to. Still, hockey night tonight! I'm excited. Living in Toronto during the last NHL season I never actually got to a live game, so the last game I've seen in person was probably during the 2007-08 season in Calgary. Go HYS!

14:10: This is a pretty nice rink. There's only around 2500 seats, so it's small, and it has an amateur rink kind of feel, with just a small scoreclock at one end and no glass along the sides. It reminds me a little of the rink in my hometown, where I used to go see Heritage Alberta Junior B League games with my Dad. I like it here already!

13:30: Something else amateurish: the volume of the pre-game music keeps going up and down. "Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson goes from screaming loud to whisper quiet. I guess Manson would just be happy he still gets played anywhere at all, at any volume.

13:10: The HYS starter is BIG. He's #49 in our single-page folded program, Tim Knudsen. The Internet Hockey Database reveals that he played 85 or so games in the UHL before coming over to Europe. So he's probably a better goalie than me, but probably not as good as Vesa Toskala, somewhere in that range. Wait, that's probably unfair. Nobody's as bad as Vesa Toskala right now.

11:15: The jerseys HYS are wearing are just AWFUL. They don't have names or numbers on the back, just a big circular ad for a local store. Hopefully these are just the warmup jerseys. The Heerenveen Flyers jerseys, meanwhile, are a rather ugly mustard yellow with blue numbers and a Comic Sans-like script for the player names. At least they have names and numbers, though.

9:55: Look, just outside the blueline! It's #77, HYS star winger Alexander Selivanov! Tampa Bay Lightning fans who followed the team in the mid to late-90's may remember Selivanov as the winger with the decent shot who scored 62 goals over three seasons from '95 to '98 before being traded to Edmonton the next year. He scored 27 goals as an Oiler in the 1999-2000 season, spent the next year with Columbus, then moved to Europe. In all he had 121 goals and 235 points in 459 NHL games. How does a 38 year old ex-NHLer fare in the Dutch League? We'll find out...

7:26: The pecking order in warmups between the starter and his backup has always fascinated me. I like it when you can tell who the starter is because he doesn't even try to stop half the shots he faces, or tries to glove every single shot because he wants to warm up the trapper, while the backup is trying groin-straining cross-crease lunges.

5:38: Apparently, you can't escape Nickelback by going to Europe. Damn. A song of theirs comes across the loudspeakers, and I recall the time I told a group of college kids they were "everything that is soulless and wrong in Canadian music." Oh well, at least it's not that Black-Eyed Peas song. You know the one I mean.

4:55: Man, does this ever seem like a long warmup. HYS look like they're running out of drills.

2:00: We must be wrapping up, it's semi-circle at the blueline shooting time. I think this is the last full team drill the world over in warmups.

The sound system issues continue, as a loud and lengthy blast of screeching feedback comes through the speakers for a full minute, then repeats off and on as the announcer, a woman in her late 40's who's probably one of the player's moms, tries to ask everyone if they're READY FOR SOME HOCKEY TONIIIIGHT. Or at least, I assume that's what she's saying. I don't know any Dutch.

The First Period: After a quick zamboni run, the rink is ready to go, the lights dim, and the Beastie Boys "Fight For Your Right" blares out of the rink speakers. A kid of probaby 10 or 11 in full gear walks unsteadily up the hallway to the ice. Sure enough, he's carrying a flag, and starts doing laps around the ice. Honestly, who started this particular bit of pre-game absurdity? I seem to remember seeing the Ottawa Senators do it on TV once or twice. As if to put an exclaimation mark on how silly the exercise is, after slowly taking three laps around the ice, the kid breaks for centre and falls hard on his backside while pretending to plant the flag on the dot. You can practically feel the tears of humiliation in his eyes as he leaves the ice. Poor kid.

20:00: Thankfully, HYS have indeed changed from their no-numbers warmup sweaters into a rather fetching dark red on a deep navy blue scheme. Superb. I like these jerseys so much that if I get into another game before I leave The Hague I will most likely pick one up. We go straight into the opening faceoff without any national anthem. After years of North American sports where the anthems always start things off, this feels surprisingly wrong to me.

19:31: We have our first whistle when the puck goes over the boards where there's no glass, and the second comes eight seconds later on an offside. Not exactly a roaring start. The eight-year-olds sitting in front of me are already restless.

18:35: The Flyers goalie is all over the place early. He looks nervous. HYS is clearly trying to get him going side-to-side and overcommit.

18:07: HYS's goalie, meanwhile, clearly loves to skate out and handle the puck. Knudsen has that kind of Roberto Luongo/JS Giguere look with the thick shoulder pads. His legs aren't as long, though. The Flyers goalie, Stephane Cesar, has more of a Martin Biron look; he's taller, but he looks smaller than Knudsen. Cesar is apparently from Ottawa and played in the OHL for a few seasons.

16:45: Nice breakaway stop by Knudsen as a Flyers player snuck behind the defense.

16:15: HYS answers that when a player breaks straight up the middle between the Flyers D, but his shot misses high blocker. I suspect things are starting to pick up.

14:57: Another nice stop by Knudsen on a Flyers player who walks straight out of the corner. Where's Derian Hatcher to drop a guy walking out of the corner when you need him?

14:07: Fifty seconds later, Selivanov misses on a breakaway. The hair on both coach's heads goes a little grayer from the lack of defense. Selivanov seems like he's taking exceptionally long shifts.

11:45: HYS had all the momentum early, but the Flyers are starting to carry the play now.

11:31: No sooner do I write that than HYS's Marcel Bruinsma of Abbotsford, BC, buries a wrist shot from the circles, shooting between the Flyer's defenseman's legs. Nice shot.

10:30: Selivanov, long known for his soft play in the NHL, pushes a Flyers defender off the puck in the corner right onto his ass. Lightning fans reading this won't believe it for a second.

10:17: Jan Bohac, #91 for HYS, skates right through the Flyers D on another breakaway. He's stopped, but Heerenveen's #10 is called for a slash. It's the first power play of the game. HockeyDB says that Bohac was a third round pick of the Senators back in 2000 but that he's never played in North America. He looks like a good player at this level, with size and skating ability. He also looks like he's missing the hockey sense to play at a higher level. I don't think Sens fans should be holding their breath waiting for him to make the show.

8:31: Selivanov finally leaves the ice with 14 seconds left on the man advantage after being out for the whole power play. Not too many good chances, but HYS almost caught the Flyers goalie going the wrong way once.

7:32: The Flyers come right back with pressure after killing the penalty and HYS defenseman Brian Mullally takes a tripping penalty.

6:53: #19 on HYS, Victor Ignatjev, has a filthy mouth. After missing a clearing attempt killing the penalty he fires off several f-bombs until the puck leaves the zone. I cringe on behalf of the parents who've brought the six eight-year-old boys sitting in front of me. They'll be hearing "f**k" repeatedly during the ride home, I just know it.

5:22: Just ten seconds after the HYS penalty ends, confusion at the Flyers bench results in a too many men on the ice penalty.

5:06: And just 16 seconds into the PP, HYS scores on a cross-ice pass from Bohac to defenseman Carl-Johan Johansson, who gets just enough of it to re-direct it into the net. 2-0 HYS.

4:30: The Flyers look like they've lost all composure, as they take another penalty during HYS pressure in their zone, this time for hooking.

3:50: Selivanov starts the power play, but doesn't get much done, so the second unit with Bohac comes on. Seems like the first unit just spends their time trying to find Selivanov, who's usually idling in the right side corner. Get in the slot, Selivanov, TAKE IT TO THE TOUGH AREAS. Somewhere, a Tampa Bay fan says "that's the Selivanov I remember."

2:08: After the power play, HYS's energy line comes on and promptly takes an offensive zone tripping penalty. HYS's coach tears out a chunk of his own hair. Andri Salomonson is the culprit, not to be confused with former Devils and Caps winger Andreas Salomonsson, who's currently playing for Modo, and probably tickled at the prospect of playing with Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund. And who can blame him? I've been looking at flights from Amsterdam to Stockholm and Modo's schedule myself...

:31: The best chance on the PP comes from a weak short side attempt that Knudsen easily gloves. And that ends a fairly entertaining first period.

Look for Part 2 of Brian's blog of this game to appear in mid-December.

Alexander Steen Needs New IKEA Couch

2009-11-18T19:03:00.004-05:00

Any reader, with an IKEA-employee discount, can help Alexander Steen from the St.Louis Blues? See, thanks to the "National Conversation" on Twitter, we all know that Alex needs a new couch. And more supervision for his 3-year-old Kingston. We'll leave the latter to Super Nanny but a brand new couch is needed.

Isn't progress great? Just look at this picture from 25 years ago, when Alexander was born and his dad was playing in the NHL. Since then, we have ads on the boards, got rid of the goofy Jofa helmets, shipped teams to lucrative American markets, and are directly connected to players so they can tell us, in real-time, what's really important.

Byfuglien Not Suspended for Charge on Wild Mascot

2009-11-18T12:26:00.004-05:00

No suspension for Hawks' defenseman Dustin Byfuglien after this charge on Nordy, the Minnesota Wild mascot. Once again, lax NHL rule enforcement that keeps hockey from being taken seriously in the land of NASCAR.

Halak's Agent Bashes Carey Price

2009-11-08T15:52:00.003-05:00

Allan Walsh, the agent - for now! - of Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak had a simple comment on Twitter a few moments after a 3-1 Habs lost where struggling Carey Price was the goalie:
In response to negative reactions, and realizing his faux-pas, he started to backpedal and posted the following comment which doesn't seem to make anything better:

Interestingly enough, those Tweets ended up being scrubbed from Twitter later on as if they were never made. Not sure how that was achieved given that what happens on Twitter supposedly stays on Twitter.

Mr. Walsh might have stated the facts properly in his Twitter comment but he apparently forgot that he has to keep a certain level of professionalism as Halak's agent. Not sure that Halak is very happy about the episode.

There are comments that you keep for yourself and broadcasting them on Twitter is not exactly the way to do so. Anyone wants to bet that for a while, Walsh will use Twitter - as most do - only to let the world know what he had for breakfast?

Aren't you glad we follow Twitter for you?

Blackhawks Nostagia: Back in the 70s

2009-11-04T13:53:00.005-05:00

Little bit of nostalgia, here, watching four old-time Chicago Blackhawks as they prepare to take the ice before the 2009-2010 opening game in Chicago: Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Denis Savard. Savard kind of sticks out a little, though, being younger and having retired just 12 years ago.

Mario Lemieux as the Joker

2009-11-04T12:46:00.005-05:00

In the hockey bobblehead department, were they trying to turn Mario Lemieux into the Joker on this one?

Email us pictures of your most interesting hockey bobbleheads and we'll publish the best.

Mike Modano at Age 55

2009-11-03T17:26:00.004-05:00

Hockey bobbleheads. Aren't they fun? Yes, they are. Because we say so. Some are weird, creepy, ugly, strange, or funny. Or all of the above.

Email us pictures and we'll publish the best.

To start, we have one of Mike Modano. Or, to be more specific, of how Mike Modano will look at age 55!

Answer to Phoenix Poor Attendances: Goalie Matti Höylä?

2009-11-03T13:22:00.003-05:00

Could Finnish goalie Matti Höylä be the answer to the Phoenix Coyotes poor attendance record? I bet they can sign him for the minimum NHL salary.

Tie Domi Begging for Votes

2009-10-30T17:19:00.003-04:00

Is that really what it comes down to? You have a 10-year NHL career, you retire after earning nearly $15M, you enroll into some cheesy TV figure skating competition, and you beg for votes on Twitter and Facebook in exchange for autographed photos (click on screenshot below to enlarge and read)? Sad.

PS: Yes, using the words "NHL career" for Tie Domi is weird.

Gaborik: Wild False Advertising

2009-10-30T15:29:00.003-04:00

After the past few seasons with Marian Gaborik barely playing half the games, the Minnesota Wild should have known better than to run ads touting his return with the Rangers. Next thing you know is that the day the Rangers are visiting the Wild, the following ad appears on the StarTribune.com website, right above a headline stating that... Gaborik won't play!

False advertising? Money back guaranteed or there's some small print somewhere?

Coffee or Tea - Caps' Mike Green Must Know

2009-10-30T13:02:00.004-04:00

Washington Capitals' defenseman Mike Green is on Twitter. Who isn't, really? And not only does he feel the need to tell the world that he has a passion for coffee but he wants to know if you - yes, random you - prefer coffee or tea. We assume he cares for the answers he's receiving from adoring fans. If you're not on Twitter, you can presumably send him a postcard with your answer to Verizon Center, C/O: Green Life, 601 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004.

Aren't you glad we patrol Twitter for you?

Photo credit: Flickr/dan4th

How to Spell Cammalleri?

2009-10-29T14:16:00.002-04:00

How do you spell the last name of the Habs' new #13? Ask his teammates and...

Camalerri, Cammelari, Camellari, Cameralli...