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Good day, hockey fans!  Lotttts to talk about today, and I’m in a writin’ mood.  Coming up: Game one of the Stanley Cup Final, Winnipeg/Atlanta, and Brendan Shannahan taking over for Colin Campbell as the NHL’s disciplinarian for the 2011-2012 season. 

Sigh….that’s so far away and this season’s almost over.

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Game one, Vancouver vs. Boston

This was one of those fantastic low-scoring games that are so infrequent.  When I think about game one, I think about some of the spectacular individual performances.  My top five (yes, five) stars of the game, in order:

#1 – Tim Thomas – had you put the league’s most average goalie in net for Boston in that game, just your generic Craig Anderson or whoever, the final score is 5-0, minimum.  He made huge stops early (and late, and in the middle) that kept his team in the game, and I thought his save on the Jannik Hansen breakaway hasn’t gotten nearly enough credit.  That save was soccer goalie-esque, in that he literally would’ve had to have guessed a bit to be able to snap his pads together that quickly while sliding backwards.

#2 – Jannik Hansen – This guy was everywhere.  In a game where you know the other team is going to be focusing on the other two lines, you always have the opportunity to make them pay for that, and boy did he ever.  It’s like walking a batter to get another guy, in this case Hansen and his linemates, then having that guy belt a homerun to centerfield.  He was all-around terrific, and capped it off with a sick set-up on the game winner.

I done scorededweeeee!

#3 – Roberto Luongo – Just your average, run-of-the-mill 37 save shutout where he’s so positionally sound and ahead of the action that it looks like it’s easy.  Thomas probably makes those 37 saves if he’s in Van’s net too, only four of them become highlight-reel saves because of his chaotic style.

#4 – Raffi Torres - Scored the game-winner with 18.5 seconds left in game one of the Stanley Cup Final, after playing probably his best game of playoffs.  He created chances and played physical, which is more than he’s asked to do for the Nucks

#5A – Ryan Kesler – Makes a great play on the game-winner (including the toe-drag to stay onside) and just played his usual, horse-like Kesler game.  He looks unstoppable at times.

#5B – Zdeno Chara – Almost 30 minutes of ice and kept the Sedins to zero points.  Solid captain work there.

Read today’s column if you’re interested to hear what I think needs to happen for the B’s to win some games in this series.  The score was close, but I didn’t think the game was.

And for an update on the “Bourne proved he knows nothing about hockey” Seguin article (that was an actual comment), he’s now gone six straight games without so much as a point, and saw his ice time cut in half to six minutes.  I wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t dress next game.  Not that I think he’s bad or anything, of course….he’s not.  That’s not why I keep dropping the updates.  I just didn’t feel like I deserved the shots I took from the PD commentariat (not here) after that piece.

Game two on Saturday, and I continue to be unable to see a way the Bruins can win, even after that close game (sorry Char).  They played the exact game they needed to yesterday and still couldn’t quite close.  We’ll see I guess!

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Winnipeg/Atlanta

So it’s official – the Atlanta Thrashers are taking their talents to Winterpeg.

First, as I’ve said before, I have muchos sympathy for Thrashers fans.  I know what it’s like to live in a city where hockey isn’t part of the collective identity, and other fans really crap on hockey fans who support the team despite that (it should be the opposite – you should get more credit if you’re a supporter from a non-hockey city).

I also done scorededweeee!

There are far too many folks who’ve never been to a game in the city that they’re making fun of, let alone to the cities themselves, yet they torch away without thinking.  On those nights when there’s only nine thousand fans at a game, consider how much those fans must love the team.  In Atlanta, think of the fans that go despite knowing the building won’t be packed.  They know their team isn’t star-laden.  They’ve never seen a single playoff game.

Yet there they are, on a Tuesday night, wearing their jersey to support their team.  But it’s HILARIOUS to refer to them as the Thrashers fan and leave off the “s” because there’s only one!HAHAHAHA!!!1!!

But enough of a rant.  With that said: 

Some very, very happy people in that city. And province. And country.

SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS to Winnipeg!  While it’s wrong to imply any one fan there will love the team more than the multi-year season ticket holder from Atlanta who writes a blog about the team, rest assured that MORE (way, way more) people will love the team there.

Hockey is a part of what makes us Canadian, like it or not, and this team was unfairly ripped out of that city’s hands fifteen years ago.  It feels right to have it back, so I’m happy for those good people from Manitoba.  You may not like their city, but you’ll damn sure like the people.

Here’s to hoping they call ‘em the Winnipeg Phoenix. The team has risen from the ashes once again!

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Brendan Shanahan, NHL Disciplinarian

Beginning in the 2011-2012, Brendan Shanahan is going to take over for Colin Campbell as league disciplinarian.  This is, as a general statement, awesome.

Before I explain why I think so, I just gotta say: that job has to be done by a committee (I know, I’ve said this before) of one ex-player, one ex-referee, and one ex-coach/GM/front-office guy.  It’d be like scoring a boxing match, only you know you’re getting people from different walks of the same world, meaning you’d probably reach some fairly appropriate consequence.  I have no idea why Gary Bettman is so opposed to that obvious strategy.

"Hmm. How many games would I suspend me if I just popped this guy right now..."

But if you’re going to pick one guy, they couldn’t have picked a better one to do it.  Shanahan, throughout his playing days, was a widely respected player.  On top of that, he was a nice mix of physical player and goal-scorer so I think he’ll have a better understanding than anyone about what’s across the line and what isn’t.  And, it’s great that he’s recently left the game, so he understands the “new” NHL better than someone else would.

The bottom line is, the game is evolving - speed and size are increasing while our awareness of safety is too, so it’s not an easy job.  It’s good that Shanahan is going into the job as a respected man, because hopefully that will help people respect his decisions more.  It’s a sad reality, but this job could (will?) hurt his reputation, as overly bias fans cry bias at him, until every fan base feels wronged at some point.

And that’s the bad part of him having recently played – now every suspension or fine he does or doesn’t give is going to come attached with “OF COURSE he didn’t suspend the guy that plays for his old team.” “OF COURSE he didn’t suspend his old teammate.” OF COURSE he suspended the guy on the team he always hated.” “OH SHOCKER, no suspension for the guy on Tampa because he’s friends with Yzerman.”

Shanahan won’t let those biases affect his rulings – he knows he’s under the spotlight, and more importantly, he’ll want to do a right and honest job to keep the game safe, but that won’t stop folks from lighting him up.

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.  I’m thinking they got the perfect man for the job.

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Okay, that’s a lot of words for one day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Man.  You guys loves you some gear talk.  The second part of this entry picks up where we left off, a bit.  However, there’s something a little bit more relevant to discuss today:

The Kovalchuk Trade

 The Devils?  The Devils.  Really?  The Devils.

Get ready to hear "dynamic" way too often.

I guess I was hoping for somewhere a little bit…. sexier.  I mean, no offense to you, Devils fans – you guys have every right to be stoked.  Not only are you now legitimate Cup contenders, but the rest of us (sorta) benefit from Kovy playing in more “important”, widely broadcast games. 

But when I think of the amount of exposure I get to NHL stars, Parise wasn’t too far behind Kovalchuk in the ”great players I never see play” department.

So whatever.  From the hockey fan aspect, I’m a little bummed about the deal.  But lets look at the deal beyond Justin’s self-interest, something we rarely do:

My first, and somewhat ridiculous thought, was “as an unrestricted free agent, you can sign anywhere you want, right?  Could Kovalchuk feasibly sign back with Atlanta?  Would that be looked at as the most evil thing ever, or is that legit?”

Only reason I thought that was because of the legitimate quality of the offers Kovalchuk reportedly received from Atlanta: $101 million over 12 years, or $70M over 7.  Does he think he’s going to get much more than that somewhere else?  Those deals would have made him higher paid than both Ovechkin and Crosby (in the early years of the deal).  Who turns down offers like that from a team you claim to want to play for?  No, I think I deserve MORE than half a million dollars a year over what that Ovechkin dud makes.  Nobody, that’s who.

{In the event he can’t sign with Atlanta as a UFA this summer for some reason I’m unaware of, then my bad.  That was just my initial reaction.}

So that was my brief conspiracy theory.  Maybe Ilya and the Thrashers just agreed that they don’t have “it” this year, and were conspiring to stock up for next, when he’ll then re-sign with them.

{By the way, I really like the name “Ilya”.  It’s just badass to say.  I might name my dangly rec hockey alter ego “Ilya”.}

Back to life, back to reality….

I thought Atlanta made a pretty nice deal.  Bergfors and Oduya are above average additions to any team, plus Cormier and the first-round pick are packed full of positive maybe (or maybe Cormier will get charged with more elbow-related assaults), so who knows how this trade looks in five years.  It could look really good for ATL.

Forhead save!

As for New Jersey, good on ya for taking a swing at this year.  I hate the half-commited thing the Flyers do every year – it’s what I keep bitching about with Washington.

Yes, we acknowledge we’re good enough to win the Cup.  Yes, we acknowledge our goaltender isn’t good enough to win a Cup.  No, we don’t intend to do anything about that.

So the Devils smell themselves as a three(ish) seed, see themselves winning round one, mayyyybe round two at best, but see that they’re going to have to beat Pittsburgh or Washington to have a shot at the Cup.  And, as it stood, they couldn’t go blow for blow in a game that ends in a football score.

Now they can.

You can only lean on Parise and Zajac so much – believe me when I say, this was a huge puzzle piece for them.

By the way, if you’re in the West, you’re going  YES.  Another team to make getting out of the East that much more miserable. 

The West feels that misery, like, every year.  San Jose, Detroit, Chicago and in the past, Anaheim and even Vancouver have all taken turns rallying on each other for extended series.  By the time the Western Conference champion shows up to the final, they’re a ragtag group of replacement players, while the winner in the East has generally had one,/one-and-a-half difficult series instead of at least two.  (How about San Jose getting a just-healthy Anaheim as an eight seed last year?  Or whoever gets Detroit this year?  It’s just a deeper conference.)

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Nice work, you comment machines.  Our stick-taping conversations grabbed us a link from Uniwatch - if you’re a sports gear fiend, this blog is amazing.  The sub-heading describes it best “The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics”.  The site is amazingly well written and thorough – definitely check it out.

Some hockey-tagged postings are here (including something you Wild fans will love – a behind the scences dressing room tour of their gear).  College hockey posts are here.

I used team-colored grip tape pretty much everywhere I went, because it’s fun to make your stick pretty, and I actually liked how the product feels.  Further links to pictures are provided on the site (like to certain players Olympic sticks), but for now, here’s a sampling, taken directly from Uniwatch’s trip to the Wild’s stick room:

 *****

Holy crap, humans.  It’s Super Bowl weekend.  Should be a doozy, so tear it up!  Zima’s for everyone! (They still make those?)

******

BREAKING FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE: My cat is cute:

I guess I should get up and do something...

"ceilingfan, ceilingfan, ceilingfan..."

Can't get enough of this pic - "nombottlenommmm"

I put in around 90 minutes a day, give or take a half hour, getting each days blog entry up.  The rest of the day, I work towards earning money as best I can – columns, real estate copy, working on the Hockey Greats Fantasy Camp, or soliciting new sponsors.

Yesterday, I recieved an extremely generous donation from an Aggie in Alaska, Frank Reddick.  Frank was living up in AK when I was playing, and in looking for ways to support the University hockey program, he bought my jersey at an auction and gave it to my family the second I was no longer NCAA eligible.  He is buddies with a couple of my roommates as well, and has done more for us than he’s ever needed to.  So, to Frank, THANK YOU.  It’s feels wonderful to have the time I put in to this justified.

*****

Crap, same costume, AGAIN!

I’ve written a couple columns in the last few days that I really liked.  When that happens, the response is usually great.  The problem though, is that I received the NHL media stuff in my inbox the other day, took it at it’s word, and went on to write about the amazing growth of attendance and television ratings.

And though the NHL has seen major gains, my point is this: did anybody catch Capitals/Thrashers on TV yesterday?  It was in Atlanta, and I was embarassed watching it.  After naming ATL as one of the four teams to see huge growth in attendance, it looked like 7/8ths of the fans came dressed as blue seats for halloween.  How am I supposed to write about how awesome their ticket sales are, when all it takes is someone with two eyes to see they aren’t doing that well at all?

(The other article is an elaboration of the gay rights for hockey players blurb that started some conversation yesterday.  We’re ridiculously behind the times in sports.)

*****

Knuck it up.

Is doing the “pound” (knuckle-bump) officially the new “old-white-guy-high-five” yet?  Isn’t it time for Afro-Americans to continue to lead the way in cultural trends and start something new?  This may be the only time in our culture where you still see young black men and old white men using a similar form of expression. 

Except old white guys “blow it up” sometimes now, which kills me (case in point: Clark Gillies Charity golf event, where my Dad and his group, in a scramble event, honored each good shot with a double-fist simul-pound, with TNT like results… PZCHOOOOOO!  They were hilarious).  Oh, and apparently the fear of “pandemics” promotes the pound too.  Whateves.  (says the kid who lives 2.5 hours from the Mexican border)

*****

Alexander Frolov got me thinking: there’s nothing worse than playing well after being benched.  Its such a stupid situation to be put in.

Basically, post-benching, if you play well the coach takes credit for “motivating you”, even if all he did was earn himself a dose of seething resentment.  Then, given the chance to play again, you get a couple bounces and he takes credit.  Long term, it’s not effective, I promise.  Pulling that card out in game seven?  Fine, Frolov is hot (because Frolov is good).  Looking forward to that relationship deteriorating as soon as he cools off again.