My Finals Picks – Best Goalie, D-Man, Forward and Team

 

Let’s get to it – here are my answers from yesterday’s poll questions:

Which goalie would you most like to have on your team in the Finals?

I’m 100% sold on Antti Niemi.

His situation in Chicago this year felt like one of those “let’s try and keep this kid down and give our other goalie every chance to be the starter so people don’t realize we’re paying the wrong guy” deals.  Just like Carey Price over Jaro Halak, and for awhile, Tim Thomas over Tukka Rask.  In the end, you want the best goalie in the net, and teams relent.

I thought he was absolutely dynamite in the early games of the San Jose series, and he played great against Vancouver.  He’s not that awkward “how is he doing it?” style that I hate so much (*coughNabokovcough*).  He does it the right way.

In the game Philly lost to Montreal, Leighton let in a couple of those “oh god, is he gonna crumble?” goals, before regrouping nicely.  He’s had an exceptional year (for a guy who’s played around 30 games), and is certainly capable of succeeding.  For now though, he’s played in seven total playoff games, facing a Krejci/Sturm-less Bruins team and a fizzling, content-with-where-they-got Montreal offense.

Which Defenseman would you most like to have on your team in the Finals?

I hate this question because of the “in the Finals” part.

I’d take Duncan Keith during the year, and probably even most of playoffs.  I’m completely torn on this one, but if I’m being honest, I think I’d prefer to have Chris Pronger.

My heart wouldn’t let me vote for him in the poll.  I picked Duncan Keith, thinking that Duncan creates offense from defense (uses quickness to intercept pucks, move them the other way) and creates defense from offense (makes such solid decisions his team often plays entire shifts in the offensive zone).

But I couldn’t lie to myself a second day in a row.  Pronger is impossible to play against.  He’s one of those guys that when you play him, your line is on the bench frustrated going “man, we just can’t seem to get anything going today.  Not getting the bounces”.

He uses his long stick like a scalpel to just hinder every f**king play you’re trying to make.  He gets his big body in the right spots, has a bomb from the point and moves the puck like guys a foot smaller than him. 

I hate him, but he’s one of the best.  I’d have to take Chris stupid Pronger.

Which forward would you most like to have on your team in the Finals?

This one inevitably boils down to the two leaders, Richards and Toews.

My general thinking is this:  Toews is going to have a better career than Richards.  He’s 22 and already more of an offensive threat.  He steps up in big games, is crazy responsible for his talent-level (doesn’t have to be, but is), and is just an all-around star.

But Mike Richards wants this.  I’m sure Toews does too, but sometimes Richards’ passion scares the shit out of me.  He plays with a fire I never had.  I think he knows this may be one his last chances to compete for a Stanley Cup in a conference likely to be dominated by Washington and Pittsburgh for awhile.  After all, how often are both those teams going to get eliminated before Philly has to deal with one of them?

He has all the tools to succeed, and he’s in his prime.  Plus, I can’t help but remember that I’ve played Toews in college, and occasionally he gets his three points in such a quiet way that he’s rarely on your radar.  I felt comfortable enough to play my heart out, since I wasn’t looking over my shoulder for him.  I look over my shoulder for Mike Richards before typing (hey, that guy could be coming from any angle).

At the same time, if you read my column yesterday, Philly has that (negative) something that makes them just be so bad once in awhile, and a part of me can’t help but wonder if he’s the common thread.  Toews just smells like winning, so it’s a tough call.

I’ll stick with Richards for now, but ask me Sunday and I’ll probably change my mind.

What’s your Finals prediction?

Picking Chicago in six gets you no love.  It’s the safest thing on the planet, and a lose-lose.  The number of games, six, shows no balls, because you’re always “close”.  The team shows no balls because they’re the (significantly) higher seed.  And that’s why you see pundits go out on a limb, because they have the small chance to be “right” and the guy who “really saw things the right way”.

But at what point is picking like an idiot beneficial to your career?

Chicago is a little better at every position, which means they’re A LOT better team.

I can see Philly winning a game or two.  I mean, it’s the NHL, Edmonton can beat Washington and it’s not exactly the Detroit Lions beating the New Orleans Saints.  So I can’t pick that short of a series.

So I’ll give the Flyers their due (and play it safe) and go with Chicago in six.  Hey, it’s what I think is gonna happen, I can’t be blamed for that, can I?

Happy Thursday folks.  See ya back here tomorrow!

*****

 

Toews, The Itty-Bitty Slapshot Committee, and Scott Gomez

 

During my first full year in the ECHL, I had the privilege of playing with Travis Rycroft, our team captain in Utah (for one of my better pieces, on Travis and team chemistry click here.  I wrote it in my second month of blogging – you can tell because I don’t make every damn sentence it’s own paragraph like I do now – and it was good enough that I was inspired to keep doing this).

While I learned a lot about work ethic and character from the guy, I also picked up an infinitely valuable (and apparently common) trick from him that I’m sure many of you already use:  When you go to the bar on a work night, always get the stamp on the underside of your wrist.  That way, if it’s not washed off the next day, it still won’t be visible, and your boss/coach won’t get mad and make you start bag-skating/…collating?

Random bag skating tangent: Can we unify what we call doing the lines that go from goal line to blue to goal line to center to goal line… etc?  Lightnight lines, suicides, ladders, whatever…. can we get on the same page here, my international friends?  How about plain and simple “lines”?  Suicides are on a basketball court, and we hardly need to tack “lightning” on to something that, by the end, moves like a slow motion replay.

I’m wandering big time here, but we used to do the “Peter Zezel” – which was basically that same set of lines, but after you went all the way down and came back, you had to go all the way down around the net and back to the blue line, then go back around the net to get back to the goal line.  We had to the entire rink in that direction too before doing it all again on the way back.  Guh.

Maybe it’s time to start this blog.

*****

Hey look, it’s a random thoughts catch-up post!

How about Jonathan Toews wearing #16 for team Canada at the Olympics, out of respect for the more senior Joe Thornton?  In the Conference Finals, with the two going head to head, I couldn’t help feel like Toews finally surpassed Joe as the games current best #19.  What is it about that number that attracts talented, respectful, likable stars?  Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic… Toews could fit right in that conversation at the end of his career.

*****

Recently-wrong friend-of-the-blog Ms. Conduct (Ms. C: Richards beat two d-men and a goalie to the puck, laid out just as aggressively, while your poor-decision-making Halak got plowed by Hamrlik, and Richards emerged from the smoke unscathed) called MA Bergeron “The Itty Bitty Slapshot Committee”, and I couldn’t love that assessment more.  He’s like those toys that do a backflip when you wind ‘em up.  You’re like “hey, neat!”, and after the fourth backflip it’s…”soooo, what else ya got?”

When Mike McKenna tweeted about him being like a field goal kicker – wait on the bench until it’s time to do your one job – I didn’t realize how accurate it would be.  I mean, when Richards hit him he looked like a last-guy-back kicker trying to tackle Ed Reed or something.

{Random note: I should probably note he was one of the funniest, nicest guys at Islanders camp.  Don’t get me wrong, I fully mean the stuff in the two paragraphs above, I just feel obligated to note he’s an all-around nice guy.}

*****

Okay, so think about Scott Gomez skating up-ice with the puck, and the hilarity that is people trying to hit him.  Now imagine us in college watching him play on an Olympic sheet in the ECHL.  One game I went to, he was running a powerplay, and literally stopped with the puck at his feet, stood up, and pointed with his glove for where guys should move to.  One pass later, goal, Alaska Aces.  Okay, you’re good, we get it.  He only scored 13 times in the 61 games he played, but found time to get 73 assists.  Man he’s deadly.

*****

I’ve often wanted to put polls in my blog, but couldn’t figure out how.  And by “couldn’t figure out” I mean “didn’t try to figure it out”.  I’ve got some columns to bust out, and four guys are on my radar for a story.  Which would you most like to read?  Also, anyone know of a good free poll site?

Dustin Byfuglien
Mike Richards
Matt Carle
Patrick Kane

*****

I wrote a piece on the Chicago Blackhawks and the phrase “41 thunderfuck” today for Puck Daddy (though I called it 41 thundertruck for their sake).  When the article is up, I’ll put the link here.  Happy Tuesday, and thanks for all the comments on skate sharpening.  FBV apparently FTW, I guess, or something!

Keith, Eager, Byfuglien… And Sand

 

Hey!  I’m back.

Thanks for your patience over the ten-days-or-so I was filling in over at Puck Daddy during Greg Wyshynski’s absence.  ‘Ol jtbourne.com was a little neglected, I know.

I do have some good news to start the day – my ten day gig was apparently good enough that they’d like to keep me around in some capacity, so I’ll be doing a daily post for them until they figure out what to do with me (I’ve got the post-game wrap-up again today).  ….So I’ve got that goin’ for me.

But let’s get to the major stories from the weekend.  I keep wanting to say “after the jump”, but I still can’t shake the feeling that there’s something douchey about it.  Sooo…. more info after that string of asterisks.

******

DUNCAN TEITH

Here’s the story of Duncan Keith playing through the loss of SEVEN TEETH (including one that got LODGED IN THE BACK OF HIS THROAT that he had to cough up) at 12:30 of the second period, and how he came back a few minutes later and assisted on the game tying goal. 

In a post-game interview with Scott Oake he said “my teeth weren’t that great to begin with, so hoepfully I can get some better ones”.  How positive is that?  Did he get novacane or morphine in those dental needles?  I broke half my front tooth during a game at 18 and was ready to quit the sport entirely.

I loved the casual nature of the play-by-play guy at the time too, especially during the replay – “Keith gets hit in the face and you can see his mouthpiece and teeth go flying, BUT LOOK AT MARLEAU!  Streaking to get up ice to join the rush….”

*****

BEN EAGER

The guy continually runs out of position trying to line-up big hits, and along the way, puts himself in position for a charging penalty.  But until he’s punished (a goal by his guy, or a penalty from the refs), why stop?  It’s the way he’s most effective, and since they’re not calling it…. You almost can’t blame him for running around.

*****

DUSTIN BYFUAHHWHATEVER

He’s really done something special here.

I mean, I want to make fun of him – that’s why I have a blog after all: to be cruel to as many people as possible without any repercussions.  Whether I’ve been referencing his apparently mid-prostate exam team picture, his infuriatingly lame nickname, he’s been an easy target.

But if you score three of four game winners in a Conference Finals, you’ve earned yourself a healthy reprieve from the abuse.  Often, game-winners come when you score the fourth goal to make it 4-1, then the other team gets a couple and makes it a 4-3 final.  Not Byfuglien’s.  He was burying those in pressure situations.

I’m actually really impressed with his skating (and of course, his shot), to go with all his other attributes (being gi-mammoth).  There aren’t too many guys that have the body and skills to do what he does, and think how important having that net-presence beast has been to cup teams like Detroit (Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom) and Pittsburgh (Jordan Staal).

*****

SAND DEBACLE

The sand outside the Flyers dressing room that caused so many skate problems during game four in Montreal was no accident.  On the other hand, it also wasn’t a hired evil henchman intentionally spilling some substance in the middle of the night while wearing a balaclava.

Whoever is on the crew in charge of clean-up is obviously going to be a Habs fan.  And sometimes they just do an intentionally lazy job.  So it is a little on-purpose and evil, but in general, the road dressing room gets a shoddy sweep job, and tends to be a little beachy (because, y’know, eff the visiting team).  

I’m lazy, so the most I ever did was keep my eyes peeled to avoid stepping on something obvious, but some guys bring mats or wear those soft skate guards until it’s time to hit the ice. 

In typical Bournian pound-of-cure fashion, I’d just rather have the trainer re-buzz my skates than worry about everything all the time.  Apparently Mike Richards felt the same way – he had his skates re-done three times during that game.

(NOTE: Information on how you should be getting your skates sharpened in a second post today.)

*****

RANDOM PERSONAL FACT

My fiancee and I just discovered that the girl who lives in the apartment above us is Miss Arizona USA and was a Phoenix Suns cheerleader for four years.  That is all.

*****

I’ll be around all day – let me know if there’s a topic I need to discuss.  I literally made this blog so long I cut the skate sharpening stuff out to run as a second post, soo…. that’ll be up ASAP!

{UPDATE: Crap!  I forgot to mention – today’s the 30th anniversary of the Islanders first cup win.  Congrats to my Dad(s) and the good people of Long Island who are pretty close to paying off the happy debt they built with these years of hockey misery.}

Options For Avenging a Cheapshot Are Pretty Limited

 

Interesting timing – I was going through some columns that I had deemed unfit to release from a few months ago, and found this one about what David Booth can do to avenge getting his brain shaken by Mike Richards (short answer: nothing).  But after Matt Cooke played the role of Richards in a recent re-enactment with Mark Savard, it seems relevant again.

 

*****

What Now?

-by Justin Bourne

 

Mike Richards scrambled David Booth’s eggs so thoroughly that the guy was no longer free range. It happened on a hit you’d be polite to describe as “questionable”.

Confined to the couch and bed, he avoided exercise like all concussion-cases, letting things heal themselves using the best known medication – time – and has since made his return to the Florida Panthers.

He watched Mike Richards get punished in the form of… um… he got punished by… er… really, he didn’t even get a game suspension?  What the crap?

From David Booth’s perspective, you have to think the fella’s a little pissed.  He narrowly missed being named to the US Olympic team, and was denied the chance to prove his worth over the course of this season, while Richards snuck onto one Team Canada as one of the last forwards chosen (they like that he plays a physical game, you see).

Without their top goal scorer (Booth had 31 goals last year), the team is currently a few points out of a playoff spot, and just behind… the Philadelphia Flyers, who are now technically in the playoffs.

Needless to say, the aftershocks of a decision made by Richards that happened in a split second are still reverberating throughout the Eastern Conference standings.

Florida played Philly about a month back and lumped them up 4-1, even without their star Booth.  That was nice, but had they had him all season, who knows how many 2-1 games would have gone Florida’s way, or shootout losses would’ve gotten nullified with Booth in the lineup.  Game breakers are tough to come by, and to be so close to the playoffs without theirs, the Panthers have a right to gripe.

In these cases, when you or a teammate gets drilled, people always tell you to beat them on the scoreboard.  That doing that is the best revenge.  That the scoreboard is where it really hurts.

Is it though?  What’s Booth supposed to do when he comes back, try really really hard to win?  You don’t think he was doing that before, and every other night of his career?  He can’t control how the rest of his team plays.  Maybe he’ll show up with his “A” game to beat the Flyers the next time they play but Florida won’t win.  In hockey, you’re just one piece in a big team puzzle.

Tying to beat up your assailant isn’t the right answer either.  Though noble, by the “fight him” logic, the toughest guys on the ice have free rein to destroy people, because you can’t ever get real physical revenge on a fight-winning human like George Laraques (though I’m sure Nicklas Kronwall would like to try, stick in hand, of course).  You can always try, but if you get hit by a tougher dude, the only thing you get by going after him when you’re healthy is a chance to be made unhealthy again.

Also, there’s the whole moral thing, which can be a hassle.  You’re supposed to be above that, you know.

There’s the idea that the player who injures another player illegally should be out as long as the player he injured, but that theory’s got more holes than an OJ alibi.  I won’t even go into that theory.

So if you’re David Booth, how do you avenge the Richards hit? 

Maybe you don’t.  Maybe you just take your lumps, acknowledge you play in a contact league, and that hits like that – whoever’s to blame for them - are periodically gonna happen.

But that’s frustrating bullshit too.

The second you see Richards you’re going to want to hit him with a tire iron.

There’s just nothing you can do.  When you get seriously injured in the NHL, not only do you suffer temporary and long-term health concerns, you suffer the mental misery from not having a way to settle the score.

This is why the reaction towards dangerous hits from the league is so crucial.  Low-balling the seriousness of a hit is a crime nearly as bad as the hit itself.

I’m a Canadian hockey player who loves watching the rough stuff.  But in an era where players have to answer less and less for their actions on the ice, we need to hold them more and more responsible from the offices off the ice.  Especially in light of the recent data the NFL has been digging up about the seriously harmful long term effects of concussions.

The only way to get players to exercise more caution is to keep dropping suspensions that get players to snap awake like we dumped cold water on them.  They’ll bitch, they’ll complain ….and they’ll stop finishing “questionable” plays.

Too little, too late for David Booth, but don’t worry.  He’ll get ‘em on the scoreboard, where it hurts the most.

*****

Authors note:  As you probably know, David Booth did try to fight Mike Richards.  After seeing how it went down,  I was glad it happened.  Nobody got hurt, Richards gave Booth his fair shot, and it was over.  That said, other than gaining respect in the hockey world, nothing changed in the big picture.  Booth missed half a season while Richards didn’t miss a shift, the Panthers are still just out of playoffs, and Booth missed the Olympics while Richards has a gold medal.  And, Richards team will most likely make playoffs.  Some of you may not have thought that hit was bad, but I did, so I’m just using it as an example to illustrate a point.  This article isn’t just about those two.

Clark Gillies is the Chardonnay of Men, Apparently

 

I can’t help but laugh at this:

The NHL Alumni Association is selling wine.  It appears they’ve partnered with “Ironstone Winery”, put the names of a few random NHLers on the bottles, and are giving an unspecified “percentage” of the sales to the charities of the players on the bottles.  But that’s not the funny part.

Clark Gillies….. is on the bottle of Chardonnay? 

How did they chose to assign guys to types of wine, comedic value?  I love that their description of Clark as ”a ferocious competitor whose rugged play led his teams to win championships” is one of the first lines under “Clark Gillies: Chardonnay”.   …Ooo, you beast, you.

On a somewhat related note, his charity – the Clark Gillies Foundation – does raise sizable chunks of money (recently gave a million dollars to a local hospital) and can always use your help.  Forget “percentages” – check out the video about his charity here if you haven’t seen it yet, and feel free to donate… the money will go straight to helping children on Long Island.  Also, I’ll give you a dollar if you don’t cry after watching it.

*****

 Marty Brodeur is the NHL’s all-time shutout leader, taking over the lead from Rollie Melanson.  Or some other old goalie.  On a somewhat serious note, the most impressive part about Marty’s career has to be his durability, right?  70-75 games a year at that high level? 

So, whaddya think?  Best in the history of the NHL?  (By the way, can we really try to compare Brodeur to guys like Johnny Bower?  What a wasted conversation that is.  Let’s keep it apples to apples, not apples to no-mask-stand-up-goalies-taking-shots-from-guys-using-tree-trunk-sticks-on-roller-skates-in-a-completely-different-game.)

*****

For the first time since Richards decapitated Booth, the Flyers played the Panthers.  And thank god, the Panthers beat the stuffing out of the Flyers – four goals and four fights is a decent response to Richards knocking four months of Booth’s lifespan.

*****

The Blues hung seven goals on the Oilers, exacerbating the misery that is being an Oilers fan in a year where the Flames don’t suck too.

*****

The Coyotes won their seventh straight home game.  A certain blogger is starting to think they’re good.  How could he not?  Have you seen their roster??

*****

 Congrats to Nate Thompson for scoring his first of the ye- … wait.  So that empty net miss would have been his first of the year?  *head in hands* …ho-ly shit.

*****

That’s all I got for now folks – my brother is here, and since its the 22nd, we need to start Christmas shopping, dude-style.  ….At Lowes.  (Ratchet sets for everyone!)

103 For MB, Groundhog Year For The Flyers

 

Marty Brodeur tied Terry Sawchuk atop the all-time shutout list at 103 against Buffalo on Monday.  That’s more than an entire seasons-worth (playoffs included) of shutouts.  A mind-boggling accomplishment.

Brodeur is simply a great talent who was put in the best possible situation to accomplish feats of goaltenderly greatness.  New Jersey in the ’90′s?  I could’ve taped magazines to my shins and used a baseball glove and put up a couple doughnuts.

So kudos to the guy.  Everything he does is so likable that it’s easy to forget he once had his own Tiger Woods moment on the way to winning one of his cups….  Doing his sister-in-law?  That blew over quick, didn’t it?

I recently read this article in TIME (sprouted from Tiger’s fiasco) that explains how, if an athlete is still able to make the fans cheer, they tend to be willing to forgive, forget, or both.  Loosely paraphrasing the article, Mark McGwire was done hitting home runs, so when the scandal broke, we were done with him.  Same with Pete Rose and anybody else who’s sins were discovered after their playing days.  But with people like Kobe Bryant and A-Rod, their sins have been “buried under the confetti of their latest championship”.

Marty has proven time and time again that there’s reason to root for him, from his talent to his personality.  I guess we all have our faults, and I really want to end this with “so I still love Marty”. ….but your sister-in-law?  Thats a pretty big hurdle for me to clear, there, “fatty”.

*****

 I tweeted something last night along the lines of “Being a Flyers fan is similar to being the chef that fights Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. It seems like everything is going well TIL YOU GET YOUR HEART RIPPED OUT.”  …I stand by that.

To me, they seem like they’d be the hardest team to suit up and play, yet they can’t seem to get over the “pretty good team” hump.  (Every year they wish for another Sharks collapse to take the spotlight off them.)

Richards is a beast.  He can score, and he’s mean.  Carter, Briere, (and now Van Riemsdyk), these guys are deadly.  And a d-corp that has Pronger, Carle, Timmonen?  Seems like a team nobody would want to play.  

And yet, it seems like we’ve been here before, and seen this already.  Haven’t they already tried the “good team, playoff four-seed, question mark in net” second/third round elimination thing?  They must be making money as an organization, so that’s cool, but don’t they wanna win a Cup?  You can’t stop the bleeding with Ray Emery.  He’s good, he’s just not enough. (note: Emery is out six weeks to have ab surgery)

*****

We’re that house.

As of December 6th, we had lights up.  We have tree scented candles rockin’.  Santa is up.  And apparently, we’re tree shopping in the next day or two.  It keeps getting earlier.

This is my first year in a warm place for Christmas, sans snow.  Seeing as how I’m not sure what to expect, I thought I’d solicit some first-hand accounts from people who celebrate the season in warm climates.  Does no snow suck?  Awesome?  Does it feel as Chrismassy?

*****

With Christmas on the horizon, it’s always a little more nerve-wracking financially than the usual grind.  Throughout the past couple months, I’ve received a few donations to the blog, and they make a huge difference to me.  It buys me time to legitimately pursue my new goal of writing, without having to sell Big Macs from 9 to 5 (or having to join the legion of people the Coyotes hire to dress like seats at home games).  Or sometimes, it simply buys me one of those Big Macs. So thank you to those gracious people, and thank you to my regular readers.  I always look forward to the comments.

 

(I just feel like putting this picture up – my brother is a travesty of a human being when trying to get the lime to the bottom of his Corona.  I mean disaster-level, call-in-FEMA-for-cleanup style situations occur.  On the right is Jeff’s buddy, Isles trainer Shakey, doing a little heckling.)