Monday Playoff Round-Up, Plus Videos!

As per usual, if you’d like to read my writing in coherent, organized form, here’s my latest piece for USA Today.  It’s on “those moments” that unify a team throughout the year, and how a team needs them to be dangerous in playoffs.  Cool?  Alright then.  Lets move on.

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BUFFALO / BOSTON

Johnny Boychuck hit that Matt Ellis guy, and I immediately thought “there’s not way that guy is a regular NHL player”.

(No one on the Sabres could even fake anger on that one.)

Have you ever seen someone skate for so long with the puck before getting hit by someone right in front of him?  At the NHL level?  He’s not even looking back for a pass, or trying to make a move, he’s literally looking down at the puck like a rec leaguer, to make sure he has it while he gets on his horse.

So, I pulled up his career stats to learn about the guy - I’m a little befuddled, and looking for some answers.  This year he had 3 and 10 for 13, so he doesn’t score.  He played in 72 of 82 games, but only had 12 PIMS, so he doesn’t fight much.  I assume he grinds it out, but usually grinders take a few PIMS, have a few scraps, somethin’. 

Sabres fans…. defend your boy!  That play was bizarre.

And then to top it off, Mark Recchi hits Tim Kennedy, and Kennedy looks like he was upset that Recchi was trying so hard.  There wasn’t even any effort to get up and back into the play by Kennedy.  Totally disheartening if you’re on the bench, and you watch your teammate get that pwned.  And of course, kudos to the old guard – he made a smart play with the puck the second he got it too, and two was all the Bruins would need! 

Fun series.  Weee!

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VANCOUVER / LA

This series is making me bummed that they’re playing each other, cause I want them both to advance.  Very fun to watch.

It’s already becoming clear that there won’t be a person in the media who doesn’t pick Doughty to win the Norris next year (if they didn’t already vote for him this one).

Kid is slick.

{Quick Tangent – I couldn’t help but think last night – okay, as of tonight, current playoff teams are going with Andrew Raycroft, Carey Price, Semyon Varlamov and Brian Boucher in net.  Oh, and Antti Niemi.  And Jon Quick.  And Jimmy Howard.  And honestly, I’m not sure who Ottawa’s goalie is.  Elliot?

Having a “great” goalie has gone from being a necessity to a perk (not that guys like Jonathan Quick aren’t great, they’re just not “established” yet).  Having a Ryan Miller is a plus, not a need – in the clutch ‘n’ grab NHL days, you had to have Brodeur, Roy or Hasek to win your 1-0, 2-1 games.  I almost put Ed Belfour in that category, but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.}

But back to Vancouver / LA.  It’s such a coin flip series, and LA brought the absolute FIRE on the penalty kill last night.  Vancouver looked like they expected LA to let them cruise in, set up and have some fun, y’know, like they’re supposed to.  They got straight up outworked.

As for the Kings powerplay/Canucks penalty-kill, I’m giving blame to the ‘Nucks over praise to the Kings.  LA, to their credit, is doing the right things.  But they’re not reinventing the wheel.  They’re doing what every coach wants: move the puck quickly, get shots through, have traffic in front, and hunt for rebounds.  Vancouver has to do a much better job staying in lanes if they want Canada’s collective mental breakdown to be postponed to at least round two.

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WASHINGTON / MONTREAL

It was only a matter of time until the team that ended the season with the most points (by a runaway) pulled a complete game together and pumped Montreal.

Classic picture

It’s just too bad it had to happen when Varlamov was in net.  Not because I don’t wish the guy success, but because now Washington is the exact same team as last year:  Good enough to beat the bottom 26 or so teams in the league just by having that much better of a team, but when they have to play one of the three that can press ‘em, uh oh, goaltending issues!

Then again, I can’t help but feel it’s only a matter of time until a somewhat-bad goalie wins a cup, and it very well could be this year. (As I’m writing this, I see Gary Greene is praising Semyon for being “absolutely brilliant”.  Herrrre we go.  Someone give Osgood the tap too!)  I just thought that when Caps fans were praising Theo’s 18-0-2 end-of-the-year finish, he must have refound his Vezina form.  Hmm.  If you can’t trust fan analysis…. who can you trust?

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For those of you you who didn’t get around to following Link Fest ’98 I hosted on Twitter yesterday, here’s the highlights.  Enjoy.  Oh, let’s kick it off with a beauty….

 Mreow.  I want my cat to do this.

Brian Burke’s press conference announcing the Phaneuf/Giguere trades:

Dany Heatley giving a tour of his home in my lovely hometown of Kelowna:

A quick Spezza interview:

You could waste your whole day checking out Ottawa Gh0st’s work on YouTube (it’s a zero, not an “o” in Ghost – thanks for that annoying twist, buddy).  It’s masterful.

Boyle “Scores”, Ovy’s Awake, and Red Wings/Coyotes Talk

Hockey!

Don’t you hate that I don’t often blog on the weekends?  So much happened.  Let discuss….

Dan Boyle shoots the puck into the net in overtime, only… it was his own.

"Let me just rim this around the...ohhhhcrapitsinournet, isn't it?"

Dan Boyle shot the puck into the net in overtime, only, it was his own.  Not sure if you heard about that.

This is one of those f**k-ups that’s so exceptionally f**ked-up that it doesn’t even affect you as a player, if that makes any sense.  If you’re playing a game, and your best isn’t as good as your opponents best, it can get to you.  You start to doubt yourself, you start trying other things, and you get worse.  But this play was so ridiculous I wouldn’t even be that rattled. 

For the record, I don’t think O’Reilly tipped it.  It’s just one of those plays where you go, crap, no way that just happened.  I’m gonna go change, go home, and prepare for the next game.

What it does mean, for a Sharks team who needs extra hurdles like Ben Roethlisberger needs another accuser, is that they’re down 2-1 to a team they’re better than.  It also means they gave life and hope to a young squad who needed exactly that.  San Jose played great last night – absolutely dominated and looked they were on the powerplay most of the night.  Only Craig Anderson was so phenomenal they should have credited him with the game winner.

Even if San Jose does win this series, it’s going to be longer and more stressful than they’d hoped.  Which is too bad, cause it’d be fun to see them advance (in full health) to a round where they got to play another top seeded team.  Maybe they just need to get away from pesky underdogs to show their true colours. (teal!)

Every series was knotted up at 1-1.

Which is pretty cool, if you’re into watching exciting hockey.  As I mentioned before, any desperate, defensive NHL squad could beat the best teams one time out of seven (even Edmonton!).  I was appalled by the amount of people that were jumping on underdog bandwagons, like we were gonna see the eight lower seeds advance.

Love Chicago, but find this series the least interesting to date.

The Sens aren’t gonna beat the Penguins.  The Habs aren’t gonna beat the Capitals.  And the Islanders aren’t playing hockey in late April.  Some things you just know to be true.

The most realistic upset scenario is Philadelphia giving the boots to New Jersey, provided Boucher avoids getting the yips for the remainder of the series (Example of the goalie yips: Detroit’s first goal of playoffs, where Bryzgalov caught a case of the yips instead of the puck on Holmstrom’s shot.  A random body twitch that prevents you from doing something easy. A bit of a Philadelphia-goaltending-epidemic).  All year I thought NJ was higher up the standings than the quality of their team, and Philly was sitting lower than their potential.  It’s a pretty even match-up, so I like the Flyers odds, being up 2-1 and all (plus, Carcillo’s goal is proof that good things happen to good people.  What a guy).

Random sidenote – I could totally see Buffalo in the Eastern conference finals.  They’re one of those teams that doesn’t get much TV love, and not a team I ever chose to watch with other options on.  After seeing them play a few times, I’m muchos impressed.  Moreso than I am with Jersey/Philly/Boston, who are the teams they’d have to beat to get there.

Alex Ovechkin had four points in game two.

LOVE that he celly's linemate's goals with the exact same enthusiasm.

His no shots in game one prompted “what’s wrong with Ovechkin” talk from folks all over. 

I feel like the hockey community is dying to chuck this guy under the next passing bus some reason, like he’s ever done anything wrong aside from some excessive celebrating (which I love).   It’s like we can’t wait to give Crosby the reins as the games best player.  I dunno if anyone else feels that, it’s just sort of a vibe I get.

Hate to break it to y’all, but barring injury, the games best goal scorer is gonna be co-holder of those reins for a long, long time.  He’ll streak and slump like everyone else.

Coyotes/Red Wings became the most exciting series in playoffs.

And plenty of 'em!

Most exciting by an absolute landslide (shout out to LA/Van, Boston/Buffalo).

Ilya Bryzgalov (by the way, I call my fiancee “Breeze” or “Breezer”, which has evolved to Ilya Breezegalov) was an absolute stud in the third period of the last game, and Jimmy Howard wasn’t.

I really felt like this would be one of those series that no one would ever score in.  Two well coached teams doing the right thing, y’know?

But it’s been thrilling.  Scads of goals, lead changes, and a fast, young Coyote team that’s giving the supposed Cup contending Wings all they can handle.  Can Detroit beat Phoenix three of the next four games and pull it out?  I dunno, man.  I just don’t know.

I was at the first two games here in Phoenix, and feel the need to say props to the Coyotes fans.  It’s been a lot of fun. 

Until you see some of these guy’s play in person, it’s tough to know why some guys score while others don’t.  Pretty easy to see once you see Datsyuk’s wizardry in person.

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Sorry about the late post – I was putting the finishing touches on a column that should be up today or tomorrow on USA Today’s website - I’ll put the link up when it posts.

In the meantime, I’m on the computer all day, so if you’d like to discuss any other playoff topics, fire away.  I’ll be here to respond.

Monday, wweeeee!

More Tape Talk, Updated Thoughts on 8 vs. The Kid

Man – you see Eric Staal get a skate to the face?  Not long after getting a stick in the mouth?  Tough night.

So, there were a few questions that stemmed from yesterday’s blog about handle tape jobs.  Here’s my take on the blade:

Sticks today (composite blades specifically) are built to be taped.  If you’ve ever tried to handle a frozen puck with a tapeless blade, you might as well be using the other end of the stick.  It’s hopeless.

Worst stick set-up in NHL history

So, I don’t get the logic when I see some guys go for the few-strips look.  I don’t even understand it when their blade is wood.  Remember the Eric Lindros tape job?  I always wanted to ask him “Is it easier to handle the puck and shoot from the tape?  Yes?”

The follow with: ” Then tape your whole fucking blade.”

Guys today do so much work with the toe of their stick, from forehand/backhand toe pulls, deke’s, dangles, whatever, that they need tape on the entire blade.  So, there’s a half-dozen guys on every team that continues taping past the toe, pressing tape against tape, and then scissor-cutting around the end of the blade.

I also half-rip the tape (into a thinner strip) to get more ridges, which I think made it easier to get more spin on the puck.  At the very least, it feels cooler rolling off your stick.  Plus, you get to anger the three-quarters of your hockey team that doesn’t half-rip the tape, who have to unravel the huge portion you just wasted to get to their preferred wide part again.

Oh, and tape it heel to toe, because you’re a hockey player, and thats just what we do.

As for the black vs. white argument, do whatever makes you happy.  Whoever thinks it matters is weird.  I used to go black to “hide the puck”.  Then I went white so I could see the puck on my blade quicker.  Then I stayed with white CAUSE IT LOOKS AWESOME.  

300+ words about tape.  “Bourne’s Blog: complicating the simple for over 13 months.”

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Those of you who wrote to disagree with my take on the Sens were right.  My b.

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Theodore, mentally surrendering: "I'll let you score if you promise not to make it embarrassing"

In the on-going Sid vs. Ovi debate, I have to confess that I think Ovechkin is better.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for Sid over number eight every friggin’ time – I want him to end up with the better legacy, partially because he’s my fellow countrymen, and seemingly more humble than Alex. 

Crosby’s having a ridiculous year, even changing my opinion of just how good Sid is.  He’s got all the intangibles to go with the raw skills and personal drive.  But I mean… I don’t think he shoots it as hard as Ovi.  I don’t think he skates as fast.  And I know he doesn’t hit as hard.

He’s does have that Gretzky-like quality to see the game in slow motion while moving mach three, which must be nice.  And Ovi definitely has the advantage of playing on a line with Backstrom and Semin, but even with all that…. I can’t shake the feeling that Ovechkin is the best player in the league.  He’s just a constant, one-man hurricane.  He reminds me of when we’d “tornado” each other’s rooms in college, the way destruction and chaos follows him everywhere he goes.  Just gear all over the ice, hats from hattricks, guys trying to get up from hits, red lights spinning, fans yelling…. chaos. 

Plus there’s always this part of his game to love:

Nobody’s convincing anyone of anything here.  There’s no way to change someone’s mind in this never-ending debate.  Just pick your horse and ride it.  We’re lucky to get to watch them both.

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Did you see Chris Phillips run Miller over?  Ho-ly, lackluster response from the Sabres.  You could hear the running dialogue in the players heads “oh, we’re supposed to act angry now…?  Riiiight…. grrrr…. someone’s gonna fight him right…? nobody…? god don’t let it to be me…”  Weak sauce, Flubbalo.  Weak sauce.

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My big homie down in Houston plays a little goal for the Aeros, and has a bit of a following. His name is Barry Brust, check out the fan club tee’s:

IMAGE HAS BEEN REMOVED.  CAUSE, UM, Y’KNOW, IT WAS A CHEST-SHOT CLOSE-UP.

Sick.

That’ll do for now.  We’re nearing the Superbowl.  I’m betting the Ottawa Roughriders by a try.