z_The Hockey Page - Toronto Star

Linking up

Some random thoughts from a mind beyond saving, just to keep this blog ticking over:

AP

Jeff Pain, Team Canada needs your mask, says Carla.

I don't know if there's an SI Jinx for this, but we can only hope so: Canada's picked to finish second to the Czech Republic in the men's hockey comp at the upcoming Turin Olympics: "SI hockey writer Michael Farber disagrees and picks Canada," they say, somewhat wimpily (if your hockey expert isn't making the picks here, who is?)

Best hockey read of the last, oh, couple of days anyway: AbeltoYzerman's historical notes accompanying the latest Carnival.

Today's ripped from the headlines offering: Liz Manley marries former Ice Dog.

Meantime, a big heads-up for anyone who hasn't to check out Ninja's blog, which is fast becoming required reading for Leafs fans -- including nightly game notes.

(C.Y.)

Them!

Well, I've been trying to avoid a post about them.

I spent, what, 150 minutes of my life watching them last night. Wasted it. Kept notes on my wasting it on them -- the giveaways, the dumb penalties, the lack of punch.

So here it is, I'll keep it brief: Best moment of this one was captured on TV, Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire berating his star player on the bench. A couple of shifts later, and Marian Gaborik was going by one of them like he was tied to a post. Then Gaborik was scoring the goal of the night.

When was the last time the head coach of them got in the face of anyone? When was last time one of them was challenged to raise his game, and did just that?

Over at the Battle of Ontario, Meatriarchy points out that remarkabe consistency from them over this four-game losing spinout:

In the past four games of this losing skid the Leafs have scored first in every game. They have also had shorthanded goals in two of them. Usually scoring first or scoring a shorthanded goal is an indicator that you will win the game. Going into this four game slump the Leafs were 15-4 when scoring the first goal.

Scoring the first goal, scoring shorthanded -- it doesn't matter. But no matter what the hyperbole is from the TV people (and last night, they laid it on awful thick), it is still mid January, and almost half a season remains. It's not noose time. It is, however, Blah time, to steal another line from BoO.

Now we have two days of waiting before the latest round of the (lower-case) battle of Ontario, and a two-game set in Ottawa at that. This is the new NHL: an away-and-away.

Oh, and Jes Golbez has a nice one (including the comments) on the retiring Ziggy Palffy:

Palffy is known among the local Skalica residents to be extremely cocky and haughty, acting like a 'spoiled prince'. It doesn't help that tensions between Hungary and Slovakia (dating back to the Austrian-Hungarian empire) still run high and anyone with Hungarian noble heritage might be derided by natural Slovaks (This is more subconscious than anything). It wouldn't be uncommon to see a few beer bottles thrown at Ziggy when he returned home for the summer.

I remember being at a game in Los Angeles about a decade ago perhaps, and there was this little guy out there for the Islanders, skating circles around everyone. It was Palffy, just ready to break through. I'm with you Jes -- he was fun to watch.

So Palffy retires, another waste-of-time loss by them ... and Vancouver Canucks Op-Ed is ... gone. That's a triple decker bummer sandwich, friends.

(C.Y.)

A few great goals

Okay, I got a few of you to bite on the best goals of the year list. And I had a look at my notes on Leafs games this year -- I've done that for about two-thirds of their games so far, so I may have missed some good 'uns, but with this team, I kinda doubt it -- to come up with this set of highlights courtesy of the "NHL Highlight Machine" which for those of us of a certain vintage, brings back memories of George Michael. No, not that George Michael. This one.)

Anyway, here we go, Leafs division:

Alexander Steen, at Vancouver Jan. 10. The choice of a couple of you, a deke and a wicked backhand as he's being hooked to the ice. As I mentioned above, there isn't much in the Leafs vault this year -- lots of McCabe and Tucker one-timers on the PP, and some nice passing combinations courtesy of Sundin, Steen, Allison and Wellwood, primarily, but this is pretty much the only real "whoa!" moment that I know of.

Tim Connolly, Buffalo vs Toronto, Nov. 11. What a nice deke, and finish.

Erik Cole, Carolina at Toronto, Oct. 20. Strong swoop, long-armed half deke and one-handed finish. Pretty.

And from the NHL at large:

Jason Spezza, vs Montreal. Memorable.

Steve Yzerman, at Carolina. He can still do it.

Nik Zherdev, vs Chicago. Especially love the Bobby Orr flourish at the end.

I'm not including shootout goals, 'cause bah, they're a humbug. Thanks to Rivers for the Malik link, though, from earlier in the year, and James Mirtle casts a vote for Jokinen's nifty little brainwave from the weekend which is buried in the NHL package -- JM is doing a far better job digesting this season than this space, including this bit where yes, there is an I in Team after all. I as in Implosion, that is.

We'll keep this open -- More of your favourite goals, please! With video, if possible, and it'll be my dime on the hosting.

(C.Y.)

Ovechkin goal, and a beauty

A great goal (again) from Ovechkin last night. I posted it over on JABS in the morning links, but it's worth putting up over here, with an accompanying link to the game story.

"The best goal I ever scored," he said. "I just went down and shot."

That got me to thinking, on a very busy Tuesday morning around here -- best goals of the year. Leafs division. NHL division. Send me your choices, and why they moved you so.

Meantime, this one from the Leafs front is worrisome, even on the Leafs scale of worry(1--worried, 2--very worried, 3--hide sharp objects worried, all the way up to 10-- suicidal, at least until the next W, when we're back down to 1 or 2): Bryan McCabe, out due to injury for longer than expected, if the rumbles are to be believed. I'd call that a 3.

(C.Y.)

See ya, Mike Milbury

(OH, THIS IS GETTING CONFUSING): Looking at Eric's permalink, and the Star's speakout area where it landed, the one that i NEVER look at 'cause it's usually full of Nigerian oil millionaires looking for somewhere to park their money, I see this came in THURSDAY. My mistake. So now we have THREE bobbleheads to award, TWO of them already spoken for -- Eric, and Gary. Congrats Eric! Way to go Gary! I'm going to stop now. It's been a bad week for me and computers. *head slap*)

(LATER ON FRIDAY): Well, Eric McErlain over at the ever-entertaining Off Wing Opinion has put his name in the hat for one of these here bobbleheads up for grabs -- and it's going to take some doing to top this one, but you've got all weekend, kids, so go to it. Check out Eric's shot at his blog here. Meantime, here's a taste:

CW: Peter, Lorne, Butch, Bill, Steve or Rick, what does it matter? You never seem to be able to get along with any of your playmates. [Shakes his head] That's it, I've made up my mind. If you can't share it's time to grow up and let somebody else play with the wooby, Michael!
MM: [SCREAMS and CRIES] NOOOOOOOOOO!
CW: [STERN] Stop it Michael, there's no crying in ice hockey and you know that. Besides, you've had the wooby for 10 years now and you should give somebody else a chance.
MM: [SNIFFLES and WIPES HIS NOSE] I'm sorry.
CW: That's ok Michael. If I can forgive you for the Yashin contract I can forgive anything. Did you really think you would play with the wooby forever?

(FRIDAY POSTSCRIPT PRESCRIPT: I'm going to keep this one open till Monday, 'cause I found another bobblehead. One of 'em has Gary's name on it, but there's still one more up grabs so people, c'mon. Send in your entries, and have a fun weekend.)

A couple of links, 'cause I'm in a New York state of mind:

AP PHOTO

Wang to co-owner: "That young man Mike. What'll he do when he grows up?"

With reports flying about last night that Mike Milbury was ready to fire another coach, the Islanders as usual have added a novel twist.

Yes, Steve Stirling is out and assistant Brad Shaw is in. But that's Milbury who will step down as well, once a replacement is found, and take a job sharpening pencils and serving as a senior vice-president in the Charles Wang sports operation. Here's owner Wang, announcing the end of Milbury as GM with this lump-in-the-throat confession:

“Even prior to our current slump, Mike and I had been discussing the next phase for him. I have often challenged him about what he wanted to do when he grows up. Yesterday, Mike came to me and selflessly said that the time had come for a change in the general manager’s seat."

Wouldn't you love to have been in on those discussions between daddy Charlie and young Mike?

Tell ya what. Send me your best Mikey and Daddy "conversation" -- put 'em in the drawing room having a heart-to-heart, or in the car as Mikey is getting a ride to hockey practice, or wherever you wanna put 'em discussing whatever it is l'il Mike wants to do when he grows up.

I'll publish the best of 'em tomorrow in this space -- and to the best one (I'll be the judge of that), I've got an official Team Canada Chris Pronger bobblehead doll to award. Knock yourself out.

Oh, and just in case you think that's all that's going on in New York, take the Long Island railroad across the East River and into Manhattan, and they're putting on a big show, Broadway, or at least MSG, giving its regards to Mark Messier after starting it off with a box of Kleenex last night, even the Knicks' Larry Brown getting in on the act. For a selection of links that'll keep you readin' and weepin' till tonight, look no further than Hockeybird.

(C.Y.)

Who is Raphael?

One of the most intriguing stories of the year came out of a practice, of all things, yesterday, at the Canadiens' practice rink in Verdun.

You've probably read about it, by now, a man who is identified only as Raphael hopping over the boards in full equipment and managing to squeeze off two shots on Canadians goalie Jose Theodore before he was turned over to the police, who let him go. The CP version is here, and the Montreal Gazette story (reg. required) had a little more in the way of players' reaction:

"I thought of getting out of the net when he came back and not play to his game. But he had the balls to get on the ice, so I figured I'd let him have a free shot," Theodore said.
His teammates viewed the incident as comical, but all agreed it should never be allowed to transpire again. Defenceman Craig Rivet, closest to Julien as the fan left the ice, said he would have used his stick to defend himself if necessary. Captain Saku Koivu said the fan didn't look strong enough on his skates to inflict any damage.
"It was funny, but also could have been dangerous," Koivu said. "I thought the guy was pulling a joke. Maybe he was a comedian. It's good that nothing happened.
"It's the first time I've seen anything like that, and I've been here 10 years. It should never happen. Now, it doesn't matter. But had he gone after somebody, there could have been endless possibilities.
"We were lucky today."

I guess all those nightmare scenarios would flash through the players' minds. As for me, I'm applauding at least the guy's sincerity -- it's not like he was part of some online casino publicity stunt.

My question is -- who is this Raphael? Anyone know this guy? Raphael, please call home, man -- or email us. Your public wants to talk.

(NOTE: The home PC shut down yesterday, so the blog is going to be acting a little weird the next few days as I use the library Star home office computers. But stay tuned, I'll be posting whenever I can. And because I'm a little pinched right now (Spencer is going on holidays, so I'm helping him out with the editing), I won't be posting a lot of links -- but by all means, send anything over that catches your eye and I can post it.) 

(C.Y.)

Bloggers snub Sid

With "The Neelies" up over at Hockey Dirt -- the midseason bloggers' picks for the NHL's top awards -- one question: Can somebody give Sidney Crosby some love?

Oh, there are other categories among the Neelies, like Top Jerk, the ballot reading "Sean Avery" and "Other". But it's that rookie race that made me blink and look twice (To view the whole list, go here).

Among the freshmen, Crosby got three per cent compared to Ovechkin's 71 per cent -- which, according to my math, means the Caps phenom outpolled Crosby 22-1. That's not only low, it's freakin' ridiculous. I mean, these two are virtually even in points. Ovechkin has a few more goals (25, to Crosby's 21) and has a greater proportion of his team's offence, while Crosby has toiled in Pittsburgh, where yes, he has a better supporting cast but has also had a host of distractions -- a coaching change, Mario Lemieux's health problems, the Penguins' bleak future in Pittsburgh and a spotlight that never turns off. Martin, Mr. Hockey Dirt his own self, cast the only vote for young Sid -- well done, MT! -- and notes the discrepancy in his postscript.

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

It's not like Leaf fans don't do it.

Okay, Ovechkin got my vote, but it was a close call, really. But Dion Phaneuf and Henrick Lundquist? They're having fine rookie seasons, but they also got four votes apiece and Crosby can manage just one?

Why the landslide? It's surely a holdover from the early backlash in the blogosphere against the immense hype and media attention around him. Then there are the accusations of diving (which can be levelled at a number players in this the year of the new, no-touch NHL -- and at those dratted Russkie juniors, says Pierre McGuire, although when Steve Downie flops he's just a brilliant pest -- and at least in the case of the Flyers have as much to do with gamesmanship from a division rival as anything else. I mean, c'mon, these guys have Peter Forsberg).

The narrow gap between the two clear leaders in the rookie race is going to close, I reckon -- even The Cherry was climbing down from his usual piling on Saturday night (When he wasn't climbing up on the bench in Stephenville to greet his adoring public with a heartfelt "oh, shit" into the open microphone, that is).

No such shockers elsewhere -- Redden for the Norris is a little bit contentious, but Hasek and Jagr got pretty solid nods for the Vezina and Hart, and I was pleased to see my "Retire this Award" show up, Ms Byng deserving to have her jewels returned as we head into this hands-off hockey age -- best among the rest was the Jerk of the Year Neelie, Avery the runaway choice (*yawn* the idea of giving this mediocrity any kind of award, even one acknowledging his ability to commandeer the 24-hour sports news cycle, is kinda numbing. Why not have something for Elisha Cuthbert? Top Whiner? Dumb and Dumber? We could go on and on) over a host of pretenders which included a stalemate between Gary Bettman (six per cent) and Ted Saskin and the NHLPA (three per cent apiece), and one vote for Bob Cole and Harry Neale, for pete's sake.

Anyway, great job putting it together, Martin, and thanks for including us.

One more from the blogs this lovely Monday morning: a Theo Fleury moment, going over the boards and after a fan in Belfast (Nice catch, Vancouver Canucks Op-Ed).

(C.Y.)   

The poll before the storm

Okay, tonight we have Canada vs. Russia, and hands up everyone who's pumped.

C'mon, Jes. I'm talkin' to you!

CP PHOTO

Canadian defence will have to be on their toes tonight against Evgeni Malkin.

I could overload you with preview stuff here. But according to my first rule of sports, the bigger the game, the less need to pay attention to all the hoo-ha (I'm betting that McGuire breaks the sound barrier on the pregame show tonight, so I'll be keeping my trigger finger on the mute). Besides, all you need to do is go to your favourite website (Canadian, that is. I kinda like the Star) or a number of hockey blogs (Hockey Nation has a look here; our fave Jes Golbez and James Mirtle have covered off the tournament nicely).

One last thing: a set of picks to get you going in the morning, as Hockey Dirt is putting together a midseason awards bloggers' poll.

(From the same blog: a spunky, blood-spittin' new music video out of Quebec that's clocks in at far less than Coach's Corner and is a whole lot more fun than those two bores -- check it out here (WMP req'd), and nice catch, Martin).

Here's the choices from this corner -- Spencer didn't bother with any comments, the stinker -- and we'll be linking to the overall poll results when they're put up in a day or two. Fire away:

Calder -- CY: Ovechkin. Spencer: Ovechkin (CY comment: Wouldn't it be fun, given this year's crop of rooks, to put together an all-star team of rookies and put them against the sophomores a la the NBA All-Star weekend approach?).
Norris -- CY: Redden. Spencer: Redden. (I wavered on this, from Visnovsky to Chara and finally to Redden, a fine choice, even if Spencer went the same way).

Hart -- CY: Eric Staal. Spencer: Joe Thornton (If "most valuable" means impact, how about Ovechkin's 46 points on a team that has scored only 107 times? Always the toughest call -- Staal isn't even on the Hockey Dirt ballot -- I let my eyes decide, and Staal to me has looked like the most dangerous player on the few occasions I've seen him play.)

Vezina -- CY: Hasek. Spencer: Hasek (Boring, aren't we?)

Lady Byng -- CY: Retire this trophy. Spencer: All the referees. (Even when we're unpredictable, we're predictable).

Selke -- CY: Brind'amour. Spencer: Brind'amour (Honest, there really were other candidates)

Coach of the Year: We both picked Lindy Ruff. (*sigh*)

Comeback: CY: Aren't they all comeback players, except maybe Sergei Fedorov and our old pal Stumpy Thomas? Twist my arm and I'll pick Cujo. Spencer: No pick.

Tough guy: Both pick McGrattan. (You know which game we watched.)

Flop of the year: CY: Patrick Lalime. Spencer: Fedorov. (I wanted to pick someone else, but really, how much more of a flop can you be than getting cut two months into the season?)
(C.Y.)

---

Taking a stab at feeding y'all some more links from around the league, and wouldn't you know it, we have a theme:

Dany Heatley returns to Atlanta, where he was a pretty good player. We know about his past, what happened there and why he wanted needed to leave. So the fans boo him every time he touches the puck. Do they have that "right"? or did they cross a line? Even the Thrashers call out their own fans on this one:

"I was disappointed," Ilya Kovalchuk tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I don't think they should have booed him. I don't think it was right. He didn't do anything wrong."

It's like a tradition to boo former players (hello Vince Carter, see you on Sunday), but knowing the history, the Atlanta fans crossed the line. The Journal-Constitution is running an online poll asking about it, with 38% choosing the 'no big deal' option, and 36% (including myself) picking the 'classless' side.

Speaking of classless fans, the Coyotes return to L.A. tonight - last time they visited, someone in the stands shined a bright red spotlight on goalie Brian Boucher after every goal he allowed. Boucher was professional and brushed it off:

"If I'm worried about a red light shining on me after a goal, I've got some serious issues," he said. "If the fans had pelted me with beer bottles, I would be a little upset about it. But it's not a big deal."

Hope the beer bottle thing isn't coming, but the whole issue of what the fans have a right to do gets taken a little too far, especially in 2005, (Pistons-Pacers brawl, more than one NFL fan running onto the field).

Quickly:

Looks like Hannu Toivonen has pretty much taken over from Andrew Raycroft as Boston's No. 1 puckstopper.

Steve Yzerman returns tonight.

Jeff Carter is skating with Peter Forsberg. (SW)

Playing the percentages

Trying to find a single thread today is difficult, because there's a lot of good stuff to kick around, especially among the blogs. Try these on for size:

Covered in Oil has a nice one on goaltenders' save percentage, noting that seven of 2003-04's top 12 goalies have slipped to the bottom half of the league rankings this season (including Ed Belfour). What's going on here? PM suggests it might be the year off, but I thought that was supposed to extend players' careers, giving them some time away from hard knocks to heal themselves. Is it different for goalies? Is it the new rules? The new equipment?
It's worth kicking around today, too, here in Leafs country, given that the backup Tellqvist, with a .924 percentage in eight games, has been more consistent than Belfour, who checks in at .898 in 24 games. The Belfour-Telly goalkeeping questions are old news here and on the TML message boards, where they're already looking ahead to how this plays out in 06-07.

And speaking of goalies in the news, what a great time to trot out this Patrick Lalime flashback from Jay Jardine at Battle of Ontario. James Mirtle looks at the suspects being trotted out to replace Dan Cloutier. And Canucks Op Ed reinterprets a classic: Cloutier, on a cart, murmuring "I'm not dead yet."

Haven't seen much on Belfour vs. Telly in the prints, but I'm sure that will come once the Olympic team speculation concerning the three or four spots that might be up for grabs is settled next Wednesday. Damien Cox makes the case against including Todd Bertuzzi this morning.

Forget the Olympic team. Here's a debate I like: How much is Wayne Gretzky's crusty underwear worth?

The other story making headlines is Ted Saskin addressing the NHL's board of governors, and the revenue projections going up (big surprise there). I know it's important to know how much money the Leafs will have to waste on next summer's equivalent of Tie Domi and Belfour, and you're welcome to chime in here on it. But those revenue numbers were in all likelihood cooked over a low heat, and the cap figures you'll see out of them are way premature, as ace bloggers Eric McErlain and Tom Benjamin have already suggested. So I'll take a pass.
(C.Y.)

Get well, Mario

Much has been made of Mario Lemieux of late -- whether he will be part of Canada's Olympic team, whether his Penguins are staying or going, whether he's past his prime and will hang up the skates -- and all of it means very little this morning.

CP PHOTO

Get well Mario. We need you two working together again.

Lemieux spent last night in a Pittsburgh hospital after experiencing an irregular heartbeat yesterday -- a precautionary measure, said GM Craig Patrick. "It stops you right in your tracks," said Penguins coach Ed Olczyk. "You kind of take a step back."
You sure do. Get well, Mario.

(UPDATE: Lemieux was released from hospital this morning after being diagnosed with "atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that can be treated with medication," according to AP's report.)

Elsewhere this morning, the Leafs are pondering tinkering:

Quinn is considering using O'Neill to join both Kaberle and McCabe in what is known in hockey as an "umbrella" formation. In this scheme, Kaberle would position himself at the blue line down the middle of the ice and would dish off on either side to O'Neill or McCabe, who would be playing a little deeper.

(Not "the umbrella"! Next thing you know they'll be bringing out "the raincoat" and "the galoshes".)

Alexander Steen is hurting, and his linemate Mats Sundin is dropping off, at least in terms of production.

Battle of Ontario note (the series, not the blog): Martin Havlat is out till the playoffs, but Wade Redden is just about back. Just so you know I care about something other than the Leafs.

Thanks to Kukla's Corner for the pointer to this one: Former Leafs great Ron Ellis on how he coped with depression.

Oh, and from the land of bright ideas: Supersizing the playoffs. Why stop there? Let everyone into the playoffs. Play a six-month preseason. Then start the real season. And let's not play the games. Let's just have shootouts. Fans love shootouts ...
(C.Y.)

---

Few links this morning:

Coupla weeks ago we listed the top performing lines in the NHL (no Leaf trios in sight -- but what WOULD a Sundin-Lindros-O'Neill combo do if they had 10-15 games together?). Today, Boston Herald stole takes our idea to the ice. (By the way, Thornton-Samsonov-Murray was 7th on our list. Now Thornton's gone and Samsonov is out with the tingles. Poor Bruins fans.)

Your candidates come from Vancouver, Ottawa and Philly. Let's find out from one of the guys who's on the ice with the players every day. Cue former Leaf Tom Fizgerald, on the best line in the NHL: (drumroll)

"I just don’t know. They’re all great."

Thanks, Tom. It used to be a no brainer: Naslund-Bertuzzi-Morrison was the best thing going. Now, it's a no-brainer: Spezza-Heatley-Alfredsson is dominating the league. As the Canucks prepare for the Sens tomorrow night, the Vancouver trio aims to get back to their glory days.

Around the league, Steve Yzerman withdraws from Team Canada consideration. Could retirement be far away?

How bad are the New Jersey Devils? Martin Brodeur jeered last night in 4-1 loss to the (ahem) red-hot Flames. But don't think Brodeur's Olympic job is in jeopardy. Wayne Gretzky was in the building on his Team Canada scouting tour, so was it too much "pressure" for Marty? Please.

"They watch me on TV, too, every game. I don't think because it's live it makes a difference," says Brodeur.

(SW)