Articles

[hockeygod]

Getting To Know: Neil Sheehy

Mark Malinowski, The Hockey News, 2011-10-16

Status: NHL defenseman from 1984-1992 with Calgary, Hartford, Washington. He had 65 points in 379 career NHL games. Sheehy is currently an NHL player agent.

Ht: 6-foot-2 Wt: 214 pounds

DOB: Feb. 9, 1960 In: Fort Frances, Ont.

First Hockey Memory: "Going to the outdoor rink with my brother and carrying my hockey equipment in a pillowcase (laughs)."

Nicknames: “‘Harv’ from Colin Patterson, because I went to Harvard. I tried to dub him 'Clark' because he went to Clarkson, but it didn't stick. 'Shee Cat' – from Terry Crisp.”

Hobbies/Leisure Activities: “I have nine children, so I guess looking after kids. Family and job is pretty well taking up my days."

Favorite Movies: "Braveheart."

Hockey Inspirations: "Probably my brother Tim, who won three high school championships in Minnesota and played in four championship games. He went on to play on the Olympic team that silver medaled in Sapporo, Japan."

First Job: "Pedaling newspapers – the International Falls Daily Journal."

First Car: "1968 Mercury Cougar (white)."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Mint chocolate chip."

Current Car: "BMW X5."

Greatest Sports Moment: "Beating the great Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 in Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. They were the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs."

Most Painful Moment: "I never looked at any hockey experience as painful…it was just great experiences. Maybe having back-to-back injuries – breaking my ankle and leg and then herniating a disc in my lower back. Knowing the career was coming to an end. (How did you break the leg and ankle?) In a fight in Orlando for an exhibition game. During the fight my leg snapped. Just broke. (Against who?) Mike Hartman."

Favorite Uniforms: "I would have to say…I just love the traditional Boston Bruins. Either Boston or Chicago Blackhawks. "

Closest Hockey Friends: "Gary Suter."

Funniest Players Encountered: "A guy by the name of Charlie Bourgeois. A great, great guy. Extremely funny."

Toughest Competitors: "Certainly Mark Messier. And which Sutter was the captain of St. Louis? (Brian.) Brian Sutter was a warrior. And then – those guys were tough competitors – then the other would be Behn Wilson. He was a tough guy."

Most Memorable Goal: "This is a good story actually. I forget his first name. He played in Vancouver and St. Louis. (Dave Lowry.) Yes. He was chirpin' me. I said, 'Let's go, let's fight.' Lowry didn't want to fight. He said, 'Why would I fight you? You're the last guy that would ever score a goal.' This was right before the faceoff. Then after the faceoff, the puck comes to me, I carried it in and shot it and scored. All the guys come to me to celebrate. I'm looking for Lowry. (I said), 'Wanna fight now!? I'm the last guy to score a goal!' The timing was impeccable. The game was in St. Louis. (Remember his reaction?) He said, 'Boy, are you cocky.' Cocky? Let's fight now. The last guy to score a goal! But we never fought."

Last Book Read: "Whatever Happened To Penny Candy by Richard Mabure."

Funny Hockey Memory: "Teammates play jokes, practical jokes. When you're on plane trips or bus trips, if you fall asleep, they put shaving cream on the top of your head. If you fall asleep and your mouth is open, they put things in it. One time we took a charter from Calgary to another city, I don't remember which one. Paul Baxter was my teammate. I woke up and my shoe was gone. And I was the last one on the plane. But I looked and found my shoe in the cabinet. But I wanted to find who the culprit was, who took my shoe. I got off the plane and hopped on one leg to the bus. All the guys are hootin' and hollerin' – I don't have my shoe. The bus is ready to roll. Hold on! Paul Baxter said, 'You don't have your shoe?' Paul Baxter stops the bus. He goes back on the plane. I yelled to everyone, 'Here's my shoe.' Then Baxter comes back on the bus and they're all hootin' and hollerin' at him. Laughter at his expense. It showed to me he was a good teammate. He didn't let the bus go off. He actually stopped the bus; he didn't want me to lose my shoe. It was one of those moments when the whole team had a lot of belly laughs."

Embarrassing Hockey Memory: "There was a new blade called 'Switch-Its.' You could unscrew it and slip on a Rollerblade. I knew the guy who invented it. I was wearing it in the NHL. I went to hit a guy in Los Angeles. I fell on the ice. I go to get up and there's no blade on my one skate. I'm in the corner, telling the referee to blow the whistle but he didn't. I'm at the glass – there's a guy looking and pointing at me – Sylvester Stallone. He's laughing. I stand up on one leg. I kinda knock on the glass and kinda wave at him. I had to awkwardly walk off the ice with one blade to our bench, which was on the opposite side. That was kind of embarrassing."

Strangest Game: "Probably, Miracle Monday in St. Louis. After we beat Edmonton in the playoffs, St. Louis was waiting for us. They won the first game in Calgary. We came back. It was Game 6 in St. Louis and we were up 5-2 with about eight minutes to go. It looked like we were going to win it. But they got one goal, then a second goal, then they tied it up and won in overtime. They staved off elimination. We had to go back to Calgary for Game 7, to see who would play in the final. They call it Miracle Monday in St. Louis. That St. Louis Budweiser song rang in our heads all the way back to Calgary."

Favorite Sport Outside Hockey: "Hockey. Is there really any other sport?"

Favorite Players To Watch: "I love to watch Sidney Crosby, obviously, when he's playing. I love to watch Zach Parise. I love to watch Ryan Suter. The guys I like to watch most are my clients: Ryan Suter is my client. Ryan Carter. Jake Dowell in Dallas. Jack Hillen and Colin Wilson in Nashville. Matt Niskanen and Craig Adams in Pittsburgh. Jason Blake in Anaheim. Toby Peterson in Dallas. Lubomir Visnovsky in Anaheim. Nick Leddy in Chicago. Matt Reid in Philadelphia. Drew Stafford in Buffalo. Kyle Okposo with New York Islanders."

Personality Qualities Most Admired: "Honesty and loyalty."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Craig Rivet happy to keep playing hockey

David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, October 17, 2011

Former NHL defenceman Craig Rivet was featured in an item in Monday’s Look Ahead page and there is a much longer piece on him that is worth pursuing.

Rivet, who finished off a four-year contract worth $14-million (all currency U.S.) last season and found no NHL takers for his services, is now making $850 a week in the ECHL, two rungs below the big league. But he says he couldn’t be happier.

My pal Bucky Gleason of The Buffalo News has the story and it’s a good read. It’s also a look at a bit of a phenomenon in recent years, the athlete who can comfortably finish out his playing days at a lower level without the pressure to perform that comes with a job in the NHL because he has no financial worries.

Back in the day, a staple of the sports writing game was the feature on the washed-up big leaguer who fell all the way down to the low minor leagues. Those stories were all about the quiet desperation of an aging player who wanted to get back to the big time and the big money.

Hockey was slower to come to the big money than the other professional sports. But in the last 15 years or so there’s been a rise in what you could call the leisure class – ex-players who don’t need to earn a living when their NHL career ends.

Funny thing, though. People like Rivet are still relatively rare, those who play simply for the fun of it. While there are quite a few ex-NHLers playing in the American Hockey League, almost all of them are playing out the final years of a big-money contract an NHL general manager gave them. There are also lots playing in the European leagues but the money there is much better than in the ECHL, where the average salary is $620 a week.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Former NHLer Ron Stern wants to help players adjust to life after pro hockey

By Mike Boone, Postmedia News, October 17, 2011

What happens to professional hockey players after the cheering stops?

Much ink and airtime have been expended on post-mortem speculation as to what bedevilled Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak. We may never know which demons dropped their gloves with the deceased NHL tough guys, but a common thread is the difficulty of facing life after hockey – and that is not a problem restricted to enforcers.

Ron Stern is a former NHL heavyweight. The six-foot, 195-pound Stern took on all comers and amassed more than 2,000 penalty minutes in 12 seasons with Vancouver, Calgary and San Jose.

During a phone conversation from his home in Calgary, Stern said most retired players take three to five years to find something they enjoy doing. A period of “emotional transition” can be difficult.

“Some guys get divorced and lose more than half of their money,” Stern says. “They get into drinking because they're unhappy, or drugs. They get into some sort of depression.

“It's the same challenge for wives. They're used to a certain lifestyle. The player is never around, she can do what she wants. Retirement changes the whole environment.

“The kids wonder, ‘why is dad so grouchy?' It's because he doesn't know what to do when he grows up.”

Three years ago, Stern got involved in Octane Mentoring, a program aimed at pro athletes. Recently, through former teammate Jim Peplinski, Stern hooked up with remBrand Sports, a “coaching/mentoring program built by athletes for athletes with a vision of helping athletes transition from ‘the locker-room to the board room.' ”

RBS works with active athletes to establish an off-ice identity through philanthropy, speaking engagements, etc. The goal, Stern says, is to help a player develop “what he wants to be known as, who he wants to tie himself to.”

The combination of mentoring and branding advice aims to prevent players from finding themselves at a loss after hockey.

Stern is 44. He grew up St. Adolphe d'Howard, Que., and played junior hockey in Longueuil, Que., before being drafted by Vancouver in 1986.

Seven seasons in Calgary were the lengthiest stop on Stern's NHL tour. After a back injury forced his retirement in 2000, he worked briefly in investment banking in San Jose before moving back to Canada and finding a job in sales for Precision Drilling, a Calgary company that services the oil and gas exploration industries.

“You've had a coach for 25 years,” he says of his adjustment to civilian lifestyle. “The coach has told you when to eat, when to drink, how hard to work, when to go to sleep and what to do.

“It's a simple game to play: you work hard, you listen, you learn and you keep doing what they ask you to do.”

Retirement means the end of that routine. The readjustment can be difficult for someone who punched a factory clock for 40 years, and it can be particularly challenging for someone who is 35 to 40 years old and accustomed to the high-flying life of a professional hockey player.

“You kind of lose your sense of direction,” Stern says.

He took courses and tried investment banking in San Jose and Calgary before deciding it wasn't his thing. Stern had friends in the oil and gas industry. He made some phone calls, expressed a willingness to learn the business and landed on his feet, doing something he enjoys.

But it's not hockey. Former players who are out of the game – as opposed to the fortunate few who get into coaching or scouting – can find themselves missing the camaraderie of the dressing room and a support system that extends beyond team management.

“You've always had a lawyer, you've always had an accountant and a financial planner,” Stern said. “If you needed it, you had a psychologist or therapist. There's always someone there, but there's no one who pulls all those things together.

“If I'm struggling in hockey, keep missing the net – and I did that a lot in my career – you can stay out late at practice and work on it. You do extra work three days in a row and you can feel good about yourself going into a game.

“In the corporate world, the goals tend to be a lot further out. You might want to be the CEO, but that's a way longer process and you have to put the pieces of the puzzle together in order to get there.”

There are resources.

The NHLPA and teams' alumni organizations run various life-after-hockey programs to ease and guide a player's transition to civilian life. Stern thinks players need help in navigating the maze of resources and developing a plan for what to do with the rest of their lives. There are questions to be answered.

“Do I need to go back to school? Do I want to?” he says. “Am I going to be passionate about starting a business degree at 35 and getting it at 39?

“What gets you out of bed every morning excited about going to work?”

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Tootoo growin' up

By DEREK VAN DIEST, QMI Agency, Oct 17 2011

EDMONTON – Jordin Tootoo’s career has at times been more akin to a rollercoaster than a train.

The Nashville Predators winger has come a long way since making his debut as the first person of Inuit decent to play in the National Hockey League.

The road hasn’t always been smooth, but heading into this season, Tootoo finds himself in a better place both on and off the ice.

“When Jordin came into the league, he was a big impact, run around, energy type of player,” said Predators head coach Barry Trotz. “He now has a bit more reliable game, he has a little bit more structure to his game, he has more dependability.

“What we are allowing him to do is grow as a player, but before he could grow as a player, he had to get his life in order and he did that. To me that’s the toughest thing that anybody has to do in their life, he had to change 360 and if you talk to Jordin, he’s very proud that he was able to do that. When you’re not in order, it’s tough to get through to people. It was tough to get through to him. But there’s a difference now, his antics are different and therefore his actions are better.”

Last season the product of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, realized he needed help battling inner demons and voluntarily checked himself into the NHL’s substance abuse program to conquer an alcohol problem.

He came back a different person and a different player.

“It’s like a computer, he got the clutter out and defragged, now he can grow and the memory bank is working really well and he processes well and his game is growing,” said Trotz. “He’s always had a skill level, when he played in Brandon, he was offensive player that also had that ability to break you in half when he hit you.

“He still has that ability and his game is growing. He’s a player that you have to watch in the next couple of years and see where he takes it.”

Tootoo, 28, was selected by the Predators in the fourth round — 98 overall — of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Always a fan favourite as a member of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, his popularity peaked as a member of the Canadian World Junior team, earning the ‘Tootoo Train’ nickname due to his penchant for running over opponents.

In Nashville fans still blow train whistles every time he’s on the ice.

Tootoo made his debut with the Predators at the start of the 2003-2004 season.

Last year he scored eight goals and collected 10 assists in 54 games before going into the substance abuse program. He rejoined the Predators in the playoffs.

Tootoo went into Monday’s game against the Oilers with an assist in four games. He went in as a different player from the one that used to simply run around the ice looking for the big hit.

“As the years go on, you mature as a player and obviously the game has changed a little bit,” Tootoo said. “For me personally, there is always things to work on. For me, it’s about being patient with the puck. I know I have the ability to be effective with without the puck.

“My foundation is being a physical presence, I’m not going to shy away from that. At the same time, you have to pick and chose your spots. I realize that and fortunately, I have the ability where I can utilize other aspects of my game as well.”

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Reconstruction project:
Komisarek has shown signs of improvement this season for the Maple Leafs.

Michael Grange, Sportsnet.ca, October 17 2011

After a disappointing season, The Building decided to renovate.

At 6-foot-3 and somewhere between 240 and 250 pounds, Mike Komisarek's nickname was both obvious and — in theory –complimentary.

Tough to move. Like hitting a building. Big. All the good stuff.

But the corollary wasn't thought through perhaps, or at least maybe it was the rare hockey nickname tinged with a sly dose of irony.

Komisarek's a building all right, as in: stands still, hard to go through but easy enough to go around; that kind of thing.

Not necessarily ideal qualities for a defenseman in the go-go NHL.

The Toronto Maple Leafs season-opening winning streak was snapped at three as they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Colorado Avalanche at the Air Canada Centre, but the reconstruction of Komisarek's career continues.

One of the big positives on Monday night? He wasn't on the ice when head coach Ron Wilson's impromptu pairing of Cody Franson and John-Michael Liles (they'd never played together in a 4-on-4 situation) got tied up in their own end and allowed Colarado's David Jones to sneak in behind them to score the winner on James Reimer who was out-dueled by his former teammate and mentor Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Maybe he should have been out there — a thought that would have been banished a season ago.

In general, Komisarek's been holding his own on the crowded Leafs blue line, where the fierce competition has put training camp favourite Jake Gardiner in the press box the last two games in place of Franson.

It's a scenario that will remain fluid until someone gets hurt or a trade is made..

Komisarek's 23 shifts and 15:40 minutes of ice time were a far-cry from Dion Phaneuf's game-high 28:04, but it put him ahead of Luke Schenn who lagged behind Leafs defenders with just 14:21 minutes of ice time.

With the Leafs trailing 2-1 heading into the third period, it figured Wilson would turn to his more offensive-minded rear guards and away from Komisarek, or Schenn for that matter.

"You need some offence in that situation," said Wilson. "You're not looking for plays off the glass."

Playing it off the glass is a specialty of Komisarek's, part of the keep-it-simple-style when he plays at his best.

Whether that's great value for a seven-year veteran in the midst of a five-year, $22.5 million contract is another matter. The deal is cited so often as an example of Leaf president Brian Burke's folly that it's become a stand-alone adjective.

Say you're trying to describe a piece of furniture that overfills a room and serves no useful purpose — just compare it to Komisarek's contract and everyone will instantly understand.

But after four games the contract known as Komisarek is showing some signs of being a hockey player again. The result, he says, of an off-season spent trying to get quicker and smaller.

Sometimes it looked like the renovation had paid dividends, like when he raced the length of the ice in the second period to knock Joakim Lindstrom off the puck as he was in deep on Reimer.

Other times he looked as rooted as ever, as when rookie Gabriel Landeskog raced by him so quickly Komisarek got his feet tangled on his pivot and was on his back about the time that Landeskog was breaking in on Reimer, who made the second-period stop.

His nickname is a little less apt this year, he feels, because he got out of the weight room and onto the soccer fields and running tracks in Long Island this past summer.

"I wanted to get back to being more of an athlete," he said

After skating in the mornings he and a group of local NHL players, college players and minor-league pros would gather behind Hauppage High School for sprints, hurdles, and plyometrics before taking sides for footie.

"Soccer was the first sport I played," he said. "I played indoor soccer; I played year-round. We played a ton this past summer, at least two, three times a week."

And unlike his on-ice persona, Komisarek's not just a thumper in cleats.

"You'd be surprised," he said of his soccer skills. "I can dish it out there."

Among the themes of the early part of the season to date is how Leafs head coach Ron Wilson is going to sort through the traffic jam of defencemen he has on his blue line.

So far Komisarek has emerged from last year's doghouse with regular appearances on the penalty kill and as the steadying veteran hand alongside Franson, who replaced Gardiner in the lineup again on Monday night.

"He's a good player, it doesn't take long to figure out where he's going to move out there and I think we play well together," said Franson.

He's hardly perfect, and as furniture goes he still looks a bit less then you'd expect for the $4.5 million cap hit he represents this season and the next two to come. But Komisarek insists he remains a worthy reclamation project deserving of a place on a Leafs blueline, which remains a group that's still a work-in-progress.

"I want to return to the dominant force I was a few years ago," he says. "I'm definitely not there yet but I want to be key contributor on a playoff team and I feel like I'm headed in that direction."

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Kennedy: Nineteen-year-old draft makes little sense

Ryan Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2011-10-19

Bob Nicholson made a lot of waves this weekend when he brought up the idea of the NHL going to a 19-year-old draft and though I believe the Hockey Canada president has the best of intentions, I still don’t see the point.

Some have claimed Nicholson simply wants the Canadian League and, by extension, Canada’s world junior team, to benefit from an extra year of service from stars such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Jeff Skinner. But an examination of what Nicholson is actually proposing puts that fire out quickly.

For legal reasons (see Ken Linseman’s WHA lawsuit), the NHL can’t ban 18-year-olds from service and Nicholson has noted an exceptional player – or perhaps all 30 kids picked in the first round of the draft – would be exempted from the age hike.

Which kind of brings the whole notion into question. Under this new system, Nugent-Hopkins and Skinner would still have been NHL rookies at 18. Really, the crackdown would only affect a player such as Ryan O’Reilly, who beat the odds in 2009 by going from the second round of the draft straight to the Colorado Avalanche.

O’Reilly, in fact, is the perfect example of why this proposal is flawed. The Colorado center earned his roster spot thanks to dogged two-way play, earning a defensive role on the team’s third line and helping the young Avs to a surprise berth in the playoffs. Despite his youth, he was trusted with nearly 17 minutes of ice time a game – about a minute less on average than fellow 18-year-old Matt Duchene, who also did big things for Colorado that year.

The fact is the NHL is already governed by a process that sends teens back to junior if they’re not ready – it’s called natural selection. Jonathan Huberdeau looks like a world-beater with a great future as a member of the Florida Panthers, but GM Dale Tallon also saw a kid who needs to pack on some meat to his frame. No worries. Huberdeau simply returned to the Quebec League’s Saint John Sea Dogs, who become a very real possibility to repeat as Memorial Cup champs thanks to his return, as well as welcoming back fellow first-rounders Nathan Beaulieu and Zack Phillips to the fold.

Smart GMs know when to bring a kid along. The New Jersey Devils, for example, have mined the NCAA for talent to great success over the years both via draft and free agency and have a pretty simple policy to ensure the best odds of success: “We never encourage a player to leave college early,” said GM Lou Lamoriello.

To be sure, players have been rushed to the NHL. But much like overpayment in free agency, you cannot save owners and GMs from themselves. In general, draft selections are getting much better as time goes on and that will help the process. This year, seven of the top eight picks (Huberdeau was the exception at No. 3) made their team’s opening season rosters. Ryan Strome of the Islanders didn’t end up playing, but New York rightly felt the atmosphere-soaking would help in the long run before he was returned to junior.

Go back to 2006 and a top five of Erik Johnson, Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom and Phil Kessel still looks pretty solid. But delve further and you’ll come across the 1989 draft, when the first nine defensemen taken were Adam Bennett, Doug Zmolek, Jason Herter, Jason Marshall, Linsay Vallis, Kevin Haller, Jason Soules, Jamie Heward and Steve Bancroft. The first blueliner taken in the second round? Adam Foote. Nicklas Lidstrom was taken in the third round that year, 53rd overall. Back in 1985, the first three centers selected were Dan Gratton, Ryan Stewart and Glen Seabrooke. Joe Nieuwendyk went 27th that year.

So let’s just accept that with players getting better prepared for the NHL life at an earlier age and teams getting better at choosing the truly elite, things are probably fine when it comes to the draft age.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Changing demographics a warning sign for NHL

QMI Agency, Oct 19 2011

NHL hockey teams need to keep an eye on Canada's changing demographics, as new immigrants and an aging population boost the popularity of games such as soccer and baseball, the Conference Board of Canada said in a report.

It is the latest in a Conference Board series called Playing in the Big League, which looks at what it takes for a professional sports team to make money.

All professional sports leagues need to be aware of how demographics and consumer tastes are evolving in their markets, the report said. For example, NHL teams may need to tweak their marketing to retain older fans, who may be turned off by the speed and violence of the game, it said.

Likewise, they need to recognize the increasingly large immigrant population, especially in large cities such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. About 40% of Toronto residents were born outside of the country.

"For many, soccer is their team sport," said the report. "Ignoring the demographic reality today could hurt the financial viability of professional sports teams in the future."

Strong management and quality facilities are also key factors that can contribute to a team's financial success.

The report points to the Ottawa Rough Riders as an example of how poor management helped bring down a successful sports franchise. The team's winning streak began to fade in the late 1970s, and they had their last winning season in 1979.

"While many of the elements for on- and off-field success remained in place into the 1980s, looking back, it is clear to see that the changes in ownership and management during this period were turning points for the franchise," the report said.

The club eventually folded in 1996.

Location is also a major key to success, the report said. The lack of a baseball-specific stadium wasn't the only factor in the demise of the Montreal Expos, but it did play a part, the report said.

The team was playing in Montreal's Olympic Stadium, which was not designed for the sport. The crowd was far from the field and the sightlines were poor.

However, when it comes to financial performance, a winning team may be the best boost for the bottom line.

"People love a winner, and putting together a competitive team will sustain and grow fan interest," the report said, adding even non-fans will enjoy the atmosphere a winning team generates within a community.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Juniors deserve slice of the money pie

By RYAN PYETTE, QMI Agency, Oct 19 2011

It's fitting the Canadian Hockey League announced a sponsorship agreement with a big bank this week.

Because it's time to pay its players.

There's no longer any reason to hide behind the facade of amateurism since the NCAA saw through that many moons ago. The time has come for the kids to be compensated for the entertainment, time and risk they invest into making the OHL, QMJHL and WHL the best pipeline of big-league hockey talent in the world.

Thirty years ago, it probably wasn't feasible for a lot of mom-and-pop team owners to pony up the dough and stay afloat.

But the junior hockey world today, as overseen by David Branch, is big business.

Most of its owners are wealthy and some teams are more profitable and valuable than clubs in the American Hockey League, and most certainly, the minor pros.

That old stipend of $50 a week to players is a joke in today's game.

The players don't just help their teams by scoring goals or preventing them. They are recruited to meet with fans, shill for sponsors, perform for scouts, speak to a hungrier media, visit school children and hospitals, submit to drug testing and forego potentially lucrative summer jobs so that they can pay personal trainers to get them ready for the upcoming season.

On the whim of one GM who needs one more power forward for a Memorial Cup run or another who wants a few more draft picks, they can be uprooted from school and shipped to another club to start over again.

They are also subject to career-ending injuries — just like the pros, only minus the hefty paycheques.

Now, it can be argued the players get compensated for their services in a roundabout way when their agents negotiate scholarship packages with teams before setting foot on CHL ice.

But that's where the money becomes a shell game.

There are strings attached to that cash.

The pro dream can only be pursued for 18 months before the education dollars agreement is rescinded. There are some teams — though the owners obviously won't admit to it publicly — who pay the way for some former players to go to school because the clock had already struck midnight on their CHL deal.

There are residency limits on your scholarship. If you're a U.S. player, want to go to a program at Penn State and live in Ann Arbor, Mich., you're going to get tuition, books and fees for the closest institution (in that case, University of Michigan).

The OHL claims to ante up for all post-secondary schooling while their older players are still in the league. But with his hockey schedule, what skater has time for more than a course or two?

Then, there are players who simply won't be heading to school when they're done. That's their choice.

But say they played five years in the OHL? Shouldn't they have earned a little something for their sacrifices to put a down payment on a house?

The simple answer is to make the school money guaranteed.

Give a kid the scholarship maximum $7,600 for each full season played. If you're paying 25 guys, that's $190,000 per team, but more if you sign U.S. players. The league and owners can afford it.

If they can't, sell or slash the stick budget and go back to wood. That will put a dent in the expenses.

Cynics look at the more lucrative teams and say: "They've been paying star players for years. What would change?'

Well, prove it. Hire a forensic accountant. And if everyone's getting something, isn't that better than some kids getting nothing?

A couple of years ago at the Memorial Cup in Rimouski, a handful of star players on the host team zipped around town in cars with their names and numbers on them.

Some might look at that as a violation. Others might see great advertising.

For the players, it should be viewed as a nice place to start.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Out of the playoffs in November?

Gregg Drinnan, Taking Note, Oct 18 2011

As play resumed in the WHL on Tuesday, the Calgary Hitmen and Lethbridge Hurricanes were five points out of the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot.

Is it already too late? One might think not so, at least not this early into the season. After all, the Hitmen had played seven games, the Hurricanes 12.

However, with the advent of the three-point game, it would seem that conventional thinking is beginning to change.

Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada leads his weekly blog entry with thoughts on the subject.

———

Friedman begins:

A few years ago, I was chatting with a GM about a team that started the NHL season very nicely.

"I believe in the 10-game rule," he snorted. "You don't get a true sense of a team in the first 10 games. I don't put too much into a hot or cold start."

Well, he's modified that stance — slightly.

"With the three-point games, teams can't win the Stanley Cup in the first 10 games of the season," he said. "But they sure can lose it that quickly."

———

Friedman then spent some time working with the NHL standings in seasons since the lockout. What he learned is frightful if you’re on a team that falls too far off the pace in the early going.

He used Nov. 1 as the cutoff date and discovered that if a team is more than three points out of a playoff spot at that point the chances are slim that it will make up the lost ground.

Two teams were able to do it; 27 others failed. That’s right . . . 27!

“The Buffalo Sabres were four points in arrears on Nov. 1, 2011,” Friedman writes. “But that's absolutely cozy compared to the Calgary Flames, who were seven back on Nov. 1, 2007. Those recoveries are impressive, considering 27 other clubs failed to make the playoffs in the past six seasons when falling four points behind by that date.

“So, that's something to keep an eye on. If your team is two wins out of the playoffs at the beginning of November, the three-point games give it a seven per cent chance of recovery.”

Friedman’s weekly piece — and it should be a must visit for hockey fans — is right here.

———

For what it’s worth, I went back to the WHL standings over the last four seasons to see what was what as of Nov. 1. Yes, it is a small sample size, but that is as long as the present playoff format has been in play.

Over those four seasons, 12 teams were at least four points out of a playoff spot on Nov. 1. Only two — the Spokane Chiefs and Kelowna Rockets, both last season — were able to climb out of the hole and qualify for the playoffs.

Last season, on Nov. 1, Spokane was four points and Kelowna six out of eighth place in the Western Conference.

On Nov. 1, 2007, there were four teams at least four points back — Portland in the Western Conference; Prince Albert, Red Deer and Saskatoon in Eastern Conference. Not one of those four teams qualified for postseason play.

It will be interesting to see what the standings look like on Nov. 1 of this year and then to look back at season’s end and see what’s what.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

SJHL eyeing new western championship

Estevan Mercury Sports, October 19, 2011

It has long been rumoured that the SJHL would be part of a new venture taking the four western Junior A hockey leagues out of the RBC Cup and into a new western championship.

The Mercury has obtained a document outlining the strategic plan for such a move, to begin in time for the 2012-13 season.

Phone calls to SJHL president Bill Chow were not returned.

The proposed new format would see the four leagues – the BCHL, AJHL, SJHL and MJHL – governed under the terms of the Junior A Supplement and would allow them to begin their regular season later in September, ending in March.

According to the document, a major reason for the change is to get away from Hockey Canada’s overbearing rules for hosting tournaments, which restrict profit for the host community by forcing them to change most or all of their advertising to Hockey Canada sponsors.

The document cites “Hockey Canada exclusivities” and “administrative fees for event management” among the reasons for taking this initiative.

It also stipulates that the leagues would maintain their membership in the CJAHL as well as the World Junior A Challenge and annual prospects game.

It also says that the four western leagues “shall remain open to the principle of a national championship if the dates and format can be worked out.”

The schedule proposed in the strategic plan would see the western championship played during the first week in May, with an equal rotation among the four leagues.

The proposed format would also do away with the current regional championships, the ANAVET Cup for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the Doyle Cup for Alberta and B.C.

A section of the plan titled “threats” lists possible resistance from Hockey Canada and its sponsors, particularly RBC, and push back from the eastern leagues, as items to consider.

A running theme throughout the strategic plan is putting teams on strong economic standing, with part of the mission statement aimed at “creating economic wealth and team stability.”

The proposal includes a plan to hold the inaugural western championship in May 2013 and, within the next two or three years, finalize the rotation for the first four years, through 2016, with the event being hosted by each of the four leagues in that time.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Getting better with age: Under Nicholson's proposal, the top players in the draft will need an exemption or they will have to wait a year.

Patrick King | October 20, 2011

Bob Nicholson doesn't have to look too far to find support for his proposal to move the draft age back a year.

The president of Hockey Canada presented a nine-page document to the National Hockey League Players' Association outlining reasons it would be beneficial to change the eligible age of the draft on the weekend. As the biggest feeder league to the NHL, the response from teams in the Canadian Hockey League appears in favour of the new proposal, even if it does open itself up to new conversations.

"I think there's merit to what Bob's talking about," said Bob Tory, general manager of the Tri-City Americans. "He's looking at the big picture on the process of development and making sure that maybe we can develop better players not only for world junior teams, but for the NHL as well."

The new proposal would indicate junior teams would have a tighter grasp on their players and obtain three years of service, as opposed to just two under the current rules. The outlined proposal, however, also includes an opportunity for the very best players to achieve "exceptional player" status, similarly to how the Ontario Hockey League instituted such status in 2005 to allow John Tavares to play in the league at 15.

In many cases, 18-year-olds are not making the jump straight into the NHL with the exception of players drafted first-overall. Many of those players end up playing immediately, which would not be excluded under the new proposal. In that sense, nothing would really change for the few junior franchises that are already losing 18-year-olds to the NHL.

"If you're drafting early and you're drafting a kid in the top of your junior draft, in many cases you're planning that he's not going to be with you in his 19-year-old year," explained George Burnett, head coach and general manager of the Belleville Bulls. "It's certainly a big adjustment and a hole to fill when you lose them at 18."

"It's a tremendous blow to a junior team when you lose an underage (18-year-old) player because you can't replace them," Tory added. "Those guys are your best player and they sell tickets for you."

The possibility of having three years of service from a top player will always be embraced by a junior team. But it's also practically a moot point for a junior team in most cases, since most of the players that leave junior for pro early are 19 and not 18. Only the very best make the jump at 18, and those players would fall under the exceptional player status anyways.

By moving the draft back a year, even then the change wouldn't be dramatic for junior teams that are consistently losing players at 19. The Windsor Spitfires, for example, lost two last season with Taylor Hall and Cam Fowler. Three years earlier, Josh Bailey left at 19.

"If you move it all the way to three years, you might as well move it to four and we'd have Hall and Fowler last year," Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said. "If it was a four-year draft, then you wouldn't lose anybody."

Saying that, Rychel isn't suggesting adding another year to the one proposed by Nicholson. Although his team could benefit from the new proposal, he didn't feel a change was necessary to the current system. As a former scout with the Phoenix Coyotes, he doesn't believe much changes in evaluating talent for the NHL in that year.

"One extra year doesn't matter," he said. "Two does for sure."

And that, of course, may be one of the main reasons in changing the draft age. It's easy to look back on the draft's mistakes. Every team has at least one they'd love to take a mulligan on.

"It will be good for NHL teams because I think that will increase the value of their draft," explained Andre Tourigny, head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. "They will make less mistakes. I think it could be good for everybody."

Many of those mistakes come in the form of rushing players. Nicholson mentioned how this new proposal could slow the process down and give players a better chance at making an impact once they do become regular NHLers.

"I'd like to see a study of how many 19-year-olds played in the NHL and then were in the American league at 20 or 21," Tory said.

Bailey would fall into that group after spending 11 games in Bridgeport last season. As would James Wright, who made the jump to Tampa Bay in 2009, only to find his way back to junior. Now he's a regular AHLer.

Besides the obvious advantages for junior teams, another advantage would be for the players, who are not yet old enough to drink in most provinces, let alone the United States, at the time they're drafted.

"What will help is to keep the player on the edge for an extra year," Tourigny said. "We might keep the motivation for the player higher."

"Hockey's a very difficult game," Tory added. "It's very difficult to make a living at and that's why they make a very good living because they need to learn how to deal with adversity in hockey and it's constant.

"They want to get there so quickly they don't realize that there's steps involved in the process that would allow them to get there as a better player and a more complete player. We seem to be fast-tracking everything we do in society now and I don't know if that's the best situation."

A more concrete, three-year window in junior will never be shooed away by those in the CHL. Hall repeatedly talked about his late birth-date, which enabled him to play three years in Windsor, as an advantage for him.

Would Hall have been in the NHL at 18 if he was born two months earlier? Without a doubt.

"Selfishly from the junior side, it's a tremendous opportunity for stabilizing your franchise when you have elite players that you know are going to be there at 18, but plan for them not to be there at 19," Burnett said.

"If you've proven all you can in junior hockey after three years and an NHL team steps up and drafts you in the top 10, you're all set," Rychel said.

As much as losing a player like Steven Stamkos or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins can be devastating for a junior franchise — two examples of players that made the jump at 18 — it's clear they're the exception to the rule.

"There's always going to be those elite players that I don't think should be denied that opportunity if in fact they're ready," Tory said. "You can also make just as many arguments of guys who went on at 19 and ended up in the American league at 20 or 21 that probably weren't ready and probably went too early."

It's far from a perfect system, but the new proposal appears to be well-received by most in the junior world.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

NHL takes small step toward solving its TV problem in Europe

David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, October 20, 2011

The NHL took a small step toward solving its TV problem in Europe Thursday, with the emphasis on small.

The league announced it has reached an agreement with Modern Times Group, a television company based in Stockholm, to show all NHL regular-season and playoff games in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. But hockey fans in continental Europe and Russia remain without access to games on television two weeks after the season started and they continue to express their outrage on the social networks.

While the multi-year agreement with MTG is good news for the large number of fans in Scandinavia, there is a catch. Most of the games will be shown on pay-TV channels operated by MTG and only “certain games” will be available on free channels, according to an NHL press release.

At this point, the only way for European fans outside of the Nordic countries to watch NHL games is on their computers if they subscribe to the league’s video-streaming service.

The problem started when the NHL, figuring it could make lots more money from European television, did not renew its deal with ESPN America when it expired after last season. The U.S. cable television giant was the only carrier for all European countries.

Instead, the NHL formed a partnership with two companies, Medge Consulting and Advisers Media International. Neither company owns television networks or stations but both were to act as third parties selling the NHL rights in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to a variety of television networks.

This meant the NHL went from a single outlet in those regions, ESPN, to different outlets in almost every country, which also meant negotiating multiple deals. Naturally, the process dragged on and now only the Nordic countries have the games on TV and other European and Russian fans are steaming.

The idea from the NHL’s side was to tailor each television package to each region. So if a few NHL teams had lots of Swedish players, more games from those teams would be shown in Sweden.

Also, ESPN often showed NHL games only on cable packages that cost more for the viewer. In addition to wanting more money for its rights, the NHL was also hoping carriers in some countries would put at least some games on cheaper or free channels.

But the complexity of doing multiple deals left the NHL without anything to offer its European fans once the season started. At this point, it’s not clear when those fans will get to legally watch hockey on anything other than their computers.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

Barilko's plane finally arrives home

KEN PAGAN, QMI Agency, Oct 20 2011

COCHRANE, Ont. — Sandra Cattarello, 71, is resting against a fallen tree perhaps sheared by the single-engine floatplane — now scattered before her eyes — which carried her cousin 60 years ago.

It is a well-deserved rest. She just completed a challenging two-hour trek through more than a kilometre of deep muskeg and thick spruce forest in cold wind and rain.

Cattarello came to the middle of remote bush 80 km north of Cochrane on a once-in-a-lifetime excursion with 15 others. She has just finished leading the group in prayer, honouring the two men who died here in 1951.

The first family member to ever visit the crash site, tears roll down her cheek as she speaks of the pain her family endured with the tragic loss of her cousin, Bill Barilko.

“It’s very sentimental and I’m glad I came,” Cattarello says, her voice quivering. “It’s very sad. I was 11 years old when this happened and we often wonder how his hockey career would have gone.

“For the family, it was quite amazing when they did finally make the discovery of the plane. For his mother, it was very good, because we were able to bring closure to it. Today is very significant and yet, it’s sad.”

As an 11-year-old in September 1951, Cattarello gathered each day with family and friends at Porcupine Lake, waiting for the 24-year-old Barilko to return home from a fishing trip near the James Bay coast with Timmins dentist Henry Hudson.

Barilko, at the height of his fame after his overtime goal won the Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs four months earlier, was due to return on a stormy Sunday evening, Aug. 26, 1951.

But the yellow, single-engine Fairchild piloted by Hudson never arrived. Barilko and Hudson simply vanished.

Their disappearance sparked the largest aviation search in Canadian history, involving 38 Royal Canadian Air Force planes and 270 personnel, extending into October 1951.

“We’d go down to the lake on our bicycles to meet the planes coming in,” says Cattarello, whose father, Carlo, was one of Barilko’s first hockey coaches. “At the time, we really thought maybe they stopped at a lake somewhere and they would be found.”

The plane’s wreckage wasn’t discovered until June 7, 1962 — six weeks after the Leafs won their next Stanley Cup — bringing an end to a mystery that had gripped all of Canada.

The skeletal remains of Barilko and Hudson, still strapped into the seats, were recovered and laid to rest, providing some closure for heartbroken family and friends.

But the plane’s wreckage remained untouched in the remote forest for 60 years, even though there were requests from aviation museums.

Until Oct. 16, 2011.

Shortly before 10 p.m., in another solemn ceremony, the Barilko/Hudson plane arrived home to Porcupine Lake.

* * *

One of few remaining family members from Barilko’s generation, Cattarello was a central figure among the group of 16 who made the journey to the crash site. (Barilko’s sister, Anne Klisanich of Toronto, now 81, was not able to come.)

The excursion, co-ordinated by Expedition Helicopters of Cochrane, was intended to bring in some surviving family and friends before wreckage was hoisted out of the site.

Why bring home the plane?

Aside from “bringing the last of Billy home,” according to Bill Hughes, a businessman and former WHA goalie who financed the excursion, it is about Northern pride and preserving an important piece of history.

With a Timmins Sports Heritage Hall of Fame in the planning stages for the city’s 2012 centennial, there are plans to create a Barilko exhibit to preserve, celebrate and convey the Barilko story to future generations.

Hockey in Timmins and throughout Northern Ontario is on the decline and perhaps the Barilko story can restore some Northern pride.

Hall of Fame committee chairman Wayne Bozzer was part of the excursion, while Timmins videographer Kevin Vincent captured the day from start to finish for a documentary, alongside historical author Richard Buell.

“This is all part of what we hope to accomplish as far as planting the seed, where kids coming out of Northern Ontario feel good about coming out of Northern Ontario,” Hughes, a Kirkland Lake native, said in a heartfelt address to the group at the crash site. “I think the North does something to us and I know it’s good.

“And Bill Barilko exemplified that with a Northern spirit he carried with him famously. Hopefully, through telling our stories and the stories of people in our past, we will affect in a positive way the kids coming out of Northern Ontario.”

* * *

Getting to the wreckage is not easy. Expedition Helicopters pilot Chad Calaiezzi started out in Cochrane with a group of five that included Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren.

Two other groups of five are shuttled in from Island Falls, the nearest point accessible by road, 21 km to the southwest.

There is a reason it took 11 years to discover the wreckage and another 43 years before the site was marked and protected during a separate excursion in 2005 — this is very rough, thick terrain.

Once all 16 are assembled in a cleared swamp area more than a kilometre away, Calaiezzi uses GPS to guide the group to the wreckage.

It is a two-hour struggle through the bush. With every step, each foot sinks several inches into the soft, sometimes knee-deep muskeg. It is the type of frontier in which voices are required to locate a person five metres away, even in broad daylight.

The Northern elements are also harsh, with Mother Nature delivering swirling winds, blowing rain and light snow in a 90-minute span.

Six of the group of 16 carry an axe or hatchet to clear a path.

Archie Chenier, 86, a friend of Hudson and a frequent passenger in the same plane, uses a Sher-Wood hockey stick as a cane.

Retired Timmins dentist John Shaw, 77 — who eventually took over Hudson’s dental office and ultimately spearheaded this final excursion because of his great interest in the story — shares experiences from his first trek in 2005, when the site was marked and protected with officials from the Tembec forestry company.

Calaiezzi is the first to reach the wreckage.

One pontoon sticks out of the ground at an angle, leaning against a tree. The other is in pieces. The engine is only partially imbedded in the ground, surrounded by twisted pieces of frame. Some well-preserved yellow fabric is still visible.

It appears the plane crashed facing northeast, perhaps a death spiral down to earth after running out of gas in 45 mile-per-hour headwinds.

Archie Chenier can share a few theories about that.

* * *

Chenier accompanied Hudson on many similar fly-in fishing trips, living through his own scares in Hudson’s plane.

A few summers before the Barilko crash, Chenier and Hudson had a close call in the same area, running out of gas approaching Cochrane. Chenier urged Hudson to put the plane down on Lillabelle Lake, and the plane sputtered out of gas on the approach.

In 1949, shortly after takeoff from Hudson’s cottage on Lake Temagami, the engine burst into flames and Chenier helped Hudson put the plane back down safely.

Chenier was supposed to be Hudson’s passenger on the ill-fated trip in August 1951, but had to back out because of work.

Hudson had to find someone to take Chenier’s place, someone who had the weekend off. He found Barilko, who had one more weekend of summer before heading back to Toronto for Leafs’ camp.

Barilko had never flown in Hudson’s plane.

Chenier said Hudson was a brave pilot who would have benefited from having a voice of reason alongside him.

“He had no fear in his conscience when it came to judgment while flying,” Chenier said in a recent interview. “I claim, had I been on the trip, and with the storm clouds they described, I might have said, ‘Henry, let’s sit it out for awhile.’ Because he listened to me. Why he did, I don’t know.”

* * *

When all 16 have reached the site, Shaw consecrates the area in honour of the two men who died here.

After Cattarello leads the group in prayer, many take time to themselves, coming to grips with the surreal surroundings.

Soon, one group of seven begins the return journey through the bush, which will be a three-hour hike.

Others, including Laughren, Timmins’ workhorse mayor, prepare some wreckage to be lifted out. Within the hour, Calaiezzi returns with the helicopter and long line, hoisting out the pontoons and dropping the load at Island Falls. He returns an hour later to lift out the engine and other wreckage.

“The whole expedition’s been amazing,” Cattarello says before leaving the site. “It’s nice the way they did the ceremony here and it would be nice if they can have this in a museum.”

* * *

By sundown, a flatbed trailer is loaded with wreckage at Island Falls, but there is one final stop.

Mike Mitchell, a former Porcupine Minor Hockey volunteer, and Mike Mulryan, a longtime Timmins coach, bring the floats to a boat launch at Porcupine Lake, completing the plane’s intended journey.

Mitchell backs the flatbed down to the water as Mulryan and Shaw pour cups of water over the pontoons.

The water is poured from Tim Hortons coffee cups.

It was Horton, from Cochrane, who eventually replaced Barilko on the Maple Leafs blueline in 1952, helping the Leafs win four more Stanley Cups.

Who knows how things would have turned out if Barilko, already with four Stanley Cups at age 24, had arrived at Porcupine Lake on Aug. 26, 1951?

The Hudson/Barilko plane finally made it home on Oct. 16, 2011.

The 16 who took part in the excursion, ranging from age 36 to 86, did so because they share the same Northern spirit that Barilko came to define.

They hope their efforts will ensure Barilko’s story will endure and inspire.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

GRETZKY: OILERS AND KINGS MADE FRONT OFFICE JOB OFFERS

TSN.CA STAFF, 10/20/2011

When Wayne Gretzky severed ties with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2009, hockey fans were left to wonder whether the Great One would ever return to the game in an executive role.

While the now 50-year-old Gretzky remains a free agent of sorts, it appears there is interest from a number of clubs in bringing the league's all-time leading scorer back to the game as a member of their front office.

"Edmonton and Los Angeles have been really great to me and I have a nice relationship with both Kevin [Lowe] and the Oilers and obviously Dean Lombardi and the Kings, and I'm really honest with them. Right now, it's not the time for me to jump back into the game," explained Gretzky.

"I've always kind of been the same way when I was a player, when I was a coach, when I was in management. You have to give it your full effort. It's a 24-hour a day job, 12 months a year. Right now I don't have that sort of energy or passion to do that. I'm really just enjoying when they periodically call me or I'll call them and we'll just talk hockey."

Gretzky recognized the possibility that he may never return in an executive capacity, citing other former legends like Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr who are around the game but not involved with a particular team.

"Never is a long time, but right now I don't see it on the horizon," said Gretzky. "I have good friends in the game from some teams and the league is always good to me and of course with my relationship with Team Canada and Bob Nicholson, we're always talking hockey. But I don't really have a passion right now to make a full-time commitment to get back in the trenches."

It's been two years since Gretzky stood behind the bench as head coach and head of hockey operations for the Coyotes and in that time he has watched many of the players he once shared the ice with step into executive positions.

Gretzky's former teammate Mark Messier is now the assistant to president and general manager Glen Sather in New York, Steve Yzerman has become the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and most recently Brendan Shanahan has joined the league as the Senior Vice-President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations.

Shanahan earns a high grade in Gretzky's eyes for his work as league disciplinarian early in the season, but he acknowledges that Shanahan has one of the most difficult jobs in hockey.

"First of all, I wouldn't want his job or responsibility for anything," joked Gretzky. "It's like running for politics; when you're the President or Prime Minister no matter what you do you're going to upset half the people. You're in a never-win situation."

In addition to Shanahan's work, the fact that players are taking responsibility for their actions now and encouraging suspensions is a significant step in Gretzky's mind.

"In the 1980's, 1990's and even the early 2000's, you were always fighting for one less game of a suspension because it would cost the player a lot of money," explained Gretzky. "I think the Players' Association has done a really nice job saying 'We're putting this responsibility in the hands of the referees, the league and the union and if a guy does something silly we want him suspended and we don't want this to continue in our game.'"

As important as it is to make the game safer, Gretzky remains a traditionalist when it comes to the sport and despite excelling as a former finesse player himself, he still believes that the physical aspect of the game needs to stay in tact.

"It's hard to win a Stanley Cup because mentally, physically and emotionally you're drained by the end of the season. You talk to the Boston Bruins and they'll tell you physically how demanding it was. That's always going to be part of our game and it always should be part of our game. The physical aspect has to stay in there," Gretzky stated.

With the game evolving and the players becoming faster and stronger, Gretzky also admits that some of the milestones he reached in his career would be much more difficult to attain today.

"The defence and the goaltending of the players today is so much more advanced than it was in the 1980's. That's not a knock against anybody in the 1980's, it's just a fact of life, the players are better today. They're better athletically.

"Would I be able to ratchet 200 points? Probably not. Because it's a different game," said Gretzky, who hit the 200-point mark in four separate seasons. "Partly because the scenario. I was with the right team, the right players, the right coach, and at the time, the right era."

Gretzky sees a similar situation brewing in Edmonton now with a slew of young talent across their roster, led by this year's first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

"I really believe he's one of the best young players we've seen come into the game in a long time," said Gretzky. "And the great thing for him is he has two other young guys in Taylor Hall and [Jordan] Eberle that are really outstanding players and really good young men and they are in the right scenario."

As Gretzky enjoys his days not having to worry about wins and losses, its clear hockey is never far away from the Great One. While offers to join front offices may be on the table, it seems as though Gretzky, as always, is one step ahead of the game and ready to make a play when the time is right.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

[hockeygod]

WHL: Back on the bus; the Dub’s longest road trips

Neate Sager, Yahoo! Sports, Oct 20 2011

In junior hockey, it is an article of faith that the Western Hockey League breeds the toughest players — and looking at the schedule, it's not hard to see why.

Pointing out the WHL's 22 teams, spread between Brandon, Man., and Portland, Ore., are more far-flung than their counterparts to the east is a little obvious. You mean there's more distance between major cities in Western Canada? Tell us more, Professor. However, it seems like something that can't be fully appreciated unless you've had to live that life and perhaps it cannot be fully appreciated until you look at some of the lengthy road swings teams in the Dub will endure, experience and perhaps enjoy this season.

This was in part inspired by the Portland Winterhawks, who tomorrow will begin a nine-game, 17-day trip to Alberta and British Columbia. They'll cover some 4,200 km on the trip.

Originally, the road trip was supposed to be six games through the Western Hockey League's Central Division, but [coach-GM Mike] Johnston and management added one game at Kamloops and two at Kelowna to the end of the journey, rather than schedule two long bus rides for those games in British Columbia later in the season.

… The road schedule: Friday, Edmonton; Saturday, Red Deer; Tuesday, Calgary; Wednesday, Medicine Hat; Oct. 28, Lethbridge; Oct. 29, Kootenay; Nov. 2, Kamloops; Nov. 4-5, Kelowna.

… "I've never been on a road trip like this," defenseman William Wrenn says. "I'm looking forward to it.

"I think it'll be good and bad. It's obviously a long time, a lot of hours on the bus. I'm sure some of it will be a drag. I definitely think it will be good. We have some new faces here, young guys, and just to be around each other more — I really think the more you get to know somebody off the ice, the better you'll play with them on the ice." (Portland Tribune)

I've never been on a road trip like this … and Wrenn's from Alaska.

A couple of teams have already had their massive swings. The aforementioned Brandon Wheat Kings are 3-2-0-0 thus far on a seven-game, 13-day swing through the Western Conference. The Prince George Cougars, who log more travel miles than any Canadian Hockey League team, also were on the road for seven. Here's five more long trips other teams will look forward to:

9 games in 16 days — Kootenay Ice, Nov. 19-Dec. 4

The Cranbrook, B.C.-based Ice are often the buffer between the Eastern and Western conferences, so presumably they often get teams either at the beginning or end of a road trip. Here's the tradeoff. The Ice have a stretch of games that begins with a ferry ride to Victoria, B.C., to play the Royals and ends all the way in Swift Current.

Suggested road trip movie — Due Date.

9 in 16 — Everett Silvertips, Oct. 22-Nov. 6

Teams in the U.S. Division have a tough deal with travel. Everett, which has won just two of its first 10 games, starts out with some in-state games this weekend vs. Seattle and Spokane, then head north to Alberta for five games in a row. The trip is so long they'll actually play the Spokane Chiefs twice. Also, pursuant to the previous paragraph, there's a game in Kootenay.

Suggested road trip movie — Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

8 in 16 — Moose Jaw Warriors, Dec. 30-Jan. 14

Nice way to start the second half after the holiday break. The Warriors will host Edmonton in their first post-Christmas game, then it's two weeks of playing away from home. The bulk of it is a six-game swing to the Pacific Northwest and (where else?) Kootenay, followed by another bus trip to play back-to-backs vs. Calgary and Medicine Hat.

Suggested road trip movie — National Lampoon's Vacation.

8 in 13 — Red Deer Rebels, Feb. 17-29

This is actually two trips in one. The Rebels have a four-game swing through British Columbia that includes a schlep up to Prince George, then go home for a couple of days to rest, then head east across the Prairies to play four more game. As if not having Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was not daunting enough!

Suggested road trip movie — Dumb and Dumber.

6 in 9 — Seattle Thunderbirds, Nov. 4-12

The Thunderbirds' six-game swing through Alberta includes playing on back-to-back nights twice. Not exactly a winning proposition. Guess where the last stop is on the trip? (Hint: rhymes with ootenay.)
Suggested road trip movie — Road Trip.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."

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