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[hockeygod]

FRASER: THE CALL ON BOURQUE'S EMPTY NET GOAL

Kerry Fraser, TSN.CA, Oct 20 2011

Hi Kerry, I have something of a technical question for you.

During the Colorado-Calgary game on Wednesday night, Calgary had a 3-2 lead, and with the clock ticking down, Colorado goalie J. S. Giguere headed to the bench for an extra attacker. Calgary's Rene Bourque found himself on a clear-cut breakaway with an empty net in front of him, but before he could shoot the puck into the gaping cage, he was tripped from behind by a Colorado player.

The referee signaled a penalty but the play continued. Calgary's Olli Jokinen then collected the puck and put it in the net. However, it was ruled that because Bourque had been on an empty-net breakaway, he was automatically awarded the goal – his second of the night.

My question is: if that's the rule, then why was the play allowed to continue after the ref had already decided it was a trip, and therefore an automatically-awarded goal? Shouldn't the ref have immediately blown his whistle, stopped play, and awarded the goal? This situation is unlike any other delayed penalty, where allowing the fouled team to continue play could be to their benefit. All this did was confuse the fans, who clearly saw Jokinen score a goal that wound up being credited to Bourque.

What's the rationale behind this?

Joey Lindstrom
Calgary, AB

Joey:

'Technically Speaking,' play should have been immediately stopped by referee Don Van Massenhoven under rule 57.4 and a goal awarded to Rene Bourque. Let me give you a "play-by-play" possibility from within the referee's helmet as to perhaps why the whistle didn't immediately blow.

All aspects of this play directly applied to the language of the rule. Bourque, who was 'in control of the puck, in the neutral or attacking zone with no opposition between him and the opposing goal and when goalkeeper J.S. Giguere had been removed from the ice, was tripped or otherwise fouled by Colorado defenceman, Kyle Quincey thus preventing a reasonable scoring opportunity.'

Referee Van Massenhoven immediately raised his arm to identify the infraction and I fully believe was prepared to kill the play and award the goal but instead allowed Bourque to push the puck from his knees toward the gaping cage. Once the puck hit the side of the goal frame and prior to Olli Jokinen depositing the puck in the net, Van Massenhoven is clearly visible blowing his whistle and motioning into the net to award a goal to Rene Bourque. With the 'award,' Bourque (who hails from Lac La Biche, Alberta) notched his second goal of the contest and fifth of the season. (I just love the name of that town and had to share it with you!)

So why would referee Van Massenhoven delay the call to allow Rene Bourque the unnecessary courtesy of sliding the puck over the goal line? I've been in the same situation and did exactly the same thing that Van Mass did last night.

While my rational might appear as 'creative finance' to you, my thought process in that moment was to allow an extra second or two for the fouled player to finish the play on his own. He fought hard to put himself in that position and the thrill of "denting the twine" and the celebration that follows the scoring a goal is part of our hockey culture and history of the game. While the end result will be the same (a goal) I wanted let the player to have his moment to shine in front of the fans and not impose myself in that instant. Perhaps even subconsciously, I hoped to avoid any need to explain why a goal was going up on the clock when the puck never entered the net since this type of play doesn't happen very often. Put the puck in the net and any questions are eliminated.

While offering you my honest account of this thought process I am prepared to get blasted in your blog comments for not just following the letter of the rule. After all, the rule is the rule isn't it? You're right – I'm wrong.

But since you asked, let me share with you a goal that I was about to award in 1979 in an American Hockey League game in Binghamton but instead allowed the player to put the puck in biscuit in the basket.

With a minute remaining in the game and the visiting team up by one goal the Binghamton Dusters had removed their goalkeeper for an extra skater. Binghamton turned the puck over and an attacking player had a clear breakaway on the open net. There wasn't a Duster within 60 feet and a sure goal was imminent. As the attacking player was about to cross the Binghamton blue line the Duster enforcer, who was sitting on the end of the bench and hadn't taken a shift throughout the entire game, came flying off the bench without his stick and gloves. (I was surprised the guy even had his skates laced up at that point in the game) I thought, oh-oh, this "nut-bar" is going to jump the attacking player and start a brawl.

Just as the enforcer got within punching range of the puck handler he threw his hands in the hand and screamed – "HAAAAH"! It surprised and likely scared the hell out of the poor guy enough to cause him to mishandle the puck. I was shocked but pleasantly surprised that a physical attack hadn't ensued. At this point I should have awarded a goal but instead I allowed the player to slide the puck into the empty cage followed by his goal scoring celebration.

Having just completed a tour of Western Canada in September with my friends the Hanson Brothers you might think the play I just described was right out of their movie, Slap Shot. I can assure you it happened just the way I described it and is consistent with the crazy things that occurred in minor professional hockey during that era of the game.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention who that "nut bar-enforcer" from the Binghamton Dusters was. It was none other than my former colleague and friend Paul Stewart who eventually saw the error in his ways and crossed over to our other side. Stewy worked over 1,000 games as an NHL referee and is now the Referee-in-Chief for both the men and women officials of the ECAC Division 1 hockey. The Stew-Cat is not near as frightening in this position as he was that night in Binghamton.

And the player he tried to scare? None other than 1980 Olympic gold medal winner Dave Silk.

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

[hockeygod]

DREGER: NHL TEAMS CONSIDER AHL OVERHAUL

DARREN DREGER, TSN, Oct 27 2011

Sources tell TSN several NHL western conference teams are involved in ongoing discussions to improve the geographic challenges some teams face in trying to develop their players from afar.

Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix, Colorado, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary attended a private meeting with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly earlier this month, where the group conceptually talked about the introduction of a western wing to the American Hockey League to ease the burden of travel on prospect players, as well as provide NHL teams with a more hands on approach in day to day development.

Most in that group are content with their existing AHL partnerships; however, there are some who who like to see change and are considering a more extreme approach if necessary.

The possibility of creating an entirely new league primarily based to serve some of the NHL's pacific and northwest division teams has also been suggested by some involved.

Sources say the main group intends to hire outside counsel to thoroughly investigate all existing partnership agreements and building lease commitments with existing AHL affiliates to get a clear view of how realistic such a drastic move is, within the next 2-3 years.

American Hockey League president and CEO, David Andrews, tells TSN he is aware of the ongoing discussions that have taken place at the NHL level and says he has made it clear he is willing to work to create a true western division and help facilitate such a move.

Although the AHL has trimmed its schedule from 80 games to 76 this season to eliminate the instances where teams were burdened by playing four games in five days, the view of the NHL clubs most interested in change, or intrigued by the concept of starting a new league; is based on the belief that their players aren't being properly developed because of the American Hockey League grind, limited practice schedules, and the fact most of the farm teams are thousands of kilometres away from their NHL cities as illustrated below.

Syracuse, NY to Anaheim — 3,745km
Manchester, NH to Los Angeles — 4,143km
Worcester, Mass to San Jose — 4,263km
Portland, Maine to Phoenix — 3,773km
Cleveland to Denver — 1,974km

While the National Hockey League is sensitive to the concerns of their western based teams, the league also feels a deep sense of loyalty to the American Hockey League and recognizes, like each NHL partner, the AHL is operating a business and has certain scheduling necessities to ensure operating costs are covered.

It should also be noted, most NHL teams remain firmly in support of the American Hockey League and don't want to be part of either a public or private campaign that may poison their relationships with their AHL partners.

Some involved in the process remain highly skeptical a new league will spawn from the latest round of discussions, primarily because of the enormous expense required to start up what would have to be a minimum 5 or 6 team loop. The more practical and likely solution is the introduction of a true western division…more geographically friendly for the clubs most impacted by the existing issues.

While this latest attempt to improve affiliate conditions may be far more extreme, in terms of the potential of an entirely new league, the idea of an AHL western division was originally introduced by Brian Burke during his time as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks.

Burke's push was fueled by the logistical hurdles his players had to endure to get to Anaheim from Portland, Maine, which included all day travel.

Burke's effort to garner enough support to urge the AHL to reshape its divisions and affiliate cities fizzled, but issues remain and the quest to find a solution has once again become a priority.

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

[hockeygod]

'Proud' Pearn responds to firing

BY RYAN DIXON, SPORTSNET STAFF, October 28, 2011

Perry Pearn holds no bitterness toward the Montreal Canadiens organization, but as a proud hockey man, the disappointment in his voice is obvious while discussing Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier’s decision to dismiss him on Wednesday.

Pearn had just begun his third season as an assistant on the Habs’ bench when Gauthier axed him only a couple hours before Montreal’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers that night.

"To be let go this early is tough to take," says Pearn when reached by Sportsnet magazine on Friday morning. "I understand, but there’s always going to be… I’m a proud person, I think I’m good at what I do, so I can’t help but be disappointed that what’s happened has happened."

Pearn was in charge of Montreal’s struggling special teams, just one of the deficiencies of a banged-up club that had a 1-5-2 record the day he was fired.

"Do I think it’s my fault the Montreal Canadiens had a bad start?" Pearn asks. "I’ll take my share of the responsibility. Our power play wasn’t as good as it should be; our penalty-killing wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be. But to say I’m the only reason we had a bad start, no, I don’t accept that.

"And I’m sure that’s not the point of me being let go, is that it was all my fault. It was a way of sending a wake-up call to everybody that things had to change."

The message, for the time being anyway, seems to have worked, as the Canadiens have won twice since Gauthier’s startling decision, which initially drew heat for its abruptness.

"I guess if you’re sitting today from the general manager’s standpoint, he would have an argument it worked," Pearn says of his dismissal. "They won the last two games."

Pearn says he learned of his firing in a one-on-one meeting with Gauthier.

"At 3 o’clock on Wednesday we were all focused on trying to win a hockey game," he explains. "By 5 o’clock, all the circumstances had changed."

Gauthier’s public statements in terms of his rationale for the move have been vague, leading most to conclude that Pearn was the sacrificial lamb for a club that was off to its worst start since 1941-42. Pearn, who might stay with the organization in another capacity, declines to give specific insight into to the conversation he had with Gauthier.

"Those are private things within the organization," Pearn says. "The organization has been really good with me. It’s a disappointing circumstance for everybody, but I’ll take my responsibility for the way the team started. If you ask me, ‘Do I think we could have gotten things straightened out with me being part of it?’ Yes, I do, but I understand that’s not my decision."

Pearn, who is good friends with Habs coach Jacques Martin and previously worked with him in Ottawa, points out signs that the Canadiens may not have been as bad as their record indicated on the day he was fired. Montreal was stonewalled by two separate 40-save performances, first by Buffalo’s Ryan Miller on Oct. 18, then again on Monday by Florida’s Jacob Markstrom.

Pearn also has a history of working on winning staffs: he and Martin made the playoffs each of the eight years they were in Ottawa, the New York Rangers clubs he was a part of from 2005-06 to 2008-09 all qualified for the postseason, as has Montreal in the past two seasons. It’s difficult for Pearn not to contemplate how things might have been different had he been granted a bit more time.

"That always becomes the question," Pearn says. "Would the Montreal Canadiens have beaten Boston (Thursday) night and Philadelphia on Wednesday if I’d have been there? You don’t know. We were sort of poised to make that move… because we hadn’t played terrible."

With the Canadiens playing the past two nights, Pearn says he hasn’t had a chance to chat with Martin, but he assumes his old buddy had his back on this one.

"I’m sure he was (in my corner)," Pearn says. "We’ll get our chance to talk about it."

Pearn plans to sit down with Gauthier to discuss what kind of role he might be able to perform for the Canadiens for the duration of the season. He says he holds no ill will toward the franchise and is proud of his work in helping the club reach the Eastern Conference final in 2010 and nearly knock out the eventual Stanley Cup champion Bruins last spring in a tight seven-game first-round loss.

"I had two good years here," he says, "successful years given the competitive nature of our team in the playoffs.

"I’m not hanging my head in shame by any stretch of the imagination. I do think I’ve had a positive impact in lots of areas in terms of helping the team become a little bit better than it was the day we arrived."

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

[hockeygod]

FRASER: WHY NOT LET THE PLAYERS 'GO AT IT' AND FIGHT?

KERRY FRASER, TSN.CA, 10/28/2011

Hi Kerry,

In Thursday night's Canadiens-Bruins game, P.K. Subban and Brad Marchand went at each other twice in the second period. The first time, each got two for holding but we could see they were ready to go at it. The second time, they got out of their penalty boxes and the linemen jumped in to separate them again – giving them each a delay of game penalty. It wasn't until they skated back out after the two minutes that they FINALLY got a chance to dance and they each got their five for fighting.

My question is: As an official, you could probably see as the game progressed, they were wanting to drop the gloves. Why not let them go at it the first time, let their frustrations and emotions out and save both players and teams the time and hassle so they can finally play some hockey?

Andrew,
Toronto

Andrew: You have a very valid point since fighting is allowed in our game; at least for the time being! Once P.K. Subban and Brad Marchand stepped out of the penalty box following their initial coincidental holding minor infractions it only took six seconds for them to return to the box with delay of game penalties and them just two seconds after stepping on the ice for play to be stopped for the eventual fight.

Delaying the inevitable might seem like a senseless and futile exercise performed by the linesmen which can cause unnecessary delay and turn the game into a "side-show" as we saw in this case. 'Player protection' however is the primary reason why the linesmen are instructed to flex their muscles in an attempt to prevent fights wherever possible, aside from it being just part of their job description. (Is anyone laughing out loud yet?) That's right, player protection!

This philosophy and League instruction to the linesmen goes back many years when the there was no instigator penalty and bare knuckle policing also allowed for a team to take an opposing star player off the ice for at least five minutes or more. Even if the star was a willing combatant or forced to drop the gloves to save face, the team lost the services of that player for his time served in the box. The player also ran the risk of breaking a hand and ending up on the injury shelf which happened on more than one occasion.

A classic example of a star player who was more than willing and could go toe-to-toe with the best of them was former Leafs captain Wendel Clark. He was fearless and threw a right hand like a jackhammer. While I never saw him lose a fight I believe Wendel was far more valuable on the ice than watching from the penalty box.

Team general managers also complained when their skilled players were forced to fight and became injured as the linesmen stood back and either let it happen or didn't intervene quickly enough if their player was taking a beating. It was also used a ploy to have a star player ejected from the game.

In my first trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs (1982-83) I worked Game 3 in the best of five series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Blues in St. Louis. The Blues needed a win to avoid a series sweep and force another game back in Chicago. A secondary fight was instigated by a St. Louis 4th line player as a ploy to have Hawk star Al Secord ejected from the game after an initial fight broke out early in the third period. Secord, like Clark, was always a willing, tough combatant but in this case did everything he could to avoid be ejected. In the end the gloves came off and Al attended to business. (Under the rules at the time, players involved in a secondary fight were to receive an automatic game misconduct regardless of which player was deemed to instigate the fight.)

As John D'Amico was escorting the Hawk star off the ice with his game misconduct penalty, Secord gave the St. Louis fans what J.D. termed to be an obscene gesture. D'Amico, a proud Italian and legendary Hockey Hall of Fame linesman, insisted that I assess an additional game misconduct for Secord's gesture. Knowing that a second game misconduct assessment would incur an automatic one game suspension I pleaded with John to reconsider. J.D. would have none of it and said he would assess it himself if I didn't!

Secord was suspended for the next game in Chicago and my telephone rang the moment I walked into the house after returning from St. Louis. Scotty Morrison, NHL Referee-in-Chief, had already received an early Sunday morning call from Bill Wirtz, owner of the Blackhawks and Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors. Scotty was hot and wanted to know what in hell would cause me to assess a second game misconduct that resulted in the automatic suspension to Al Secord. (I fired Denis Savard out of that game and he picked up an automatic one game suspension as well so the Hawks were going to be without their top two players. Needless to say that was last assignment in my first playoff season despite the fact the Hawks won game 4 back in Chicago and eliminated the Blues.)

All of the linemen, past and present, take this part of their job very seriously and do their very best to prevent player injury and provide protection to the players; sometimes even at their own peril. D'Amico and Kevin Collins were two linesmen that would enter altercations on their own in an attempt to break it up before fights ever got underway. Many nights I worked with John D'Amico he would have more blood on his face than the players fighting as he would take shots to protect the guy he had in hand.

Collins took a direct hit right between the eyes one night in Philadelphia that split him wide open. This didn't dissuade these guys from continuing to jump in quickly. Just ask the Flyers fan that while giving Tie Domi the business from behind the safety of the plexi-glass behind the penalty box found himself up close and personal inside the box with Tie when the glass caved in. Domi started thumping the guy but was quickly joined by linesman Collins to form a tag-team as they both the player and official got their shots in. The Flyers fan became something of a local hero for taking one for the team.

One night in Maple Leaf Gardens just before the playoffs, linesman Leon Stickle took the player protection issue to excess. As things were starting to heat up 'Big Stick' grabbed Jimmy 'Crack' Corn and bulldogged the Leaf player to the ice right at center ice. I heard a terrible yelp from Jim Corn after Leon landed on the player and separated his shoulder that put him out for 6 weeks and the playoffs! (The Maple Leafs made the playoffs that season. No, it wasn't 1993.)

Finally, I learned my lesson about saying the three most feared words a ref can say to a player that really doesn't want to fight; those words are, "Let 'em go!"

It was in the late 1970's and in one particular game I was really getting tired of seeing players enter a scrum and yap at one another from between the protection of the linesmen. Finally I had enough and told the two linemen to step aside. I then said to the two 'yappers', "If you guys want to fight go ahead and fight." The one player said
to the other one, "You wanna go?" The other guy said, "Sure, let's go."

Well they not only fought, but everybody on the ice joined in including the goalkeepers. The benches then emptied and the brawl lasted a good 20 minutes! I sat up writing a game report until 2:30 in the morning. That was the last time I promoted a fight and was content to allow the linesmen to intervene whenever possible and "protect" the players.

I took the long way around it Andrew but I hope you might better understand why linesmen Scott Driscoll and Matt MacPherson did their very best to prevent the inevitable between P.K. Subban of the Canadiens and Brad Marchand of the Bruins.

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

[hockeygod]

Ovechkin is both class clown and head of the class

MATTHEW SEKERES, Globe and Mail, Oct. 28, 2011

Alexander Ovechkin is not only one of the best players in hockey, he’s also the greatest showman in the NHL.

Take the Washington Capitals practice at Rogers Arena on Friday, in advance of a Saturday game against the Vancouver Canucks, where Ovechkin spent most of his downtime heckling injured teammate Mike Green, who was in the stands beside general manager George McPhee.

Ovechkin wouldn’t let it go as the two men spoke. He wouldn’t reveal what the inside joke was about, but it’s a good guess he was ribbing Green about sucking up to the boss.

“Mike Green!” he bellowed for all to hear, drawing so much attention to Green and McPhee that the latter put his arm around the former, and everybody had a good laugh.

Of course, the Capitals have been doing nothing but laughing – and offering gap-toothed smiles – these days, after a spectacular start to the 2011-12 season. Washington won seven consecutive games before falling 2-1 Thursday to the upstart Edmonton Oilers, the Capitals’ first loss of the season.

But while Ovechkin and the Caps are off to a flying start, Vancouver has not been kind to No. 8.

Two years ago, in just his second regular-season game at the Canucks’ home arena, Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet, not registering a shot on goal until late in the third period. A few months later, playing for Russia at the 2010 Olympics, Ovechkin recorded four points in four games, and delivered a hellacious hit on Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic, but his country went meekly into the night, embarrassed 7-3 by Canada in an elimination game.

“My job is to play hockey,” Ovechkin said when asked if Vancouver hockey fans had seen the best of him. “I’m not a clown who makes jokes and [does] funny things. But if I can [entertain] than I’m going to do it, so we’ll see what happens.”

Neither head coach is anxious is to see what happens in this contest between the defending Western Conference champions and an Eastern Conference heavyweight.

Vancouver’s Alain Vigneault spent his news briefing talking about how balanced the Capitals have been this season, using four lines and six defencemen far more than they have in years past.

He said one way of beating Washington previously was to catch one of its lines – read Ovechkin’s – on an extra-long shift and take advantage of tired skaters. Now, Vigneault said, the Capitals are able to play at a frenetic pace that challenges defencemen because they have fresher skaters jumping over the boards.

Vigneault said the marquee value of Saturday’s game “got our attention” and predicted that the Canucks would have to play their best game of the season in order to win. The Canucks have had a blasé start to the season, and seemed disinterested in losses to the Oilers and St. Louis Blues this week.

“I think it’s good,” captain Henrik Sedin said of facing Washington. “It’s going to bring everyone up to the level where we need to be. Otherwise, it’s going to be embarrassing.”

Washington’s Bruce Boudreau was equally skittish about facing a team he likened to a wounded animal.

“I hate it when you’re playing a great team that has lost two in a row, and that’s what we’re doing,” Boudreau said. “We’re nervous, because they’re mad. It’s going to be a tremendous test.”

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

[hockeygod]

Manitoba is big enough for Jets and Wheat Kings

By Tim Wharnsby, CBC Sports, October 28, 2011

The Brandon Wheat Kings have been one of Canada's cornerstone junior hockey franchises for a long time.

The club's roots on the Manitoba hockey scene can be traced back to 1936. They won eight Turnbull Cups as provincial junior champs between 1939 and 1964. They have made five appearances in the Memorial Cup, the most recent when they played host to the prestigious event in 2010.

But with the hysteria that has surrounded the Winnipeg Jets' comeback we wondered if the Wheat Kings have been affected by the return of the NHL to Manitoba.

"If you ask me in three months, six months or a year, we would have a better idea," Wheat Kings owner and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. "We're excited and happy for everyone that they're back. But we'll have a better sense as how captive Manitoba will remain as we go along."

Brandon is two hours and 15 minutes west along the Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg. What the Wheat Kings can measure is that their season-ticket sales have slightly dwindled. Besides the Jets return, another contributing factor was the record-setting floods in the Brandon region last spring and in the early part of the summer.

In terms of season-ticket sales, the Wheat Kings had 3,192 a year ago, compared to 3,035 this season. Average attendance has gone from 4,279 last to 4,099 through four games this season. The 8-4-1 Wheat Kings played their first home game on Friday against the Moose Jaw Warriors since a season-high seven-game road trip.

McCrimmon, a former Wheat Kings forward in late 1970s and early 1980s, bought in as a minority owner in 1992 and became the sole owner in 2000. He and his front-office staff did their due diligence as to why the slight seven per cent drop in season-ticket sales.

"What we found was less than 10 [per cent] did not renew because of the Jets," said McCrimmon, whose older brother Brad, 52, was killed in the tragic plane crash of the Russian hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl last month. Brad was in his first season as the team's head coach.

The Wheat Kings have yet to play a home game on the same night of a Jets' game, whether home or away. The first occasion will be on Saturday, when the Jets visit the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Brandon plays host to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

The first time they play home games on the same evening won't be until Dec. 13, and after that, only seven more times in the regular season.

The good news for the Wheat Kings is that the team's corporate sponsorship has increased slightly, and with the swift sellout of Jets' season tickets last summer has made the availability of tickets sparse for the rest of the province.

However, because Jets' merchandise has been in demand, the Wheat Kings can expect the sales of their team souvenirs to decrease.

But this junior franchise is not complaining.

"In general terms, the Jets coming back has generated excitement in the entire province of Manitoba across the board," McCrimmon said. "You look at the Blue Bombers, they not only have had a strong season on the field but their attendance has been solid, too [with seven consecutive sellouts].

"For us, the Jets have helped generate a hockey buzz. There is a good chance hockey fans standing around the water cooler in Manitoba are talking either about the Jets or the Wheat Kings."

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

[hockeygod]

Trading places an eye-opener for Paul Romanuk:
Canadian sports broadcaster enjoying life and work in London

By Matthew Black, Special to The Vancouver Sun, October 28, 2011

LONDON — It’s a bright, sunny day but instead of being wired into an NHL press box somewhere, one of Canada’s most famous hockey voices is half a world away from the action.

Across from the crowds emerging out of the Covent Garden tube station, Paul Romanuk stood outside a pub and basked in the heat of a rare cloudless day in London.

Staking out a space in the sun to down a cold pint on a warm day isn’t the only small English tradition he’s taken to.

Inside, he spoke of ‘football’ not soccer and ‘punters’ instead of fans without the awkward cadence typical of a North American. And, his familiar Ontario twang remained unblemished by any trace of an English accent as he griped about the tube service and dreary weather.

But fitting in with a new culture and city wasn’t always as effortless as it now appears.

“You know you’re in trouble when you arrive in a country and the sport you’ve worked on all your life is referred to as ‘ice’ hockey,” he said. “It’s not on the radar … any more than rugby or cricket are in Canada.”

Six years ago, Romanuk and his wife Kari re-located from Ontario after her job as an executive with Coca-Cola transferred her across the Atlantic.

The couple had frequently vacationed in the British capital, and enjoyed the city’s culture and history, but had never seriously considered moving there.

He left behind a reputation as one of the country’s most popular sports broadcasters as well as his job as the radio play-by-play voice of the Toronto Raptors.

“It was a tough decision because I loved that job. It was very enjoyable. But … [it was a] once in a lifetime opportunity, a great opportunity for my wife and her career. So, we decided to go for it.”

Despite establishing himself after working 11 World Junior Hockey Championships and a dozen seasons broadcasting the National Hockey League for TSN, he had to rely on hard work more than his reputation to get started in his new hometown.

“I felt that 20 years of working the Canadian market would have more traction than it did over here. I wasn’t naive enough to think that I was going to have the same amount of success here that I did in Canada,” he said. “It definitely was tough to sort of get going.”

Today, he can most frequently be heard calling hockey as well as basketball, baseball and other North American-style sports for the Eurosport TV network.

He’s also produced video and online content for the International Ice Hockey Federation and written for various North American newspapers and magazines.

The 25th edition of his Hockey Superstars series of children’s books was also published earlier this summer.

“It’s been very different working in a different sports culture, different business culture, different media culture … I wouldn’t trade it. It’s been a real eye-opener. Everyone should do it,” he said.

In Canada, he’s now best known as the voice of the holiday-season Spengler Cup tournament. This year will mark the 10th time that Romanuk has called the Swiss-based event.

“The thing I really love about that tournament and the players is, it’s by and large a bunch of guys who wouldn’t otherwise get to wear the [national] jersey,” he said. “And I get a little slice of Canadiana every Christmas.”

The south London resident still follows the North American sports scene and checks in on his old NHL beat through his Twitter account.

Away from sports, he revels in the music and entertainment possibilities London affords.

He recalled a 2009 weekend when Blur played before 55,000 fans in Hyde Park on Friday, Madonna performed across town the next evening and the Wimbledon tennis tournament wrapped up on the following Sunday afternoon.

“With the exception of New York City, we don’t get that in North America,” he said.

He and his wife are also frequent patrons of London’s theatre scene, taking in shows as often as three times a month.

“The best theatre in the English-speaking world,” he said after listing productions like Jerusalem and Enron as some of his favourites.

Despite enjoying his time abroad, Romanuk said he plans on eventually returning to the sunny skies and hot summers that he misses most from his native Ontario.

“We will go back to Canada, without question, because there’s no place like home,” he said.

“Whether we’re here another couple of years, another five years … I don’t know. We don’t really have an exit plan at this point, but we’ll look back on it as a good experience.”

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

[hockeygod]

A touch of hockey history in a WHL game

Gregg Drinnan, TAKING NOTE Blog, October 29 2011

There was a little bit of hockey history involved in a game in Swift Current on Friday night.

Trevor Cox, a 16-year-old forward from Surrey, B.C., scored his first WHL goal for the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Cox, playing his seventh game of the season, scored at 12:46 of the first period, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead in a game they would lose, 3-2.

Cox, who wasn’t selected in the 2010 bantam draft, was added to the Tigers’ list and made the team in training camp prior to this season. He was the leading scorer with the Valley West Hawks of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League last season. They play out of Langley, Surrey and Cloverdale on the Lower Mainland. In fact, Trevor’s twin brother, Matt, is playing with the Hawks this season.
And now for the history part of this . . .

The Cox boys are great grandsons of the late, great Fred (Cyclone) Taylor, who played for, among other teams, the Vancouver Millionaires, who won the 1915 Stanley Cup. Yes, the Millionaires are the only Vancouver team to have won the Stanley Cup. Taylor scored six of the Millionaires’ 26 goals as they swept the visiting Ottawa Senators — 6-2, 8-3 and 12-3 — in the 1915 final.

Taylor, considered one of the greatest players of hockey’s early days, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. He died on June 9, 1979.

The Cox boys also are nephews of Mark Taylor, who played three games for the Kamloops Chiefs in 1975-76 and then moved on to the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, with whom he won the NCAA’s championship in the spring of 1980.

Taylor later played 209 NHL games, split among the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. He was a sixth-round pick by the Flyers in the NHL’s 1978 draft.

For more on Cyclone Taylor and the Cox brothers, check out this story from Peter Mansbridge of CBC’s The National. It was done last spring during the Vancouver Canucks’ playoff run. (Check out Mark Taylor wearing Cooperall's with the Philadelphia Flyers!)

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/The_National/1233408557/ID=1964057707

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

[hockeygod]

NHL brain trust juggling player gear debates

By ERIC FRANCIS, QMI Agency, Oct 30 2011

CALGARY – The age-old visor debate was re-ignited last week when Chris Pronger took a stick in his unprotected eye.

And while many wondered aloud if they should even feel sorry for a player who suffers such an injury without wearing a visor, team, league and NHLPA officials are debating equipment issues of their own.

Governors have seen the prototype shoulder pads designed by Rob Blake, Mathieu Schneider and Brendan Shanahan and are happy with the smaller, form-fitting pads, which feature high-density foam instead of hard-cap plastic.

“Both sides want this,” said Blake, who is helping Shanahan oversee player safety.

The league is also working on pushing neck guards, cut-proof underwear, Kevlar socks, longer gloves and wrist guards on the players in an effort to try stopping preventable injuries.

“Our objectives are the same because injured players are not good for anybody,” one governor said.

As for the visors, the NHLPA has educated players to let them know it’s safer to wear them.

Yet an NHLPA representative said the “majority” still want the option.

The belief is that all of the above will eventually be used and largely mandated.

It’s all just part of the evolution of the game.

SERVE AND PROTECT

The latest trend amongst players has an increasing number of them wearing clear plastic skate protectors.

Trainers in almost every city are urging all players — but mostly defencemen and penalty killers — to wear the custom-fit protectors that slide over the skate and strap on.

Some teams are buying in (10 Leafs wear them) while only a handful in cities like Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Calgary sport them.

Penguins forward Craig Adams said he started wearing them after teammate Jordan Staal’s foot was cut after being stepped on more than a year ago.

He got his custom-fit in Montreal, but Blake says the league is looking at streamlining the skate protectors, too.

Players who wear them say they don’t notice them at all until they help cushion the blow of a blocked shot.

REALIGN SIGNS

One governor referred to the realignment voting as a very “selfish process” that revolved almost entirely on teams’ travel schedules. Word is commissioner Gary Bettman may very well have to push for a more complicated divisional realignment than simply moving Winnipeg to the West and bringing Detroit back east.

Instead, the movement now revolves around having teams in four divisions with the playoff playdowns in each division first. Each team would play home and home games against each team outside its division.

Flames president Ken King said the possibility of an All-Canadian division was “romantic but not practical.”

The goal is to have this resolved at the governors’ meetings in Pebble Beach in December, and 20 of the 30 governors need to buy in to whatever the league decides.

KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

Eighteen-year-olds Brett Connolly, Eric Gudbranson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Gabriel Landeskog all survived their “nine-game tryouts” to stay in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild opted to sit Kelowna Rockets winger Brett Bulmer last night instead of having him play his 10th game.

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher told the Calgary Sun Saturday the 10-game mark “doesn’t mean anything” to him as it simply means the first year of a player’s three-year entry-level deal starts.

He said the 40-game mark is more significant as it then means a player can be unrestricted at age 26 instead of 27.

Fact is, keeping a player as an 18-year-old can actually save a team money in the long run because his stats could be weaker his first year, hurting his case on his second contract. As long as Bulmer is contributing and remaining confident he’ll stay.

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

[hockeygod]

New owner re-charges Lightning

By Ken Wiebe, QMI Agency, Oct 30 2011

Since taking over as owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jeff Vinick has brought stability, made an important hire and is doing everything in his power to establish a positive environment around the franchise.

The big move was hiring Steve Yzerman to run the hockey operations as general manager, but Vinick was receiving all kinds of praise on Saturday for the things he’s doing off the ice as well.

“He’s really stabilized the organization,” said Yzerman, the longtime Detroit Red Wings captain and Hockey Hall of Famer. “There was uncertainty in the ownership, as far as who was going to own it. He came in and stabilized that immediately. He wants people that are proud to wear the jersey and proud to work for the organization.

“He’s made a lot of changes in the organization and in the community to show the fan base that he’s serious about running a first-class organization and is committed to winning. The community has really bought in and he’s had a tremendous impact.”

The efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

“Mr. Vinick has done so much for Tampa,” Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier said. “It’s definitely a world-class organization and I’m proud to be part of it.”

With one of his first decisions in the big chair, Yzerman made a very important call of his own, hiring the up-and-coming Guy Boucher as his first head coach.

“We’re a very organized, very disciplined team,” Yzerman said. “Guy is a very demanding coach. Our players feel they’re playing within a system and they’re really challenged by him. He’s an excellent coach, he’s very innovative and he’s a great person. Our players have responded really well to him.”

Boucher had an immediate impact, instilling a solid structure and guiding his team to the Eastern Conference final in his first season.

“He’s very positive and he talks to everybody. A lot of coaches don’t talk to players and I think that’s probably the worst thing you can do,” Lecavalier said. “You know what you have to do when you go on the ice. You’re not wondering what the coach wants. When you’re struggling, he’ll talk to you and when you’re doing well, he’ll tell you ‘don’t get overconfident.’

“Some coaches are good motivators but they’re not good at Xs and Os. Guy is very balanced and he’s sharp in every aspect.”

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

[hockeygod]

Before I made it: Joel Ward

With Kevin Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2011-10-29

I started playing hockey because I wanted to follow my two older brothers. They were friends with Kevin Weekes and I would try and join the local road hockey game. They followed him into ice hockey and I just kind of tagged along to the rink. I made most of my friends playing road hockey. That’s where it all starts.

I played my house league hockey at Oriole Arena in Toronto back in the day, but probably spent more time on the outdoor rink beside Pleasentview Arena. Both rinks were close to my house and I still go back to the area once in a while for some summer hockey.

My most memorable experience was making the select team in my house league and I also remember the first time I was cut from that team. I remember one year when I was in Atom ‘AA’ playing for the Hillcrest Summits we won the city championship and that was the first time I’d ever won any big thing. I played there for two years and honestly I have a lot of great memories of playing with that team. I played with a lot of great guys back then. The whole year was fun. We had a lot of team parties and we won a lot of games. It’s one of the few years I have a clear memory of.

Growing up I loved going to a rink called Chesswood Arena. My brothers would play there on Friday nights against the Toronto Red Wings and I’d try and tag along even if they were kind of late. The rink had all the best video games and bubble hockey. They also had great chicken wings at a restaurant called “The Penalty Box.”

When I was in peewee, I played for the North York Canadians and I had a coach from the Czech Republic. He was very intense, but that was the first time I realized that I could actually do something with this game. He taught me discipline.

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

[hockeygod]

Winning hockey and $4 tickets bring Florida fans out

Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail, Oct. 30, 2011

Tickets can be had for as little as $4 (all currency U.S.) and football will always be king, but there are signs hockey is making something of a come back in Florida.

After years in the doldrums, Florida’s two NHL teams are not only winning again, they both have owners who actually seem to care about their fans.

In Tampa, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has just spent $40-million renovating the St. Pete Times Forum. The new features include a giant pipe organ, padded seats, cup holders and special coils that shoot lightning bolts from the ceiling when the team scores. Vinik, a hedge fund manager, paid for the upgrades himself and has said he won’t seek reimbursement from Hillsborough County, which owns the facility.

Vinik also owns part of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool soccer club in England but he has said hockey is his first love. He’s been showing his love to fans ever since he bought the Lightning in 2010 for about $100-million. He started by wooing hockey great Steve Yzerman to become the Lightning’s general manager. Yzerman quickly hired up-and-coming coach Guy Boucher, brought in goalie Dwyane Roloson and shored up the defence with Eric Brewer. Together with established stars Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, the Lightning came within one win of making the Stanley Cup final last season.

“Mr. Vinik has done so much for Tampa and for hockey,” Lecavalier said before the Lightning beat the Winnipeg Jets 1-0 on Saturday. “It’s definitely a world-class organization and I’m proud to part of it.”

Fans have taken notice as well. The Lightning have had near capacity crowds for each of their five home games so far this season and on Saturday the arena was packed, noisy and excited.

“It has really been a full change,” forward Ryan Malone said. “When you go out, even now to the grocery store, you see the effects in the community and people come up to you. … Hockey is coming back. The guys who were here in 2004 when they won [the Stanley Cup] said it was a crazy hockey atmosphere and I think it has definitely been that way since our playoff run last year.”

Further south, the Florida Panthers sorted out their ownership a couple of years ago, leaving local businessmen Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel in charge. This year, they launched a massive overhaul of the team, introduced a new flashy marketing program and hired coach Kevin Dineen. The club hopes those changes, along with the NBA lockout and the sagging fortunes of the Miami Dolphins and University of Miami football program, will help attract new hockey fans.

The Jets play the Panthers in Sunrise Monday.

“In light of the marketplace right now, this is our opportunity to grab the attention of casual sports fans – who we haven’t been able to penetrate,” club president Michael Yormak told reporters before the team’s home opener on Oct. 15.

The Panthers created a local buzz by bringing in 16 new players, including Ed Jovonovski, for his second tour with the team, Brian Campbell, Kris Versteeg and Jose Theodore. And while the team’s home opener against the Lightning wasn’t quite a sell out, it was considered one of the most exciting in years, ending with a Panther victory in a shootout.

Best of all for the Lightning and the Panthers – they are winning. The Lightning are 5-4-2 and the Panthers 6-4-0, giving both teams 12 points.

There are still many challenges ahead. Florida’s economy is sluggish and the housing market stuck, leaving many fans strapped for cash. Tickets are also not hard to come by.

Barely three hours before the Lightning-Jets game on Saturday, some tickets were going for as little as $5 on various Internet ticket sites. Tickets for the Panthers-Jets match Monday were priced as low as $4. By contrast, the asking price for the cheapest ticket to the Panthers’ game in Winnipeg next month is $119.

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

[hockeygod]

Realignment plus 30 Thoughts

Elliotte Friedman, CBC Sports, October 31, 2011

Spent some time on Sunday reading my Twitter feed, the Puck Daddy comments section and LetsGoPens.com. The stuff you guys are saying publicly about significant realignment is pretty similar to what teams are saying privately. You either really love it, passionately hate it or just decide, "I can deal with it."

In this discussion on Hot Stove on Saturday night you can see a chart with the new divisions. It's the last group, the one that says "I can deal with it" that is going to decide what happens.

(Think of them as "conferences" instead of divisions. You play home-and-home against every team in the other three; the rest inside your group. The first two rounds of playoffs stay inside your "conference" as well. I do believe Detroit will stay with Chicago and not move to Toronto's side, but I'm not 100 per cent positive.)

If Commissioner Bettman wants to push this through, he needs 20 votes when the Board of Governors convenes December 5 at Pebble Beach. (Easy place to get work done, I know.) Weeks ago this proposal was going nowhere. "Dead," one executive described it.

But things have changed. Understand that the vast majority of Western clubs want this to happen. They are tired of watching their Eastern brethren get all those extra days at home, spend so little time on planes and never leave their time zones after January.

And it's not just about the regular season. They want fewer cross-country flights in the playoffs, too.

So let's work backwards. Bettman needs 20 votes. There are 15 teams in the West. I can't say with certainty that he has all of them in his pocket, but if he doesn't, it's close. So, how many Eastern teams does he need? Five? Six? Maybe eight?

Can he get those votes? If he needs eight, it's barely half the conference. One team confirmed it has changed its mind (although, in return, said it did not want to be identified). "The next month is all about arm-twisting," one source said. And, it will happen at the ownership level.

Now, a couple of good questions people raised:

Q: What about Detroit's proposal to go west only once?

A: Well, here are the questions: How many teams will make only one trip instead of two? And, who do you play those extra games against? Because if, say, 10 teams are affected, and they play two extra times against everyone in their division, aren't you pretty much going Bettman's way anyway?

Q: Why not just switch Detroit and Winnipeg?

A: Well, we all know how everyone wants a piece of the Red Wings. Too valuable a visitor. And you're not helping Columbus and Nashville (same issues, especially when it comes to late-night TV viewing).

Q: OK, genius, how about…(some combination of Winnipeg, Nashville, Minnesota, Detroit, Dallas)

A: Guarantee, in whatever combination you put together, you have either one American team with four Canadians (not happening) or Dallas still in the Pacific. And the Stars are a very big part of this. Their travel is really bad as a member of the Pacific Division. Bettman listens to owners. For the last couple of years, the Stars really haven't had one. Now, it looks like they will (Tom Gagliardi).

The team looks good, but still needs momentum off the ice. Moving it into a more centralized time zone would really help. (So would moving them back into Reunion Arena, one of the great places to watch an NHL game.) The league is well aware of that.

Q: What about Phoenix?

A: You got me there… no one can answer that yet.

Q: Don't you want to see the Penguins play the Flyers six times a year?

A: Absolutely. And I understand why the Penguins are against this. The Washington Capitals felt their move out of the old Patrick Division was incredibly damaging to them. Some Penguins fans suggested moving the Florida teams or Carolina around instead. Maybe there will be some changes, who knows? But, not everyone is guaranteed to be a winner in this.

Back when I used to cover baseball, one Blue Jays executive explained how Bud Selig got what he wanted. He would build consensus behind the scenes, feel out who was on his side and try to sway the teams in the middle. He never brought anything to a vote until he knew he was going to win. And when he knew he was going to win, he would phone dissenting owners and say, "Look, I've got the votes. Are you willing to work with us on making this a best-case scenario for you?"

If the answer was yes, Selig would help those teams as much as possible. If the answer was no, he rammed it through anyway. I'm not sure if Bettman's going to pull this off. But he's closer than he was three weeks ago.

30 THOUGHTS

1. Another possibility: Next season starts one week later, so some of the U.S.-based teams spend a little less time battling for eyeballs with football and baseball.

2. Free PR tip for Gagliardi: get Jamie Benn signed. Joe Nieuwendyk was honoured before the game Saturday (for his upcoming Hall of Fame induction) and got a loud cheer when he said his son's goal "is to be on a line with Jamie Benn someday."

3. When you're a little thin on the blueline, two things can save you: great goaltending and players who stick to the system. We can all see what Nikolai Khabibulin's doing, but Edmonton is really getting that second thing. It doesn't hurt, one scout said, that this is also a team committed to working hard.

4. Want proof? Blocked shots. Last season, the Oilers were 21st with 571. So far, they are third with 184. That's a difference of nine per game. When you allow 30 shots a night, like Edmonton does, that really helps.

5. What was David Booth wearing during his After Hours appearance with Scott Oake and Craig Simpson? A sleep watch, of course. Vancouver indoctrinates these guys quickly.

6. I'm not the kind of person who really likes being told what to do, so if I was an NHL player and someone ordered me to wear a visor, I'd probably resist. As a non-partisan third party, though, I can't help but side with the GMs who want to eliminate "preventable injuries." There is so much at stake. Philadelphia won't win the Cup without Chris Pronger. Then there's the money. Not only salary, but also playoff revenues and how performance at that time of year determines next season's ticket sales.

7. We're talking Kevlar socks and long-wristed gloves, too. If Jason Pominville is wearing a sturdier stocking in Game 5 of Buffalo's first-round series against Philly, do the Sabres beat the Flyers? Teams pay for the equipment and don't get final say on what gets used. There's something wrong with that picture.

8. Pronger was asked about his stance on visors and said, "You don't want to know my stance. That's for another day." Translation: I don't want to wear one, partially because of the things I do on the ice.

9. Last summer, the Montreal Canadiens hired two new assistant coaches, Randy Ladouceur and Randy Cunneyworth. They were given two-year contracts. The holdover, Perry Pearn, had one year remaining on his deal. GM Pierre Gauthier decided to extend Pearn by another season so everyone was in the same situation. If they thought he was a bad coach, they wouldn't have done that.

10. The one thing Gauthier deserves credit for was not making a panic deal that hurt the franchise long-term. He was trying to get a forward (in addition to Petteri Nokelainen) and a defenceman. Unable to do so, it looks like he felt he needed to show he was doing something. Coaches around the league were furious. ("No respect…We're sacrificial lambs.") I was surprised by the number who were disappointed because the Canadiens are considered the NHL's "class" franchise – even if the move worked in the short term.

11. Here's a good question a couple of people asked: let's say, for argument's sake, the Canadiens did decide to fire Jacques Martin. Who is the replacement? It's not so clear-cut. They've had several chances to hire Bob Hartley (now in Europe). There's Marc Crawford, who dabbles "en francais." Their AHL coach is Clement Jodoin, although there's some question as to whether or not he's ready for the firestorm. Would they ask Bob Gainey?

12. Saw Columbus in Buffalo last week, and the toughest challenge with that team is it expects the worst to happen. They played pretty well and got a good break to tie it 2-2. Three minutes later Patrick Kaleta bounces one off Rick Nash for the winner. The Blue Jackets collectively sagged after that. (Nash buried his face in the ice, as if defeated.) "Fear freezes you," head coach Scott Arniel said. Maybe the win over Anaheim will change that.

13. Mentioned the Ken Hitchcock rumours last week, but they continue even though the principals keep denying them. Is this some kind of weird attempt from ownership to motivate the team?

14. Hotstove traitor Pierre LeBrun quoted Wayne Gretzky last week as saying he was unlikely to play in the Winter Classic alumni game. Don't be surprised if the Rangers (Glen Sather, Mark Messier, etc.) at least try to persuade him otherwise.

15. Peter Chiarelli is one of those GMs who constantly checks the market, seeing who is available or who might be. But the sense is he wasn't looking to make a move, primarily out of loyalty to the players who ended Boston's 38-year Stanley Cup drought. Will back-to-back losses to Montreal change that?

16. One thing definitely happening with the Bruins? Opposing coaches are ordering their players not to engage them after the whistle. No team feeds off those scrums/battles/fights more than Boston (and its fans).

17. Brandon Worley, a really good Dallas Stars blogger, was the first to report that the team's biggest creditor (owed almost $52 million US) is a "listed affiliate of the NHL." I understand the league didn't want anyone knowing it was helping the Stars when it was running the Coyotes, so it used legalese to deny it in an interview with Ron MacLean two years ago. But when the truth comes out, people remember.

18. One more note about Dallas: there were rumblings the team was thinking of trading Brenden Morrow. I'd be shocked, but looked into it. He has a no-trade, and, unless things have changed in the last few days, he hasn't been asked to waive it.

19. Matt Stajan, healthy scratch the last two games. Even though the Flames are thin at centre. Wow.

20. Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday morning that, from now on, Ilya Bryzgalov will only be talking after games in which he plays. Of course, his magnificent "I'm lost in the woods" proclamation came after a game, but let's not get in the way of a good narrative. Bryzgalov is no stranger to wild comments and his former teammates wondered how that would go down in Philly, where things wouldn't go under the radar like they did in Phoenix.

21. It should be pointed out, though, that if the Coyotes complained about one thing, it was Bryzgalov's tendency to blame defencemen for bad goals. This time, he blamed himself and no one else. That scores points on a new team.

22. A former teammate of James Neal's said that once Neal learned to "use his body to score," he'd become lethal. Neal is big and strong and is now dictating to defenders where he can go with that power.

23. That fits in Pittsburgh, where Dan Bylsma wants his top-line wingers putting themselves in positions where they can be dangerous. You don't need to carry the puck much because Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby (when he returns) will do that. Mike Colligan of The Hockey Writers points out that Neal is constantly going for the top of the left circle/bottom of the right circle in the offensive zones.

24. It's important to make sure guys who need to carry the puck are partnered with those who don't mind playing without it. Look at Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik. Both love to carry it, and that doesn't necessarily work.

25. Will John Tortorella stick with Richards/Ryan Callahan/Brandon Dubinsky? That line is similar to Richards/Loui Eriksson/James Neal in Dallas, and the centreman was very productive in that setup.

26. One GM on Tortorella: "Say what you want, but the Rangers play hard for him."

27. Thought Wojtek Wolski got away with one. That elbow was sneaky dirty.

28. The reason Toronto put James Reimer on injured reserve: the CBA allows you only two 48-hour emergency goaltender recalls per season. The Maple Leafs used their first last Monday because of Reimer's injury. If they didn't formally put him on IR, they were out of that option for the rest of the season.

29. You'll remember that, a few weeks ago, Eric Francis reported on Bob Nicholson's proposal to raise the draft age to 19. NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr went through Alberta on his fall tour last week and asked to meet with Nicholson in Calgary. Still doubt the players would back something like this, but thought it was interesting they chatted about it.

30. Met a teenage Leafs fan last weekend, Lucy Rogers, who travelled from River John, NS to see her favourite team face the Penguins. (She also loves Pittsburgh, because everyone in Nova Scotia is a Sidney Crosby fan.) Lucy was born with Down Syndrome, and her love of the Leafs helped her overcome some serious shyness. Angie Andreou and Kelley Rosset at the NHL, Toronto's Pat Park and Catherine Grey and Pittsburgh's Frank Buonomo (plus players on both teams) deserve a lot of credit for allowing her to attend practice and go into the dressing rooms. You can't quantify what that means to someone.

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

[Eric Fink]

SABAN'S PROCESS ORIENTED GOALS
from HOOP THOUGHTS by BOB STARKEY

The following is an article written by Carl Dubois of The Advocate. It is a tremdnous look into one of the most powerful parts of the Nick Saban philosophy — "being process driven" as opposed to being "result oriented." Carl does a great job of painting the way the 2003 National Championship Team viewed goal development. We gave this to our team yesterday:
They called them "Tiger Goals 2003." They posted them on the wall of the corridor leading from the locker room to Tiger Stadium.

They followed them and won a national championship.

LSU seniors and other leaders met before the season to compile a list of goals. That list matched the personality of coach Nick Saban, as it was process-oriented rather than result-oriented, but Saban said the players chose their 2003 goals on their own.

Half a year later, the Tigers celebrated a No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and a BCS national championship after a 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl. Saban said the team's determination to live up to their goals helped them achieve their success this season.

"We started out this year saying that we might not have the leadership that we need, and we challenged everybody to be responsible for their own self-determination," Saban said. "I have never seen a group of players that were able to do that and become so close and unified in the way they did it."

LSU senior offensive tackle Rodney Reed said the Tigers wanted to set goals that were realistic. The 2002 team authored a list that was topped by the most result-oriented goal in college football: Win a national championship.

The team finished 8-5, losing four of its last six games.

A year later, the 2003 team refrained from specific outcomes on its wish list, and in so doing, created a foundation for the kind of success LSU hadn't seen since 1958. The Tigers won a national championship without expressly setting out to do so.

It was a decidedly Saban-like approach, and the proof is in the payoff.

Here, in ascending order, are the goals on the "Tiger Goals 2003" pyramid, with some reflections from Saban and his players about how the team followed them.

Team
Saban said often that the Tigers had the best chemistry of any team he's been associated with in 30 years of coaching. Players said it took many forms, and it started when they bonded during demanding offseason strength and conditioning workouts.

LSU defensive end Marcus Spears, whose 20-yard interception return for a touchdown proved to be the difference in the Sugar Bowl, used words that evoked references to the first goal on the list — when he could have been talking about what a great play he made.

"I think the big key was it was a total team effort on the defensive side of the wall," Spears said, using a cliché but saying it with sincerity and conviction. "We didn't have one player stepping out from each other."

Not even senior tackle Chad Lavalais, a consensus All-America, tried to put himself above his teammates, Spears said.

"Even though Chad is a great player, he believed in everybody around him," Spears said, "and he believed that when he wasn't there, somebody else was going to be there (to make a play)."

Saban said the Tigers were an inclusive group, not a divisive one. Everyone on the team accepted everyone else, he said, like he'd never seen before.

"It was because of the older guys' willingness to accept the younger guys to be a part of the team," Saban said, "that made a big difference on this team."

Together Everyone Achieves More
If this goal sounds similar to the first one, that's because it is. It's instructive to note the Tigers put a lot of emphasis on goals that valued teamwork.

Freshman running back Justin Vincent said he spent a lot of time around the seniors, who earned Saban's praise by choosing not to follow sports convention and ostracize, haze or alienate newcomers. Saban said there was no class system on the team, a rarity for a large group of such diverse people.

Vincent, the Most Outstanding Player of the Sugar Bowl, said senior offensive guard Stephen Peterman typified the Tigers' belief in teamwork this season.

"He's like a great mentor," Vincent said of Peterman. "There's nothing more you could ask for in a teammate or a person. He showed me the ropes, told me to take things in stride."

LSU's offense didn't score a second-half point Sunday, but Reed was grateful the defense came to the rescue with a smothering performance against an explosive Oklahoma offense.

"All of our credit goes to our defense," Reed said. "Our defense played just lights-out and just put us in so many opportunities to be successful. I guess the offense did just enough. It was a team win, and I'm just proud as heck of everybody who was involved in it."

Trust
Saban said the players showed their faith in each other during the most trying moments of the championship game, such as when Oklahoma blocked a punt to set up a 2-yard touchdown drive that tied the game at 7-7.

"They believed in themselves, they believed in each other, and this game was no different than a lot of other games we played this year," Saban said.

Players throughout the season talked about trusting the system, trusting that if they did the work, they would see it bear fruit. The season-ending eight-game winning streak and BCS national championship proved it in a big way.

The Tigers gave credit to Saban and his staff. Implicit in their remarks was the notion they trusted the coaches because they saw how hard the coaches worked.

"I think the chancellor of LSU is happy that the coaches don't work on an hourly salary," quarterback Matt Mauck said. "That would be a lot of money. They put in a lot of effort.

"The knowledge that they pass along to us is the reason we have success."

Dominate Your Opponent Every Day
The idea is to outwork the other guy, to do something each day to get the edge, to run that extra sprint or do that extra repetition in the weight room in the hope of seeing it pay off down the road.

Before the championship game, Peterman said he's a believer in that approach, a Saban staple.

"One thing that definitely rubs off on me is his idea to dominate and create a nightmare for the other team," Peterman said. "I try to go out there every time and dominate the guy I'm going to play against. The way he preaches that all the time, it rubs off on you."

LSU uses a weightlifting program, inspired by Gayle Hatch and adapted for the Tigers by their strength coach Tommy Moffitt, that helped Tennessee and Miami win national championships four years into the system. Saban added an offseason running program featuring a brutal stretch of 26 sprints of 110 yards.

Lavalais said the strength and conditioning program is one aspect of trying to dominate your opponent every day.

"I'm not saying it's impossible to do," Lavalais said of the workouts. "You can do it, but they make it so hard to where the games come easy. There's no game I've played in that's as hard as the 110s that we run in the offseason.

"That's a testament to the coaching staff, the strength coaches. If you go out there with the mindset that you want to get better and try to kill all these sprints and the weight training we do, when it comes time for the game, it's a breeze."

Spears said the Tigers buy into the system, and it works.

Lavalais said players on other teams tell him they don't do nearly as much as the Tigers in the offseason. He smiled when he said it, then laughed, knowing it is probably a big difference-maker.

Discipline, Focus, Execution
Saban's ability to focus is almost legendary at LSU. The discipline required in long hours of work is hard for most people to sustain. Execution, he believes, is a product of repeatedly doing the work.

LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert and Athletic Director Skip Bertman said they see the Tigers as an extension of Saban's personality, and in the areas of discipline, focus and execution, they both said they've not been disappointed by the team.

Saban's team had precious few discipline problems and no embarrassing off-field incidents that put the program in a bad light. As for focus, Emmert said it starts at the top, with perhaps the best example he's ever seen.

"He is incredibly focused on the task at hand," Emmert said of Saban. "Many people work very hard. Many people work as hard as Nick does, but to stay as focused on the detail of what needs to occur and to have a systematic game plan for achieving that success is, I think, a really distinct characteristic that he has."

Finish Plays
The underlying message here is also to finish games. LSU saw a big opportunity slip away at the end of 2002 when Arkansas rallied in the final minute of the regular season for a touchdown and a 21-20 victory over the Tigers. That sent the Razorbacks, not LSU, to Atlanta for the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

LSU was not without its mistakes this season. Replay the games on videotape and you'll find flaws. You'll also see defenders closing holes, wrapping up on a tackle and bringing the ballcarrier down, offensive linemen staying on their blocks and heading downfield to deliver another.

Wide receivers did that too.

Finishing plays and finishing games with the right competitive spirit, Saban said, is how you finish a season the right way. Few will argue with the results of an LSU team that didn't lose in eight games after Oct. 11.

Positively Affect Someone Every Day
Saban said veteran cornerback Randall Gay roomed with freshman Daniel Francis early and helped him with his struggles to learn how to play defensive back in Saban's system.

"That happened on every level of our team," Saban said. "Every older guy helped every younger guy like I've never seen."

Be A Champion
Saban couldn't have scripted it any better. The Tigers didn't wear on their sleeves their desire to win a championship. They instead were careful to emphasize the steps needed to get there.

In so doing, they won three championships: the SEC Western Division, the SEC overall title, and the BCS national championship.

Today they can walk with their heads held high as champions because for the last six months, and more, they tried every day to carry themselves as champions.

"That's the thing," Reed said in August. "You can set goals that anybody can accomplish every day, whether it's in the classroom or on the football field. If you do those things every day, follow the goals and pay attention to the details, good things will happen to you."

He was right.

[hockeygod]

Hockey guru takes stats to the masses

ALLAN MAKI, Globe and Mail, Nov. 01, 2011

He admits it: He’s not the computer who wore hockey skates. Off the top of his head, he doesn’t know every game-related fact and can’t spit out a gigabyte of statistical data at the speed of a Zdeno Chara slap shot.

The truth is Ralph Slate never even played hockey. He’s a data-base specialist from Springfield, Mass., who used to catalogue songs and record albums on an Atari 800 back in the day. Just for fun.

So why is it that some people started an on-line petition calling for Slate’s induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Because they can, and because Slate helped modernize how fans, media and even NHL team officials access their hockey information.

That’s not to say Slate’s Internet Hockey Data Base (hockeydb.com) is the be-all for everything hockey. But after 13 years of relentless service, it is regarded as a standard bearer for a generation of hockey zealots who now have multiple computer stops for everything from salary-cap dealings to hockey fights, even statistical breakdowns that show how a player has performed by month, against certain teams, you name it.

That site, hockey-reference.com, “has gone to the next generation,” said Joe Pelletier, founder of greatesthockeylegends.com and the author of eBook Pucks on the ’Net. “Users can do more with it.”

Hockeydb’s role in the cyber arena is to list past and present players and their scoring totals from the NHL to the minors and Europe. That allows NHL teams to follow prospects abroad. (Asked if he uses hockeydb.com, Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill replied, “Yeah, it’s a great website.”)

“There are probably four or five big websites – Eurohockey.com, hockey-reference.com,” which Slate describes as “all NHL stuff, more in-depth with arcane statistics. I’m more interested in the historical aspect.”

Slate’s interest in hockey began in his youth when he followed the Springfield Americans of the AHL. When he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., Slate took to the Engineers hockey team and watched star player Joe Juneau. It was around 1991 when Slate began wondering what had happened to all the other RPI players, especially those who didn’t make it to the NHL.

Slate also thought about his grandfather, a former minor-league baseball player whose exploits couldn’t be found in the game’s bible, Total Baseball. Combining his passion for hockey with a growing knowledge in computers, Slate took a Total Baseball approach to hockey and expanded on it.

It was “the next logical step,” according to Slate, to what Ken McKenzie had done with The Hockey News and Jim Hendy with The Hockey Guide – a way to get hockey info to the masses.

“My original intent was to do a book but it would have been too big, too expensive,” said Slate, who works for ISO New England overseeing electrical grids. “Then the Internet came along and that was it.”

Slate has gotten more efficient at updating data to his site and that has allowed him to broaden its base.

“The neat thing is the old newspapers are coming online so I can look at the box scores,” he said. “I’ve been trying to compile attendance data [for different decades and leagues].”

While both Slate and Pelletier continually update their sites – putting in more hours than they care to admit – they aren’t sure what’s next for hockey and the Internet, and that has them wondering.

“The real craze now is the moneypuck statistical revolution,” admitted Pelletier, who got hooked on data as a kid after finding an old hockey card (Los Angeles Kings defenceman Barry Gibbs) at a dump in Terrace, B.C. “I’ve heard of one guy who recorded what part of the net where every single goal was scored last season [in the NHL] … I don’t know how they do that.”

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