Articles

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Report: Avery could go to Russia

The Sports Xchange, December 31, 2011

Having cleared waivers, Sean Avery was on his way to Hartford, to play for the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate Hartford, but could soon be headed all the way to Russia, according to ESPNNewYork.com.

Wherever he goes, Avery has made a commitment to “work his tail off,” his agent, Pat Morris, told the website.

After getting waived twice this year by the New York Rangers, Avery could consider the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, Morris, told the website.

There are teams in the KHL who have interest in Avery, according to the report.

Another potential option is a trade.

Avery had not played for the past nine games when the Rangers waived him Friday.

“This team is getting healthier, so it comes down to a numbers game,” coach John Tortorella told reporters of the move.

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

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Simmons: Burke's loyalty has limits

Steve Simmons ,Toronto Sun, December 31, 2011

All of us should be fortunate enough to have a boss like Brian Burke one day.

Someone to fervently defend you, even when your work is just adequate.

Someone to believe in you publicly, support you under almost all conditions.

Someone to overpay you, prop you up, guarantee your future.

The kind of boss Ron Wilson has with the Maple Leafs.

From the inside, Burke’s qualities are admirable, honorable and laudable. He wants you to fight for him, not against him. From the outside, though, a different story entirely.

While he believes in Wilson as coach and has chosen to extend his contract under dubious circumstances, nothing in the real world for the Leafs has actually changed.

Wilson will continue to coach the team so long as he makes the playoffs this season. If he doesn’t make the playoffs, he gets shown the door. The only difference now is, if he gets ousted because the team misses the playoffs, he leaves the way many heads of large corporations leave — with a healthy going-away present, a hockey version of the golden parachute.

Burke is loyal.

He isn’t stupid.

No matter what he says for attribution, he can’t bring back a coach who misses the playoffs four years straight. If, in the end, it happens to go that way.

THIS AND THAT

Not a fan of oldtimers hockey but it was fascinating to see how many Stanley Cup members from the Philadelphia Flyers’ 1975 championship team were in uniform Saturday. It’s 37 years ago and Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Reg Leach, Bernie Parent and the Watson brothers (and there were more) looking pretty impressive in orange and black … When I was a kid, I went to Haliburton Hockey Haven, almost entirely because Johnny Bower was in the brochure. Boy were we disappointed when we got to camp and Bower was nowhere to be found and this minor-leaguer named Parent was the goalie instructor … Lost in all the James Reimer fretting: He leads the NHL all-star voting for goaltenders and may end up in the all-star game, even as he’s struggling through this difficult season … People were wondering how Clarke and Eric Lindros would get along this weekend in Philadelphia. But I was wondering how Lindros and former Flyers captain Eric Desjardins got on. They weren’t exactly fans of each other in their days playing together … The five games to begin January are paramount for the Leafs. Four of them are against teams they are either ahead of in the Eastern Conference standings or tied with. They can’t afford to be losing points to Tampa Bay, Winnipeg or Buffalo at this time.

HEAR AND THERE

On Monday, the ubiquitous Versus becomes no more, replaced by the more appropriately named NBC Sports Network. But before leaving Versus, this is worth repeating. I heard Jeremy Roenick the other night calling the Florida Panthers “stacked from top to bottom.” And beside him on the panel, Mike Keenan, just giggled knowingly … What a score by former St. Mike’s Majors coach Mike Futa the other night, holding the winning ticket of the 50-50 draw from the world junior game in Edmonton. The haul was more than the annual salary of most NHL scouts, which is what Futa does for the Los Angeles Kings … Stan Bowman needs a goalie. If he gets one, the Chicago Blackhawks can win the Stanley Cup. But they can’t win with Ray Emery and Corey Crawford in net … One of Tim Hunter and Woody Acton were essentially let go by the Maple Leafs because of the team’s horrendous penalty-killing numbers. Wonder how they feel now, considering the numbers are 5% worse this season. For the record, this is how bad the Leafs penalty killing has been under Wilson: No team since these statistics have been kept has gone through a period (in this case, four seasons) of such shorthanded incompetence … This is how out of control junior hockey is getting: There is a three-hour trade deadline show on OHL television coming up. Don’t know what’s worse, having the show or the fact adults are allowed to trade teenagers and nobody objects to it.

SCENE AND HEARD

There are those who want to disregard the world junior hockey championships as little more than Canadian chest thumping, and I appreciate that view, but all you needed to watch was a minute of Petr Mrazek in goal for the Czech Republic to be hooked on the emotion these kids bring to the annual event. When a player we don’t know about, playing for a country we don’t care about, can foster this kind of feeling, you come to understand the power of the event … Went to dinner Friday night. Waiter complained about the Blue Jays. Guy at next table complained about the Jays. Old friend walked in and complained about Wilson’s contract extension before getting to the Jays. I’ve been out of the country for two weeks but haven’t seen this kind of anti-Jays sentiment since J.P. Ricciardi and his ego ran the club … And in this winter of almosts, looks like the Jays almost wound up with pitcher Matt Garza … Why I love and hate fantasy football, sometimes at the very same time. And here’s why: Last Sunday, Mark Sanchez played terribly in the Jets loss to the New York Giants. Except he ran for a touchdown, and threw a TD pass in between making awful decisions. Which made him a huge QB in fantasyland, the opposite in reality.

AND ANOTHER THING

The fine South Florida basketball writer, Ira Winderman, described the Raptors as “internationally irrelevant” in his NBA season preview piece. And I was right there with him until I’ve watched the first few games. I figured this team for something around 12-54 for the 66-game season. And while their record may not be much better than that, there is already a pride in play under new coach Dwane Casey that wasn’t necessarily evident in lost years gone by. Friday in Dallas was the perfect Raptor game for this season: They played well and lost … An Argo fan, trying not to make light of the fire that destroyed their training facilities, offered up this response: He hoped the previous playbook burned in the fire … Still can’t believe the Argos have Ricky Ray. It won’t necessarily sell tickets but it should beef up interest … I knew it was time to turn the television off when I was in the middle of something called the Pinstripe Bowl. The Rose Bowl, the Cotton, the Orange, I’ll watch. The Pinstripe means I’ve officially overdosed on football I don’t care about … Happy New Year to Leo Cahill and hoping for many more … And a happy birthday to Jimmy (Mouth of the South) Hart (68), Bill Bradley (71), Phillippe Dupuis (27), Paul Bissonnette (27), Jeff Carter (27), Bobby Holik (41) and Father Guidi Sarducci (69) … And hey, whatever became of Marty Murray?

HOLLOW THOUSAND FOR JOHNSON

With a mere 14 yards rushing on Sunday, Chris Johnson will hit the 1,000-yard mark, thus making that number forever irrelevant.

Johnson has had a dismal season after holding out with the Tennessee Titans, eventually signing in September for six years and $56 million in salary.

But should he hit the 1,000-yard mark, he will actually earn an additional $300,000 in bonus money for the feat of insignificance. Already 13 rushers in the NFL this season have hit the 1,000-yard mark.

By the end of this final weekend, that number could be 16. It could have been 20 had Fred Jackson, Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte and DeMarco Murray not been hurt.

So the next time you hear that someone has rushed for 1,000 yards, put it in context. It’s not a very important milestone anymore.

Not when a guy having a dreadful season is doing it.

CLIPPERS HAVE THE NEW JORDAN

Something I never had to do before this season: Stay up late to watch the Los Angeles Clippers games.

But I find myself compelled to watch the Clippers in the early season, not necessarily because they have talent, not necessarily because of Chris Paul or Blake Griffin.

But more because of powerhouse centre, DeAndre Jordan, who is bound to do something every game you’ve never seen before. Jordan may not be a big scorer or a well-known player (he was a second-round draft pick in 2008) but athletically, for a 7-footer, he makes huge blocks and dynamic dunks and seems to fit the stars around him perfectly.

Check him out. You may like what you see.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN IN 2011

Joe Frazier, Harmon Killebrew, Al Davis, Cookie Gilchrist (left with the Argos), Dick Williams, Royal Copeland, Wade Belak, John Mackey, Duke Snider, Earl McRae, Prince Hal Patterson, Johnny Wilson, Randy (Macho Man) Savage, Seve Ballesteros, Brad McCrimmon, Dan Wheldon, Richard Harris, Roy Hartsfield, E.J. McGuire, Harley Hotchkiss, Rick Martin, Doug Sellars, Paul Splittorff, Mel Queen, Derek Boogaard, Bubba Smith, Igor Korolev, Rick Rypien, Henry Cooper, Donald Crump, Lee Roy Selmon, Mike Flanagan, Vasily Alekseyev, Joe Bodolai, James Worrall, Socrates, the soccer player.

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

[hockeygod]

Americans get first glimpse of Canada’s greatest hockey moment

BRUCE DOWBIGGIN, Globe and Mail, Jan. 01, 2012

At times such as the Winter Classic Monday, it appears as if there are two NHLs. The league on display in Philadelphia is a product of the NHL head office in New York, a hybrid mix of NBC promotion and pandering to U.S. sensibilities in the hope of gaining a more significant TV toehold in the United States. The other NHL is the rump Canadian league defined by Hockey Night in Canada, more religion than a hockey league. A given in the national fabric.

The two solitudes represent very separate notions of the game and run parallel during the regular season before colliding in the Stanley Cup final. For Americans, hockey equals a game; for Canadians, it’s a cult. U.S. sensibilities are not welcome in the Canadian iteration of the league; Canadian teams need not apply for HBO’s 24/7 series or the Winter Classic.

Or so it often seems. But Monday, the cultures collide on the newly christened NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) in the form of a documentary on the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. While the iconic series has been relived in various forms in Canada, this 40th anniversary year provides the first serious look at the series for a U.S. audience.

Produced by Ross Greenburg, the man behind the heralded 24/7 series, Cold War On Ice: Summit Series 1972 delves once more into the sociopolitical nature of the series won (spoiler alert) by Canada in eight games. Americans are intimately connected with the 1980 “Do you believe in miracles?” U.S. triumph over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid. But Cold War On Ice will show that long before Mike Eruzione & Co. vanquished the Soviets, a Canadian team had climbed that mountain eight years earlier.

NBC was unable to provide an advance screener of the series, but the PR bumph makes it clear that Phil Esposito will be front and centre with his own version of events. “They stole our beer,” he moans. “We had to drink vodka. Homemade vodka. You ever taste homemade vodka? Go into your garage and get turpentine and drink it. Holy cripe it is bad.” Others interviewed include Paul Henderson, Bobby Clarke, Vladislav Tretiak and Alexander Yakushev.

With the Winter Classic as a lead-in, Cold War On Ice should garner a sizable audience to a story engraved in the conscience of every Canadian (some of who actively rooted for the Soviets). Now it remains for Hockey Night to produce a documentary about the Americans’ 1980 Olympic triumph and they’ll be even.

Pressure points

Speaking of 24/7, did the episode last Wednesday show Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette applying pressure on his star Claude Giroux to return quickly from a concussion? In the clip Giroux seems clearly conflicted about whether he’s ready to return. Laviolette reassures him that he looks great and stresses the team needs him back. It’s the NHL injury dilemma in a nutshell: a player clearly apprehensive about aggravating an injury and a coach under pressure to end a losing skid.

Hockey Night in Canada’s Hot Stove panel picked up on the clip last Saturday. Mike Milbury, the only panelist to have played and coached in the NHL, wrote it off to Laviolette’s straightforward nature, adding, “It does set up the kind of the difficulty in this day and age with all the concussions and the severity of concussions the problems players face and the sensitivity that coaches have to have to that.”

The episode might have become bigger had Giroux been reinjured, à la Sidney Crosby. But Giroux’s four points in his first game back stilled that issue for now.

By the way, there was no mention on Hockey Night of Milbury’s recent legal scare, resolved in his favour.

Sad news

In a major loss for Canadian sports broadcasting, former head of CBC Sports production Doug Sellars died New Year’s Eve as a result of a heart attack suffered while playing (what else?) recreational hockey. Within two years of joining CBC Sports, Sellars produced a Grey Cup game and went on to oversee all CBC Sports properties, including several Olympics and two Commonwealth Games.

A multiple Gemini Award winner, Sellars moved on to Fox Sports, where he worked his way up to executive vice-president at Fox Sports Media Group. John Shannon, who ran Hockey Night during Sellars’ tenure, tweeted Saturday, “Sellars was the consummate pro. Since moving to Fox, Doug was a great advocate for the NHL. Doug didn’t just makes stars, HE was a Star!” We second that emotion.

Road trips

So you want to work in sports broadcasting? TSN’s Chris Cuthbert (@CCtsn) sums up the life in a tweet. “After 106 Starwood nights, 160,000 air miles, and 175 nites on the road its homeward bound to end the yr. No more games in 2011.”

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

[hockeygod]

Fortney: Former NHLers relive their World Junior days

Valerie Fortney, Calgary Herald, January 1, 2012

CALGARY — Frank Caprice and Mike Moller haven’t seen one another in eons. You wouldn’t know that on Sunday morning, though, as they’re thick as thieves with the teasing banter and inside jokes.

“It’s amazing to me how all these years later, the conversation picks up like no time has passed,” says the 49-year-old Moller, who today lives in Red Deer and works in the insurance industry.

The pair chalks it up to the inimitable bond that forms among young hockey players who make it on to Team Canada for the World Juniors championship, the 2012 version of a 38-year-old event that is being played out this week in Calgary.

“You’re put together with a bunch of other young guys, and you very quickly have to learn to put the team first,” says Caprice, a native of Hamilton, Ont., who played goal for Team Canada in 1982. “You really become an instant family, some of whom you may never see again in your life.”

On this crisp but sunny start to 2012, Moller, Caprice, and close to 20 other World Juniors Team Canada alumni are having a ball taking a walk — and the odd skate — down memory lane.

On Saturday night, most rang in the new year with dinner before heading to the exciting Sweden-Russia preliminary game at the Saddledome.

On Sunday morning, they’re down at Olympic Plaza for the City of Calgary’s Hockey in Calgary celebration, flipping pancakes for the public, playing ball and ice hockey and looking back with fondness and reverie over their World Juniors experiences of yesteryear.

“There was no media, no TSN and not many fans in the stands,” says Caprice, now 49, with a laugh of his moment of World Juniors glory.

“They didn’t even have someone to sing the national anthem for us at the medal ceremonies,” adds Moller, a Calgary native who later played with the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers, the latter gig bringing him two Stanley Cup rings.

Still, it’s an experience both say was one of the highlights of their respective hockey careers.

“We were the first Team Canada pulled together as an all-star team,” says Moller. “Before, it was a club team and the naysayers said you can’t just put a team together and expect them to win — but we proved them wrong.”

The other career highlight?

“Definitely today,” says Caprice. “We are having a blast, being with our former teammates. We’re going to enjoy reminiscing together and taking in some great hockey games.”

Among their fellow Team Canada alumni milling about Olympic Plaza, that’s pretty much the collective sentiment.

“For me, hockey wasn’t a great experience,” Sheldon Kennedy, a former Calgary Flame who in 1988 helped lead Team Canada to gold in Russia, tells me.

Kennedy is best known internationally for coming forward several years ago as a victim of abuse by former coach Graham James and his outspoken advocacy of the rights of abuse victims.

“My World Juniors experience was a highlight, though, and reconnecting with all these great guys is going to be another one.”

It’s great to see Kennedy in a lighter mode on this day, as he pretends he’s going to tell me a 1988 story about teammate Dan Currie, which elicits gales of laughter from fellow alumni and a “don’t you dare” look from Currie.

In characteristic Kennedy style, he also offers up some meaningful words about this day and the international event that is on our city’s doorstep all week.

“Having a celebration like this helps to get the message across that hockey, and any other sport, has to be fun. At the end of the day, it’s just a game.”

That’s the kind of message Chris Armstrong says he’d like to send out to all the young players who will be on the ice this week.

“You’re going to have an incredible experience and forge bonds that will last forever,” says the 36-year-old Armstrong, a 1994 Team Canada alumni who went on to play for six different NHL teams.

His former teammate Brent Tully, who played a few seasons in the AHL as well as in Europe, adds, “just get out there and play your best hockey, but most important, enjoy yourself.”

The young Team Finland players, watching the middle-aged former hockey greats skate around the ice and play ball hockey on the steps of Calgary’s City Hall building, might not be able to understand exactly what is being said by these loud and boisterous old-timers. But the message is loud and clear on this glorious first day of 2012, as their hockey elders unabashedly return to a most cherished part of their collective history.

When I say to Kennedy that the Team Canada alumni gathered here are acting like a bunch of kids, he answers unapologetically: “What do you mean, acting like a bunch of kids? We are a bunch of kids!”

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

[hockeygod]

Czechs, Slovaks surprise quarter-finalists at World Juniors

ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, Jan. 01, 2012

Soon after the Soviet Union came apart as a political entity in the early 1990s, there was concern that crumbling infrastructure, failing attendance and the overall volatility of the new emerging society would deal a death blow to Russia’s hockey programs. Didn’t happen. As recently as two years ago, a trio of Russian players were all finalists for the NHL’s most valuable player award. The projected top pick in the entry draft this year is Nail Yakupov, and Russia had a goalie, Andrei Vasilevski, that stopped the first 100 shots he faced in the world junior tournament until faltering late Saturday night in a stirring game against Sweden.

Sweden, you’ll remember, was also going through a fallow period of its own, post-Sedins, and for years went without a medal at the world junior and senior championships.

Inexplicably, the real casualties of the new hockey order were the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who split up in 1993. After a nice little run following the breakup – Olympic gold for the Czechs in 1998, an unexpected world championship for Slovakia in 2002 – the countries have fallen on harder times of late, with seemingly no Jaromir Jagrs or Zdeno Charas in the pipeline.

But in this most unpredictable of world junior championships, both were showing signs of life again. Neither was favoured to qualify for playoff action and yet here they are, the Slovaks having edged the Swiss for the No. 3 seed in Pool A and the Czechs knocking the Americans into the relegation round by getting the No. 3 seed in Pool B.

Both will be underdogs again Monday, as the playoff round begins, with the Czechs facing historic rival Russia in one game, while Slovakia has drawn the Finns in the other. Russia is playing Monday because of an epic collapse Saturday in its final game of the preliminary round, in which they blew a 3-0, two-period lead and ultimately lost to Sweden 4-3 in overtime. If the Russians win over the Czechs, they will meet Canada in the semi-final round Tuesday in a rematch of the 2011 tournament final.

But Czech goaltender Petr Mrazek, who plays his junior hockey for the Ottawa 67s in the Ontario Hockey League, is not about to concede anything, not after the way his team has performed in this tournament.

“They have a strong team, but if we play disciplined and don’t take many penalties or stupid penalties, if we play like a team – and hard – then we can win,” said Mrazek, who will likely need to the difference maker for his club. “I think the Russians and Czechs, both teams could go to the semi-finals.”

Jiri Fischer, a former NHLer and one of the Czech Republic’s assistant coaches, concedes that while the Czechs continue to prosper at the senior men’s levels internationally, “In the younger groups, we have a lot of work to do.

“There is a difference in the mindset of parents, and how they raised their kids,” Fischer continued. “[Costs] can certainly be one of the excuses, but I’m not a fan of excuses. It always comes down to motivation and holding kids accountable and showing them how to work, first with the parents and then the coaches.”

Slovakia’s continuing presence in the tournament is even more unlikely than the Czechs’, requiring as it did a massive third-period comeback against the Swiss last Saturday. That was then followed immediately by Sweden’s inspired comeback against Russia, proving once again that, in junior hockey, at this level, where the passions run so high, momentum changes can come with dizzying and unexpected frequency.

Latvia and Denmark were out of their league at the tournament this time around, but after that, it was a wild ride throughout the preliminary round.

Who knows? The way things have gone, there may be more upsets along the way.

“We knew we had strong team,” said Slovakian right winger Tomas Jurco, who played with Canadian Justin Huberdeau on the Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs last season. “We haven’t gone to the quarter-finals the last couple of years and we don’t know if the next generation is going to make it, so we tried really hard and we were very happy we did it.”

The winner of the Slovakian-Finnish game meets Sweden in the other semi-final, also Tuesday.

Slovakia’s task against Finland seems more manageable than the long odds the Czechs face against Russia, as the two former Cold War rivals will be playing a game that Fischer says will resonate for reasons other than history.

“I’m 31. When we were 17, playing in the U-17 tournament, we talked about it in the locker room and we didn’t know what it meant back then – and this is 14 years ago. What was happening after ’68 [when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia], there was definitely a big rivalry, but it really was part of the Communist era. I was nine years old when the Communist regime was over.

“The guys right now? The rivalry is because the Russians have been very good and because we haven’t had enough success against them in the last few years. That’s where the rivalry stands. I don’t think there are any political issues any more.”

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

[hockeygod]

WHL Christmas Schedule Questions?

Gregg Drinnan, TAKING NOTE, Jan 2 2012

Prince George head coach Dean Clark met up with Gerard Hayes, one of the WHL’s officiating supervisors, moments after the Cougars had dropped a 5-0 decision to the host Kamloops Blazers on Sunday night.

“That’s embarrassing . . . that’s embarrassing,” Clark told Hayes.

Clark was referring to the officiating. He may as well have been referring to the entertainment value of the game.

The time has come for the WHL to take a serious look at its schedule in the latter half of December and into January.

This season, the WHL played games through Dec. 18 and then broke for Christmas, returning with games on Dec. 27.

The WHL boasts of having 34 of its players competing at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. And in another news release it tells us that there are 18 more of its players in the World Junior Championship.

That means the WHL’s 22 teams are missing 52 of their better players. And that doesn’t include any players who are out with injuries.

With 22 teams, the WHL’s talent pool is thin enough — some would say it’s thinner than the gruel Tiny Tim would get for breakfast — that none of its teams has the depth to withstand losing players to these Christmas assignments without it having a real impact.

On Sunday in Kamloops, for example, the two teams were missing seven players who are competing in the WJC and/or WHC. Four others were out with injuries.

While the Blazers are second in the 10-team Western Conference, the Cougars are scrambling to get into the playoffs. Down five players, they just didn’t have the depth to compete with the Blazers.

The result was a game that was anything but entertaining. As entertainment, it was . . . well, it wasn’t. (Oh, we should tell you that the same two teams get to do it again Friday and Saturday in Prince George. Hopefully, help will have arrived by then.)

Despite missing all those players, of course, the WHL and its teams aren’t about to give the fans a break by cutting ticket prices.

So why not change the schedule?

Why not play games through Dec. 22 or Dec. 23 and then break until early in the new year?

Why not allow players to go home and spend some real quality Christmas time with their families, instead of having to travel on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) in order to play games on Dec. 27?

Why not extend the break right into the new year? The WHC and WJC wrap up on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, so why not give the teams and their fans a break and return on Jan. 6 or 7?

This season, the WHL schedule was dark for eight days. Why not play through Dec. 23, bring players back Jan. 2 for a couple days of practice and then resume the schedule? Why not take two weeks off instead of eight days?

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

[hockeygod]

Fortney: Aspiring pros get to test skills at Fan Zone

Valerie Fortney, Calgary Herald January 2, 2012

CALGARY — He has big dreams of one day playing defence for an NHL team.

For now, though, Mahmoud Abougouche must contend with playing “everything” on his Crowfoot Eagles Novice hockey league.

“It’s OK, I can wait,” says the eight-year-old of his dues-paying years as a minor league player.

One thing the aspiring pro didn’t have to wait for was a chance to see some of the future stars of the NHL play great hockey at the Saddledome on Monday morning.

“I tried to buy tickets through the lottery system,” says his dad, Jim Abougouche, who’s just watched the Switzerland-Sweden relegation game with his son and his teammates.

“It’s so great that tickets were made available to us. I really wanted Mahmoud to have the full experience of World Juniors hockey, especially since it’s in our town.”

Judging by the number of hockey jersey-wearing tykes in and around the Saddledome, it’s clear that our city’s younger set is getting a good dose of World Juniors hockey fever.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many hockey fans gobbling down ice cream, cotton candy and snow cones before the noon hour.

I’ve also never seen so many hockey fans crying publicly, save for our loss to Tampa Bay in the 2004 Stanley Cup final.

The odd spectator may be having a meltdown in the concourse, but their parents are smiling over the fact that while the relegation games may be unwanted tickets for some, they’re treasure for the families of little ones.

“My brother bought ours online,” says Dallas Paterson, whose stuffed toy-toting three-year-old, Jillian, is attending the first hockey game of her life. “We are just having a fun, family day, and it’s pretty great hockey.”

Sitting in the middle of a lower-bowl row flanked by serious-looking, black suited hockey scouts, Randy Taylor’s thrilled at the chance to attend a game “of such high-calibre hockey” with his son Spence, five.

“Friends of mine bought packages, and gave us their tickets for this game,” says Taylor. “I can’t tell you how cool it is for Spence to come to the Saddledome and have the full, sensory hockey experience. I think people forget what a big deal it is for a kid to come to this place.”

I’m impressed with the efforts of Hockey Canada and other organizations to make a portion of the more than 500,000 World Juniors tickets available to our province’s hockey-mad kids (if you have tickets you can’t use, you can donate them via the website hockeycanada.ca/2012juniors).

It’s also good to know that there’s something even for those who completely miss out on the ticket rush.

It’s called the World Junior Fan Zone, in the Big Four Building on the Stampede grounds.

In this space that is filled with post-game hockey fans, kids and the young at heart can play a variety of interactive and simulated hockey games.

A beer garden is available for harried moms and dads, while a giant projection screen lets visitors watch the game a stone’s throw from the Saddledome.

“It’s kind of an indoor tailgate party,” Orest Iwanylo, the Stampede’s facilities marketing manager, says as he gives me a tour of the family-friendly venue that will be open throughout the tournament (check hockeycanada.ca for times).

“Admission is free, so the most it’ll cost is the price of an LRT ride to get down to the Stampede grounds.”

In addition to the games, there is a Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit and a selection of famed hockey trophies on display.

“On Wednesday the Stanley Cup will be here,” says Iwanylo. “We heard the Fan Zone was very popular in Edmonton, so we expect to be pretty busy here over the next three days.”

So far, the offerings at the Stampede grounds are getting a thumbs-up from those in attendance.

“I think it’s great that kids are getting to be a part of the World Juniors, as they should be,” says Jim Abougouche as he watches his son shoot pucks in a game that records his speed.

“Mahmoud and his buddies had a blast at the game.”

Isn’t that how it should be when those great hockey players at the World Juniors are just kids themselves?

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

[hockeygod]

How TSN Killed The WJCs

Joe Pelletier's Greatest Hockey Legends.com, December 31, 2011

I used to love the World Junior championships. But in recent years my interest has waned significantly

Why? That is a question I have been asking myself a lot this week, and I am no closer to a definitive answer.

Maybe it's that we always win. Or at least we are always in the gold medal game. Is there enough competition to make this tournament truly worthy of all the hype Canadians heap upon it?

The one country that will always compete – and I predict will soon dominate the world juniors – is the United States. The era of the United States dominating hockey is soon upon us. Maybe there's some part of me that does not want to get all caught up in this Canadian celebration because I know all good things come to an end.

Maybe it's that we always host it now. I always enjoyed those ancient locations in the Czech Republic or Switzerland or Russia. Hosting it in Canada or in United States border towns ensures huge dollars, and I get that, but I long for the days of early morning games in Prague or Moscow or Stockholm.

In all honesty, I really think it's the over-the-top nationalism that TSN forces upon us. I love Canada and Canadian hockey more than anybody, but it's just a little too uncomfortable for me. It's a little better now that the excessive Pierre McGuire has departed, but Gord Miller is not a whole lot better.

For me, the descent all started after the 2005 championship. With the NHL lockout in full swing, Canada dominated with a full roster that included Sidney Crosby. You would think in a year with no NHL hockey I would have been ecstatic (you know, like the rest of the country) for such high quality hockey, but somehow I was turned off. I really think it was how overly excited Pierre McGuire was with the whole "Double Dion" thing. I was so turned off that I have never really made the World Juniors a priority in my life ever since. Prior to 2005 that was an unthinkable.

Okay so I can't really blame Pierre McGuire. But for some reason my World Juniors interest has waned and I don't know why. Make no mistake. I will be watching Saturday's much anticipated New Year's Eve showdown with the United States. But will I follow the Canadian kids beyond that? There's no guarantee of that. I missed Jordan Eberle's amazing heroics in 2009. I missed Jonathan Toews' shootout hat trick in 2007. I bought the commemorative DVD featuring those games and other classics, but I haven't watched that either.

Will I see the 2012 gold medal game? Maybe. Or maybe I'll go for a snowshoe instead.

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

[hockeygod]

Hockey's Believe It Or Not

Joe Pelletier, Jan 02, 2012

On January 15th, 1983, a very strange occurrence happened in NHL history.

A blizzard prevented referee Ron Fournier and linesman Dan Marouelli from arriving in time for a game between the New York Islanders and Hartford Whalers.

To deal with the situation linesman Ron Foyt was named as the game's referee, while scratched players Garry Howatt of the Islanders and Mickey Volcan of the Whalers served as linesmen!

Fournier and Marouelli arrived in time to start the second period of play.

—–

This is a pretty good web site and I suggest you check it out! Lots of interesting hockey stories… enjoy!

http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/

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

[hockeygod]

Campbell: Five issues for 2012

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News, 2012-01-02

With all the 2011 retrospectives now mercifully out of the way, it’s time to move on to previewing the hockey world for 2012. There is no shortage of hot-button issues that will need to be resolved over the next 12 months. Here are five of them:

1.The collective bargaining agreement.

As much as most fans loathe it, much of 2012 will be dominated by a battle between millionaires and billionaires over the roughly $3 billion in revenue the NHL now creates. Surely both sides couldn’t be reckless enough to allow that all to fall by the wayside for the second time in less than a decade, could they?

The league has maintained the current system only needs to be “tweaked,” but you can be sure its definition of a tweak will be much more dramatic than what the players have in mind, or at least it should be. What the system actually requires, if the CBA is to meet its stated objectives from the owners’ standpoint, is a complete overhaul and that’s not likely to happen if the league wants to keep playing.

The reality of the situation is the current CBA has not improved the lot of the small-market franchises one iota and has done absolutely nothing to encourage parity on the ice. The salary cap, more specifically the floor and not the ceiling, has created far more problems than it has solved. And the owners and GMs will once again have to be saved from themselves by tightening up the system to a) limit the lengths of contracts; b) prevent teams from front-loading deals; or c) both.

PREDICTION: The dark horse prediction is neither side will file to terminate the CBA 120 days prior to Sept. 15, which would allow it to roll over for another year. The more likely one is the two sides will somehow come to an agreement at the last hour, which will include a significant rollback with players getting less than 50 percent of revenue, but continued Olympic participation. However, even though the owners will talk tough, this agreement will still not fully satisfy their needs and the bellyaching will continue.

2.Concussions.

The biggest on-ice story of 2011 will continue to dominate the landscape in 2012. With greater awareness and more sensitivity to concussions, the numbers will continue to climb, but there is still a long way to go, as evidenced by Colby Armstrong of the Toronto Maple Leafs attempting to hide his concussion-like symptoms and the HBO 24/7 segment when Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette appeared to be pressuring Claude Giroux to return from his concussion.

PREDICTION: Unless and until the NHL institutes a stiff penalty for all head shots regardless of intent, the injury lists will continue to be filled with players who have concussions, upper body injuries, head injuries or concussion-like symptoms. And the league has no appetite to do that.

3. Whither the Coyotes?

?The NHL has already publicly stated it will no longer prop up a money-losing proposition and the City of Glendale has made it clear it will no longer stroke checks to cut the Coyotes losses. The only option that would favor the Coyotes would be to find an owner willing to absorb the massive losses it requires for the team to stay in Phoenix. Not happening.

PREDICTION: Like the Atlanta Thrashers last year, the Coyotes are gone. Where they’re headed, nobody knows. Another darkhorse prediction: Toronto finally gets the second NHL team it deserves and it will be placed in the suburb of Markham, where a 20,000-seat rink is in the planning stages. The team will play out of Hamilton for the two years it takes to build the rink.

4. Play great, win, repeat.

?For the first time since the lockout, we’ve reached the halfway point of the schedule with the defending Stanley Cup champion playing like a Stanley Cup champion. After a terrible start, the Boston Bruins have been the best team in the NHL and look poised to take a run at becoming the first team to repeat since the 1997 and ’98 Detroit Red Wings.

PREDICTION: The Bruins will win the Eastern Conference, but will lose in the Stanley Cup final to either the Chicago Blackhawks or Vancouver Canucks.

5. Who has Hart?

?There have been few seasons when the race for the Hart Trophy has been this wide open this late in the season. And the race for the other individual awards should be just as interesting.

PREDICTION(S): Don’t discount a second-half run by Alex Ovechkin, who looks like he’s starting to heat up, but it likely won’t be enough to usurp Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who will become the first brother combination in league history to finish 1-2 in NHL scoring. Lord knows how voters will decide which one wins the Hart. The one thing preventing one of them from winning would be that voters split the vote, letting someone else sneak through.

The Lady Byng Trophy will be won by a defenseman for the first time since Red Kelly in 1953-54 when Jared Spurgeon of the Minnesota Wild takes the trophy for most gentlemanly player.

The Rocket Richard will go to Steven Stamkos, who will be the only 50-goal scorer in the NHL this season.

The Vezina will go to Tim Thomas of the Bruins, who will continue to defy time and the limitations of advanced age.

Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators will continue to put up his impressive offensive numbers to win his first Norris Trophy.

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

[hockeygod]

RUPP SCORES TWO, RANGERS RALLY PAST FLYERS IN WINTER CLASSIC

AP, Jan 2 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Alone in the cold, it was up to Henrik Lundqvist to preserve a Winter Classic comeback.

His signature moment came with 19.6 seconds left after New York defenceman Ryan McDonagh was whistled for covering the puck in the crease. Flyers centre Danny Briere streaked down the ice — a replica of the Liberty Bell and bundled-up fans behind his back — trying to send this one into overtime.

Lundqvist dropped to his knees on top of a chilly baseball field and stoned Briere with his pads when the centre tried to sneak it through his legs.

This made-for-TV showcase had found its brightest star.

Lundqvist stopped 34 shots, Brad Richards scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in the Winter Classic on Monday at Citizens Bank Park.

"I was just trying to be patient and do my thing," Lundqvist said. "He's a sneaky guy, and there was a lot of pressure on me."

More pressure than any other regular-season games in January. While this game meant two points in the standings, like the four other NHL games set for Monday night, it received the kind of hype normally reserved for the Stanley Cup final. NBC televised the game and HBO had 12 camera crews filming the on-ice and behind-the-scenes action for its "24/7" series.

Rangers coach John Tortorella wondered if the officials wanted their own time in the spotlight to build the drama.

"They called a penalty shot which I still don't understand," he said. "I'm not sure if NBC got together with the refs to turn this into an overtime game. I thought the game was reffed horrible.

"I just thought tonight, in that third period, it was disgusting."

Mike Rupp scored twice as New York won for the third time this season against Philadelphia.

Playing on a rink that stretched from first base to third base, the Rangers made the league's fifth Classic event a memorable one to stay atop the Eastern Conference standings.

The NHL surrounded the rink with Christmas trees, firewood, fake snow, and even trash-can fires. But there was nothing artificial in the elements with snow flurries late in the second period and near-freezing temperatures, forcing 46,967 fans to layer in jerseys for the big event.

All that was missing was one of the breakout stars of HBO's NHL show.

Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who signed a nine-year, US$51-million contract in June, saw a recent slump send him to the bench. Sergei Bobrovsky, instead, took the call from coach Peter Laviolette and failed to hold the early lead built in front of a decidedly orange-and-black crowd.

The Flyers ended the game without Jaromir Jagr, their star forward who played only a minute in the second period before leaving the game for good. The 39-year-old Jagr, a former Ranger, said after the game he injured his left leg and expected to return soon.

Even with Jagr out, his presence was noted.

Rupp's first goal late in the second came with a salute toward the Flyers' bench — the same move Jagr makes for the home crowd after one of his goals. Rupp smiled as his teammates mobbed him along the boards and the crowd booed his attempt at showing up Jagr.

"I was happy I had the goal," Rupp said, "and that's kind of where I'll leave it."

Jagr never really had a chance to respond and the Flyers hope whatever is ailing their third-leading scorer won't keep him out long.

Rupp, who scored the winning goal for New Jersey in Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals against Anaheim, delivered another clutch goal on the big stage when his wrister from the circle shot under Bobrovsky's right arm and tied the game at 2-2.

Richards, the summer's top free agent who is in his first season with New York, wasted no time scoring the winner, knocking in a rebound 3:20 later to put the Rangers up 3-2. It was his 14th of the season.

Lundqvist outplayed Bobrovsky, stopping 12 shots in the first. He finished with 34 saves, none bigger than the one on Briere, who believed he could send the game into the extra session.

"All I was thinking is this game is going to overtime," he said. "Unfortunately, he made the save. I tried to surprise him with a quick shot, but he made the save.

"He's one of the best in shootouts."

Lundqvist, like Tortorella, questioned if the need to manufacture drama played a role in calling the late penalty shot.

"Maybe that's really the only reason he called it," he said. "It would have been tough for them to tie it on that."

With some fans paying more than a $1,000 a seat on the secondary market, the stadium was full to the end. Though, most of them went home unhappy.

Rookie Brayden Schenn and Claude Giroux scored to give the Flyers the early lead, as it appeared that the home team would finally win its first game against New York this year.

Schenn, a prized rookie sent over from Los Angeles in the Mike Richards deal over the summer, scored his first career goal midway through the second period, setting off the Liberty Bell in right field normally reserved for Phillies home runs.

Giroux showed a national audience how he's blossomed into an MVP candidate with a backhander 1:55 later for his 18th goal and a 2-0 lead. But the Flyers couldn't beat Lundqvist again.

That didn't stop the diehards, though, from being entertained by hometown band, The Roots, and national anthem singer Patti LaBelle.

The trash-can fires gave the game a "Rocky" feel and the pitchers' mound and home plate area were left exposed. It was 5 degrees when the opening faceoff dropped just after 3 p.m., and temperatures dipped the next three hours. The start time was pushed back two hours to protect the rink from the sun.

"It was something special," Jagr said. "I wish everyone in the NHL can get a chance to play in that game."

New York received a dose of good news long before the final horn. Defenceman Marc Staal made his return to the lineup after a season-long absence from a concussion.

Staal, who turns 25 in January, has been out all season with the effects of a concussion sustained in February when he was hit by his brother, Eric, a forward for the Carolina Hurricanes. He has been skating this month and was cleared for light contact.

Notes: The NHL used 20,000 gallons of water for the rink. … The Flyers played in their second Winter Classic in two years and have lost both. … The road team is 4-0-1 in the Winter Classic. … Commissioner Gary Bettman held a post-game press conference and reiterated that he had no idea where the Classic will be held next year.

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

[hockeygod]

Yzerman in uncharted losing territory

STEVE SIMMONS, QMI Agency, Jan 2 2012

TORONTO – The honeymoon is over for Steve Yzerman in Tampa Bay. Now comes the hard part.

Reality finds his Lightning in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, currently out of the playoffs, no longer everyone’s favourite hockey success story.

“We’re not shocked by where we are,” Yzerman said in a telephone call from Calgary. “I’m not caught off guard by this. We’re not surprised at all. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I think going in to the year, we knew this would be a challenge for everybody, our coaching staff, our players, the whole organization.”

And all that said, this is brand new territory for Yzerman, the hockey executive. Losing isn’t something he knows or will accept. His first year in Tampa turned out to be something close to pure magic. Almost everything he did and the team did worked out. The year before that, he was the general manager of Team Canada at the Vancouver Olympics. All they did was win gold. And before that, he was a Ken Holland-Jimmy Devellano management trainee with the hugely successful Detroit franchise.

The truth on Yzerman: He’s lived a blessed existence in hockey, most of that due to his own accomplishments. The last time any team he was associated with missed the playoffs was 1990, that was 22 seasons ago. He made the playoffs in his final 15 years with the Red Wings, in 20 of his 22 playing seasons in Detroit, and won Stanley Cups as both team captain and a member of management. These are not, if you’re paying attention, Toronto-like numbers.

And now he’s trying to build a winning model in Tampa Bay, with a payroll not far from the Stanley Cup champion, Boston Bruins, and in spite of having young stars Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, he has the second oldest cumulative roster in hockey.

Part of the age bump comes from his current backup goaltender, Dwayne Roloson, who, frankly, looks washed up at the age of 42. Roloson, a career Maple Leafs’ killer, was a significant part of the Tampa run to the playoffs last season and a huge part of the Lightning’s playoff success in getting to the Eastern Conference finals. But suddenly, Roly the Goalie, doesn’t look so spry, his won-loss record has been poor and his goals against average and save percentage are among the worst in hockey.

When asked about his goaltending, Yzerman paused, then said: “Mathieu Garon has been good. Our team’s won three games in a row. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”

The somewhat hot 12th-place Lightning play the rather cool Maple Leafs on Tuesday night in yet another mid-season game of significance. The Lightning trail the Leafs by four points, with a game in hand. As the Leafs have proven in recent years, the last place you want to find yourself in the second half of the standings is with points to make up and too many teams to climb over.

“We’ve been good lately,” said Yzerman, “probably going back to just before Christmas. We’ve won three games in a row. We need to keep it going.

“The way I look at the Eastern Conference, there’s Boston, the deepest team in the Conference, and the Rangers are having a great year, and that team plays with real structure and Philadelphia, despite the big injuries, is hanging in there. And after that, everybody is virtually the same. That’s going to make for a really tight second half.

“We just beat Montreal, playing without (Andrei) Markov, Carolina, playing without (Jeff) Skinner, and Philadelphia without (Chris) Pronger. That’s the league right now. Every time we play someone they’re missing somebody important. We’re playing without (Victor) Hedman (concussion) and we don’t know when he’ll be back. Last year, we got fortunate playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs without Sidney Crosby and (Evgeny) Malkin. That was a big break for us.”

The break lately has been the dominance of Stamkos, the Unionville kid in his fourth NHL season.

“He’s taken his entire game to a new level,” said Yzerman. “You see how much he wants it, how hard he’s worked on the ice and off. He’s asserting himself on the game. When he does that, he’s a very dangerous player.”

Just like a young Steve Yzerman. With a different bag of tricks.

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

[hockeygod]

A passion for the pure sport of junior hockey

James Bradshaw and Dawn Walton, Globe and Mail, Jan. 02, 2012

The appetite for World Junior hockey action has grown even more insatiable with the elimination rounds under way and Canada’s first do-or-die test looming Tuesday night.

Overall ticket sales in host cities Edmonton and Calgary could approach 600,000 by the time the tournament wraps on Jan. 5. Fans have been so fervent that 10,000 of them turned up at 11 a.m. on Monday to watch Switzerland edge Denmark in a relegation game. Some have even helped clean up Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome after arena staff and volunteers struggled with the short turnaround between games.

“Tell me, what is that?” said tournament co-chair Jim Peplinski. “It’s about all of the good things that come from [seeing] a sport performed properly. That translates into picking friggin’ garbage up.”

To Mr. Peplinski, the infectious enthusiasm suggests Canadians have embraced the tournament not only as an exercise in national pride, but as a purer expression of high-level hockey played by athletes with a measure of innocence still intact.

Canada’s coming showdown against the winner of Russia and the Czech Republic, who faced off in Monday’s late quarterfinal, already has anticipation nearing its boiling point in Calgary. The Canadian players would relish a shot at avenging last year’s gold-medal-game collapse against the Russians, who have impressed again this year. And while the Canadian squad thumped the Czechs 5-0 in the preliminary round, the Czechs proved they can raise their game in beating the U.S. two days later.

TSN built the fan phenomenon in Canada, which has developed a unique fixation on the junior tournament. The sports network has combined smart marketing with passionate broadcasters – most notably Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire – to help create a contagion for this junior brand of hockey that now lives up to the network’s hype.

“What they’ve brought to Canada and the world is the pureness of this sport – it’s about getting up when you fall down, hard work, character; it’s about learning how to win and learning how to lose,” Mr. Peplinski said.

That isn’t to say the interest isn’t generating major dollars for TSN, the tournament organizers and the host cities. Estimates suggest the tournament will pump at least $80-million into the provincial economy.

Even the 50-50 draw, a staple at hockey arenas across the country, is proving increasingly popular, especially with the proceeds going to furnish underprivileged children with gear and the chance to play minor hockey. At Canada’s New Year’s Eve victory over the U.S., the lucky winner’s half of the pot totalled $146,140, and by New Year’s Day, Hockey Canada had raked in $1.43-million in 50-50 sales, well on track to set a tournament record.

Jeremy Vander Maaten won one of the tournament’s earlier 50-50 draws, but he could be counted among the most feverish fans even before he pocketed the $21,000 prize. The 35-year-old warehouseman from Okotoks, Alta., took a week off work and forked out more than $3,000 for tickets to every game in Calgary – including the gold-medal match. A Team Canada fan with an uncommon soft spot for Russia, he outfitted his family in jerseys and accessories and has taken his daughters – aged five, seven and 10 – to various games.

His grandfather, Herbert Cross, who turns 87 next week, was his seatmate to watch Finland best Slovakia, and Mr. Vander Maaten is so taken with the experience he would travel abroad to do it again.

“I’m an avid, rabid fan,” he said. “It’s a showcase of the up-and-coming talent.”

That’s the lure for Calgary teacher Lisa Walpole, who has tickets with friends for every game in the city and prefers the tournament to NHL hockey. “It’s a whole different game,” she said. “It’s fun to watch kids who aren’t being paid to play.”

Mr. Peplinski unabashedly wants to see Canada win gold, but regardless he is convinced Canadians have discovered something enduring in the World Junior experience that will keep them coming back.

“[Fans] see themselves on the outdoor rink,” he said. “And when you give them that conduit to have those emotions percolate, and remember, ‘Yeah, I was there with my grandfather,’ that just ties it all together.”

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

[hockeygod]

Johnson: Persistent Slovaks finally bounced from tourney: Ill-timed penalty seals fate

George Johnson, Calgary Herald, January 2, 2012

EDMONTON – Harder to kill than an unsubstantiated rumour. Or a vampire at night. Or a particularly crafty New York City tenement cockroach.

All tournament long, they kept bouncing back like one of those blow-up vinyl floor kiddies’ punching bags. Knock ’em down and … Boiiiiiing!

Right back at ya.

In the autopsy analysis, though, Slovak stick wilted under Finnish slick.

A deluge of penalties put them down yet one more time. And, at last, kept them there.

“Obviously we felt like we played really good this tournament,” said Slovak sparkplug Tomas Jurko, an 8-5 quarter-final defeat ending the improbable run. “Like I said in lots of interviews, we felt like we had a great team and we felt we could do more in this tournament. One game didn’t go well for us.

“It hard to take.

“But we lost. That’s the way it is.”

The moment that officially sealed the Slovaks’ fate occurred 11:19 into the third period. They had whittled Finland’s lead to 6-4 on an early goal from Martin Daloga, when standout forward Matus Chovan was tagged for one of those was-he-turning-before-contact five-minute major boarding penalties, Miro Aaltonen the unfortunate victim mashed into the boards.

Once more Ernest Bokros’s boys tried valiantly to rally, but power-play lightning strikes by Joonas Donski and Teemu Pulkkinen during the five-minute sentence sealed their fate.

“It MIGHT be two minutes,” sighed Jurko. “I’m not saying it wasn’t a penalty. But five minutes at that time of the game … it’s kind of hard for us. I don’t want to comment on the referee, it’s his job.

“For us, though, it was really huge. It slowed us down. We were coming back. You never know? We might score four goals in four minutes like we did (Saturday) night.

“I felt if we’re (playing) even, we’re the better team.”

While not skirting the issue, Chovan was pleading innocence.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he said, using teammate Adam Janosic as his translator. “When I went to do it, the guy just turned around. It was a big call. I take full responsibility for it.

“But it shouldn’t be five minutes, for sure.”

“Definitely, it was the turning point,” claimed Bokros, also via interpreter. “Interesting that eight penalties were called by one referee.

“I don’t want to comment on that (boarding) call. When I see the video, I will react. Interesting that when we were down by one goal, we’d get a penalty. When there was a difference of three goals, no penalties called.”

As much as that one incident cost the Slovaks dearly, a second-period meltdown was every bit as responsible for their undoing, the Finns scoring a staggering four times in a 6:12 span.

Mikael Granlund had the first two of the blitz. Markus Granlund snared the third, slipping a shot through Simboch’s wickets, the grateful beneficiary of a dazzling solo dash from his brother. Leftovers never tasted so yummy.

The carnage ended with Alexander Bartsov driving wide down the boards, holding off his opposite number 16, Matej Bene, before cutting in hard to the net. Martin Marincin’s half-hearted little tug certainly wasn’t going to be enough to put Bartsov off stride and he finished the job, long-side. A beauty.

From 2-2 to 6-2, in the time it takes to boil an egg. That’s on you, boys.

Still, the feeling of being cheated resonated around the Slovak camp in the aftermath.

“It’s hard to say,” said Janosik, a bit more diplomatically. “If the guy’s turning to the boards, it’s a split-second, and you’ve still got to finish your check.

“But it was a little stupid from our team, because seriously, we’re a group of guys who battled hard all game. We’ve got to be smarter. At 6-4, the game was close and we were still getting penalties.

“I don’t know … it’s hard to talk about right now.”

In the days ahead, what they accomplished here, and not the tainted way they believe they were forced to exit, will be what the feel-good Slovaks take away with them, wherever they might finish.

“We’re proud. All tournament, we kept being knocked down and kept getting up,” said Jurko.

Until, as so often happens with these hard-to-kill underdogs, they finally ran out of bounce-back Boiiiiiing!

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

[hockeygod]

Team Canada readies for world junior rematch with Russia

ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail, Jan. 02, 2012

Upward of three million people will be watching Canada’s world junior semi-final against Russia, but arguably, no one will have a greater rooting interest than Jacques Bealieu, coach of the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. Beaulieu’s son, Nathan, plays for Canada, last year’s finalists, while his star pupil, Nail Yakupov, just happens to be with Russia, the defending champions.

But let there be no mistake here about who Beaulieu wants to win. It’s Canada – and he even has something riding on the outcome. Just before Yakupov left for the world junior tournament, the Russian prodigy and Beaulieu made a friendly wager just in case Canada and Russian happened to cross paths during the event.

Should Canada emerge victorious, Yakupov will be obliged to wear a red-and-white Canadian sweater for a full week of practice back in Sarnia. Should it go the other way, then it’ll be Beaulieu wearing a Russian jersey that he says Yakupov will be obliged to supply – if it comes to that.

Beaulieu says he made the proposal to Yakupov, the highly regarded prospect who is favoured to go first overall in the NHL’s next entry draft, before a practice a few weeks back.

“We were skating alongside each other and I said to him, ‘Go Canada Go.’ And then I told him to keep his head up against Canada,” said Beaulieu, with a laugh. “That’s how it started.”

Russia qualified for the semi-finals with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Czech Republic on Monday night, setting the stage for the much-anticipated rematch of last year’s tournament final, won by the Russians in dramatic come-from-behind fashion.

Yakupov is much watched by NHL scouts, but his performance here is a reminder that no matter what a player’s pedigree or upside may be, the world under-20 championship is a tournament for 19-year-olds. Evgeny Kuznetsov, the team captain and the player who managed a nine-point night against Latvia in the preliminary round, is far and away Russia’s best player.

NHL scouts are in the business of extrapolating what someone’s raw talent is two years down the road, which is why Yakupov is so fascinating. But in terms of devising a game plan to win Tuesday’s game and move on to play for the gold medal, Canada needs to find a way of neutralizing Kuznetsov, the Quebec Remparts’ Mikhail Grigorenko, and all the rest. Kuznetsov already plays in the KHL and as a Washington Capitals’ draft choice, could be in the NHL, playing alongside Alex Ovechkin as early as next year.

But Yakupov? Even as Canada seeks revenge for last year’s jarring loss, Yakupov’s NHL rights are up for grabs, which is why there is so much fascination over this, his first tentative steps on the big stage.

Beaulieu is a fan – except maybe Tuesday night – and notes that during his days on Dale Hunter’s staff in London, he’s coached players from Rick Nash to Corey Perry. Yakupov, he believes, is special in the same way Nash and Perry are special.

“He’s dynamic on the ice. His skating is incredible. His edges are really good. His hockey sense is good. The only thing that’s going to stop Nail from playing in the National Hockey League next year is if he doesn’t pay attention to details on defence,” Beaulieu said.

“But he’s very enthusiastic; he’s got a good sense of humour; and his teammates love him.”

For his part, Yakupov says he’s happy to be part of the Russian squad, playing with his “buddies” again. As for the draft, that is something he doesn’t like to talk about it. Sensibly, he makes the point that the draft is in June, the world juniors are now, so the draft can wait. And in fact, after Russia’s opener, in which he described his own play as “terrible,” he noted that if the scouts had based their assessment on that game, “I would be in the sixth round.”

The test Tuesday night, from a Canadian perspective, will be to neutralize the scoring talents of all the Russian players. Thus far in the tournament, Canada’s goaltending has been solid; the scoring balanced; and the discipline more or less intact. Jonathan Huberdeau is showing no ill effects from the ankle injury that cost him a month of the QJMHL season and even the loss of Devante Smith-Pelly early on hasn’t set them back as much as one might have thought, with others – notably Boone Jenner – stepping up to provide a physical presence. As long as the flu bug that waylaid coaches Don Hay and Scott Walker on Monday stays out of the dressing room, they are as ready as they can be for the semis.

Canada held its final practice Monday morning, without knowing who exactly would be on its dance card. The plan was for the ailing coaching staff to attend the Russia-Czech game, but leave halfway through, so they could be at the hotel to meet with the Canadian players once it was over. The players, meanwhile, were to watch the game on television, and once an opponent had been determined, they would get a quick primer on them from the coaching staff.

Beaulieu will be watching too, from Sarnia, to see if his son Nathan gets a chance to stop Yakupov in a match-up that many thought would be the tournament final. It didn’t happen, so this is the next best thing, and Canada’s players are ready.

“All of our focus is going to be put towards one game,” assessed forward Brendan Gallagher. “We’re not going to worry about anything except that. All we have to do is go out and win one hockey game and then we’ll worry about the next one after that.”

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

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