Articles

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Canada eliminated from hockey worlds after quarter-final loss to Slovakia

Chris Johnston, The Canadian Press May 17, 2012

HELSINKI, Finland — The IIHF World Hockey Championship ended in agony once again for Canada.

“It’s deja vu,” general manager Kevin Lowe said after a 4-3 quarter-final loss to Slovakia on Thursday.

It’s the first time in history Canada has made an early exit from the tournament on three straight occasions. The country also suffered quarter-final losses in 2010 and 2011.

This one was especially difficult to stomach since Canada was ahead of an overmatched Slovak team 3-2 with seven minutes to play. Then everything came unravelled.

First, captain Ryan Getzlaf’s line got caught up ice when Milan Bartovic raced in and tied the game with a rebound off the rush at 13:25. Then, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was assessed a boarding penalty. Just as Canada killed that one off, Getzlaf was given a kneeing major for an open-ice hit on Juraj Mikus at 17:28.

Four seconds later, Michal Handzus tipped home the winning goal.

The Slovaks celebrated the victory like they’d won the Stanley Cup while the stunned Canadian players hung their heads.

“It hurts like hell right now,” said Getzlaf. “I feel like I let the guys down. To be in a hard-fought game like that and play the tournament we did and lose in that fashion, it’s not easy to swallow as a group.

“The guys worked way too hard to be delivered something like that.”

Jan Laco made 33 saves while Tomas Kopecky and Miroslav Satan also scored goals for Slovakia (6-2-0).

Evander Kane, Jeff Skinner and Alex Burrows replied for Canada (6-1-1).

Even though Getzlaf thought his hit on Mikus was a clean check — “I got a piece of him with my shoulder like I wanted to,” he said — coach Brent Sutter bemoaned the lack of discipline at a crucial point in the game.

“We let it get away on us,” said Sutter.

The Slovaks, who lost 3-2 to Canada in the opening game of the round robin, will face the winner of the Sweden-Czech Republic quarter-final, which will be played later Thursday.

The Canadian players had come to this event determined to win gold — not just for themselves, but also to improve the country’s world ranking from fifth to secure a better ride at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was not to be.

International hockey hasn’t been kind to the senior men’s team since Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in Vancouver, which was followed by three straight disappointments at the world championship.

“It’s a tough feeling,” said forward John Tavares. “It’s still just starting to sink in really.”

The Slovaks had a quick start. Gaining momentum after a Getzlaf penalty, Kopecky opened the scoring at 5:57 by skating hard to the goal and having Branko Radivojevic’s shot deflect off his leg and past Cam Ward.

Satan soon made it 2-0, collecting a loose puck high in the zone and beating the screened Ward.

With Hartwall Arena buzzing in anticipation of a potential upset, Canada dug in. Getzlaf and Corey Perry delivered some good shifts and created the first goal, which came off the stick of Kane at 16:14.

That set the stage for a second period that ended up being Canada’s best of the tournament.

“It was a small wonder we survived that period,” said Slovak captain Zdeno Chara.

The puck stayed in his team’s zone for almost the entire 20 minutes — save for one dangerous-looking Slovak power play — and Canada took a 3-2 lead. The Canadian players consistently went hard to the net and were rewarded for their efforts.

Skinner tied the game 2-2 at 6:30 on a power play, taking a pass from linemate Jordan Eberle shortly after he’d been denied on a breakaway by Laco. Burrows was standing at the top of the crease when the puck made its way to him and he put Canada ahead at 17:43.

However, the opportunistic Slovaks wouldn’t go away. Now they’re headed to the semifinals.

“Our boys didn’t want to go home yet,” said coach Vladimir Vujtek.

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

[hockeygod]

Loss to Slovakia not the end of the world for Canadian hockey

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2012-05-17

Team Canada’s skate blades were barely dry after the team’s 4-3 quarterfinal loss to Slovakia at the 2012 IIHF World Championship when the handwringing at home began in earnest. Shocked Twitter users threw out words like “embarrassing” and “pathetic.” Soon enough, we’ll be hearing plaintive wails for Hockey Canada to be examined extensively with Luminol and by Jack Klugman and David Caruso.

For me, it’s entirely predictable and more than a little tired. Whenever Canada fails to win a tournament – be it the World Junior Championship, Olympics or any international showdown – a number of Canadians get weak in the knees and drown in dread that their homeland will soon be on the same level as Lesotho and the Solomon Islands when it comes to producing hockey talent.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And a quick scan of the circumstances of Canada’s World Championship defeat by Slovakia should comfort all reasonable Canucks in that regard.

For starters, you’re talking about a tournament that does not include the best talent each country has to offer. Everyone knows the Stanley Cup playoffs siphon off skilled players from virtually all countries – and many of the NHLers who do become available after their teams are eliminated often choose (as is their right) to return home and convalesce following a long, gruelling season. Moreover, the players who do decide to represent their country usually are worn down and go up against European national teams that have far more practice and preparation time. It is only natural to assume that will have an effect on Canada’s chances.

But even if Canada had all hands on deck and lost, does that mean there’s something troublingly wrong with the manner in which it develops players? Not to me. It’s the height of arrogance to assume each major international showdown will end with another Canadian coronation and the rest of the planet admitting that America’s neighbor to the north will forever be better at hockey than any other nation.

For a country that prides itself on being polite and kind to a fault, such arrogance comes off even worse than it would if it came from a consistent chest-beater. In many ways, it reminds me of the cowardly “Beggar King” Viserys from the popular Game Of Thrones books/TV series, whose expectancy for glory was best encapsulated in the quote, “You cannot touch me. I am the dragon! I want my crown!”

That’s what I hear when I hear Canadians bemoaning their place in the hockey world at any particular point in time. Is it not enough that 53.7 percent of all NHLers in 2011-12 hail from Canada? Do we not understand that, long ago, all other hockey countries learned how to play “the Canadian way” and have their own collection of talent that can overcome adversity and show courage in its own right? Are we really that myopic that we can’t comprehend how boring it would get – and how awful it would be for the long-term growth of the sport – if Canada’s challengers never failed to wither by the wayside?

Anyone who tries convincing you there’s just something in the water that separates Canadian players from all the rest is exhibiting a sad need to be comforted by nationalism. The reality is there is no inherent advantage to the random circumstance of being born within particular boundaries. Just as we see in the NHL, the hockey world at large is creeping closer to parity with every generation. And no re-examination or re-jigging of Hockey Canada will change that.

Ultimately, Canada is not the dragon and doesn’t get the crown simply because it’s accustomed to wearing one. By earning it – and by respecting other hockey nations that earn their victories, the way Slovakia did in the quarterfinal – we’ll come away looking far more gracious than some nervous northerners will in the coming days.

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

[hockeygod]

Dealing with John Tortorella is part of the job

DAVID SHOALTS, Globe and Mail, May 17, 2012

If you took most of your news from Twitter or other social media, you would swear John Tortorella is the chief figure in the NHL playoffs.

The New York Rangers head coach has always been a media antagonist but he’s really hit his stride this spring. His press conference after Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils was typical of such encounters, ones that are so short that scribes are jokingly setting over-under lines of less than a minute. Here’s the official NHL transcript:

Question: Coach, looked like you had them and it slipped away. What went wrong?

Coach Tortorella: A number of things. I'll keep it in the room.

Q: Can you just talk about the decision to sit Gaborik down?

Coach Tortorella: No.

Q: Did you feel this was the kind of effort you would have needed to win this game?

Coach Tortorella: No.

Q: Are you disappointed in this showing after you had an effort in Washington?

Coach Tortorella: I answered your first question. No.

Q: You seemed more concerned that some guys didn't play as much as they normally did, just not enough effort, results, everything?

Coach Tortorella: You need to improve as a hockey team every game.

Q: What areas would you like to see better?

Coach Tortorella: I'm going to keep it in the room.

By the end of the night, there was more whining on Twitter and in blogs on newspaper web sites and elsewhere from some hockey writers about the headaches of dealing with Tortorella. Some clever person created a parody Twitter account, @Tortsinterviews, which mainly blows off questioners with one-word answers.

There were also calls for a media boycott of all further Tortorella press conferences. This is where the media gets as silly as the coach.

The media’s job is to record the passing scene and/or offer opinions on same. Not to try and be part of the story, although this gets increasingly obscured by too many self-promoting nitwits who have access to microphones and laptops.

Dealing with jerks is part of the job. We can complain that someone like Tortorella is not being accountable to the fans when he pulls his condescending prima donna routine but we can’t ignore him. There are times when he comes out with far more candid observations about his players and opponents than other coaches ever do when the mood strikes him and we would not be doing our jobs if we too were acting like divas and weren’t around to record them. Besides, one of the privileges of the media is always getting the last word.

There is nothing wrong with venting about someone like Tortorella on social media. That’s what such things are for, to offer readers a glimpse behind scenes that are often left out of regular coverage. But that’s as far as it should go.

Not that your agent is without sin in this matter. In June, 2004, a rant about Tortorella appeared in the Globe and Mail under my byline.

I’ll plead that the complaint was the coach’s mercurial ways were derailing his team, that the Tampa Bay Lightning were down 3-2 in the Stanley Cup final to the Calgary Flames at least partly because they were getting as joyless and constipated as Tortorella. We all know how that turned out. It was the only known mistake by your correspondent, of course. Well, at least it was until that item a few weeks ago calling for Martin Brodeur to retire.

A good bet is that at least some of the denizens of the NHL’s head office do not like Tortorella’s act any more than the media does. With TV ratings in the U.S. climbing, the prospect of a New York-Los Angeles final is tantalizing. Anything viewed as threatening all that media attention makes some league executives reach for the Maalox, although in his own way Tortorella can create more attention, at least in the short term.

The coach gets away with this because he produces results. He has the 2004 Cup on his belt and is three wins away from taking the Rangers to their first NHL final since 1994.

Tortorella can also provide good copy even when he is not saying much. He is a demanding taskmaster and not from the coaches’ school that believes a player knows when he made a big mistake. Witness those television shots Wednesday of him chewing out Rangers forward Derek Stepan for a bad clearing attempt that led to the Devils’ first goal, which preceded the third-period benching of star winger Marian Gaborik for a similar gaffe that let the Devils tie the score late in the second.

However, Tortorella also inspires great loyalty in some players. None of the teams bidding on Brad Richards last summer had a chance as long as the Rangers made a competitive offer for the veteran centre. He won a Cup with Tortorella in Tampa and wanted to play for him again even though it’s not always a smooth ride. It’s like what Montreal Canadiens great Steve Shutt used to say (approximately) about Scotty Bowman: “We hated him for 364 days a year and on the 365th we got our Stanley Cup rings.”

The media, at least, can take solace in the fact Tortorella is just like his fellow coaches in one respect. When coaches are out of work, the first place they head is for a media job.

There is no more media-friendly fellow on earth than an unemployed coach or general manager. Tortorella was among the chattiest when he worked for TSN after getting the boot in Tampa and then it was back to business when the Rangers called.

At this point, though, a repeat of that hypocrisy is a long way off.

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

[hockeygod]

Shelf life of NHL coaches is getting shorter

Michael Traikos, National Post, May 17, 2012

“Every coach has a shelf life. That day comes for every coach. It’s like if you have a friend who lives near the airport, he invites you over for a cookout, you say to him, ‘How can you stand the noise?’ And he says, ‘What noise?’ You get used to it. At some point the players tune out the coach.” — Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, on firing coach Ron Wilson

There was a time when the shelf life seemed longer, when coaches were developed alongside their draft picks and literally grew old standing behind the same bench. Jack Adams coached 20 straight years in Detroit while surviving two name changes to the team and a world war. Al Arbour coached in his 40s, 50s, 60s and even a game in his 70s with the New York Islanders.

Now, coaches are lucky if they reach their one-year anniversary.

Scott Arniel, Bruce Boudreau, Randy Carlyle, Jacques Martin, Paul Maurice, Terry Murray, Davis Payne, Ron Wilson all lost their jobs during this season, although two of those coaches were hired by other teams. Thirteen of the league’s 30 teams have undergone a coaching change in the last 12 months, a number that will rise with vacancies behind the benches in Calgary, Montreal, Washington and possibly Edmonton.

Based on what we have seen in these playoffs, there might be a reason for that.

In a league where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to trade players, teams are finding it is easier — and sometimes more effective — to trade coaches. Of the eight teams that reached the second round, three had replaced their coach mid-season. A fourth, New Jersey Devils, hired Peter DeBoer last summer.

Two of those coaches — DeBoer and Los Angeles’s Darryl Sutter — have their teams in the conference finals, where they are looking to continue a trend that has continued since the lockout. In 2009-10, Joel Quenneville steered Chicago to a Stanley Cup after replacing Denis Savard earlier that season. Dan Bylsma did the same thing with Pittsburgh in 2008-09. And Peter Laviolette went to the final twice, winning in his first full season with Carolina in 2005-06 and losing after becoming a mid-season replacement for Philadelphia in 2009-10.

There might not be an answer for all of this. A coaching career might simply be like opening up a shaken can of pop. Eventually, it fizzles.

Boudreau averaged more than 50 wins a year in his first three full seasons with Washington. He lasted 22 games this season. Jacques Martin took Montreal to the conference final in his first season, won 44 games his second, and was gone 32 games into his third.

As hard as it is to imagine, the same fate could await Sutter and St. Louis’ Ken Hitchcock before long. Both coaches improved their teams’ success rate dramatically after stepping behind the bench — the eighth-seeded Kings have a 2-0 lead against the Coyotes in the Western Conference final, while the Blues went 43-15-11 and won a playoff round for the first time in 10 years — but they also have reputations as demanding, defensive-minded coaches.

In coaching parlance, that often equals a short shelf life.

Sutter’s previous stop was in Calgary, where he took the Flames to the Stanley Cup final in his first full season. He stepped down after an opening-round loss the year after. Hitchcock, meanwhile, has lasted fewer than four years in his previous two coaching jobs.

There are still teams that do it the old-fashioned way. Barry Trotz has been Nashville’s only coach since the team entered the league in 1998; Lindy Ruff has been behind Buffalo’s bench for the past 15 years; Detroit’s Mike Babcock is entering his eighth year; Vancouver’s Alain Vigneault his seventh.

But every other team has made at least one coaching change — or five if you are the Devils — in the last five years.

So what does this mean? Well, if you are DeBoer, maybe it is better to rent than buy a house in New Jersey. And if you one of the many coaches out of work or currently moonlighting as a TV analyst, keep your voice ready.

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

[hockeygod]

Oilers cut ties with head coach Tom Renney

ALLAN MAKI, Globe and Mail, May. 17, 2012

Steve Tambellini said in April he needed to hear Tom Renney’s plan, how the veteran head coach was going to make the youthful Edmonton Oilers better than the 29th-ranked team in the NHL.

Apparently, Tambellini didn’t like what he heard.

With a tweet and a news conference Thursday, the Oilers general manager announced Renney would not be back with the organization next season. Technically, Renney’s contract was not renewed, meaning the Oilers are now on the prowl for their fourth head coach in five years (from Craig MacTavish to Pat Quinn to Renney to whoever is next).

Speaking to the media at Rexall Place, Tambellini said he made the decision not to being Renney back only days ago, and had met with him earlier in the day in Castlegar, B.C.

Renney was hired by the Oilers in 2009, as an associate coach. He was then appointed head man in 2010, and guided the Oilers to a 57-85-22 record over two seasons.

In both, the Oilers finished no better than second-last in the NHL and missed the playoffs.

“I’m not going to dissect Tom as a coach. He’s a good man, a good coach,” Tambellini said. “We’re just trying to find things to get better – better as a management staff, a coaching staff and players. We want to make sure we’re putting ourselves in a position where we are competing for a playoff spot.”

Asked if it was something Renney didn’t do or say that cost him a new contract offer, Tambellini answered it was about transitioning the Oilers from a group of promising players to a team that delivers on a more-consistent basis.

“There’s been some positive things that happened with the hockey club … but we just want to prepare going into a phase where we need to get to a different level of compete. Expectations will increase,” the GM said. “As they should.”

Renney, 57, had also been a head coach with the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers, and was unavailable for comment. Just who his successor will be generated much of Thursday’s fallout in Edmonton.

Brent Sutter has already been trumpeted, which would make him the first of the Alberta-raised Sutter clan to lead the Oilers. Sutter was recently let go after three non-playoff years with the Calgary Flames and was also coach of Canadian team at this year’s world championships. Canada lost to Slovakia on Thursday, and was eliminated from medal contention.

Oilers president Kevin Lowe was the GM of that Canadian team at the worlds and saw Sutter’s work up close while Tambellini described Sutter as “a good coach.”

Another name garnering attention is assistant coach Ralph Krueger. His fate, and that of fellow Oilers assistants Kelly Buchberger and Steve Smith, will be determined by the new bench boss. Krueger joined the Oilers in 2010, after stepping down as head coach of the Swiss national team. He also filled in as head man this past season, when Renney was hit by a puck and suffered postconcussion syndrome.

Another possibility is Todd Nelson, the head coach of the Oilers’ AHL affiliate Oklahoma City Barons, who began their playoff series against the Toronto Marlies on Thursday.

As for when he wanted his new bench boss hired, Tambellini said: “There are a few people that we have interest in. I don’t know when that will be. I would hope something prior to the [NHL entry] draft or at the draft in place. We just want to make sure we have the right person.

“Let us go through the process.”

—–

Edmonton Oilers part ways with head coach Tom Renney after two losing seasons

The Canadian Press, 2012-05-17

EDMONTON – Wanting more wins out of their young talent, the Edmonton Oilers won't renew the contract of head coach Tom Renney after two seasons in the NHL's cellar.

"We're entering a new phase of our hockey club," general manager Steve Tambellini said Thursday.

Renney joined the team for the 2010-11 season and finished with an NHL-worst 25-45-12 record. The team improved marginally this season with a 32-40-10 record for second-last in the league.

The Oilers have a stable of high draft picks, including forwards Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who were taken first overall in the last two drafts respectively.

The Oilers are banking on them and forwards Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle, both 22, and 21-year-old Magnus Paajarvi to drive them back into playoff contention.

"We need to get to a different level of compete, a different level of competing for playoff spots," Tambellini said.

"We've had some young people now who have been here through a couple of years. We've had some veterans who have underachieved for whatever reason and expectations will increase, as they should."

The move indicates the Oilers' patience with their young club has its limits.

"We're starting to get to a spot where their expectations should be higher too," Tambellini said. "We expect better performances from a player like Ales Hemsky on a more consistent basis. We expect better goaltending on a consistent basis from Devan (Dubnyk) and Nik (Khabibulin).

"The people that are here right now need to be a lot better on a consistent basis."

Tambellini said he spent nine days at the world hockey championship in Finland and Sweden before flying to Castlegar, B.C., on Thursday and informing Renney of the team's decision.

The timing of the announcement prompted speculation that ex-Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter is in line to replace Renney.

Sutter coached Canada at the world championship and they were eliminated in the quarter-finals Thursday. Tambellini said Edmonton's announcement on the same day was a coincidence.

"As far as guys who are candidates out there, there's going to be a lot of speculation," Tambellini said. "Brent, he's a good coach, there's no question about that, but let us go through the process and just get it right."

Sutter's contract was not renewed by the Flames after three seasons of missing the playoffs.

Tambellini said he'd like to have a new coach in place by the NHL draft June 22-23 in Pittsburgh, but he wasn't certain the hiring would happen by then.

Renney came to Edmonton having previously served as head coach with the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. He replaced Craig McTavish, who was sacked by the Oilers in 2009.

"I'm not going to dissect Tom as a coach. He's a good man, a good coach," Tambellini said. "I'm sure again he'll work again as a head coach soon."

The 57-year-old was fired from the Rangers in February 2009 after 61 games, following three full seasons and 20 games in another when he took over from Glen Sather, who remained as general manager.

Renney was also fired in Vancouver in 1997-98 after his first full season with the club.

"Obviously, it's about wins and losses," Renney said at the end of this season. "I try to work hard. I try to be the good soldier in what the organization requires of me. I do try to let my body of work speak for itself."

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

[hockeygod]

Renney out, Sutter in?
Brent front-runner for Oilers gig

WES GILBERTSON, QMI Agency, May 18 2012

CALGARY – Darryl Sutter is just six wins away from sipping from the Stanley Cup.

Hard to believe, but the news for Calgary Flames fans could get even worse.

Just over a month after clearing out of his office at the Saddledome, Brent Sutter is suddenly the front-runner to become the next head coach of the provincial rival Edmonton Oilers, who officially axed Tom Renney Thursday after weeks of speculation.

While the Battle of Alberta hasn't had the same punch — or as many punch-ups — over the past decade or so, Flames fans are already dreading the idea of the up-and-coming squad from the opposite end of the QEII Highway emerging as a playoff team and eventually a Stanley Cup contender.

Making matters worse, a former Flames skipper will likely be along for the ride.

When his younger brother Brent became unemployed in mid-April, current Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter told reporters “I think (Brent) is a top coach in the National Hockey League, and it may be very well he'll be coaching somewhere else soon, too.”

The smart money says that somewhere else will be Edmonton.

It's certainly not a far-fetched idea, especially when you consider what Sutter's been up to for the past three weeks.

Just days after Sutter and Flames GM Jay Feaster mutually agreed to go separate directions, the 49-year-old accepted an invite from Kevin Lowe to become head coach of Canada's entry at the world hockey championships.

In case you didn't know, Lowe just so happens to be the president of the Oilers.

This isn't exactly six degrees of separation we're talking about. Lowe and Sutter have been hanging out together in Helsinki.

Team Canada made a hasty exit after Thursday's quarterfinal loss to Slovakia, but Sutter has had plenty of time to impress his could-be boss.

It makes sense for both sides.

Sutter, who missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons at the Saddledome, has a reputation for being an effective teacher of young players. The Oilers have a hat-trick of rising star forwards — Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — and the first-overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Sutter would like to stay close to home. Rexall Place isn't far for him.

Sutter has time. The Oilers, as of Thursday afternoon, have an opening.

There's been so much smoke, Oilers GM Steve Tambellini was asked about Sutter by name during Thursday's press conference to address Renney's dismissal.

“As far as guys that are candidates, there's going to be a lot of speculation,” Tambellini told reporters in Edmonton. “I know there's been a lot of talk around the world championships and Brent. He's a good coach — there's no doubt about that — but let us go through the process and get the right guy.”

For Feaster, the head coaching search continues. Although there's a growing sentiment that Abbotsford Heat bench boss Troy Ward is the leading candidate, the Flames GM has insisted it's still early, using the analogy he's in the first inning of a baseball game.

Up the road in Edmonton, it might be a home-run.

And Flames fans might not like the outcome.

—–

Sutter right man for Oilers

TERRY JONES, QMI Agency, May 18 2012

HELSINKI – Brent Sutter lost in the quarterfinals at the world hockey championships Thursday afternoon.

Nine hours later – at 1 a.m. in Helsinki – you have to figure he became the next head coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Tom Renney’s contract, it was announced, was not going to be renewed.

What was never said was that Renney’s not going to be coming back because he didn’t do what he was asked to do in his term with the team. Renney isn’t coming back because he wasn’t viewed as a dynamic coach capable of the inspirational and motivational leadership to take the Edmonton Oilers to the future.

Brent Sutter was here for the past three weeks allegedly auditioning for the job as the next Oilers head coach. While he failed to get Team Canada to the medal round, Sutter illustrated those qualities in dealing with Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Devan Dubnyk and the other young members of the team throughout the tournament.

In watching Sutter closely throughout the tournament I found a man motivated to prove his worth after his departure from the Calgary Flames, somebody who has a real fire in his belly to succeed and somebody who would bring an extra edge to that rivalry.

Brent Sutter is the right man to replace Renney as head coach of the Oilers.

Tambellini was in Helsinki for the round robin and had Oilers’ president of hockey operations and his boss Kevin Lowe on the inside as GM of Team Canada. If this was an audition for the job, despite the loss to Slovakia Thursday, you’d have to say he had a successful audition.

The bottom line is that Renney might have been the perfect coach to take the Oilers through the last two years, with the tremendous patience he showed in the development of Edmonton’s young stars.

“Tom is a thorough guy, a good man, a good coach and did a good job for us,” Tambellini told the press conference in Edmonton after meeting with Renney on his return from Finland.

So then why isn’t he going to be coming back?

All Tambellini had to do is say what the next coach has to bring to the job and that in management’s opinion Renney isn’t that guy.

I think in time Edmonton will look back and believe Renney was the right man for the job these past two years, that he did a wonderful job with Eberle, Taylor Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and others in their training wheels seasons as NHLers.

But he was not the right man to take this team forward. That was the decision. And I believe Tambellini and Lowe had come to that conclusion before Lowe and the Hockey Canada brain trust offered the Team Canada job to Sutter the morning before he went in and by mutual agreement with Flames’ GM Jay Feaster concluded his own term as coach in Calgary.

Why Tambellini couldn’t just spit that out and show some dynamic leadership himself is a condemnation of him in his own role.

“We’re going into a phase with a different level of compete,” was Tambellini’s way of putting it.

The whole handling of Renney’s departure didn’t look good on Tambellini nor did it when came to letting Pat Quinn go well after the season.

It smacked of the brutal public relations which has been a constant throughout Tambellini’s time as general manager.

To wait more than a month after the season to make up his mind and then do the dirty deed with a 5 p.m. press conference the day Canada lost at the world hockey championship on the eve of the Edmonton Oil Kings opening game at the Memorial Cup was not unlike the political strategy of releasing unpopular news late Friday afternoon to minimize play during the news cycle.

With the next hire, it will be four coaches who have worked under Tambellini.

Technically Craig MacTavish resigned, Pat Quinn was removed and Renney wasn’t renewed. But no coach has lasted more than Renney’s two years in Tambellini’s time.

Tambelini hired Quinn and Renney as a tandem, explaining that he had worked with them both in the past and knew exactly what they would bring to the organization.

The next one better be the guy to take the Oilers into the playoffs and then deep into the playoffs or he’ll be Tambellini’s last one.

Of all the coaches available, it’s hard to see a more qualified coach to hire than Brent Sutter.

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

[hockeygod]

Basketball player Krysten Boogaard inspired by brother as she aims for Olympics

ABBOTSFORD, B.C.— DAVID EBNER, Globe and Mail, May. 17, 2012

Krysten Boogaard stands at the biggest moment of her young basketball career, on the verge of making the national Canadian women’s team, which itself is on the verge of clinching a berth at this summer’s London Olympics.

But as the 24-year-old, 6-foot-5 centre competes to reach the Olympics, she wrestles with much more than the typical young athlete: It was a year ago that her older brother, hockey enforcer Derek Boogaard, died at age 28 of an overdose of alcohol and prescription painkillers.

“I feel like he’s always watching me,” Ms. Boogaard said after practice this week in a quiet gym in Abbotsford, an hour east of Vancouver. “He was always one of my role models growing up, working his ass off regardless of what other people said about him as a hockey player. I know that he would be proud.”

Derek Boogaard, who played most of his career for the Minnesota Wild, was a popular fighter in the National Hockey League, and research on his brain after he died revealed startling findings: chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative condition caused by brain trauma such as concussions. To see it in a person so young was a shock. The news made Mr. Boogaard a face of violence in hockey and the devastating long-term implications of repeated blows to the head.

While Mr. Boogaard struggled with addiction to prescription drugs in his last years, his sister draws strength from memories of his tenacity, the fighting spirit that got him to the NHL. Krysten Boogaard is now one of 16 women in contention for a dozen spots on the roster, to be decided in the next several weeks.

The team has trained in Abbotsford this month and plays exhibition games against China this week, in preparation for a crucial Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey in June, when Canada has a good shot to make it to London. Ms. Boogaard is among the younger, less experienced players, but her height – just two inches shorter than Derek– is an asset, as she is the second-tallest on the squad.

“Just through the experiences that I know he’s been through, that helps me on my journey,” Ms. Boogaard said. “Obviously, it’s difficult at times.”

For the Boogaard family, the ache of Derek’s death remains raw. Time heals – but only a year has passed. The cut of death was deep.

“We’re still all struggling,” said Joanne Boogaard, Krysten’s mother. “A year has gone by”– her voice cracks – “and it doesn’t get any better.”

Joanne Boogaard this week flew to Vancouver from the family home in Regina to watch her daughter play. She’s made such trips before – to France, where Krysten played her first pro season last winter in Nice, and to the University of Kansas, where Krysten was a force.

“Derek would have been so proud,” Joanne Boogaard said. “That’s what’s driving Krysten, he’s a little guardian angel on her shoulder. I’m so proud. She’s trying out for the Olympic team. How much higher can she go, than to play for Canada? She’s one of the younger ones but we’re all crossing our fingers and hoping she makes it.”

The Boogaards haven’t taken an advocacy stance after Derek’s death, such as calling for changes like a fighting ban in hockey. Joanne’s feelings are conflicted.

“I don’t know how to say, ‘Should it be [banned]?’ because that’s what my son did, and that’s what killed him in the end. I told Derek every game, ‘Don’t fight.’ He would go, ‘Aw, mom, I’m going to be okay.’ It was his job. But this has definitely opened a lot of eyes.”

Krysten wants fans to better understand the costs of perceived entertainment.

“From all the evidence, it’s proven to be unhealthy for the athletes,” Ms. Boogaard said. “And fans should want what’s best for the athletes. When a fight’s breaking out you don’t think about those things.”

Opening up has helped. The family spoke intimately for a lengthy New York Times series that appeared last December. “It was good,” Krysten said. “To give those experiences and accounts, to let other people understand a little bit. Nobody really will fully understand.”

Talking about the experience has helped carry Ms. Boogaard through this month. A year ago, Derek Boogaard was on leave from substance-abuse rehabilitation when he died, and was planning to attend his younger sister’s graduation from university. Instead, Krysten missed her graduation and eulogized her brother at his funeral in Regina on a rainy Saturday.

Krysten has welcomed the embrace of her teammates, a close, spirited and fun group of women – “a second family,” said head coach Allison McNeill. “I notice more of a soulfulness to her,” Ms. McNeill said.

The Canadian women’s basketball team hasn’t been to the Olympics since 2000. Today, after years of losses, the team, like Ms. Boogaard, is on the cusp. She’s focused, underpinned by the inspiration of her big brother.

“When I’m on the basketball court,” she said, “it’s like, ‘This is what I’m doing. I’m doing basketball right now.’ I’m focused, for myself, and for my team. I’m here to work my ass off for my team and reach those goals – because it’s not just about me, it’s about all of us.”

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

[hockeygod]

Spector on Oilers: Tambellini on thin ice

Mark Spector, National Post, May 17, 2012

EDMONTON – This day wasn't about the deposed head coach Tom Renney. Nor was it about Brent Sutter, farm club coach Todd Nelson, or whomever succeeds Renney as Steve Tambellini's third coaching hire in four seasons at the helm of this Edmonton Oilers organization.

This day, and every remaining day until Tambellini's promised "next phase" comes to fruition, is about the general manager himself. A GM who has run out of mistakes. A GM who had better get this hire right. Period.

"We need to be better," was a theme that Tambellini ran with Thursday, in announcing that Renney, a good man and fine coach, would not be asked back after his contract expires June 30.

Included in that "we" is Tambellini and Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe, the two men whose acquisitions and stewardship of this organization have guided it to three consecutive No. 1 overall draft picks.

To a place where Renney — a solid, veteran teacher and coach — did not have a prayer of keeping this job, if winning was to be the criteria for success.

"I'm not going to dissect Tom as a coach. He's a good man, a good coach," said Tambellini (Renney has chosen not to speak, for now). "We're just trying … to get better. We need to get better as an organization. Better as a management staff. Better as a coaching staff. Better as players.

"We expect better performances from … Ales Hemsky on a more consistent basis. We expect better goaltending … from Devan (Dubnyk) and Nick (Khabibulin). There are a lot of areas where, in order for us to be better, the people who are here right now need to be a lot better."

That group of the here and now no longer includes Renney, who succeeded Pat Quinn, Tambellini's first coaching hire, which was a disaster. It does however include people like:

o Khabibulin, the ageing goaltender who still has the final year remaining on a regrettable four-year, $15-million deal. Tambellini signed Khabibulin as a No. 1, to starter's money, after his days as a starter had passed.

o Shawn Horcoff, whose six-year, $33-million deal ranks with Scott Gomez' as one of the worst in the entire NHL. He is a third-line centre at best now, and on the decline. Yet, three years remain on a deal inked by then-GM Lowe.

o Last year's free agent pick-ups Eric Belanger and Ben Eager, each signed by Tambellini to three-year contracts. Belanger produced a career-low 16 points in 2011-12, while Eager added 13 points and was entirely ineffective in fulfilling his mandate of protecting players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall.

o A minor league defence corps was bolstered by free agent signing Cam Barker. He did not have an assist among his two points in 25 games, and was injured for most of the year.

"We went through a difficult phase here, through this rebuild," Tambellini admits. "We've seen a lot of people put in a lot of positions where … you saw mistakes at times. But the transition through that rebuild we believe, soon here, will take us into a new phase for our hockey club.

"We need to get to a different level of compete. A different level of competing for playoff spots," the GM declared. "Expectations will increase … as we enter this next phase of development … where we are competing for playoff spots. We've risen … in some specific (statistical) areas. Now, we have to move ourselves up in the standings."

Give Tambellini some credit for putting himself on the line Thursday, stating that his Oilers are primed to take that next step. That journey, however, will require the hiring of the right coach, the acquisition of a couple of effective free agents, and the consummation of a trade or two — perhaps involving Edmonton's third consecutive No. 1 draft pick.

If this rebuild is going anywhere, those are the vital areas where the Oilers have to "be better."

They all fall to Tambellini, who lost a layer of Teflon on Thursday.

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

[hockeygod]

Canucks' Mike Gillis, Alain Vigneault going through 'process'
Is no contract good news?

Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun, May 18, 2012

VANCOUVER — The general manager likes his coach. The coach likes Vancouver. So why has Canuck general manager Mike Gillis been unable so far to finalize an extension for coach Alain Vigneault?

“Alain and I have been meeting the last couple of days,” Gillis said Thursday during his weekly radio appearance on AM 1040. “We have a lot of things to discuss over the last couple of years about where we're headed and how we work together and how we view the world of hockey.

“It's a process you have to go through. That isn't something that happens in a moment; it takes a little bit of time. Everyone's very emotional when the season ends. Everyone is kind of not in a position to really make great judgments about a lot of things that are important things. I firmly believe you just take your time and look at it clearly and thoughtfully and you'll get to the right conclusion.”

Gillis should have had Vigneault at “hello,” but the coach and GM will continue to chip away at an extension to mirror the one Gillis secured from owner Francesco Aquilini last week.

Vigneault, who has guided the Canucks to consecutive Presidents' Trophies and is the winningest coach in franchise history, could make a fortune as a free agent. Among Canadian teams alone, the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are looking for coaches and Vigneault, a coach-of-the-year finalist three times in nine National Hockey League seasons, has proved himself to be one of the best.

But, fair or not, Vigneault really doesn't have much leverage in negotiations with the Canucks. His current deal, extended three years ago by Gillis, runs through next season. He can't just quit and seek a better offer elsewhere.

Of course, the GM and coach could agree to part. But given Gillis' ideals about protecting assets and the chance for the Canucks to challenge for a Stanley Cup next season, it seems extremely unlikely the GM would let his coach walk.

It's a marriage the coach and GM are stuck with for now, for richer or poorer.

LUONGO ON MARKET? Gillis, who said he spoke Thursday with Roberto Luongo, talked around broadcaster Barry Macdonald's question when asked if the goalie will be traded to clear the crease next season and beyond for backup Cory Schneider.

“I'm going to take my time and think about everything that has happened,” Gillis said. “I really haven't had an opportunity to do that much in the last couple of weeks but I'm going to now, and we're going to start making some decisions in formalizing and solidifying our plans. I'll speak to [Roberto] again when we get to that point. We'll just see how things go and progress in the next few weeks up to the draft.”

Luongo, who lost his starting job in the playoffs, said when the Canucks' season ended that he wouldn't block a move. Gillis has denied reports that the goalie has submitted a list of teams for which he'd waive his no-trade clause.

WHOA CANADA: For all the embarrassment, outrage or self-flagellation caused by Team Canada's upset loss very early Thursday against Slovakia, the world championships could have gone over a lot worse in this country. No more than a handful of people in Newfoundland must have witnessed live on television the entire quarter-final game from Helsinki.

The International Ice Hockey Federation's decision to schedule the first playoff games in the early afternoon in Scandinavia meant anyone in British Columbia interested in Team Canada had to get up in the middle of night to see the game against Slovakia. No wonder the NHL, whose clubs still supply nearly all the top players to the worlds, gets exasperated with the IIHF and will have to be forced in upcoming contract negotiations to participate in the 2014 Olympic tournament in Russia.

As for the horror of waking up on the West Coast to news that Canada had lost 4-3, our national angst reflects a smugness about ourselves and our game that was once the chief undoing of Canadian players who figured they merely needed to show up overseas to win. Only Canadian fans still think that way.

The IIHF managed to pool all four semi-finalists from the 2010 Olympic tournament into the same preliminary group in Helsinki, and Canada opened the world championships two weeks ago by edging Slovakia 3-2 – the same result from the Olympic Final Four in Vancouver.

Slovakia lost its next preliminary-round game 1-0 to Finland, then reeled off five straight wins. Thursday's victory extended the winning streak to six. In hockey, as with most sports internationally, the Age of Imperialism ended a long time ago. Still, it makes Canada's fifth-place finish no less disappointing.

THE SHOOTING BOOTH: When I was about 10, I shot a dragon fly with a BB gun and have regretted it ever since. I don't even kill house spiders if I can humanely relocate them outdoors. Karma. So, I'm in no position to judge Canuck David Booth for baiting a black bear and killing it with a crossbow on a single shot that was as good as anything he unleashed in the NHL this season.

Legal arguments trump ethical ones and Booth broke no laws in Alberta. He had the right to do the same as innumerable others who hunt trophies. Apparently, his bear is one of about 3,000 that will be legally killed this year in Alberta.

What Booth was guilty of was a profound lapse in judgment in bragging about his kill through social media and supplying links to graphic photos and video of he and his prize, alive then dead.

Most of the people who follow him on Twitter do so because he plays for the Canucks. And out here on the left coast, we tend to like animals. A sled-dog cull in Whistler drew more public outrage and a quicker response from authorities than most crimes against people.

In Vancouver, we hunt mostly for parking spots and cheaper gas.

Booth was either breathtakingly naïve or just plain stupid to think his gloating and bravado about luring and killing a bear wouldn't have a significant backlash in the market where people pay his salary as a hockey player.

ALL TORTED UP: After his New York Rangers came up three shot blocks short and lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, seething coach John Tortorella uttered a total of 39 words in response to six questions over 72 seconds – an average of 6.5 words per answer.

Every profession has miserable, rude people. What's mystifying is how Tortorella gets away with his boorishness in a league that sells entertainment and relies on its connection to fans for survival. Maybe someone should ask why he has such contempt for them. Tortorella's answer would probably be two words.

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

[hockeygod]

Change in roster philosophy the key to Rangers, Kings success

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News, 2012-05-18

In a playoff season where almost nothing seems to make any sense, count on the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings to turn everything upside down.

When you think of the Rangers and Kings, you think glamour, Broadway and Showtime. You think star power. But what you’re getting are two teams in the biggest NHL markets that are a triumph of the collective. The Rangers are certainly more than a sum of their parts and the Kings are quickly becoming a Stanley Cup favorite on the strength of having every single player on the roster making a significant contribution.

But most of all, you have two teams that, after years of taking the path of least resistance, finally learned you must build from within to have any sort of sustained success and sometimes that can be a long and painful process.

Who would have thought of the four teams remaining in the Stanley Cup tournament, the Kings and Rangers would have the most homegrown players on their rosters, while the New Jersey Devils would be third and the Phoenix Coyotes fourth?

You’d think the Coyotes wouldn’t be able to afford to do anything but build from within, but they had just five players on their roster for Game 3 of the Western Conference final who had been drafted and developed by the organization – defenseman Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forwards Shane Doan, Mikkel Boedker and Michael Stone.

The Kings, by contrast, had 11 players they had either drafted or signed as undrafted free agents in their lineup – goalies Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier, defensemen Drew Doughty, Slava Voynov and Alec Martinez and forwards Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Jordan Nolan and Dwight King.

And every one of them, with the exception of Doughty and Kopitar, has spent significant time developing in the American League. Brown, for example, came to the NHL as an 18-year-old the year before the lockout and scored one goal in 31 games. Then in 2004-05, he spent the lockout season in the AHL, became a far more confident player and came back to the Kings as a much better prepared NHL player.

The Rangers, meanwhile, haven’t stopped chasing high-profile free agents such as Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik, but it was only when GM Glen Sather came to the realization that model couldn’t work exclusively the Rangers began to make serious strides on the ice. As a result, they had nine homegrown players on their roster for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final – goalie Henrik Lundqvist, defensemen Michael Del Zotto, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal and forwards Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Artem Anisimov and Carl Hagelin. And that doesn’t even include Ryan McDonagh, a player who was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, but never played a game in the organization before the Rangers stole him in the Scott Gomez trade.

The Devils are still building through the draft, but theirs is a team that is no longer constructed exclusively on talent from within. They also had nine players in their lineup who had originally been drafted or signed as undrafted free agents and developed by the team – goalie Martin Brodeur, defenseman Mark Fayne and forwards Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique, Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora, David Clarkson and Stephen Gionta. That doesn’t include defenseman Adam Larsson, the Devils first-round pick last summer who has also played sporadically in these playoffs.

The Devils with Ilya Kovalchuk, the Rangers with Richards and Gaborik and the Kings with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter have not shied away from acquiring big-time talents either through trades or free agent signings. In fact, the reason why the Kings were able to get both Richards and Carter was because they had young players they had originally drafted in the fold and were in a position to give up some of the future in order to get help in the present.

That’s the way it’s supposed to be done in the NHL. And now with teams such as the Rangers and Kings unable to spend their into and out of big-money mistakes, the importance of building from within has never been more relevant.

The Kings and Rangers seem to have finally grasped that concept. And it’s a major reason why one of them might end up winning the Stanley Cup.

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

[hockeygod]

Kings whipped into shape: Sutter makes sure L.A. well prepared

CHRIS STEVENSON, QMI Agency May 18 2012

EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. – Darryl Sutter has a voice like a gravel road in rural Alberta.

He rumbles more than talks.

It didn’t take Kings forward Anze Kopitar — a Slovenian who speaks his native language along with some Serbian, German, Swedish and English — long to figure out his best chance of understanding the new coach.

“On the ice, you just want to make sure you get pretty close to him,” Kopitar said.

Sutter might be hard to understand at times, but his message is getting through to the Kings, who can advance to the Stanley Cup final with a win against the Phoenix Coyotes Sunday afternoon in Game 4 of the Western Conference final.

The Kings were 25-13-11 in the regular season after Sutter took over from Terry Murray Dec. 22.

They are now 11-1 in these playoffs.

The Kings now have a chance to become the first team since the NHL made every series a best-of-seven affair 25 years ago to reach the final in just 13 games.

Ask around the Kings dressing room about what Sutter has brought to the mix and there’s a couple of things that come up: they play a more aggressive, up-tempo game and are better prepared.

“Just a little more aggressive. He wanted us to be the hardest working team,” Kopitar said. “When you work hard, I think the skill comes out, too, and he’s done a good job of that.”

Veteran defenceman Willie Mitchell thinks the edge Sutter gives the team is the way he gets ramped up for games.

“I’ve only been here for the last year and a half, but I think they’ve had some young players, to be honest, they needed some better preparation, some better focus, especially in this market. I think (Sutter) definitely brings that. He makes sure everyone is prepared and they’re ready to go. You can see the intensity, his passion for game day and it rubs off on everyone,” Mitchell said.

“So it’s like the leader in any company, right? CEOs, if they have that passion it just going to filter throughout the company. The coach is your leader, he has to be that guy for us. When he has that passion and intensity it filters down through the rest of the team.”

“Try and harp on the details to them,” Sutter said when asked how he would have his team ready to try and close out the series Sunday. “Hopefully they have the preparation skills to do that.”

Preparation is always important, but particularly so for Sunday because the game starts at noon local time.

Then there’s what is expected to be a crazy atmosphere around the Staples Center with the Tour of California bike race taking place outside. The Kings were moving Saturday night into a downtown hotel so they could walk to the rink and avoid the impending traffic Armageddon.

“It’s only a mile walk downhill,” Sutter said. “I’ve done that. It’s actually a little bit more than a mile. How many blocks is that, like 12 blocks or something?”

The players have played a noon game before in these playoffs, so they know about adjusting their eating schedule to make sure they are ready.

“A noon game for me, the only challenge is I prefer lunch as opposed to breakfast before a game,” Kings captain Dustin Brown said. “There’s not any time to eat lunch. (Sunday) I’ll wake up, have a little bit of breakfast and I’ll have pasta just out of habit. Normally I’ll eat at one o-clock for a 7:00 or 7:30 game. Now, it’s crunch time so I just won’t eat as much, but I’ll have a good dinner (Saturday) night. I’ll get up a little earlier, probably eat at 9:00 and head over to the rink.”

What’s on the menu?

“Eggs, bacon and maybe a piece of French toast.”

Then a chance to make the Coyotes toast.

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

[hockeygod]

Blocking shots dangerous — for growth of hockey

ERIC FRANCIS, QMI Agency, May 21 2012

CALGARY – For the sake of the game, let’s hope this shot blocking craze is just a fad.

Otherwise, kids will have yet another reason to quit hockey.

Not only is it painful to watch on TV, but absolutely nobody alive likes the prospect of stepping in front of a hard rubber disc travelling faster than most cars on the Deerfoot.

When you are paid millions of dollars to play the game and a Stanley Cup is within sight, it’s understandable to see guys making such sacrifices.

However, when you are just a kid playing the game at any level, the last thing you want to do is block shots with regularity.

Any minor hockey coaches out there who think incessant shot-blocking is the new trend need to know eight of the top-11 shot-blocking teams in the NHL missed the playoffs this season.

In other words, just because the New York Rangers have survived this long based largely on the fact they’re responsible for more blocks than Lego doesn’t mean it can be relied on as a tactic.

The focus for kids needs to be skill development and not something as painful, dangerous and unnecessary as throwing your body in front of slap-shots and risking even more injury than the game already threatens.

Let the goalies make the saves — that’s why they have that bulky equipment designed especially for such a task.

Otherwise, enrollment and viewership in our great sport will continue to decline in this country.

Now for more notes, quotes and anecdotes from a sports world wondering how Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi could ever have spent even five minutes considering the possible trade of eventual Conn Smythe Trophy winner Dustin Brown.

AROUND THE HORN

Word is one of the big reasons the Calgary Flames have been taking their time to start their coaching search is the prospect of snapping up San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan if he were to be let go by GM Doug Wilson. Because he wasn’t, the Flames start the real search with Bob Hartley, Troy Ward and Mike Sullivan as the frontrunners. The McLellan move would have been interesting as it was another hot-shot Sharks coach — Darryl Sutter — who the Flames likely saved their franchise with back in 2002 … Shockingly, the question is not if anyone can beat the Kings but if the eventual Eastern Conference champ can even win a game off them — they are that solid in every possible aspect these days … While defenceman Drew Doughty gets most of the credit for a Kings blueline that has been beyond stellar this spring, two lesser lights deserve more credit than they’ve been given. Rookie Slava Voynov and slick sophomore Alec Martinez have quietly established themselves as regular NHLers. And while both have played prominent roles with the man-advantage and in 5-on-5 situations, their emergence gave Kings management confidence they could trade Jack Johnson to land Jeff Carter and further bolster their top two forward units.

PARTING GIFTS

This astute observation from TSN’s Dan O’Toole: “A bubble hockey game has a better buzzer than MSG.” … Yes, as stated here for three months now, Brent Sutter is still the obvious hire for the Edmonton Oilers. Would have been an easier sell had he returned home from Europe with a gold medal, but he’s still the perfect fit for the job — and vice-versa … Believe it or not, before Thursday’s game, the Kings had not trailed since the opening period of Game 1 vs. the St. Louis Blues and have won nine straight road playoff games dating back to last year … Wondering if the saddest part of the Coyotes’ inevitable demise for viewers is the fact the series likely won’t return to Glendale — home of the red-headed smokeshow sitting behind Dave Tippett. You know exactly who I’m talking about.

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

[hockeygod]

Bedevilled by New York’s Blueshirt blockade

NEWARK, N.J.— ROY MacGREGOR, Globe and Mail, May. 20, 2012

You are Peter DeBoer, and this is your challenge.

It’s pretty simple, really. You are the head coach of some of the most talented hockey players in the world – Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, American Zach Parise, who sent the 2010 Olympic gold-medal game against Canada into overtime, Czech Patrik Elias, the New Jersey Devils’ career leader in goals and points, Canadian Adam Henrique, finalist for NHL rookie-of-the-year honours – so just how hard can it be to slide a chunk of vulcanized rubber an inch-high and three inches in diameter across a thin red line painted over slippery ice?

Even once.

You yourself, coach, said that “the story of game” Saturday was obvious. “We played a real good hockey game, we lost – we’ve got to find a way to score a goal.”

Twice in three games the New Jersey Devils, by far the better team on the ice for those who never glance up at the scoreboard, have been shut out by the New York Rangers. After Saturday afternoon’s 3-0 loss, the Devils are in the position of having to win Monday on the alien ice of Madison Square Garden. Fail, and the Rangers would go ahead 3-1 in this Eastern Conference final and become all but a lock to reach the Stanley Cup final. Succeed, however, and the series would be tied 2-2, with momentum finally on the side of the roster that seems on paper more likely to be a Cup contender.

“Their goalie was the difference,” DeBoer said Saturday, again stating the obvious. Henrik Lundqvist has been brilliant for the Rangers. Martin Brodeur, who can statistically claim to be the greatest goaltender ever, not so great. But not so bad, either, to be blamed for his team’s utter failure to penetrate, first, the musk-ox blockade of blue-shirted players that surrounds Lundqvist and, second, the majesty of Lundqvist’s play when he must deal with a puck that somehow squeaks through.

It is by no accident that the signature call of several play-by-play announcers this spring has become “MISSED THE NET!” – but that, sadly, is indicative of a shift in game strategy that is not only sucking goals out of the game, but fun itself.

No matter, if you are head coach, you must deal with it. DeBoer, it needs to be pointed out, is ably assisted in his planning by Hall-of-Famer Larry Robinson, who once set the standard for impenetrable defence, and by Adam Oates, who should be in the Hall of Fame as one of the game’s most inventive playmakers. No Adam Oates, no Brett Hull in the Hall.

New York head coach John Tortorella said this weekend that “it’s no secret” how the Rangers succeed. “We know who we are and how we have to play.” If it is indeed no secret, then DeBoer, Robinson and Oates should know how they have to play if the Devils are ever to stop this New York grind to the Stanley Cup final.

“We don’t want to change anything,” Kovalchuk said following practice. “We just have to do what we were doing all three games.”

But he is wrong. The Devils’ leading scorer with six goals and seven assists, Kovalchuk should have had two more on clean chances on Lundqvist Saturday, one on a clean breakaway in which Lundqvist first guessed wrong but then made a snow-angel stop just as Kovalchuk thought he was firing the puck into the open side of the net.

DeBoer moved Kovalchuk to right wing Sunday on a line with Henrique and Elias. The rationale was obvious: Elias, who has been flat all series, can be a superb Oates-like playmaker at his best. Kovalchuk needs good passes, Elias needs a shooter to set up.

“He’s a great playmaker,” Kovalchuk said of his new linemate. “He’s always in a great position. So I think we can help each other a lot and create a lot of chances and hang in there.”

DeBoer also put Parise, who has played fairly well but been frustrated by the Rangers’ style, with Dainius Zubrus, a solid if unspectacular forward whose game never changes, and Travis Zajac.

This combination speaks well of DeBoer’s self-image. Prior to the new coach’s arrival, they were a line that worked. “They had some chemistry,” DeBoer said. “I think they enjoyed playing together. Hopefully, that translates.”

Nor was DeBoer finished with his tinkering. He replaced Petr Sykora, largely a spent force in NHL hockey, and replaced him with Jacob Josefson, a 21-year-old centre who has recovered from a broken wrist.

“Fresh legs,” DeBoer explained. “It can never hurt.

“I think the easy thing would be to stick with it and just hope you come out the next game, do the same thing, and score. But we’ve decided to shuffle some things around – and I think we’ll get some results in that.”

And if they don’t …

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

[hockeygod]

Russia cruises to world championship gold with 6-2 win over Slovakia

HELSINKI, Finland— Chris Johnston, The Canadian Press, May 20, 2012

What a performance. What a team.

Russia steamrolled its way to gold at the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday with an impressive 6-2 victory over Slovakia, completing a perfect run through a tournament where it was barely even threatened.

The level of dominance was reminiscent of the days when the Soviet Union was known as the “Red Machine.” Consider the stats: Russia won 10 games over 16 days by a total score of 44-14.

“I was surprised that they played with a team effort,” said Slovak forward Tomas Kopecky. “Usually the Russians are more about individual skills. They were dumping pucks and they were playing with more of a team effort.

“That’s why they won.”

Ultimately, both teams walked away from an emotional evening at Hartwall Arena feeling like winners. Russian coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov dedicated the victory to the players killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash while Kopecky and Slovak captain Zdeno Chara each paid tribute to one of them — wearing a Pavol Demitra sweater backwards while accepting their silver medals.

They had a miraculous run here while playing in honour of Demitra’s memory.

“We played the whole tournament very hard and there’s no regrets,” said Chara. “That’s all you can ask for from your team.”

It’s clear the balance of power in international hockey has shifted. The Russian players were inspired in their first world championship under Bilyaletdinov and celebrated on the ice by throwing their coach up and down in the air.

Like every other opponent, the Slovaks simply had no answer for a star-studded Russian roster that seems to be peaking ahead of the 2014 Olympic tournament, which will be played on home ice in Sochi.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Russian forward Nikolai Kulemin. “This was a special team.”

On Sunday, Alex Semin led the way offensively for Russia with two goals and an assist while Alexander Perezhogin, Alexei Tereshenko, Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin also scored.

Zdeno Chara scored twice for Slovakia.

The heavy underdogs briefly enjoyed some momentum after the big defenceman beat Semyon Varlamov with a booming slapshot a little over one minute into the game. They couldn’t have drawn up a better start.

“It was early in the game and we knew it wasn’t going to be enough,” said Chara. “It was nice to get a lead, but Russia started to push really hard.”

As a result, it soon became clear that Russia would not be stopped. It almost appeared as though there were more red sweaters on the ice than white ones with the amount of puck possession they enjoyed.

Semin tied the game midway through the first period after linemate Alex Ovechkin blew past a defender and then the team really put the pedal down. Perezhogin, Tereshenko and Semin scored nine minutes apart in the second period, making the final 20 minutes little more than an extended celebration for the many Russians who packed Hartwall Arena.

“We just tried to play hard,” said Kulemin. “Just the right play — short shifts and hard tempo.”

Added Kopecky: “They have four lines with unbelievable skill.”

It’s the third time in five years Russia has won gold at this tournament and clearly sets them up as the favourite heading into Sochi. They seemed to score at will throughout this world championship while playing a more defensive style under Bilyaletdinov.

They only allowed six goals at even strength throughout the tournament.

Malkin put an exclamation point on Russia’s victory with a breathtaking goal in the dying minutes. Not only did that secure the tournament scoring title for him with 19 points, it was soon followed by Malkin being named the world championship MVP.

The Russians celebrated their victory with fervour and most players ran through the interview area without stopping. They wanted to get the party started in their dressing room.

“This was my Stanley Cup this year,” said Datsyuk.

Notes: The world championship all-star team: Malkin, Chara, forwards Patrick Thoresen (Norway) and Henrik Zetterberg (Sweden), defenceman Ilya Nikulin (Russia) and goalie Jan Laco (Slovakia) … The Czech Republic took the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Finland … Russia has come away from the tournament with a medal six of the last eight years … Slovakia’s last world championship medal was a bronze in 2003 … Announced attendance was 13,242.

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

[hockeygod]

Johnson: Darryl’s success no surprise to Brian Sutter
‘It takes a lot of dedication, commitment and sacrifice’

George Johnson, Calgary Herald May 22, 2012

Brian Sutter is about as newfangled, as cutting edge, as the rumble seat in a ’31 Ford roadster. True to form, then, he doesn’t seem like a PVR kinda guy.

“No, sir,’’ he replies, with unmistakable pride. “I am not.’’

Mostly these lengthening late-spring days into dusk, you’ll find him perched atop a tractor doing summer seeding or busy with field work and assorted chores. Not stapled to a sofa in front of an80-inch HD flat-screen TV with theatre-quality sound.

“Farmers,’’ he laughs, “don’t sit in the house and watch hockey games. Bits and pieces, a period here and there, you sneak in. I catch the highlights . . . most nights. What can I say? This is a busy time of year.’’

He is, however, trying to stay as current as possible with brother Darryl’s steamrolling Stanley Cup bid in Los Angeles via the old-fashioned kind of air waves.

“I listened to the game on radio (Sunday),’’ says Sutter. “Let me tell you, I miss Peter Maher. Nobody calls a game like Pete.

“Even though they were Phoenix announcers, you could visualize what’s going on from a Kings’ perspective. I don’t think L.A. pushed as much on the forecheck as in the past or were hard enough on the puck.

“Darryl won’t be very happy with that. He’ll be busy talking about urgency (Monday), I’ll bet.

“Hey, every game in the playoffs, from all the years I played and coached, you take by itself and you move on. Every game that goes by, the give-a-(bleep) level goes up. You don’t become overwhelmed by a loss or start patting your own backsides when you win.

“You’ve got to stay even-keel. Believe me, (Sunday’s loss) will help big-time if L.A. continues down the road, which they should.’’

Brian is, for the newbies out there, the oldest of the hockey-playing Sutters. The first of three siblings to take a spin as head coach the Calgary Flames. The lone one among them to carry off a Jack Adams Trophy as NHL coach of the year, with St. Louis in 1991.

A genuinely nice guy, immensely big-hearted, refreshingly uncomplicated, witheringly blunt, fiercely loyal.

And arguably the toughest hombre of the brood (Brian, it’s been said, is as tough as Darryl thinks he is).

“Obviously,’’ says Brian, “Darryl’s done a heckuva job there. If I’m not mistaken, that team hasn’t lost a game on the road in the playoffs. And how long has it been since a any team, going into (Sunday’s) game, had lost only once into the third series? Maybe the Montreal Canadiens of the early-to-mid-’70s? That’s incredible.

“Am I surprised? Nope. I find it really interesting that everybody talks about how hockey’s changed, the new NHL, all that. . . well, people haven’t changed. People still need to be motivated. To motivate them, you’ve got to communicate with them.

“That’ll never change.

“The people who can get their message across will always be able to get their teams to play hard, up to their expectations, capabilities, and then go beyond what they figured was possible. Those guys are good coaches. That’s why Dave Tippett’s done what he has, why Ken Hitchcock did what he did. And why Darryl’s doing what he’s doing.’’

Despite that 2-0 Game 4 loss Sunday, the Kings remain very much the analysts’ pick, only five wins away from the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship. And Darryl Sutter, whatever anyone may think of his infamous cowboy-kickers-to-the-scrotum methods, has in short order galvanized an underachieving lot to within hailing distance of history.

“All the things Darryl talks about, preparation, urgency, the will to win, digging down deeper and deeper every game . . . are true. But in the end it’s up to the players. Like Ken Hitchcock said after St. Louis went out: ‘You can talk as a coach all you want about urgency and the will to win, about how certain things have to be upgraded after each and every game, but the players have to learn it.’

“In L.A. the last couple years, they haven’t lived up to expectations. So you want to see those kids do well. They’ve got a young team that has set high standards. And Darryl’s helping them live up to them.’’

Getting anything remotely close to an accurate reading on Darryl Sutter’s emotional Geiger-counter has always been maddeningly futile. He’s notoriously guarded, manipulative, curt.

In that, a complete contrast to heart-on-his-sleeve Brian, who camouflaged nothing. And whose pride in possibly adding a Stanley Cup coaching championship in the family is plain for all to see, too.

“It’d be pretty special for Darryl,’’ says big brother. “I mean, you’re the eighth seed and you had to fight to get into the playoffs right until the end of the season. That’s something.

“It would mean a lot, I know. He’s been through a lot of conference finals, both as a player and as a coach.

“I was thinking the other day about Rob Ramage leaving us in St. Louis, and Dougie Gilmour and Joey Mullen and Mark Hunter — we were a farm team for the Calgary Flames in those days. Our guys went to Calgary from St. Louis and they all won a Cup together.

“When that happens, there is a touch of envy involved, almost to the point of feeling a little jealous. But mostly you’re extremely happy and proud of them.

“Same thing with Darryl.

“It takes a lot of dedication, commitment and sacrifice. Darryl went through a lot of things in Calgary. It makes you just about puke listening to what people have to say. But he’s showing everybody what it’s all about now and some people in Calgary should pay attention.

“They might learn something.’’

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

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