Five Things About Game Six

by J. Scott Moore

I’ve never played this “5 Things” game here on the blog.  Seems like a great way to get the writing juices flowing and since I’ve been struggling to finish up Tapeleg’s challenge, I need all the help I can get.  And now that there will be a game seven, I will be blogging at least an extra day.  And…hit it!

1. Elimination game in Boston against a Canadian team and the house is playing Rush?

2. If Luongo wins the Cup, how does he even look himself in the mirror?  Seriously?  Can he look in the mirror and say to himself that he played at the top of his game?  There are all kinds of examples of guys playing well enough and winning it all.  Playing not to lose.  Manage the game as they say in football.  Not possible as the goalie on a hockey team.  Luongo gets all the blame if they lose the Cup.  Little or no credit if they win it.  I think that’s fair.  (This is a hilarious photo zipping around Twitter)

3. Early in the game a Canuck was hurt, down on the ice for quite a while and I was somewhat disturbed that the Boston crowd didn't even seem to care that a player was hurt. They were too busy chanting and didn't even give him applause off the ice.  I know this series has become brutal on and off the ice.  But that surprised me.

4. Unfortunately, these early blow out games are boring during the wrap up.  But I don’t really how we get there, as long as we get to game seven.

5. Late in the game the NBC crew was discussing whether or not Luongo should be allowed to face the press, post-game.  They agreed no.  Really?  What about the fact that Luongo has already shown that he couldn’t handle the pucks coming at him.  But he can’t handle questions either?  That just makes him look worse in my opinion.  He’s supposed to be a veteran, a leader, former captain…and they need to shelter him?  I’m writing this as the game is still on so I won’t change my opinion regardless, just that it is being discussed is amazing to me.

This isn’t specific to this game, just specific to Tim Thomas’ beard.  I think any minute he is going to go wading out into the middle of an icy cold stream, grab a jumping salmon and have a pre-game meal.  Nom nom nom.

     

Parroting the NHL

by J. Scott Moore

Myths, half truths and things people repeat without thinking

Real hockey towns don’t have Ice Girls? Boston, Chicago, Caps, Devils, Flames, Ottawa, Vancouver, Islanders, Pittsburgh…who else?

The Original Six are “real” hockey towns. Oh, so all those empty seats in the Joe and Chicago’s arena were just smart fans staying away from a bad product? And there’s absolutely NO bandwagoning going on in Chicago these days…right….!

The shoot out is a skills contest-this is a team sport. The OT should go from 4-4 to 3-3 to 2-2, etc. Wait, I thought you said this is a team sport!

Players that are suspended for injuring another player should have to sit out as long as it takes the injured player to return. Actually, the player’s association might want to look at negotiating this one into the next CBA because this will undoubtedly increase the number of men that get a shot at the NHL by at least a 1,000 players. There will be so many players sitting on their duff at home waiting for such-and-so to get healthy that the minor leagues will be exhausted of players. Of course never mind that all the players sitting on said duff will need to be paid…so watch those ticket prices go thru the roof! Great idea.

Southern Hockey doesn’t work. How long have the Blues been operating? Wasn’t it Buffalo and Washington that went bankrupt long before Phoenix?

+/- is the most worthless stat in the NHL – that is until it supports that argument you are making about such and so player. Then all of a sudden it’s ok to add it to the argument, though often with a CYA caveat / cliché, “Even though +/- is the most worthless stat in all of hockey…blah blah blah”

What are your hockey pet peeves?

   

Smell the Glove

by J. Scott Moore

The Boston Bruins have turned the volume up to eleven.

They are taking Alex Burrows' dirty game to higher ground.  No?  Think they are being childish?  I can see that.  But I frankly think it's hilarious.  While most after-the-play scrums involve stupid hugs and lots of shoving, sticking a couple fingers in a guys face and watching him squirm uncomfortably is rather bizarre.  It gives me that awkward feeling the first couple times I watched The Office.  It's such a little thing physically but so in your face mentally.  It's bothering the Nucks as much as an actual bite, and that's the brilliant part of it.  The Bruins are so hot coming off that game that I'm afraid someone is going to spontaneously combust!

   

A Little Vancouver History

by J. Scott Moore

Hockey Hall of Fame

This isn't the first time Vancouver has played for the Stanley Cup.  They were in the hunt in 1982 and 1994, as the Canucks.  But what about before the Canucks?

In 1917-18 the Vancouver Millionaires faced the Toronto Arenas in a best of five series.  The first four games were split and Toronto won the fifth game and the Cup.

I believe it was a much smaller cup at that time.

But Vancouver wasn't in the NHL, they were in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) along with Seattle, Portland (later Victoria) and the recently departed Spokane.

Vancouver's star player was one Fred "Cyclone" Taylor who liked to boast that he once skated backwards through the whole Ottawa team and scored a goal.  Taylor once played for the Renfrew Creamery Kings, so I would say the Millionaires was a step up.

It's amusing that a team would be named the Millionaires when the players certainly were nothing of the sort.  In fact in the Montreal team was sold for $11,000 around this time.

In the playoffs of this era the format was a little different, to say the least.  Two games and team with the most total goals across those two games, wins.  Bizarre.

The 1918-19 season saw Seattle win the PCHA, beating Vancouver in that bizarre format, 7-5.  That's goals, remember?

The 1919-20 season again matched up 1st place Seattle and 2nd place Vancouver for the chance to play the NHL champion Ottawa Senators for the Stanley Cup.  Once again Seattle prevailed in the two game format with a 7-3 victory.

It's interesting to note that Seattle's red, white and green uniforms were too similar to Ottawa's red, white and black uniforms for every one's comfort.  So the Senators agree to change to white sweaters.  Hmmm, beginning of the home whites tradition we all pine for these days?

The 1920-21 season again saw Seattle and Vancouver matched up in the two game playoff duel for the right to play for the Cup.  This time the Millionaires badly beat Seattle 13-2.  In the east Ottawa was once again the champs and this match with the Millionaires attracted a record 11,000 fans to the first game.  The teams split the first four games and once again Vancouver was denied the cup in the fifth and deciding game.

The 1921-22 season saw a lot of change.  The PCHA introduced the penalty shot and had a new competitor in the west, the Western Canada Hockey League.  Seattle finished first in the PCHA but lost the playoff to Vancouver, 2-0, (that's still goals, by the way).  Regina from the new league challenged Vancouver for the right to represent the West in the battle for the Stanley Cup.  Vancouver prevailed and headed east to play Toronto for the Cup.  Toronto was now known as the St. Patricks and again the series went to game five.  Doesn't that sound odd?  Toronto prevailed and once again Vancouver went home as the forgotten runner-up.

1922-23 saw Vancouver finish first in the league and advance through the playoff.  This time Ottawa traveled west to take on Vancouver, eliminating them and then dispensing with the WCHL Edmonton team as well to win the Cup.

The 1923-24 season again saw Vancouver advance through the playoff of the PCHA and Calgary won the WCHL.  Both teams traveled east to face Montreal for the Cup.  Montreal beat both teams to hoist the cup.  Did they "hoist" it then?  I don't know.

The next two seasons were nothing but turmoil for both of the western leagues and in short order there was nothing left of either league.  Vancouver did not appear in the playoffs in either year.

Now I must admit that I might have tricked you a little bit, Vancouver did win the Stanley Cup in 1915 against Ottawa.  However, that league was then known as the NHA, not the NHL.  It's the one and only Cup win for the city of Vancouver...1915, that's almost a hundred years ago...
 
Source: The Complete Encyclopedia of Hockey edited by Zander Hollander and Hal Bock, 1974, Prentice-Hall


     

Stanley Cup Finals Blog Challenge

by J. Scott Moore

That Tapeleg guy is a rascal. Yesterday morning I innocently clicked on a link to his latest blog post and next thing you know I’m calling him names on Twitter.

He starts this shit about languishing bloggers and I start looking over my shoulder, guiltily.
Crap.
I challenge you to write everyday till the middle of June, he says.
Crap. That’s a lot.
He says: that might seem like a lot.
Whoa.

What a bastard. Like I don’t have other things to do. One thing I know I can always count on is Tapeleg tweeting about something motivational, completely sensible and irresistibly important. Jerk.

There’s no getting around it. I’ll be working on this challenge for the next 15 days. It’s just the kick in the pants I needed. Thanks you bastard Tapeleg!!

Well this is certainly a good time to predict my Stanley Cup finals winner. Boston in six. Has to be six so they are at home. Sure, sure, seven games with double OT would be exciting but I really want the Bruins to win at home. So it won’t be seven games and I’m not so greedy as to predict a sweep by the Bruins. Although it would be sweet like cherry pie!

This is purely based on fandom of the lowest kind: rooting against the other team, no stats, no analysis. I hate the Canucks. The only way I would root for them is if they were playing the Red Wings, which isn’t currently possible. And this isn’t just about the past. It’s about the fact that Roberto Luongo is a douche-bucket. The Sedin twins are creepy, times två. By the way, what’s with Yahoo listing one as 6-1 and the other as 6-2? There’s a conspiracy for ya Vancouver!! And I’ve never been one to blindly root for a team just because they are in my team’s division.

In addition, I simply want to see Tim Thomas win the Cup
 

Buffy the Canuck Slayer

I'd be angry too if I wore that jersey on the glass

It's hard to say who's a bigger douche bag, that guy on the glass or Dustin Butt-fu#kin-ugly.  And if you think Buffy plays ugly, you are right.  Turns out he got a hat trick with that last goal and that was as ugly as it gets!

Oh wait, THIS is uglier.

I love players like Buffy.  He's mean, he's ugly and he's passionate.  He's the guy that everyone one on every other team absolutely HATES!  I would take that guy on the Avs ANY day.  Be better than Darcy freakin' Tucker.

And what's up with the Sedin-bot trying to get bad-ass?  That is some funny shit.  I mean c'mon.  It's about as genuine as Heidi Montag.  Don't get me wrong, all hockey players are tough, it's a tough game.  But when it comes to a little mucking and some actual nastiness, they don't have it.
That wraps another well informed game recap for game #3, Hawks are good to go from here on out!

-From the Point

Canucks VS Blackhawks

Battle for a Western Conf. berth is at stake tonight.  Frenchy and I make our predictions.

VS

Frenchy
For this series, I don’t really know what side to go for. It’s going to be tuff one. When looking at the depth of these two teams, they seem to be pretty equal. Let’s take a look at what these two teams are bringing to the table.

On one side, we all know what the Sedin twins can do when they’re on fire, those guys play like they’re two bodies using one brain. Samuelsson has stepped it up and scored some important goals. But, the Blackhawks can of course counter that with Toews, Kane and……Sharp. I want to say Hossa here but the truth is that he hasn’t played to his standards. There’s just something about Hossa when he shows up to a playoff game, he’s just not the same. When you get paid to score goals and yet only have one in 6 games, time to get going.

As for the D, Salo has been good as always and Edler is really becoming an elite defensemen. The Canucks don’t let that many shots go through and that is always a plus. For the Hawks, good news is that Campbell is back. Without him I would say their chances would be a lot smaller. Not only do they need him to be there to stop the rushes but he’s also got that offense skill that they need from the blue line. Let’s not forget that the Hawks have Duncan Keith, a Norris nominee, can’t be all that bad right?

The goaltending is where the Canucks might have a little problem, key word being little. Luongo can be insanely good at some times but he gets those little stretches where he just doesn’t seem to get it. If he doesn’t show up ready for a good series, they’re going to be in trouble. But, it could be worse though, they could have Quenneville as a coach. He’s a known goalie killer and why would it be different here. In my mind, Niemi has yet to prove himself an elite goaltender in this league. Maybe this is the series where he proves himself, we shall see.

I know for a fact that From the Point is going to jump on the Hawks bandwagon now that the Avs are out of the playoffs. But…I’m sure there’s more to it than that. He might not want to admit it but he likes the Hawks because of Quenneville. More specifically, the mustache. That thing is rockin’!!!! Maybe he thinks that thing has got super powers or something.

                    After the Game 1 disaster, Neimi decided to grow a mustache just like Coach Q.

Well it might have some super powers but winning the Stanley Cup isn’t one of them. This one is going to be tight but I just don’t see the Hawks pulling this off. The fact is that as soon as Hossa is on a team, it will not win the Stanley Cup.

Canucks in seven.




From the Point
Just how do the Hawks keep getting these nice long breaks between series? I’d say something smells fishy but it’s probably just the Canucks. Man do they stink! Or maybe that’s just Roberto Luongo that smells up the place?

Sure, he had a nice, ok, great game against the Kings in game six.

So Bobby-Lu is either on the verge of getting his playoff mojo or it’s just another “up” in his lackluster up and down play since…er…that giant contract was signed.

No matter, the Hawks are unstoppable. I don’t really know why I even bothered to root for my Avs all season long when the inevitability of the Hawks winning the cup has been SO apparent all season long. Despite Mr. Mustache running the team. And despite what Frenchy says, it is Niemi that has the super powers.

Don’t listen to him Capt. Niemi!

Now how to explain the Hossa Effect? Simple. The year with the Pens is a simple case of the Wings being better. The year with the Wings is a simple case of the Curse of Def Leppard.

The Sedin twinkies are a force to contend with, there is no doubt about that. However, Capt. Niemi will look like Wonder Woman fending off bullets with magic bracelets anytime the Sedins start firing. They will have no chance to score. In fact I willing to say right here, right now that the Sedins will go scoreless through this round. No, wait, I predict that the ‘Nucks will not score ONE. SINGLE. GOAL. On the great and powerful Capt. Niemi!

Hawks in…wait for it…four.

Mr. Quenneville, bring me a dream...

I want to dedicate a song to the Hawks to celebrate their win over the hapless Preds.

I'm feeling a bit antiqued tonight.

Old, you slow-wits. 

So here's an oldie but a goody going out the the Hawks for round two, watch out 'Nucks!

This is to the tune of Mr. Sandman...

Mr. Quenneville, bring me a dream (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Make this the best series I've ever seen
Trust in Niemi and don't screw him
Don't treat him bad he's not Khabibulin.
Quenneville, you must atone
Treat your goalies like one of your own
Please turn on your magic mustache
Mr. Quenneville, stop smokin the hash!


(scat "bung, bung, bung, bung".)


Mr. Quenneville, get you a 'Nuck (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Make him a Twinkie that you'd like to WHOA!
Give him the word that you're not a rover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.
Quenneville, you're so alone
Don't have nobody to call your own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Quenneville, it's not a dream.

-From the Point

Five for Fighting Monday - Top Rated Fights

The Avs' David Koci had two of his fights this season rated highly by the users over at HockeyFights.com. 

This one with Brian McGrattan is rated third overall for the season.

Next up is Koci vs Colton Orr.  This one is currently ranked at 8th overall. 

Remember all those people that love playoff hockey because the fighting is "nonexistent, or almost?"

Right.

How about that Gomer, huh? First fight in 10 years. He's making $8,000,000 and he's scored 1 goal.

Interesting that all the early fights were in the east, and three of these five were the Bruins and Sabres.

A former Avalanche pounding on a Red Wing? Yes please!

Five for Fighting Monday - Adam Deadmarsh

Adam Deadmarsh edition.
Ah, another short work week, for most of us. So just remember, never underestimate the short ones, they just want to make you pay all the more, so in the words of Sammy Hagar: "Watch the left, watch the right, below the belt!"
The Avs paid tribute to Deader this weekend and he was admitted into the alumni association. Fantastic to see the Avalanche begin this process of honoring their past players.
Well, I thought I would post two videos here, the first is a bit of a downer, but I think it's important because I really think that Ed Jovanovski's KO of Deader was the beginning of the end for Adam.

Deader was out with a concussion after that fight. But he wasn't through with Jovanovski. Two months later Adam had his revenge. Jovanovski knocking out Deader is just another in a long list of reasons I do not like those damn Canucks. Deadmarsh had only 5 more fights the rest of his career and the continued concussion problems eventually led to his retirement.

Did you know Deader had a fight with Lappy as well as Ryan Smyth? Well I think that explains some of the off-season moves we saw this team make!!!
Deader was also the first of what has become a parade of prominent #18's to be traded away by the Avs. The others were Drury and Tanguay.
More trivia: ADAM DEADMARSH was misspelled as ADAM DEADMARCH. It was later corrected - a Stanley Cup first.

The Sacco Gambit

Joe Sacco said it was a must-win. We are a quarter of the way into the season. We were up 7 points on the Vancouver Canucks, leading the division, second in the conference, top 5 in the league. Sure, the Avs haven’t been nearly as hot in November as they were in October. But pulling out the must-win gambit seems like a rookie mistake.
Today the Avs are on road in Alberta. After that 8-2 debacle, what are we faced with on this road trip?
Let's check the Word thesaurus: “must win” can also be;
have to win
have got to win
be obliged to win
ought to win
should win
be required to win
necessity win
obligation win
Never mind the grammar. That is but a minor concern here!
Add those to your lexicon of lame declarations Mr. Sacco. You can use all of these and more, no doubt. But can you do it without eye-rolling by every guy in the dressing room?
What’s the chance that Sacco lost some of the players with this move? Like Foote, Hejduk, Duchene…? Probably not but was it really smart to call game 20 a must win?
Let's say the game turned out 8-2 in favor of the Avalanche. What would have been accomplished by that? Make the playoffs? Move into first place? What? Wasn't much point to it, was there?
The ‘Nucks are sitting around for nearly a week while the Avs have a chance to go get 4 more points on them. So again, what was the emergency? You would think that a guy like Steve Konowalchuk would have signaled Sacco that this was an apprentice ploy.
Was the incredible start to the season giving Sacco a Mark Messier ego? I am the Sacco! This is a must-win, therefore…WE SHALL WIN!
Whew, talk about laying an egg.
Was he thinking that Luongo was still going to be in early season "form" and let everything but the kitchen sink into the goal?
It's a small mistake for now…for now.
Chances are the exuberant energy that has been a blessing for Sacco so far in the season will work in his favor. The guys won’t think about it much, they just want to play. And they want to win, they don’t need manufactured tactics.
Let's hope he and the team just move on and forget the Sacco Gaffe.
-From the Point

Colorado Avalanche @ Vancouver Canucks

Tonight the Avs take on the 'Nucks. The Avs would like to wrap up this road trip with a win, but what is really important is to take a look at the history of the Canucks' jerseys and give thanks for being an Avs fan! This old "Johnny Canuck" jersey is pretty cool but it's pre-NHL.The NHL days started with this logo that looks like it was designed by an engineer, not an artist and one that is just learning how to use punch cards to do his programing.

The Canucks went from one extreme to the other with this ultra modern design. This one is all artist and no common sense! Whew!
Next up is this thing. It's only better because it wasn't the giant ""V" design. The colors are still pretty bad, to my eyes.
Finally we have today's logo, and an excellent one! The colors still don't do much for me but the logo is classic and the third is really nice.


For a GREAT overview of jerseys/sweaters go to The Hockey Uniform Database
There is an amusing poll going on over at Nucks Misconduct about what jersey is worse. Despite urging the readers to avoid being homers, the other jersey is "winning" the worst jersey poll. At least the other one has significant historical value. The vertical stripes were really fashionable back in the day. The "V", never fashionable.

*Post-game Update*
That game was actually uglier than the Nucks "V" jersey. I don't know how they did it, but they did. Ryan O'Reilly has suddenly become invisible. Paul Stastny continues to play well below his ability. The defense is weak, even Quincey who could do no wrong early in the season was making poor passes and turnovers. It really does look like the wheels have come off this team. But looks can be deceiving. I don't think that there is anything to worry about too much. They have played a lot of road games, there are a lot of injuries and this team is young. They are bound to have some ups and downs throughout the season, probably all the more severe specifically due to some of the youngsters on this team. It's time to come home for a while, regroup and get healthier. They will be fine. I'm looking forward to the next game.

-From the Point