Categories
NHL General

The NHL and mullets – a match made in heaven

We always knew hockey and mullets had a unique relationship going on, we just didn’t realize exactly how strong the bond truly was until now. Believe it or not, in the annals of hockey history, the mullet gets more respect than most goalies.

Categories
Philadelphia Flyers

Hockey fight! Hockey fight! Hockey fight!

Our reactions were a bit delayed in getting this video of the Riley Cote/Aaron Asham fight posted, but kinda like our participants’ duel, it’s totally worth the wait. It takes a second for these guys to get going, but once they do, it’s like they’re holding jackhammers to each other’s face.

Links:

[The700Level.com]: Riley Cote, Bam! Kapow! Splat!

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Amanda Beard on Letterman

The Amanda Beard publicity blitz is in full swing with her appearance on Letterman last night. I can’t tell whether it’s the quality of Youtube or she isn’t looking that great but… she isn’t looking that great. Flash Warner claims that it’s because “you can’t airbrush TV.” Ouch. Anyway, decide for yourself. She’s relatively funny and didn’t do anything to make us hate her or anything. Her publicist is probably angry at her for mentioning the boyfriend though. Men like their illusions.

In other news…

[India eNews]: Pretty soon the Tour de France won’t have any champions because of doping

[SA.com]: Spurs will give away free T-shirts to all fans at the game tonight. Wonder why no one has come up with this before.

[Sports By Brooks]: What’s the point of this Fast Cars and Superstars thing if they don’t race each other?

[Our Book of Scrap]: Danica Patrick And The “Real” Media Annoy Me

[The Vancouver Sun]: The Business of Don Cherry

Categories
NHL General

If the NHL Finals were a TV show…


No no, don’t worry, this isn’t one of those really tedious blog posts that attempt to make some connection between, say, the lineup of the Ducks to the cast of Growing Pains or anything. But if the NHL Finals were a TV show, it’d be the equivalent of “Emily’s Reasons Why Not”, that Heather Graham sitcom that was canceled after one episode. The bottom line is that the ratings for the NHL are horrendous.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals got a 1.1 rating, down 31 percent from last year’s final. It was NBC’s lowest ever rating for a prime-time program. (Although it was tied for last all-time with a rerun of West Wing…) There were probably more bored housewives and stoners watching a Ron Popeil informercial than there were sports fans tuned into a pivotal game 3 of a major sport’s championship.

Despite Jes Golbez over at NHL Fanhouse’s assertion that hockey fans don’t need the NHL to be like any other league, it doesn’t mean that the NHL can get away with terrible ratings like these. Call it a herd mentality if you want but watching hockey is a little more fun if more than just one of your friends is actually watching it.

I like hockey. I want to watch the NHL Finals. I even get hockey on HD. It just takes away from the enjoyment if there isn’t a “wow! did you see that game?” factor. And I actually like talking about sports with real people in real situations as opposed to just logging onto some message board. So if the lack of marquee value makes me a bad hockey fan, then so be it. But that also means there are a lot less “bad hockey fans” and the next thing you know, you “real hockey fans” will be forced to watch the NHL Finals on OLN, which nobody seems to be able to find.

Links:
[SI]: Turned off

Categories
NHL General

2007 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Recap


Ducks 3, Senators 2
The central issue of this game going into it was the Chris Pronger suspension. For the second time this postseason, though, the Ducks won a game without their defensive leader. They now lead the series 3-1, with Game 5 slated for Wednesday night on the Pond (that’s Anaheim, although it’s really called “The Honda Center” now – damn corporate sponsorship).

It’d be easy to discuss the ramifications of the Pronger suspension, but the fact is: it didn’t matter. When you’ve got Jiggy between the pipes, I don’t care if you’ve got two acne-riddled teenagers who weigh 100 pounds soaking wet in front of him. If he’s in the zone, ain’t nothing gonna light the light.

It would also be easy to discuss Dustin Penner, who scored what ultimately proved to be the game-winner, but again, that’s just too easy.

The true story of this game was Andy McDonald. McDonald is the Ducks center, and he’s entirely too small to be playing that role in any type of competitive playoff series. If this dude was staring down Scott Stevens, Stevens might just start cackling. But there he was last night (McDonald, not Stevens – I need to work on my modifiers), deking and out-thinking cockroach-eating Ray Emery en route to two goals in the 2nd period. Once you give Giguere that kind of support, you’re winning the game. McDonald might be the Ducks’ Daniel Gibson for these playoffs, which is to say Dustin Penner might be Daniel Gibson, Giguere might be LeBron, Chris Pronger might be Z, and McDonald might be Larry Hughes. Heck, I’m just trying to make it relevant to a broader audience.

[Ted Bauer will be covering the NHL playoffs for us this year. You can find more of Ted’s work at A Price Above Bip Roberts.]

Categories
NHL General

The NHL says no to Al-Jazeera

Every time someone mentions Al-Jazeera, we can’t help but think about Mike Wise from the Washington Post’s great line about ESPN evolving into the “Al-Jazeera for Athletes.” Well, it turns out that while ESPN is covering the NHL Finals (barely), Al-Jazeera was denied press credentials.  Who knew the NHL had these kind of standards.

From Rink Side:


Given the paucity of non-aligned (i.e. Southern California) newspapers from the States covering the final between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators — the Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, both Denver papers, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, New York Daily News and the Buffalo News have been spotted through three games — you might have thought the NHL would have been happy to reach a, hmmm, really non-traditional hockey market, but, alas, that didn’t happen. Why Al-Jazeera saw the news value in something that, say, the Detroit News apparently hasn’t is for deeper thinkers than me.
 

At least if Al-Jazeera actually could cover the NHL Finals, we’d know where to find it.

Categories
NHL General

2007 Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 Review


Ducks 1, Senators 0
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t actually watch this game, because I was at a coffee bar in Hartford, CT trying to pick up some foxy ladies. It’s a good thing, too – not that I failed miserably in trying to get girls (that’s bad), but that I didn’t watch it – because me, not being a hockey purist, probably wouldn’t have appreciated this see-saw battle.

The only goal came from Samuel Pahlsson, interesting in the sense that Sami’s main role in this series was supposed to be checking the hell out of good, scoring-centric Sens players. Now, for two consecutive games – that being 1 and 2, for those of you in the know – an Anaheim player mostly responsible for checking (Travis Moen in Game 1) has scored the essential goal for the Ducks, in the process giving them a 2-0 advantage and helping them to retain home ice advantage.

As we said earlier, no Canadian team has actually hoisted Lord Stanley’s chalice since 1992, when the Montreal Canadiens did it. That’s 15 years, which seems like an egregiously long period of time considering that Canada is probably the No. 1 thing you associate with hockey, at least in a geographic sense. For the Sens to make this interesting, here’s what has to happen:

1. Emery has to enter complete lockdown mode, like Giguere was in last night. No mental mistakes.

2. Their first line – Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza – has to start lighting the red light frequently.

3. They have to take the Ducks checking lines and let them hit ’em, but don’t let those guys get open looks at the net.

4. They have to somehow imagine the Ducks are, in fact, the Buffalo Sabres.

Brett Hull predicted this series would be over in five games. One win in Ottawa, and I’ll go with him. Every Cup Finals since ’01 with just one exception has gone seven games. I’d love to see this one join it, so long as we can get a few 5-4, 2OT finals in there as well.

Categories
NHL General

Closing the books on the Rick Tocchet gambling ring


A year ago, the Rick Tocchet as head of a gambling ring based in NJ story was huge news, mainly because the Olympics were coming up and hockey is one of the premiere sports in the Winter Olympics. But since then, the molasses that is our legal system (despite what you see on Law and Order) has basically swept the whole story under the carpter.

Not suprisingly, when the news came out over the long memorial day weekend that Tocchet came to a plea bargain in the case, not much was made of it. But, in the interest of wrapping up the case we’ve been following for a year, here’s the final chapter in the Rich Tocchet case.

Tocchet pleaded guilty to promoting gambling and conspiracy to promote gambling. It’s a minor offense that may result in him not having to serve any jail time at all. However, there is no word on whether he will be reinstated into the NHL until the league completes its own investigation. Tocchet helped his cause by emphasizing in his court appearance that he had never bet on hockey.

Links:
[6abc]: Tocchet Pleads Guilty in Gambling Ring Case

Categories
NHL General

2007 Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 Review


Ducks 3, Senators 2
In many respects, the key to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals is probably going to be Anaheim’s checking line. See, if and when they match up with Ottawa’s first line – easily the best line in this entire series, with no disrespect to Anaheim intended – they need to hold their own against the Alfredsson, Heatley, Spezza dynamic, because those boys can go off at any time.

It was interesting, then, that Anaheim’s checking line did play a key role in Game 1, but not – ahem – for checking. Rather, Travis Moen of that line scored the game-winner to help the Ducks hold home-ice advantage after a hot Senators start (they scored maybe 1 minute into the game, immediately followed by a Versus interview of Cuba Gooding Jr in the stands, a guy who knows way more about hockey than you might assume).

Moen’s Wikipedia page makes a big deal for no apparent reason (read: the editor is from Calgary) over the fact that he was drafted by the Flames, but never played for them. The Flames can’t be happy. Maybe if they had Moen in ’04, they woulda been able to win one of those close games in the Finals against the Lightning, and the Red Mile would still be celebrating.

For now, though, “Quack Attack” or whatever the bars in Anaheim call themselves when people get sloppy and celebrate the Ducks, is rolling. Game 2 could be more of the same: if Giguere stays his sharp self, Pronger and Niedermayer get even more uncorked and just go around nailing people, and Ray Emery has a couple of mental mis-steps on the Canadian side, well… it could be 2-0 series wise pretty quickly. The last time a team from north of Michigan hoisted the Lord’s goblet was 1992 and the Montreal Canadiens. C’mon, Ottawa. Get after this. (Also, since the NBA playoffs have been yawn-inducing, we need this puppy to go 7, and then 3OT).

[Ted Bauer will be covering the NHL playoffs for us this year. You can find more of Ted’s work at A Price Above Bip Roberts.]

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Should bloggers get Press Credentials?


Eric Mcerlain over at Off Wing Opinion posted a link to Sports Media Journal’s poll asking whether sports bloggers should get media credentials. There are only 51 votes as of this writing but almost 2/3 of the respondents say no. And I have to agree with them. A few bloggers, like Eric, absolutely know their stuff. We’ve had Eric on a few podcasts and his knowledge of hockey and the NHL is extraordinary. Giving him a press pass enhances his writing.

However, the majority of bloggers are goddamn useless and add absolutely nothing to sports “reporting.” Hell, why do you need a press pass to post a blog entry on which player in the starting lineup compares to the cast of the Partridge Family? Bill Simmons doesn’t need a press pass and the majority of bloggers are cheap imitations of the Sports Guy. (Even the Sports Guy has become a cheap imitation of the Sports Guy.) You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve clicked on a link, read the blog entry, and thought, “are you f’ing kidding me? Did I just waste time reading that shit?”

No, bloggers do not need press credentials. The good ones come up with important topics and opinions with or without access. The bad ones will always suck the life out of this game, whether or not they have access to the free buffet. And for the record, we don’t have press credentials.

In other news…

[Cincinnati.com]: Bengals release LB Nicholson after arrest on a domestic violence charge

[Idaho Statesman]: Another story for the ‘Hockey players are the toughest athletes’ file

[Canada.com]: The worst logos in hockey

[TrojanWire]: Well, at least we know Steve Nash doesn’t get his chest waxed

[Ump Bump]: For Ozzie Guillen, profanity is but a station in his train of thought

[SportsBurn]: Tony Romo to judge Miss Universe pageant. Bastard.