Bettman’s Worst Nightmare Is Back…..

Cue the Halloween music!!!  Ah that familiar haunting melody is indeed the one team The Hockey News loves to hate more than any other…The New Jersey Devils.  I have to say Bettman doesn’t exactly do backflips over the Devils either.  Many Devil fans still remember his halfhearted attempt to “save” the Devils after they won the Stanley Cup in 1995.  They also have a long memory with all the rules designed to stop the Devils.  Memo to Bettman…..it didn’t work!

Now early on….the Devils were on a long nine game road trip…as their new building (The Rock) was being finished up.  That 3-5-1 start was not nearly as bad as the whispers that started coming out about Martin Brodeur’s play, the defense, the lack of offense.  The fact that Madden and Pandolfo had more goals than Patrik Elias.  Also, the general feeling amongst the NHL Media that the Devils may at long last be on the decline sent some happy waves throughout the league I am sure.  

Then it got worse for the Devils….going 4-5-1 in their next ten games put their record at a paltry 7-10-2.  Hardly the stuff of world beaters…the Devils trudged on with the uncertainty of injuries to White and Langenbrunner, poor play by its backend defensemen, but one undercurrent was rising to the surface…his name was Martin Brodeur.  People can say what they want about Brodeur…I know the number of blogs in Brodeur’s name that enjoy taking shots at him but hey…something must be going right for you when you get that kind of notoriety.  Brodeur’s GAA at one point was 3.57…pretty horrifying number isn’t it?   The save percentage was well under .900.  Worse they had to go on a four game road trip taking them to stops such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia……uh oh right????

Wrong!   With White and Langenbrunner back and Brodeur back on form….the Devils started to win.  They defeated the Flyers 6-2 to give Martin Brodeur his 500th win.  Then it was a tight 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins (whom the Devils have won 3 of 4 against so far).  Brodeur shut out Atlanta for his third straight win then saved his best for last on the road trip as he stopped 34 shots in a 3-2 win over the Lightning.  

Granted the performance last night wasn’t the greatest.  The Devils fell behind 2-0 in the first period and faced a 5 on 3 Dallas Power Play for 1:37.  Things looked bleak for the Devils and then Martin Brodeur started clearing pucks out the zone from everywhere….he stopped everything including Modano point blank on that 5 on 3.  It was a testament to his puck handling skills…many thought would be taken away by the trapezoid.  That turned the game right then and there.   David Clarkson scored then Brian Gionta tied it up late in the period.  It was only a matter of time before the Devils would dominate on the scoreboard as well.

Dallas did put up a brave front early in the third getting 4 quick shots on Brodeur ....and then it was all New Jersey pretty much the rest of the way.  When Mike Modano couldn’t get a good handle of a pass in the Devils zone, Dainius Zubrus stole the puck…threw a long breakout pass to Jamie Langenbrunner who started a 2 on 1.  Zubrus took the back end of the give and go and threw everything into that shot that flew past Marty Turco to make it 3-2…and that was pretty much that.  Zach Parise added the empty netter (first of the season for New Jersey) and that made it a 4-2 final…ending the Dallas 6 game winning streak and extending the Devils streak to five.  Up next for the Devils is Montreal tomorrow night and that won’t be easy but then again nothing comes easy for the Devils.

Maybe the league should take note of it…the New Jersey Devils are back in town….much to the chagrin of many.  That’s just the way I like it.  Their message…as Duke Nukem used to say…”Come get some!”

Where’s the Mullet, Sid?

So I’ve been trying to watch as many Penguins games as possible, which we all know is impossible with nothing but Versus (can someone please put a hit on Gary Bettman, I mean wasn’t he hired as a marketing guru from the NBA, hmm just got my second blog idea).  But the bigger picture here is that the NHL has some really really good young players.  I’m talking 1981 good young players, like save the NHL good (back to Bettman of course).  Watching Crosby is an absolute delight.  Its like he has been watching film of the mid-90’s Devils and decided no way, no how is he going to let the league continue this type of play.  Whether a left-wing lock or diamond plus one, Sid the Kid is breaking the puck out and down the ice better than anyone I have ever watched.  And its not just Crosby, he’s flanked by Oveckhin, Zetteberg, Malkin, Statsny and Kane.  Insert a couple older guys doing their best Crosby impersonations in Lacavalier, Iginla, Heatley, and Kovalchuk and add the age-defying play of the league’s best defensemen (Lidstrom, Zubov, etc.) and the NHL is flying right now.  Anyway you slice it, this is the most exciting NHL in about 20 years excluding 1994. 

I could go on about the demise of the NHL, how there is no exposure, no audience, etc. but I decided to save that for my Bettman hater blog.  What pisses me off is the fact that I (and the other twelve people who still follow hockey) can’t watch this play.  Maybe once a week if I stay up until 2am, Versus will show me a Detroit/Colorado game where a bunch of this talent lies.  So here’s a couple ideas on how to fix this…

1) Sidney Crosby and the other players listed above must attend mullet school once a week with Barry Melrose and Brian Engblom until everyone in the South that watches cars go in circles is convinced that hockey must be cool if all these guys rock mullets.  Fans = advertising dollars = tv networks = Greg gets to watch hockey.

2) Don Cherry and the Hansen Brothers team up on a crusade to save hockey.  I’m thinking local tv commercials and house visits across the country would do the trick.  Just putting on the foil coach!

3) Fire Bettman and hire some 17 year old intern from a PR firm to do a better job.  But that’s for another blog alltogether.

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself.

Hello everyone….my name is Chris. Simply I come from The NHL Arena Program. I almost forgot…a picture would be nice I suppose…so let me dig one up here.

The best way to describe me is West Coast flavor with East Coast attitude. Every week we will lower the boom on something…whether it be a team, player, the NHL, even the minor leagues. No subject is out of bounds. Feedback is highly encouraged…what do you want to talk about? I have played hockey for over 20 years..and covered hockey for various blogs over the last 5 years. Live, breathe, eat, sleep hockey…that about describes me. So lace up the skates, pull the jersey down, and soon we’ll just get right down to it.

First, I just wanted to do a little update on the early game….Jussi Jokinen has tied up the game at 1….after a sweet poke check by Robidas sprung him on a breakaway where he beat everyone, including himself and Henrik Lundqvist. That has to hurt a bit for the Rangers as they had the momentum, shot advantage, and more importantly the lead. The lead, they got, from a Jaromir Jagr tip in earlier in the period. Mike Smith and Sean Avery have been jawing at it all afternoon so far…and I don’t think Dallas is going to put up with that much longer. I expect an entertaining final 2 periods and maybe more of hockey from MSG.

MSG by the way hosted a college hockey game yesterday between Boston U. and Cornell. For anyone who didn’t see this game…you really missed quite an experience. The arena was packed solid…and sold out. The records really didn’t matter…BU came in well under .500 in the midst of an underachieving season. Cornell came in tabbing this as “Red Hot Hockey”. They proceeded to give up 3 goals in the first period and never recovered as they dropped a 6-3 decision to the Terriers. For more on it….check out US College Hockey. It was great to see these kids get to play in such a hallowed arena…most of them will never get to play professional hockey but for one day they felt like pros.

Well later in the week, who knows….I am sure something will catch my ire or my eyes…one or the other. Till then, enjoy the hockey no matter the level!

Eric “Concusion” retires

After 13 years of playing through multiple concussions, Eric Lindros finally hung up the skates yesterday.

He never really lived up to all the hype that followed him as being the next Gretzky.  However, he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1995 and was part of the Canadian Olympic team that won gold in 2002.

His best years were with the Flyers, where he was captain for a while and got them to them to the Stanley Cup in 1997.  But then he got into a feud with Bobby Clarke or slept with Mark Recchi’s wife depending on what story you read and was shipped to the NYR.  He finally landed in Dallas for a one year stint.

Best of luck to Eric.  At 34 he has his whole life in front of him, rumors are that he will be the next outbudsman for the NHLPA.

Reign of King Henrik

FINALLY The Rangers played like a team capable of winning the Atlantic division . The performance was most certainly NOT the November 3rd game against the Devils, I’m talking about the Nov 1st against the Capitals. Its too bad that they couldn’t keep it up, but it was nice to see how GREAT they can really be. Henrik Lundquist, the King himself, bailed the rest of the team out plenty of times against Washington, but there were a couple of things that helped me sleep better the night of November 1st:

1. Nylander vs. Gomez

When I first heard about the Gomez/Drury signing, I has excited and angry at the same time. I was excited about Drury for obvious reasons - he’s a home grown goal scoring machine who showed signs of being super human last year, and that’s that. Although, I still hold a little bit of a grudge against Drury for scoring that late goal in game 5 of the playoffs last year: to goal that shattered my dreams of winning the cup. The anger came from a number of other places though. Besides the fact that Scott Gomez has been my least favorite player in all of hockey for my entire life, I knew that Nylander was going to have to go some place else if these two “super stars” we signed. Now last year Nylander was the quarterback of the Ranger’s powerplay, racking in 57 assists, mostly off the stick of his roommate and old friend Jaromir Jagr. Everyone who watched them last year knows that Nylander is also able to do whatever he wants with the puck, whenever he wants to do it. Whenever Nylander was on the ice with Straka and Jagr it was a guaranteed scoring chance. The ongoing slow start to the season has made me miss Nylander even more. Thankfully, The Rangers showed they could still be good without my man Nylander - and at the same time they shut Nylander and his new buddy Ovechkin right down. Drury had an assist and a nice deflection goal that mirrored the Ranger-killing playoff goal from last year. Gomez also had a nice assist, while Nylander had nothing but 1 shot on goal and a 2 minute minor for hooking.

2. Young Defense

The Ranger’s defense looked great. For the past couple of seasons ther big problem has been the lack of help for Lundquist. This season it seems like the tables have turned, with Fedor Tyutin developing into a bit of a bruiser and Jason Strudwick adding some smarts to the D-game. It’s obvious that the defense played well with a score like 2-0, but the youngsters also showed some nice signs of offence. The not so young Rozsival had a goal, Marc Staal had an assist, and the always impressive Dan Girardi had a bunch of shots on goal.

3. King Henrik

Lundquist DOMINATED, both in the Nov 1st and the Nov 3rd games, making a combined 59 saves with only 1 goal allowed. This is obviously nothing new, he has been their savior from the beginning. Some of the saves he made most recently in the game against the Devils were just plain outrageous. If you missed the game you should look up the highlights on youtube. Lundquist continues to be the rest of the teams safety blanket, and he will continue to be even if those nancy-boys never start scoring.

One thing I really liked about the game against the Devils was the way that Petr Prucha and Brandon Dubinsky played together. Dubinsky was flying, its nice to see a young American player in the organization.