New England Hockey Talk

[MGB Boy]

Ovie the artist:

Ovie's Drawings, etc. - D.C. Sports Bog



-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I'm glad that he doesn't take him self very seriously. Found another pretty funny NHL promo. I think that the promos that they have now are the best I've seen. It really makes them human. I like Phil riding the luggage carts down the hallway. And of course the wunderkind at the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYSdXmjLmhQ. I'm sure you watched it as the clip was on the article that you linked. But this one is much clearer and you can understand what they are saying.

Currently watching the Caps/Bolts game (we're at the 1st intermission). I don't understand it. Whenever Johnson gets in goal it's like they learn how to play D. It does help to get Erskine back as he's a big D-man that we needed. He missed 29 games with a broken foot. They did a lot of back checking and keeping the Bolts from getting some big scoring chances. They lead in shots and they are being really proactive about shutting down passing lanes and shooting lanes. Now this will all change in the 3rd period. (I hope not but history tells me not to get too optomistic).

Have a good day

[MGB Boy]

Sometimes if a team has a bit of lack of confidence in the goalie it leads to better D. Teams with a star goalie sometimes get too reliant on the goalie, they aren't as tight defensively because they have that little voice in their head saying "well, if I don't seal this guy off the play, it'll probably be okay, Kipper will stop him". Sometimes when a team puts in the second string goalie, you'll see the defense sealing off and blocking shots and clearing pucks like they're possessed. Wouldn't be surprised if there was some "okay, Olie's out, time to really make sure we're defensively sound" thoughts on the Caps bench last night.

The Bruins were thwarted last night by A) their standard third period collapse and B) the greatest goalie ever to strap on a pad. After having a slim 13-12 shot advantage in the first, the Bs were outshot 12-8 and 13-5 over the final forty minutes. Business as usual. Timmy played well, 34 saves on 37 shots, but when your team is getting 13 fewer shots on the other goalie and is losing over 60% of the faceoffs, there's only so much you can do. And of course DiPietro came in for some more hero worship from the Bruins announcers. After the game, the guys in the studio were kicking around the idea of DiPietro as MVP candidate. Yeah, a goalie who is 10th in the league in save percentage and 15th in goals against average is going to win the MVP. Over goalies like Brodeur, Kipprusoff, and Luongo. And over all the skaters in the league like Crosby. Sure, guys. DiPietro isn't going to win the MVP. He isn't going to be a finalist for the MVP. He isn't going to win the Vezina. I highly doubt he'll even be a finalist for the Vezina. I'm just glad we don't play the Isles again this season so I don't have to listen to this anymore!

The NHL has the best ad campaign they've had in ages, if not ever. I love the Sedin twins dancing at a bachelor party. I love Ovie ordering room service for Sid. It shows NHL players as real people with personalities, having fun. That's just what they need to do. More ads like these, and run them on other channels during non-hockey programming. Run 'em during an NBA game. Run 'em during primetime. Get people talking about the league.

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I was pleasantly surprised by the Caps game. They fell apart in the 2nd. It was a dumb play on Johnson to play the puck inside the trapezoid (even though it may have been smart as he was trying to get it from one of the Bolts). They just didn't control the game like they did in the 1st and 3rd. Nice to get that goal with :14 left in regulation. Went to OT and then to a SO. Winning goal scored by Martin St. Louis.

Watched the Bruins game today. I told Louis if I was 1/2 the goalie of The Rick I'd have a $32 million . He almost got caught a couple of times playing the puck way too close to the trapezoid and getting caught out of net. But as they say almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

[MGB Boy]

Horseshoes, hand grenades, and hydrogen bombs.

The Rick lost to the Devils tonight, and there are unconfirmed reports that half of the NESN crew committed suicide in abject despondency. Meanwhile, the Bruins were busy playing a team (Buffalo) that has a goalie (Miller) that I think I'd much rather build a team around than The Rick, but he didn't seem to get as much love from the Bs announcers as The Rick did. Who knows. Regardless, Timmy came out on top in the end, stuffed the Buffaslugs on 8 for 8 in the shootout to get the win. And since I'm in the mood to rant, today's official topic: Dopey "three star" selections.

The "three stars" of the game are typically selected by the home team's media. Now, every broadcaster selects "players of the game" and "hits of the game" and "saves of the game" and so on, and typically those players/hits/saves are biased toward whomever they are supporting, i.e. Sabres announcers will typically award these things to Sabres, Rangers announcers will award these things to Rangers, and so on. I'm fine with that, it's part of the network's promotion and support of the team. But three stars are something different. The three stars aren't just something they toss out at the end of the NESN / Comcast / MSG / TSN / whatever broadcast, the three stars actually appear on the official NHL scoresheet, these things are actually tracked and recorded for posterity. So when there's blatant homerism in the three stars, that cheese me off. For example, tonight the Bruins beat the Sabres 4-3 in a shoot out. Here's the stats (goals, assists, plus/minus rating) on the key players plus the goalie stats for the game:

Boston:
Savard (goal, assist, +2)
Donovan (goal, assist, +2)
Sturm (goal, +1)
Chara (assist, +2)
York (assist, +1)
Allen (assist, +3)
Tenkrat (only goal for either side in the shootout, +/- even)
Thomas (22/25, 8/8 in shootout)

Buffalo
Briere (goal, assist, -2)
Drury (goal, -2)
Stafford (goal, +/- even)
Numminen (assist, +/- even)
Roy (assist, +/- even)
Pominville (assist, -2)
Hecht (assist, -3)
Campbell (assist, -1)
Miller (27/30, 7/8 in shootout)

So, based on that, plus throwing in some "intangibles" beyond the stats (Timmy was huge in the shootout, Tenkrat scored the game winner), whom would you select as the three stars? If you were the Buffalo sports media, you'd select:

First Star: Stafford, Sabres (goal, +/- even)
Second Star: Drury, Sabres (goal, -2)
Third Star: Donovan, Bruins (goal, assist, +2)

If Olympic figure skating gave a result like that, there'd be an investigation! So there's today's rant du jour. The "sanctity" of the three stars is often compromised by utterly ridiculous homerism. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes it's a little off. Sometimes (like above), it's just plain silly.

Anyhow, it was another decent night in UVM-land. As mentioned above, Timmy absolutely rocked the casbah in the shootout and stole a couple points on the road for the Bruins. The Lightning lost, but in overtime, so they get the "loser point", and in the "alumni watch" department Marty St Louis had two goals and Eric Perrin had a goal and an assist. Patrick Sharp scored the Blackhawks only goal last night, and today I got to spend a couple quality hours at The Gut watching my Catamounts shut-out the UMass Minutemen 3-0 to climb back up into 4th place (which is the last home-ice spot in the Hockey East playoffs). A good day for the green and gold.

Question du jour: Will Hannu ever get to play again?

Question du jour, part two: Are the Canadiens dropping like a rock or what? On December 23rd, I was at the Garden to watch the Bs beat the Habs 4-2. Great game, especially satisfying as the Habs came in on five game winning streak. They've won only 8 out of 25 since then. Now Huet is out with hamstring surgery, possibly out for the season. Sinking like a stone.

Speaking of things that drop, the Rangers were dropping like flies in today's game. Every time I looked up, someone else was out of the game. Crazy.

L. A. Kings announcers just played the "oh man, the you can't call that penalty this late in the game" card. Actually, they can. If it's a penalty, call it. Dopes.

My "Tacki-mac" butt-ends for my goalie sticks arrived in the mail today. Taped up a new stick and put one on tonight. It's like my goalie stick has a condom now. At least now I can feel better that it's "taking precautions" with whatever it's getting up to when I'm not around...

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Selanne just scored a re-god-damn-diculous shootout goal...

-Ricardo

[snid]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

homerism, ridiculous homerism.

d'oh

[bethandlouis]

Sorry I haven't been checking in.

The hit on Shanny was pretty bad. I didn't get to see the game as I had to work last night but I did see a replay of the hit during the flames game. It looked terrible and it was a clean hit. I'm sorry I missed the Bs game. Maybe they will replay it today. It certainly sounds like a game worth watching.

I never really understood those three star things. It does seem heavily biased toward the home team; however, I can speak from experience that the Caps 3 stars are not always the caps themselves. A lot of times if they got outplayed then the other team will gobble up all of them. It seems like it should be based on the merits of all the people but Buffalo is the greatest team in the world.

I still don't understand why the GM had to have The Rick. He seems like he is an average goalie to me. He certainly doesn't stop all the pucks that are thrown at him. He comes out of the cage all the time even when the opporunity doesn't present itself. It just seems downright crazy to me to ship of Luongo so you could have this kid. Looking at the stats he's ranked 15 anongst all NHL goalies for GAA. If you throw that out he's got a .917% save average. Looking at the rankings in save %
1) Martin Brodeur .925% 1477/1597 (2.09GAA)
2 ) Niklas Backstrom (B-up MIN) .927% 547/590 (2.15GAA) (I'd almost not count it because of the # of games he's played.
3) J Giguere .923% 1023/1125 (2.18 GAA)
4) Chris Mason .929% 987/1063 (1/2 time goalie for NSH) (2.31 GAA)
5) Roberto Luongo .922% 1464/1588 (2.32 GAA)
6) Miikka Kirupsoff .920% 1447/1572 (2.34 GAA)
7) Ray Emery .923% 1119/1213 (2.40 GAA)
8) Tomas Vokoun .920% 809/744 (2.40 GAA) (1/2 time goale for NSH)
15) Rick DiPietro .917% 1352/1474 (2.60 GAA)

He's in 2nd for PIMs with 18 (1st is Cloutier with 21). A goalie worthy of an NHL contract? Definately. He's certainly better than some of the goalies in the NHL. (but the goalies don't play all by themselves he's got a pretty good D in front of him that don't rely on him so heavily). But a goalie worthy of a 14 year guaranteed contract? No. Get rid of Luongo so you can be sure that you have him? No. These all seem like crazy moves. But hey when your team is making money and you can afford to pay your players outrageous sums to "keep them cheap" then hey, why not.

i don't think that Hannu will get to play anymore than he has already. You go with what's been working. And Timmy is working. The Bs aren't out of playoff contention just yet. i think that when the season is over Hannu will get more starts. At least that's my hope. Do you think they get bonuses if they play so many games a season?

Well things are looking bleaker and bleaker for my fantasy team. Had to bench Olie and put in Abby (just in time I'd say with Huet getting injured). They're not out just yet but there has been a huge decline. I know they were up there a little while ago with Toronto and Ottawa.

So does those new things make it lighter up there?

I have to go feed the dog that has been bothering me this whole post. Squeaking underneath my chair.

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

d'oh

D'oh!

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Boston has back to back games coming up, Philly on Monday and Toronto on Tuesday (jesus, it seems like we've played Toronto about 9,454 times already this season). I'm guessing that "The Toivonator" will get one of those two starts. No idea which. In theory, Philly would be an easier test for him, but then again, Philly did smack around both the Wings and the Rangers in the past week. Who knows.

The Isles have been so badly mis-managed over the past decade, you could build a decent all-star team with players they've let go. DiPietro had one strong season at BU, then jump shipped for the NHL. The Isles made him the #1 overall pick in the draft, sent Luongo packing to make room for him, and have hung their hopes on him ever since. In a way, he reminds me of Vinny Lecavalier. Vinny was the #1 pick in 1998, and the Lightning owner declared that Vinny would be "the Michael Jordan of hockey". He was made captain of the team at the age of 19 (which was later rescinded). Way too much hype, way too soon. He's never lived up to that level, this is his eighth NHL season and it's really the first season he's come close to stepping up and living up to the hype. It's been a source of amusement in this neighborhood for a while, because Lecavalier has this big cloud of "he's a #1 pick, he's a superstar, he's the next big thing" that follows him around everywhere, when the Bolts go on the road the other team's announcers all talk about Lecavalier, the other team's media all focus on him, it's all Vinny Vinny Vinny. And despite the hype, he has yet to live up to the level of play established by his undrafted, free agent, Hart Trophy / Art Ross Trophy / Pearson Award winning linemate Martin St Louis. This year he's stepped up, he's currently second in the league in scoring (one little point ahead of St Louis). Needless to say, we're a bit biased up here, but there's a fair bit of "Vinny scminny" attitude in these parts. Regardless, there aren't too many players who jump to mind who took longer than Vinny to finally come close to living up to the advance billing. Eight seasons (nine if there were no lockout) is a long time, but he's finally getting there. Maybe DiPietro will also get there eventually. Who knows. I think he'll be good, but I wouldn't be surprised if how good he is now is as good as he ever gets. Even DiPietro's save percentage is only 10th best in the league. Is he a strong goalie? Sure. Is he the best in the league? No. Regardless of stats, if I needed a goalie I'd take Brodeur (ol' reliable), Kiprusoff, Miller, Huet, Luongo, or Lehtonen (stats aren't quite there yet, but huge upside) over The Rick. Despite the nauseating amount of hype, I'd probably suck it up and take Fleury over The Rick too (there's another goalie who has a level of hype which is disproportionate with his on-ice performance). Hell, maybe Mason and Backstrom will turn out to be real, too.

FYI, I just edited the Wikipedia entry for DiPietro. Someone had actually inserted the phrase "The greatest goalie to ever play" into his career summary. Couldn't make it up if I wanted to.

Tonight I have my first game with the new "stick condom". We'll see if it makes any difference (or if I even notice it).

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Sad for the Caps with a loss today, on national TV no less. It was very difficult watching the game as apparently the Pens are having the best season ever. They are the best ones in the league. Hopefully they will be able to replace the igloo so that Sid the kid will have a place to play. It was a showdown of the back-up goalies (we are now that team that people can give their starters the night off ) it was a 3-2 loss with the 2nd goal coming with less than a minute to go in regualtion. Luckily no empty net goal was tallied against. They fought a hard game and outplayed the Pens (just not where it counts on the scoreboard.)

Oh well, the NBC announcers think that the Caps will be good next year. The Caps are what the Pens were last year. According to the announcers.

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bethandlouis (original)

Oh well, the NBC announcers think that the Caps will be good next year. The Caps are what the Pens were last year. According to the announcers.

So who is the Malkin that the Caps are going to pull out of a hat, then? Because that's the biggest difference with last year's Pens and this year's Pens, as far as I can tell.

Saw bits and pieces of the Caps game. The Pens did seem to spend a lot of time trying not to win, but somehow they won despite themselves.

That's my mother's number one all-time sports pet peeve; Every team is either the best team in the league or one of the top up-and-coming teams. Every team has one of the top young players in the league. Every team has one of the best goalies. Every player is "special", every player is one of the [insert random superlative] players in the league. This happens especially often when you're watching a national broadcast, when the announcers seem to feel obligated to lavish praise on both teams to avoid any semblance of bias and to make the match-up seem more compelling to keep viewers. The NFL has to be the worst about this. Every football game I watch has a dozen "really special players" who are in the top five at their position in the league. They say it's lonely at the top, but I don't see how it could be, considering that most announcers make it sound like nearly everyone is there...

-Ricardo

[Chapel]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

The fight straps have been there for ages, but several years ago they put in a rule that not having the fight strap tied down is an extra penalty. They got tired of guys like Rob Ray skating to the penalty box half-naked, started to look a little too "American Gladiators". So now if you get in a fight and your jersey isn't tied down, it's an extra penalty. It's known as the Rob Ray Rule...

-Ricardo

yeah, I guess they want to make it less of a MAN sport.
Sweatering someone and uppercutting them out of their sweater is one of the best things you can do in hockey. One of my favorite things to do!

[MGB Boy]

Nice win for Boston tonight. Timmy and Nitty both looked pretty unspectacular, pretty shaky, thru periods one and two. Fortunately for the Bruins, in the third Timmy got his **** together and Nitty didn't. Timmy stopped 16 of 16 in the third, Nitty stopped 1 of 2. Final stats were 30/33 for Timmy, 12/17 for Nittymaki. That line is brutal for Nitty, 5 goals on 17 shots works out to about a .706 save percentage. Ugh. Regardless, on to Hogtown on Tuesday night, let's see if "Hannu And Her Sisters" finally gets some time between the pipes.



Tying back to a previous discussion, it amused me again today to see that on the goalie board I frequent, there was another rash of whining by the dedicated little group of hardcore Timmy haters. Like any other goalie, he has his fans on the board and he has his detractors. There are DiPietro lovers and haters, Fleury lovers and haters, Brodeur lovers and haters, etc. But it amuses me how vehement and borderline irrational Timmy's haters are. It reminds me of how upset some American sportscasters get about soccer, it's not enough that they hate soccer, it really seems to **** them off that other people don't hate soccer. The Timmy haters are the same way, it cracks me up. Every goal he gives up is soft, he doesn't belong in the league, he plays ugly, he's out of control, he's the worst goalie in the league, I could play better than him, guys like him are taking away jobs from better goalies who are stuck in the minors because guys like Timmy are taking up roster spots, etc. There's even a guy who says he met Timmy once in college, thought he was a prick, and never fails to bring it up every time there's a little Timmy-hating ("I met him once, and needless to say I'm not a fan"). Hey, I met him a couple times in college too. Like just about every college player I've met, he came off as a bit cocky. 75% of college D1 and major junior players seem to be, it's a combination of A) having always been the best player on your little local team your whole life, B) playing D1 or major juniors and having boosters and scouts blowing smoke up your ass every day, and C) being a typical 18 year old male. Tends to lead to oversized heads. From what I gather, a decade spent bouncing around the AHL, IHL, and Finnish Elite League knocked a whole lotta humility into him, really changed his outlook. Took him down a peg. I met Tom Seaver once twenty-one years ago, he was having breakfast with his family and didn't want to be disturbed, doesn't me I've permanently branded him a jerk. But that's not the point.

The point is that a lot of why the Timmy haters hate Timmy goes back to what we were saying about what an unorthodox style he plays. It just doesn't look pretty. A good sized chunk of the Timmy haters fall into the 15-20 age bracket, guys who are young enough to still fool themselves into thinking they have the skill to make the NHL someday, young enough to still think they know everything (that staggeringly powerful arrogance only a teen can summon). The typical Timmy hater is a 16 year old male, thinks he's going to play D1 or Major Junior (he won't), has been getting goalie coaching paid for over-indulgent parents since he was 11 (and thus thinks he knows more about goaltending than someone who has an NHL contract), plays nothing but a slavishly consistent butterfly (because there's no other way to possibly play), wears Rbk pads (because they are soooooooooo hot), and thinks that Marc Andre Fleury is the greatest goalie ever to step on the ice (because MAF plays a slavishly consistent butterfly that always looks pretty even though it's currently only stopping pucks good enough to give him the 22nd best save percentage in the league, just .001 better than Timmy). Arguing with folks like that is like trying to have a debate on supply side economics with a doorstop or a coaster. Rationality, statistics, reality have no bearing. I typically laugh quietly myself and avoid engaging them in debate, but every once in while I have to step in. Today's flare up revolved around Timmy's temper, how he hates giving up goals and is demonstrative about that. No biggie. Then one of teens pipes in with a "I heard that when he was in college, his temper was so bad that he used to punch out windows and stuff" comment, which lead to a couple "yeah, he's a jerk" comments. Gotta love the power of idiotic "I heard from a guy whose sister's boyfriend's cousin's girlfirend had a friend who lived in the same dorm" sort of rumors. Now, I've been fairly wired into the UVM hockey scene for a while, in the "Friends of UVM Hockey" boosters, met several of the players at various times, was friends with a girl in college who was dating a guy on the team (who dished up all the dirt there was to dish), all that jazz. I heard all the stories, I knew which players were party guys and drinkers (paging John LeClair, you have a call on the beer-shaped courtesy phone) and which guys were studious, which guys were pricks and which guys were laid back, all that. I was at UVM at the same time as Timmy, St Louis, and Perrin, and I also know the coaches who ran the team at that time. And I know enough to know Timmy wasn't running around punching out windows or any crap like that. At the minimum, I know that something like that would have made the rounds, and today's posting was the first I'd ever heard of it. I also know that coaches never would have put up with it (even if for no other reason than that it would be idiotic to allow a guy whom you have a $100,000 worth of scholarship invested in to run around risking serious injury like that). Didn't happen. I just love sixth-hand rumors and internet gossip, reality rarely intrudes. So when I pointed that out, Mr "I met him once" pipes in with, "okay maybe that's not true, but I met him once, and I wasn't impressed, I've heard some other stories that I know for a fact are true, blah blah blah". In other words, more of the same, more "I knew a girl whose ex-boyfriend's brother's roommate's cousin's girlfriend's sorority sister went on a date with a teammate of his once" style crap. There are some arguments you just can't win, people just believe what they want to believe and no fact will ever sway that. So that was today's development in the world of the Timmy haters. Naturally, there are Timmy fans, too, but the Timmy haters are much more entertaining. Haters always are, because irrational venom is far more entertaining than unquestioning blind devotion. Much like our little MINI world here, it's a whole nother little universe focused on a very narrow spectrum of the world at large (in this case, MINIs and the people who own them, in that case ice hockey goalies) where issues of little or no significance in the big picture become huge issues within that little universe. Every day is a new adventure.

Today's other rant: ESPN has Nascar now. In case you hadn't noticed. Which is absolutely impossible, given how relentlessly they've been ramming it down our throats. I'm old enough to remember when Job One at ESPN was sports, now Job One at ESPN is promoting the ESPN brand. Unending self-promotion is the highest principle at ESPN (the Disney apple doesn't fall far from the tree), and it's really grating on me. Example: Tonight I get back from hockey, turn on the TV, and ESPN is showing SportsCenter, yammering on about Nascar, so I flip to the ESPN2 and see the last couple minutes of a college basketball ending. And the announcers kick in with "how about the end of the Daytona 500 yesterday?". I can tell by the tone and what they're saying that they know nothing about Nascar, couldn't care less about Nascar, but the paymaster in Bristol said push Nascar so they push it. I think it grates more because it's just so damn obvious. ESPN gets Nascar, suddenly things in Nascar that they would have given 30 seconds to (or ignored altogether) suddenly get five minutes. I understand that adding Nascar would mean adding a Nascar re-cap show and all that. But it annoys me that they warp the editorial priorities of their "news" programming (i.e. SportsCenter) to suddenly give disproportionate coverage to things they previously deemed not newsworthy, and it really annoys me that they are interfering with other programming for phony, blatant, staged cross-promotion during non-Nascar events (like the aforementioned basketball game). Am I really supposed to believe that the Nascar conversation from those guys was spontaneous? Please. And it's far from the first time, and will be far from the last. I'm sure we'll get lots of "how about that race!" talk from ESPN's baseball crews this summer, I'm sure more Nascar stuff will be working it's way into shows like PTI (where they previously didn't give a rat's ass). The ESPN radio guys are the same. When I'm on a longer drive, I'll listen to some of the different XM music channels, but when I'm just driving around in town or to the gym/rink or whatever, my radio time on XM (when there's not a game on to listen to) tends to be about 70% Home Ice, 15% ESPN, 15% BBC World Service. ESPN is currently doing all they can do to lose their 15%. Not quite certain when ESPN jumped the shark, when they crossed that line to become just too damn self-promotional, more about flash and catchphrases than substance and sports. I'm guessing sometime around 1996 or so.

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I never did understand Nascar. Just seemed like a reason to drink beer and yell. I like F1 racing but I think it's because you have to have some more skill to do that. Nascar is a big ring with 4 lefts. How hard can that be? I don't know when everyone became Nascar crazy. I was raised in a rural town so Nascar was part of my lexicon growing up. But Nascar was something that only rednecks cared about. Now it seems that everyone in the country has a driver, and conversely everyone hates Jeff Gordon. In this age of Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy I think it's only inevitable that everyone will like Nascar. Even you, you naysayer But I'll never get it. Louis asked me on Saturday what the Busch series was. I don't have any idea. I think it's like the AHL for racing was my answer. I'm pretty sure it was wrong but this question came from, "Do you remember when it was the Winston Cup? Before they found out smoking was bad?" It's time to face facts, we live in a dumbed down society and if the broadcasters are going to mention it 100 times then it will slowly leak into our subconcious and then we will all be Nascar zombies.

BTW did you see the end of the race? (arms outstretched in Frankenstein manner)

It does seem that negative nancies seem to eat up a lot of time and it's pretty amusing (case in point Derek vs Annette: Battle to the death). What I really love are the people that are like if you like X then you are a douchebag unworthy of life. Well, that's a little harsh. I've never been a man so I don't know what's it's like to be puffed up, but at 16 I'm pretty sure that you are the best at everything and everyone that says different is just jealous of your skill. Did you ever have aspirations of going to the NHL at that age? or had the bubble been burst? I think it's human nature to believe that someone that doesn't do it "right" has no business doing it. The facts are
1) He has an NHL contract and gets paid
2) He deserves to be there.

That't it it sums it up. It's strange to hear someone say that he gets mad after a goal. What goalie doesn't. That's how Olie got his Godzilla nickname because he has a terrible temper (I don't think he ever stomped Tokyo, but I could be wrong). His temper was so bad that he played in the Minors until he could control it. I think now most of his PIMs are for unsportsmanlike conduct. One game the ref came to get the puck and he hit it to the other end of the ice. He bangs his sticks on the pipes and says bad words. Is he unworthy of a contract? No. But then again, he does play a classic butterfly style that gives up umpteen rebounds which the D can't clear so he gets scored on more than a Montreal hooker. But he can't be blamed for that. The one thing I've noticed about Timmy's style is that he doesn't have to rely on the D. His style doesn't give up rebounds like butterfly goalies. I might be off base but that's the one thing that I can see that is different. Also I think he's getting a better workout than the butterfly goalies because he's involving all his muscle groups .

So the moral of the story is:
Don't be a goon.