New England Hockey Talk

[bethandlouis]

Poor poor Nittymaki. Watched the Pens/Flyers game (because it'susually a pretty good game with a stiff cross state rivalry). Nittymaki has a 3.91 GAA (yikes!) (looked at the flyewrs website and it's showing a 2.94 si not sure if it was just the pens annoucer types trying to make Nity look bad). Louis came out and asked whch team I was rooting for and I said I'm just rooting for Nittymaki.

[MGB Boy]

Here you go, Beth...

A History of the Washington Capitals Hockey Jersey

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Holy cow what a game! 5 fights in 30 seconds. I am like most fans I enjoy a good fight if it's for the right reason. I don't think that you should fight out of frustration or you want to. There was a late hit by Sutton on one of the Caps blueliners and someone took offense to it (Clymer) so he went over and gave him a what for. Then Brashear and Erskine came off the bench. Brashear went after Vishnevski (broken nose at the hands of Brashear). Then while Brashear and Erskine were beating the Thrashers handily Hedberg skated over to get in the mix. When Kolzig saw that he came over to have words with Hedberg (with the night Olie had I think he would have whupped him). Here's the ticker from the game, notice the times?

18:38 Thrashers Andy Sutton double minor roughing, high sticking
18:38 Capitals Ben Clymer roughing
18:58 Thrashers Vitaly Vishnevski major fighting
18:58 Capitals John Erskine instigatormajor , major
18:58 Thrashers Johan Hedberg goalie leaving crease
18:58 Capitals Olaf Kolzig goalie leaving crease
18:58 Thrashers Marian Hossa major fighting, game misconduct
18:58 Capitals Matt Bradley major fighting, game misconduct
18:58 Thrashers Greg De Vries major fighting, game misconduct
18:58 Capitals Donald Brashear major fighting, game misconduct
19:02 Thrashers Brad Larsen major fighting, game misconduct
19:02 Capitals Brian Sutherby instigator, fighting major, game misconduct
19:17 Thrashers Scott Mellanby instigator, fighting major, game misconduct
19:17 Capitals Jamie Heward major fighting

[bethandlouis]

Looks like old time hockey in washington. Apparently Hanlon tried to call Hartley out. Wow! All because of a high hit. It didn't make any sense why the hit on Green. Thrashers up by 2 and on a power play. It was only when the shorthanded Caps were dumping into the offensive zone. I feel bad for Vishnevski, Sutton should have been on the receiving end of Brashear. Looks like there will be some fines and suspension. Sutherby, Erskine and Brashear for the Caps. It also looks like Mellanby for the Thrash will get the suspension. Hanlon and Hartley will probably get fined for the intigator penalties. With bad camera angles have to rely on biased opinons and what got Olie out of the crease was Moose kicking a player on the ice (again wasn't there and there is no video of it) but I think anytime a goalie comes out and tries to get in the mix the other one will come over. That's what happened with the Dafoe/Kolzig fight.

Seems that there were some bad calls made by the refs and I think the Metropolit goal should have been disallowed. There wasn't a good camera angle but the one I saw it looked like the blade (which is where the puck made contact) was above the crossbar. Not sure if the review works like in the NFL (there has to be overwhelming evidence for a reversal). It was a bad bounce and shouldn't be held against Olie.

[MGB Boy]

I dunno what the hell is up with my Bruins. One day they look like utter crap at home, the next night they're soundly beating a divisional rival on the road. A little consistency would be awfully nice. Against Carolina on Friday, Coach Lewis pulled Timmy because the team was playing so bad that he thought it best to pull his #1 goalie and save him for the next night, essentially giving up on the game. "I thought he was our best player," Lewis said of Thomas. "He was outstanding. I didn't want to subject him to any more of their attack. We had 19 players who were really off their game. He was the one guy who had his game." Then the next night they're all blocking shots and doing the little things and playing sound fundamental hockey. God only knows what team will show up for the next game on Tuesday, Crappy Boston or Solid Boston. But hey, Timmy is playing well. And after a down season, Marty is back to his old tricks, tearing it up down in Tampa, and Perrin is doing well too, so I guess I have to take a "UVM alumni" view on this season rather than a "go Bruins" view! And hey, this afternoon I got to sit in the stands of historic Gutterson Fieldhouse and cheer my Catamounts on to a 3-2 win over #2 ranked Maine, so I'm happy. Third win over a top-15 ranked team in the past eleven days. Yay! I'll be interested to see where they put UVM when the new polls come out on Monday. Looking forward to that game in January, Beth?

Oh, and the refs in tonight's Leafs-Bs game missed a blatant blatant blatant slew-foot trip by Darcy Tucker midway thru the 3rd. The reffing needs to be consistent, with two refs and two linesmen on the ice they can't be missing obvious stuff happening right on the puck like that. Crazy.

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I agree with the refereeing. I think that's another reason those fights broke out, blatent calls that aren't being made. It also seems that when the calls are being made they are being made very onesided (i.e. all the penalties on the B's and none on the Leafs). Last night it seemed that the Caps had the refs in their pocket and they still couldn't score! So I wish I could wonder which one is going to show up (well I guess I could will it be the the so-so Caps or the awful Caps).

[MGB Boy]

Go go So-So Caps!

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I don't know if you caught any of the Leafs/Caps game but it was terrible. Louis warned me so I had a piece of chocolate pie before i started watching the game. It helped. Last night I let the expletives fly, I should have had another piece of pie

[MGB Boy]

Didn't catch much of that game, I was watching the Bolts/Atlanta game. But after yet another obvious interference by Toronto went uncalled late in the game on Saturday night, the Bs road play-by-play guy (Jack Edwards) asked rhetorically "how is that not a penalty?", to which the color man Andy Brickley responded "Because it's Toronto". There's always been a perception that TO always gets the calls and that the NHL favors the Leafs above all others. Some people take that point of view to an illogical extreme, to be sure, and I'm not really one for conspiracy theories. But there are always just enough dodgy calls (and non-calls) that it makes one arch an eyebrow and go "hmmm...."

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

After the Atlanta/Caps game all the hockey boards were full of was Atlanta's goonery. Especially with the game in Toronto last year. I don't like Hartley. It looks like Hanlon told his boys that we are going to be the tough hockey team that people don't like to play against. 1st he'll have to get some tough guys then we can start seeing a tough hockey team. Ovie is a great all around player and plays great D (can't we just clone him?)

[bethandlouis]

The refereeing is way out of hand, there were 2 no calls in the Sabres/Rangers game tonight. One was one that always gets called-forward beating defenders on a breakaway with a trip. Another one is that the sabres were making a line change and the one going off the ice had Jagr's stick tied up in the bench! Sometimes I think the refs have swallowed their whistles (or they're watching some other game! )

[MGB Boy]

The expression "the ref swallowed his whistle" has always intrigued me. I understand the meaning, but if a ref actually did swallow his whistle, wouldn't it probably get lodged in his throat, and therefore make a whistling noise every time he exhaled? Which would mean the whistle would blow more, not less? These are the things I think about while I'm standing in my crease and the puck is down at the other end...

Another goal and assist for Marty St Louis tonight. Nine points in the last four games. The guy is just on fire lately. Seems to have shaken off his post-lockout slump. Along with the previously discussed fact that Calgary gave up on him and let him walk for free (fun fact to torture Flames fans with), here's a lesser known fun fact just for you, Beth: After his junior year at UVM (35 games, 29 goals, 56 assists, 85 points, Hobey Baker Award finalist, First Team All-American), the Capitals tried to sign St Louis as a free agent. Tried to sign both St Louis and Eric Perrin (who had identical 29g, 56a, 85pt numbers but played in three more games than Marty and thus lost the scoring title to him on a points per game basis). But both elected to return to college for their senior year. After an apparently sub-par senior season (36 games, 24 goals, 36 assists, 60 points, Hobey Baker Award finalist again, First Team All-American again), the Caps decided not to offer Marty a contract again. In fact no one did, and instead he signed with the independent Cleveland Lumberjacks of the now-defunct IHL. Midway thru his rookie season in Cleveland, the Flames signed him.

Wouldn't it be fun to see him on a line with Ovechkin? Oh well. Funny how things turn out in the end...

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Anyone with skill would be a pleasure to see on the line with Ovie . I don't think that if they signed those two that they'd have a chance to haveOvie.

I too have thought that the expression was a little off as well. It does seem that it would blow more and not less but such is life.

Did you vote for the All-Stars yet? Crosby is winning eastern forwards and Miller is winning for goalie. Chara is in second place for the defense in the east. I didn't really check the west (except for Jerome Iginla and Mikka (Mikka is in first (handily) and Jerome is in second (behind Joe Thornton (who traded him away? ))). It seems that you can vote more than once so people have been stuffing the ballot.

[MGB Boy]

I've voted a couple times, I'll likely stuff a bit more...

Ahhh, Joe Thornton. Being a Bruins fan, I get asked about the whole Joe Thornton thing a lot by my various Canadiens, Rangers, Red Wings, etc. fan friends. Many are surprised that I'm not at all bitter about the trade and that I'm not really overly crushed that they don't have Joe anymore. I'll be interested to see how Thornton's season plays out. As Bruins Nation painfully learned over the past several years, there are two key things to know about Jumbo Joe's game;

1) When he's angry, he's scary-good. I mean, really really really good. Fantastic. Get him to play mad, and he's a beast.

2) Unfortunately, Joe is rarely angry. Way too easy-going for his own good, very little of that internal spark that made guys like Cam Neely folk heroes in Boston (and that particular comparison was made frequently in Boston, and never to Joe's benefit. I was at Cam Neely's number retirement ceremony game, Joe actually got called out by a heckler during the part of the speech where they were talking about Cam's passion and fire). Joe is the epitome of "not a self-starter", he needs a coach riding his ass constantly and ****ing him off. He actually blossomed under Mike Keenan during Iron Mike's stay in Beantown, which makes sense given the universal rep Keenan has for rampant jackassery. Got him angry, got him playing hard.

After he got traded last season (and just, what, eight weeks or so after signing a long term contract?), that was the ultimate kick in the ass for him. He played with passion and fire and energy the rest of the season, a passion and fire he lacked in Boston. He was angry at the Bruins and he was gonna rub there noses in it. No way he would have had that same season if he were in Boston, so I can't really feel bad about it, I can't really go "oh man, they could have used those numbers in Boston", because he would not have put up those numbers in Boston.

So far this year, he's settling into his new digs, getting comfortable with San Jose, and the early returns at the 1/4 mark of the season: His shots per game is off from last season (something the Bs constantly harped on him about was shooting more). His points per game are below his rate from last year, even back down below where he was just for the Boston portion of his season. He's currently lined up for about a 90 point season, nothing to sneeze at but well off from his 125 points last season. His penalty minutes per game are also down, which could be good or bad, depending on where you choose to make the balance between "maturity" and "grit".

So we'll see. Maybe he'll light up again and go on a tear. Even if you get 90 points a year out of him, that's pretty damn good, it's always good to have a 90 point scorer on the roster. But it's not quite "all world" good, that's not MVP good. 17th in the league in scoring isn't quite where he ought to be. He's tied with the Bruins' off-season acquisition Marc Savard (who has played in two fewer games), in fact, so his scoring contribution has essentially been replaced. Plus his departure allowed Patrice Bergeron to increase his minutes and blossom. So in the grand scheme of things, I'm not too bummed about the big Joe trade. And there's my spiel on that!

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

I am really surprised at the skill of Bergeron given his age. It seems that hockey skill is something you're born with and it is not something that you can cultivate and turn into a career.

If I played hockey I would play D. I wouldn't be a goalie (although that is the best position on the ice) but I want to be in the mix of things and pressureing the forwards and making them get off their game. I played ball some ball hockey in gym class (living in MD we aren't afforded a hockey team so i had to rely on the times that we played ball hockey. It was brutal (for the other players). They couldn't get a shot off and I was always in their face. We had a very competitive gym class (most of them were on the field hockey team (that was a fun game too-it's only slashing if you get caught-I was able to put the smack down on all the popular girls in school with a whack of that useless stick (and the wooden ball I would launch at the goalies (they'd always move that ball was hard)) .

I completely understand about Thornton. I was just kidding (a little). It seems that the trade was lopsided though (wasn't he the #1 points leader or at least up there?) a very Caps thing to do. I think that the Bruins (like the Caps) will be good in a couple of seasons. They've got a good goalie in Timmy and the forwards are all pretty good (Bergeron is definately the star). They've got a pretty good D (they have the ability to frustrate the other team. I think it's all just got to click and they've got to settle down and then they'll be in the running for the cup. I think they have a pretty young team and they are trying to find their way.

Who wrote the schedule? The B's play the Leafs 3 times in 2 weeks!! Wierd