Canada's Stanley Cup Drought

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I can't believe it's been 20 years since the Stanley Cup was won by a team that resides in Canada. Ironically, it was the Montreal Canadiens that last won the Stanley Cup and they're probably not going to get out of the Eastern Conference Finals. The handshake game is tonight.

Mark Spector, Sportsnet -- Every June day was Edmonton Oilers Day in Edmonton 35 years ago. And when the Oilers failed to make it the Stanley Cup just twice in the eight years between 1983 and 1990, well, no problem. Montreal (1986) and Calgary (1989) took care of the Cup for Canada in Edmonton’s off years, even playing each other in ’89.

Can you imagine? Eight straight Cups featuring a Canadian team?

In the 22 Stanley Cups contested since, our country has sent six teams to the finals, winning just once. Ottawa took a turn in 2007, and each of Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver (twice) have suffered the indignity of a Game 7 loss in the final in the years since the Habs won our last Cup over Los Angeles in 1993.

Jason Chimera boards Justin Schultz

Ouch! Not a good hit, actually, this is a very dangerous hit by Washington Capitals forward Jason Chimera on former Wisconsin Badger and Edmonton Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz. I would call this a push check. Chimera only received a two-minutes penalty for his efforts. Schultz appeared to be okay.

UND Hockey: Dillon Simpson named Captain of the UND Hockey Team

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota Men’s Hockey Coach Dave Hakstol announced today that senior defenseman Dillon Simpson has been named team captain for the 2013-14 season. Hakstol also announced that junior forwards Michael Parks and Stephane Pattyn will serve as assistant captains.

Simpson, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has collected nine goals and 43 assists in 114 career games. Last season he was named UND’s Most Improved Player after leading the team’s defensemen with a career-high five goals and 19 assists in 42 games. In his three years as a collegian, Simpson has helped lead UND to three straight NCAA regional championship game appearances and a 2010-11 berth in the NCAA Frozen Four.

A managerial finance and corporate accounting major, Simpson was a three-time All-WCHA Academic Team selection and a two-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete. He was a fourth-round draft pick (92nd overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in 2011. Simpson’s father, Craig, won two Stanley Cups with Edmonton during a 10-year National Hockey League career that also included stops in Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

Parks, a native of St. Louis, Mo., was UND’s Rookie of the Year in 2011-12 when he collected 12 goals and 10 assists in 42 games. Last season he scored seven goals and one assist in an injury-plagued season that limited him to just 25 games. A general studies major, Parks has received UND’s Engelstad Family Foundation Endowment in each of the last two seasons. He was selected by Philadelphia in the fifth round (149^th overall) of the 2010 NHL draft.

Pattyn, who hails from Ste. Anne, Manitoba, has missed just one game through his first two seasons at UND, amassing six goals and five assists in 83 games. Last season, both of Pattyn’s goals came against top-12 opponents, while three of his four goals as a freshman in 2011-12 were game-winners. An entrepreneurship major, Pattyn has previous captaincy experience having served as team captain for Portage in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in 2010-11 before arriving at UND.

UND takes to the ice for the first time on Sunday, Oct. 6, when it hosts the University of Manitoba in exhibition action. The regular season begins the following weekend when non-conference foe Vermont visits Ralph Engelstad Arena Oct. 11-12.

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Oilers Nail Yakupov attempts to contact Edmonton via Twitter

@EdmontonOilers can u UNSWER on my message , in Private Messaging?please ! Thanks
— Nail Yakupov (@Nail10_1993) August 7, 2013

I guess there is nothing unheard of in today's world of social media. No clue, if Nail Yakupov was able to get the Edmonton Oilers attention.

Is Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration over the top?

Check out this goal by Edmonton Oilers rookie forward Nail Yakupov. There is a school of thought that the NHL is starting to look like the European soccer leagues with some of the over the top celebrations of the players after they score a goal.

I don't know what to think... I don't like showing up an opponent. I get it the kid is excited as well.

Alexander Ovechkin took some heat after he scored a goal and then dropped it to the ice and acted like it was too hot to pick up.

The Cult of Hockey profiles Dillon Simpson

The Cult of Hockey has an interesting article on UND junior defenseman Dillon Simpson.

Edmonton Oilers Prospects #12: Dillon Simpson

There was some reflexive complaining about nepotism in Edmonton after they drafted Simpson in the fourth round of the 2011 Draft, but it was largely muted and for good reason: Simpson looks like he’s going to be a player on merit, not just because he happens to share a last name with a former 50-goal scorer.

Simpson played 30 college games in his draft year, scoring twice and adding eight assists, and he built on those totals this year: 42 games played, two goals, and 16 assists for 18 total points. There’s other good news – his role expanded to the point where he was on the ice for both special teams (something that had not happened the year before), he doubled his shot totals over the course of the season, and despite taking on more responsibility he went from plus-11 to plus-10 despite the fact that the team as a whole went from plus-56 to plus-19.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t all good.

The jump in offense, for example, isn’t as spectacular as it sounds. At even-strength over 30 games in 2010-11, Simpson had one goal and six assists. At even-strength over 42 games in 2011-12, he had one goal and six assists. Fully 11 of his 18 points last season came on the power play. How much offense will he bring to the professional level – particularly if he doesn’t end up on the man advantage? It’s unclear but his college numbers to date don’t suggest he’s going to be a dominant force; his point totals are in the same range as recent Oilers college picks Jeff Petry, Cody Wild and Taylor Chorney.

Expectations for 2012-13: Another year at the University of North Dakota could be revealing. With top defender Ben Blood slated to turn pro, there’s room for Simpson to move up the depth chart. It’s reasonable to expect more work at both even-strength and on special teams, and the challenge will be for Simpson to remain a plus player against tougher opposition, and hopefully to deliver something more offensively. [Read the Whole Articled]

I don’t think that anyone who watched Dillon Simpson play on a regular basis over the past two year would agree with everything that is written in this article. I also wonder how many games the author actually watched Simpson play. Lets not forget, Dillon came to UND at the ripe old age of 17 playing against older adult players that are in their 20’s.

I have heard that Simpson like many of his other teammates played a portion of last season injured and that might explain why Simpson’s play might have taken a bit of a dip. I heard that Simpson had played one of the series against the Minnesota Gophers with a significant injury.

Lastly, I think that Dillon Simpson has a great upside and will get better as he matures with age. Simpson will only get better playing against older players.I am also not comfortable with comparing Simpson to the Edmonton Oiler fans favorite whipping boy Taylor Chorney - I think that Simpson in my opinion is much better player with a bigger upside defensively that Chorney.

Brian Skrudland not concerned with Bjudstads development at Minnesota

Miami Herald photo

Guy Flaming co-host of the Pipeline show 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta interviewed Brian Skrudland the Director of Player Development for the Florida Panthers. Guy asked Skrudland  if Bjugstad staying in Minnesota for another year would hurt his development as a hockey player. Here is what Skrudland had to say about the matter.

I'm not sure so I asked Brian Skrudland the question to see if the Panthers organization shared the same concern.

"Well... that is a concern," Skrudland admitted, "But when you've got such a quality organization as [the University of] Minnesota has provided there... the off ice strength and conditioning coach, Cal Dietz, has done a fabulous job with Nick. There are a lot of positive things about him going back. The only negative is that he won't be wearing a Panthers jersey and helping us score some goals next year."

"It's an opportunity for him to finish something that he started and we love that as far as the character of the person," continued Skrudland, "And it's an opportunity to go back and maybe win the Hobey Baker and hopefully a national championship as well."

It would appear that the Florida Panther don’t have the same concerns about Minnesota like Garth Snow of the New York Islanders had. That being said, it would appear that the Panthers wanted Nick Bjudstad to sign a professional contract.

Just for the record Guy Flaming and Dean Millard are very fair hosts and are by no shape of the imagination anti-NCAA hockey but in this case I also think that Guy might have a point…

Flaming posed this question Bjugstad… “Could his progress stagnate, or even regress, playing at a level that in many ways, he is already a dominant player?”

I think that is a good question and only time will tell – I think the Gophers will definitely benefit from another season of having Nick Bjugstad on their roster and his presence will make them one of the top teams to beat in the WCHA this season if the Gophers can figure out who is going to be the man between the pipes for the Gophers.

[click to listen to podcast]

Farwell 'NCAA has been similarly accused of making it attractive financially to keep these players playing in their system'

To tonight while I was riding my bike and I was listening to the Pipeline show on Team 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta .

The hosts Guy Flaming and Dean Millard had on Mike Farwell who is a radio analyst for Kitchener Rangers hockey team and works for  570 A.M. News. Farwell is also a sports anchor on the Sportsnet 590 A.M. The Fan out of Toronto, Ontario.  

You can listen to the show in question by clicking on this link or you can download the show on iTunes store.

Guy asked Mike Farwell about the various allegations surrounding the CHL and if there is any truth to some of these rumors.  The response to the question was quite interesting.

“In my personal opinion and I am heading into my thirteenth season in this league,” Farwell said. “Where there is smoke there is fire and we hear unfortunately about these types of situations far too often. “

“You listed some of the power houses but again; I don’t want to get into a naming of names and who said what and he said – she said sort of thing again. It’s not too hard if want to just Google it you can find the members clubs across the entire 62 team Canadian Hockey League that have been accused of these things before.”

Then Farwell dropped this little throw away nugget out there, “having said that, the NCAA has been similarly accused of making it attractive financially to keep these players playing in their system, despite that fact that it goes against their rules and regulations as well.”

“I want to make that abundantly clear we hear this so often, you have to ask what is going on.  To me this is really the elephant in the room for the Canadian Hockey League and its incumbent on the league to do something.” 

Wait, What? I was disappointed that the hosts didn’t dig a little further and ask for clarification from Farwell, he also gave no specific example of what he was referring to.

College is pretty regulated and there just isn’t a lot of dirty under the table stuff going on in college hockey. When is the last time a team in the NCAA hockey was given the death penalty for improprieties? You don't have the violations in college hockey that happen in NCAA Division I Basketball and Football. If you don't think the NCAA is looking up North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Boston College and Denver's rear ends you're highly mistaken.

This is also not the first time I have heard Major Junior Hockey Fans make the charge that NCAA hockey has questionable recruiting practices. Really! There has not been a lot in the recent past and there has only been six NCAA violations since 1974 according to Joe Meloni of the College Hockey News. 

$925,000 question answered - Schultz to the Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have won the Justin Schultz sweep stakes and have signed him to a two year entry level deal.The former Wisconsin All-WCHA defender was one of the most sought after free-agents this year.

Chris Johnston, Edmonton Journal --- Justin Schultz was able to pass the baton off to Zach Parise.

After being courted by NHL teams at the Newport Sports offices in suburban Toronto for much of the week, Schultz agreed to terms with the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon. The first big free-agent decision of the summer came several hours before the floodgates were set to officially open at noon ET Sunday and left Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini in a celebratory mood.

"What a way to start the free-agent period," Tambellini told reporters in Edmonton.

It gave Schultz plenty of time to clear out of Don Meehan's high-powered agency before Parise's expected arrival on Sunday. The former University of Wisconsin defenceman took advantage of a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement to become a free agent and garnered plenty of interest.

Dan "car bomb" Carcillo suspended indefinitely

This is going to be the third suspension of the season for Dan Carcillo, you would think this guy would have learned by now. How long of a suspension would change his on ice behavior? I say throw the book at this buffoon, 5-10 games, if Carcillo is injured he should have to serve his suspension after he comes back from his knee injury.

Jesse Rogers ESPN CHICAGO -- News that Blackhawks forward Dan Carcillo is suspended indefinitely for his boarding of Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert can't be a shock to anyone who follows the Hawks or Carcillo. He will be able to state his case to the league at some point and then he'll finish serving his third suspension of the season. And this all happens after he recovers from his injuries.

That's one costly hit.

After talking with hockey people around the league on Tuesday, the consensus is Carcillo will get 4-6 games for the blow. No more.

Related articles

• You can't say dumb with out Carcillo (mvn.com)
• Dan Carcillo gets ejected for hit on Tom Gilbert (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Carcillo to be suspended for 6th time (cbc.ca)
• Watch Dan Carcillo earn himself a probable date with Mr. Shanahan with this hit on Oilers Tom Gilbert (hubballsbubble.wordpress.com)

Stefan Matteau on the Pipeline Show

Dean Millard and Guy Flaming from the Pipeline Show on 1260 A.M. out of Edmonton, Alberta do a really good job promoting the game of hockey on all levels from the NHL, CHL and NCAA., last night the Dean and Guy had Fighting Sioux recruit Stephan Matteau.

Coming Down the Pipe --- Our 2012 draft prospect will be Stefan Matteau of the U.S. National development program. The budding power forward is another in the growing list of sons of NHLers. His dad Stephane is a Stanley Cup Champion.

Click to listen to the interview on the Pipeline Show. [Click to listen]