Uncensored pay-per-view

Check out this idea by Mike Chen, uncensored pay-per-view. I would love to see and hear the shenanigans on the ice between the players. It would also be fun to see the back and forth between the two benches.

Uncensored pay-per-view. Ok, so this one's a bit of a radical (and unrealistic) idea, but I guarantee you that it'd be beyond entertaining. Imagine this -- a broadcast with no play-by-play announcers, just active microphones on the head coaches, the refs, and a select number of players on either side. The number of F-bombs dropped would preclude the game from being broadcast on any standard channel, but it'd be a fascinating way to give the viewer a true feel for what's going on over on the bench. Oh, and we'd finally get a little piece of the infamous smack talk that goes on during a game. Maybe HBO would be interested in this?

Random thoughts:

I found this poll on Homersota.com

on which Minnesota Broadcasters are the biggest homers? Frankly, I would have thought that Wooger and the Rug would have been higher, one thing they are not is objective. Pot, kettle black. It also looks like they forgot to include Paul Allen for Vikings football...

Which team of broadcasters are the biggest homers?
Blyleven/Bremer (Twins) - 23% / 95 Votes

Hanneman/Peterson ( Wolves) - 5% / 19 Votes

Lee/Mona (Gopher Football) - 21% / 87 Votes

Grimm/Lynch (Gopher Basketball) - 0% / 1 Votes

Allen/Bercich (Vikings) - 23% / 96 Votes

Terhaar/Greenlay (Wild) - 17% / 70 Votes

Mazzacco/Woog (Gopher Hockey) - 12% / 49 Votes

I was re-reading a post from Brad Elliott Schlossman's blog on incoming goalie Brad Eidsness and I am predicting that will Brad Eidsness be the starting goalie for the Fighting Sioux this season. While I am sure Walksi will probably get a look, however, Eidsness will end up being the starter and Walski the back up. Just my HMO, I do not have any inside information.

Seriously, if Eidsness is not the man; why didn't the Fighting Sioux coaching staff pick up one more goalie recruit to compete for the number one position? They have two unproven goaltenders to start the season. Does the Fighting Sioux coaching staff feel this strongly about Eidsness? They must have a lot of confidence in Eidsness? Not to slight Walski I have seen nothing has led me to believe that Walski is a legitimate division one starting goaltender, or Walski would have played more than one and half game during his three year college career. Sure he shut out BSU but that does not prove he is a full time starter. You heard it here first. Prediction: Brad Eidsness will be the starting goalie.

Brad Eidsness, an Alberta native, said he came to UND early because he felt it was an important step in preparing to battle for the No. 1 goaltender spot. Eidsness said his goal is to take the reins in the net.

He'll have strong competition from senior Aaron Walski, who also is spending the summer in Grand Forks in order to prepare for the season. Walski came to UND as a walk-on and has since earned a scholarship.

Check out this post by Sprig on siouxsports.com in response to the Gopher skippies on Sioux sports.

The Blais reputation for having bad goaltending came entirely from the year when Kollar struggled as a starter, Siembeda was obtained, played two good games, then couldn't stop the puck, which lead to the mad scramble of trying to find a tender that year. The reputation was mostly embellished by the plethora of Gopher fans that began posting about it. It seems funny in retrospect that the history of Sioux goaltending starting with the Gino era and continuing with Blais and Hakstol, is that the Sioux have, except for one year, had excellent goaltending, which is in total contrast to the almost constant stream of sieves that have run through the Gopher program (with just a couple arguable exceptions). The words Gopher, good, and goaltending will seldom appear in the same sentence, except for the die-hards that follow that team.

Watch for Goon to post about good gopher goaltending, which will occur immediateley before hell freezes over.

Burke and Lowe ordered to play nice by the NHL

This is one of the more interesting stories to appear this summer, it is unfolding like a soap opera. This story also makes you ask is are we in second grade here or what? It is almost like Lowe took Bruke's Tonka truck and he is upset about it.

While I don't care for Brian Burke, mainly because the way he conducted himself after the Wild and Ducks playoff series in 2007, personally I think Brian Burke is a cry baby and does like to make outrageous statements. While this story just proves my point Burke might have a point; Kevin Lowe did over pay Dustin Penner and highly inflated the price of Thomas Vanek. Lets be honest with ourselves folks, there is no way Dustin Penner is worth 21 million dollars, Penner scored 23 goals in 82 games this season. That being said it is time to these two to move-on and stop with the purse fight.

Burke carefully responds to Lowe charges
Brian Burke says he will abide by the NHL's request to end his criticism of Kevin Lowe and the Edmonton Oilers, but the Anaheim Ducks general manager wanted the last word on Thursday.

In a careful, measured statement, Burke took aim at some of Lowe's recent stinging comments about three Ducks players and the Anaheim hockey market.

"There is no question in our mind or defiance about the league's authority here," Burke said in the statement first read to Ducks beat writers on a conference call and then posted on the NHL club's website. "We accept their authority to stop this and we intend to stop it.

"However, several things were said last Friday that I believe need to be addressed."

On Monday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman warned both men to quit taking shots at each other or face significant fines.

Oilers spokesman J.J. Hebert said Thursday that the team would comply.

"We will be respecting the league's request and will not be discussing this matter any further," he said.

The public year-long spat between Burke and Lowe was resurrected on July 3. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Ducks GM claimed a pair of offer sheets doled out by Lowe last summer set the tone for the madness of this year's market.

Burke's comments referred to Lowe's inking of Buffalo restricted free agent Thomas Vanek to a seven-year, $50-million US offer sheet, which the Sabres matched. Later, the Oilers signed Ducks forward Dustin Penner to a five-year deal worth $21.25 million US offer sheet, which drew Burke's ire based on the potential inflationary ripple effects the offer could have across the NHL.

Is Joe Finley the next whipping boy?

Fighting Sioux senior to be Joe Finley has consistently been the Sioux's +/- (plus minus) leader his three seasons at UND, however, much like his former team mate Brian Lee, Finley has gotten the ire of a good number of Sioux fans. Why? I don't know why? Heck Brian Lee was so bad that he ended up playing for the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I guess that is why we are fans and not general managers.

This is merely speculation but I suppose maybe big Joe just isn't tough enough for some Sioux fans. It is possible that Joe just doesn't score enough goals or isn't a fast enough skater. I guess Joe isn't going to be able to satisfy a fair number of Fighting Sioux hockey fans, no matter what he does on the ice. So Goon's World is going to hand out some leafy spurge to the Sioux fans that don't appreciate Joe Finley, the Sioux will be better with Joe Finley in the line up.

I personally am happy as hell that Big Joe is coming back to the Fighting Sioux for one more season, it is not every day that a player plays four years for their college team when they are a high end draft choice, but hey I will take it. Contrary to what some of the hockey geniuses say UND is a better team with big Joe. SJHovey sums it up best on USCHO.COM so mascots beware big Joe is coming back for his senior season.

Any UND fan who is not overjoyed with having Joe return is a fool, imho. You don't lead the team in +/- without playing extremely good defense. Even if he's not constantly punching someone's lights out, i.e. Commordore or Greene, just having someone of that size out there can be intimidating and important. I believe that Joe's play is directly responsible for the outstanding play we saw out of Genoway last year.

I also firmly believe that Chay's late season injury affected him more than we thought in the playoffs. After his return neither his puckhandling nor shot was as effective as before the injury and lead to some problems for that defensive pairing.

The two of them will be the best defensive tandem in the WCHA this coming season, bar none.

Rewind to last spring; in retrospect the season ending debacle in Denver was painful to watch as Fighting Sioux fans, however, teams don't lose 6-1 because of one player. Teams lose 6-1 because they lost as a team; colectively as a group the Fighting Sioux did not play well and lost. So because the team did not play very that day and you can not single out one player to blame on the lost, the Fighting Sioux all played bad. Lets just hope that bad taste still lingers in their mouths.

Go Fighting Sioux...

The year in pictures

On a cold rainy summer day I was fooling around with my Picasa Web Album and I decided to come up with a compilation of photos from the past year in hockey blogging. Credit must go out to the various sports photographers from the Grand Forks Herald, Amy from Lets Go Mavs and Heather from Win Twins. Also, I must give a plug to Marty and Garlynn. The recruit pictures of Finehage and Blood are professionally done by Kori a friend of Jake's Place, lastly from personal collection of unprofessionally taken pictures.

The Return of Melrose place: Wes Walz is going too.

I have to admit that I am really excited about Barry Melrose being the next coach of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Also, former Wild defensive star/specialist Wes Walz is also going to be behind the Tampa Bay Lighting bench as Barry Melrose's assistant coach along with former Yotes assistant Rick Tocchet. While I loved listening to Melrose a analyst for ESPN I think Barry will bring a lot of excitement behind the bench in Tampa Bay.

Melrose leaves booth to become Lightning coachBy FRED GOODALL,Associated Press
Posted: 2008-06-24 17:19:18
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - When the Tampa Bay Lightning called, Barry Melrose was eager to listen. Out of coaching for 13 years, he missed the passion and competition of the NHL. Countless hours of watching games as a television analyst intensified his desire to return to the bench, and it didn't hurt that he'd be able to work with talent like Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Stamkos.

"They approached me. I couldn't wait to say yes," Melrose said Tuesday after the Lightning's new owners made the league's worst-kept secret official: the former Los Angeles Kings coach was the choice to replace John Tortorella.

"Watching successful teams, and watching teams that work and watching teams that don't work, it just reinforced what I believe in and how I coached, and the way we're going to play here. You don't win by accident. You don't lose by accident. There are reasons certain teams win all the time, and there's a reason certain teams lose all the time."

Melrose estimates he watched about 90 percent of Tampa Bay's games on TV last season. What he saw was a team that lost its zest under the hard-driving Tortorella, who led the club to its only Stanley Cup title four years ago.

The Lightning not only missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002, they finished last in the NHL with a league-worst 31-42-9 record.

"I think what happened here is just a group that lost their passion in the second part of the season. That's why you win," Melrose said. "You out-work other teams, you out-want other teams. When you lose that fire and lose that passion, it's very hard to compete in the NHL."

Tortorella helped transform a perennial last-place team into a champion. But his demanding, in-your-face style wore on players, especially younger ones who new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie believe can benefit by playing for Melrose.

"When you talk to people in the league, the talent is here," Koules said, adding that he's banking on Melrose being someone who can get everyone on the team "pulling in the same direction."

Two of Melrose's assistants will be Rick Tocchet and Wes Walz. The Lightning are pursuing a third.

A major priority next season will be improving defensively.

Tiger Wuss?

This is what Mike Milbury had to say about Tiger Wood's comment on hockey. I have always been a fan of Mike Milbury he tells it like he sees it, unvarnished and unfiltered.

You know what? I'm gonna change the name now. It's gonna be Tiger Wuss. Here's a guy that took about three months to get over a simple arthroscopic surgery. You look at [Pens forward] Ryan Malone. His face exploded with a slap shot last night - he's back out in 10 minutes!

"Keep your yap shut, Tiger, or I'll send a couple of wingers down there - [Pens forward] Gary Roberts - to tidy you up a little bit, meat head." No doubt Tiger has doubled his personal security.

New Tide Campaign.

A buddy of mine sent me this in an email.

Devils sign Anssi Salmela

The New Jersey Devils signed defenseman Anssi Salmela this the same guy that David Backes beat the snot out of during he 2008 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships. It makes me wonder if Backes and Salmela will take another dance this next season? Gary Betteman announced this past winter that "every team will play every other team at least once."
Hopefully next time Salmela gets into a fight on the ice he will learn to drop his stick.

Devils sign defenseman Anssi Salmela New Jersey Devils May 30, 2008, 12:24 PM EDT newjerseydevils.com – The Devils today signed defenseman Anssi Salmela to his first North American contract. The announcement was made by Devils’ President/CEO/ General Manager Lou Lamoriello. As per club policy, no further terms were disclosed.

Salmela, 23, recorded 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points while appearing in all 56 games with Tappara (Fin.) in 2007-08. Among defensemen, his 16 goals scored were tops in the Finnish League. Salmela returned to Tappara this past season after spending nearly two years with the Pelicans (Fin.).

The 5-11, 190-lb. defenseman previously played two-plus seasons with Tappara beginning in 2003-04. Salmela’s Finnish League totals show 36 goals and 42 assists for 78 points and 208 penalty minutes in 226 appearances. His European teammates included former Devils’ forward Janne Ojanen (Tappara) and current prospect Vili Sopanen (Pelicans).

Internationally, Salmela represented Finland at the 2004 World Junior Championship and, most recently, the 2008 World Championship in Quebec City, Que., and Halifax, N.S.

BADgers 6 Pioneers 2

I said this earlier today: (I hope you know it was tongue in cheek?)

Not many have made the NCAA tourney with a losing record. Personally; I don't have anything against the BADgers other than they are our heated rival in fact I hate Denver more, but there is no way I see them beating the Pioneers today. I think they are in over their head. I also believe that Wisconsin has no chance of winning this game. Hey! Prove me wrong.

While I am happy the Pioneers were beat tonight, I still have night mares of them winning the national title against the Sioux in the 2005 title game, however, I am also not that crazy about the prospects of the Fighting Sioux having to play the red menace along with 15,000 BADgers fans cheering their team on. I think it would be nice to have the Fighting Sioux play the BADgers in a nice quite regional with no one cheering; say like the one in Colorado Springs or Albany, NY.

This sounds like a bad dream to me. Alright, lets Go Fighting Sioux beat the dirty BADgers. Lets send Kyle Turris to the NHL where the Great one has a contract waiting for him.

The BADgers proved me wrong as they beat the DU Pioneers 6-2. Color me surprised because I thought after losing to SCSU the BADgers were done, boy was I wrong.

Here is something we will probably see a lot of...

(Clif Reeder/Michigan Daily
Here is something we could see a lot of come this weekend Jeff Frazee's 2007 WJC back up Jeff Zatkoff getting scored on.

Talk about Sand Bagging: I can't believe some moron picked these guys to finish 4th? WTF?

Andy Reid, Daily Sports Writer on 3/26/08

At CCHA Media Day in September, the Michigan hockey team was picked to finish fourth in the conference.

A lot has changed in 183 days.

The Wolverines, winners of both the regular-season and conference tournament championships, have been one of the biggest surprises in college hockey. And the national pundits aren't the only ones scratching their heads at Michigan's run to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.