Tim Conboy vs Mark Stuart

Former C.C. Tiger Mark Stuart is one tough hockey player and Former SCSU Husky Tim Conboy proves he isn't a very good fighter nor is he a very good hockey player either. It was kind of ronic, former Fighting Sioux Ryan Bayda was out with the flu so he was replaced by Tim Conboy who looked like a punching bag tonight. In case anyone is keeping track Conboy got worked twice in the same night. Conboy's first fight was against Bruins tough guy Sean Thornton who laid a smack down on Conboy as well. So the Hurricanes basically woke up the sleeping bear from their slumber and now the Bruins got their game back and should be angry and on the prowl in Raleigh Tuesday night.

Aaron Ward may have a broken Orbital bone.

According to the Boston Bruin's Beat writer Ward might have a broken orbitial bone.

According to Claude Julien, Aaron Ward might have suffered a broken orbital bone when he was sucker-punched by Scott Walker at 17:13 of the third period.

Ward will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

Scott Walker cheaps Aaron Ward.

Props to Paul from KuklasKorner for getting the video up this quickly. The league has to review this play, this is suspension worthy. I would say about 4-5 games at least. I don’t care what some homer writer from Carolina has to say, this was a cheap sucker punch. Back in 1995 when Rangers goon Tie Domi sucker punched the gutless puke Ulf Samuelsson and he got 8 games.

In my opinion Scott Walker broke the code by punching a guy that wasn't ready to fight, watch the tape Ward had no intention of fighting he still had his gloves on. That is a sucker punch. There is no sense to Scott Walker's act of thuggery and Walker is very lucky that Bruins tough guy Lucic wasn't able to get a hold of him.

Jean-Philippe Lamoureux sets ECHL record.

While looking through Twitter I came upon this nugget, seems that that former Fighting Sioux goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux is having a all-star season. Now you have to wonder if he will get a look in the AHL next season based on his number this season.

Former UND goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has tied the ECHL record with 12 shutouts including record 8 in the regular season for Alaska Aces

That is a pretty impressive season in the ECHL 12 shutouts, eight during the regular season and 4 in the ECHL playoffs. Phil Lamoureux is one shutout short of the setting the all-time ECHL playoff shutout record.

Wheeler wants to contribute before it's too late.

Blake Wheeler has exceeded expectations with his play this past season. Based on his play in college not many expected Wheeler to make the NHL right out of training camp. I don’t think many people in their wildest dreams expected that Blake Wheeler would play in 81 games and record (21-24-45) add to the fact that he was a plus 36. Scoring 20 goals as a rookie in the NHL is nothing to sneeze at and I think some expected that play to carry over to the Stanley Cup playoffs, that has not happened to date and the Bruins are on the verge of being usurped from the playoffs. I think as a rookie Wheeler has hit the wall but that happens to rookies in the NHL.

In defense of Wheeler he isn’t the only one that isn’t producing; some key players for the Bruins have also failed to show up as well, Mark Recci (1-2-3), Patrice Bergeron (0-2-2), if the Bruins are to come back in this series they are going to need more balanced scoring and I haven’t seen any evidence of that happening so far.

There have been better times during his rookie NHL season for Boston Bruins winger Blake Wheeler.

Among the league’s top rookie scorers and overall leaders in plus/minus all season while skating for one of the top teams in the overall standings during the 2008-09 regular season, Wheeler suddenly finds himself with a goose egg on the stats sheet for a team on the verge of getting eliminated in the second round.

But he continues to flaunt maturity beyond his years even with the Bruins down 3-1 heading into tomorrow night’s Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with Carolina.

“There’s two sides of any sport. Any time adversity comes, you have to react in a positive way and let it make you a better player and a better person,” he told TheBruinsBlog.net today after what might have been the Bruins’ last practice of the season in Wilmington, Mass. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself, you can’t walk around with your tail between your legs, you have to kind of embrace it, learn from it and just try to get better from it. And when you come out of it, you feel a lot better about yourself.
(read the rest of the article here)

Canucks not happy with the officiating.

I have watched a lot of this series and the Canucks are finally paying for their mistakes in all three zones on the ice. I think the Blackhawk’s are the better team. During the last series Blues didn't cash in on the Canucks mistakes like the Blackhawk’s have. I don't think the Canucks can blame any of their loses on bad officiating or weak penalties. I do think that Detroit could make the case because they were screwed on a quick whistle that should have been a game tying goal.

Chicago has given us a glimpse of their very bright future, if they can get past the Canucks I think they have a very good chance of defeating who ever they play in the next round. The refs have been consistently bad during this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. It doesn’t matter what series you are watching. The Hurricanes homer announcers were complaining about the Bruins and how they felt they were getting away with a lot of stick work and checking from behind calls.

Questionable officiating

The Canucks probably had reason to complain about the officiating in Game 5 Saturday night. There were a few questionable calls, including an extra two minutes called on Shane O’Brien after a scrap with Matt Walker.

The Blackhawks scored on that man advantage as Dustin Byfuglien converted his second goal of the game, squeezing in a Brian Campbell rebound between the legs of Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo.

After the game, O’Brien expressed some frustration with the call. He was originally tied up with Byfuglien, who skated away before an altercation. O’Brien says Walker then challenged him and they dropped the gloves, but the officials called the Canucks defenceman for an extra two minutes for roughing.

Vancouver also took two penalties late in the game. Defenceman Kevin Bieksa hit Patrick Sharp along the boards and high-sticked him in the process. That led to the winning goal by Dave Bolland, his fourth of the post-season.

“That’s happened to us three times in this series…what are you going to do.” said Luongo after the game.

The game was pretty much decided with Ryan Kesler’s final penalty of the game at 16:07. Kesler was called for holding Chicago defenceman Brian Campbell, who seemed to embellish. But Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said the “two penalties at the end of the game were deserved. We got in penalty trouble and they made us pay.”

Game Five on Versus.

For the hockey fans that want to watch the Bruins that don't have the NHL Center Ice hockey package or live in Carolina and Boston will be able to see the game on Versus again on Sunday night. Lets just hope the Bruins that won the Eastern Conference top spot will show up and play hockey so they can be around for game 6.

No local TV for either team

Versus will carry Game 5, meaning NESN (Bruins) and FSCarolinas (Hurricanes) will not have the broadcasts at the Garden Monday. Carolina play-by-play announcer John Forslund and Boston analyst Andy Brickley will be the Versus broadcast team for Game 5.

Goligoski called up.

Because Alexander Ovechkin's kneeing of Sergi Gonchar and the fact that Gonchar is questionable for tonight's game the Penguins have called up former Gopher Alex Goligoski as an insurance policy in case Gonchar can't go tonight.

Pens' Gonchar possibly out for tonight's game, Goligoski called up
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Penguins have recalled defenseman Alex Goligoski from their farm team in Wilkes-Barre, and he is expected to be in the lineup for Game 5 of their second-round playoff series against Washington tonight at 7:08 at the Verizon Center.

He would replace defenseman Sergei Gonchar, whose right knee was injured on a hit by Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin during the first period of the Penguins' 5-3 victory in Game 4 at Mellon Arena last night.

Coach Dan Bylsma said this afternoon that Gonchar has not been ruled out of tonight's game, and that Goligoski was recalled as "insurance."

Ovechkin was assessed only a two-minute tripping minor for the hit on Gonchar, and Washington officials said that as of late this morning he had not had a hearing with league officials.

The extent of Gonchar's injury has not been announced, but he accompanied the team here last night. He was wearing a large black support on his right knee at the team hotel today.

Gonchar has not spoken with reporters since he was injured.

Ovechkin awaits his fate.

Interesting quote by Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins but he is right if he had kneed Alex Ovechkin or one of the Capitals skilled players Cooke would be looking at a 1-3 game suspension from the league office. I think there is a double standard when it comes to league discipline of its players. I predict nothing will be done to Ovechkin because he is a star player and he is held to a different standard than a goon or third line role player. Ovechkin is also a big fan draw for the NHL and Versus.

PITTSBURGH -- Matt Cooke knows what the verdict would be if it were him on the stand today facing what passes for NHL justice.

"If I did what he did, I wouldn't be on the ice," the Penguins forward said last night in the bittersweet aftermath of a critical 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals.

Matt Cooke is not Alex Ovechkin, however, which is the challenge NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell faces in making a ruling prior to tonight's Game 5 of the riveting best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal that is now tied at 2-2.

Ovechkin's knee-on-knee hit on Sergei Gonchar in the first period had the star defenceman writhing on the Mellon Arena ice and potentially gone for the remainder of the Penguins' playoff run.

And it had the Pens seething and fiercely seeking justice despite having just put the series back on equal terms.

"He goes out there to hurt players," Pens defenceman Brooks Orpik said of the flamboyant Russian star. "That's three games in a row against us. Just watch the way the guy hits. He leaves his feet and takes countless strides at guys. There's a line you can't cross and he does it.

"We're not in charge of suspending guys, but it looks pretty obvious to us."

In what was an all-around wasted night for Ovechkin, who was held to just two shots on net and one assist, what the league decides today may carry as much weight on how the remainder of the series plays out.

Tonight's contest, as with all Game 5s, has massive implications for the series, so too then does the manner in which the NHL handles it.

Campbell must decide if, as the Caps claim, Ovechkin led with his shoulder and then couldn't move quick enough to avoid contact. And depending on the level of guilt, there is a matter of weighing on a team's superstar being taken down by another.

Wood versus composite sticks.

Our friend Kyle from the Illegal Curve has an excellent article on the wood versus composite stick. I have to say that I agree with what he has to say.

It is a good subject and we have talked about it from time to time with my buddies that I watch the college games with. I was over at Scheels in Grand Forks, ND a few days back and was looking for a hat in the hockey department when picked one of these composite sticks. Yuck! They don’t even feel like the hockey sticks of old. It is a piece of carbon fiber and it feels like some thing that should be on the space shuttles and not in the hands of a hockey player.

I will say that I that miss the aluminum and woods sticks. Not that I am nostalgic or old school because I like trendy things and I am tired of watching all of these composite sticks break all of the time. They are expensive and not cost effective. How many times have you seen your favorite team on the power play and the defenseman takes a shot from the point and his stick explodes causing an odd numbered rush up ice the other way? I have seen it happen a few times during the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring. I also hate sound of the slaps shots from one of these sticks. Heck just think off all the all-pros that used woods sticks; Bourque, Neely, Coffey, Kurri etc. Like Kyle mentions in the comments Bobby Hull was able to play and score goals without one of these things. Can you imagine a Bobby Orr a Bobby Hull slap shot with a Carbon Fiber stick?

If I was a hockey player I wouldn’t be helped by wood composite or Alum because I would be a non-skilled energy player, prone to taking a untimely penalty. I think composite today’s sticks could also be compared to the big headed golf drivers of today; think what Jack or Arnie Palmer could have done with a big headed graphite shaft driver with a nice Kevlar composite driver head. The sweet spot is huge with these things and you can really tee it up same with the composite stick. I think they make mediocre players better as well. I also miss the days of the old Christian Brothers or Easton aluminum hockey sticks where you could just replace the blade when it broke.

Alex Ovechkin knees Sergei Gonchar

So will the league come down on Ovechkin for his bush league kneeing penalty on Sergei Gonchar? I am going to say not. Ovechkin is their bread adn butter and don't bite the hand that feeds you. Penguins fans are not happy and I don't blame them. Can you imagine the outrage if some thug of lesser skills had did that to Ovechkin's knee?

Ference out, Wheeler in.

It is confirmed by Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien that Andrew Ference will not play tonight's game against the Hurricanes but former Gopher Blake Wheeler will. The Bruins need to come out and play with some desperation but with discipline. The Bruins need to have an aggressive in your face fore check. Milian Lucic needs to play with the nasty edge that he had against the Habs. The Bruins need to get pucks deep and play a high pressure game as well.

*Claude Julien confirmed that Andrew Ference will not play tonight. Shane Hnidy, a healthy scratch for the first three games, will be making his series debut tonight.

* Blake Wheeler will play tonight. Wheeler skated with David Krejci and Michael Ryder during the morning skate.

Status of Wheeler and Ference unknown.

If Andrew Ference can't go tomorrow night game against the Carolina Hurricanes Ference will probably be replaced in the lineup by the Bruin’s 7th defenseman Shane “the sheriff” Hnidy. On the forward lines If Blake Wheeler can't go because of an his undisclosed injury; I am not sure it will hurt the Bruins as much as the loss of Andrew Ference. During the Stanley Cup playoffs Blake Wheeler has been almost invisible and a non-factor. It is almost like Wheeler has hit the wall, which can happen as an NHL rookie. Trade deadline acquisition Mark Recci has also been barely visible himself as Recci has only scored (1-1-2) in seven games.

In seven Stanley Cup playoff games Wheeler has (0-0-0) that is a big goose egg. If Wheeler can't go I would expect Byron Bitz to replace him who recorded an assist in the one game he played when Milan Lucic was suspended.

No update on Ference, Wheeler

Julien declined to disclose whether Andrew Ference or Blake Wheeler will be available tomorrow.

Ference looked like he aggravated a lower-body injury in the second period when he was checked into the boards by Scott Walker. Ference skated only three shifts in the second period and didn't play in the third period or overtime.

Wheeler was hurt while blocking a shot in the second period. Wheeler underwent X-rays after the game... Julien said the flu-like symptoms that held Chuck Kobasew out of practice on Tuesday have not spread throughout the dressing room...Last week, Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron were under the weather but didn't miss any time.

David Backes finishes his check on Sprunger.

Check out this hit by Backes on Sprunger. Backes recieved a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for this questionable hit. While this hit was a penalty and probably dirty, I am still a big fan of David Backes. I also like what David Backes he brings to the table offensively. I think we will see Backes on the 2010 USA Olympic hockey team.

Some NHL players don't like to be hit.

Mark Spector from sportsnet.ca has posted an interesting article on hitting and European player's influence on the NHL and how some would rather watch the North American brand of hockey opposed to Euro hockey. I think the European brand of hockey has a propensity to be less physical that North American style of hockey.
Personally, I like a rougher and more physical game where an occasional fight breaks out, but I don't mind a nice mix of players from all over. That being said I don’t want to see a team made up entirely of players from Europe either. I believe the Boston Bruins are a nice example of a well balanced team.

There is also a story about Don Cherry and how some have grown tired of his antics and his xenophobia. Personally I like Cherry.

Now that these players are in the league, they’re not so sure they like being on the other end of one of those hits. “Guys have families, livelihoods,” mused Canucks bruising defenceman Shane O’Brien. “There is so much coverage now, and hits to the head have become such a topic of conversation.”

Rypien, who complained about a hit from Ben Eager in Game 1 of the Chicago-Vancouver series, made $522,000 this season. He has not yet celebrated his 25th birthday.

Hudler, who was crushed on a perfectly legal check from Anaheim’s Mike Brown, pulled in $1.15 million. At age 25 and with his skill level, he could accumulate between $10-20 million more dollars in NHL salary before his career is complete.

The risk of providing for the next two generations of your family and never having to hold another job after age 35 however, is that one day a guy like Darcy Hordichuk might catch Hudler admiring another pass. And whether or not Hordichuk senses vulnerability, well, it won’t matter to him.

“No, not at all,” Hordichuk said. “A guy like Hudler, if you catch him in Game 1 he might not be playing with a full deck of cards for the rest of the series. And the other [Red Wings] too. They’ll be aware.

“I honestly don’t think the [Brown hit] was a penalty. It was Hudler’s fault — the puck was literally right there. With Ripper, the puck was long gone.”

Well, longer gone anyhow. Which, we’ll argue, left Rypien more time to get off the train tracks.

The referees threw Brown out of Game 1 for a hit that was deemed not worthy of suspension. Eager got two minutes for his hit on Rypien. Again, no suspension.

Of course guys like Henrik Zetterberg and the Sedin brothers want those hits out of the game. They are always going to be the fly, never the windshield. We get that.

But even in a game as tough as hockey, weathered, experienced hockey men — including a few reporters and TV types we all know — whined and cried for Colin Campbell to take action when Brown caught Hudler with that text book, elbow-tucked-in, body check.

Detroit’s Mike Babcock is an excellent coach, and seems like one tough S.O.B. But in the culture that is forming in today’s NHL, even he couldn’t accept a hard hit on one of his players, without labeling it “a vicious, dirty hit.”

This is what makes North American hockey more compelling than European hockey:

Bruins lose in O.T.

Last night's game was tough to stomach, especially when you know that the Bruins can do better. Boston had gone 5-0 against the Canes this season until losing the last two games.

It would be an understatement to say that the Bruins were sloppy with the puck in all zones of the ice last night. The Bruins made a habit of coughing up the puck on numerous occasions that lead to grade “A” offensive opportunities. Lucky for the Bruins their goaltender Tim Thomas was able to bail His defenders out. In my opinion Tim Thomas is the best American born goaltender in the NHL right now and your probably looking at one of Team U.S.A's goaltender for next year's 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

I am not so sure the Bruins deserved to go to overtime and this game could have been really ugly, if not for Timmy Thomas. I was tough to watch because the Bruins have been known for the tough defensive play. On a positive note the ice cold Mark Recchi finally scored a goal.

Bruins beat writer Kevin Paul Dupont does a good job of summing up what happened in last night's game.

All in all, that had to be how Boston coach Claude Julien felt after watching his misguided wanderers flub and stumble their way to a 3-2 overtime loss last night to the hard-charging Hurricanes.

"Probably one of our worst games in I don't know how long," said a composed but clearly disappointed Julien following the defeat, which left the Bruins in a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series. "We turned pucks over. We lacked execution. We lost battles. It was a very uncharacteristic game for us."

Three games into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins have yet to play a good game against Team Tobacco Road. They walked to a win in Game 1, mostly because the Canes were still in a daze after going to the last seconds of Game 7 to rub out the Devils. Two nights later, the Canes blanked them in the Garden, 3-0, the Bruins mistakenly thinking they could win with the same Gentleman's 'C' effort they put forth in Game 1.
(read the whole article)

The goal that wasn't.

I watched this game last night and I think the ref Brad Watson really screwed this call up. Just for the record I have no dog in this fight I am not a Redwings or a Ducks fan but as a hockey fan I want to see the correct calls made. I think the Redwings do have a beef with the league officials. I know the ref lost site of the puck and was in the process of blowing his wistle but a bad call cost a team a goal and it makes the NHL look bad.

Scott Niedermayer's power-play goal 8:16 into the second period proved to be the winner as the Ducks took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"He is a difference maker," Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood said. "If we're not watching him, he is going to burn us like he has in past series."

Detroit's Marian Hossa looked to have forced overtime with 65 seconds remaining, but a hasty whistle negated the tying goal.

"We were lucky there," Ducks netminder Jonas Hiller said. "You're always going to get good calls or bad calls against you, but I always say, 'To be lucky you have to fight for it' and tonight we fought for 60 minutes — that is why we deserved to be lucky at the end."

Parked behind the net, Pavel Datsyuk poked the puck into the crease, where it sat next to Hiller's right pad until Hossa swept it into the open net.

But referee Brad Watson ruled that he lost sight of the puck and blew the play dead.
(read the rest of the article)

Dirtiest players in hockey.

I was looking at the results of this poll and I noticed none of the dirtiest players are American. Here is the break down of the dirtiest players in the NHL. They are Steve Ott, a Canadian, Chris Pronger, a Canadian, Scott Hartnell a Canadian, Jarkko Ruutu from Finland and last but not least Sean "sloppy seconds" Avery, a Canadian. Not one of top five dirtiest players are an American, Russian, Slovak or Swede.

Chris Kunitz hacks Simeon Varlamov

I doubt that Kunitz learned that move from his days at Ferris State University. While this didn't draw a penalty Kunitz should have received a beat down by a Capital's player. There really is no excuse for that of play. I think that was an attempt to injure and should have been a suspension. If an untalented goon like Donald Brashear did this to Fleury there would have been another 1-3 games suspension coming down the pike.

Wild should look to their back yard.

Kyle from the Illegal Curve had this article linked up and this article really hits the nail on the head that maybe just maybe the Minnesota Wild should look in their own back yard for talent. Then the article lists a bunch of former college players that played college hockey in and around the tri-state area, but also players with ties to the state of hockey that the Wild management could have drafted and didn't. For reasons I dunno, just doesn't make any sense. It was like the Wild were anti-college and American hockey player. Not to Wild ownership; please hire a GM with a propensity to draft college/American hockey players every now and then.

Under the old management the Wild would rather have a bunch of players with no ties to area with names you can't spell. I hope under the next general manager the Wild will look to college hockey to supply some of the talent for the home town team. I find it funny that the Wild roster over the past three to four seasons has been plastered with players from Finland, Slovakia and Quebec. There have been few former college hockey players and about what; four to five American players? The American players that I can remember are Mark Parish, Bryan Rolston, Keith Carney, Sean Hill? You do have to wonder that the hell Risebrough was thinking. It's not like they couldn't have seen these players play.

In fact, in the past three drafts, Minnesota has selected just one native son – center Chris Hickey of St. Paul, taken with the Wild’s final pick in 2006, 192nd overall. And the amount of Minnesotans on the roster right now? Zero.

Perhaps a GM change can reverse this trend, because otherwise the Wild is losing out on a natural advantage.

One name being floated around for Doug Risebrough’s old job is player agent Neil Sheehy, who grew up in International Falls, Minn., and boasts a client-roster heavy on NHLers from the Gopher State.

Now don’t expect Sheehy to bring Zach Parise, Kyle Okposo or Matt Niskanen along with him if he gets the job, but considering the young talent Sheehy has mined (add Jack Hillen, Chris Porter and Ryan Carter to that list, too) already, it’s not hard to see what top-end talent has been untapped as of yet by the Wild.

Case in point: the 2008 draft, where the Wild took Quebec-born defender Marco Scandella with the 55th selection. The next pick? Edina, Minn., speedster Danny Kristo, who played for Team USA in this year’s world juniors. If the Wild was drafting by position, they could have gone for Eastview High’s Corey Fienhage, who fell to Buffalo in the third round (81st overall) and was the exact same size (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) as Scandella when the two were selected.

In the first round, Minnesota was skunked by Anaheim when the Ducks took Minnetonka defenseman Jake Gardiner before the Wild had a shot, but it wouldn’t have been a stretch to go for Roseau blueliner Aaron Ness instead of Tyler Cuma of the Ottawa 67’s. Instead, Ness went to the Isles early in the second round.

Perhaps the Wild brass felt a little snakebitten when its 2004 first-rounder, A.J. Thelen, didn’t pan out. Drafted 12th overall and ahead of players such as Drew Stafford (Wisconsin born and a Sheehy client), Alexander Radulov and Travis Zajac, Thelen was a homegrown golden boy who crashed out, getting jettisoned from the Michigan State Spartans and eventually ending up unsigned by the Wild and playing in the ECHL. (Read the whole article here)