Damien Cox, The Spin – For sure in Chicago and Boston, and certainly throughout Canada, and beyond, well, we'll see. In the world of the Bettman administration, this Stanley Cup final would only be better if all seven games were scheduled for Wrigley and Fenway.What do you think? Has the officiating in the NHL a problem during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Is there going to be a change how the games are called during the Stanley Cup Playoffs going forward?
Otherwise, two great American sports cities, and two terrific hockey towns, suggest this is some kind of peculiar reward from the hockey gods to the NHL owners and players after the grinding 113-day lockout that produced something for both side and nothing for the fans.
But the fact that a lot of people will be watching also means is that if the NHL were of such a mind, a correction right now would be most helpful.
That is, after allowing the rulebook to be stretched, perverted and torn to shreds over three rounds, now would be a good time to re-establish a little structure.
Hell, if they can change the standard halfway through the season and then again the playoffs, they can change it back again.
And let's face it, things have become rather ridiculous. Sure, the spirit of "letting them play" has merit within the sometimes dubious history of the game, but beyond that, allowing blatant fouls to go uncalled at key points of hockey games has turned these playoffs into a bit of a joke.
Monday, June 10, 2013
The emerging theme; the officiating is not good during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs
I used to follow Damien Cox, but I couldn’t take all of his constant political rants in my twitter feed anymore. This article is worth a look because it does provoke thought. Here’s the problem. There’s an emerging theme coming out of this season’s 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The officiating has been poor, but in defense of the officials, the officiating has been poor all season long. Not just during the playoffs. That being said, the officiating is still better in the NHL game than it is in college game. Sidney Crosby, Gary Bettman’s favorite player was whining about the officiating after game one between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I didn’t hear many whining when Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews was being mugged by the Detroit Red Wings.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Final Third Round Numbers; Former NCAA Hockey Players
Here is the list of NHL hockey players that are currently participating in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs that have played Division I college hockey.
The players are listed by their NHL team. These are players that have played in at least “one” Stanley Cup Playoff game during in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. I have also listed their point totals as well.
This list doesn’t include players from teams that have been eliminated. The list doesn’t include players that are currently injured, or on their teams roster, but haven’t played in the Stanley Cup Playoff games yet. I will update the list as much as I can.
Points lead after the completion of the third round
The third round is officially over. Former Vermont Catamount Patrick Sharp (8g-6a—14pts) is the leader in the club house. Former Wisconsin Badgers and current San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski(4g-8a—12pts) hangs on to second place, but his team was eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the defending Stanley Cup Champions
Here’s how the rest of the top six places for former college hockey players in the Stanley Cup playoffs shakes out.
There is a two way tie for third
place, is former Michigan State Spartan and current Chicago Blackhawks
defenseman Duncan Keith (2g-9a—11pts)
is tied with former Golden Gopher and current Penguins Defenseman Paul
Martin (2g-9a—11pts).
In fifth place, is former Ferris State Bulldog forward Chris Kunitz (5g-5a—10pts).
The Stanley Cup playoffs are over for this pair of Penguins, as their
team was eliminate by the Boston Bruins 4-0.
Leader Board (National Hockey League rank in parentheses)
1. (6) Patrick Sharp, F, Vermont, 17GP, (8g-6a—14pts)2. (16) Joe Pavelski, F, Wisconsin, 11GP, (4g-8a—12pts)3. (19) Duncan Keith, D, Michigan State, 15GP, (2g-9a—11pts)3. (19) Paul Martin, D, Minnesota, 15GP, (2g-9a—11pts)5. (27) Chris Kunitz, F, Ferris State, 15GP, (5g-5a—10pts)
If I have forgotten a player on this list, feel free to drop me a line at thegoon48@gra.midco.net
Boston Bruins (3)
Torey Krug, D, Michigan State, 9GP, (4g-2a—6pts)
Matt Bartkowski, D, Ohio State, 7GP, (1g-1a—2pts)
Richard Peverley, F, St. Lawrence University, 15GP, (1g-0a—1pts)
Chicago Blackhawks (6)
Patrick Sharp, F, Vermont, 17GP, (8g-6a—14pts)
Duncan Keith, D, Michigan State, 17GP, (2g-9a—11pts)
Jonathon Toews, F, North Dakota, 17GP, (1g-8a—9pts)
Nick Leddy, D, Minnesota, 17GP, (0g-2a—2pts)
Victor Stalberg, F, Vermont, 15GP, (0g-3a—3pts)
Brandon Bollig, F, St. Lawrence, 3GP, (0g-0a—0pts)
LA Kings (5) (Eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1)
Dustin Penner, F, Maine, 18GP, (3g-2a—5pts)
Rob Scuderi, D, Boston College, 18GP, (0g-3a—3pts)
Alec Martinez, D, Miami, 7Gp, (0g-2a—2pts)
Matt Greene, D, North Dakota, 9GP, (0g-2a—2pts)
Jonathan Quick, UMass, 18GP, 9-9, .934 SV% 1.86 GAA
Pittsburgh Penguins (10) (Eliminated by the Boston Bruins 4-0)
Paul Martin, D, Minnesota, 15GP, (2g-1a—11pts)
Chris Kunitz, F, Ferris State, 15GP, (5g-5a—10pts)
Douglas Murray, D, Cornell, 15GP, (2g-1a—3pts)
Mark Eaton, D, Notre Dame, 8GP, (0g-3a—3pts)
Matt Niskanen, D, Duluth, 15GP, (0g-2a—2pts)
Brooks Orpik, D, Boston College, 12GP, (1g-1a—2pts)
Craig Adams, F, Harvard, 15GP, (0g-1a—1pts)
Joe Vitale, F, Northeastern, 6GP, (0g-1a—1pts)
Tanner Glass, F, Dartmouth, 5GP, (1g-0a—1pts)
Beau Bennett, F, Denver, 6GP, (1g-0a—1pts)
Related articles
- Final Third Round Numbers: Former NCAA Hockey Players (thehockeywriters.com)
- Final Numbers Second Round: Former NCAA Hockey Players (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
- The third Round: Former NCAA Hockey Players (6/03/2013) (thehockeywriters.com)
- Bruins Sweep Penguins; head back to the Stanley Cup Finals (hockeywilderness.com)
Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.
Schedule for the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals
So, it could be almost July before the 2013 season is over, thanks to the lockout. All times will be 7:00 pm Central Standard time for us living in the Midwest.
(Video) Chicago Blackhawks Road To The Stanley Cup Final 2013 and Kings were banged up
Standing in the way of the Chicago Blackhawks are the Boston Bruins. Check out some of the injuries of the L.A. Kings. Sounds like they were a pretty banged up hockey team.
Dustin Brown says he tore his PCL in his knee in Game 6 last round. Played through it
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 9, 2013
Justin Williams says he played with a slight shoulder separation ever since Stuart crunched him last round. Doesn't think surgery needed
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) June 9, 2013
Drew Doughty had been playing on a bad ankle, since the San Jose series. More on that later.
— lisa dillman (@reallisa) June 9, 2013
Maple Leafs toughest test for Bruins?
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| Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Kevin McGran, Sports reporter -- Leaf Nation must look at how the Boston Bruins manhandled the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins and wonder what might have been . . . if only the Maple Leafs had held on to that Game 7 lead.Sounds like Maple Leafs are still smarting from their game seven collapse to the Boston Bruins.
The Leafs, however, aren’t wondering any such thing.
“We lost,” head coach Randy Carlyle said emphatically, putting the notion to rest.
“You can look at it and hypothesize we would have had success, but that’s far from guaranteed,” added goalie Ben Scrivens. “And I’m sure if you would have asked the Rangers (about the possibility of) playing Toronto, they probably would have thought they’d have had a pretty good shot against us.
“There’s a lot of speculation. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say we would have had as much success. Obviously we have a lot of faith within our group that we can get the job done.”
In a surprising twist given the one-sided Boston-Toronto matchup the past few seasons, the Leafs had more playoff success against the Bruins than did the playoff-experienced Rangers and talent-loaded Penguins.
And figure this out: Phil Kessel’s four post-season goals vs. Boston are more than Rick Nash (2), Brad Richards (1), Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (zeroes) combined.
What did the Leafs do that Pittsburgh should have?
NHL Linesmen and Refs announced for the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals
Referees assigned to the Stanley Cup Final: Wes McCauley, Dan O'Halloran, Chris Rooney, Brad Watson.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) June 9, 2013
The NHL refs and linesmen have been announced according to Mark Spector of Sportsnet.ca. Missing is veteran NHL official Stephen Walkom who is supposed to be one of the best in the NHL.
Linesmen assigned to Stanley Cup Final: Shane Heyer, Brian Murphy, Pierre Racicot, Jay Sharrers.
— Mark Spector (@SportsnetSpec) June 9, 2013
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Patrick Kane goal; no penalty called on the play
This was the go-ahead goal by Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, the L.A. Kings were unhappy and felt that there should have been a penalty called on the play. After further review, it might have been the right call on the play. That being said, the goalie needs to be ready at all time, regardless. Jonathan Quick struggled early in the game.
Replay appears to show Williams going down on his own. Good non-call.
— Steve McAllister (@yahoomac) June 9, 2013
Eastern Conference Finals: If only the refs called more penalties
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| Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
You would have thought that the Penguins were totally hosed in the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Bruins. I guess the Penguins fans didn't see any of the numerous infractions that went uncalled against the Bruins that could have led to another power play in their favor.
All that I heard after game one was Crosby whining about the officiating and how the Bruins were getting away with bloody murder. Did he see Jonathan Toews getting mugged on the ice against the Detroit Red Wings? It’s not just him.
Ken Campbell, The Hockey News -- There is not enough space in this column or any other to chronicle the litany of blown calls and shoddy work done by the supposed best officials in the world during these playoffs. But wouldn’t you like to, just once, see an important game that is officiated to the same standard as one in the regular season? And it all comes down to one of two things: Either the officials are making up their minds to be far more lax during the playoffs in the name of “letting the players decide it” or the league is mandating they change their approach. Neither one of them, quite frankly, is very appealing.Here’s my question, did Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins have the mindset that they were entitled to a Stanley Cup? It seems like the Penguins were never in this series. I almost think that the Bruins were the one team that they didn’t want to play from the start.
Case in point was Wednesday night in Game 3 of the Boston-Pittsburgh series. Had referees Marc Joannette and Dan O’Rourke called all the violations of the rulebook, there probably wouldn’t have been enough players to play 5-on-5 at some points in the game. Then again, had they called the fragrant fouls early, perhaps the players would not have gone through the game thinking they could get away with pretty much anything.
Instead, the two of them made it very clear that they were going to call next to nothing. Then what happened? Well, Jaromir Jagr clearly hooked Evgeni Malkin in the neutral zone and scooped the puck from him, a play that ultimately resulted in Patrice Bergeron scoring the game-winner in double overtime. Basically, Joannette and O’Rourke set the standard and the players responded to it and the game was decided in large part by a restraining foul that clearly should have been called.
During the series, the Bruins took away the Penguins time and space and made it tough sledding for the Penguins offensive players. The Penguins never really seemed to make the necessary adjustments until game three and by then it was too late.
On the other side of the ice, the Bruins players got to the dirty areas to score goals and do the little things that they had to do to push their team over the top. Hockey is about making adjustments; the Boston Bruins made the adjustments and did what they had to do to win this series, the Penguins did not.
What if? What If the refs “had” called more penalties and called the games more tightly? Does anyone think that it would have really would have made much of a difference? I don’t… Both teams combined were 0-26 on the powerless play. Maybe the refs were saving us the agony of having to watch the Bruins and the Penguins suffer on the power play.
Here’s some numbers for you; “0” – here’s how it looks; Evgeni Malkin (0g-0a—0pts) -5 Sidney Crosby (0g-0a—0pts) -2 Jarome Iginla (0g-0a—0pts) -4. Tuukka Rask was the first goalie to have two shutouts in a series since Phiadelphia Flyers goalie Michael Leighton in 2010 Eastern Conference finals versus the Montreal Canadiens.
Now that the Boston Bruins have swept the Penguins, and they're going back to the Stanley Cup Finals - for a second time in three seasons - we can finally give the Bruins their due.
Friday, June 07, 2013
A Farewell to a Flagship, an interesting factoid, and an Interesting Comment by a Blowhard (RW77)
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| English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Say-Oh Nara Pittsburgh
Sad day for Gary Bettman, the NHL PR office, and the city of Pittsburgh. Their glorious flagship franchise and their face of the NHL is now hanging up their skates for the offseason. In truth, with the exception of Matt Cooke, there isn't a lot to NOT like about the Penguins... if you forget about all the media hype and attention lorded upon that franchise for seemingly no other reason other than Sidney Crosby.
The truth is, the same thing that haunted the Pens since Crosby was drafted reared its ugly head again: Bad Team D and spotty goaltending. The Penguins defense simply ISN'T GOOD. In many regards, UND fans can understand this by stating the following: Pittsburgh plays a similar game to Minnesota Gopher hockey. The Penguins, like the Gophers, are a slick passing, great puck handling, finesse style team that can be disrupted and handled if you can play solid D and be physical. The Bruins are solid defensively and played very physically. They swept the Pens. It was that simple.
The Bruins weren't flashy. They weren't especially fun to watch (sorry Goon and B's fans). They were sturdy, lunch pail type players... and Gregory Campbell wins the word for Oh my Goodness fortitude. Good grief. They don't nearly have the hype surrounding them as the Pens do. And the B's let the Pens keep the hype. I'm sure the media covered the victors only because they had to while really pining to get to the Pens lockerroom to see what the Golden Child had to say.
As for goaltending I don't know what to say about Tomas Vokoun. I REALLY like Tomas. I thought he was one of THE most underrated goaltenders in the entire NHL for about a 5 year stretch (until Halak stole that title from him while with Montreal). It's sad that he's on the decline of his career and he'll have nothing to show for it. Vokoun and Iginla (again, sorry B's fans) are two of the only players on the Pens I sympathize with.
As for Fleury, I said it before and I say it again: Fleury is in the top 3 for most overrated goaltenders in the NHL. The other two being Carey Price (Montreal) and Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), though Luongo is fading from this list because his career is fading as well. I think Jonas Hiller of Anaheim may take Luongo's spot before long. To be nicer to Fleury, though, Price is still #1 in this category. But there's time left despite Price holding the edge in age.
Where do the Pens go from here? To the Golf Course.
Good riddance. Now Mr. Bettman... Now's the time to start marketting a team OTHER than your beloved. Are you going to have the cahones to do it or are you just going to sit back in your office and sulk?
An Interesting Comment by a Blowhard
Speaking of Gary Bettman, I was listening to ESPN Radio blowhard Colin Cowherd the other day and he actually made a decent point (in between fluffing himself up as some sort of uber objective yackityyacker which only his fans actually believe is true). He commented on the popularity of sports other than the NFL (he said that the NFL is far and away the most popular and there's no sport out there that will come close... and he's right) the NHL has a marketable product that is interesting and entertaining. However, they don't market the product at all. They don't make the media talk about the NHL at all. They hide it away on a cable TV station (Versus) for a long time and then benefit by the purchase of Versus by NBC, which has the rights because they cannot wrest the rights to the NBA from the other networks. They marketted themselves by saying "We're back" when that was outwardly foolish.
I agree. I can't believe it but I agree with Cowherd. ESPN doesn't care about hockey. He says its because of this failure to make themselves marketable and in the mainstream. That's probably most of the issue but not all of it. ESPN's bread and butter is the NBA. And whenever it mentions the NFL ratings go through the roof. So, that's where they focus. ESPN did put in a bid for the NHL TV rights but the bid was low and the priority was such that the NHL would invariably be buried or preempted if something they felt was more important was on. I have no confidence that, outside of the NHL playoffs (provided they didn't conflict with the NBA playoffs or finals), would even appear on ESPN itself. Mostly likely it would have been ESPN 2 or 3. NHL Tonight, even during the years that ESPN did air NHL games, was aired closer to midnight than to primetime. Why would Bettman, as questionable as his intelligence is at times, want that for his league?
But in truth, Cowherd is right in that the NHL does a VERY VERY VERY VERY bad job of marketting itself. They put commercials on NBC and the NHL Network and NHL Center Ice does get some Ad time but that's it. I bet they could find ways to get Crosby on ABC or Ovechkin on Fox Sports pushing the NHL. I'm sure they could find storylines to push for just about every NHL team if they wanted. But they don't. They focus mostly on the Penguins, Crosby, and the Finals and let the rest twist in the wind.
Let's face it: The NHL will NEVER EVER be as popular as the NFL. I'm not suggesting they even try to compete with even COLLEGE Football. But I'm pretty darn sure they could garner more of the viewership market than they are getting now. Baseball is a slow, tedious, and downright boring sport to watch. It takes FOREVER to get through a game... heck, it takes too long just for the pitcher to decide upon a pitch and then start his windup. The NHL is fast, exciting, physical, challenging to play, and ENTERTAINING to watch. It's time it was marketted that way.
A Final Interesting Factoid
I'll leave this rant with an interesting factoid. Unless my research is off, if Chicago finishes off L.A., this finals will mark the first time Boston has faced Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals. How mindblowing that you could have two Original Six teams that have NEVER faced off since the Stanley Cup finals began (1927)
(Video) Game Four: final minute and a half of Bruins and Penguins and then the Handshake
Wow! What a mad finish to the end of a great game. This was a hard nosed series. Hard fought series. The Boston Bruins are going back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years.
Against the Bruins in the ECF, Evgeni Malkin (0g-0a—0pts) -5 Sidney Crosby (0g-0a—0pts) -2 Jarome Iginla (0g-0a—0pts) -4
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) June 8, 2013
Tuuka Rask goes 4-0, 0.44, .986 in the series.
— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonCHN) June 8, 2013
Incredible to think that the Bruins never trailed the Penguins at any point in their sweep. #domination #hockeynight
— MoniKa Platek (@MonikaPlatek) June 8, 2013
Daniel Paille hit on Sidney Crosby
Mike Milbury from NBC Sport Network didn't like this play and thought there should've been a penalty called on the play. I don't know. I looks like Sidney Crosby skated into Daniel Paille, but who knows, it really doesn't matter now since the Penguins didn't score on the power play anyways.
Don Cherry's suit
Don Cherry could also double as a piece of your grandparents' hard candy - twitpic.com/cvwc2v”
— Sean Leahy (@Sean_Leahy) June 8, 2013
Wow! What a colorful suit worn by Don Cherry on the Coach's Corner.
Boston vs. Pittsburgh game 4; 0-0 after two periods.
Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic is 25 years old today (6/07/1988). A good birthday present for Mr. Lucic would be a series win against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Game four
Period 1
Bruins 0 - Penguins 0
Peroiod 2
Bruins 0 - Penguins 0
Shots 20 - 17 in favor of the Penguins.
Period 3
3RD PERIOD 05:01 BOS A. MCQUAID (2) SLAP - ASST: B. MARCHAND (9) AND P. BERGERON (6) 1 - 0 BOS
DU Pioneers mascot "Denver Boone" at center of controversy: Let's Go DU shuts down
Mike Chambers, Denver Post – Boone, created in 1968 from a Walt Disney character named "Pioneer," was DU's official mascot until 1998, and its unofficial mascot after alumni took it upon themselves to fill the void in 2009. Chancellor Robert Coombe in March announced that Boone will not be considered by a steering committee that has identified an elk, a jackalope and a mountaineer as finalists for a new mascot.This ought to be fun, tonight’s NCHC match-up between the UND no-names and the UND Jackalopes will go a long ways in determining this season’s NCHC champion. Yeah! Yay!
DU has not had a mascot since the red-tailed hawk and Ruckus were phased out to begin the 2007-08 season.
"There's no point in having the blog if we don't have Boone," said Damien Goddard, the LetsGoDU founder and DU graduate, class of 1989, who spearheaded the "Bring Back Boone" campaign in 2008. "Boone and the blog have become intertwined, and you can't have one without the other. And it's silly to have two mascots. If the school is going to march down this path of political correctness, we decided to let them go down that path alone."
So, we are to believe that the Denver Boone mascot is racist character? Seriously? How? What world do these pointed headed people live in? Take a look at this mascot, this little smiling cartoon character is a racist.
Blackhawks vs Kings; Blackhawks lead series 3-1
The L.A. Kings lose for the first time at home during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks make L.A. Kings all-world goalie Jonathan Quick look human, the goal by Hossa was an absolute blast, in fact, Quick is probably still looking for the puck.
Scoring for the Blackhawks: Bryan Bickell (8), Marian Hossa (7) and Patrick Kane (3) find the twine and score big goals for the Blackhawks. Scoring For the L.A. Kings: Slava Voynov(6) and Dustin Penner (3).
Bryan Bickell is an unrestricted free agent in the offseason and has had a big 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs scoring (8g-3—11pts), you would think that he’s going to be getting a big raise in the offseason. According to capgeek.com Bickell is making $541,667.00
Thursday, June 06, 2013
(Video) Brad Marchand and Chris Kunitz incident
Okay, I have to admit that this was a bush league move, I admit it, I am not condoning this play one bit. It's a cheap play. I don't know any Boston Bruins fan or media member that excused this play. It's unacceptable.
Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand was given a two minute minor penalty for kneeing and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Chris Kunitz was given a two minute minor for slashing.
Hockey players are tough: Gregory Campbell breaks leg finishes shift
According to Joe MacDonald of ESPN Boston.
Boston Bruins forward Gregory Campbell suffered a broken right leg and is done for the season, according to a team source.
(Video) Gregory Campbell Blocked Shot In The Second Period.
Boston Bruins forward Gregory Campbell is one tough cookie and according to Claude Julien, "suffered a serious injury on the play." If Campbell can't go for the Bruins, it would be a big blow for the Boston Bruins. Campbell is a key member of the Merlot line.
Julien had no update on Campbell, only saying it was a serious injury. Know more tomorrow.
— Joe McDonald (@ESPNJoeyMac) June 6, 2013
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