Is Eaves Leaving Wisconsin?

Rumor has it: Eaves to New Jersey
There was a rumor floating around about the blogsphere of the possibility of Badger Head Coach Mike Eaves going to New Jersey to coach. Rumors well are rumors, they are what they are. Be that it may, however, rumors are fun to discuss and think about.

From the Hockey in Wisconsin Blog Wisconsin Hockey Blog

Today I heard from reliable sources that University of Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves is slated to take over the head coaching duties for the New Jersey Devils next season.

I wish I had more information on it but at this time I don't. Eaves has always ran an NHL type system at Wisconsin and the characteristics between styles of Wisconsin and New Jersey aren't that far off. He seems like the perfect fit with General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Keep in mind that the sources were quoted as being extremely reliable but at this point it needs to be treated as a rumor and not fact yet.

Edit: If Eaves were to leave there are a few names I would hope are being throw out there...:

Dean Blais (Recently left his job at Columbus I believe)
Mark Johnson (Best player in Wisconsin Hockey history, has won back to back titles with the Wisconsin women)
Mark Osiecki (Current Badger top assistant coach)
Anyone else want to throw any new names out there?

I personally don't think it would be that much of a stretch to see Mike Eaves could be coaching in the NHL. Why not New Jersey? New Jersey would be a perfect fit for his defensive system that the Badgers play. Mike Eaves could take a less talented team and turn them into a Stanley Cup Champion. Seriously, It would be god awful hockey to watch but it would be successful.

For all of those that think Dean Blais is going to coach again; especially for WCHA rivals of his hold team are dreaming. I don't think it is going to happen. Just a hunch. Blais was asked recently on a radio show in Fargo, ND if he would ever coach college hockey again and he said no. Blais said, "he doesn't like the travel associated with recruting."

Men's hockey: Eaves rumors appear unfounded
ANDY BAGGOT
abaggot@madison.com
A hot, but unfounded, rumor making the rounds at the American Hockey Coaches Association Convention in Marco Island, Fla., late this week involves University of Wisconsin men's coach Mike Eaves.

New Jersey is in the market for a new coach and the buzz had general manager Lou Lamoriello -- currently the interm coach after he fired Claude Julien earlier this month -- looking to bring Eaves to the NHL.

It makes some sense. Eaves has a NHL background as a player and assistant coach. The Devils are an organization that features a slew of college players. Even Lamoriello has strong ties to the college game, having coached at Providence.

And while Eaves has a five-year contract and a compensation package in excess of $300,000 at UW -- rewards for leading the Badgers to the 2006 NCAA title -- he has never completely closed the door to returning to the NHL.

Eaves didn't return a message left on his cell phone Sunday night, but multiple sources indicated the rumor is just that.

One source said he didn't know if Eaves had been contacted by Lamoriello, but the source said Eaves was aware of the rumor and dismissed it.

The UW coach who could be on the move is assistant Kevin Patrick, who is among the finalists for the opening at Alaska Fairbanks.

I wouldn't look to far into this rumor either way, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be true. I am sure an offer came from the New Jersey Devils, Mike Eaves would probably listen to it and weigh his options. I am sure most college coaches would, its an opportunity to go to the next level. Just because a person denies something as being false doesn't always make it ture. All of us that are fans of hockey know that things can change and fast.

Backstrom to be traded at the Draft?

Tell me it isn't So

EK from Hockey Buzz is reporting this:

The Wild are in a very tough spot with Backstrom and may try to execute a sign and trade at the draft with Backstrom I am told....With money tied up in the competent Fernandez, this Wild team is in a bind with Backstrom a UFA...For Wild fans who don't like this idea, think of the Sharks with Toskala and Nabokov. Any team willing to pick up the Nabokov salary and give up a pretty decent player + a backup could have had Nabokov after Toskala's playoff run last year...This playoffs, Nabokov is in the running for MVP...so could Fernandez next year.

If this rumor of Backstrom being traded during the draft turns out to be true this would be a horrible move, absolutely brutal. I believe that Nicholas Backstrom has more upside than Manny Fernandez. Seriously, we don't even know if Manny can get healthy enough to play next season after suffering a knee injury before the playoffs. Although the playoffs aren't over yet I have to say that I hate the off season.

Zach Parise's pre-game Interview Before game 2.

I have alway thought that Zach Parise was good interview, not only does the kid have skills on the ice but he is smooth with the mike in front of him.

Travis Zajac and his post game interview as he talks about the game winning goal in the second overtime.

J.P. Parise talks about his son Zach Check out the video of Zach 31st goal of the season. Sweet Goal.

Jamie Langenbrunner's 2nd OT Goal

Game two Devils and Senators. Zajac assists on the Game Winner

The 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs have been nothing short than phenomenal; with each game there has been more non-stop action, it’s hard to even leave the room for fear that you miss another great play. While I have never been a Devils fan, I did catch myself cheering for them last night as they played the Senators. Last night. The goal at the end of the first period was unbelievable and wouldn’t you know it that the coach of the Ottawa Senators Brian Murray was complaining about the timekeeper being slow to start the clock. Actually Brian Murray has done a lot of whinning during the NHL playoffs this season. Well, the goal was reviewed by the league office in Toronto; their ruling on the play was that it a a good goal… Count it; and with out question I agree that goal should have counted.

The thing I thought was most interesting about this game was Martin Brodeur was wearing all new goalie pads for this game. According to the television announcers Marty scrapped his goalie equipment after the game one loss. Apparently Marty has ten sets of pads and decided to wear a new pair of leg pad that only had been worn 10 times. Of Course true to form Brodeur and wins the game for the Devils. No Fighting Sioux hockey players scored goals last night but Travis Zajac did assist on the winning goal. Whew, the Devils needed that game to stay in it. Now all they have to do is win one game in Ottawa.

Devils and Sens Game 1.

This wasn't the game I thought it was going to be. The Sens get four goals in the first period and it looked like they were going to run the Devils out of the Building, this was the first time since 2001 playoffs that Brodeur gives up that many goals in one period during the playoffs.

Watch Danney Heatley's goal, he injures his ankle on the play you can see it when he celebrates the goal with his team mates. Zach Parise was huge in this game as he got a goal and an assist during the games. In fact the Four Devils goals were scored by former college hockey players: Parise and Zajac UND, Gionta B.C. and Andy Greene Miami.

Look for the Devils to come out in game team like a wounder animal fighting for its life.

Buffalo's game five win, the Knock out Game. Oh yeah Stafford a goal.

I guess I can't say enough about Buffalo Sabres, they are the real deal and my Pick to win the Stanley Cup this season, so there will be another Fighting Sioux hockey player on the Stanley Cup. This video pretty much shows how they dismantled the Islanders in the knock out game. It's evident that Speed kills. Former Gopher Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford both get a goal.

Check out this Horrible call on Zajac

Are you kidding me, the ref incorrectly gave Travis Zajac a diving call on his failed break away attempt, I probably would have given Zajac a penalty shot if had been officating the game . Are you kidding me? The ref should get a day off for that bad call. I understand why the league is trying to crack down on diving because there is a lot of it in the game of hockey. In the NCAA Robbie Earl made an art out of diving to try and draw penalties.

Zach in Action

This is a great illustration of what hard work does for your team. Zach going hard to the net down low doesn't score but puts his team on the power play after being cross checked from behind.

Check out this video Zach's Goal against the Rangers and post game interview on Feburary 20th against the Rangers. This is a sweet goal. Wow, this kid is impressive. Makes a Sioux fan proud everytime they say Zach Parise former Fighting Sioux hockey player.

Goon's Letter to the WCHA Head of Officials.

Here is a letter that I sent to the head of officials for the WCHA.

Dear Mr Sheppard,

I was woundering if the WCHA is going to install the new NHL rules. After watching hockey this past season I believe that the WCHA is falling behind the NHL and is in a way becoming hard to watch by there being too much obstruction, hooking and holding. Now would be a perfect time to install the new rules all the way and allow the high end talented teams to display their speed and offensive fire power.

Sincerely,

The Goon

Here is the response that I got

Goon,
It is not up to the WCHA about the rules Its up to all the coaches and the coaches are ok with the way the rules are written right now,will they change the who knows can we as officials do a better job maybe we will try. Thanks for your input. Greg Shepherd


Interesting response

Like the Whistler said, Greg must have been drunk when he wrote his reply to me. So are the coaches happy with the officating? So happy they are speaking off record about the calls and state of the reffing. Well it's the offseason so now is a good time to find something to talk about.

ROUND 2 (Ring the Bell) - by SIOUX 7

Well the first round came to an end with Vancouver ending Dallas season with a 2-1 win last night.

Now a look at the 2nd round match-ups.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Buffalo Sabres(1) vs New York Rangers(6)
- This should be another quick series for the Sabres, they easily dispatched the Islanders in 5 games and I think they will do the same to the other New York team. Buffalo has too much depth for the Rangers to handle. Buffalo now has all their players back from various injuries through out the regular season. The only way the Ranger can hope to get past the Sabres is for Henrik Lundqvist to pitch a couple of shut-outs. In the end, the Sabres will slash-up the Rangers in 6.

New Jersey(2) vs Ottawa Senators(4)
- This should be a good tough series, they have met many times in the playoffs, so there is a bit of a rivalry here. This series will go to the goalies, if Brodeur can return to his usually stellar playoff form, i.e. the last two games against Tampa Bay, the Devils will advance to the Eastern Conference Championship Series. If, Brodeur plays like he did in the first games against Tampa, the Devils will find themselves in a big hole, that they will not be able to climb back out of. Ottawa has more offensive power than the Devils and probably a little better set of defense men too. But, we all know that a goalie that can get hot in the playoffs can steal games and then steal the series. This will be another 6-game series, with the Devils vetoing the Senators bid for a Stanley Cup.


WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit Red Wings (1) vs San Jose Sharks(5)
- Well Detroit fans finally have some good news, they made it out of the first round for a change. This will be a much harder series for Detroit to win. San Jose has much more offense than Calgary, which will be too much for the Wings to handle over a 7 game series. Hasek is good goalie, he was a great goalie, he has just lost a move or two and the age is showing. That is why I will predict the Sharks to take a big bite out of the Wings in game 6, chomp chomp chomp, mmm tasty.

Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks(2) vs Vancouver Canucks(3)
- Vancouver ended the first round, ending Dallas' bid to try and shake that playoff gorilla off there backs, maybe next year. This too should be a good series, if the Canucks Roberto Loungo is in his world (.950 save percentage) he will be tough to beat. You could steal the old saying, "Only God saves more than Luongo." But if the Ducks find a spicket and Luongo starts to leak, the Canucks hopes could disappear faster than Goon's beer on a Saturday night. The Ducks have a well balanced team from top to bottom. They have arguably the 2 best defense men in the league with Niedemeyer and Pronger, one offensively minded the other a menace to forwards society. With all that balance, I have to go with Anaheim flying over Vancouver in 6-games.

The Video is up from Brad May Sucker Punch on the Wild's Kim Johnsson

Again I have touched on this before in another blog article; from the video you can see what May did was inexcusable and I don't believe that Johnsson should have to accept May's apology, it was a gutless act and there is no excuse for what May did. I mean I could see if it was Derrick Boogaard or some other know fighter/tough guy but he suckered Kim Johnsson isn't known for being a fighter and only had 64 minutes in penalties on the season while May has appeared in 868 career NHL games, scoring 123-152=275 points with 2,027 penalty minutes (PIM), not exactly Lady Byng numbers.

Here is another clip of that game four on 4-17-07 clip. I have to say that the homer announcers for the Anaheim Duck's are a coupld of clowns if they think that Kim Johnsson was turtling, how can that be when your hit with a sucker punched? This is the same sucker punch that cause Kim to suffer a concussion and miss game five of the series. I am not sure where these two clowns cans say something stupid like that.

The Pen's Sign their own Boogey man

The Pen's Sign the Boogey Man's Brother

I heard about this today on my way to get coffee. Pens Sign Aaron Boogaard

xecutive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero announced Monday that the Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Aaron Boogaard to a three-year NHL Entry Level contract.

The 6-3, 245-pound Boogaard has spent the past five seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) totaling 54 points (26g, 28a) in 273 games played, while collecting 589 penalty minutes. He tallied 173 penalty minutes while notching career highs in goals (10), assists (11), and points (21) in 69 games with the Tri-City Americans this season. Boogaard also scored his first-career playoff goal when he netted the game-winner in a 2-1 victory in game two of a playoff series vs. the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The native of Regina, Saskatchewan was originally drafted in the sixth round (175th pick overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Aaron’s older brother, Derek, is a left wing for the Minnesota Wild.

Aaron Boogaard is currently on an amateur tryout agreement with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Bad Blood Between the Wild and Ducks

Series is over but verbal jabs are not

I found this article in today's Star and Tribune seems that there is a lot of bad blood between the two teams that will probably boil over into next season. I have posted a few of the incidents from the series.

The Western Conference quarterfinals officially ended Thursday when the Anaheim Ducks bid adieu to the Wild in five games, but parting shots took place Saturday between both clubs, particularly the teams' general managers -- the Wild's Doug Risebrough and the Ducks' Brian Burke.

The detonation again had to do with Anaheim's Brad May, who called Kim Johnsson on Friday to apologize for leaving the Wild defenseman concussed with a surprise punch to Johnsson's left eye. It was an apology not accepted, if you read between the lines.

Risebrough, who said, "May's probably made a lot of those calls," insinuated that actions like May's follow Burke around, a subtle reminder that Todd Bertuzzi broke Steve Moore's neck when Burke managed the Canucks.

"They started whining after Game 1, they whined after Game 2 ... after Game 3 ... after Game 4 ... after Game 5," Burke said by phone. "I suspect after Games 6 and 7, we'd be treated to more whining. There's a right way and a wrong way to lose. The right way is to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that the best team is still playing.

"But this is embarrassing."

Series-long tensions erupted during the Wild's Game 4 victory over Anaheim. Near the end, a scrum broke out. As Johnsson skated, May, claiming to be "defending myself, my space on the ice," skated right to left so that Johnsson couldn't get by. He grabbed the nonpugilist and decked him.

"I'm disappointed ... that stuff like that can happen," said Johnsson, who thought his cheekbone was broken. "I feel that's not the right way to do it. If he wants to fight, at least tell me that he's going to do something so I can protect myself."

Asked if he accepted May's apology, Johnsson said: "He apologized, but let's leave it at that. I don't want to say what he said or what I said."

Johnsson is feeling better, but Risebrough said he wouldn't be able to play in the "near future." Risebrough also has been told that May broke his hand during the incident; Burke denies that.

First off what May did was inexcusable and I don't believe that Johnsson should have to accept May's apology, it was a gutless act and there is no excuse for what May did. I mean I could see if it was Derrick Boogaard or some other know fighter/tough guy but he suckered Kim Johnsson isn't known for being a fighter and only had 64 minutes in penalties on the season while May has appeared in 868 career NHL games, scoring 123-152=275 points with 2,027 penalty minutes (PIM), not exactly Lady Byng numbers.

In my opinion May violated the Code: Like Johnsson said he was sucker punched and not even given a chance to respond to May. Sucker punching him proves nothing, he one of the Wild's cleaner players. Brad May has never been anything more than a second rate goon so his gutless action are no surprise to me at all.

"It's probably worthwhile for the league to find out how accurate it is," Risebrough said. "As an ex-player, I know if a guy hit me and he broke his hand, he hit me pretty hard. It does tell you the impact, and it certainly does tell you, which is contrary to what Anaheim broadcaster [Brian Hayward] said, that Johnsson didn't turtle. He was knocked out."

A skirmish between the teams broke out during Game 5 warmups, after Derek Boogaard admittedly elbowed defenseman Chris Pronger.

"Yeah, I did," Boogaard said. "He crossed over the red line, so I got in his way just on their side of the ice and then he shot a puck at me. And then [George] Parros came flying over the line. It just escalated from there."

After the game, when both teams lined up to shake hands, Risebrough kept Boogaard from joining, because "I did not trust what they were going to do." Wild coach Jacques Lemaire and his assistants also didn't shake hands with the Ducks coaches, which angered Burke.

"The reason is very simple," Lemaire said. "[Burke] started first to say his team is bigger, tougher, they had more fights and all that [stuff] before the playoffs, and I didn't appreciate it. Then ... what May did, that's the reason I didn't shake."

Risebrough said that it's time "to hold general managers accountable for how their teams play. Some of these things follow general managers around."I'm at a loss of how to respond," Burke said. "I don't even know what that means. This was a warriors' series. I have not heard one person from Minnesota praise how hard my team worked, how good our special teams were. It's certainly an ungracious way to lose. When they came back from 3-1 [to beat Vancouver in 2003], go back and see if I bellyached like this."

Again when I read this article I got quite the chuckle out of all this, it sounds like whinning by a couple of school girls. Almost as bad as WCHA fans whinning about one teams fans not giving another team props for winning. Lets not be confused; this was a hard fought series that could have gone either way. The best team won in my opinion and the Wild are now off to the golf course. During this series there was a lot of rough and tough action, it was playoff hockey. That being said; blatant cheap shots and acts of goonery toward skilled pacifist players, is unacceptable, especially when one of the combatants is a one-dimensional goon that adds little if anything to the score sheet except PIMS. Rightfully so the league suspended Brad May for three games.

Don't get me wrong I love playoff hockey. During the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs rivalries develop and the fan are entertained, watching acts of thugery are not entertainment. All I can say is boo hoo, do you want a Kleenex Burke?

The Slash that cost Jamie Mclennan 5 games.

In this video you will see Jamie Mclennan slash Detroit forward Johan Franzen of the Red Wings. The Detroit Red Wings had been in Calgary's goalies crease all game, while I don't approve of this action, I do believe something had to be done to send a message. From watching a lot of hockey over the years, I think it was safe to say that Playfair sent McLennan out to send a message. I am not sure this was the intended result. Stay tuned for tonight's game as it should be interesting. I would be willing to bet that the league office will be talking to both teams before tonight's games to remind them of the consequences if things get out of hand.

It's things like this that give hockey a bad name, almost on cue the national sports media was playing this incident on their highlights today. While not a regular part of the NHL acts like this do happen. The league acted quickly giving McClennan a 5 game suspension.
Story on the NHL Site

NEW YORK (AP)-The NHL came down hard Sunday on Calgary, suspending goalie Jamie McLennan for five games and fining coach Jim Playfair $25,000 and the team $100,000 for actions late in Game 5 of the Flames' first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

McLennan was given a match penalty for slashing Detroit's Johan Franzen in the midsection at 17:01 of the third period, one of four penalties the Flames were assessed for aggressive and illegal use of the stick (slashing or cross-checking) in the closing minutes of the Red Wings' 5-1 victory.

"In our pre-playoff conference calls with the coaches and general managers of the respective organizations, we addressed a number of topics and one of them was actions late in the game when the score was out of hand," NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell said. "The coach and the organization must be held accountable for the players' actions."

McLennan's suspension was to begin with Game 6 Sunday night in Calgary. Detroit led the series 3-2.

Check out the John Tortorella interview on CBC

I saw this on CBC the other night. This is some classic stuff, its no wonder we don't see this more often where the coaches don't upset with stupid questions from moronic reporters. It was obvious that Tortorella didn't want to answer stupid rhetorical questions, even telling on of the reporters to get the F' out of here, in return the reporter tells him to F' off as well.

Wild and Duck Pre-game

Although thsi series didn't go the way Wild fans would have hoped, the playoff series between the Ducks and Wild did seem to open a few more wounds. This should make the rivalry between the Ducks and Wild even a little more fun to watch next season and beyond.

This series proved that although Derrick Boogaard contributes nothing in the way of points on the scoreboard, his presence makes the opposition think about the Boogey many whenever he is on the ice.

Cool Oshie Video

Check out this Cool Video
I was looking around on YouTube today for a video that someone had asked me if I had seen when I came across this beauty, this is from the 2005 Minnesota High School Hockey tourney. I wonder if T.J. can do that with a sand wedge and a golf ball?
Move Over Tiger Woods

Oshie and Toews Plead Guilty

Today in some less than flattering news from the UND hockey program; Two of UND's top players T.J. Oshie and Jonathon Toews pleaded guilty to guilty today for minor on premises: Read the Whole Story Right Here

Two of the UND hockey players charged after being caught at a Grand Forks tavern on Jan. 28 changed their underage drinking pleas to guilty today as part of a plea agreement.

Jonathan Toews, 18, and T.J. Oshie, 20, pleaded guilty to minor not allowed on liquor premises, a Class B misdemeanor. The two were charged after Grand Forks police responded to a call at Judy's Tavern, where Toews and Oshie were part of a group that included another UND hockey player, Robbie Bina.

I am sure this story will end up on Damian Goddard's bad boy page, lol. Since this is the off-season I am sure that we will see a big deal made out of this story. As I had mentioned before I won't be adding much more to it, because in my opinion it is a nonstory. Now finally we can all get some closure on this issue and move on, I am sure the Bison Fans and Kevin McFeely will have a field day with it, this too will pass.

Erik Johnson Signs With Blues & Johnson Quip

EJ Whines about PT
This caught my eye when I was reading this blog article. Johnson claims he didn't expect to be playing behind a senior and a junior. This is the reason the Gophers were bounced from the NCAA playoffs early the last two seasons. Its the me, me, me attitude of putting personal gain ahead of team goals. I think actually the Gophers will be better without EJ.

Many people including Johnson were taken back by the lack of playing time he received from the Minnesota coaching staff. Johnson didn’t expect to be playing behind a senior and a junior d-man. Johnson will tell you he thrives when he’s the guy. He admits he doesn’t play as good as he can when he’s not the premier guy. Johnson credits US Development coach John Hynes for giving him the confidence to take on this type of pressure. Johnson and Hynes butted heads and engaged in a few verbal wars in his first year with the program, but By the time Johnson left for Minnesota he had had grown an enormous amount of respect for Hynes.

When Johnson met with the Minnesota coaching staff following the season they suggested that he return for another year but Johnson feels turning pro will allow him to develop at the necessary pace. Johnson signed an entry level contract that was pretty easy to negotiate. He will earn $850,000 and can make an additional $850,000 in A bonuses and another two million in B bonuses.

Brett Burns gets dirty

Bret Burns had never had a fight during his NHL Career until the Ducks and Wild playoff series this season. Brent Burns has really picked up his game and become a force to be reckoned with on the blue line. Someone one was joking that he has more fights than the Wild's tough guy the Boogey man, Derrick Boogaard.


In this fight Chris Kunitz pulls Brent Burns hairs. I mean come on grown men don't pull the opposition players hair.

The Fans Cheer for Boogaard

Listen to these homer announcers, I do like the Wild announcers much better than these two clowns. The Ducks have no moral ground to stand on when they are talking about teams being cheap. Brad May is one of the biggest hacks to ever play the game of hockey. His sucker punch on Johnsson just proves my point, three games isn't enough he should be banned from further playoff play this season if the Ducks move on. I believe Derrick Boogaard had a big hand in last nights win and the fans show their apciation. It was funny when Derrick pointed to the ice and said, it's easy to talk boys why don't you step out on the ice for a little meeting. This is why I love the playoffs.