After rather a slow start in the World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Team Canada got back on track today with a huge 5-3 win over the host Finns.
This game was a tale of two separate games. Finland dominated the first half of the contest and Canada dominated the second half. The big difference? It was clearly Sherwood Park, Alberta’s Cam Ward who had 35 saves, and made some of the remarkable variety.
Offensively, Team Canada was led by Jeff Skinner, John Tavares and Duncan Keith who each had two points. Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Evander Kane scored the game winning goal in the third period.
One area where Team Canada must improve is their special teams. Despite the 4-0-1 record (only loss came in overtime to the Americans last weekend), their penalty killing so far has been weak and their power play is disorganized. But what did a Brent Sutter coached team do on the power play all year this past season? Nothing! Sorry Flames fans.
Even though Team Canada will probably be in first place once the round robin finishes, don’t forget they finished in first place last year with an undefeated record and then lost to Russia in the quarterfinals.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame – lots of overtime and lots of fighting to kick off the NHL playoffs, the Oilers win the draft lottery & discuss the future of their coach, the Maple Leafs apologize and a number of top players head to the World Championships. Also – the head of the MLB players union talks steroids and the Hall of Fame.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Thierry Henry, the NFL, Lamar Odom, Lingerie Football and Dwyane Wade. The Punchline this week involves Augusta and an attempted cup of sand!
Another week has come and gone, which means another week’s worth of goals to whittle down into another Top 5 list!
In this edition of the GOTW: some beauty sauce, a rarely seen 5-on-1, some nice moves on a partial breakaway, a nifty bit of tic-tac-toe action and some filthy between the legs dangles!
Let’s go!
5. Matt Duchene
Injuries have limited Colorado’s Matt Duchene this season, but before his latest bout with the injury bug he managed to convert on this saucer feed from teammate Paul Stastny for a beauty goal!
(AFTER THE JUMP: See the REST of the BEST!) (more…)
The Calgary Flames were outstanding for a five minute stretch late in the first period Thursday night in Phoenix where they scored three goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Coyotes.
Jarome Iginla led the way offensively with a goal and an assist– his goal coming late in the third period into an empty net. Alex Tanguay was the other Flame with a multi-point performance with two assists.
The Flames actually scored their three goals in a span of 3:14. Michael Cammalleri opened the scoring, followed by a shorthanded marker by Curtis Glencross and then nearly a second shorthanded goal by Olli Jokinen, but T.J. Brodie had come out of the penalty box three seconds earlier. Glencross and Jokinen each scored their 20th of the season.
The Flames showed the hockey world Thursday they didn’t need a complete 60-minute effort to win an important game down the stretch. The Coyotes dominated the second period, outshooting the Flames 15-6 before a relatively even third period.
The Flames now travel west to Anaheim to take on the Ducks tonight. They are currently two points back of Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
In other hockey action, you had to have been impressed with the Winnipeg Jets’ unbelievable effort in their 7-0 win over the Florida Panthers. Evander Kane led the way with two goals and two assists and Ondrej Pavelec recorded 33 saves for the shutout. Winnipeg now leads Washington by one point in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Finally, the National Hockey League in Winnipeg returns this weekend as the Jets host the Montreal Canadiens at the MTS Center (Sunday, CBC, 3PM). When the Phoenix Coyotes moved to Winnipeg on July 1, 1996, Manitoba sports fans have been circling this date on their calendar. Fifteen years later and they finally have their wish. Players that will become household Jets’ names will include Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little, Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane.
The Canadiens (0-1) meanwhile got off to a slow start as they lost 2-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre. James Reimer was brilliant in posting a shutout.
If you were hoping for an NHL season free of headshot confusion, it doesn’t look like you’re going to get your wish this year.
The NHL put out a video this week, starring VP of Player Safety and Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan, to help explain the changes to the rule that governs headshots and the rule that takes care of boarding. They both seem pretty straightforward…that is, until they get into the examples of what is legal and what isn’t!
Let’s start with the rule changes themselves:
The NHL has decided to take the ‘direction’ out of the wording of Rule 48 – meaning that we won’t be looking for North/South vs. East/West this season. Instead, any hit where the head is targeted in “an intentional and/or reckless way,” and is the principal point of contact, is now a minor penalty.
It’s now also up to the referee to take into consideration whether or not the player being hit put himself in a vulnerable position just before or just as contact was made. Rather than dishing out major penalties for headshots, refs will now hand out minors where they see fit.
As for Rule 41 – boarding will now be called anytime a player “checks or pushes a defenseless player” in a way that makes him collide dangerously with the boards. So, the onus is on the player laying the hit to avoid or minimize contact in these situations.
Once again though, if a player turns right before contact is made, the referee can decide not to call a penalty.
Both of those changes seem pretty easy to follow, right? I thought so too, until I saw what scenarios the league decided to go with to explain them! (more…)
According to TSN, the move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg is a done deal.
The Atlanta hockey club will be sold to True North Sports and Entertainment. The primary owner will be David Thomson, the billionaire chairman of the media conglomerate, Thomson Reuters.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will be in Winnipeg for the announcement. It will be extremely interesting to see the reaction from fellow Winnipegers toward Bettman. Many blame him for the primary reason why Winnipeg moved to Phoenix in the first place on July 1, 1996. Unlike Alberta where Bettman has high popularity, he doesn’t have a high approval rating in Manitoba.
So Winnipeg hockey fans will now be cheering for the likes of former Hitmen star Andrew Ladd, former Oiler Rob Schremp, Dustin Byfuglien, Evander Kane, Anthony Stewart, Blake Wheeler, Tobias Enstrom and Ondrej Pavelec. The Thrashers’ general manager is Rick Dudley, and their head coach is Craig Ramsay.
Meanwhile unrestricted free agents that need to be re-signed in order for Winnipeg to keep them are Eric Boulton, former Oiler Radek Dvorak and Freddy Meyer.
I’m a little surprised that Atlanta is moving to Winnipeg because I didn’t think the MTS Centre would be big enough because it only holds 15,015. But that said, Atlanta was averaging only 13,469. However, I feel there were many nights the Thrashers barely had 10,000 fans in attendance. Being involved with a struggling professional sports team in the past, I know how the numbers can many times be skewed.
The official press conference is slated for 10am Mountain Time. If anything earth shattering follows from the press conference, stay tuned to anysportanytime.
There is still no official word that the Winnipeg team name will be the Jets. Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz speculated the possibility of a different team name just over a week ago.
Another week has come and gone, which means another week’s worth of goals to whittle down into another Top 5 list!
If you were hoping for an NHL season free of headshot confusion, it doesn’t look like you’re going to get your wish this year.
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