Team Canada seems to have all systems going at the World Hockey Championships in Sweden. On Thursday in Stockholm, the Canadians played exceptionally well in a 3-0 victory over Sweden.
Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes made 33 saves while Matt Read of the Philadelphia Flyers had two assists in the Canadian win.
However team Canada cannot get their hopes up too high. Unless Switzerland or Sweden are upset by a weaker opponent, Canada will play Sweden again in the quarterfinals and the Swedes will be a much more difficult opponent in an eliminaton game.
One thing Canada does have though is confidence. After losing 3-2 to Switzerland in a shootout on Sunday, they have responded with a commanding 7-1 win over Norway before their win over Sweden today.
The 2013 World Men’s Hockey Championships will commence this weekend with Canada playing two games in Stockholm. The first will be against Denmark on Saturday (TSN, 8:00 a.m.) and the second will be against Switzerland on Sunday (TSN2, 8:00 a.m.).
There are four Oilers and one Flame on Team Canada. Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Devan Dubnyk and Taylor Hall are the Oilers, while T.J. Brodie is the lone Calgary Flame.
Other notable players representing Team Canada are Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith, Carolina Hurricanes sniper Eric Staal, Florida Panthers defenceman Brian Campbell (defending Lady Byng winner) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos, who was second in the NHL in scoring with 29 goals and 57 points. (more…)
The Calgary Flames played like a team who were playing their second game of a back-to-back Monday night in Phoenix.
Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith made 30 saves and Raffi Torres and Antoine Vermette had a goal and an assist each as Phoenix defeated Calgary 4-0.
David Moss and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also had a multi-point game as they each had two assists. The Coyotes’ defencemen of Ekman-Larsson and Zbynek Michalek were each a +3 for the Coyotes according to www.tsn.ca.
Defenceman Keith Yandle scored the game winning goal for the Coyotes only 41 seconds into the hockey game.
Coyotes captain Shane Doan is still playing strong. At 36 years of age he caused havoc throughout the night and was making Flames’ goaltender Danny Taylor’s night uncomfortable. Taylor was making his first start in his NHL career.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame, we preview the Stanley Cup Final, we look at why the Phoenix Coyotes were so mad when they were bounced by the Kings and we discuss a controversial new feature on the CBC. As well, a possible return for Dominik Hasek and a look at the NBA playoffs!
In the GABBYs: Didier Drogba, Barcelona, Caleb Lloyd, Racing Club’s fans, Giancarlo Stanton & the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is track star Jessica Ennis. This week we also take a look at FIFA wanting to end the penalty shootout!
The Los Angeles Kings haven’t advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals just yet.
Sunday afternoon Shane Doan of Halkirk, Alberta, (an hour east of Red Deer) scored twice and Mike Smith made 36 saves for the shutout as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 in game four of the Western Conference Final. The Kings still lead the series 3-1.
Even though Los Angeles is ahead, I still can’t get out of my head two very strange goals in the series that Jonathan Quick has given up. In game one, Derek Morris took a slap shot from the Coyotes’ zone that handcuffed Quick, and then yesterday Quick misplayed the puck when it should have been icing that led directly to Doan’s game winning goal.
A Coyotes player that was also very strong on Sunday was former Ottawa Senator Antoine Vermette, who recorded a key assist and won 12 of 18 faceoffs.
Three game sevens (and possibly a fourth) will dominate my sports viewing this weekend.
In the NHL, there is a game seven in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. This will be a battle of Alexander Ovechkin versus Henrik Lundqvist. Despite limited ice time, Ovechkin leads the Capitals in scoring with nine points, but will have to get by Hart Trophy nominee Lundqvist to move on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in his career. The game can be seen on CBC tonight at 5:30pm.
In the NBA, there are two game sevens, both involving the Los Angeles teams. Tonight the Los Angeles Lakers host the Denver Nuggets in game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinal tonight (TSN2, 8:30pm). Questions are surrounding the health of Lakers star Kobe Bryant who played with the stomach flu in game six on Thursday. Afterwards, he was not happy with Pau Gasol for his lack of effort and had no problem telling him so.
Then tomorrow the Memphis Grizzlies host the Los Angeles Clippers (ABC, 11am) in game seven of another Western Conference Semi-Final. Like the Nuggets, the Grizzlies were once down 3-1 in the series but have clawed their way back to force a game seven. Last night in Los Angeles, the Grizzlies won game six 90-88 on Marc Gasol’s 23 points.
The Phoenix Coyotes are going to their very first Western Conference Final in franchise history.
On Monday night, the Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators 2-1 in game five of the Western Conference Semi-Final.
Defenceman Derek Morris, a former Calgary Flame who was born in Edmonton, got the Coyotes on the board early in the second period and then over ten minutes later Martin Hanzal put the Coyotes up 2-0.
Another area where Phoenix dominated was in the faceoff circle. Antoine Vermette and Boyd Gordon went a combined 24-8.
The Coyotes continued to get good news off the ice as well. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced plans are in place to sell the team to former San Jose Sharks Chief Executive Officer Greg Jamison.
The Phoenix Coyotes may be leading the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference Semi-Final 3-1 after their 1-0 shutout win from Mike Smith last night.
But let’s not our kid ourselves folks. The story of the series so far was Predators’ ice girl Jenna Steffen who seemed to have picked up a live catfish off the ice in Game Three with her bare hands!
So who is this Jenna lady anyways? Well according to the Nashville Predators website, she is from northern Minnesota, and is involved in sales and marketing, loves Sushi and enjoys the television shows New Girl and Pan Am.
Another Predator Ice Girl which appeared to be Chelsea, picked up another catfish last night, but it didn’t appear this one was live.
Getting back to last night’s game, Shane Doan scored the only Coyotes goal. How will Winnipeg fans feel if the Coyotes this season win the Stanley Cup? Yikes.
The Phoenix Coyotes are off to the Western Conference Semi-Finals. The Winnipeg Jet-almosts beat the Chicago Blackhawks convincingly in Chicago Monday night by a score of 4-0.
The Blackhawks were the better team in the series in every area except one–the position of goaltending.
The bottom line was that Mike Smith was completely brilliant, compared to the shaky Corey Crawford who needless to say was horrible at specific times when the games were tight.
Last night, after the Blackhawks dominated the first half of the game but couldn’t beat Smith, the Coyotes dominated the third period. Former Oiler Gilbert Brule, Westlock’s Kyle Chipchura and Oliver Ekman-Larsson all notched a goal and assist as Phoenix will now play the Nashville Predators in round two.
In other hockey news, Oilers forward Jordan Eberle has been nominated for the Lady Byng. This season he had 34 goals and 42 assists and only 10 penalty minutes. He’ll be up against Brian Campbell of the Florida Panthers and Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders. Campbell will try to become the first defenceman to win the Lady Byng since Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings in 1954.
Eberle meanwhile is being joined by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who is being nominated for the Calder. No Edmonton Oiler has won a major award since Mark Messier won the Hart and Bill Ranford won the Conn Smythe in 1990.
This week on the show we’re talking NHL playoffs & suspensions, along with some of the first teams to move on to the next round and another clock controversy from last week’s action. Also: we discuss a perfect game in the MLB and a legend leaving women’s basketball.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Jamie Moyer, Washington Capitals fans, an Alabama parent, the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic. The Punchline this week is high school baseball player Jameson Painter.
This week on the show we start out with the topic that’s on everyone’s mind – the feud between the Pittsburgh Penguins & the Philadelphia Flyers (and to a lesser extent, the Pens & the Rangers). We also look at a couple of fines handed down to coaches this week (including Edmonton’s Tom Renney) and we run down the upcoming match-ups in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
In the GABBYs: Mike Smith, Ray Whitney, Joey Votto, Alistair Overeem, the Orlando Magic & fans of the University of Kentucky. The Punchline this week is the Baltimore Orioles!
The AFC West just got significantly more interesting on Monday when it was announced that two key players within the division will miss the rest of the season due to injuries.
The Denver Broncos have announced that running back Knowshon Moreno is out for the year with a torn ACL and that Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Matt Cassel is out for the year with a hand injury. Both injuries occurred in Denver’s 17-10 win over Kansas City on Sunday.
The upset of the week came in Philadelphia, as it appears the Eagles’ season is finally over at 3-6. On Sunday, Cardinals’ quarterback Jon Skelton threw three outstanding touchdown passes–two to Larry Fitzgerald and one to Early Doucet in the 21-17 victory.
There were also five very interesting games yesterday.
The New Orleans Saints defeated the Atlanta Falcons 26-23 in overtime. Falcons’ head coach Mike Smith is getting criticized for gambling on fourth and one and the Falcons having the ball on their own 29 yard line. I suggest the criticism is utter nonsense. Michael Turner is one of the best running backs in the game today and was just stopped by the Saints’ defense. New Orleans was probably going to score anyways because of the ridiculous NFL overtime rules! With the win, New Orleans takes a stranglehold in the NFC South at 7-3, while Atlanta falls to 5-4.
The Edmonton Oilers fell 4-2 to the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.
Now the real test is on. My question is how will they respond to a loss and a complete lackluster type of performance.
This is how Tom Renney and the coaching staff will make their money this season. There is no question that last night’s performance was one of the worst by the Oilers all season long and now they will have to regroup for the following four games on the road trip–against four teams from the original six–the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks.
You cannot blame the loss of Devan Dubnyk, but he let a couple of softies get by him and does not play the puck as well as Coyoyes’ netminder Mike Smith.
I felt the best player on the ice was former Flame Daymond Langkow, who has personal experience on beating up on the Oilers over the last few years.
Is it time to panic? Heck no. Edmonton still leads the Minnesota Wild by a point for first place in the Northwest Division. But I poor performance like this one, will not lead to a negative trend for this young hockey team.
The Boston Bruins got a great game from their goaltender, Tim Thomas, and are only one win away from heading to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1990.
Thomas made 33 saves and had a sparkling .971 save percentage as Boston defeated Tampa Bay 3-1 in game five of the Eastern Conference Final. The Bruins are now leading the Lightning 3-2 heading to Tampa Bay Wednesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum.
The Bruins got goals from Nathan Horton, Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley to go up by one win in the series.
An area of concern for Boston remains the power play however. The Bruins were 0-4 Monday night and are a pitiful 7.1% in the postseason.
Team Canada seems to have all systems going at the World Hockey Championships in Sweden. On Thursday in Stockholm, the Canadians played exceptionally well in a 3-0 victory over Sweden.
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