Hockeyhead

The Red Wings shut out the Blackhawks 4-0 last night to remain ahead of them in the Western Conference standings for at least another week.  The rematch is scheduled for New Year’s day at Wrigley Field, and will be a classic.

I still love Chris Osgood’s helmet, but it was Ty Conklin who stopped 36 shots for the victory.  Chicago’s streak comes to a halt, but it’s still the season’s most impressive run outside of the Sharks’ first half.

Well I for one thought Milan Lucic would be playing a skilled game last night, but instead he was challenged (rather handedly) by Pittsburgh’s Tim Wallace.  Lucic is still the people’s champ and he should take a shot at Laraque, watch both of these guys throw some jackhammers;

Scott “Mr. Perfect” Hartnell was Philadelphia’s first star in a 3-2 win over Vancouver, and he didn’t resort to beating the shit out of anyone!

On Tomorrow:

The Winter Classic, Detroit and Chicago square off outside.  It’s an Original Six match-up, and it’s taking place at Wrigley.  What better way to spend a hangover day could there be?

Happy New Year to everyone, take care and keep reading.

Yahoo! Sports for the photo.

Speaking of tap(s), I’m back with the Morning Skate after a week of incessant drinking.  Here’s a little preview of what to look forward to tonight, I’ll be brief (my hands are shaking);

On Tonight:

My pick for the Eastern Conference final takes place in Pittsburgh tonight as the Bruins are visiting.  The Penguins are loaded with skill, the Bruins nearly equal them in that category but trump them in size and toughness.  It’s been a little over a week since Milan Lucic has busted any faces open, Pittsburgh doesn’t really have a worthy opponent (Godard maybe) so Milan may have to resort to scoring in this one.

Check this Western Conference match-up in Motor (recession) City; the highly skilled and largely Swedish Detroit Red Wings vs. the 9-0-1 in their last 10 Blackhawks.  I love that Chris Osgood still rocks the Messier helmet and cage, but Chicago is looking like they’re ready to surpass the Wings in the standings.  The two teams square off again this week in this year’s version of the Winter Classic on Thursday.

Two Unskilled Idiots: 

Poor Patrice Bergeron, I’m serious about this.  The NHL has a serious head injury problem.  Bergeron missed almost all of last season with concussion problems, and he’s back on the IR now.  It’s the league’s responsibility to address not only hits to the head, but the overgrowth of the players.  Gary Bettman believes the NHL does not have a steroid problem, but offers no explanation on why the players have become bigger than wrestlers.  Tighten up.

Vesa Toskala will have a few days of rest due to a wonky groin, he could use it considering he’s been nothing but a bag-of-holes all season.  Justin Pogge will certainly get a shot with the Leafs; he’s been called up and Cujo couldn’t stop a ball of socks.

This can no longer go unnoticed:  I told you (Sponge Bob MacKenzie) that the Canucks had the best shot at Mats Sundin.  You call yourself an insider, give me your salary you bastard.

On Tonight: Anaheim and Vancouver have identical records.  They square off tonight in Van-City and the Canucks are looking to bounce back from a loss versus Chicago.  I like the Canucks to come out on top in this one. 

Todd Bertuzzi could probably grow a beard in about 2 hours.  His ability to score this season (and the last couple) has paled in comparison to the potency of his facial hair follicles.  He scored a pretty big goal in overtime last night to lead the Calgary Flames over Minnesota 3-2.

The Flames’ win keeps them tied atop the Northwest Division with the Vancouver Canucks with 39 points.  Bertuzzi’s goal was his first since November 2nd, and it came against the league’s stingiest defence.  Not that we should expect any kind of offensive outburst from Big Bert, but it was a timely goal nonetheless.  A flurry of offense can be expected from Marian Gaborik as he scored one and assisted on another last night in his first game since the advent of televised sports.  Gaborik will undoubtedly look to showcase himself in hopes of trade before the deadline; there’s no way in hell or high-water he is back in Minny next year.

The San Jose Sharks lost in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but have still only lost three games in regulation; they’re still fucking awesome.  I watched most of this game, and the Sharks outplayed the Jackets for most of it.  Steve Mason is another story all together, he made 47 saves to give Columbus a puncher’s chance for the 2-1 victory.  Now if Rick Nash could really get going both the Blue Jackets and my fantasy hockey team would be friggin’ deadly.

On Tonight:  Pittsburgh goes to Atlanta, and I’ll be checking in on this one so I can man-crush all over Malkin and Crosby.  The real beauty of the night though is San Jose and Detroit.  They’re ranked 1-2 in the Western Conference respectively and both teams feature a plethora of depth; should be a prelude to a playoff matchup.

So Spongebob MacKenzie thinks that Mats Sundin has all but decided to play for the Rangers.  Spongebob (a reknowned speculator) isn’t putting much faith in the Vancouver Canucks’ ability to sign Sundin.  I wouldn’t rule them out yet.

The Canucks already have a mega offer on the table for Mats Sundin at $10,000,000 for this season and another paycheque for next year as well.  The Canucks are a great team when Roberto Luongo is playing and Mats could provide the lift they need to battle with the big boys on a nightly basis.

Then there’s the whole cap-space thing to consider in New York.  The Rangers, as it stands right now, have about $5 million to offer to Sundin.  Unless they can turn a few magic tricks in the next day or two, Sundin will have to accept a butt load less to play in New York.

Speaking of Roberto Luongo, there is still no timetable for his return and GM Mike Gillis is still saying he’s “week-to-week”.  Well Mike, I’m a fantasy hockey whiz kid and I need him back now so why don’t you stop downplaying the severity so I can move forward.

I know I say this almost everyday, but the San Jose Sharks can’t lose!  A shootout win last night versus the L.A. Kings gives the Sharks a 25-3-2 record.  Unbeatable I tell ya.

On Tonight:   Chicago rolls into Edmonton to face the Oilers, who are 6-4 in their last ten games.  The Oil are coming off of a nice shutout win versus the Canucks on Saturday, and Chicago is near Pittsburghian in terms of their young talent.

The 1994-95 NHL season is best remembered as the “shortened” season.  There were 26 teams in the league that season, and they only played 48 games each due to a lockout.

It was also the last season for the Quebec Nordiques, who would move to Colorado’s greener pastures a year later.  The Nords won the then Northeast Division in ‘94-95, but fell to the New York Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs 4-2.

Eric Lindros finished tied with Jaromir Jagr for the scoring title, but Jagr was given the award based on his higher goal total.  Lindros picked up the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, and wept like a boy when he received it.

What some people often forget about that season was the emergence of two young goaltenders who looked poised to carry their teams into the future; Blaine Lacher of the Boston Bruins and Jim Carey of the Washington Capitals.

Blaine Lacher was a 24 year old rookie fresh off an impressive NCAA career at Lake Superior State University.  The “Lach Net Monster” appeared in 35 of the Bruins 48 games in 1994-95, and posted an impressive 19-11-2 record, a solid 2.41 GAA and decent .902 SV%.

Lacher would appear in only 12 more NHL games the rest of his career (all in 1995-96).  After toiling around the now defunct IHL for a couple seasons, Lacher hung up his pads for good.

Carey’s career followed a very similar trajectory, albeit a few years longer than Lacher’s.  Jim Carey “Net Detective”, another NCAA standout, started his short NHL career with the Washington Capitals after he left the University of Wisconsin.  As Carey’s play with the Caps became more and more brilliant down the stretch, he vaulted ahead of Byron Dafoe, Rick Tabaracci, and Olaf Kolzig on the goaltender depth chart.

Carey went 18-6-3 with a 2.13 GAA and .913 SV% as a rookie in ‘94-95.  A year later he would win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender appearing in 71 games while compiling an incredible nine shutouts.  Carey was the beneficiary of an outstanding Capitals’ defense core that included Sergei Gonchar, Mark Tinordi, Ken Klee, Joe Reekie, Sylvain Cote, and Calle Johansson; he didn’t see many shots that year, and he’d see less the rest of his career.

Following his improbable rise to the top of the goaltending ranks, Carey was traded during the 1996-97 season to the Boston Bruins and only appeared in 29 games over parts of three seasons.  Carey’s career had all but disappeared after a short stint (4 games) with the St. Louis Blues in 1998-99.

It’s rare that we see two virtual unknowns (playing one of the hardest positions in all sports) rise to super-stardom so fast, only to fall from it so much quicker.

I guess the Dallas Stars have had enough of Sean Avery.  It was announced earlier today that despite Avery’s eligibility to return to the ice, he will be going through more counselling and will not at anytime be returning to Dallas.

Call it Brett Hull saving his own ass if you want (I will be).  Hull was responsible for bringing Sean Avery into the fold in Dallas, and took responsibility of casting him off as well.  Hull, the co-general manager in Dallas had this to say to the AP;

 ”We don’t want to ruin Sean or his career. We want him to get better,” Hull said. “The team needs to move on and start winning and he needs to take care of himself. … As a hockey player, I think there’s no question he can be an asset. That said, he’s got to fix the demons he has. It becomes such a huge distraction that it almost takes away from his ability to play the game.”

Yes Brett, those “demons” as you call them took more away than just his ability to play the game; his misogynistic (but not wholly unfunny) comments about “sloppy seconds” will likely cost him any shot in the fashion industry that is largely centered around women.

Get better Sean, and get back on the ice.