2nd Best Moment(s) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft

(and I paraphrase…)

“The New York Islanders want to thank the people of Montreal for their hospitality, and would also like to say hello to the 15,000 fans at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum”.

“The Colorado Avalanche would like to give a shout out to all the fans gathered at all the draft parties across Denver this evening”.

“The Phoenix Coyotes would like to say hi to our half-dozen fans who are gathered at the West Olive Avenue Burger King”.

- Mick Kern

Best Moment of the 2009 Entry Draft - Friday night

Without a doubt, it was when the Tampa Bay Lightning chose Victor Hedman with the second pick overall, and the camera caught Matt Duchesne pumping his fist and breaking into a wide grin.  Yes, Duchesne grew up a fan of the Colorado Avalanche, who had the third pick, and used it to nab the Brampton Battalion, but then again, maybe he was just as happy NOT to have been taken by the sideshow known as the Bolts.

And so much for the endless speculation over how Type-A GM Brian Burke was going to hijack the draft and snare top-rated prospect John Tavares, though, you know, the weekend isn’t over yet.  After weeks of maintaining his vow-of-silence, Islanders’ GM Garth Snow walked up to the podium and made Tavares an Islander.

The camera wouldn’t have been able to capture it, but maybe Duchesne was doing a little fist pump in his head.

- Mick Kern

The One Percentile - Podcast #13

It’s Lucky 13 for The One Percentile Podcast.  Eric and Mick tackle the selections for the Hockey Hall-of-Fame, whether-or-not Eric Lindros should be in that Hall, NHL players figure skating, should there be one or two Winter Classic Games, NHL players at the Olympics, who should be calling the shots in Tampa, F1 races in North America, and when they should record their next podcast.  Two weeks from Wednesday, by the way. 

And remember, if you’re in Canada, we’re now on itunes.

The One Percentile - Podcast #12

Ohh man.  This week, Eric Gage and Mick Kern discuss the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, with Eric making the contention that Sidney Crosby is now The King of The World.  They also talk about marketing the NHL in the aftermath of Game Seven, how Wayne Gretzky transcended the game of hockey, and female names that begin with the letter J.   A little Ozark Mountain Daredevils will do the trick, only on The One Percentile Podcast.  Now available on itunes in Canada and certain parts of Belgium.

Bill Daly on HTM

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly joined Shawn Lavigne and Mick Kern to talk about the courts decision in Phoenix not to let Jim Balsille move the team to Hamilton

Penguins Stanley Cup Heroes Medley

There were many heroes who stepped up for the Pittsburgh Penguins during their 2009 Stanley Cup Championship. Here is a look back at some of the highlights

30 Minutes With The Cup

Now that the Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions, you’ll be reading a number of stories and articles about who gets to take the Cup to Moscow, who gets to lug it up a mountain, and who gets to eat ice-cream out of it.

Some of the stories revolving around who did what to the old mug are almost as interesting as the two-month battle for the thing.  It seems that every player on the championship team gets one day with the trophy; the team overall gets one hundred days with the Cup.

Outside of the time the Cup spent an afternoon here at the NHL Home Ice studios two years ago, and the occasional visit to the Hockey Hall-of-Fame in downtown Toronto, I have to play Xbox NHL Hockey (and win) in order to get anywhere near the thing.

Except for a half-hour on a sunny Friday evening at Gretzky’s restaurant.  For that half-hour, I was the Keeper of the Cup.  Not officially…I didn’t get any fancy white gloves…but I had been deputized by Phil Pritchard of the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.

Mr. Pritchard and another colleague dropped by Gretzky’s restaurant that spring evening in late May of 2004 with the Stanley Cup-in-tow, the very one they hand out every spring, in order to appear on the syndicated radio program “Live From Wayne Gretzky’s”, which back then aired Friday night’s.  Producer Shawn Lavigne had been chasing Pritchard and Cup for a couple of weeks, and landed them for the show just before the Tampa Bay Lightning-Calgary Flames Final series got underway.

My job on the program was to help set up the equipment, run through the program log, come up with trivia questions, make sure all the microphones worked, eat some of the fine wings down at Gretzky’s, and make sure the guests were comfortable.  On that evening, the two gentlemen from the Hockey Hall-of-Fame rolled up with the Sir Stanley in his protective casing, and proceeded to set up shop right beside the stage.

This was a couple of hours before air-time, and, understandably, the sight of the Stanley Cup in the middle of the restaurant was a show stopper.  People put down their forks and knives, and came over to get their photograph taken with it.

At one point, after the crowds had thinned, Pritchard and buddy went to go grab a bite to eat before the show.  Having finished gobbling down my wings, I returned to my seat near the stage, keeping watch over the broadcast equipment.  Pritchard asked if I minded watching over the Stanley Cup while the two men went into the dining room and ate.

Minded?  I was honoured, though a little perplexed why they would leave one of the world’s most famous trophies with me, someone they had only met a scant twenty minutes earlier.  Then again, if for some reason I decided to make off with the Stanley Cup, odds were pretty good I wouldn’t get that far with it.  An iconic trophy such as the Cup wasn’t something someone could just pawn off for a couple of bucks.  Someone along the way would notice.  Heck, everyone would notice…and stop me…and ask to get their pictures taken with it.  Apparently that’s a Canadian birthright.

Regardless, I had no design’s on making off with the Cup, like a fellow Canadiens’ fan did back in 1961, when the Chicago Black Hawks were on the verge of winning it all.  If anything, I immediately felt some pressure having to be even temporarily responsible for its welfare.

It very well could have been Anne Murray, or the bones of Sir John A. MacDonald, or the secret recipe for beavertails that I was standing on guard for thee for.  I had often heard about the concept of the citizen soldier, and how each of us might be expected to be called into action, subverting our personal well-being for the good of the whole.  Well, this appeared to be my time.

During my half-hour as Keeper of the Cup, the trophy wasn’t hauled up a mountain, it wasn’t filled with a beverage, no babies made mustard in the bowl, it didn’t sink to the bottom of a swimming pool, and Peter Pocklington’s father didn’t try to scratch his name on it.

It just sat there, looking splendid in its perfect shininess, beckoning all comers with its siren call.  A number of folk posed with it during that half-hour, and one guy went to move it so that he could better read some of the names etched on its base.

Well, we couldn’t have any of that.  A polite smile in his direction put an end to that.  How Canadian of both of us.

It’s not like Pritchard gave me a crash course in how to safeguard the Cup; it’s just something that comes naturally to any hockey fan, regardless of nationality.

First and foremost, no-one, and I mean NO-ONE, could pick up the Cup and raise it above their head…unless they were an NHL player who had already won the trophy.

Second, well, short of making off with it, or physically abusing it, there aren’t a lot of restrictions about the Stanley Cup, which is part of its ageless appeal.  Even though it’s a difficult trophy to win, it remains the people’s trophy.  Most of us will never play in the NHL, and even those that do rarely get a chance to win the Cup, yet all hockey fans the world over feel a kinship with the Cup.  That evening, I was merely the people’s representative, guarding that which truly unites us all.

Still, I breathed a heck of a lot easier when the two Hockey Hall-of-Fame gentlemen returned from their meal, and sat down at a table right next to the Cup.

And that was my thirty minutes with the Stanley Cup.  Not much to write home about, though I did touch the engraved names of the 1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs, and muttered under my breath an ancient curse that ensures the Leafs can never win it again.

Hey, membership has its rewards.

- Mick Kern

Superstar and the Cup

Who knew?

I mean, we should have known.  It’s not like he kept it a secret.

Every time Maxime Talbot would enter that car dealership in Pittsburgh, and talk with the pretty lady, he’d declare that he was a “superstar”.  And every time, watching that TV commercial at home, I would crack up at, well, first the bad acting on everyone’s part, and second, at the thought of Talbot as a superstar, even in the fevered mind of some scriptwriter.

Well, after Game Seven this evening in Detroit, Monsieur Talbot can indeed be treated to superstar treatment wherever he goes all this summer, thanks to two of the biggest goals he’ll ever score during his life.

Don’t know about you, but that was an emotionally draining game to watch, and I don’t root for either team involved.  We all wanted a great Game Seven, well, we got one.  A game for the ages.

Have there been better playoff games?  Heck, yes, including a number during these playoffs.  Have there been better Game Sevens?  Probably, but this one deserves to be somewhere on the list, particularly after time passes, and we all have had a chance to savour what we just witnessed.

None of the three goals were highlight reel material, but then again, none of them were fluky.  Okay, the Penguins got a fortutitous bounce on the first Talbot goal, but that kind of bounce happens in the game of hockey on a regular basis.  The question is, what will you do with such a gift when presented with it.

Talbot tore the wrapping paper off it and lit the lamp.

Sure, Fleury probably would have liked to have had that Detroit goal back, but from a fan’s perspective, the Wings scoring late only served to rachet up the tension to a sublime level.  It was sweet pain.

Many people, including myself, were hoping that this game would be so good that it would have to go into overtime to decide things.  Well, close enough.  Only two previous Stanley Cup Game Seven’s have gone into extra time, and we’ll have to wait for another shot at such an ending.

But Detroit certainly didn’t surrender, despite the clock ticking down on their chance at a second Cup-in-a-row.  With 6.5 seconds remaining in the third, they controlled the puck, and set up a beauty of a chance with, what, a second remaining?  Okay, we didn’t get overtime, but we were treated to Fleury making a heck of a save to preserve the Penguins’ third Cup in team history.  Shades of Patrick Roy, who, according to those quick profiles Hockey Night in Canada does at the end of every Cup clinching game, was one of Fleury’s goaltending heroes growing up; Roy and Martin Brodeuer.

Roy has four Cups and free admission anytime into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame.  Brodeur has three Cups and will get that same pass someday soon.  Fleury has one Cup and counting.  No matter what happens during the rest of his career, Marc-Andre Fleury is a Stanley Cup winning goaltender.

Which brings us to the Terrific Two.  Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

Malkin erased all bad memories of last year’s Final, and had a great playoff, after a great regular season.  He wins the Conn Smythe Trophy, (the first Russian to do so), in the same season that he won the Art Ross Trophy.  Think of what this amazing young player has accomplished after only three seasons in the NHL.  Not too shabby.

Neither was the effort of Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby, who limped off the ice after being on the receiving end of a terrific hit during the second period.  He came back for the third period, and took a shift, but it was no go.

Didn’t matter.  Crosby did what he had to do earlier on, particularly down the stretch during the regular season and during the first three rounds of the playoffs, including when Pittsburgh were down 2-games-to-none against the Washington Capitals in the second round.

All the Sidney Crosby haters out there, I sincerely hope you choked on the image of 87 lifting the Stanley Cup.

It was beautiful.  One of the true superstars of hockey, accepting the Stanley Cup as captain.  Put aside your petty prejudices and think of what this young man has already accomplished during his four years in the National Hockey League.  With this Cup win, he’s practically done it all.  Oh sure, the likes of Alexander Ovechkin may very well get to this point in the near future (and what a fine moment that will be), but Crosby, and crew, beat him there.  That’s a fact.  Twist it as you will.  Denigrate it on the internet billboards with juvenile talk of league conspiracy, but nothing will change that fact.

Man, there can’t be much better things in the world of sports than waiting to hoist that Cup.  The Conn Smythe was the Christmas stocking; the Cup were the mountains of presents under the tree.  Just rewind your PVR and watch the eyes of the Penguins’ players as that moment arrived.  At that juncture in time, money and injuries meant nothing.  It was all about the win, all about the team, all about the Cup.

And that ends maybe the most enjoyable National Hockey League post-season I have ever watched, and I’ve watched them all since 1971.  The first and second rounds featured some amazingly enjoyable hockey.  The third round dipped a bit, but it set up a fantastic seven-game Stanley Cup Final between the Red Wings and the Penguins.  One for the ages.

The King, ahem, the Wing is dead.  Long live the King Penguin.

- Mick Kern

For the record: with the Penguins’ win, the XM NHL Home Ice Hockey Pool for picking the most series’ wins correctly goes to Scott Laughlin and myself, who were right on 12-out-of-15 series.  I’d like to selfishly point out Scott and I both had the Penguins winning in seven, and it’s the third straight year I’ve either won this pool, or shared first place.  All bow and praise me.

Scott Laughlin  12-out-of-15 series correctly picked
Mick Kern - 12-out-of-15
Dan Blakeley - 11
Peter Berce - 10  (also had Pittsburgh in 7)
Joe Thistel - 10
Phil Esposito - 9
Shawn Lavigne - 8
Mike Ross - 8

(this list only of guys who submitted picks for all four rounds)

The Night Before Game Seven (as read by Dan Blakeley)

‘Twas The Night Before Game Seven

Twas the night before Game Seven, when all through Home Ice
Not an announcer was stirring, or offering advice
The microphones were hung in the studio with care
In hopes that Eric Gage would take to the air.

The listeners were nestled all sung in their beds
While visions of Cup celebrations danced in their heads
And Blakeley in his news booth, preparing his cast
Looking up all the stories and stats from the past.

When up in CR2 there arose such a clatter
Pogi had called to indulge in some chatter
The lines were all jammed with callers galore
Each one proclaiming the game’s final score.

The fans of the Red Wings convinced they’ve been wronged
Let down by the league and the refs for a song
The fans of the Penguins were sure it was they
Who were being shafted at the end of the day.

What’s up with this Sidney the Wings fans cry out
Why he’s no more than a wee wittle lout
Pens fans reply it’s not us that do cheat
Your boards are quite bouncy, to aid your repeat.

And your eight-legged friends that you toss with delight
Were funny back when Jack Benny ruled the night
Your goalie is holey your Mule quite the fool
It’s you who tomorrow will be taken to school.

Not so, cried the denizens of Hockeytown
For what is a Penguin but a tuxedoed clown
A bird that can’t fly, like a song that can’t sing
Thus it will be us with the Stanley Cup ring.

Enough, cried out Trigger as he hung up the phones
There’s too much noise and I vant to be alone
Time for a replay or NHL Live
Let’s hear how the Ranger fan somehow survives.

Then Rossy and Espo butted heads on the air
Arguing loudly over what calls were fair
Shalley and Berce compared notes from afar
Though honestly they’d rather be at a bar.

Thistel just whistled as Boomer complained
About this thing and that thing again and again
Scotty was off watching Junior be born
For his Habs all these weeks later Mick still did mourn.

The Voice of The War Room prepared to exclaim
The Red Wings have won the Cup once again
But just to be safe, he also did say
The Penguins went north and stole the Cup away.

On Malkin on Crosby on Jordan, that Staal
On Fleury on Guerin on Bile-el-sa-maa
On Datsyuk on Osgood on Zetter, the Berg
On Holmstrom on Lidstrom to down flightless bird.

Whether Versus or cable or the NBC
Millions of Yankees may not even see
Their TV sets blank with the digital switch
On the night of the big game, ain’t life a bitch?

And up here in Cold Land, aka Balsillie ville
Make It Seven, heck, Make it 500 Mill
The only way Canada can win back the Cup
Is if Jimbo buys all the teams up.

Game Seven is still just a day’s wait away
Soon the puck will drop and the match they will play
But I heard Thistel exclaim as he left with Jeff Leake
Training camps open in just over twelve weeks.

The One Percentile - PODCAST #11

The One Percentile goes to 11, at least.  This week, Eric Gage and Mick Kern start things off by actually agreeing on something…the signing of goaltender Ray Emery by the Philadelphia Flyers.  Eric and Mick also talk about the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, and kick around Dany Heatley.  Somewhere in the podcast, they probably also touch upon Dutch painters, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Amy Adams, and how to get gum out of your hair.  All this, and more, only on The One Percentile.  (Tell your friends - we are now on itunes).

Bring On Game Seven

The sweetest words to a hockey fan?

Game Seven.

Even better than that?

Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final.

Thanks to the Penguins edging the Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday night, we’re headed back to Detroit for just such a scenario this Friday evening; a scenario that’s only happened fourteen previous times in the long history of the National Hockey League.

Strangely enough, having a Game Seven in the Cup Final has been a rather common occurrence since the turn of the century.

The Avalanche beat the Devils in 2001, the Devils topped the Mighty Ducks in 2003, the Lightning outlasted the Flames in 2004, and the Hurricanes edged the Oilers in 2006.

Of those four series, Carolina’s first Cup win was not only an exciting series, it was a riveting Game Seven.  The underdog Oilers, an 8th seed, fell a few inches short of upending the 2nd seed Hurricanes, falling 3-1 in Game Seven.

Tampa Bay and Calgary played an intense Cup Final, though during the dead puck era, once a team established a lead in a game that series, the other team was unable to mount a comeback, so that somewhat negated the entertainment value of that pairing, though Lightning fans would differ with that opinion.

One of the best Game Seven’s was the now-legendary match between the hometown New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks in 1994.  New York had a 3-1 lead in that series, only to watch the Trevor Linden and the Canucks claw their way back into things, before falling 3-2 in a tight Game Seven on Madison Square Garden ice.  It would be the only Game Seven in the Stanley Cup Final during the 1990’s.

The run-and-gun 1980’s also featured only one Game Seven in the big show, the 1987 clash between the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers.  This series tracked much like the Rangers-Canucks tilt, with Mike Keenan’s Flyers forcing a deciding game after being down 3-1 to the high flying Oilers.  Wayne Gretzky and crew took Game Seven at home 3-1, winning their third Cup in four years, and their second Final series victory over Philly.  It was a memorable moment when Gretzky held the Cup high, and then passed it to defenceman Steve Smith, who a year earlier had scored an own-goal on Grant Fuhr during the third period of their series deciding game with bitter rivals the Calgary Flames.

Before that, you have to go way back to 1971, the last year Jean Beliveau played in the NHL, to find another Stanley Cup Final Game Seven.  That season, Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, and the Big Bad Bruins bashed and crashed their way to an impressive regular-season record, and were looking to defend their 1970 Cup crown.  The trouble was, they took the Montreal Canadiens a tad too lightly, and found themselves on the losing end in the first round.  The Habs, anchored by rookie goaltending sensation Ken Dryden, got by the Minnesota North Stars in six games, and then faced Bobby Hull and the mighty Chicago Black Hawks.

This series was a homer series for the first six-and-a-half games.  Chicago had home-ice advantage, and capitalized on it, taking the first two games.  Montreal responded with a couple of wins back on Forum ice.  Game Five in Chicago went to Chicago.  Game Six in Montreal went to Montreal.

Which set up Game Seven, in Chicago, for all the marbles.  The Black Hawks were nursing a 2-0 lead when Jacques Lemaire fired a slapshot, from about centre ice, towards goalie Tony Esposito.  Maybe he didn’t have his contacts in that game, as the shot eluded him, and provided Montreal with the sliver of hope they needed.  Captain Henri Richard took care of the rest, scoring two goals as Montreal upset Chicago 3-2.  Frank and Peter Mahovlich played together on the same NHL team for the first time in their career that season, and they combined for nine goals during those seven games.

The 1960’s had two Game Sevens in the Cup Final; Montreal over Chicago in 1965 (Gump Worsley finally wins a Cup), and Toronto over Detroit in 1964, the third Cup in-a-row for Punch Imlach and his Maple Leafs.

The 1950’s featured two dynasty’s, Detroit and Montreal, and fittingly, they were both involved in two Game Seven’s in the Cup Final that decade.

Detroit edged the Canadiens in seven in 1955, in what would be the Red Wings’ last Stanley Cup victory until 42 years later, when Steve Yzerman hoisted the mug in 1997.

It was the year before, in 1954, a Detroit Cup win in seven over the Habs, which remains notable because the deciding game went into overtime, only the second time in NHL history that has occurred.

Tony Leswick shot the puck towards the Canadiens net.  All-Star defenceman Doug Harvey went to knock it down with his glove…and ended up redirecting it into the net past Jacques Plante.  Would love to have known what was said in the Montreal dressing room after that gaffe.  Apparently not all that much, as the core of that team would go on to win five straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960, a record that may never be broken.

Detroit was also involved in the other Game Seven in the Cup Final during the 50’s, right at the beginning of the new decade.  This time, (without Gordie Howe, who missed most of the playoffs due to a serious injury) they beat the hard-luck New York Rangers 4-3 in the deciding game, in overtime, on a Pete Babando goal in the second extra period.  It was the Rangers’ first Stanley Cup Final appearance since their Cup win in 1940, and they wouldn’t get back to the Final again until 1972, when they fell to the Bruins in six games.

The 1940’s was the time of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they took both Game Seven’s played in the Cup Final during that decade, and both times, they upended the Red Wings, in 1945 and 1942.  Rookie Leaf netminder Frank McCool (only the greatest goalie name ever) posted three shutouts that round.

As most hockey fans know, 1942 stands out because it was the only time in NHL history a team rallied from a 3-0 deficit in games, and came all the way back to win the next four, and the Stanley Cup, taking Game Seven 3-1.  The 1975 New York Islanders are the only other NHL team to win a series after losing the first three games, but that series victory against the Penguins was not in the Stanley Cup Final.

What’s not usually remembered is that the Maple Leafs finished higher in the regular-season standings than the Red Wings, who were below .500 that year.

Not all Game Seven’s have been exciting.  The New Jersey Devils’ 3-0 whitewash of the Anaheim still Mighty Ducks in 2003 was a snoozefest for all but New Jersey fans. 

The Detroit win in 1955, the Montreal win ten years later, and the New Jersey Cup in 2003 share in common the importance of home ice, as the visiting team failed to win a single game those three Final series.  No doubt Detroit looks to repeat that accomplishment Friday night.

Overall, of the fourteen Game Seven’s played in the Cup Final in NHL history, only two of them have gone into overtime.  We may be well overdue for another Game Seven OT thriller.

- Mick Kern

War Room Predictions - SCF Game #6 (and food)

From 11 am until noon eastern time, on Tuesday, June 9th, the staff of The War Room conducted their phone and email poll to determine who would win Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final, and what fine food people would be enjoying while they watched the game.  28 individuals were involved in this survey.

Here are the final results for which food and drink will be consumed during the game:

Most popular beverage - beer
2nd most popular beverage - pop

Most popular food - pizza
2nd most popular food - chips

Here is the breakdown on who will win Game 6 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final:

- Detroit Red Wings  - 17 votes
- Pittsburgh Penguins - 11 votes

Here are the individual statistics for every person who replied to the poll:

Edward in LA…PITTSBURGH…steak, baked potatoes, corn-on-the-cob
Sam in New Jersey…NEW JERSEY…chips and hot dogs
Nick in Newark…DETROIT 4-1…Klondike beer and steak
Mitch in Winnipeg…DETROIT 4-2…Dr. Pepper and popcorn

Timothy…DETROIT 3-1…Sam Adams beer, nachos and salsa
Dave in Grand Rapids…DETROIT 4-1…spicy octopus
Mike in Vancouver, Washington…PITTSBURGH 5-3…wings and a fully stocked bar
Eric in New York…DETROIT 3-2…shrimp and steak kabobs and Molson Canadian

Gerald in Southern California…DETROIT 4-1…tacos and Dr. Pepper
Justin in Alberta…PITTSBURGH 4-2…Coors Light and Wendy’s
Tom in North Carolina…DETROIT 4-2…popcorn, chips, horseradish dip and Guinness
Lance in Detroit…DETROIT 3-1…Little Caesars Pizza Hot and Ready

Buzz in Florida…DETROIT 4-1…Little Caesars Pizza and beer
Harry in LA…DETROIT 2-0…no food
Todd in Pennsylvania…DETROIT 4-2…Tylenol PM
Coach Tony…PITTSBURGH…chicken on the grill, BBQ chips, Funyuns and Penn Pilsner

Jay in Denver…DETROIT 3-1…5 Barrel Pale Ale and cheeseburgers
Bill in North Carolina…DETROIT 5-2…Little Caesars Pizza and Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale
Jason in Tennessee…DETROIT 3-2…Little Caesars Pizza and Vernors Ginger Ale
Ed in South Carolina…PITTSBURGH 3-2 OT…pizza and beer

Brandon in Texas…DETROIT 3-2…Johnsonville brats, bacon-wrapped cream-filled jalapanoes and beer
Paul in Texas…PITTSBURGH 4-1…BBQ pork loins, beans, coleslaw and Amber Beer
Mace in New Jersey…PITTSBURGH 5-4 OT…busy playing hockey tonight
Dan in Buffalo…DETROIT 2-1…hot dogs and roast beef ring

Chris of NHL Home Ice…PITTSBURGH…wagon wheels
Mike Trigiani of NHL Home Ice…PITTSBURGH…nachos and salsa and his beloved Blue Jays
Mick Kern of NHL Home Ice…PITTSBURGH…Cherry Coke from Buffalo, New York
Dan Blakeley of NHL Home Ice… DETROIT 4-3 OT…chips and pop

- the staff of The War Room

Even Tape Delay Couldn’t Save The Penguins

We used to have a joke at the Post Office.  Okay, it wasn’t much of a joke, but while working part-time on the late-night shift at one of the parcel processing plants in Ottawa during the late 1980’s, we used to be desperate for any levity.

Back in the days before PVR’s and the internet, you usually got one shot at watching a hockey game…until TSN came along in 1984.  By the time it was on “free TV’ in 1989, hockey fans had two chances to catch a game.  The live showing, and then usually a repeat around 2 in the morning.  Of course, if you had a VCR or Beta, then you were the master, but the post office job didn’t pay that well.

One autumn night, the Blackhawks went into Montreal and beat the Habs by a couple of goals.  I didn’t know the final score as I headed off to work.  By the time I got there, my fellow wage slaves let me know how the game turned out, much to their delight.  A couple of Canadiens’ fans joked, on the way out after the shift, that maybe the Habs would get lucky and win the TSN replay.

Okay, not exactly riveting comedy, but you have to consider the circumstances.  Keeping that in mind, Saturday evening I had a family function that had to be attended to, thus I had to rely on the trusty old PVR to tape Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final for my later perusal.

Usually, in cases where a game has been taped for viewing later that night, I’ve been successful in avoiding any references to the score, in order that I can return to the safety of my McFarlane-covered TV room, and watch the game from beginning to end, as though it were happening live.  The most difficult time I ever had doing this was the 1994 World Championship final game, when Canada finally won it all, after decades of frustration.  “It…Is…Over”, went the Paul Romanuck call.  While that game didn’t capture the country’s imagination as much as, say, the 2002 Winter Olympics, I still had to literally cover my ears a couple of times on the bus ride home that night, in order not to overhear conversations about the game.

Tonight, sitting at the 5 Drive-In, waiting for “Night at the Museum - Battle of the Smithsonian” to begin (lame sequel, by the way, not that the original was that stunning…though I would marry Amy Adams if she asked), I couldn’t resist the temptation and flicked on the local radio station here in Toronto that is broadcasting the games.

4-0 Detroit!  Halfway through the second period!?!

Yup, pass the popcorn.  Nothing to see here.  Well, except for one more Detroit goal, and Sidney Crosby slashing his shadow, and Detroit fans in a very festive mood, continuing to sing along to KISS, long after the puck had been dropped and the audio had been silenced.

There would be no false hope tonight that the Penguins would win the TSN replay, or, in this case, the CBC replay.

Well, so much for that idiotic blog posting by someone the other day that argued that Red Wings’ head coach Mike Babcock had been “exposed” by the Pittsburgh Penguins.  So much for all those who couldn’t wait to pounce all over Chris Osgood.  And so much for when Alexander Ovechkin takes the stage in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to accept the Hart Trophy.

Apparently, Pavel Datsyuk, who is a fine hockey player, really is one of the best players on the planet.  How else to explain the sudden revival of the Red Wings?

As a fan with no specific rooting interest in this series, I can only hope that the return to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night for Game Six results in a Penguins win.

Because I wanna see a Game Seven.

Because Game Five sucked.

Oh sure, if you’re a Wings’ fan, then it was indeed Rock And Roll All Nite And Party Every Day.

But I’m not, though I still contend Detroit is the closest thing to a present-day dynasty the NHL has.  No, they haven’t won a ton of Cups recently, but their continual success since 1997 has been very impressive, and right now they sit one game away from consecutive Stanley Cups.

The last team to do that?  The 1997 and 1998 Detroit Red Wings.

But before we write the obituaries for the Penguins, lest we forget many of us, and you, wrote off the tired old, exposed Red Wings after Game Four.

To make the same mistake about the Penguins in Game Six would be foolhardy.

But, then again, Pavel is back.

- Mick Kern

SCF Game Four - Now that’s hockey!

With all due respect to Gary Green, who I recall uttering the phrase “That’s Hockey” a lot during his TSN days in the 1990’s, I hope he’ll be alright with me borrowing it, (in fact, he’s probably saying it himself tonight), after a throughly entertaining Game Four of the Stanley Cup Final.

It took four games, but finally we had delivered, to our door, piping hot, a number of highlight reel goals.  Took long enough, particularly when you consider how many top-notch players are involved in this series.

Before we get to all that, there is a symmetry developing in this series.  The Red Wings take the first two games at home 3-1 both times.  The Penguins turn around and take the next two games at their barn 4-2 each time.  Okay, it should have been 5-2, but referee Bill McCreary didn’t see fit to award an obvious empty-net goal that was negated by an obvious infraction, probably reasoning that the puck was bouncing when it was shot towards the net, thus the player didn’t have control of the puck.  C’mon Billy.  That one was going in.  What if I needed it in the pool?

Another trend; the visiting team has outshot the home team in each of the first four games, yet comes out on the short end of the one stat that trumps all other stats…the total number of goals scored per game.

Back to the second period.  The three goals the Penguins scored in that frame were all nice efforts, each one building on the one before, and the last two coming after Pittsburgh killed off back-to-back penalties.

Jordan Staal reminded everyone he hasn’t been in the press box with Tie Domi for most of this series, as he scored a beauty of a shorthanded goal to tie the game at 2 apiece.

Just under two minutes later, the Terrific Two stormed down the ice after a Detroit turnover, and Malkin showed again why he’s an amazing, gifted hockey player, as he kept the puck in front of him, and after his first pass attempt to Crosby didn’t work, he calmly regrouped, and sent it over to 87, who calmly deposited it into the net.  Very nice to watch.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the Penguins storm the Red Wings’ zone once again, this time completing a perfect tic-tic-toe play into the back of the net.  Bee-u-ti-ful.  One of those goals that brings you out of your seat, whether you’re at the arena, seated outside the arena with all those other Penguins’ zealots, or at home on your lumpy couch.

It was the type of goal that if you’re not cheering for a particular team, it enabled you even more so to savour the moment.  It was gold.

And it meant a 4-2 lead the Penguins would not relinquish, which means we’ve officially got a series now, folks.  It’s different from last year.  Oh, the Red Wings may still wrap things up in six games, very, very possible.  But this year, the Penguins have made it clear that they have every intention of winning the Cup, and intend to battle for it.

Detroit fans will take to their keyboards and unleash a torrent of smarmy comments upon reading this, but come on, with a bounce here or there, it’s the Penguins that could easily be up three games to one.  I still think, overall, Detroit was the better team in the first two games, but we all know how Lady Luck don’t give a damn about fairness.

The best thing is, in spite of the fine June weather, we are guaranteed at least two more games.  If they’re anything like tonight, then that’s a very fine thing indeed.  The two days off between Game Five and Game Six will provide even more time for Pavel Datsyuk to ride in on his white horse, and that might prove to be the tipping point.

The thing is, the young Penguins don’t appear to be too worried about what’s thrown in their way right now.  They managed to manufacture more odd man rushes against the mighty Red Wings tonight than I’ve seen in recent memory.  While Chris Osgood was his usual steady self in net, Marc-Andre Fleury matched him, and he’ll have to do that for the rest of the series in order for there to even be a chance of a new Stanley Cup champion.

But what do I care?  This was exciting hockey tonight.  Jacques Martin, are you watching?

- Mick Kern