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Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Preview

Aaaaaaaaaand we’re back in Chicago.

After a nail biter in Boston for game 4, we’re all tied up at 2 games a piece. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a playoff series, hell even finals series as close as this one. (I’m talking hockey here, the Miami Heat/San Antonio Spurs final was ridiculously close.)

Jonathan Toews. (Photo: Michael Zampanelli. Flickr.)

Chicago’s offensive FINALLY lit up and special teams seemed to finally start clicking. Jonathan Toews broke out of his 10 game goalless streak and Sharp and Handzus netted a couple on the powerplay. Corey Crawford should except the Bruins to keep firing at his glove hand as we’ve seen they may have solved him. Marian Hossa should be in the lineup even though he didn’t skate with the team at practice.

Tuukka Rask. (Photo: Gosha Images. Flickr.)

On Boston’s side of things Tuukka Rask finally had a struggle of a game. I don’t think that should haunt them though, it was bound to happen. Rask should be able to bounce back. The Bruins proved in game 4 that they can keep up and skate with Chicago. Their resilience is something to be measured with. Patrice Bergeron is as hot as ever with 6 goals in his last 7 games. If the Bruins can get past the sloppy play of game 4, we might be in for another close one folks.

Hard to say, but I’m going to give Chicago the hometown advantage.

Fun fact: Most expensive ticket going for tonight’s game 5 is $1,044 according to http://www.seatgeek.com.

2013 LNAH Draft: Riviere Du Loup 3L

I thought I might as well take a look at how some of the other teams faired in last week’s LNAH draft.

The 3L of Riviere Du Loup, (for all you english folk, that’s Wolf River 3L), played smart and drafted a wonderful pick in the first round. Simon Danis-Pepin is a native of Montreal and was drafted 61st overall in the 2nd of the 2006 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He was signed to a 3 year entry level deal but has spent most of his playing career in the AHL and ECHL playing for such teams as the Rockford IceHogs, Toledo Walleye and Orlando Solar Bears.

Simon Danis-Pepin (Photo: the_mel, flickr.)

Last season was spent with the San Franciso Bulls of the ECHL afer being exchanged through a trade with Orlando. Standing a 6’7, Danis-Pepin is a force to be reckoned with on defence. I’m sure 3L will use his size to their advantage.

Another notable pick came in the 3rd round with Jean Sebastien Berube. Drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 2008, he has spent the past 3 years playing for New Jersey’s primary affiliate, the Albany Devils. Making his professional debut against the Binghamton Senators, he finished the 2011-2013 season tied for first on team with a plus 6 rating.

Other players of note that are now 3L’s property are goaltender Andrew Fleming who just finished a season with McGill University and Nicholas Tremblay who was a apart of the AHL’s Providence Bruins. All in all, not a bad draft for 3L.

Here’s the full 10

1. Simon Danis-Pepin2. TRADED
3. Jean Sebastien Berube
4. Nicholas Tremblay, Alex Belzile
5. Coderre Gagnon, Mathieu Olivier Daoust
6. Andrew Flemming
7. Alex Emond
8. Tommy Castonguay
9. Christian Ouellet
10. TRADED

Pittsburgh Penguins And The Kris Letang Lunacy

So contract talks with the Penguins and Kris Letang are in the works. I imagine all the little teenage Penguins fan girls Tumblr accounts are blowing up about OMGZ for sure, but I digress.

Letang. (Photo" Dan4th. flickr.) — Letang. (Photo” Dan4th. flickr.)

Anyways, away from being beloved by the young ladies and to be fair to him — he is a popular figure in Pittsburgh, from a hockey stand point Letang did not impress this post season and many of Penguins fans have questioned his play with poor turnovers, defensive play and called for him to move on.

Unfortunately due to signing Mr. Malkin and Mr. Crosby to huge deals, this also may play a factor. Letang will be looking for 7 Million + from Pittsburgh and some how I don’t see Shero going for that; it’s arguable that he isn’t worth that much.

I still would disagree that he is by any means done. In fact I still think he would come to great use to any club. To throw this out there may be odd to some, but Letang shows incredible offensive flair and it is by far the strongest of his game. His defensive play is weak and doesn’t hit as a defenceman should.

Who says he needs to persue being a D’man? Could he be the guy to break the mold and possibly change position? Can anyone tell me that would end up badly? This is a guy who pulls huge offensive numbers. It’s not like putting Chris Pronger or Bobby Probert at centre.

It’s going to be hard for Letang to impress defensively in Pittsburgh when they seem to not really acknowledge two-way hockey. My point is if he has more support from pairings? Man…..he would still play amazingly well.

As Stan Lee always says……’Nuff said.

–Leo Patten

2013 Draft Profile: Nathan MacKinnon

If I were the Colorado Avalanche, this would be my first pick.

Nathan MacKinnon, who calls Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia home has been compared by some to be the next Sidney Crosby and not because he’s from the same town. MacKinnon, a strong 17 year old power forward is excepted to go at least in the top 3 in the 2013 NHL entry draft.

Nathan MacKinnon (Photo: puckingopinion.flickr)

Coming off of a Memorial Cup win and named MVP of the tournament, the stars could not be more aligned for him right now. Selected first overall by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the QMJHL and not being able to speak french, MacKinnon was then traded to the Halifax Mooseheads who he would help head man the team into glory. In his 2 seasons with the Mooseheads, MacKinnon has played a total of 102 games. His goals and assists for both years combine for an astonishing 153 points.

With Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic both making remarks about not drafting Seth Jones first overall, I have no doubt in my mind MacKinnon is the one they want.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs Pt. 1

I’m going to make one fan base re-live cruel moments and one fan base re-live some glory with this one. I apologize in advance, you guys know who you are.

Ahhhhh 1990’s hockey. What a time to be a hockey fan! Canadian teams were still half decent; ALL CANADIAN TEAMS MADE THE PLAYOFFS, Wayne Gretzky turned his back, defected to Los Angeles and then became hated by a nation, and then there’s my personal favourite: Mediocre NHLers of the 90’s. But more on that on Mediocre Monday. (I’m looking at you Sergio Momesso.)

The first round of the 1993 playoffs saw a deep rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Quebec City Coyotes…I mean, Nordiques. After all, Montreal’s star goaltender, a guy by the name of Patrick Roy is from rivaled QC. Not phased however, Montreal whizzed passed them and into the second round. Little did they know that would be the last time they’d play the Nordiques of Quebec.

The Boston Bruins came into the playoffs with the second best record in the league. Anything can happen though as the Buffalo Sabres proved that by SWEEPING them in 4. I think I’ll just leave this here…..

Fast forward to the division finals. Montreal sweeps Buffalo, the Islanders beat Pittsburgh (?!?) and L.A throttles Vancouver. The Norris Division final was between the Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues. The game went the full 7 games and what a beauty of a series it was. Both teams battled hard but eventually Toronto came out on top. Doug Gilmour’s double overtime game winning goal in game 1 is still one of the best I’ve ever seen.

And NOW things get interesting. At least for one team.

Part two will be delivered next Friday!

Trash Talk And Mic’d Up In The United Hockey League

Before making the jump to the AHL, the Rockford Icehogs played out of the United Hockey League. This video is pure gold.

Watch Carp, Ontario’s own Jason Ralph try to trash talk Derian Hatcher and Chris Chelios of the Motor City Mechanics. (Lockout season remember?)

Sean Avery was also with Motor City that year. Didn’t see Ralph try anything funny with him.

WARNING: NSFW language.

Canadian Hockey League’s Banning Of European Goaltenders.

Well here’s a touchy subject. For lack of a better reason and for a few years of failed World Junior Championship gold, the Canadian Hockey League has put in a ban of drafting European goaltenders. Apparently ours suck and need a wee bit of conditioning.

I’m gonna look at this from both sides of the table though.

Justin Pogge. (Photo - Sylvain Nadeau, flickr.) — Justin Pogge. (Photo – Sylvain Nadeau, flickr.)

First off, tell me something. Let’s say you were General Manager of oh…I don’t know…let’s say the Erie Otters. And let’s say you formed one hell of a team, you had the next Sidney Crosby, the next Pavel Datsyuk, the next Al McInnis (How come everyone’s forgotten about Al?!), hell, even the next Wayne Gretzky. All you’re missing from your piece of the Memorial Cup puzzle is one hot goaltender. Are you really going to care where this guy is from??? Who would you rather, Mika Samsoniteov with a GAA of 0.02 from Russia or Johnny Canuck with a GAA of 10.93? I don’t know, but I’d be a little peeved.

Another question. Are they still allowed to draft American goaltenders?? Why sure they are! How is that really fair?

Sigh. But, as a patriotic Canadian I can see their point. Kinda. Our efforts at the World Juniors when it comes to goaltending the past few years have been dismal at most. While I won’t mention any names, (I’m sure you all know who they are), Team Canada has a HUGE reputation to uphold as the best hockey nation on the planet. They see that they are losing the goaltending battle and figure this is a way to save face.

Relax Bobby Lu. You're fine. — Relax Bobby Lu. You’re fine.

Last point though….no one’s saying these young Canadian goaltenders can’t go get signed over in the European leagues and get conditioned there. Hell, a bunch of the coaches are Canadian.

Second last point…..I hate to sound like a Don Cherry but, all you youngsters out there, STOP IT WITH THE BUTTERFLY. Stand up more, you’ll save more shots. But what do I know…..I’m just a woman, right?

Third last point. Kudos if you caught the Dumb and Dumber reference.

JERSDAY A.K.A. Jersey Of The Week : Milwaukee Admirals

It’s JERSDAY! And you all know what that means!!

It’s our first weekly edition of our favourite hockey jerseys. We’ve chosen the brilliantly colour schemed Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

First off, the logo is money in the bank. How can you go wrong with a peg-legged pirate skeleton playing hockey?? It’s not overbearing or screaming out at you and it’s doesn’t have a million things going on. It’s just a pirate skeleton playing hockey. With one leg. I hope the genius who came up with that is sitting pretty and rolling in the dough by now. It’s definitely a step up from the one they had before.

THE COLOURS. Oh my. You can’t really go wrong with black as that seems to be the trend lately with NHL teams. (Although, they are starting to come around with more colour.) You also can’t go wrong with blue. The difference here is, Milwaukee is baby blue. A really pronounced baby blue which stands the out of the rest of the blue jersey wearing hockey teams out there. Lord knows there’s plenty.

The jersey itself is plain and I like it that way. You don’t need stripes everywhere. You don’t need to send a homage to old time hockey. It’s sleek, flowing and modern. Hell, there’s even a Milwaukee Brewers glove patch on some bringing in their sporting heritage. Bet you didn’t know they were associated with Nashville.

And for that Peg Leg Pete, you get an A+.

Avs Don’t Want The ‘D’

March’s note: Little do you folks know, I have one of the greatest friends a woman could ask for living over in London, England. Leo Patten is a die hard Dallas Stars fan and is the transition of moving close to Tampa, Florida for 6 months starting in August. He is hopeful to take in as many NHL games as possible to add to already impressive hockey resume. I asked him if he had anything he wanted to contribute, so here is his take on the situation in Colorado. Golly good job ol’ boy!

It appears that the Colorado Avalanche will pass on Seth Jones, arguably the top prospect in this year’s up and coming draft.

Okay, it’s a given that most NHL teams with a first overall pick in the draft, will almost always choose a strong offensive player over the best two way defencemen. However, within the modern game it seems that most clubs are pretty much going after whatever system or culture is flavour of the month.

Now part of me can understand this new culture of youth, due to how the Cap and CBA agreements have changed over the years. I mean this in terms of player management, contracts and of course style of play. It’s totally different from the days of good ol’ time hockey. General Managers have to be constantly one step ahead of the game. But this is all chatter for another time.

Ryan O'Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog. (Photo: Lindsay Akkiyama, flickr.) — Ryan O’Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog. (Photo: Lindsay Akkiyama, flickr.)

Newly appointed Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy are definitely going to be shaking things up in Denver so it seems. Again, following a common trend of appointing an extremely young captain in Gabriel Landeskog, they are clearly making preparations for the future. The bottom line of the Draft is in some ways, pot luck. Either way the Avalanche will obtain a highly skilled player and whether they step up to to the plate will remain to be seen.

This also doesn’t fair well for other clubs such as the Florida Panthers who have their sights firmly set on players like Nathan MacKinnon, who is definitely what they need right now.

It’s clear that Colorado issues lie in poor defensive quality in the back end and I’m not sure what they hope to achieve by drafting more fire power. If this trend continues it’s quite clear that we will have plenty more upsets continuing in the playoffs of the future. *COUGH*PITTSBURGH*COUGH*.

–@pattenMH

Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Recap

Ladies and Gentleman, we have a series. In the immortal words of Bob Cole, “Oh Boy!”

Game 4 showed nothing but excitement right out of the gate. Chicago split both games in Boston and is heading back to home ice advantage with a huge swing in momentum. A huge key that was missing in game 3, Chicago played the body and didn’t let up all game.

What a goal fest. Boston came back 3 times to tie things up and it seemed like luck was on their side heading into overtime. But in reality, it could’ve went both ways. The Bruins caught Corey Crawford’s weak glove side enough times to look like J.P. Arencibia catching R.A Dickey’s knuckle ball. (What’s with the Jays and abbreviated names anyway? Just noticed that.) On a side note, what does that say for Team Canada in Sochi?

There has been 27 overtime games in this years playoffs alone. That’s one shy of an NHL record. We are at least guarenteed two more games and the way things have been growing, I’m sure it will be broken.

Chicago’s stars finally showed up and started putting pucks into the net. Toews especially who had gone scoreless in 10 games.

In case you missed Seabrook’s game clincher, here it is in all of it’s amazing glory: