Jim Matheson's Hockey World: Dec. 24

Jim Matheson, edmontonjournal.com December 23, 2011



EDMONTON - Who’s Hot: Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler had a slow start with the Jets, but has 16 points in his last 16 games

Who’s Not: Carolina captain Eric Staal only has four even strength goals all year for the Hurricanes and is minus-21

Marquee Matchups:

Wednesday: The Vancouver Canucks are in San Joseto face the Sharks, two heavyweight Western Conference foes

Friday: The Detroit Red Wings take on the Blackhawks in Chicago in another big matchup

Hemsky on the move?

Here’s what we know about Edmonton Oilers winger Ales Hemsky. Teams have started asking questions.

“How are his shoulders?” an NHL executive asked.

“Where are the points? Is it just because he’s not on the first power play anymore? I saw him on TV the other night and he didn’t look good,” said another NHL team official.

With his contract running out on July 1, Hemsky isn’t doing himself, or the Edmonton Oilers, any favours with a mystifying lack of offence one day before Christmas. He doesn’t help himself by almost always being the first guy off the ice at practice either, although the club says he’s undergoing treatment for something, but that’s another story for another day. He’s done that for a long time.

Forget the fact he has three goals; he’s never been a big scorer. He only has 117 career goals in over 500 games, but he’s always been able to set up other people. Not this year. He has eight assists. Apart from three weeks on the sidelines to get his repaired shoulder stronger, he’s stayed in one piece, well enough to play about 16-1/2 minutes a night. But there’s little flash. He’s only had three games where he’s had more than one point. Against the Bruins in Boston, against the Predators in Nashville and against the Columbus Blue Jackets here. He has points in eight games this season.

I’ve watched Hemsky for nine years now — I’ve always talked him up to visiting reporters and other management types who don’t see him that often about his terrific skill-set which can be off-the-charts on some nights — but I can’t remember seeing him this ordinary. He’s trying but, it pains me to say it, there’s not nearly enough conviction to his game, not for somebody with an A on his jersey.

His body language hasn’t been good. He should be burning inside to show the Oilers he’s every bit as good as second-year man Jordan Eberle (36 points), but he’s not. If his repaired shoulders simply aren’t strong enough (he played games last year with a bad shoulder before agreeing to surgery), we’ll give him marks for playing the games. But I don’t see the Oilers signing him again.

I think it’s time to turn the page. He needs a change of scenery.

He’s been the most creative player on the team for 500 games or so, but he’s got company now.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a Hemsky-like passer. Eberle is the No. 1 right-winger today.

What could Hemsky bring in a trade, with his injury history (two shoulder operations and several other problems)? He’s definitely not going to bring a top-three defencemen, preferably a puck-mover like the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Letang.

So you can forget getting a high-end NHLer. The only way the Oilers are getting one of those guys is to trade one of their kids, somebody like Magnus Paajarvi, and they aren’t doing that. They may have to sign a free-agent D-man this summer.

Lest you think there is no market for Hemsky, guess again. He’s only 28, not 33.

The Oilers got a first-round draft pick from the Los Angeles Kings for the fans’ pinata Dustin Penner last February. They turned that into high-end Swedish prospect defenceman Oscar Klefbom (19th overall choice), who will be a huge part of his club’s world junior squad, and another blue-liner, Colten Teubert, who has played 10 Oilers games (14 minutes a night). He looks like somebody who could be a solid No. 5 or 6 defender down the road, somebody with some bite.

There is a market for just about everybody. Did you think anybody would take Tomas Kaberle off the hands of Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford?

If Hemsky is traded to any team, it’ll definitely be to a contender or a team that has to make the playoffs, even for only one round to make some money for the owner.

The Red Wings, for sure, are in the picture (Hemsky has 17 points in 27 games and some sterling work against Detroit in the 2006 playoffs). I suspect the Predators, dying for some offence (19 points in 25 career games), the Penguins, always looking for a top-six winger, and New York Rangers are in the mix, too.

I can’t imagine the Oilers would make another deal with the Kings, but stranger things have happened. Nashville was in the running for Ladislav Smid last year, so it’s not like Oilers GM Steve Tambellini and his Predators counterpart, David Poile, haven’t talked about other things in the past.

The difference between Hemsky and Penner, apart from body-type, is this: Penner had another year left on his contract. Hemsky will be a rental. You don’t give up as much for guys you might only have for two or three months.

The Oilers have gone the other way, grabbing Sergei Samsonov from the Boston Bruins in March of 2006. They gave up Marty ­Reasoner, Yan Stastny and a second-round pick that continues to haunt them. With that pick, the Bruins took Milan Lucic. Samsonov helped them get to the Cup final with 15 points in 24 playoff games, after 16 in 19 league games, but they lost out on the chance at Lucic.

Rentals don’t usually bring a whole lot. They bring quantity, but quality?

In February of 2008, Marian Hossa, then 29, was traded from the Atlanta Thrashers to Pittsburgh Penguins for Colby Armstrong, Eric Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a first-round draft pick. But Hossa was a more durable player than Hemsky, also a guy who had a 100 and 92-point seasons with the Thrashers. Only Armstrong is an NHL regular, and the first-rounder, Daulton Leveille, is still playing college at Michigan State. But he’s not a star.

The question with all unrestricted free agents is whether you wait until trade deadline day (Feb. 27, 2012), when there’s e’s former associate coach Brent Peterson has a slice of his life back after his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Peterson had a remore of a bidding war, or you grab them earlier so can assimilate with the new team and you have a better read on whether you want to keep them past the playoffs. Plus teams like to wait until a player’s contract is dwindling. In Hemsky’s case, he has a cap hit of $4.1 million.

Western Conference:

Nashville’s former associate coach Brent Peterson has a slice of his life back after his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Peterson has recent surgery to implant a neuro-stimulator in his chest to fix some of his problems with walking and a right hand that simply wouldn’t work. Doctors drilled six holes in his skull and ran some wires from his ear down his neck to a Pacemaker-type battery pack.

“This is a medical miracle. It doesn’t work for everybody, but I can’t ask for anymore than I just got,” Peterson said on his cellphone this week.

Prior to the operation he was shuffling when he made his way down corridors at the hockey rink and his right hand was completely closed. He’s never going to be back on skates because his balance isn’t good enough, but “I think I’ll be back playing golf. I shuffled in (for the surgery) and I walked out (hospital). I was walking on the treadmill the other day for half an hour and hope to get running in a couple of weeks.”

Peterson can even go dancing now? Or does he have two left feet?

“No, no. I’m good. I can’t do the two-step on the ice, but I can on the dance floor,” he said.

He knows the procedure isn’t the magic elixir — it’s going to take several months for the doctors to regulate the stimulator so he’s not too hyper — but his Parkinson’s symptoms will be controlled considerably better than they were taking pills.

“I haven’t taken any medication in three days,” said Peterson, who lived on pills before the deep brain stimulation procedure. He’s still not sleeping great, he was getting by with a couple of hours a night, but that will come with time.

The doctors shaved his skull and he says he doesn’t mind the look, except that “I’ve got stitches everywhere. My head was fine, but it really hurt when they ran the wires down my neck. I’ve got big lumps there, but that’s the least of my worries.”

The neuro-stimulator will have to be replaced every three to five years.

“They’ll open me up and put another one in the pocket.”

Poker face

Former Swiss national team coach Ralph Krueger got a kick out of the wild story back home about longtime Davos coach Arno del Curto leaving a recent league game to play poker at a tournament.

“Arno’s like my neighbour, he’s a good guy. But he does eccentric things. He’s coached in Davos for 13 years and runs that team with an iron-fist. To keep things fresh, Arno would do something like that (leave to play cards),” said the Oilers associate coach Krueger. “He was the best Swiss-born coach when I was there, the only one who was able to hold on to a job. As a Swiss-born coach, I think he could get away with this (poker). I don’t think a foreigner could.”

“I had to be there (poker tournament). It was my table’s turn. I was lucky, my team was leading 3-0 and the players kept it that way,” del Curto said.

This ’n’ that

Andy Sutton, who played with Teemu Selanne in Anaheim says he’s “a freak of nature. He’s got this stutter step, a sixth gear that he uses on defencemen.” Don’t be surprised if Ducks GM Bob Murray’s phone is ringing off the hook at the trade deadline, but the only place I’d see Selanne agreeing to play is back in Winnipeg if the Jets are in a playoff hunt.

• Hall of Famer and now Toyota car dealership owner Paul Coffey says he saw Ryan Smyth with the smelling salts on the Oilers bench during a recent game. “During a game? I can’t remember taking any big hits, but I do use the salts before games. Wakes up my brain,” Smyth said.

• The Blue Jackets could be faced with a major predicament at the draft next June if they get the No. 1 pick. Do they take Russian forward Nail Yakupov after missing the boat on Nikolai Zherdev and Nikita Filatov? Ken Hitchcock had it bang-on about Filatov, who is back in Russia. He didn’t think he had the stomach to go into the areas where you have to score goals in the NHL. Zherdev? He was too much of a freelance. Jimmy Howard, a garrulous goalie (not a whole lot of those), was talking up the world juniors this week when he was here. He got to play for Team USA in the 2003 championship in Halifax. “What do I remember about that tournament? I remember the Russians lit me up in the first game,” said Howard. Alex Ovechkin had three goals. Patrick O’Sullivan scored for the Yanks from Ryan Whitney in the 5-1 loss.

• Rob Brown isn’t sure if there’s any formula to ending concussions; all he knows is he had way too many. “I probably had 10, three real bad ones. After the last one when I was playing for the Chicago Wolves, I couldn’t remember my children’s names. That’s not a good thing,” said Brown.

• When asked who the best Russian-born player in today’s NHL was Nikolai Khabibulin, cut right to the chase. “(Pavel) Datsyuk. Not even close,” said the Oilers goalie, who loves the 200-foot game Datsyuk plays, also his ability to make so many tough plays look easy.

• “If he cheated like a lot of offensive guys (more intent on playing with the puck than without it), he’d win the scoring title every year,” said Brown.

Edmonton Oil Kings GM Bob Green absolutely loves Montreal Canadiens draft pick Brendan Gallagher (Vancouver Giants), who figures to be a solid third-line NHLer with his hands and his never-say-die attitude. He was terrific at Montreal’s camp this fall. “It still bugs me to this day that I didn’t take him in the bantam draft. He had heart, always had the puck on his stick and always was involved in the play, but … He was really little. He went in the ninth round,” said Green, who feels Gallagher will be a going concern on Canada’s world junior team.

• The Ducks’ penalty-killing has gone south under new coach Bruce Boudreau, giving up 10 goals in 32 tries. “It’s kind of deteriorated hasn’t it?” said Boudreau.

• Milan Hejduk, the longest-serving Colorado Avalanche player and now their captain at 35, is now playing with former Kitchener Rangers captain Gabriel Landeskog (18) and Ryan O’Reilly (20). Landeskog was eight and O’Reilly 10 when Hejduk won a Cup in Colorado in 2001. “We all had our BlackBerrys and iPhones at camp and Hejdy pulls out this big rock from his back-pocket. I don’t even know what it was,” said Landeskog. Hejduk swears he’s had an iPhone for a year but people are skeptical.

Eastern Conference

It would be a marvellous story if Detroit Red Wings veteran D-man Nick Lidstrom tied Bobby Orr’s record for Norris trophies (eight) this year, but at 41 he might only be a Norris finalist (top three), not the winner. It’ll likely go to Nashville’s Shea Weber or Boston’s Zdeno Chara; both horses with devastating shots. Weber has more offence, but Chara is impossible to navigate around. Chara’s is the best player on the NHL’s best team. What sways it for former Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Perry Pearn is Chara’s under-the-surface nasty demeanour. “I’d say it’s Chara (as No. 1 D-man) because he’s got something nobody else has. Guys are legitimately afraid of him,” said Pearn, who was in Ottawa when Chara was making his way as a raw-boned kid for the Senators.

“I remember one night Chara grabbed Bryan McCabe, shook him two or three times, then he threw him down and one-punched him. McCabe was scrambling on the ice, and when he finally got back to his feet, he just hugged Chara as tightly as he could. I’m sure if you’d have asked McCabe was he was thinking after that fight he’d have said ‘holy, man.’ ”

Another time, an Atlanta tough guy Francis Lessard was running around and Chara stepped up for Ottawa.

“He hit Lessard so hard on the helmet, he split his forehead wide open. He was bleeding so badly as he skated by our bench, he might have been thinking ‘it’s all over for me,’ ” said Pearn.

The Queen is out in the ’Peg

If you’re into nostalgia, you might want to know that the old picture of the dour Queen Elizabeth that used to hang from one end at the now torn-down Winnipeg Arena, is in a warehouse in Whitby, Ont. these days. The custodians plan on selling it, but True North, the current Jets owners, don’t want to relive the past. They bowed to the wishes of the Winnipeg citizenry and went back to the Jets name when they probably had other names in mind, but the Queen’s mug doesn’t fit.

Jets fans can probably live with that; they’re more interested in commemorative licence plates. As we said last week, they sold 20,000 at $70 a plate, in about two days and plan another production run. Proceeds go to the Jets and the Manitoba Public Insurance folks, who look after licence plates in that province.

This ’n’ that

• Tampa Bay Lightning assistant GM Julien Brisebois will definitely be on the short list if Habs GM Pierre Gauthier gets fired after this year, but several people look at Steve Yzerman’s right-hand man as “more of a numbers guy (contracts) than a hockey guy.” Maybe, but he is a sharp guy. There’s other candidates who speak French — Claude Loiselle, who worked for seven years in the NHL’s hockey operations department and is part of Brian Burke’s Maple Leafs inner-circle in Toronto, and the colourful Marc Bergevin, the assistant GM of the Chicago Blackhawks. Bergevin would keep everybody loose with his dry wit. I agree with Elliotte Friedman that the Habs might just try to twist Bob Gainey’s arm to come back.

• They keep saying Capitals defenceman Mike Green is only out with a groin strain in Washington? Nineteen games with a right groin strain? This has all the makings of a sports hernia to me, but then I’m not a doctor. Caps defenceman Tom Poti only played 21 games last year and failed a camp medical this fall and is on long-term injury status with groin problems. He may never play again. You can catch a cold from somebody else. But this?

• Funny tweet from Brad Ziemer, the crack Canucks scribe from the Vancouver Sun. “Maybe #Habs and Tampa Bay could solve their problems by swapping coaches.” Guy Boucher, who used coach the Habs farm squad, for Randy Cunneyworth, who wouldn’t have to worry about saying bonjour mon ami. Boucher could use some saves from his netminders in Tampa, and badly misses the guidance of assistant coach Wayne Fleming, ill with cancer, too. The Tampa Bay players last week sent the former Oilers assistant coach Wayne Fleming a card with personal messages of support and a reclining medical chair so he’d be more comfortable watching their games on TV.

• Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson kept his Movember moustache through Christmas so he and his brother Henric could have a family photo with their dad Hasse, who’s long sported a ’stache. The family is visiting Daniel in Ottawa over Christmas. Alfredsson is still a point-a-game player at 39, but isn’t sure if he wants to play out the final year of his contract ($1-million salary). The Sens could trade him to a contender for sure, but his cap hit is $4.875 million.

• Lightning winger Martin St. Louis is back wearing a full cage mask, just two weeks after breaking several bones in his face when a puck smashed into him in practice. “I was hoping some scouts would be in the stands so I might get drafted,” said St. Louis, who last wore the full facial protection at U of Vermont. He lit it up there, but no NHL team drafted him because they felt he was too small.

• They’re unveiling a Phil Esposito bronze statue outside the newly named Tampa Bay Times rink on New Year’s Eve. Esposito brought hockey to Tampa Bay 20 years ago. “This is a big deal, like having your number retired. It’ll be there forever,” said Esposito.

He Said It:

“We all love him in here so far. He’s very demanding, very honest with us too. He’s so different from Terry. More vocal, just different.”

Lon Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty on Darryl Sutter taking over from Terry Murray as their coach

By the numbers:

13 Rick Nash’s plus/minus in 16 Columbus road games

13 straight road games lost by the Anaheim Ducks

3 Blue Jackets power-play goals on the major penalty to the Nashville Predators Brian McGrattan Thursday was the first by an NHL team since Philadelphia did it Feb. 21, 2004

Matty’s Short Shifts

• Is it possible the Oilers come to Ryan Smyth in late February and tell him there’s half-dozen contenders looking to trade for him because he’s an unrestricted free-agent? Absolutely, and, if the Oilers frame it right, they can assure No. 94, who should probably have his number retired here one day, that they’ll re-sign him after July 1 so he’ll have the best of both worlds.

• Maybe I’m off-base, but would Columbus GM Scott Howson actually bring in somebody who might replace him, Craig Patrick, or did the ownership talk to the NHL head office and ask who might be available to help advise on a messy situation? This is like Jay Feaster, a good smart man, coming into Calgary as assistant GM before Darryl Sutter left the Flames, isn’t it? I’m a big Howson fan, there isn’t a more honest guy in the game, but can he survive this? Heck, maybe the Jackets ownership goes to Ken Holland’s right-hand man Jim Nill after the season and offers him the moon to be their GM.

• How many times do you trade a guy who winds up scoring 500-plus goals and the kid you get back also does the same? Not a bad deal: former Calgary Flame Joe Nieuwendyk and his 564 goals were sent to the Dallas Stars for Jarome Iglina, who’s closing in on 500. Iginla had exactly 250 goals before the lockout when the NHL allowed clutch ’n’ grab and about the same since. “You’d see big men draped all over him and he’d fight through two checks to score,” said former Flames centre Craig Conroy.

• Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, who incredibly isn’t on the all-star ballot, is on pace to break Martin Brodeur’s record for wins in a season (48), with 20 already. He could play 70 games this year. Detroit doesn’t seem to have a ton of faith in its backup goalie Ty Conklin (1-4, 3.23 avg., .889 save percentage) so Howard is out there pretty much morning, noon and night. The problem with that is possibly burning him out before the playoffs. I suspect Howard will be in the all-star game in Ottawa somehow.

• I like Terry Murray. I hope he gets another NHL job, but at his age (61) and with the NHL trending younger with the odd Ken Hitchcock or Darryl Sutter blip on the screen, I’m not so sure he won’t hook up with another team as an NHL associate coach.

• People who have watched Scott Gomez closely for the last couple years say his problem is finding the conviction to be the same player that won two Cups in New Jersey. He can keep up with today’s racehorse game, but at 32 he’s not willing to put the work in to be as good as he can be. That’s a shame.

• Why has Vincent Lecavalier’s offence fallen off so much? “It’s his skating,” said one NHL GM. Lecavalier is only 31, but he’s had a roller-coaster career. Highs (108 points one year, 92 another) and lows (37 points in his fourth NHL season and what looks like two straight 50-plus seasons). He’ll hit 1,000 NHL games this year if he plays 66.

• It doesn’t look good that Avalanche coach Joe Sacco is going with 35-year-old J.S. Giguere, who is now moving better in net after hip surgery last year, and sitting Semyon Varlamov after giving up their first-and second-round draft picks next June to the Capitals for the young goalie. That was a pretty steep price for Varlamov.

Senators’ Zibanejad not your typical Swede

ALLAN MAKI, Globe and Mail, Dec. 26, 2011


He’s as homespun as Ikea and meatballs but his surname tells you he’s not your average Swedish hockey player. In fact, there’s nothing typical about Mika Zibanejad – not his name, not his game and certainly not his background.

How could you be run-of-the-norm when your dad’s an Iranian-born IT engineer for the Swedish government? When your mom’s from Finland? When you speak four languages and one of them is Farsi? And if that isn’t enough, there’s more: The 18-year-old Zibanejad has played in more NHL games (nine) than he has at the world junior championship (one).

He made his 2012 world junior debut Monday in a round-robin game against Latvia and was much like the rest of his countrymen, a little ragged but clearly ahead on skill. As the Ottawa Senators’ first-round draft pick from this past summer, Zibanejad scored twice in Sweden’s 9-4 victory here at the Scotiabank Saddledome. On both goals, on the power play, the puck was on his stick and in the back of the Latvian net before you could say Kristers Gudlevskis.

Sweden has long been a world junior contender with a knack for winning medals and its entry this year features an array of NHL draft picks (Anaheim Ducks prospect Max Friberg scored four times versus Latvia), an emerging star in Filip Forsberg and the curious mix that is Zibanejad.

Known for his ability to play beyond his years – he’s been skating against men in the Swedish Elite League – Zibanejad likes it best on North American-sized rinks because there’s more contact, more hitting. It’s how he prefers his hockey, as he has said many times.

After the Latvia game, though, he wasn’t saying a word. His coach, Roger Ronnberg, refused to make Zibanejad available to the media. Was he injured? Was there mystery afoot?

“He’s unavailable,” was all one stone-faced Swedish official said of Zibanejad. The coach offered a little more.

“It’s nice to see him shooting the puck,” Ronnberg said. “I think we saw some glimpses of his offensive skills with his skating, too. He’s also a player that works hard on defence and finishes hits. He was really good backchecking today.”

Zibanejad became a focal point story at the 2011 NHL entry draft. His father, Mehrdad, was born in Iran and lived through the country’s 1970s revolution that precipitated Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to power. Mehrdad did military duty in the Iran-Iraq war and, after securing his passport, chose to relocate to Sweden in 1983. It was there he met his Finnish wife Ritva.

Ten years later, Mika was born in Stockholm and instead of taking to tennis, his father’s sport, he fell in love with hockey. Since then, he’s been on a fast track to success, all dash and crash while under contract with Djurgadens of the SEL.

While he’s said he doesn’t model himself after any NHLer, Zibanejad has kept a close watch on Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, two players who capture the force and finesse the 6-foot-2, 196-pound Swede could one day showcase as a pro.

“He’s a really good player,” the admiring four-goal Friberg said. “Good shots, good hits.”

Zibanejad was thought to be a long shot to crack the Senators’ lineup as a rookie. But his preseason work (three goals in six games) earned him a spot for the regular-season opener. He responded with an assist, his lone point in nine games before Ottawa decided to send him back to Djurgadens. So far, it’s been a good move for both parties.

“I think [playing for Sweden at the world juniors] will benefit me on the ice,” Zibanejad has said. “To get help from the Swedes will be good.”

And getting help from Zibanejad will be good for his homeland, too. In their final pretournament game against an unbeaten Canadian team, the Swedes took a 5-3 decision with Zibanejad scoring twice, including the clincher into an empty net.

No doubt he’ll have more to say as the tournament moves along. Perhaps he may even be allowed to talk about it. He should because he’s that good.

Johnny Wilson, four-time Stanley Cup winner, dead at 82

The Canadian Press, Dec. 27, 2011


Johnny Wilson, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Detroit Red Wings, has died after a battle with lung disease. He was 82.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson announced his uncle's death on Twitter.

“My uncle, Johnny Wilson, passed away this morning at 82 yrs.He was a warrior thru & thru, right to the end.Our family will miss him dearly,” Ron Wilson tweeted on Tuesday.

A native of Kincardine, Ont., Johnny Wilson scored 161 goals and added 171 assists in 688 games with Detroit, Toronto, Chicago and the New York Rangers.

He added 14 goals and 13 assists in 66 playoff games.

Wilson won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955. He was also honoured by the NHL in 1960 for a then-record ironman streak that totalled 580 consecutive regular-season games.

Following his playing career, Wilson coached seven seasons in the NHL with Los Angeles, Detroit, Colorado and Pittsburgh. He also coached with Cleveland, Michigan and Baltimore of the WHA.

The biggest sports stories of 2011

BRUCE DOWBIGGIN, Globe and Mail, Dec. 25, 2011


The most significant sports media stories in 2011 as seen by Usual Suspects:

Bell/Rogers buy majority interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

The result? We now have programmers owning the programming, plus the systems to deliver that programming. In this case, it’s the most valuable single media property in the country – the Toronto Maple Leafs on TV and mobile sources. The deal also included rights to the Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and the Toronto Marlies.

This massive concentration of influence (we have yet to hear from the competition commissars) was a defensive move to prevent potential new buyers from creating a new system to deliver the Maple Leafs broadcasts outside Rogers’s and Bell’s existing model. The new owners are now only beginning to deal with the ramifications from this marriage.

Despite the high fives, the sides still don’t like each other. The suits assured us that it’s competition as usual. Knowing the corporate rivalry between Bell and Rogers, this is believable. But having agreed to partner on this, what will Bell/Rogers do when the national NHL TV rights (currently owned by CBC) come up for tender in the next couple of years? Why blow your brains out on a bid if you can partner again in a cozy deal?

Finally, what does it mean for editorial impartiality? Again, the early noises were “hands off,” but Leafs general manager Brian Burke now gets a cheque from the same bosses who employ his critics. What happens when he gets in high dudgeon? Whom do the bosses placate? The situation is ripe for conflict. No doubt Chinese walls will be erected, but until they’re tested the public has a right to remain skeptical.

Crosby Concussed

Concussions in hockey were already a problem, but when Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was concussed on the first day of 2011 at the Winter Classic, it precipitated a year dedicated to media scrutiny of head traumas. Combined with the deaths of three NHL players, Crosby’s serious injury (he’s played just a handful of games since) thrust the issue in the public’s face and removed the NHL’s wiggle room on concussions.

Newspapers and TV networks dedicated significant resources to a condition called CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). A frustrated Don Cherry melted down in his first Coach’s Corner of 2011-12 over ex-players suggesting concussions might be fight-related. And a New York Times feature on deceased fighter Derek Boogaard exposed hockey’s dirty little secrets to the American market.

Grantland/Sportsnet Magazine

While traditional sports media lost ground on many fronts, long-form sports journalism had a great year. ESPN spun Bill Simmons off into his own site, Grantland (after Grantland Rice), which commissions top writers to indulge the 2,500-word format. A mixture of insight, humour and gambling advice, Grantland raised the bar across the business.

Likewise, Sportsnet introduced a glossy new bi-weekly publication to extend the Rogers brand. A synthesis of glossy photos and articles from noted Canadian writers, it’s a bold experiment that gambles that the company’s high profile in sports can be extended to the magazine rack in a challenging era for print media.

TSN 1050 Radio starts in April

TSN’s challenge to Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s supremacy in Toronto sports radio seemed more significant before the MLSE machinations (see above). But with TSN Radio and The Fan splitting the Maple Leafs’ 2012-13 radio rights equally between the stations, TSN lost the chance to distinguish itself from the established heavyweight. Hard to see where TSN goes with this until Bob McCown leaves The Fan, not that that’s imminent.

CFL TV ratings plummet

There were good reasons the league’s average TV ratings on TSN/RDS went from 876,000 in 2010 down to 700,000 in 2011. The collapse of the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders led the way. But with the 100th Grey Cup celebrations set for Toronto next November, and CFL commissioner Mark Cohon angling for a new contract, the league needs to create some momentum fast.

CBC loses FIFA World Cup soccer to CTV after 2015

Tough blow for CBC, losing soccer’s greatest TV property after carrying the last few men’s and women’s tournaments. It’s almost accepted the network will lose the NHL national rights eventually; soccer was the likely substitute. Not that CBC was bitter; Kirstine Stewart, executive vice-president, CBC English Services, blew a public kiss to Bell, which owns CTV Inc., on its purchase of the shares of the Leafs. After all, the two networks are partners in bidding for the next Olympics TV rights package.

NBC/Comcast merger/HBO’s 24/7

The merger of NBC and Comcast was important for the NHL’s profile in the United States, which benefited from the cross-platform opportunities afforded by NBC’s array of channels. NBC also boosted Golf Channel’s profile, too, as it added its network logo to the title. If NBC Universal decides to use NBC Sports Channel (formerly Versus) to challenge ESPN, it could do even more for hockey’s profile. 24/7’s second year also boosted hockey in the U.S., with Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov becoming a crossover star.

Twitter

Usual Suspects discovered the tweet possibilities of the social network this year. Apparently so did many others. By year’s end, Twitter had become an accepted, even vital part of doing business in sports journalism. Follow your favourite journos, comedians, philosophers and Metta World Peace. The world in 140 characters. What’s not to like?

Panthers have some real bite

Mike Zeisberger, QMI Agency, Dec 26 2011


Prior to the arrival of former Maple Leaf Kris Versteeg and friends, this was hockey’s version of The Island of Misfit Toys.

Indeed, the world of the Florida Panthers pretty much was a depressing place in the decade leading up to the 2011-12 NHL season. Losing was a way of life. South Florida fans seemed disinterested. Stories of potential financial ruin were plentiful.

Remember the old adage about selling you some swampland in Florida? With Florida’s beautiful arena situated just a slapshot away from the Everglades, it seems the Panthers actually purchased that very thing.

But, thanks to additions like Versteeg and Brian Campbell, the willingness of owner Cliff Viner to finally spend money, and a winning formula between GM Dale Tallon and first-year coach Kevin Dineen, these are not your father’s Florida Panthers.

Sure, it will take time to entrench this franchise on the south Florida sporting radar. And after the injury-ravaged team, missing seven regulars from its lineup, suffered an 8-0 thumping to the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on Friday, the odd widecrack of “Same ol’ Panthers” could be heard.

Having said that, such drubbings have been few and far between for these Panthers, who found themselves coming off the Christmas break atop the Southeast Division standings.

When is the last time they could make that claim heading into the new year?

Versteeg is a prime example of how a kid unwanted or deemed expendable by so many others, has found a home here.

In the past 18 months Versteeg has played for four teams. After winning the Stanley Cup in Chicago, the Blackhawks shipped him to the Leafs. Toronto eventually sent him to the Philadelphia Flyers for a cache of draft picks. And when the cap-stressed Flyers opted not to retain him at the end of last season, Tallon, part of the Hawks management team when Versteeg was there, snapped him up.

Why the lucrative early-season success in Florida for Versteeg, whose 16 goals entering the Christmas break put him among the league leaders?

“First off I think he’s healthy,” Tallon explained. “He had off-season sports hernia surgery. Secondly we have a good relationship. Thirdly, he’s playing with (Steven) Weiss and (Tomas) Fleischmann and they developed chemistry from training camp on. And I like his spunk, his personality. He’s fun to be around.

“In Chicago they had success and he won a Cup. They had cap issues so it was not so much his play. It was a matter of the business side. Expectations were high in Toronto and Philly had cap issues. That probably had a role in if he was going to re-sign or not.

“I wanted to bring back to Florida someone who wanted to win and who I had a relationship with. I wanted it to be a fun environment here with people who enjoy the process and not have guys not enjoying where they were.”

Tallon, whose Panthers host the Leafs on Tuesday, knows “changing the culture,” as he calls it, won’t happen overnight. There will still be empty seats and game stories buried pages deep inside the local sports sections. But there has been progress, however minor.

‘Good place’

“I’m surprised a little bit at how the success has come so early,” he said. “ All the credit goes to Kevin and his staff, and the players for working so hard since training camp.

“It’s changing, slowly but surely, I think we are getting into a good place. We’re starting to feel the energy. It’s a good positive upbeat feel right now. A lot more buzz. More media coverage, more walk-up ... All those things are starting to come.

“It just takes time.”

There are still gimmicky ticket promotions. For example, if you spend $25 or more at a local Hair Cuttery on any Tuesday that the Panthers play, you receive two “complimentary” tickets to a Panthers home game.

Mohawk anyone?

If you believe the league’s figures (and many skeptics don’t), the Panthers finished 22nd in attendance last season with an average gate of 15,685. This season, they are 21st at 15,765.

Baby steps? Sure.

But any steps in these parts, however small, must be construed as positive.



WILL TICKET SALES HEAD NORTH

SUNRISE, Fla. — More games against the Leafs, Sens, Habs = more snowbirds = more $$$.

When it comes to the NHL’s proposed realignment that would see the Florida Panthers join Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, Buffalo and Tampa in the same conference, that is the key formula. With so many Canadians and folks from the northern U.S. now living or visiting south Florida, the Panthers are hoping that the new format will result in increased ticket sales.

“I think it’ll be good for us from a business side,” Panthers GM Dale Tallon said.

“We’re going to get three Original 6 teams who come to our building three times each. It’s a little more travel, sure, but it is what it is.

“Overall it’s what’s best for the league and it’s what’s best for hockey, not just what’s best for Florida.”

Women’s hockey league searches for recognition

Rachel Brady, Globe and Mail, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011


Late on a Saturday night in the narrow back hallways of Toronto’s Varsity Arena, Canadian hockey Olympian Caroline Ouellette jogged and stretched alongside her Montreal Stars teammates. There were no corners cut in the elite players’ postgame routine, even though they would spend 12 hours on a bus that weekend and play two games before a few hundred people.

A few blocks east of the rink, holiday shoppers and bar-goers packed Toronto’s Bloor Street, few if any realizing some of the world’s best female hockey players were on display minutes away for $8 a ticket. The Stars earned a 4-3 comeback win over the Brampton Hockey Club in a game full of the same women who won gold in Vancouver before the eyes of millions.

That’s life in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, the premier post-university playing ground for the sport’s elite women, including Olympic and world champions like Canadians Gillian Apps, Tessa Bonhomme and Jayna Hefford, and American star Angela Ruggiero. Progress is slow for the league that started five years ago, and the NHL has yet to respond to the CWHL’s requests for sponsorship. But these women aren’t sitting around waiting for others to determine the fate of their league.

“My dream is to have our team introduced at the Bell Centre before a Habs game with the Clarkson Cup that we won, just to have that exposure,” Ouellette said. “People appreciate the differences between men’s and women’s tennis, so why not hockey? I believe they could appreciate our finesse game if we could just get our league known.”

The NHL hired former WNBA president Val Ackerman to observe women’s hockey globally. The CWHL says Ackerman has visited its games and focused on information gathering rather than feedback to the CWHL. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly would only say: “It’s still a work in progress. Val’s perspective has been enormously helpful.” Ackerman did not reply to interview requests.

“Whether the NHL sponsors our league or they sponsor another female hockey group, we’ll be proud that the CWHL sat at that table and pushed the envelope and got them thinking about it,” CWHL commissioner Brenda Andress said. “The NHL has been very nice to us and continues to say they support women’s hockey, so in what way they will support it is what everyone is waiting to see.”

The CWHL has teams in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Brampton, Ont., Burlington, Ont., and a new one in Alberta, all league-owned. To limit travel costs, Alberta is playing only 15 games at four points this season, compared to 30 for everyone else. A lack of resources limits the league in such ways and prevents it from being a truly professional operation.

The entire six-team operation runs on $500,000 a year, its players don’t make a dime, and its game attendance rarely cracks a few hundred. The CWHL has few paid employees. Andress gets a part-time wage, and coaches will be paid for the first time, a modest $15,000 to help curb the high turnover rate behind the benches.

Players have to pay for sticks, skates and meals on the road, so they need jobs. They work as teachers, police officers, personal trainers and hockey coaches, often getting home from a weekend of games in the wee hours of a Monday, just before work.

“If players have to work, we have to give them that time and respect, because they need to make a living,” Chris Brennan, coach of the Toronto Furies, said. “The balance is quite a challenge because it’s rare that we have a full roster at practice, and that’s common throughout the league.”

A professional women’s league in Switzerland has often tempted many CWHL players, offering a small monthly salary to play there along with some living expenses.

“For me, there has always been a temptation to play in Switzerland and make a little pocket money and travel, but knowing how competitive the hockey is here, this is the environment I want to be in,” said U.S. Olympian Julie Chu, who coaches hockey at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and travels to play with the Stars in Montreal. “I’m passionate about improving as much as I can and the CWHL now is my avenue to hopefully make the 2014 U.S. Olympic team.”

The league that once had no one but family in the stands has enjoyed progress. It now has a draft, albeit one in which players specify if they want to play outside the Greater Toronto Area. The league has paired with charities to play outreach games, sometimes pulling in 1,000 fans. Bauer now provides pants, gloves and helmets, while Scotiabank and Winsport are key sponsors. There is now a players’ association. The CWHL is pitching European businesses on sponsoring Olympians from Sweden, Finland and others to join the league.

The league vows to bring more attention to its national championship tournament this year, the Clarkson Cup. The Stanley Cup of women’s hockey, donated by former governor-general Adrienne Clarkson, is awarded every March before a sparse crowd, so the CWHL will do a media launch in advance so people anticipate this year’s event in Niagara Falls, Ont. The league also anticipates streaming games online soon.

“I see this growing as a professional women’s league and I think we’ll accomplish that in the next five years,” said league co-founder Sami Jo Small, Toronto Furies goalie and Canadian Olympian. “Not necessarily big salaries, but there will be salaries for all players, I believe that.”

Proteau: 2011 Top 5 NHLers, issues, interviews...

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2011-12-28


The end of the calendar year always brings with it the temptation to write best-of type lists and this year I’m offering no defense when facing that temptation. Here are a few top-five-in-2011 rankings, some with explanations and others just straight-ahead lists:

Five NHLers I've most enjoyed watching in the calendar year:

Tim Thomas. Unpredictable to the point his style can’t be taught. In a sport filled with giant goalies with robotic form, Thomas is a thrill unto himself – and still the biggest driver of Boston’s success.

Jonathan Toews. With Sidney Crosby sidelined indefinitely, the Hawks captain is the most complete player in the game. His personality is much more Sphinx than Shaq, but his on-ice dominance is so thorough – he’s on pace for new career highs in goals and points – it’s hard to believe he’s just 23 and continuing to improve.

Nicklas Lidstrom. With his 42nd birthday looming in April, he’s still the defenseman most NHL people would want on the ice for them in the last minute of a game. And if he continues his current standard of play the rest of the year he’ll have my vote for the Norris Trophy, just as he got it last season.

Dwayne Roloson. Now, I haven’t enjoyed him during the 2011-12 campaign (in which he’s been abysmal), but during Tampa’s improbable playoff run last spring, Roloson was a force to behold. Here’s hoping he can recapture the magic one more time.

Sheldon Souray. There’s not much that’s better than a good comeback story and nobody had a better one than the Stars blueliner. The confidence on his face night in and night out was created out of American League bus rides last season – and it’s been a pleasure watching him enjoying the fruits of fighting his way back.

Five biggest issues facing the NHL in 2012:

1. Headshots/Concussions.
2. New collective bargaining agreement.
3. Downward trajectory of overall goals-per-game average.
4. Hard-shell player equipment.
5. Speed of the game.

Favorite Five Hockey-Related Interviews:

1. Ron Wilson. He gives some local media members conniption fits, but I’ve found the Leafs head coach to be nothing but engaging, humorous and insightful since he’s been in Toronto. His new contract extension and the team’s drastically improved talent base will give him a chance to show what he can really do.

2. David Perron. I’ve talked to the young Blues star a couple times in 2011 and he’s always been one of the smartest, most outspoken NHLers when it comes to player safety. Like Mike Bossy, Serge Savard, Ken Dryden, Mario Lemieux and others before him, Perron thinks the game can be better in many regards and has bravely used his platform to question establishment dogma. That’s something clingers-to-the-status-quo and hockey exceptionalists should consider before attempting to shout down and arrogantly dismiss those who don’t share their views on the game.

3. Jaromir Jagr. When I had 20 minutes with the Czech legend in Buffalo in December, he was as contemplative with each question as anyone I’ve ever interviewed. Part of that was because he was searching for the words in his second tongue, but also he gave me the impression he wanted to give me a considerate answer. And he did. Small wonder he’s become the Flyers’ most requested interview in short order.

4. Aaron Ward/Bobby Holik (tie). These two former NHLers, multiple-time Stanley Cup winners and TV analysts aren’t beholden to either the league or NHLPA and care deeply about the sport and those who play it. The jury isn’t out on either guy – they’re both going to be important voices in the hockey world for a long time to come.

5. Jay Baruchel. The Montreal native and actor/writer was a blast to chat with in December regarding his new hockey movie “Goon.” Many movie stars before him have used the sport to boost their own fortunes, but it’s clear Baruchel wanted to make his film as a tribute to the sport he adores. And you needn’t be a media person to talk to him – he’s one of the most personable celebrities on Twitter.

Five teams that still need a serious shakeup:

1. Calgary
2. Columbus
3. Islanders
4. Anaheim
5. Montreal

Five most inexplicable happenings of the year:

1. Virtually Anything Pierre Gauthier Did. Whether it was firing assistant coach Perry Pearn and then head coach Jacques Martin or trading an expiring contract in Jaroslav Spacek for Tomas Kaberle, nothing the Canadiens GM did seemed like part of a bigger blueprint for success. He most likely will be dismissed in the off-season, after which time he can pursue his dream of a career in the media. (Just seeing if you’re paying attention.)

2. Darryl Sutter, new Kings coach. The optics of Sutter’s sullen demeanor in sunny Los Angeles were odd enough, but the idea his coaching chops are what a young team like the Kings needs is even odder. Let’s see how modern and “good” he is with the players after a five-game losing skid.

3. Tomas Kaberle’s contract with the Hurricanes. How many times has an NHL GM ever publicly stated he made a huge mistake on a free agent signing the way Jim Rutherford did after he found a sucker…er, I mean, willing trade partner for Kaberle? I can’t think of any, but nobody was arguing with the Hurricanes GM when he said it. More evidence a team just can’t help itself, internal budget constraints or no internal budget constraints.

4. The Wild’s move up the Western Conference standings (well, at least for a while there). Few people I spoke with thought the Wild would be a playoff contender, let alone literally in the West’s top position as they were for a short stretch. They’ve been in a tailspin with seven straight losses since mid-December, but maybe Minnesota isn’t as far away from being a post-season franchise as we/I thought.

5. Brian Elliott, world-beater. He appeared destined for lifelong backup status after bouncing between Ottawa and Colorado the past two seasons, but Elliott’s fortunes have completely reversed this season: He’s first among all goalies in shutouts (four) and goals-against average (1.55) and is tied for first in save percentage (.943). Best of all for him, he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer. If he continues to play well, watch for either (a) Philly to sign him to a nine-year, $51-million contract; or (b) Columbus to sign him by giving him half-ownership in the franchise.

Team Denmark's family trio

QMI Agency, Dec 27 2011


They might as well be hockey's first family of Denmark.

With head coach Todd Bjorkstrand and his two sons, Patrick and Oliver, all with the national team at the 2012 World Junior Championships, they're representing both nation and name in Edmonton this week.

After growing up in the U.S. hockey hub of Minneapolis, Todd spent time in the minor pro leagues before leaving the continent to pursue a 12-year career in the Danish Super League with Herning.

Both his sons were born there.

"At the time, I was playing in the IHL, so it was an opportunity to go over there for one year and move on, but that didn't happen," said Todd, who moved from the ice to behind the bench of the Herning Blue Foxes after notching 1,100 career points and four league MVP honours.

"I signed for another year and met my wife (Janne). We got married, and I've been over there for 21 years now."

The last two of which he has spent coaching the junior national squad, which was joined by 16-year-old Oliver this year to complete the family's international trifecta.

"It's a special feeling," said the 5-foot-10, 156-pound Oliver. "Me and Patrick, we play on the same line in Denmark and my dad's the coach there also, so we're used to it. It helps a lot."

As does having their father's footsteps to follow as they pursue pro careers.

"It's special, with your dad and what he's accomplished," said Patrick, 19.

"You always try to live up to that, but I have never really felt that much pressure and he's never really put that much pressure on me.

"He just wants me to be happy and love what I do. I want to do well, so I put a lot of pressure on myself."

Determination is a trait the brothers share.

"We both want to make it to the NHL," said Patrick.

"It's a long road, but we want to do what it takes ... and I think we can accomplish it if we work hard."

And the world junior championship offers them a big step in the right direction.

"It's been unbelievable," Patrick said. "I've never been in a hockey stadium this packed."

Opening night of the tournament saw Denmark lose 11-3 to the U.S. in a game that featured both homelands of the Bjorkstrands.

"I'm from Minnesota, I'm a hockey player. They've been around it their whole lives and everything," said Todd, who reunites with family members in the U.S. as often as possible.

"We go there every summer. I love it in Minnesota," said the 6-foot, 191-pound Patrick.

"It's like a second home, I think."

Communication is key to the success of their father/ coach relationship -- though the Bjorkstrands use different languages to achieve it.

"I've always spoken English," Patrick said.

"My dad, he started when I was a little kid and I speak Danish to my mom and English to my dad. He can speak Danish, but of course he prefers English.

"We've always been used to it, it's just natural for us."

While Todd understands the language of his transplanted home, he said he runs his practices in English. It's not due to a lack of effort -- he made a courageous-but-accent- challenged attempt to speak Danish early on -- but has since been urged to stick with his mother tongue.

"Most players speak English," Oliver said. "So they know what he says and I don't think it's a problem."

HOCKEY HOME: Herning,

Denmark, is not only home to the Bjorkstrands, but also the country's oldest and newest NHL draftees. Frans Nielsen was taken 87th overall in 2002 by the New York Islanders, while Oshawa Generals right winger and current junior national team member Nicklas Jensen was taken 29th overall by the Vancouver Canucks this year.

Johnson: Team Sweden, where the name remains the same

George Johnson, Postmedia News December 27, 2011


CALGARY — Stands to reason that an 18-year-old Swede named Forsberg would select as his favourite all-time hockey hero maybe, say, a Mats Sundin. Or a Nick Lidstrom. Markus Naslund, as a doff of the butterfly-wing-thin Jofa helmet to nostalgia. Or perhaps one of those precocious copycat twins out Vancouver way.

But no. Against all odds, flying in the face of logic, he picks — “Peter Forsberg,’’ replies Filip Forsberg.

And no, the kid’s no kin. Not a son. A nephew. Not even a distant second cousin removed, remotely linked by some relative’s wife’s third marriage on the outskirts of Ostervala.

“Sorry,’’ he confesses wearily. “Not at all.’’

Thanks for asking.

“Since I’ve come to this tournament,’’ sighs Forsberg, “I’ve answered that question like, 10 times before.

“It’s an honour to be compared to him.’’

If only by name?

“In some small way.’’

So, Forsberg picks Forsberg.

Who’d have thought?

“I’ve tried to watch him as much as I can. Some late games, it was hard to watch. But the national team’s games I have seen. I have seen his tributes many times on the YouTube.

“He could do everything. Not the biggest guy on the ice but one of the toughest. I really liked the way he used his own body to protect himself and protect the puck.

“Of course, I take some pieces of (other players’) games to make my game better; to learn from all the guys I watch on TV.’’

The WinSport Arenas are a clearing house for Pool A world junior teams on this Tuesday late morning. The density of traffic, comings and goings, are on par with the airport hub in Frankfurt.

Those are the Latvians trooping off Ice Sheet 1 to make way for the Russians. Slovakia has vacated No. 2, and the Swiss are clomping over from their dressing room. Sweden, meanwhile, has just finished a brisk hour-long workout on No. 3.

In such controlled chaos, it’s easy for Filip Forsberg to get lost in the shuffle.

Not that he can count on that for very much longer.

“I’ve always dreamed of being in the spotlight, of course,’’ confesses Forsberg, an anticipated top-five selection in the upcoming summer’s NHL draft.

“I want to play in the NHL against the best players in the world. But first of all I have to be drafted. Then I’ve got one year left on my contract (with Leksands IF of the Allsvenskan) back home. So when the time is right, I have to make a decision.’’

Swedish coach Roger Ronnberg is confident when the decisive moment arrives, this kid will make the right call.

“He’s really mature. You can’t believe he was born in ‘94. Sometimes it feels like you’re talking to your older brother.

“He has a unique attitude, character. How should I say . . . he has the self-confidence to look at himself from outside. The way he approaches the game, fantastic. It doesn’t matter if we are here in the practice rink or we are playing Canada in Rexall.

“He’s the same kid.

“Just competing, chasing the puck.’’

The 1-0 Swedes are faced with a tricky test Wednesday versus a Swiss team that played infinitely better than a 3-0 loss against pre-tourney co-favourites Russia would suggest. With a showdown looming against the Russians on New Year’s Eve for first place in the group, the ambitious Swedes can’t afford an unexpected slip-up.

“They have good skaters, as us,’’ adjudged Ronnberg. “They work hard, as us. They forecheck well, backcheck well, block shots and have a lot of offensive threats in the lineup. We are aware of that.

“We know it’s going to be a really tough game.’’

Much, as always, is expected of this Swedish group, particularly after slaying Canada in a pre-tournament game. Ronnberg, though, isn’t about to start blaring trumpets and tossing confetti.

“I don’t want to talk about expectations,’’ counters the coach. “I want to talk about dreams, about goals. Our dream, our goal, is to win the gold. But we have to conquer the gold. We will never be given the gold.

“If we play our best hockey in the right games, sure we can take it. But it comes down to one or two games. We are really humble about that.’’

He has passed that humility down to his players.

“Of course,’’ echoes Forsberg, “we’re going for the gold. But we don’t think of ourselves as the favourites at this tournament. The Russians are obviously good. And Canada, too. So maybe we are little on the outside.

“I like it that way.

“It doesn’t matter if we play our best games here at the beginning and then lose in the semifinal. After that it’s . . . over. So we need to grow through the whole tournament.’’

The growth of the collective is naturally deeply entwined with the ongoing growth of its budding star.

So what’s in a name, anyway?

Plenty, if you’re a highly-touted Swede and it happens to be Forsberg.

“They have differences in the way they play, of course,’’ says Ronnberg. “But it’s a good comparison. Because the most important part of Peter Forsberg is the way he was competing. Always competing. Doing everything it takes to win a hockey game.

“Filip is the same.’’

Related? Maybe not by blood . . .

Finland upsets U.S. at world juniors

Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, Dec. 28, 2011


At times it looked more like a cartoon than a hockey game.

There were the formidable Americans – long, gangly kids stepping over the boards like giraffes – up against the already-dismissed Finns (courtesy of Canada’s 8-1 Boxing Day blowout), the shorter, stockier Europeans more like Shetland ponies in need of a boost to vault the boards.

And yet, and yet …

This was not the Finnish team of the Dec. 26 embarrassment. That game had been all about stage fright and Canadian bounces, a strong home team pouncing on an early lead and racing with it while the Finns grew increasingly eager for the game to end.

This Finnish team had a fresh face in goal, Sami Aittokallio, and a fresh sheet of ice on which to rewrite their ugly tournament story. And they did exactly that, this time enjoying home crowd advantage with the cheers for their white and blue coming from the red and white of those thousands of Canadian fans who had tickets to this game but not to the later match featuring Canada against the Czech Republic. Nor was this the U.S. team of the 2010 world junior championship held in Saskatoon, where they skated at warp speed and stunned a very strong Canadian team in the gold-medal game with a 6-5 overtime win.

This American team is mostly huge – defenceman Jarred Tinordi the hugest at 6 foot 7 – but Wednesday afternoon at Rexall Place they appeared slow relative to the darting Finns and, strangely, complacent while the Finns were feisty. Unless matters change, and dramatically, it hardly bodes well for the New Year’s Eve centrepiece of this tournament, when the rival Canadians and Americans are scheduled to meet in the final game before the tournament centres in Calgary to decide the medals.

While the Americans outshot the Finns 24-9 by the end of two periods, that statistic told next to nothing of the game. The Finns were ahead 1-0 when, off a cycle play in the right corner, Miikka Salomaki was allowed to walk out and roof a wrist shot past the glove of U.S. goaltender John Gibson.

At the other end, Aittokallio was superb and perfectly positioned on all direct shots, though he did allow a goal 19 seconds into the third period when Brandon Saad was left alone in front of the Finnish crease and tipped in a cross-ice pass from Emerson Etem.

How the Finns went on to win this game hinged on perhaps the most powerful force in this tournament – not speed, not size, but poor youthful judgment.

With the Americans pressing hard in the third period, the U.S. team was given a power play, only to have Gibson squander that by immediately taking an unnecessary interference penalty.

The Finns were able to turn that faux pas into renewed energy, with Joel Armia scoring on a partial breakaway by slipping the puck through Gibson’s five-hole. Then, a half minute later, the Finns went ahead 3-1 when a cross-ice pass clicked in off the skate of U.S. defenceman Jon Merrill. That goal was credited to Mikael Granlund.

Granlund’s brother, Markus, then helped set up Arnia for his second goal of the game, a week effort that Gibson should easily have stopped.

By the time the buzzer went, the dismissed Finnish teens had whipped the vaunted U.S. teens 4-1 in a game that no one but a proud Finnish grandparent could have predicted.

But then, that is the true beauty of the world juniors.

Where everything is possible.

The Sacre Bleu Issue With the Canadiens' New Coach
And the rest of the week in the NHL

Katie Baker, GRANTLAND.COM, Dec 22, 2011


When the Montreal Canadiens fired coach Jacques Martin over the weekend, it wasn't a shocking move. The team, floundering in last place in the Northeast Division, needed a shakeup. And while the Canadiens' head-coaching job has long been a revolving door, they weren't even the quickest in the league to send it spinning: Five other NHL teams had already canned their head coaches this season. The biggest surprise of Martin's dismissal was that it hadn't already happened, or that GM Pierre Gauthier hadn't been let go also.

Nor was it particularly unusual to promote an assistant coach to the top job. Plenty of NHL coaches have gotten their big break that way, just as plenty of others have served their temporary roles as placeholder and stepped back down once a flashier or flat-out-better replacement was found.

But when the Canadiens announced that an assistant coach would be filling the void on an interim basis, the reaction in and around some parts of Montreal was trés scandalisé. That's because Randy Cunneyworth ne parle pas Français.

"Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson is seeking to soothe tensions in the city after hiring a unilingual anglophone head coach," announced CTV, gravely.

Several angered nationalist groups called for boycotts of Molson products. Molson himself issued a statement: "Although our main priority remains to win hockey games and to keep improving as a team, it is obvious that the ability for the head coach to express himself in both French and English will be a very important factor in the selection of the permanent head coach."

"The coach of the Canadiens is the most scrutinized personality in Quebec," explained Journal de Montreal columnist Denis Poissant.1 "Even more than the prime minister, Celine Dion and even [Quebec City mayor] Regis Labeaume."

Indeed, many in Montreal cherish the Canadiens as a cultural institution, a civic phenomenon, an entity that transcends plain old sports. Serge Savard, the legendary former GM, said that the team "belongs to the people." And the vast majority of those people speak French … even if the overwhelming majority of the Canadiens roster does not.

But none of this is about the composition of this particular Montreal lineup, nor is it even about Cunneyworth. This is a broader issue, much the way the Canadiens are envisioned to be some broader symbol. This same conversation is had any and every time there's a vacancy, whether it be on the coaching staff or on the depth chart. Greg Wyshynski recalls various outrages over non-Francophone captains, as well as "dozens of draft picks and other transactions made out of concern for culture."

It's fine to do things out of concern for culture, and the franchise is free to operate in whatever way it sees fit. But it can also be incredibly limiting. Travis Hughes surveyed the NHL landscape and found that the array of French-speaking coaches out there is pretty slim pickins. Of course, there is that one "perfect" solution, the one talked about incessantly whenever a coaching change appears imminent: Patrick Roy. Questioned this weekend about whether he'd consider it, he chose his words carefully. "Yes, it is certain I would listen if the Canadiens called," he said (presumably in French).

For the time being, though, the Habs stand just three points out of the playoffs (although it's a crowded and competitive three points). And Cunneyworth has a merciful bit of breathing room for the rest of 2011 — the Canadiens don't play their next home game until January 4. He already seems to be getting in practice.

"J'aime bien Randy Cunneyworth," Twittered Renaud Lavoie, a hockey reporter for the French-speaking Canadian network RDS, yesterday. "Je viens de le croiser et il m'a dit en français 'Salut comment ça va ?' avec un sourire."

For those unilingual Anglophones among us, that meant: "I like Randy Cunneyworth, we just crossed and he said in French "Hi how are you?" with a smile."

Last night we were treated to episode two of HBO's 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the NHL Winter Classic. Watching the four-episode series is bittersweet, like reading a really great book: You rue your progress, wanting to read the next page but hating that it'll put you that much closer to the end. I'm devastated that we're already halfway there.

Some observations:

Peter Laviolette Would Be Great on HFBoards.com: One of my favorite small moments was coach Laviolette skating up alongside Scott Hartnell in practice to quietly congratulate him on his 200th goal, which led to this exchange regarding the coach's own brief NHL career:

Laviolette: That's 200 more than me.
Hartnell: You didn't get one?
Laviolette: …12 games.

And Laviolette's rally sputter of "Typical Montreal" to show his displeasure with the officials at the Bell Centre (this one in particular, I believe) was great for two reasons: (a) see above, and (b) taken in conjunction with his point-proving war of attrition with the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this season, it painted a picture of an NHL coach who shares many a fed-up viewpoint with even the most passionate NHL fans among us. Now, let's just hope that the show got some good footage last night of him shoving Dallas' Steve Ott.

Officiating Is an Art, Not a Science: As they did last year, HBO included footage from inside the officials' locker room, which yielded some F-bombs as well as some interesting chatter about the reasons (some sketchy) for some of their on-ice decisions. But nothing was as direct as the mics picking up one official skating alongside the Flyers' Max Talbot, who had just been called for a penalty, and admitting it had been a bad call. "But sometimes you just accumulate things," he said. Terry Gregson must have loved that.

Too Little on Pronger, Too Late on Giroux: For all the inside access we're promised with the show, it seemed like kind of a cop-out to show the news that team captain Chris Pronger is out for the season with a concussion by just showing footage of a coach's press conference, as Pierre LeBrun wrote. As for Claude Giroux, his return to the ice after a concussion of his own took place too late — last night as well — to work it into the show. A pity, because Giroux recorded a goal and three assists in the game. (Still, the scene of the team doctor asking him how his head felt during any texting was fun.)

Even When He's Nice, John Tortorella Is Kind of a Hard-ass: Of course, the big lump-in-throat story was that of 10-year-old Liam, a huge Rangers fan with cerebral palsy who befriended John Tortorella at an MSG Garden of Dreams event. (I would do anything to read their text messages.) As "awww"-inducing as the Liam plot was, I had to laugh when Tortorella explained that following the kid's hip surgery over the summer, the Rangers coach checked in with Liam frequently because he felt "he was getting a little lazy" with his rehab. Stop projecting your feelings about Wojtek Wolski onto innocent children, Torts!

The Show Has Become Self-Aware: Last week's episode brought us the hilarity of Philadelphia goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov espousing on "the universe," sacred tigers, and Chinese law. This week, Bryz walked into a team meal the way Forrest Gump boarded a bus: His teammates, having watched the program,2 had no desire to sit near him. (Jagr literally moved his tray to another table.) It was playful … but also kind of not? I dunno, I felt a little bit bad for Bryz, although I guess it's hard to feel bad for someone who proceeds to happily sit down and begin comparing his "blue-eyed" Siberian husky to "basically a hot girl, man."3 In another ouroboric scene, a pair of Flyers rookies lay in their hotel room and discussed how crazy it is to be on a team with Jagr. "He was on Sega Genesis," said Zac Rinaldo. "I used to play that game religiously … I was Eric Lindros."

My Parents Enjoyed the Show, Too: Because I am a person who writes things on the Internet for a living, it's essentially part of my contract that I must at some point operate from my mother's basement. And so, after calling my parents last week and informing them that in advance of my trip home for the holidays they needed to get HBO (with the same tone I once used to procure Trapper Keepers during back-to-school sales — Mo-om, I neeeeeed it! Loveyouthanks!), it was only fair to sit down and watch the show as a family. It was cool to see the things that they, the elusive "casual fans" whom 24/7 is designed to reach, latched onto. My dad was visibly amped to see John McEnroe playing guitar with Henrik Lundqvist, but he was a tough crowd: "They're terrible," he declared. And while I was busy giggling over inside-hockey things like Laviolette sputtering "typical Montreal," my mother had her own take: "What!?" she exclaimed. "Didn't the reffers see that?"

Piling on the Pylons: The Week's Worst Performances

Terry Pegula, the natural-gas magnate who poured megabucks into the Sabres franchise this offseason, has, like most moneymen these days, grown unhappy with the return on his investment. After his team fell 8-3 to the Penguins Saturday — a particularly annoying loss for the Pennsylvania native — a frustrated Pegula snarked to the press: "We saw some great goaltending tonight, didn't we?" before suggesting that his daughter might have been better in net.5

A few days later, Sabres president Ted Black — "Pegula's trusted lieutenant," per ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun — unloaded on the team in his own way. "I don't know of a coach that has done so much with so little for so long than Lindy [Ruff]," he said.

While the Sabres are only a point out of the playoffs, the vibe surrounding the franchise has become increasingly bleak. The team has battled injuries and been rattled by mediocre goaltending — the one thing most people assumed they could rely on.

Black continued, admitting: "I recognize the inherent cruelty of asking fans who have been through 40 winters of disappointment to have patience or to ask them to have a sense of hope and promise."

Inherent cruelty? Winters of disappointment? Buffalo is starting to sound more like Westeros — a place where things end up badly for just about everyone involved.

Taking It Coast to Coast: A Lap Around the League

White Cover Mag got into the holiday spirit by assigning a Christmas movie quote to a player on every NHL team. Alex Ovechkin gets a line from Bad Santa: "Are you saying there's something wrong with my gear?" while the Minnesota Wild's Matt Cullen is like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation: "If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now." I have to admit, I'm a little sad he didn't go with the "You're what the French call les incompétents" for … well, you know who.

Beware the boards. First San Jose's Martin Havlat got caught up while trying to hop onto the ice; the team announced today that the injury-ridden player will now miss up to two more months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his hamstring. (OW.) On the brighter side, this botched hit by the New Jersey Devils' Cam Janssen that left him comically upended on his own bench inspired NHL.com's merry band of mischief-makers to go with the video headline: "Janssen in the Dark." Someone at league HQ is a Bruce fan!

The Washington Capitals' Mike Knuble played in his 1,000th career game Tuesday, making him the second-oldest player to reach the milestone. He was given a silver stick, a Tiffany crystal, and a certificate for a Sea-Doo. Best of all, the Capitals won the game, topping the Predators 4-1 and getting goals from the guys they're supposed to be getting goals from: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Alexander Semin. (Troy Brouwer added a score as well.)

The Toronto Maple Leafs' Colby Armstrong, who has been plagued by one injury after another, tried to conceal a concussion he received in a game Saturday night against Vancouver. Liam McHugh of NBC Sports asked VP of player safety Brendan Shanahan about the incident during the Flyers-Stars pregame show last night. "I think players are getting adequately educated, and the Colby Armstrong situation is actually a great example," Shanahan said. "He was probably outed by teammates or coaches. The peer pressure used to be that you weren't telling anyone. Now it's that you do."

With the World Junior Championship set to commence Monday, Team USA received a last-minute setback. Defenseman Seth Jones, the 17-year-old son of Popeye7 who is projected to be a potential no. 1 pick in the 2013 draft, sustained an upper-body injury during an exhibition game that will keep him out of the tournament.

As the old sports cliche goes, you can't win the championship early in the season, but you sure as hell can lose it. The most ominous thing I read this week to that end came care of the Edmonton Journal's Jonathan Willis, who looked back at the mid-December standings over the last several seasons and found that teams sitting more than a few points out of playoff contention were extremely unlikely to make up that ground, despite the season not even being half over. I've collected his tweets on the subject here; but the money line: "Out of TB, NYI, CAR, LA, CGY, EDM, COL, ANA, and CBJ, it's probable that just one team will make the post-season."Let's hope it's the Kings!

Some sundry statistics: Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, a leading candidate for the Hart (MVP) Trophy, is currently the league's best faceoff man, winning 60.5 percent of his draws … He's also third in the league in takeaways with 42. (Colorado's Ryan O'Reilly has 51, while the Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk has 45.) … With their 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers on Monday, the Avalanche improved to 6-0 in the "skills competition"; only the Devils, at 7-1, have had more wins … Speaking of the Devils, Patrik Elias became the franchise's all-time leading goal-scorer this weekend with his 348th career goal and had six points in his last four games before coming down with the flu … That point streak pales in comparison to the one being put together by Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who has totaled 15 points in his past six games, including a three-goal, two-assist night against Buffalo.

Here's a sentence, presented without commentary: "Children's singer and longtime hockey fan Raffi Cavoukian is so fed up with Don Cherry's rock 'em sock 'em antics he has started a Twitter campaign to mute Canada's most colourful commentator."

Campbell: THN's 2011 player of the year
It's been an incredible year for the Bruins' Tim Thomas.

Ken Campbell, The Hockey News, 2011-12-29


The indisputable low point of 2011 for Tim Thomas came in a 7-6 loss to the Buffalo Sabres when he allowed all three skaters to score in the shootout. That it came Jan. 1 gives you an indication of how the rest of the year went for him.

The NHL does not have an award for player of the year, but if it did, it would undoubtedly go to Thomas. No player in the NHL has displayed the sustained excellence Thomas has since the calendar turned to Jan. 1. And what makes all of this even more compelling is that despite the fact Thomas will turn 38 during this year’s playoffs, 2012 could turn out to be an even better year for him.

Since coming into the game in relief of Tuukka Rask in that loss to Buffalo Jan. 1, Thomas has posted otherworldly numbers and accomplishments. With one game remaining on the Bruins schedule in 2011, Thomas has posted a 49-21-5 record with a 2.04 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage, including playoffs.

He led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup by playing every minute of every game of the post-season and was named Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the MVP of the playoffs. In the Stanley Cup final, the guy gave up eight goals. Now, if the Bruins had swept the Vancouver Canucks in four straight games that might not have been so impressive. But it was a seven-game series. In the three games Thomas lost in the final, Boston was shut out 1-0 twice and he gave up only five goals.

Thomas also won his second Vezina Trophy by a comfortable margin and finished fifth in voting for the Hart Trophy as the league’s regular season MVP. There are those who argue if Thomas were given more starts and, therefore, a chance to post more victories and even gaudier numbers, he would have won that Hart. But the Bruins believe - and who’s going to argue with them? - that Thomas is as effective as he is because he doesn’t get worn down the way a lot of other workhorse goaltenders do. And unlike a lot of teams in the NHL, the Bruins have a backup in whom they have as much confidence as they do their starter. In fact, there’s nothing to suggest Rask wouldn’t be able to post the same kinds of numbers as Thomas if he were given the opportunity.

Thomas also had the quote of the year and the save of the year for 2011. During the Stanley Cup final when Roberto Luongo made his ridiculous statement about Thomas not saying anything nice about him, Thomas responded by saying, “I didn’t realize it was my job to pump his tires. I guess I have to apologize for that.” Then he went out and outplayed Luongo so badly that it provided the Bruins with the margin they needed to win the series.

As for the save of the year, you can see that on our “Top Plays Of 2011” Puck Panel.

The only other two serious contenders for player of the year in 2011 would be Daniel and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks, which says a lot about their sustained consistency. While the vast majority of NHL players have had difficulty maintaining 12 months of elevated play due to inconsistency (see Corey Perry, Steven Stamkos), injury (see Sidney Crosby, Ryan Kesler) or because they simply had 12 miserable months (see Alex Ovechkin, Dany Heatley), the twins have continued to produce points and believers with their play game-in and game-out.

Over the course of 2011 (with two games remaining), including playoffs, Daniel Sedin had 45 goals and 118 points over 107 games, while Henrik had 22 goals and 109 points in 108 games. The one blight on the Sedins was that they failed to lead the Canucks to the Stanley Cup and, particularly in the final, were rendered ineffective by the Bruins and their physical style of play.

That, of course, included Thomas, who levelled Henrik in front of his net in Game 3 of the final, a contest that proved to be the turning point in the series, just

Danes look forward to loss against Canada

ROBERT TYCHKOWSKI, QMI Agency, Dec 28 2011


This one could get ugly.

If the Canadians are beating the likes of Finland and the Czech Republic 8-1 and 5-0, heaven knows what they’ll do to the Washington Generals of the world junior hockey championship tonight.

Funny, though, the lambs are actually looking forward to the slaughter.

Denmark, having lost 11-3 and 7-0 in two starts so far, know they’ll be destroyed when they meet the Canadians this evening in Edmonton, but they wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“All of us, we’ve all been talking about it, that this game is going to be amazing,” said forward Mads Eller. “Full to the roof with the crowd. It’s definitely something we looked forward to when we saw the schedule.”

Even if it’s more lopsided than a peg-legged pirate in a room full of beavers.

“Of course, it’s going to be the biggest experience of our lives, maybe it’s the only time we’re ever going to play this type of game,” said Eller. “For some of the players, for me maybe, this might be the biggest game we’re ever going to play.”

Head coach Todd Bjorkstrand told his players to simply go out and seize the day.

“He said it’s going to be a big game with a big crowd, go out and enjoy it,” said Eller. “Don’t be intimidated by Canada. Don’t fear them, go out and play with courage. Go out and do your best.”

The Danes have been adopted by the fans in Edmonton through the first two games. They’ve basically been the second favourite team of everyone here.

“It was pretty special, we didn’t see that coming against the US, when they came on the ice and were booed,” said Eller. “It gave us something extra that they cheered for us.”

“Obviously we’re not going to get it tonight,” forward Nicklas Jensen said of the crowd support. “But just being out there with the atmosphere, it’s going to be crazy. I know all the guys in our dressing room are going to be pumped.

“We want to give the Canadians a really tough game. We’re going into the game to win, but realistically we just want to compete and work harder than them every shift.”

If you’re Canada, how do you prepare your team for a game you might win 10- or 12-0?

“Details and habits, it’s all about details and habits,” said head coach Don Hay. “It’s about playing as a team and not getting too far ahead of yourself. Focusing on the things that make you a good team. When you get into pressure situations, those details and habits are really important and if you’re good at those they come naturally. If you have to think about them, sometimes it’s a little bit too late.”

LATE HITS... Mark Visentin gets the start in goal for Canada.

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Even if the game, on paper, appears one-sided, this is a pretty presumptuous title. And as we know, this is why we play sports... the game isn't played on paper! I hope the Danes surprise Canada and make it a good game... just to shut the reporter up(or copy person) - whoever penned this headline!

MacKinnon: Connolly fights to prove doubters wrong:
Canadian winger’s commitment, lack of emotion questioned by many during pre-tournament play

John MacKinnon, edmontonjournal.com, December 29, 2011


EDMONTON - Canadian winger Brett Connolly’s game is like his speech — laconic, economical, but effective.

As an NHLer on loan to Team Canada, he’s meant to be a leader, although there had been some doubt about that since the Tampa Bay Lightning player landed in Calgary for Canada’s selection camp. As a skilled, returning player, Connolly is also meant to provide offence.

He delivered all of that on Wednesday night for Canada, as they dismissed a solid Czech Republic team 5-0, a result that might have been even more lopsided except for the acrobatic work of goalie Petr Mrazek.

Connolly’s signature moment was a highlight-reel goal to finish off a sparkling shift at 18:11 of the second period, giving a 3-0 lead that grew to a 5-0 advantage by game’s end.

He just missed on a first scoring attempt, but quickly found a seam again, took a pass from linemate Quinton Howden and made some one-on-one magic.

He shifted past Czech defenceman Jiri Riha, then deked Mrazek to the ice. His shot kissed the left goalpost and dropped into the crease, but Connolly gently tapped the puck into the open cage as he skated behind the net.

“Yeah, it was a key part of the game,” Connolly said when he was asked if that was one of his most memorable goals. “I missed one earlier, had a wide-open net, so it was nice to see that one go in.

“I don’t think I was going to let that not go in the net that time.”

Much was made of Connolly’s lack of emotion and suspect body language during Team Canada’s selection camp.

Well, after he buried that goal, Connolly celebrated with a major a fist pump, then he smacked the Plexiglas in the corner, just for emphasis. He wanted that one and it showed.

With the tournament ending foot injury to feisty winger Devante Smith-Pelly, Connolly was moved up from the fourth line to a unit centred by Freddie Hamilton. Howden plays right wing on the line.

Canadian head coach Don Hay clearly is expecting Connolly to be a difference maker on his team and the six-foot-two, 200-pound winger from Prince George, B.C., knows it. Not only did Connolly move up on the depth chart, Hay started the Freddie Hamilton trio against the Czechs.

“Obviously, me being a leader, he expects the best of me and I expect the best of myself,” said Connolly, peppering his answers with team this and we that, deflecting the focus from himself. “But with Devante out it’s not only me that has to step up, but all the other guys, too.”

The idea in a short tournament is for a team to get better, game by game. Precisely how you calibrate that in Canada’s case, after an 8-1 bludgeoning of Finland and the 5-0 victory over the Czechs, is a little obscure.

True, there were missed chances, like Connelly’s mid-second period effort, when he deked Mrazek to the ice, then slid a shot harmlessly wide of the net.

Brendan Gallagher missed two or three chances, including an out-and-out whiff on feed with a wide-open net. Mark Stone, Canada’s scoring star so far with four goals, was stuffed by Mrazek on a penalty shot, but only after opening the scoring for Canada.

So far, Canada has outscored their opponents 13-1 in two games. Both their goaltenders have played well. On Wednesday night, Scott Wedgewood pitched a shutout and set up Canada’s second goal with a Martin Brodeur-like breakout pass to Hamilton, who set up Ryan Strome for the score.

Oh, and Canada faces Denmark on Thursday night. The Danes have lost 11-3 to Team USA and 7-0 to the Czechs.

Canada is well-positioned for that New Year’s Eve game against the Americans, which figures to be a showdown for an automatic berth in the tournament semifinals.

It can’t hurt the supposedly undemonstrative Connolly has shown he wants to contribute to a gold medal as much as any of the others.

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Johnny Mac used to be the Media guy when I coached and worked with Team Canada in the 1990's. Great guy and always good to be able to read his articles on the web!

At world juniors, the spectacle’s the thing

Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, Dec. 29, 2011


It may be the only way to make sense of it all.

Try thinking of this not so much as a tournament – at least at this stage – as a spectacle.

Even the World Junior Championship tag line – “I was there” (“J’etais la”) – is more about the spectator than the player, just as most games are as much about what the fans score as will the teams.

“Spectacle” is a near-perfect description, a middle-English word intended to convey a sense of staring at something deemed special. It is not by chance that the dictionary suggests as synonyms “circus” and “pageant” – both more accurate at this point than “tournament” or “championship.”

Consider, as Exhibit A, Thursday evening’s pond hockey shinny game, Canada versus Denmark. The Danes, hopelessly overmatched, might have better advised to stay in their street clothes and try to trick the Canadians into doing the same by bringing along the sign that was placed this balmy week at the entrance to the downtown outdoor ice surface: “Rink Closed Due to Poor Ice Conditions.”

At least cancellation would be a tie, sort of…..

No one expected the Danes to challenge, just as challenges are automatically out of the question for so very many of the games played in the long lead-up to the medal round. Strangely, those who carp about women’s hockey being so lopsided remain largely silent about the imbalances in world junior hockey competition – perhaps because, in Canada, the spectacle has been made ritual – a tip of the hat here to TSN – and beloved rituals are not to be challenged.

It matters not that Canada whipped Finland 8-1 and then the Czech Republic 5-0 any more than it matters that the Danes entered this match having already lost 7-0 to the Czechs and 11-3 to Team U.S.A. – an 18-3 deficit that could only get worse up against the tournament favourites.

And did, as the Danes fell 10-2 in what can only in a gesture of mercy be called a hockey game. Both Danish goals came in the third period with the Canadian players largely tuned out.

Yet it matters not because of spectacle. The fans arrive dressed in red and white and maple leaves head to foot. They wear cowboy hats fashioned out of Molson Canadian beer boxes. They pound their Thundersticks to drive the homeside onward, though this was about as necessary Thursday evening as ordering the dog to clean up that plate of gravy.

They filled the seats and they filled the corridors. They posed with red tunic Mounties for photographs – the WJC now in the same sacred realm as Canada Day and the Grey Cup – and they spent so much on the 50/50 draw that by the end produced a payout of $87,480.

At the souvenir stand, the checkout line was as long and twisting as the security line at a major airport on a long weekend. They sold out almost instantly of the 30th-anniversary edition jerseys and volunteers were fending off cash offers for the blue long-sleeve t-shirts they’d been issued, the ones with all the team flags down one arm.

It mattered not where you went in Rexall Place arena, there was a circus atmosphere. Even in the men’s washrooms, the mirrors asked “’Who’ Tall Are You?” with the heights of various Canadian celebrities marked off to show hand washers (sadly, still a minority) are as tall as Jim Carrey at 6 foot 2, as short as Michael J. Fox at 5 foot 4 or the size of Justin Bieber (5 foot 6) or Terry Fox (5 foot 10).

(Unfortunately, The Globe and Mail was at press time unable to confirm what might be found on the mirrors in the women’s washrooms.)

You could line up for beer or line up to put a bid in on the silent auction – an autographed Dave Keon No. 14 Toronto Maple Leafs jersey starting at $350, a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins unsigned jersey beginning at $250 or even a Bobby Orr “No. 5” (for an early All-Star appearance) signed and numbered, starting at $200.

And if all this wasn’t enough, there was also the game.

With 16,275 fans cheering as loud the final goal as they had the first.

So it is when spectacle is the main draw.