Architects of Glendale pro sports disaster won't be around for fallout
David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, March 28, 2012
The architects of a disastrous foray into professional sports by the suburban city of Glendale, Ariz., will not be around to deal with the fallout.
Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs, 68, announced this week she will not seek a sixth term in office this summer. Earlier this year, Glendale city manager Ed Beasley, 53, said he planned to “retire” some time this year.
The politician and the bureaucrat are leaving behind a debt of almost $1-billion (all currency U.S.) for the city of 250,000, much of it created by the decisions to build an arena for the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes (and to spend more than $50-million propping up the team) and a spring-training complex for Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox.
It was Beasley who handled the day-to-day operations of Scrugg’s master plan of building facilities to attract major-league teams. The only scheme that worked out was building a football stadium for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Glendale will play host to its second Super Bowl in 2015.
However, the fate of the Coyotes remains up in the air, as the NHL has been unable to find a buyer willing to keep the team in Glendale. Talks with former San Jose Sharks president Greg Jamison have yet to produce a deal and the likelihood of the Coyotes moving to Quebec City, Seattle or Kansas City is growing.
The Arizona Republic (below) has the details of Scruggs’ decision and her legacy. The most interesting parts are the comments from Scruggs’s fellow politicians about her reign.
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Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs will not seek a 6th term
Cecilia Chan, The Republic | azcentral.com, Mar. 28, 2012
Nineteen-year Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs announced late Tuesday that she will not seek a sixth term in office.
Three people have already pulled papers to run for mayor in the August primary election.
Scruggs, 68, was first elected councilwoman in 1990 and became mayor three years later.
Scruggs' announcement comes on the heels of City Manager Ed Beasley in December saying he would retire this year after 10 years in the city's top administrative post.
In a two-page statement, Scruggs thanked Glendale residents for joining her in transforming a bedroom community into "a thriving center of employment, retail activity, and tourism."
Under Scruggs' leadership, Glendale has crafted an image as a sports and entertainment destination. The city will host its second Super Bowl in 2015.
Before Scruggs departs, she must make tough decisions about the upcoming budget that has a shortfall one councilwoman has pegged as high as $30 million.
Also to be resolved is the three-year ownership saga of the Phoenix Coyotes, the city's first professional sports team that moved into an arena the city borrowed $180 million to open in 2003.
A new leader also will need to oversee Camelback Ranch, the spring-training facility for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox. The city borrowed $200 million to build the ballpark, anticipating paying the debt with help from the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority and commercial development around the venue. The recession has hampered both those funding sources.
"It's ironic and disappointing that as I leave office after 22 years of service, we are again in the throes of a freefalling national economy, one even worse than when I took office in 1990. However, because of the vision and leadership to create a sustainable diversified economic base, Glendale is in a better position to recover," Scruggs said.
When Scruggs joined the Glendale City Council, the city had already annexed a massive chunk of land to the north that was planned for the Arrowhead Ranch community. The city had invested millions in infrastructure, but the project languished as the primary developer eventually went bankrupt.
As Scruggs was appointed mayor, she said the council increased property taxes by 20 percent because the city did not have an economic base to support municipal services.
"We immediately began plans to turn our city around and point it toward a sustainable future," the mayor said.
City leaders revamped the vision for Arrowhead Ranch and the project eventually took off, today one of the city's most noted residential communities and a busy commercial corridor.
In the years to come, the council strategized to pursue jobs instead of more rooftops, leading to the sports and entertainment district that includes the Coyotes, the spring-training ballpark and the Arizona Cardinals stadium.
Scruggs became a regional leader, advocating to protect Luke Air Force Base, which the city annexed in 1995, and on transportation issues.
The city's longtime leading lady said her proudest joy was creating programs for neighborhood renewal and to encourage residents participation in government.
Scruggs thanked her family for support and sacrifices as she fulfilled her mayoral duties.
She battled health issues shortly after being elected to her fifth mayoral term. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and underwent chemotherapy. In 2010, she said she was cancer free. She has not publicly discussed her health since then and did not indicate that played into her decision not to seek re-election.
She said she looked forward to time with her family, a husband and grown daughter.
"Now we are anxiously looking forward to plans for our future when we can do whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it," she said.
Scruggs, in the statement that came late Tuesday night, said she was on vacation and would not be available for further comment until Monday.
So far, a state lawmaker, an attorney and the head of a non-profit have said they will run for mayor. They include Jerry Weiers, Walt Opaska and Manuel Cruz.
Candidates have through May to file paperwork to run in the August primary election.
Quebec City all a-lather as NHL rumours fly
Sean Gordon, Globe and Mail, March 27, 2012
This is what it's like when the Habs suck and there's nothing much else to talk about in Quebec: all molehills instantly become Himalaya-sized.
Former coach and current radio analyst Dany Dubé, a wise and plugged-in hockey man, mentioned on Radio-Canada on Monday that a Phoenix Coyotes player of his acquaintance had been advised to "go and learn French" by someone in the organization.
That has, of course, been taken as the firmest indication yet that the Yotes are Quebec City-bound in a question of weeks.
Not so fast, said Dubé, who expands and nuances his statement here.
The gist, for those who don't read French, is that the tidbit should only be seen for what it is: people within the team's hockey staff are starting to think this could happen. That doesn't mean it will, after all the Atlanta Thrashers' players were pretty much the last to find out last year that the team was in the process of being sold and moved to Winnipeg.
Still, it's the sort of thing that gets people all a-lather, particularly in a fevered atmosphere like Quebec City's, where recent developments like city council approving renovation dough for the Colisée and this past weekend's official announcement of the new arena project (which has been a done deal for months) have contributed to people getting all hepped up.
Another way to interpret Dubé's scoopette? At least the players are getting some good advice if the team does end up moving to La Vieille Capitale.
http://blogues.radio-canada.ca/bloguesportif/2012/03/27/les-coyotes-et-le-francais-precisions-2/
Coyotes solution remains a puzzle: Seattle, Quebec City or status quo?
Bruce Arthur, National Post, Mar 28, 2012
The NHL has put so much time and effort into keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix that nobody can seriously doubt their intent, but the sunset is coming.
At the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, commissioner David Stern admitted, at long last, that the SuperSonics would be leaving Seattle after 40 years there. And in some kind of karmic penance, he spoke passionately about wanting to be part of the solution in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
“No one ever called me a romantic, but I’m feeling pretty good about it,” he said. “There is such a countenance of political strength and governmental strength, that I think this is really an opportunity to do something good.”
The league was forced to take over the Hornets franchise in 2010, and is currently seeking a buyer that would keep the team in New Orleans. And this is the part where we come to an NHL team in Quebec City.
They want one, you see. The good people of Quebec will pay approximately $400-million for an arena to be built by 2015, in the hope that the National Hockey League will see fit to repatriate the Nordiques after all these years. And the Phoenix Coyotes, a franchise that has bled away in limbo for nearly three years, is the best bet.
And right now, it appears there are three options, and not necessarily in this order: One, the Coyotes are packed up within the next month or so and moved to Quebec City, where la Colisée is hastily renovated with city money, and the party lasts all night and through much of the summer, and those who own provincial liquor distributorships or local bars are eventually able to buy their own islands.
Two, the Coyotes are moved to Seattle, which seems far more complicated. The arena plan put forward by hedge fund magnate Christopher Hansen and the city of Seattle last month is predicated on an NBA team first, though the NHL says Seattle could work for them irrespective of Hansen’s plan.
“Yes, I do believe that is possible,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email. “But even if done in conjunction for purposes of a new arena, that plan wouldn’t necessitate NBA expansion or relocation for next year.” He added that an NHL team could theoretically move to Seattle without an NBA team ever doing the same. Since there is no public arena plan in Seattle other than the one put forward by Hansen last month, and since there has been no public arena plan approved by the city and county since the Sonics left, and since Key Arena is frankly unsuitable for hockey, this seems a difficult trick.
Three, the Coyotes stay in Phoenix for another year, or in the realm of the least improbable eventualities, even longer. Daly declined to provide an update, saying “We are continuing to work on a Glendale solution.” This would likely require the NHL and Glendale both paying bills they would prefer not to pay, though it is said there are some in Quebec City who would not be entirely surprised by this.
So, the NHL is facing a decision. The NHL has put so much time and effort into keeping the Coyotes in Phoenix that nobody can seriously doubt their intent, but the sunset is coming. It is believed that the league favours Seattle, the 12th-largest metro area in the United States, but is split on which option is more likely. It is believed that a prospective NHL owner for Seattle has already been identified.
But to make it easy an NBA team will have to be involved, and it does not appear likely that an NBA team will be available in the next month. The Sacramento Kings were the most likely candidate, but have struck an arena deal to keep the team in place. The Memphis Grizzlies are for sale — if they were moved to Seattle, a solid case could be made to call them The Boomerangs — but have an onerous lease that ties them to Memphis until 2021, and even then cannot be easily broken unless the team falls short of attendance incentives.
So that leaves the Hornets. But the NBA has put a restriction on the sale, temporarily limiting it to buyers who would keep the franchise in New Orleans, and the league has expressed optimism that an owner will be found, especially after a deal was struck with the state of Louisiana to spend US$50-million to renovate New Orleans Arena. The deal would theoretically increase revenues for any new owner, while also tying the Hornets to New Orleans until 2024. Either way, none of the signs point to a team being made portable anytime soon.
If the Hornets were to be shipped to Seattle, the NHL’s decision would be relatively easy. Without them, the NHL will have to choose the harder road — another year in Glendale, a move to Seattle with no promise of a new arena being triggered right away, or the irrevocable road to Quebec. And if NHL chooses an American destination again, despite Quebec’s prostate overtures, it will be because they are dreaming of Canadian expansion money, and have found a sucker. Or more specifically, an American one.
These are grim times to be a hockey fan in Canada. Toronto is in a pit, Montreal has been engulfed in flames, Calgary is creaking its way into the heart of mediocrity, and in Edmonton the Oilers let 20-year-old star Taylor Hall play the entire season with a shoulder that he knew would require labrum surgery. Hey, when you’re that close to a Stanley Cup, you pull out all the stop … oh.
Even Vancouver has a Daniel Sedin concussion and riot prevention to worry about. The easiest places to cheer are in Winnipeg, which will not make the playoffs but will continue to exist, and in Ottawa, where a dream season was nearly derailed when the starting goaltender cut himself while trying to slice a frozen chicken breast.
Still, Quebec City wants in, misery or not. When he announced Seattle was dead on that day in New Orleans, Stern said, “I accept that inevitability at this point. There is no miracle here.” When Gary Bettman is forced to utter those words in Arizona, we will learn what the league wants and, more importantly, what it thinks it can get away with.
Ice Edge group back in the Phoenix hockey picture
David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, March 29, 2012
Anthony LeBlanc and his group of businessmen once known as Ice Edge Holdings are back in the Phoenix hockey picture.
Only this time it is not to make an ownership bid on the financially moribund Phoenix Coyotes but to manage Jobing.com Arena in suburban Glendale and try to bring in a minor-league hockey team if the Coyotes move to another city this summer.
On Mar. 1, LeBlanc sent an e-mail message to Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs, city attorney Craig Tindall and each member of city council. It was prompted by Scruggs’ public musings the city needs a “Plan B” if the Coyotes leave.
LeBlanc said his company, now known as Lakehead Yale Sports Holdings LLC, is willing to sign a long-term contract to manage the arena, try to find a minor-league team as a tenant and work to increase the events at the arena if the NHL decides to move the Coyotes.
LeBlanc also wrote in the e-mail offer that he received approval from the NHL to “pursue these discussions in more detail.”
However, city manager Ed Beasley appeared to raise an objection in an e-mail to Mayor Scruggs, saying NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told him no such approval was granted. Beasley also did not want to take the proposal to city council for discussion, as the mayor suggested in an e-mail, because he argued a process needs to be developed for any alternative plan and a new management contract for the arena needs to be put up for bids.
Neither Scruggs nor Beasley could be immediately reached to confirm if their e-mail messages were legitimate or if LeBlanc’s offer was discussed by city council. However, a source said the matter was discussed Mar. 6 at an executive session of council, which is not open to the public, and set aside because the Coyotes situation is not resolved.
LeBlanc said there was a partial misunderstanding with Daly about approval from the NHL. He said Daly did not tell him to proceed with attempts to get an American Hockey League or ECHL franchise or negotiate a management contract with Glendale, only that the NHL would not object if he researched the matter.
“I think [the NHL] really is trying to keep the Coyotes in town, LeBlanc said, adding that his group is willing to wait until that situation is resolved before pursuing an arena management contract. He said he discussed the offer with Tindall but has not received an official response.
“We like Glendale, like the building and see an opportunity,” said LeBlanc, who added the ball is now in the city’s court. “If they come to us and say we’d like you to help, then we can talk.”
LeBlanc is also pursuing an AHL or ECHL franchise for his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ont. He said the name of his company was changed because Ice Edge Holdings was formed for an unsuccessful bid to buy the Coyotes.
Daly said in an e-mail message that the NHL may come to support a Plan B like LeBlanc’s but only if a point is reached where “it becomes necessary to explore other opportunities.” He said the NHL is still “doing everything possible” to find a new owner for the Coyotes.
“Any other focus or consideration at this point would be premature, and would serve only to distract from what we believe is our jointly-held objective [with Glendale],” Daly said. “Only to the extent the current situation were to change, would we be supportive (theoretically) of the consideration of any other alternatives. And that's what I told [LeBlanc].”
Both Scruggs and Beasley, the architects of the plan to build sports facilities to attract major-league teams that left the city of 250,000 facing a massive debt in the wake of the recession, are stepping down from their posts later this year. Beasley plans to retire at some point this year and Scruggs announced this week she will not seek a sixth term as mayor in this summer’s election.
Their departures could change the city’s approach toward keeping the Coyotes. In the last two years, the city poured $50-million (all currency U.S.) to cover part of the team’s losses. But the city of 250,000 is facing a total debt approaching $1-billion and a new mayor could be unwilling to pour more money into the NHL team.
The NHL, which claims to be negotiating a sale of the Coyotes with multiple parties although no deal is in sight, has to make a decision on moving the team by the summer. Candidates for landing the Coyotes are Quebec City, Seattle and Kansas City.
Canadiens fire Gauthier, begin search for new GM
Sean Gordon, Globe and Mail, Mar. 29, 2012
It had to end this way, really, and now it has.
Pierre Gauthier is now the ex-general manager of hockey's most decorated franchise, shown the door with less than two weeks to go in an abysmal season that has the Montreal Canadiens dead last in the NHL's Eastern Conference.
Gauthier, who previously ran the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks, leaves a club in disarray, but nevertheless one with promise.
The Montreal Canadiens have fired general manager Pierre Gauthier. Gauthier is shown speaking at a news conference in Montreal, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010, where he was announced as the new general manager of the Canadiens.
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Canadiens fire GM Pierre Gauthier
The Habs will have a chance to draft an impact player in June, and clearly team president and principal owner Geoff Molson decided it is time to retool the hockey department well ahead of that pivotal decision. Molson also announced that former GM Bob Gainey, who has been advising Gauthier since stepping down in 2010, has left the team by mutual consent.
It was clear last December when Gauthier fired head coach Jacques Martin - his long-time friend - that the GM was also rolling the dice on his own fate.
The Habs were two points out of eighth place then, and promptly went into a tailspin under interim boss Randy Cunneyworth.
That's to say nothing of the firestorm provoked by the decision to appoint a unilingual Anglophone.
More damaging than all of that, perhaps, was Gauthier's decision to part company with Martin - on the day of a game - came shortly after Molson gave his coach and GM a public vote of confidence and said there was no intention of making a coaching change.
If you're going to make a liar out of your boss, it had better be worth it, and in the end it was a catastrophic miscalculation.
One of many, in fact: signing Andrei Markov to a three-year extension despite uncertainty over his balky knees, trusting that Scott Gomez could rebound from a dismal year, firing assistant coach Perry Pearn two hours before a game, taking on Tomas Kaberle's bloated contract to fix the power play, and imagining that Rene Bourque was a more effective player than Michael Cammalleri.
Gauthier inherited a team that had just gone to the conference finals, and on his watch it has regressed badly.
That's not all his fault - you can't legislate against injuries - but what is his fault is that he made it such there is no one else left to blame.
Molson has appointed former Habs GM Serge Savard to help lead the search for Gauthier's successor, and suggested that while hiring a French-speaking executive is his preference, his priority is finding the best person for the job.
"We need to remember that our fans want us to win, period . . . we will do anything that is required to win," he said. "Our organizational culture is to support and adopt this passion for victory. Nothing else matters."
Paul Henderson hoping for a miracle
Dan Robson, Sportsnet.ca, March 30, 2012
Paul Henderson scored arguably the most famous goal in Canada's rich hockey history.
Paul Henderson sits at a bare table in an empty room with an intravenous line in his arm and a grapefruit-sized tumour in his abdomen. For the past two hours, a translucent yellow liquid has drained slowly into his bloodstream from a bag that hangs next to him on a stand. It's a vitamin-based treatment he has received at this health clinic in Toronto's west end since he was diagnosed with lymphocytic lymphoma chronic leukemia in November 2009. The weekly dose is intended to bolster his immune system and slow the cancer creeping through his body. "It's in my abdomen, my chest, my lymph nodes and my blood," he says. Still, you have to look closely to see the effects of the disease. He's lost some weight over the past few years, his face is thinner, his clothes a little looser. But his dark grey hair remains thick and curly. His skin is tanned from a recent vacation. A strict diet and constant exercise have kept up the appearance that he is just another aged legend, not a man who has been told that, at best, he has less than a decade to live. "I just refuse to worry, or get upset, or be fearful," he says. His soft voice doesn't waver. "It doesn't do one particle of good."
It has been 40 years since Paul Henderson hopped the boards in a cold Luzhniki Ice Palace in Moscow, capital of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and skated toward the net, took a wild stab at the puck, and fell. He pulled himself up, circled back toward the net and -- with 34 seconds left, in the final match of a series that transcended sport -- shovelled a Phil Esposito rebound into the Soviet net. It was Sept. 28, 1972, the day Henderson became a hero by scoring the biggest goal in Canadian history. Then, the series linked the country in a tumultuous, terrifying world where the distinction between politics and sports was less easy to discern. But it's a period that has slipped further from popular consciousness, into hazy history -- only to return in tidy anniversaries, 15 years, then 20, 35, now 40. During the next six months, the goal that lifted Canada over the USSR in the Summit Series will be replayed and discussed repeatedly. There will be history class projects, retrospective articles, TV specials and gala dinners. But this year, as the legends of 1972 gather and wave and smile as we cheer, it is unlikely that Henderson, the hero, will be there.
Right now, Henderson still feels relatively healthy, but with the cancer continuing to spread, he is preparing to undergo intense chemotherapy in hopes of temporarily halting the disease. "There's no cure," he explains. Early treatment wouldn't have helped his longevity, so doctors have waited as long as possible -- before he's in too much pain, or has lost too much weight -- to administer chemo. If successful, the treatment might hold off the cancer for another five years. But it will likely come back, Henderson's been told, leading to another, more intense round of chemo that might provide another couple of years. Henderson doesn't frown as he says this. He says it plainly. It's just a fact. "When you have cancer, you can define the trivial from the important very quickly," he says.
Reflecting on the legacy that he has built in Canadian history, Henderson, 69, says he views the goal differently now. "I look back on it with much more appreciation," he says. "I have to shake myself some days... Man, that was an incredible experience." He had joined the camp as one of 35 NHL players selected to take on the Soviets, but it seemed there was little chance for him to get substantial time. "I wasn't one of the superstars," he says. But Henderson emerged as a key player, scoring seven goals, including the winners in games six, seven, and eight.
The goal became a fact of life that he'd never escape. "It's always overshadowed my career," he says. "There's no question." Returning to Canada from Russia, Henderson was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. The celebrity status, he admits, was overwhelming. Suddenly, everybody wanted something from him -- endorsements, appearances, photos. The fans expected more game-winners on the ice. Henderson found himself mired in the highs and lows of wins and losses. He drowned the lows in booze. "I was miserable," he says. "I just didn't know how to be happy."
Growing up in the small community of Lucknow, Ont., Henderson's family was swamped by debt. He often says that he didn't own a pair of skates until he was nine. His father, a gruff veteran of the Second World War -- he was the only man in his squadron to survive a mortar attack -- pushed his son to excel at hockey. More than his genuine love for the game, Henderson wanted to become a hockey player to ensure that he was successful, like the players he heard about on Foster Hewitt's Saturday night radio broadcasts. "I wasn't going to live the way my parents were," he says. He spent hours playing hockey with friends in the basement of the local Chinese restaurant, or sneaking into the nearby arena after hours. He started working on his signature in grade five, perfecting the sweeping loop of the P. "I had great penmanship, I practised it for hours," he laughs, as a nurse steps into the room to check on the IV bag. Henderson went to his first game at Maple Leaf Gardens when he was 12, sitting in the top row, where wall meets roof. He closes his eyes and remembers watching the Leafs and Boston Bruins skate onto the ice. "I could do this for a living," he told himself. He didn't return to the cathedral on Carlton Street until his first game as a pro, when the Detroit Red Wings called him up from their junior team in Hamilton. His father picked him up and drove him to Toronto. "You make an impression," his dad told him. "Don't let me down. You get out there and you nail somebody." In his first shift, the only one he'd get that game, Henderson skated onto the ice, elbowed Dick Duff in the head and fought him. Less than 10 seconds into his career, Henderson was in the box. As the ref led him to the penalty box, he looked up to see his dad waving his fist proudly. Henderson excelled, becoming a confident pro -- some said cocky, arrogant even. "I was all about being successful," he says. "I thought happiness came from achievement."
Today it's impossible to understand how Henderson views the goal, how he accepts his cancer, without acknowledging how fundamentally his perspective on life shifted when a pastor knocked on his door and asked him to be part of a Christian hockey camp in 1973. "What do you pay?" Henderson asked. "We don't pay," the pastor replied. "Do you know who you're talking to?" Henderson laughed. But the pastor, Mel Stevens, pushed further. "You seem like you've got an edge to yourself," he told Henderson. "You really seem like a frustrated, angry young man." The Canadian hero was broken. He met with Stevens for two years before dedicating his life to Christianity in 1975.
Henderson has since used his celebrity to share his devout faith. He runs a spiritual mentoring program for business leaders in Toronto, and speaks regularly at churches and Christian events.
He cherishes the moments he gets to spend speaking at schools, sharing hockey history with inquisitive kids and wide-eyed teachers. He loves being dragged into hockey dressing rooms to offer some wisdom and inspiration. And, as was the case in late February, being on vacation in the Bahamas as fellow Canadians question whether it's really him, and then apologetically ask for a photo. But more than anything, these days, Henderson is holding close the things that mean more to him than a goal ever could -- family. He travels as much as possible with Eleanor, his wife of 50 years this November. He hosts his grandkids for sleepovers at "Granny's Hotel," getting down on his knees to play mini-sticks. He attends their hockey games, yelling as loud as any fan and offering encouraging talks to both teams when the final buzzer sounds. For years, he says, he felt obliged to speak at events or attend special functions. Now, he's taking a step back. "I'm not nearly as important as I used to think I was," he laughs. "It's a wonderful discovery."
Henderson sits and chats for nearly an hour after his treatment. He frames the conversation, and his life, in the context of his faith. "God says just handle today, and so that's all I do," he says. "And if tomorrow shows up, I'll do the same thing. But I have no fear of dying." He acknowledges that chemo is going to be a painful battle. "I wish there was a way around it," he says, "but at this point it doesn't look like there is."
Two days later, Henderson is a featured guest at a fundraiser for Hockey Ministries International at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke, Ont. Men of all ages -- most were alive in '72, some weren't -- from across Toronto have gathered to play a tournament run by former Leaf Mark Osborne. During lunch, Henderson is joined on stage by Ron Ellis, his good friend and former linemate. They sit next to a poster of the famous photo of Henderson jumping into Yvan Cournoyer's arms after scoring that legendary game eight goal. "Celebrate 72" the poster reads, "40 years, strong and true." They answer questions about the Summit Series, getting laughs with a rehearsed routine. "I scored seven goals -- six of them were really nice goals except for the last one," Henderson tells the men. "And for 40 years! ‘Henderson makes a wild stab for it -- and falls.'" The room erupts. "Not very endearing," he quips. Ellis follows: "He got the goal, but I had something to do with it. I was sitting next to Paul on the bench. I made sure I stepped back so he could get over the boards without tripping." The crowd applauds.
As they linger afterwards, a small crowd forms around Henderson. He poses for photos and signs sweaters. Ellis stands nearby, scribbling his name a few times and chatting with fans. "This is the key one," he says of the coming 40th anniversary of the Summit Series. Ellis is on the team's organizing committee. (Henderson was also on the committee, but has taken a leave of absence.) Of the '72 squad, members Bill Goldsworthy, Gary Bergman and Rick Martin have all passed away, along with John Ferguson, who served as an assistant coach. "This is the one where everyone is fairly healthy. Five years from now, 10 years from now, we're all going to be in our 80s. So this is the one we really want to enjoy." Several players have already been part of a reunion in Russia, and events honouring the series across Canada will start early this summer.
Four decades since Canada's claim to hockey greatness was challenged (and barely secured by a miracle with 34 seconds left), the series is starting to take a place in history books that drifts just outside of the realm of empathy for a new generation of fans. For 20 years, at least, you could hear the echoes of Foster Hewitt's call -- "Henderson has scored for Canada" -- and feel part of the hysteria that swept the nation. Now, inevitably, it's a little harder to discern -- more of an honoured moment in time than a point of visceral pride. At least for those who didn't live in the moment, and can't imagine that this nation roared louder or felt stronger than it did when Sidney Crosby scored the overtime winner at the Vancouver Olympics. Still, for many, the 40th anniversary marks a return to something that is very real.
Henderson entertains a semicircle of fans for about 20 minutes before excusing himself. "Well, I've got a two o'clock appointment, boys," he tells the pack of beaming men. He bumps fists with them as he walks away, careful not to contract dangerous germs. He walks across the corridor, down some stairs, and is gone.
Excited, the men stay in a group sharing their stories of "the goal." They recall the exact grade and classroom they were in, down to the teacher's name, when they crowded around a TV, watching a live feed of the game from Moscow. They remember the tension that weighed them down, shoulders hunched, watching and waiting and hoping. They remember the moment, the relief, the thrill that sent them roaring into the streets. And the men ramble on, like the boys they were. They celebrate a series long gone, and its icon, still here. It's the hope of Henderson's family, and his country, that he'll remain in the celebration for years to come. Lord willing, Henderson says, there's always time for one more miracle.
Simmons says: Peddie's cheapness caused some of Burke's mess
Leafs should look at Russians ... Who the Habs should be calling
By Steve Simmons, QMI Agency, April 1 2012
TORONTO - You can trace the origins of the sad demise of the Maple Leafs back to a single decision that then-CEO Richard Peddie made on Aug. 23, 2003.
A decision that, more than anything else, has been responsible for the lack of playoff games in Toronto since the season lost to lockout. A decision that cost Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., the company Peddie is so often credited with building, somewhere between $60- and $100-million in lost playoff revenue alone.
Peddie went on the cheap and hired John Ferguson Jr. as general manager and he got even less than he paid for. The baton was passed from the fired Ferguson to the caretaker Cliff Fletcher, to an impatient and overpaid Brian Burke. Peddie paid too little for Ferguson, too much for Burke, who has spent the past three-plus seasons ridding himself of those who used to play here.
Burke has failed just as Ferguson, for completely different reasons, in completely different ways, failed. But if you go back to the beginning, so much of Burke’s early work was undoing the mess Ferguson had made.
That’s not giving him a free pass in any way. He has made his share of errors. But when you look back, big picture, the single determination made by Peddie in 2003 remains significant almost a decade after the disastrous decision.
THIS AND THAT
Should Brian Burke be fired? No. Should he be forced to explain where he is and where he is going to the new ownership of the Maple Leafs, absolutely. And if they don’t like the answers, then they can act accordingly ... Funny, when the Bell and Rogers people had that gushing press conference to announce their partnership of the Leafs, Raptors et al, I remember them talking championships. Don’t remember them talking lottery picks ... Wonder how Burke feels about Russians: Should the Leafs remain a contender in the draft lottery, they will get a shot at one of the following talented kids: Nail Yakupov is expected to go first in the draft. He’s a winger with all kinds of skill. But the centres to watch are Mikhail Grigorenko and Alex Galchenyuk, both of whom born a year later than Yakupov and both 6-foot-2. The sleeper of the draft might be previously injured Galchenyuk, who missed all but two games of his junior season in Sarnia ... No wonder the Leafs are 14th in the East when you look at the statistical areas Ron Wilson needed to attack this season. It was something much discussed. The Leafs are last in the East in penalty killing, second last in goals against, and third last in goals against/goals differential. If you can’t address those areas, you can’t possibly succeed.
HEAR AND THERE
Going forward, the major difference between the semi-awful Montreal Canadiens and the semi-awful Maple Leafs. The Habs have Carey Price in goal. He’s a top-eight NHL goalie, maybe better than that. And the Leafs have...? ... If I’m Geoff Molson and I’m hiring the next GM of the Habs, my first conversation is with player agent, Pat Brisson. Several former agents, including Pierre Lacroix, Burke, Mike Gillis, have had successful runs as general managers in the NHL. My second conversation would be Pierre McGuire, who reminds me of a young Ron Caron, with his outward enthusiasm and his encyclopedic knowledge of players in the NHL and those at the junior level ... While much is made of the Leafs-Habs comparisons, consider this: Since the lockout, Montreal has played 48 playoff games, missing the playoffs just twice. In the four years prior to this one, they’ve played in 42 post-season games ... Be honest, if you can afford a Raptors ticket, you can afford to buy your own damn slice of pizza. But I did love Dwane Casey’s line about the Raptors scoring 100 at home. He thinks it’s such a feat that sponsors should be giving out entire pizzas, not just slices, for the accomplishment.
SCENE AND HEARD
Thirty one seasons of writing about the NHL and I’ve never seen anything like this Maple Leafs collapse. Nothing even close ... An ex-Leafs employee points out that three Toronto first-round picks — Tuukka Rask, Alex Steen and Carlo Colaiacovo — have become important players on Boston and St. Louis, two of the better teams in the NHL. Previous management, no worse than current management, traded Rask for Andrew Raycroft and Steen and Colaiacovo for Lee Stempniak. How’d that work out? ... What a shame it would be should Phil Kessel drop out of the top ten in scoring in the final days of the season. He has been in the top five since Day 1. But as part of the Leafs blowup, his numbers have been in decline ... You wonder how important Joffrey Lupul is to the Leafs: In the 12 games since Lupul went out with injury, the Leafs have scored only 20 goals and been shut out four times ... Don’t you want to be in that meeting with Randy Carlyle and Burke when the topic of Dion Phaneuf’s captaincy comes up? I can see Carlyle rolling his eyes already ... Impressive: The never-aging Ray Whitney with 50 assists and how about the Mississauga kid, Matt Moulson, with his third straight 30-goal season on Long Island? Most amazing Moulson stat: On a team that has allowed 40 goals more than it has scored, Moulson is a plus player.
AND ANOTHER THING
Should it happen and the Phoenix Coyotes be moved to Quebec City, then it’s obvious the great coach, Dave Tippett, would not accompany the team north for linguistic reasons. That would make Tippett the top free agent coach of the summer in a market where there could be upwards of seven openings around the NHL ... This is a personal first: I got kicked out of a minor hockey game before it began by a power tripping Zamboni driver, who refused to continue flooding the ice because I went the wrong way to my team’s bench. He wouldn’t continue until I left the building ... Tough spot for agent Don Meehan, who represents Leafs captain Phaneuf and fellow defenceman Luke Schenn — the two aren’t getting along ... I guess hiring Dennis Rodman as my accountant wasn’t the smartest move I’ve ever made ... I don’t get this Paul Bissonette craze. I follow him on Twitter. Don’t find it all that interesting or ground breaking ... Turns out all this time the Blue Jays have been mispronouncing the name of prized infield prospect Adeiny Hechavarria. They call him Hech-a-varria. He says it’s pronounced Etch-a-varria. The H is apparently silent ... John Farrell had never seen it before in a game — Anthony Gose stealing second, third and home in the same inning against the Red Sox. He hopes to see it in the big leagues one day ... I keep hoping the Raptors are lousy enough to get a shot at Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. I’ve kind of given up hope that they’re lousy enough to draft franchise-changer Anthony Davis ... As of Saturday, former Burke intern Joe Nieuwendyk has Dallas, with the 28th lowest payroll in the NHL, is in the playoffs ... Happy Birthday to Rusty Staub (68), Randy Orton (32), Scott Stevens (48), Phil Niekro (73), Darren McCarty (40) and John Axelrod (29) ... And hey, whatever became of Bobby Heenan?
The Last Kid on Your Bench
Bruce Brown and Rob Miller, www.proactivecoaching.info, April 2012
We all enjoy coaching our most talented, competitive, hard working, coachable athletes. But often the players I most admire are the ones that are the least talented. Those players, who are on the team, practice hard, make other players better and seldom play. In this era of over controlled and self entitled players, we have all seen kids quit the team or transfer schools if they can’t start.
It requires a lot of personal courage to be part of a team when you know that you are not only not going to start but you will spend most of your time on the bench. Many of my favorite athletes were those players who found and embraced a small role, became great encouragers, and enjoyed being part of something bigger than themselves. Players who can be this selfless and still have great work habits often become the most successful in life with careers and families because they can put others first and make them better.
In youth and high school sports it could be a number of things – new to the sport; not maturing as early as other players so their size, strength and quickness are not as advanced; performance anxiety based upon outside pressure (parents); but most of the time it is just less physical ability. One of our Proactive Coaching beliefs is: The athletic experience should benefit every person on the team willing to commit to team values.
If anyone deserves special treatment, it is these athletes.
• As a leader, learn to show these players that you admire and respect them. Teach your most talented players to do the same. It doesn’t take much to mention their names when interviewed or take time to tell them individually how much they are helping the team and that you appreciate their contribution. As Coach Wooden said…”acknowledge the unacknowledged”.
• These players can still be given leadership responsibilities even if not the most talented – have a “bench captain”.
• Offer extra time and attention to help them gain skill or learn a role. Every player has a role and every role that supports the team culture, has value. Realize that often skill development may not come as quickly and easily as with your more talented players. Great teachers and coaches learn to never embarrass a willing learner – and don’t let anyone else do it either.
• When the player is someone who is going to mature late, we need to keep them looking ahead to when their body catches up with their heart and teach them that their best days are still coming if they can keep working and stay positive.
• For those players who simply do not have the physical ability, we need to understand that this will probably be their last athletic team experience and you probably are going to be their last coach – be a great coach for these players.
• I have learned that the players in this situation, who continue to work hard, study hard, play a role, stay positive and still don’t play as much because of their lower skill level, often make great coaches. They have had to study the game, break things down, analyze and spend extra time to learn basic skills allowing them to be better teachers than those who skill comes naturally. They understand roles and being part of a team so they have better ideas on how to build that camaraderie.
Looking back on a three decades of coaching, these players are part of my best memories – I hope that their memories of being on our teams are as good as my memories of their courage.
Canadian Cathedrals
This is an interesting link to a story Sportsnet did on some great old arenas...
http://www.sportsnet.ca/magazine/cathedrals/
Myself, I love Kimberly BC's old Memorial Arena and the old Cominco Arena in Trail BC (which also houses a neat sports museum!)
These are the firs tfour rinks featured in Sportsnet's article:
Cornwall's Si Miller Community Arena
St. Mike's Arena
Galt Arena
William Allman Memorial Arena -- originally known as Stratford Arena
Glendale mayor fires shot across NHL’s bow
DAVID SHOALTS, Globe and Mail, Apr. 04, 2012
Finally, after $50-million and who knows how much more was poured into the Phoenix Coyotes, Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs had her come-to-Jesus moment.
As a result, she fired the first shot in what looks to be a messy divorce from the NHL and happy marriage with Quebec City or Seattle or some other city.
During a city council budget meeting on Tuesday, Scruggs unloaded on the NHL, which she accused of misleading Glendale officials about the prospects of selling the Coyotes, particularly last year when Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer was interested. She also wants a refund on the money the suburban city put up to help cover this season’s losses.
Scruggs said there is no deal in sight to sell the Coyotes despite the NHL’s claims it is negotiating with multiple parties. Finally, the mayor said there is no way she will ever agree to a proposal to throw another $20-million at the NHL, dressed up as a management fee for Jobing.com Arena, to help it through yet another season if no owner is found.
What the city needs to do, Scruggs said, is demand its latest $25-million gift back from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. He can keep $5-million, she said, we’ll use the rest to fix our horrendous budget problems and promise to pay the NHL back.
When Bettman was told of the request by Glendale city manager Ed Beasley, after much prodding from the mayor, he was said to have taken it “under advisement.”
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an e-mail message he “would strongly deny and reject the suggestion that anyone from the NHL misled city council or the mayor. We have at all times been completely transparent with the City of Glendale.”
At the end of Scruggs’s tirade, Beasley said he did have something to report on the Coyotes, so city council needed to go into an executive session, which is not open to the public. Beasley said he expects the NHL to cut some sort of an agreement to sell the Coyotes quickly but offered no information on the prospective buyer or a price or, most important, whether Glendale would have to pony up any money for the club, which did not impress city councillor Phil Lieberman.
“What he said is what’s been said for months, that there may be two or more people working on it and he hopes there will be a sale or settlement or some action on the part of the NHL in two or three days,” Lieberman said. “Nothing more definitive than that. No names mentioned, no organizations mentioned. I keep hearing this same thing over and over again.
“Do I personally want to rush into a deal with anyone? Yes if they have cash and they are buying the Coyotes without expecting anything from the city. No if it’s the same old deal, will you give us $100-million up front or provide $100-million in five to 10 years and we’ll think about buying it. I don’t want any of that.”
The only prospective buyer who did not come to Glendale with his hand out was the much-reviled Jim Balsillie, who wanted to move the Coyotes to Hamilton. Thus it’s safe to say there are no prospective buyers looking to pay the NHL’s asking price of $170-million for a club that loses $20-million in a good year, plus pay the city a reasonable rent and not ask for a cut of the arena’s revenue.
The $25-million on which Scruggs would like a partial refund is supposed to be sitting in an escrow account. It is due May 2. The problem is, there is only $20-million in the account because the cash-strapped city was $5-million short. Scruggs indicated the city still doesn’t have it and won’t be getting it.
The mayor was also quite exercised about the fact the city does not control the escrow account. The NHL does. She discovered this recently when she told Beasley she wanted to get Glendale’s $20-million out of the escrow account. Only the NHL can do that, she was told.
Leaving aside the question of what the mayor should or should not have known about the deal with the NHL, this nasty shock seems to have been the wake-up call for Scruggs. She then teed off on the NHL in Tuesday’s meeting.
The NHL still holds all the cards, though, which is good news for the folks in Quebec, Seattle or wherever. Officially, Bettman and the NHL have been in position to move the Coyotes since Dec. 31, when a deadline for the city to find a local owner passed.
Now that Scruggs made it clear the league is going to be $5-million short at the very least when it comes to collect May 2 and the money tap is turned off for next season, those buyers Bettman talks about had better come up with some cold cash fast.
Otherwise, it’s au revoir Glendale and bonjour Quebec.
Phaneuf captains sinking ship: D-man ill-equipped to lead Leafs
DAVE HILSON, QMI Agency, April 4 2012
TORONTO - You’ve got to wonder if Dion Phaneuf would have so readily accepted the captaincy of the Maple Leafs had he known what was in store for him and his teammates.
After a promising first half to this season, the Leafs went into a slide so horrific that no one could have imagined it.
They assembled an 8-16-4 record from the NHL all-star break through to March 27 when they were officially eliminated from the playoff race by the Carolina Hurricanes. The slump included a franchise-record 10-game winless skid on home ice.
Remember when general manager Brian Burke, with his team sitting in sixth place in the East after the break, said he wasn’t interested in just making the playoffs, he wanted to make a deep run? Yeah, right. Then the Leafs’ descent became so profound that only the most delusional among us believed they would somehow claw their way back into the playoff picture.
Coach Randy Carlyle, who replaced the fired Ron Wilson, said on the day Toronto was mathematically eliminated from the playoff race that the Leafs needed to play with “more will, pride, passion.” Then they went out and barely put up a fight against Carolina. They followed that stinker up by being humiliated 7-0 by the Flyers on home ice and, on Wednesday, losing 6-5 to Buffalo in overtime in a game they had a 3-0 lead.
So what happened? Who’s to blame for the freefall? There are no easy answers. But one thing is clear: There simply wasn’t any leadership in the dressing room.
A team doesn’t go into such a psychological funk, doesn’t turtle the way the Leafs did, if there was. It certainly wasn’t being provided by Phaneuf, the man handpicked by Burke and Wilson to lead the Leafs to the Promised Land. But it turns out he didn’t have the tools to get them there.
It turns out when push came to shove Phaneuf was ill-equipped to motivate his teammates to a higher level of play, to carry them on his shoulders. It turns out Phaneuf was no Sittler, Clark, Gilmour or Sundin — even though Burke would have liked us to believe he was.
“Today is a very important day for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Burke had said when he introduced the Edmonton native as the team’s new captain back in June of 2010. “The Leafs have had many great players fulfil this role in the long history of the franchise, and we wouldn’t be taking this direction if we didn’t think it was absolutely the right step. We liked the impact Dion made with players, coaches and fans alike since his arrival and we consider him a building block toward future team success.”
Those words seem empty now. Now there is talk that the decision to name Phaneuf captain must be re-thought, that he should have been allowed to develop his own game before having the extra duties of the captaincy foisted upon him.
This is not to blame Phaneuf entirely for the Leafs’ implosion — it was a group effort after all. But as captain of one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, he must shoulder a larger portion of the burden. Part of being a captain is to lead by example, to be better when everyone else is not. In this regard, Phaneuf failed. He was average when the Leafs needed him to be above-average.
And when the Leafs took to the Air Canada Centre ice for an optional morning skate on the day Carolina eliminated them from the playoffs, Phaneuf was nowhere to be seen. Not on the ice, not addressing the media. It would have made for good optics at the very least.
Then there were the giveaways, the bad decisions at both ends of the ice, opposing forwards turning him this way and that. On many nights, the mistakes were glaring. And during the slide into oblivion, where was the big hit, the big goal, the big play? They weren’t there.
Of course, it must be asked, why after only 26 games in a Leafs uniform had he even been named captain? To answer that, you must turn to Burke, a man desperate to give a face to a faceless team.
Burke had said upon his arrival in Toronto that he would rid the Leafs of Blue-and-White Disease, that things would have to be earned, not expected, under his rule. Then he handed the reins over to Phaneuf after just a quarter of a season.
In Burke’s mind, perhaps, Phaneuf was to be another Chris Pronger, the intimidating defenceman the then-Anaheim GM acquired from Edmonton to help his Ducks make their eventual Cup run in 2006-07.
But Phanuef is not Pronger. He is not as intimidating, nor is he as complete. Can you ever imagine Phaneuf compiling a plus-52, a number Pronger achieved with St. Louis in 1999-2000? And Phaneuf doesn’t command the same respect around the league.
Phaneuf was voted the most overrated player in the NHL in a Sports Illustrated poll of 161 NHLers and has been openly mocked by Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell and on-air analyst Ray Ferraro.
Do you think that would ever have happened to Pronger?
It was always Burke’s intention to foist the “C” upon Phaneuf even though he was barely 25 and had recently been traded by the Calgary Flames, a team that certainly didn’t see the defenceman as a worthy successor to Jarome Iginla, This despite the Flames drafting him ninth overall in 2003 and his impressive numbers since his rookie season.
Remember when Wilson called Phaneuf “the best defenceman in the league”? That was back on Oct. 29 after the Leafs had beaten Pittsburgh 4-3 to improve to 7-2-1. That statement seems laughable now. Phaneuf hasn’t even been the best defenceman on the Leafs.
Of course, the Leafs captain hasn’t been all bad. He leads the team in average ice time and is second in hits and blocked shots and third in assists and power-play goals. But there is much work to be done on his game. Had he not been paired with Carl Gunnarsson for a good portion of the season, his defensive deficiencies would have been even more glaring.
Who then, if not Phaneuf, should have been named captain? That is exactly the point. In the time since Burke took over the team in November 2008, until Phaneuf was named the 18th captain in Maple Leafs history, the Leafs GM had not acquired a single player worthy of wearing the “C.” He had assembled a team without a definitive leader. And for that, he must take the blame.
He was desperate to fill the void when Mats Sundin departed at the end of the 2007-08 season. Phaneuf, a former Norris Trophy runner-up, seemed like the perfect fit, a gruff and grumbly persona cut from the same cloth as his boss. But his bark is worse than his bite — and that shows on the ice all too often.
Perhaps no one should have been named captain until someone stepped up and earned the job. Perhaps the Leafs should have used a rotating captaincy until a true leader emerged.
Would another year without a full-time captain really have mattered?
By most accounts, Phaneuf is liked enough by his teammates and is vocal in the dressing room, but he seems ill-suited to the job. Couple the glaring deficiencies in his game with the rather begrudging way he deals with the media and you have a less-than-inspired combination. Let’s face it, no matter how painful it is to step up to the mic every day and answer the same questions, it’s part of the job. He is the face of the franchise and the public’s vision of the Leafs is very much affected by how Phaneuf appears to the media. And all too often that is brusque and dismissive.
Burke was supposed to be our Renaissance man, delivering Leafs Nation from the Dark Ages. Instead, all he has delivered is a rudderless, sinking ship.
CAPTAIN’S LOG
Dion Phaneuf is the 18th captain in Maple Leafs history, dating from 1927 to present. Here’s a look at the men who have worn the “C” for Toronto and the years that they served.
Player Years Served
Dion Phaneuf 2010 to present
No captain 2008-2010
Mats Sundin 1997-2008
Doug Gilmour 1994-1997
Wendel Clark 1991-1994
Rob Ramage 1989-1991
No captain 1986-1989
Rick Vaive 1982-1986
Darryl Sittler 1980-1982
No Captain 1979-1980
Darryl Sittler 1975-1979
Dave Keon 1969-1975
George Armstrong 1957-1969
Ted Kennedy 1957
Jimmy Thomson 1956-1957
Sid Smith 1955-1956
Ted Kennedy 1948-1955
Syl Apps 1945-1948
Bob Davidson 1943-1945
Syl Apps 1940-1943
Red Horner 1938-1940
Charlie Conacher 1937-1938
Hap Day 1927-1937
Bert Corbeau 1927
Oil Kings coach stays out of the Twitterverse: Old school coach considers that form of social media unproductive
Evan Daum, Edmontonjournal.com April 5, 2012
EDMONTON - Derek Laxdal may be a familiar name in the hockey world, but in the Twitterverse, the Edmonton Oil Kings head coach is a virtual nobody.
With countless athletes and coaches jumping into the social media deep end with Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, Laxdal is a throwback of sorts, preferring to live life in the real world and not in 140 characters or less.
“Personally, I find guys that are tweeting and texting, they’re checking their phones 24/7. It’s almost addictive. They all want to be heard, they want to see what’s going on. I don’t think it’s very productive,” Laxdal said of social media.
“I watch the kids, I key in on it and watch people on Twitter. They’ve always got their phones in their hands. You always see people at stoplights, they’re checking their phones and I just think it’s a distraction. I think it takes away from being a productive citizen.”
Fellow Oil Kings Twitter holdout Dylan Wruck has also yet to join the more than 500 million global users of Twitter.
As one of the shrinking number of players around the Western Hockey League not using the micro-blogging site that was launched in 2006, pressure from Wruck’s teammates to jump on the bandwagon continues to grow.
“The guys kind of get on me about not having Twitter, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet,” Wruck said. “I’m not too big into that type of stuff, but they’ve been pushing it hard on me lately, so I might have to get it.”
Oil Kings assistant coach Steve Hamilton finds social media a useful tool.
“I think it’s an opportunity for people to get a sense of some of the personalities on our team. It’s the kind of thing where you share what you want to share and I use it almost strictly for showing a sense of humour and commenting on things,” Hamilton said. “It’s light-hearted. I enjoy following the guys, I enjoy different guys around the league. It’s one of those things I never thought I’d really embrace, but I think times are changing and it’s important as a coach to stay a little bit relevant in terms of all the social media and things like that.”
Oil Kings manager of communications Ryan Ohashi previously worked for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, an organization that, at the time, didn’t allow players to use Twitter.
“I think it’s great for players. For a long time, especially, when you look at NHL players, you didn’t have an opportunity to market yourself as well, because it’s not marketed as an individual sport in that way,” Ohashi said. “I think it’s a great chance for a lot of guys who wouldn’t have a whole lot of spotlight to push their own personality and really get that out there.
“It’s a little different with our group of guys. They’re 16- to 20-years-old type of thing, so it’s a little different dynamic. We try and treat them as professionals, but they’re not quite there yet, so a lot of times you have to be a little guarded.”
With the pitfalls of Twitter well known not only in sports, but the public world in general, Ohashi tells players to be aware of social media’s ability to impact more than just a select few.
“What we tell our guys more than anything on content is we want them to be themselves, we want them to put it out there, but at the same time, they know what’s right and wrong,” Ohashi said. “I always tell the guys more than anything it’s not so much what you’re saying, it’s who you’re saying it to. As long as you’re aware of your audience and you’re aware that when you put something out there it’s not just to the people who follow you, it’s to the whole world.”
As for when the world will finally hear from Laxdal on Twitter, Hamilton doesn’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
“I don’t think we’ll ever see Derek on Twitter, but we’ve got some names crafted up for him. We’re just waiting for him to sign up. I think he’d enjoy it, but he’s a little old school when it comes to that,” Hamilton said with a laugh.
“Maybe it’s old school, but personally I find it’s unproductive, it’s distracting and you know what, I’m a technical guy. I like the IT stuff, but that’s just one thing I don’t buy into,” Laxdal said.
An Emotional Gretzky Talks About His Father’s Illness
BOB MACKIN, NY Times, April 4 2012
The hockey star Wayne Gretzky paced the stage in the vast Vancouver Convention Centre as the featured speaker of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ 49th annual convention Tuesday.
Next door is the Olympic caldron that the four-time Stanley Cup winner lighted on the opening night of the 2010 Winter Games.
Now 51 and retired from the N.H.L. for 13 years, Gretzky is at ease before crowds. And Tuesday, he revealed a family secret as his voice quavered and his eyes welled up. His 73-year-old father, Walter, had received a diagnosis of the degenerative disorder Parkinson’s disease earlier in the morning.
“That’s something that hits you right in the gut,” Gretzky said.
Walter Gretzky, a retired telephone repairman, is probably Canada’s best-known father. He has had his share of adversity. A workplace accident 50 years ago left him deaf in one ear. In 1991, he nearly died from a brain aneurysm the week he turned 53. He has been a widower since 2005 when wife, Phyllis, who stayed out of the public eye, died from lung cancer.
“My dad put everything good into helping me play the game of hockey, he even would borrow two dollars from my grandmother so that I could get a hockey stick, to make sure that my stick was brand new,” Wayne Gretzky told the convention crowd. “He always motivated me and pushed me.”
There was one time when it didn’t work. That was April 18, 1999, before Wayne played his 1,487th and last career game for the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Just like old times, they shared a ride. Wayne conceded he was “just no good anymore” and had to call it quits.
“He drove with me to the arena, obviously I was a little emotional, it was my last game,” he said. “As we’re driving to the arena, all he said to me the whole way there is ‘Will you play one more year?’”
Gretzky’s retirement ceremony included a gift of a new car, driven onto the Garden ice by his father.
“I opened the door to help him get out, and he’s got his seatbelt on. I said ‘Why do you have the seatbelt on?’ He said, ‘Well, you never know.’
“He gets out and says to me, ‘Geez isn’t this a really nice car they gave me?’ I had to break the story and said, ‘No, it’s for me; I was the one retiring, not you.’ ”
Gretzky, hockey’s career greatest scorer, also recounted his first, ill-fated public speaking engagement as a 10-year-old in Brantford, Ontario, where the Lions Club recognized him for scoring a record 378 goals in a season.
As if speaking in class was stressful enough, he had to walk onstage as his idol and head-table mate Gordie Howe looked on. The young Gretzky nervously said thank you and cried before bashfully returning to his seat.
In keeping with his audience, Gretzky also reminisced about his involvement in a 1981 Brantford tennis tournament that raised $2,000 for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and how he convinced his Edmonton Oilers’ teammates Mark Messier and Paul Coffey to play a 1980 wheelchair basketball game against the future cancer fundraiser Terry Fox and spinal cord research fundraiser Rick Hansen. The hockey players were clobbered, 58-4, he said. Last fall, Gretzky joined Howe to raise $500,000 for Toronto East General Hospital at a private party for 100.
Why the Lady Byng is a worthy award
Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2012-04-05
The conclusion of the NHL regular season means it’s time for members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association to submit their choices for many of the league’s individual awards. And the longer I’m afforded the privilege of submitting a ballot, the more I'm determined to rehabilitate the league’s most unfairly ridiculed and run-down, emasculated and emotionally-stigmatized honor.
Of course, I refer to the Lady Byng Trophy, presented to the NHLer “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
The way some people refer to the Byng, it’s as if the winner gets a big blue best-in-show ribbon following an onstage castration ceremony. When then-Toronto Maple Leaf Alex Mogilny won the Byng in 2003, he refused to show up and accept it, while other NHL types need only hear the “lady” part of the award’s name before they dismiss it as a dusty anachronism and indication of a player’s softness on the ice. When they do, those deep thinkers reveal themselves as myopians who regard femininity as a weakness – a recent example being former Isles GM Mike Milbury’s suggestion that Pens coach Dan Bylsma “take off his skirt” – while making no effort to understand the history and true nature of the Byng.
In case you weren’t aware, the actual Lady Byng was the wife of a Canadian war hero and former Governor-General. That’s admirable enough, but her request that the award be given to a player who embodies on-ice respect and dignity is even more reason to celebrate it.
Yet, somehow, the Byng has become a target for derision and for the life of me, I can’t understand why. If a soft touch such as Alexandre Daigle won it repeatedly, that would be one thing. But scan a list of Byng Trophy winners since its inception in 1925 – including Toe Blake, Dave Keon, Stan Mikita, Gilbert Perreault, Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky, Paul Kariya, Brett Hull, Pavel Datsyuk and Martin St-Louis – and tell me you’d turn a single one of those legends away from playing on your team. You’d be a fool if you said yes.
If the Byng is such a terrible comment on the caliber of a player’s game, why don’t we create the anti-Byng award? We could present it to the thinnest-skinned NHLer, the mega-macho hothead who can be thrown completely off his game with a couple whacks across the ankles or a cross-check in the small of the back. That sounds like a player every Stanley Cup contender could use, doesn’t it?
The fact of the matter is that, as the Red Wings have demonstrated, you succeed by playing between the whistles, not after they’ve been blown. Detroit legend Nicklas Lidstrom – who, incredibly, has yet to win the Byng despite being a constant target and taking only 512 penalty minutes in 1,562 career regular season games – epitomizes the spirit of the honor.
If you tell me he’s soft, I would tell you (a) he isn’t; and (b) your head is.
Indeed, one of the reasons no NHLer can throw a clean bodycheck anymore without an immediate, time-wasting scrum of face-washes and assorted threats of bodily harm is because the game’s gatekeepers have permitted the erosion of basic standards of sportsmanship – and, yes, toughness – in favor of reactionary, ultimately pointless testosterone eruptions.
Having a hair-trigger temper would do nothing for 2011-12 Lady Byng candidates such as Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle (who has only eight penalty minutes in 76 games this season), Dallas’ Loui Eriksson (10 PIM in 80 games) and the Islanders’ Matt Moulson (six PIM in 80 games). Those stars are hard-core precisely because they refuse to buy into the hockey establishment’s phony notion of what hard-core is.
So kindly keep your derogatory Byng comments to yourself. The more you attempt to undermine what it is to be strong and tough in today’s NHL, the more you discredit yourself as a modern-minded hockey fan.
Hitchcock hire brought young talent to surface on St. Louis Blues
The Canadian Press, 2012-04-07
ST. LOUIS - Thirteen games in, another St. Louis Blues youth movement was foundering. Even after fortifying the roster with a smattering of seasoned playoff veterans, they were just 6-7.
Once and for all, the front office needed to know if it was on the right track hoping that a collection of high draft picks could make a run at top tier of the NHL.
"We just had too many young players we weren't sure about," team president John Davidson said. "Somewhere along the line, you've got to rely on those guys. It was time to show us something."
In early November, the Blues replaced one of the youngest coaches in the league with the most experienced hand on the market. They've been an elite team since the day Ken Hitchcock, pushing 60, replaced 41-year-old Davis Payne and took charge.
"Hitch knows exactly what this team needs to be successful," forward David Perron said. "He's leaned really hard on us and we've responded.
"All the guys in this room are making it happen."
A franchise that had missed the playoffs five of the previous six seasons was the first to qualify this season. The first to clinch its division, too.
The Blues entered the final weekend having clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, and with an outside shot at the President's Trophy despite a so-so finish. It's their first playoff berth since 2008-09, when they were a No. 6 seed and made a quick exit.
"We needed somebody with a resume that was long, and Ken was available," Davidson said. "Everybody wanted to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and say, 'OK, let's go!'"
St. Louis stockpiled draft picks during lean times and Perron, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo are all former first-rounders. Captain David Backes was a second-round pick. Now those picks are finally paying off.
The Blues have a pair of young offensive-minded defencemen in Pietrangelo, the fourth overall pick in 2008, and Kevin Shattenkirk, a former Avalanche first-rounder acquired in a trade with Colorado for former No. 1 overall pick Erik Johnson. The duo had combined for nearly 100 points without sacrificing in their own end, with both among the league leaders in plus-minus.
The 22-year-old Pietrangelo is the youngest player in franchise history with consecutive 40-point seasons, and is among the league's most durable players, too, playing 24 or more minutes in a dozen consecutive games entering the weekend.
"He's had very few low points and he's logged a lot of minutes," veteran defenceman Barret Jackman said. "He knows when to get rid of it, knows when to skate. Leaps and bounds."
The offence lacks a bonafide scoring threat or a line that'll scare you, with only Backes, Oshie and Pietrangelo topping 50 points. So it relies instead on a relentless attacking style to wear down the opposition. Veterans Jason Arnott, Jamie Langenbrunner and Scott Nichol, all signed last summer with the belief the franchise was ready to make a move, add seasoning.
What makes this team really click is the league's best goaltending tandem.
Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak have combined for an NHL-record 15 shutouts, tying the mark set by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1969-70. Elliott leads the NHL with a 1.49 goals-against average and has nine of the shutouts, and had a scoreless streak of more than 3 1/2 games before giving up two late goals in a shootout loss to the Red Wings on Wednesday.
Halak, who had seven more starts than Elliott, was fifth in the league with a 1.97 goals-against average. Both are 26.
"Our goaltending has been unbelievable all year," Jackman said.
When the playoffs start, Hitchcock probably will have to choose between the spidery Halak, who came to the Blues after a deep playoff run with the Canadiens, or Elliott, who fills more of the net, is more fundamentally sound and was the franchise's lone all-star representative.
"Don't go there," Hitchcock said earlier this week. "I'll go there next week."
St. Louis entered the weekend with a shot at the league record for fewest goals allowed in a season, and its stingy penalty killers had allowed a goal on just five of 91 chances.
Until the last few games the Blues have been a juggernaut at home, setting a franchise record with 65 points and with just five regulation losses.
"St. Louis is a great team," Columbus interim coach Brad Richards said. "They're going to test you, they're going to make you make mistakes."
Unlike last season, when injuries exposed a lack of depth and the Blues faded, the lineup has weathered extended absences for Perron, Andy McDonald and Alex Steen due to concussions.
"The players' buy-in has really made me proud," Hitchcock said. "They've been willing to look in the mirror, do the hard things, change in some cases individually, and collectively. I'm very impressed. That's what's given us a chance."
Hitchcock is the Blues' fourth coach in six years, all of them in-season hires. He's hired through next season, and figures to end the revolving door.
This is his sixth division champion and 10th playoff team in 15 seasons.
"He's a great hockey mind," Jackman said. "He's pretty loose most of the time, too, keeping the guys focused but having fun."
It was an easy call to make for general manager Doug Armstrong, who was an assistant GM when Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup in 1998-99. Davidson has known Hitchcock for decades, too.
During a 1 1/2-year absence from coaching after getting fired by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Hitchcock prepared mentally and physically for what might be his final shot. While scrutinizing rosters and doing his own job of scouting, Hitchcock embraced a workout routine and improved diet habits.
He gets points for trying to better relate to a younger generation and its reliance on social media.
"He didn't sit around waiting for the phone to ring," Davidson said. "He made himself a better man, a better coach, so when the opportunity came around he'd be ready."
Hitchcock didn't change much. He just made players accountable.
"We feel like if we work," Hitchcock said, "we're going to win."
Don Cherry the latest to blast Sidney Crosby
TORONTO— The Canadian Press, Apr. 07, 2012
Don Cherry is the latest hockey personality to call out NHL superstar Sidney Crosby for his attitude and his playing style.
Cherry spoke out against the Pittsburgh Penguins captain Saturday during his weekly “Coach's Corner” segment on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. He joined the chorus of critics who claim Crosby is a cheap player who whines to the referees.
“A long time ago when Crosby was coming out I tried to warn him 'quit diving, quit whining,' I was the worst guy in the world ... and all I was trying to do was help him,” Cherry said.
“All I said was stop whining, stop diving and snapping the head back.”
Cherry says that Crosby is being targeted by opponents because they don't respect him.
The former Boston Bruins coach said that Crosby has to learn to rise above the physical play of his opponents, or he will get injured.
“If you want to survive in this league, he's got to suck it up and stop getting stupid penalties and going back at guys,” Cherry said.
Crosby has struggled with head and neck injuries over the past two seasons.
Cherry showed a clip of Crosby giving Philadelphia forward Brayden Schenn a retaliatory shot in a game last Sunday. Schenn later replied with a cross-check to Crosby's back, an incident which was partly responsible for touching off a line brawl between the two teams in the game's dying minutes.
Cherry said Crosby shouldn't have retaliated against Schenn.
“Listen, I admire him, but he should be like (Montreal great) Guy Lafleur,” Cherry said. “All you have to do is look at (Tampa Bay star Steven) Stamkos, he gets more abuse than anybody. You cannot be the greatest player in the world and expect to get a free ride. And what you've done, you've turned the league and teams against you.”
Earlier this week, New York Rangers coach John Tortorella, Philadelphia assistant Craig Berube and former NHL coach turned TV analyst Mike Milbury all took turns accusing Pittsburgh of being one of the dirtiest teams in the league. Tortorella was fined US$20,000 for his comments.
All three had choice words for Crosby, while Tortorella and Berube also showed disdain for the Penguins' other superstar, Evgeni Malkin.
Milbury started the avalanche of criticism on Monday, calling out Crosby on a Philadelphia radio station.
“So you know, Crosby gets cross-checked, big whoop,” Milbury said. “He said after he came back from his 35th concussion, ‘I'm not going to do this anymore, I'm not going to get into this scrums, I'm going to stay away from that stuff.’ He couldn't help himself because there's a little punk in Crosby.”
Milbury later apologized for his comments.
On Tuesday, Berube picked up where Milbury left off. Speaking on CSN Philly Daily News Live, Berube called Crosby and Malkin “the two dirtiest players on their hockey team.”
“I've got no problem with what Schenn does,” he added. “And if somebody runs (Crosby) over, that's great. They should run him over.”
Tortorella's comments came after the Penguins' 5-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday, which included a knee-on-knee hit by Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik on New York forward Derek Stepan.
“It's a cheap, dirty hit,” Tortorella said. “I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars (Crosby and Malkin) over there. I wonder what would happen. So I'm anxious to see what happens with the league with this. Just no respect amongst players. None. It's sickening.”
Toby Petersen: Before I Made It
Toby Petersen, like so many NHLers, had plenty of help from his family early on in his hockey career.
With Kevin Kennedy, The Hockey News, 2012-04-07
I grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, the former home of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. I’m a big Twins fan and I blame my brother for getting me into hockey instead of football or baseball. My brother is three years older than I am, so when he was playing early on it obviously caught my attention. I got into hockey because of him and I also got some hand-me-downs.
My dad also played a significant role in my minor hockey career. He would let me know what I could’ve done better on the way home in the car. He wouldn’t hesitate to give me advice, but my he never said a word during games; he was very quiet and just observed. There are always a couple parents that yell “shoot” or whatever, but he wasn’t one of them.
Getting us boys to the games and practices was truly a team effort in our household. My younger sister played as well and my other younger sister had dance classes. My parents relied on a pretty sophisticated network of car pooling. I remember there was one rink in particular that I hated to see on the schedule: the Minnetonka Ice Bubble. It was freezing cold. The rink was cold. The locker rooms were cold. There was nowhere to hide. You knew once you stepped in the rink you were going to be freezing.
I had two Minnesota hockey legends, Dan Trebil and Tom Saterdalen, as coaches in minor hockey and they both had a big impact me as a player and as a person. They taught me discipline on and off the ice. I owe a lot to those guys. Tom Saterdalen coached me at Bloomington Jefferson High School and he’s coached a bunch of guys playing in the NHL today.
My fondest minor hockey memory was winning the silver stick in Sarnia, Ontario. Coming up from Minnesota, we’d won our regional tournament in St. Paul and went on to win it all. It was pretty special at such a young age
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Hats off to parents, family and coaches who contribute to our minor hockey kids! Nice to see someone remember their roots and give them accolades.
Oilers’ coaching situation up in the air:
Tom Renney says he accepted being a lame-duck coach long ago, playing it one game at a time until Game 82.
Jim Matheson, Postmedia News Apr 8, 2012
VANCOUVER — Edmonton Oilers coach Tom Renney says he told his players Saturday morning to approach the last game of this season like it means something, “like it’s the first game of next year.”
But will Renney be around to see it?
Renney and his coaching staff — Ralph Krueger, Kelly Buchberger, Steve Smith and Fred Chabot — don’t have contracts for next season, and Renney says he’s had no indication whether they’ll be back or whether the Vancouver Canucks game Saturday was their last act as a group with the Oilers.
There has been no announcement on a new deal for general manager Steve Tambellini, either.
Renney, who has been limping around for some time on a bad knee that will need some off-season work, says he accepted being a lame-duck coach long ago, playing it one game at a time until Game 82.
“This is the first time I’ve actually made it to the end of a season,” he said with a laugh.
Renney started his NHL coaching career with the Canucks in 1996 and was fired in November 1997 when Vancouver brought in Mike Keenan.
He was instrumental in drafting plenty of the current New York Rangers as their vice-president of player development before replacing GM/interim coach Glen Sather in 2004. He stayed there until he was released in February 2009 and replaced by John Tortorella.
Renney joined the Oilers as Pat Quinn’s associate coach a few months later, then got the head job in 2010-11.
“I’m quite happy with that . . . I got to February 22nd in New York and we were 10 games over .500 and we were having a little difficulty,” he said. “I don’t think I’m naive. I try to work hard, I try to be the good soldier that the organization requires of me. I try to let my body of work speak for itself.”
How does Renney judge himself as a coach?
“If I’m going to make an honest assessment, certainly the young players have grown . . . I think the player development has been really good,” he said. “If you look at various parts of our team, there’s improvement for sure, but if you take our start and our finish and sandwich that with the three months in the middle, which is significant, we weren’t good enough.
“There’s lots of reasons why. I won’t go there (to break them down). I’ll let your judgment determine that. Bottom line: We’re an improved team.”
The Oilers had 74 points going into the Canucks game, compared to 62 points in each of the last two seasons. Their special teams also improved this season, with the power play ranking third in the league and the penalty-kill 14th.
“As we continue to stock the shelves we should be able to overcome depth issues and injury issues,” Renney said.
The Oilers haven’t had enough secondary scoring to help Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall. Shawn Horcoff has had a miserable year offensively, scoring just 34 points going into the last game, while Ales Hemsky had 36. Ryan Smyth had 24 points in his first 22 games but struggled to put up points in the last 60 games.
The defence was also in constant flux for months, starting with Ryan Whitney’s ankle problems.
“I think we would have been better on the blue-line if we were more settled, but we needed to be better in front of our goaltender, too. We started the season with Whitney hurting and we played a lot of the season with a back end that we were . . . not sure if they were NHLers. That’s OK,” said Renney.
The Oilers don’t have an established top-two defence pairing that can play big minutes and put up points and worry other teams. It’s no secret they have to get better back there.
“Really, I think we have to become more responsible as a team. You’re never satisfied as a coach unless you’ve got Nugent-Hopkins, Hall and Eberle. I’d like to see that on the back end. But we don’t have that,” he said.
Winning and development are tough things to juggle for a coach.
“I want to win with the best and win a Stanley Cup before I’m finished,” he said. “I’m all in as an Oiler. I’ll do whatever it takes to help this team grow and become a contender. I keep saying this: We’re growing up in front of everybody in hockey.
“There’s impatience and frustration, but this isn’t my first rebuild. If we can step back from the ledge and understand what we’re building, I think people can watch the Oilers and be very happy with them.”
Smyth feels for Renney and his staff.
“Tom’s stayed the course. He’s done things the same way throughout the year. It’s tough when you’re out (of the playoffs months ago),” said Smyth. “He’s done a really good job. He’s a very good teacher.”
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I feel Tom is a very good motivator and technical / tactical coach - a great teacher! I learned a lot working with him with the National Team. As an A/C, even I felt motivated working with him... he has great communication skills. I hope the Oilers keep him but that will first depend on what happens above him - they have to have the GM solidified before making staff decisions. Good luck Tom!
On the hot seat: Evaluating NHL GMs and coaches of Canada’s teams
Sean Fitz-Gerald, National Post, Apr 6, 2012
All seven Canadian teams will be in action as the National Hockey League regular season schedule comes to a close on Saturday. And then, as is becoming tradition, most of those teams will re-appear on TSN and Sportsnet a few days later, clearing out their lockers and talking about what could have been. And then, yes, many of them will go golfing. What impact will this have on the people in charge? Post hockey reporter Sean Fitz-Gerald takes measure of the temperature around the coaches and general managers across the country below, with green meaning good, yellow meaning caution, and red meaning “don’t sign a long-term housing lease.”
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Mike Gillis, general manager, green Vancouver made it to within a game of winning the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history last season. Both Sedins are under contract for another two seasons (with an identical cap hit, naturally, of US$6.1-million) and most of the core is guaranteed through at least next season. There is a goaltending question that will need answering, with Cory Schneider set to become a restricted free agent, but Gillis has built Canada’s strongest team.
Alain Vigneault, head coach, green You are the head coach of a team in the running for the Presidents’ Trophy, one year after falling 60 minutes short of the title. Naturally, some fans in your city have already called for your head, as happened during a dry spell in the schedule last month. Barring an unreasonably early playoff upset, he seems safe.
CALGARY FLAMES
Jay Feaster, general manager, yellow All Feaster needs to do this summer is decide if he wants to trade goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and ask captain Jarome Iginla about his plans for the future. Basically, this is the moment in which he can pull the trigger, blow up the franchise and begin the rebuilding process.
Brent Sutter, head coach, red His three-year contract is expiring, and Sutter has nothing but three years of playoff misses to show for his time in Calgary. The Flames have been one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams this season, and Sutter has already fallen on his sword, telling reporters: “It’s very disappointing to know that you’re not going to be in the playoffs again … and you feel totally responsible for it, as I do.”
EDMONTON OILERS
Steve Tambellini, general manager, yellow Edmonton has missed the playoffs every year since its surprise trip to the Stanley Cup final six years ago. Tambellini signed on to lead the rebuild four years ago, and in the final year of his contract, the Oilers are headed for a familiar trip to the NHL draft lottery. It has been reported he will be granted a multi-year extension, but nothing official has been announced.
Tom Renney, head coach, red Like Tambellini, Renney has been working without a deal in place for next season. Despite its young talent — alarmingly, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are headed into the final years of their entry-level contracts next season — the Oilers have obvious holes, and a coach is always an obvious scapegoat.
WINNIPEG JETS
Kevin Cheveldayoff, general manager, green Even with his team nibbling on the fringes of the playoffs, Cheveldayoff shipped a veteran defenceman (Johnny Oduya) to Chicago for draft picks at the NHL trade deadline, following on the plan to build the roster slowly and methodically. These are still the Atlanta Thrashers, after all. It will take time.
Claude Noel, head coach, green Ever since Mark Chipman’s group brought the AHL to Winnipeg to fill the void left behind when the Jets moved to Phoenix, they have only fired one head coach. Jean Perron was released 50 games into his maiden season with the Manitoba Moose (who were then in the IHL). That was two decades ago. They seem like a patient bunch.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Brian Burke, general manager, green So, a few people tried to start a “Fire Burke” chant at a Leafs home game last month. It did not catch on. Burke remains popular around Toronto despite the fact the team has not made the playoffs since he signed a six-year contract in the fall of 2008. The sale of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Bell and Rogers is expected to close this summer, and a new board of directors will then need to be formed. Burke still needs to reform his roster — beginning in goal, and including a long-desired No. 1 centre — and he will get that chance.
Randy Carlyle, head coach, green Signed a three-year deal when he joined on March 2.
OTTAWA SENATORS
Bryan Murray, general manager, green Last June, Murray made an announcement that has since made him look like a genius: He hired long-time Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean to a three-year contract as head coach. Veteran junior coaches Dave Cameron and Mark Reeds were soon added to the staff. Heading into the final game of the season, the Senators are in a position to finish 20 points ahead of where they ended last season, when they missed the playoffs.
Paul MacLean, head coach, green Defenceman Erik Karlsson and centre Jason Spezza have been among the players to flourish most under MacLean, who, had Ken Hitchcock not turned the St. Louis Blues into a defensive powerhouse, might have become a popular choice as coach of the year.
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Vacant, general manager, red A season in which an assistant coach (Perry Pearn) was fired 90 minutes before a game in October, and in which one veteran (Mike Cammalleri) was pulled from a game after the second period and traded, contributed to the dismissal of embattled general manager Pierre Gauthier last month. Tampa Bay assistant general manager Julien BriseBois, Leafs executive Claude Loiselle, player agent Pat Brisson and television analyst Pierre McGuire have been mentioned among the potential candidates.
Randy Cunneyworth, head coach, red It is not every coach who can inspire a faction of his team’s fans to protest his employment outside the arena. That happened in Montreal in January — because Cunneyworth could not speak French, not because the team was struggling. Of anyone on this list, Cunneyworth is probably on the shakiest ground.
Former NHLer Geoff Courtnall's new path leads to Boston Marathon
Jack Knox, Victoria Times Colonist, April 10, 2012
Sometimes, when runners power past, you wonder if they're trying to escape life or embrace it.
Geoff Courtnall doesn't run from much. His work ethic and swing-a-hammer-by-day, swing-a-stick-by-night teenage years are legendary. So, now, is his unflinching honesty about topics many would avoid: the mental illness that took his father's life, the drinking that masked his own struggles with darkness.
When the 49-year-old begins next Monday's Boston Marathon, it will be about pursuing a goal, not fleeing a past.
He has dreamed of running it since playing for the Boston Bruins in the mid1980s. The team massage therapist was Jock Semple, who was also an organizer of the world's most famous long-distance event. (Semple is the guy famously photographed in 1967 trying to tackle Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the race.) Semple would disparage the hockey players: "You guys aren't in shape until you've run a marathon."
Courtnall, whose 17-year NHL career ended at age 37, got it in his head that he would run Boston before his 50th birthday.
The idea firmed up when he saw Cam Neely, a former Bruins teammate and fellow Vancouver Island native, at the 2010 Winter Olympics. "I told him, 'Next year I'm going to run the marathon in Boston to raise money for the Cam Neely Foundation.' " Neely founded the cancer charity in 1995 in memory of his parents.
As it turned out, Courtnall got hurt and couldn't run Boston in 2011 - meaning April 16 will be his last chance to do so before turning 50 in August.
"I've been training for a year but got injured twice, so I didn't know if I could make it," he said Monday. He finished the Victoria marathon - his fourth 42-kilometre race - in a blistering 2: 58 last October, but then got sidelined for six weeks by a deep calf pull in November. "It has been quite the commitment."
He'll have his own cheering section Monday, being accompanied on the trip by son Adam. They'll meet up with his other son, Justin, who plays hockey for Boston University.
Pushing Courtnall along is the promise of money for charity - much of it his own. He'll donate $1,000 for every minute under 3: 10 that he runs. Friends have pledged to match the sum. "It's pretty motivating."
The money will be split between the Neely Foundation and the Courtnall Celebrity Classic Society, established by Geoff and his brothers Russ and Bruce in 2003. So far the latter organization has pumped more than $3 million directly into Victoria mental health initiatives, including the Archie Courtnall Centre, the emergency psychiatric-care facility at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Archie was a strong, vital man whose struggle with depression ended in suicide in 1975, just two weeks before Geoff's 13th birthday. Geoff grew up fast. By age 18 he was running several businesses - building fences and patios, hauling goods - while also playing for the Victoria Cougars.
"I learned lots about working hard when I was young."
He credits his father for that - and for planting the seed that has seen him grow into something of an activist. "It was probably from my dad and the way I was raised." In hockey, they say that having a tough guy on the team makes the others skate a little taller; as an advocate for those with mental illness, Courtnall has had that effect off the ice, too.
He is seen as a hardnosed man with the courage to be open about his challenges. "I think it's life. We all have issues." He told the Times Colonist's Lindsay Kines last year that it was his friend Neely, at the Vancouver Olympics, who expressed worry about his drinking.
It was shortly after the Games, while in the Seattle airport en route to a gold-mining venture in Peru, that he grabbed a copy of Christian author Joel Osteen's Becoming A Better You. His faith has been renewed. "It has been life-altering for me."
So has running. "It gives me lots of time to think about things in my life." Beats waking up with a hangover, too, he adds.
"Sports has always given me a release," he says. Hockey was all about chasing goals. "Running is no different."
For more information, go to courtnallclassic.org.
Communication and the art of creating confidence
SEAN GORDON, Globe and Mail, Apr. 09, 2012
Stats, video and objective measures can only tell you so much. Sometimes, the hockey whisperer has to go with his gut.
Ask the men who play for Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean, and they’ll tell you his competitive advantage boils down to a willing ear and a Maritimer’s gift of gab.
“He’s got a good feeling for when to talk to you and when not to, and what to say at certain points,” defenceman Erik Karlsson said.
When the Senators’ playoff push was in danger of stalling in late March, MacLean had a meeting with key veterans after a road loss in Montreal, and, mostly, he listened.
“Paul wanted to know what we were feeling, what the mood of the dressing room was … he’s done a great job of having that relationship with us,” forward Jason Spezza said.
The Senators duly spun off four wins in a row.
In his first season as an NHL bench boss, the man from Antigonish, N.S., has taken a 13th-placed squad and fashioned it into a playoff team. He should earn a coach of the year nomination for his trouble.
Asked if his roots had anything to do with his ability to communicate with his charges, MacLean said: “Well, when you go to the ceilidh, you can’t just sit around and listen to the fiddle.”
MacLean and his staff have righted the Senators ship with communication, teaching and a dash of old-school motivating. As team captain Daniel Alfredsson put it recently: “He’s done a great job of making everybody feel part of this group.”
In conversation, MacLean cites the influence of his father and hometown minor-hockey coach, Irving McGibbon, he credits Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, under whom he served as an assistant for nine years, with helping him understand how to handle today’s NHL players.
“They want to be invested in what you’re doing, they want to know why you’re doing it, and if you can show them how you’re going to be successful, it’s way easier to demand the expectation that they do it,” MacLean said.
Born on an Canadian Forces base near Grostenquin, France, in 1958 – he moved to Nova Scotia as a child – the winger really made his name in Winnipeg, where he had three 40-goal seasons alongside Dale Hawerchuk.
“I understand how hard it is to get here, but I also understand what it’s like to be the everyday player that’s expected to score … I don’t think that pressure has changed. I think that gives me a little bit more of an insight on how to approach the players – I’ve handled that. Poorly at times, and well at times,” MacLean said.
Familiarity is also a factor for MacLean, who worked for Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray as an assistant coach in Anaheim. His relationship with assistant coach Mark Reeds stretches back to their playing days with the 1980-81 Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the old Central Hockey League. (Reeds would later room with a youngster named Claude Julien and play with another named Alain Vigneault.)
That was also the season MacLean met Dave Cameron, another of his assistants, who was playing for the CHL’s Indianapolis Checkers. Perhaps that closeness has encouraged MacLean to embrace a philosophy that swims against the prevailing tides of the new NHL.
“I don’t think you can just defend your way to the Stanley Cup, you have to be able to score your way to the Stanley Cup,” he said.
To that end, MacLean has preached a system based on quick transitions, aggressive fore-checking and lots of skating. The result: Ottawa was fourth in the NHL in scoring this season. MacLean’s approach has paid spectacular dividends for players such as Spezza, who finished fourth in scoring, and Karlsson, who at 21 has put up Norris Trophy-worthy numbers.
“[Maclean] has a good way of explaining it to everyone and letting everyone know what he expects of them and what he wants them to do out there,” said Karlsson, who had 78 points in the regular season.
MacLean, whose penchant for having four players on every offensive rush has helped make Karlsson nearly impossible to defend, also has a novel approach to mistakes: he doesn’t automatically punish them with reduced ice time.
“He teaches you when you do things wrong, but at the same time, gives you the confidence to go back out and play your game by learning from your mistakes, as opposed to being scared to make mistakes,” centre Kyle Turris said. “The biggest thing a coach can do is create confidence … he’s done a great job of that.”
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Sounds like Paul uses many similar 'Coach Whisperer / Ignitor" techniques that John the Colombian and I use... awesome!
Turkmenistan leader set on ice hockey glory
REUTERS, April 10 2012
ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN - Reclusive Turkmenistan has new and ambitious hopes to join the club of the world’s ice hockey greats some day as the sport becomes the latest craze of the nation’s absolute leader.
President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, whose interests vary from horse riding to riding sleek racing cars, has ordered the state ministries to establish their own ice hockey teams, the official daily Neitralny Turkmenistan said on Wednesday.
His word is final in the arid, gas-rich former Soviet republic of 5.5 million people where the patriarchal president, 54, who was trained as a dentist, enjoys virtually unlimited powers and a rising personality cult.
“Interior Minister I. Mulikov, who was present at the meeting, reported straight to the head of state about the creation of the ministry’s own hockey team,” the newspaper said.
“The leader of the nation stressed that it was necessary to provide efficient material stimuli to award those sportsmen who would win first places at Olympic games and other international competitions,” Neitralny Turkmenistan said.
Berdymukhamedov’s marble-clad showpiece capital Ashgabat, where summer temperatures often hover at 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit), has two spacious ice palaces for winter sports.
On April 4-7, the first four Turkmen teams, consisting of youths, took part in the president’s first ice hockey cup tournament during what Berdymukhamedov proclaimed as the Week of Health and Happiness.
The cup winner, Burgut (Golden Eagle), sponsored by the state sports and tourism committee, was awarded a $20,000 prize by Berdymukhamedov and will spend two weeks training with the youth team of Russia’s Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League, grouping 24 adult clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Latvia.
As part of the Soviet Union until 1991, Turkmenistan was one of the poorest among its 15 republics.
But after independence, late autocratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov and his successor Berdymukhamedov have lavished part of the Central Asian nation’s gas-generated revenues on glitzy special projects.
They have included a posh resort, Avaza, on the Caspian Sea and a giant artificial lake at the heart of the Karakum desert.
Berdymukhamedov is keen to attract foreign investment and markets for the Central Asian state’s future gas ambitions. He has taken some steps to bring Turkmenistan out of the isolation that accompanied the maverick rule of Niyazov, who banned opera and renamed the months of the year.
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Sweltering Turkmenistan creates hockey league:
Overcomes weather issue by building costly indoor skating rinks
The Associated Press, Apr 11, 2012
Ice hockey is hardly the most suitable sport for a desert nation where temperatures can soar as high as 50 C.
But, Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has ordered a hockey league be created by state enterprises and departments.
State daily Neutral Turkmenistan reported Wednesday that the police are already busy setting up their own team.
Turkmenistan has overcome the weather issue by using revenue generated from its natural gas exports to build costly indoor skating rinks.
Critics are unlikely to make their thoughts public in a country where government opponents face severe reprisals.
Berdymukhamedov is the subject of an increasingly grand mythology and won presidential elections in February with 97 per cent of the vote.
Where is Allaire's goalie magic?
LANCE HORNBY, QMI Agency, April 11 2012
TORONTO - Brian Burke is not shy about calling Francois Allaire “the best goaltending coach on the planet.”
And he might be right. But when the Centre of the Hockey Looney-verse (great line, not mine) veers out of its orbit, then everyone and everything on Bay St. gets the equivalent of the Hubble Telescope.
That includes Allaire’s relationship with James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson, two stoppers who were poised to be Toronto’s top tandem this past season. But rocked by two head injuries and more twists than a Canada’s Wonderland roller coaster the past 13 months, Reimer’s future is uncertain. And Gustavsson, who overcame so much on the personal front in three years here, is likely gone via unrestricted free agency. He could never hold the job for more than a few games.
The Leafs, Blue Jackets and New York Islanders are the only NHL teams to have allowed 250 or more goals the past three seasons — the span of time Allaire worked here. In the bullpen are three youngsters — Ben Scrivens, Jussi Rynnas and Mark Owuya — who came to the Leafs as free agents in large part because of the allure of Allaire.
So with Allaire poised to influence Toronto’s net results for years to come, should Burke start to worry about his methods? Is Allaire’s insistence on rigidity over reflex the right fit? Were Gustavsson and Reimer incompatible with him? Does Allaire’s long list of star pupils and Stanley Cup rings put him beyond reproach? Or can Allaire apply the best of his philosophy and let each goalie find a happy medium?
First, a little background for those not familiar with Allaire’s Quebec butterfly conservatory. In the mid-1980s, he became the Montreal Canadiens’ first goalie coach, Jacques Plante, Gump Worsley and Ken Dryden having done just fine on their own. His first project was a 6-foot-1 kid named Patrick Roy, who talked to his goalposts, but more importantly, listened to Allaire.
Allaire took the butterfly style a step further, teaching Roy to drop down, spread out and let the puck hit him, rather than fly by the seat of his hockey pants. Allaire stressed timing and distribution of equipment to make up for any deficiencies in acrobatics.
Allaire thus had a hand in Roy’s 1986 Cup win and the three Vezina Trophies that followed. Hogwarts for goalies was soon inspiring youngsters across the province who entered the NHL as juniors in the 1990s.
When Roy cut ties and stomped off to Colorado in 1995, Allaire was enticed to Anaheim by one-time Habs’ pro scouting director Jack Ferreira. He soon made unknowns such as Guy Hebert, Ilya Bryzgalov and Martin Gerber into quality NHLers. It’s something of a family firm, with brother Benoit the goalie coach for Phoenix and later the New York Rangers.
Francois’ top grads in Anaheim were 2007 Cup winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere and understudy Jonas Hiller. It was said Allaire did some of his best work with Hiller, briefing him on everything from game-day preparation to readying him for post-game media questions.
Allaire had arrived in the summer of 2009 half-a-year after Burke departed the Ducks with every intention of making the Anaheim Cup model work in Toronto.
“I think if everybody pushes in the same direction, it’s going to be easy,” Allaire told the National Post when he was hired. “If everyone wants to be better, it’s going to be easy.”
But Vesa Toskala proved too stubborn for Allaire to change. When the younger Hiller eventually forced a trade of Giguere to the Leafs, it was thought between Allaire, Giguere and Gustavsson, the Leafs would have a teacher, a veteran and a willing student.
But both goalies were hurt, leading to the arrival of Reimer, who won 20 games in half-a-season. In the summer of 2011, Burke decided to let Giguere go and hope Allaire could make Reimer and Gustavsson capable of holding the fort.
But neither man could stay healthy or consistent enough. When Gustavsson was on a roll, the Leafs insisted Reimer get back in the saddle. For three games, it worked, up to Feb. 7 in Winnipeg. It was a game the Leafs should have won in Reimer’s backyard, but turned into a one-goal loss and they dropped 15 of the next 17. Reimer was a mess, while Gustavsson never found his January form and the Leafs managed back-to-back wins only once the rest of the way. They finished 29th out of 30 teams with a 3.16 goals-against average.
“We have two young kids in the net, not a lot of experience,” Allaire told critics at one stage. “Nobody has more than 90 games in the NHL, so that is normal, sometimes you get some bumps in the road. We will see if we are strong enough to get through.
“We know we need somebody to take the lead and after that everyone will follow. But we’re not at that point right now.”
Like many, Allaire wondered how the year would have unfolded if Reimer had not been concussed / whiplashed after his hot 4-0-1 start.
“It’s something you don’t have usually for a goalie. It’s too bad. That breaks the momentum we had building in camp and during the season, but that is part of the sport. We have to deal with that and when you come back from that kind of injury, there are times when it is a little bit tougher to get through.”
Burke, who didn’t make a move at the trade deadline for a veteran stopper, felt the need to issue two public votes of support in Allaire as the Leafs’ goals against started to rise alarmingly. There had been a string of softies that Reimer and Gustavsson had allowed during the slide, but they had as much to do with mental errors, such as handling the puck and miscommunicating with defencemen, for which Allaire had no control.
“Francois is not going anywhere,” Burke told reporters in Montreal on March 3, the day he replaced Wilson with Randy Carlyle. “(Removing Allaire) is not changing our struggles in net. I’m not replacing a coach because we have two young goalies who are battling (confidence) right now.”
Yet there were 22 one-goal losses at season’s end, the sixth-highest in the league. It sounds simplistic, but reverse just half of those and the Leafs would have the same 92 points that put Ottawa into eighth place.
It should be noted that not all goalies are going to be ideal Allaire students, despite the best attempts to find the match before they arrive. Toskala certainly wouldn’t pay him heed.
“Vesa is not a guy who likes to be coached,” Allaire said the day Toskala went to Anaheim for Giguere. “He didn’t build a relationship with his last coach. In (today’s) NHL, you need as much information as you can get.”
But those who watched Gustavsson carefully in Sweden believe he fit the Monster label much better in his homeland before Allaire got custody of him. Gustavsson’s size and aggressiveness against shooters was evident in leading Farjestads to the SEL championship in 2009. Since coming to the Leafs, the same observers think Gustavsson sits back in his crease too much.
Reimer plays what Burke liked to call an “economical” style, but after coming back from the concussion, Reimer started springing leaks, especially over the shoulder and under the crossbar.
Yet both Gustavsson and Reimer remained supportive of Allaire right through the end of the season, while Scrivens has rallied behind him, too.
“I’m a different goalie than I was at school,” said Scrivens, the AHL goalie of the month in March. “I first got to work with Frankie between my junior and senior year (at Cornell) and put up the best numbers of my college career.”
Carlyle’s assistants will be shuffled next year, but Allaire will be back at practice and in his nightly press box perch. Carlyle said Allaire retained a say in the starting goalie each game night.
“He’s been around the game a long time,” Carlyle said. “He sees the little things I might not. But if you ask any coach, the No. 1 thing you want is (the coach to get the goalie) to stop the puck.”
Who has allowed the most goals against the past three years?
2011-12
Tampa Bay, 281
TORONTO, 264
Columbus, 262
NY Islanders, 255
Winnipeg, 246
2010-11
Colorado, 288
Edm/Atl, 269
NY Islanders, 264
Columbus, 258
TORONTO, 251
2009-10
Edmonton, 284
TORONTO, 267
NY Islanders, 264
Tampa Bay, 260
Columbus, 259
Wickenheiser says Russians don’t care enough about women’s hockey
Canadian Press, April 10, 2012
The new format at the women’s world hockey championship can’t hide the chasm between women’s hockey in Canada and Russia.
Canada steamrolled the Russians 14-1 to conclude the preliminary round in Pool A on Tuesday. Canada (2-1) awaited the result of the later Finland-U.S. game to determine their rank in the pool.
The world championship was altered to reduce lopsided scores by having countries closer to each other in ability meet in the preliminary round.
But fourth-seeded Russia remains light years behind No. 2 Canada.
“I think their biggest downfall is coaching and leadership,” Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser said bluntly.
“I just feel for those players because I feel the Russian federation doesn’t care enough about women’s hockey to do what needs to be done. They deserve better.”
Ten different players scored for Canada. Wickenheiser led with a hat trick and Natalie Spooner and Meghan Agosta each scored twice.
Caroline Ouellette, Laura Fortino, Lauriane Rougeau, Gillian Apps, Rebecca Johnston, Jayna Hefford and Jennifer Wakefield also had goals.
Charline Labonte faced just seven shots, giving up a power-play goal to Angelina Goncharenko in the third period.
Russia kept their best goaltender, Anna Prugova, on the bench to prepare for the Wednesday’s quarter-finals.
After Agosta scored Canada’s fifth goal on a penalty shot in the first period, Valentina Ostrovlyanchik was replaced in Russia’s net by 17-year-old Margarita Monakhova, who allowed nine goals on 28 shots.
The top four seeds of U.S., Canada, Finland and Russia were in Pool A, while fourth through eighth – Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Germany – were in Pool B.
The top two in Pool A are rewarded with byes to the semifinal, while the bottom two play in Wednesday’s quarter-finals against the top two from Pool B.
Switzerland and Sweden finished first and second respectively in Pool B to advance. The Swiss edged the Swedes 3-2 and Slovakia doubled Germany 4-2 on Tuesday.
Germany and Slovakia will meet in a three-game relegation round.
The Russian women won bronze at the 2001 world championship in Minnesota, but their federation did nothing to build on that result.
Russia neglected the women’s team until the country won the bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Now attention is being paid, but too late for the Russian women to get on the level of Canada and defending world champion U.S. The Americans beat them 9-0 in the round robin.
Russia’s goal is a bronze in Sochi, which is within reach of a country with a hockey culture and the facilities.
Russia has a six-team professional women’s league, in which the players are paid. But the country has just 530 female players in total compared to 85,000 in Canada.
Areas where Russia could make great strides in the time they have left before Sochi is in physical fitness.
Forward Ilya Gavrilova is a teammate of Wickenheiser’s on the University of Calgary Dinos and one of two players on the roster playing in North America.
She told The Canadian Press national-team players aren’t required to follow an off-ice training program. Head coach Valentin Gureyev insists they are.
Whatever the case, Russia couldn’t match Canada’s pace from the outset. They were beaten to the puck or easily muscled off it and thus rarely had the puck on their sticks.
“We need an individual program, but we also need girls to follow the program,” Gavrilova said. “The coaches are trying to push us harder and harder. For some young players, they need to realize they need to work harder.
“We have to give everyone a program so everyone will work individually, but the mentality in Russia is because it’s so easy to make the team, there’s not enough competition to make the team. That’s why I want them to go to North America so they can see how hard people work here.”
The end of Tuesday’s game was chippy as Russia’s frustration at their sound beating surfaced.
“I know Ilya. I train with her every day. She’s a very good player,” Wickenheiser said. “She’s capable of competing against us and I think they have several players who could do that, but I just don’t think their players are given any respect, nor do they respect themselves enough to believe they can compete.
“It’s unfortunate to see and very disappointing. That kind of hockey can’t be played if you want to compete at this level.”
The Russian team played games against club and university teams in Calgary last November. Gureyev said the national team will do so again next season.
It’s unclear whether Gureyev will coach the Russian women in Sochi. He says he’s been told to prepare the team for the Winter Games.
The Canadians weren’t willing to take their foot off the gas against their overmatched opponent. After a 9-2 loss to the U.S. to open the tournament, they want to build confidence in their offence heading into the playoff round.
“In women’s hockey you always want to showcase the best of play that there is and to feed into the game they wanted to play would have just been a mockery of it,” Wickenheiser said.
Notes: Rougeau’s goal was her first for the Canadian women’s team . . . Canada also beat Russia 14-1 in their previous meeting at the 12 Nations Cup in Finland last summer.
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Sad but not surprising to hear. I hope these comments stir up some action in Russia and other countries with Women's Hockey.
FRASER: HOW OFFICIALS ARE CHOSEN FOR STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
Kerry Fraser, TSN.ca, April 12, 2012
Kerry:
Could you explain how the officials are chosen for the NHL playoffs? What criteria are used to select who works these games and who gets to move into each ensuing round?
Thanks,
Clark Groome
Clark: I always enjoy our conversations when you and I meet in the Wells Fargo Arena press box to cover a Philadelphia Flyers home game. Yesterday the NHL announced the names of the Officials selected to work the first round of the 2011-12 Stanley Cup Playoffs which kicks off tonight with three games. Let me tell you (at least in theory) how the selections were made. Those fortunate enough to be selected are as follows:
REFEREES
Paul Devorski, Eric Furlatt, Marc Joannette, Tom Kowal, Steve Kozari, Mike Leggo, Chris Lee, Wes McCauley, Brad Meier, Dan O'Halloran, Dan O'Rourke, Tim Peel, Brian Pochmara, Kevin Pollock, Chris Rooney, Kelly Sutherland, Francois St-Laurent, Stephen Walkom, Ian Walsh and Brad Watson.
LINESMEN
Derek Amell, Steve Barton, Dave Brisebois, Lonnie Cameron, Scott Cherrey, Greg Devorski, Scott Driscoll, Shane Heyer, Brad Kovachik, Brad Lazarowich, Steve Miller, Jean Morin, Brian Murphy, Jonny Murray, Derek Nansen, Tim Nowak, Pierre Racicot, Tony Sericolo, Jay Sharrers and Mark Wheler.
Noticeable omissions from the list of referees are veterans Dave Jackson, Dennis LaRue, Don Van Massenhoven and Greg Kimmerly. Absent from the linesmen list are previous playoff performers Mike Cvik, Pierre Champoux, Vaughan Rody, Michel Cormier and Mark Shewchyk (Dan Schachte has retired and I congratulate him on a tremendous career as an NHL Linesman).
Part of Terry Gregson's duties as Director of Officiating is to administer a numerical performance evaluation/rating system of his on-ice officiating staff for the purpose of playoff selection and to determine an official's ongoing employment status. This status would include termination through persistent substandard performance or succession planning relative to a mutually agreed upon schedule for an official's retirement.
Data is submitted through a computer generated game supervision report that is compiled by Gregson and his supervisory staff every time they attend a game and observe a crew of officials. Clark, you have seen several Officiating Supervisors at games in Philadelphia during the season. They travel around the League and similarly observe all the officials on staff.
The evaluation form or supervisor report deals in part with an official's skating ability, positioning and a "catch-all" category called comportment. Comportment includes how an official communicates and interacts and with the game participants (players, coaches, fellow officials) and reacts to situations that are presented throughout a game. Comments will be included relative to the standard of enforcement employed by the official including any calls perceived to have been made in error or missed as well as areas of concern or recommendations for improvement.
Terry Gregson's primary supervisory staff at the NHL level consists of former NHL officials Rob Shick, Mick McGeough, Don Koharski , Bill McCreary and Kevin Collins. Former referee Bob Hall administers a recruiting and development program responsible for those contracted officials working in the AHL and to compile a "draft list" of prospective talent working at various amateur levels of hockey.
Hockey Operations monitors every game that is played during the regular season and playoffs from the "situation room" in Toronto. League personnel that staff this room will record and clip questionable calls that they view or situations that are commented upon by play-by-play and game analysts for Terry Gregson to review.
Aside from officiating complaints received by Hockey Ops and/or the Director of Officiating via telephone communication during or after games, team General Managers can also submit a written request for review of a call or an official's performance. When this occurs Terry Gregson is obliged to investigate the claim and respond back to the team with his findings.
This adds up to a full season of scrutiny that the official's performances are subjected to. As with any rating system there is some subjectivity that is imposed by the people that review the performance and input the data. Office politics applies in every corporation, organization and job on the face of the earth and the NHL evaluation process for their officials is no different.
Any and all material gathered from the above listed sources can't help but influence the perception held by Officiating Managers to some degree as they conduct their evaluation process. A comprehensive package of information including discussions amongst the supervisors and evaluation meetings scheduled by Terry Gregson are utilized to determine each individual official's ranking.
Some Officials share a philosophy and openly state their concerted effort "fly under the radar." That means avoid controversy and stay out of the highlight reels. My objective would be to utilize sound judgment and react accordingly to make calls (especially tough ones) that can be defended and can stand up to any video scrutiny.
For those that were selected to the first round of the playoffs I congratulate you and wish you much success. The pressure is on to perform to the highest level of your capability at this most exciting time of the season.
Prepare yourself well for every game and maintain focus and concentration throughout. React to game situations and trust your instinct and gut without looking over your shoulder or upstairs for guidance even when unpopular or controversial calls have to be made. Place yourself in position to gain the best sightline and make the call with courage and conviction.
When this round ends and the management team reevaluates every officials performance to determine which of you will advance in the playoffs be able to look in the mirror and honestly say, "I gave the Game the very best that I had to give - I did my job to the best of my ability!"
Best of luck; we'll all be watching...
Bettman vows officiating and discipline standards will not slacken as playoffs progress
NEW YORK— Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, Apr. 11, 2012
Surely this has never before happened.
It has held beer, champagne and even babies, but the first known contact between water and the Stanley Cup was in 1905 when Hall-of-Famer Harvey Pulford, well into his own cups, drop-kicked the trophy off a bridge over the Rideau Canal following a victory by his Silver Seven.
Even then the water was frozen.
But there it was, the Stanley Cup, grown to more than 20 feet high and weighing 6,600 pounds, standing in the heart of Times Square with water squirting out its sides and all of New York invited to drink from it.
They erected the giant replica on Duffy Island, so named to honour Father Francis Patrick Duffy, a hero of the First World War, the most decorated cleric in the history of the U.S. Army and, appropriately for the occasion, born in Cobourg, Ont., in 1871.
Under spotty skies and in a chilly wind, poorly clad cheerleaders in New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils colours shivered and shook. Small boys wearing jerseys representing the 16 NHL playoff teams stood about staring more at the giant Stanley Cup than the real one, which was carried out by white gloves and set on a table for all and sundry to leave fingerprints on as they posed for photographs as if the Cup were itself a celebrity – and, in a way, it is.
“The greatest trophy in all of sports,” the emcee claimed over a loudspeaker. “The greatest tournament in sports.”
Among the thousands in Times Square – representing at least many dozen of the 800 languages spoken in New York – there might have been dissenters, but not among those let inside the ropes surrounding the NBC promotion for the playoffs that began Wednesday night and should end before the turn of the next century.
The first round is under way, and the first round, as all true hockey fans know, is the climax of the NHL season. Hockey is a most unusual sport in that the dictionary climax, the presentation of the real Stanley Cup, is anti-climactic and, often, of little interest to those fans who watch and get counted but really only want to get the damned thing over and get on with summer.
Even Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the National Hockey League, agrees that there is something special about Round 1, something that goes beyond games every night and the launch of the playoffs.
“The competitive balance is so great,” he says on this cool day in Times Square, “that any of the 16 teams could emerge, ultimately, as the Stanley Cup winner. You have seen in the last seven years No. 8 seeds go to the Stanley Cup final. You’ve seen unpredictable results. It’s a testament, I think, more than anything else in the game, to the way it’s being played. Nobody doubts that these 16 teams are happier than the 14 teams that didn’t make the playoffs. But nobody is happy with just making the first round. The players, the fans, the organizations expect more.”
“More” could reach four rounds, each capable of going seven full games, meaning the winner could conceivably play 28 games beyond the 82 already played in the regular season. That is wearing by any measure.
It has been suggested many times in recent years – certainly by Vancouver in 2011, by Ottawa in 2007, by the Edmonton Oilers in 2006, by the Calgary Flames in 2004 – that not only players wear down but officials as well. Slippage takes place, with tough calls less and less likely as the importance of the games grows.
This, the commissioner argues, does not happen and will not happen in 2012.
“The standard will be held,” he vows. “We were on a conference call with officials that Terry Gregson [director of officiating] was leading the other day and he reinforced the fact that the officiating standard is not to slip or change.”
The same standards, he promises, will apply to supplemental discipline and any action the league’s head of player safety, Brendan Shanahan, decides to take on players who cross the line on head shots or intent to injure.
“It is what it has been,” Bettman says.
It is, of course, what it will be that will be the measure. And, equally of course, there will be critics of the officiating regardless of how strict and fair it might be seen by others; that is simply the nature of the beast that is the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It would be wonderful if, come June some time, hockey could look back and say the whistles were consistent, the rulings fair and no one rioted just because he lost.
The ribbon-cutting and announcements over, NBC and the city officials invited the public to line up and do as Harvey Pulford once did, drink from the Stanley Cup – water only, which might have been good advice for Harvey, as well.
They lined up down the street but had to reconfigure the line because the water pipes feeding the giant Stanley Cup had sprung a leak and workmen were scurrying under the huge structure with rolls of duct tape.
They set up barriers near the heaviest flow, not wanting anyone to slip.
Which, of course, is exactly what we all want.
NHL unhappy with missed offside call on Briere goal
The Canadian Press, Apr. 12, 2012
Colin Campbell says he's almost as upset as the Pittsburgh Penguins over a missed offside call that led to a goal in Wednesday's playoff opener with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The NHL's senior executive vice-president of hockey operations acknowledges that linesman Tony Sericolo erred in not whistling the play dead prior to Danny Briere's goal early in the second period.
The Flyers forward was sent in on a breakaway off a long pass from teammate Brayden Schenn that came immediately after a turnover in the neutral zone.
Campbell believes that Sericolo was in position to make the right call but thinks the quick turnaround affected his view of the play.
Briere's goal was the first for Philadelphia as it erased a three-goal deficit and beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime. After the game, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said the blown call wasn't responsible for his team losing the game.
Campbell says the incident could affect how director of officiating Terry Gregson handles staffing assignments moving forward.
NHLPA goal is nuturing game’s grassroots in Canada:
Players join Allstate Insurance to create program to reach youngsters
Adam Bowen, For the Calgary Herald, April 12, 2012
In 2010, the National Hockey League Players’ Association partnered up with Allstate Insurance Company of Canada to create the Allstate All-Canadians program, a platform for NHL players, past and present, to give back the game of hockey and help foster grassroots hockey in Canada.
Thanks to the success of the initial camp, the All-Canadians program is back and has included Calgary as one of the locations to hold a regional mentorship camp on April 21.
“We wanted to spread the program out as much as we could geographically and Calgary is sort of a central point for southern Alberta,” said NHLPA Director of Corporate Partnerships Colin Campbell. “Hopefully, we’ll have kids go onto the All-Canadians website to register for their opportunity to win a chance to attend the camp.”
“In a perfect world we’d love to do these camps in every city, there’s three more this year and hopefully we’re going to have some success with those and then we’ll continue to grow and expand.”
In its first year, the program was open to 42 of the best bantam-aged players from throughout the country, but the All-Canadians program has expanded its scope to include boys and girls of any skill level, which will give even more children a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive some of the best instruction from NHLPA members and experts of the game.
“These one-day camps will be very productive for kids at every skill level to get something back from our NHL players.”
Campbell hopes the program will help foster balance within the lives of the kids who grow up playing hockey in Canada.
“The name of the program itself, ‘All-Canadians’ encapsulates the program in general, what we’re trying to do is to provide some mentorship to how players can become All-Canadians on, and off the ice,” said Campbell.
The response from members of the NHLPA looking to volunteer their time has been overwhelming; with players attending camps as well as shooting personal videos with hockey related tips that are placed on the All-Canadian program’s website, allcanadians.com.
“Once our players went to the website themselves they got a clearer idea of what it was that we were asking them to do and have been quicker to volunteer their time to shoot their own videos and explain what helped them as an up-and-coming hockey player,” said Campbell. “The digital side is really the most accessible way for kids to engage, anyone can go online and access the information on the website, but it is the opportunity to attend the camp in person is quite a special opportunity.”
Former NHL defenceman and Stanley Cup Champion Mathieu Schneider is one of a host of NHLPA members who will be attending the various camps throughout the country, and believes it is important for professional players to be good ambassadors of the game of hockey, and foster the development and the love for the game within younger generations.
“A program like this gives an opportunity to young kids to hear what the current players have to say, some of the stories of how they made it and what it takes to get there,” said Schneider, who also is also involved with the NHLPA as a special assistant. “We have such a diverse cross-section and so many different messages that this program gives us that vehicle necessary to get the right messages out to the kids.”
The unique insights and information NHL players can provide is an invaluable resource, one which Schneider believes should be shared with those dedicated to the sport of hockey.
“The players are the keepers of the game. The game has evolved and changed so much over the years, but it’s such a unique perspective, there’s so much experience and so much knowledge in each NHL player that you really kind find anywhere else. There is such a small percentage of people that make it, and because of that I think we can be a voice of reason, to players and to the parents.”
Kids of all ages and skill levels are encouraged to sign up for their chance to attend one of the camps, and can do so by visiting www.allcanadians.com.
Rising star Ward destined for NHL job:
Abbotsford coach quickly turns into top teacher
Vicki Hall, Calgary Herald April 12, 2012
Apologies, self-recrimination and promises for a better future dominated general manager Jay Feaster’s eulogy for the 2011-12 edition of the Calgary Flames.
Understandably. After three straight seasons out of the playoffs, the fans in these parts want — no, demand — accountability and answers.
But amid the extensive analysis of the negative, Feaster took time to list the (limited) sunny side of a season to forget. Forward Roman Horak made the team out of training camp. At 27, Derek Smith established himself as an NHL defenceman. So did 21-year-old T.J. Brodie. Youngsters Lance Bouma, Blair Jones, Paul Byron, Sven Baertschi and Akim Aliu all received special mention.
And then there’s the man Aliu credited for resurrecting his dying hockey career.
“We believe, on a positive side, that we have one of the best development coaches in the game in Troy Ward and the staff he has assembled in Abbotsford,” Feaster told reporters assembled in the bowels of the Scotiabank Saddledome. “He is an excellent teacher. He is a great motivator.”
Ward specializes in reclamation projects as the head coach of the Abbotsford Heat. He loves the challenge of working with kids that others have counted out in their quest to make it to the National Hockey League.
Case in point: Aliu. The 22-year-old arrived in Abbotsford in January as a castoff from the Winnipeg Jets, Ward took the former bad boy under his wing. He told him to get a haircut. Buy new clothes.
Like it or not, Aliu had to play in a checking role on the third line. Mastering two-way hockey was a must.
In the end, Aliu played the last two games of the season in Calgary, registering two goals and an assist.
More importantly, he created absolute havoc on the ice and drove the Anaheim Ducks absolutely quackers in the season finale.
“Troy saw the talent he had right off the bat,” Feaster said. “Troy brought him along to the point he came up here and played two really solid games for us and now has put himself into the mix as we go into training camp next season.”
For the Calgary Flames, the season is over and done. For Abbotsford, the playoffs start next week with home-ice advantage up for grabs this weekend in two games against the Toronto Marlies.
The coaching situation in Calgary is up in the air with Brent Sutter’s contract set to expire after three years. Sutter has made it perfectly clear he wants to come back next season and take care of unfinished business.
Regardless of whether Sutter stays or goes, Ward has worked his way into the discussion for NHL job vacancies this summer in Calgary or other parts unknown.
“That’s the dream,” says Ward, 49. “That’s what I’ve been pushing for.”
The push began in North St. Paul where a young Troy Ward stayed up in bed each night to look outside his window and watch the neighbour kids play hockey on Casey Lake.
“My mom told me I would make my dinner plate into a hockey rink,” he said. “If she gave me mashed potatoes, I would push them all over and that would be the boards. The pea would be the puck. And I would sit there and play with my food like it was a hockey rink.”
The hockey-mad kid grew up to play Division 3 at the University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire — far short of his dream of playing for the Minnesota North Stars.
Nearing the end of his time in school, Ward discussed his future with then coach Wally Akervik.
“Well, now what are you going to do?” the coach asked.
“Well,” Ward replied. “I think I’m going to be an NHL head coach. “
“Are you serious?” Akervik said, laughing.
“Yeah I am, “ Ward replied. “I think I have the ability.”
Akervik told Ward he should never stay in one place for more than two or three years. He took that advice to heart, working as a coach for more than two decades at various outposts in the NCAA, USHL, IHL, ECHL and AHL. Holding a Master’s Degree in sports administration, Ward served as an assistant behind the bench for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1997-2000.
“That was the best education I ever had in coaching,” he said. “To sit on the ice and work individually with Jagr, Kovalev, Lemieux, Francis — you’re talking a major education.”
Teaching is Ward’s calling card in Abbotsford. At the rink most days by 4. a.m., he prepares for hockey much like a football coach complete detailed game plays and non-stop analysis of video with assistants Cail MacLean, Luke Strand and Jordan Sigalet.
“Troy spends a ton of time at the rink,” said Heat forward Carter Bancks. “The amount of preparation all our coaching staff does is intense. It’s tough not to respect that, because you know how much they care.
“Troy lets you know where you’re at. If you ever want to walk into his office and ask him what’s up or just chat with him, he’s very open with you. Very honest. That’s something you like about a coach. You know what you’re getting He makes you feel good when you’re playing well, and he’ll pump you up. He’s doesn’t brutally rip you.”
There’s not much to rip these days with the Heat reaching 40 wins for the first time in the franchise’s three-year history and the playoffs just around the corner.
Not bad for a club ravaged by injuries in Abbotsford and constant player recalls from Calgary.
“We devastated that team,” Feaster said. “Every time we recall a player to come here because of an injury, they’re scrambling and he’s kept that group together.
“To now have them sitting in fourth spot and looking to try to clinch home ice in the first round, I can’t say enough about the job that he and his staff have done.”
NEW QUEBEC ARENA DOESN'T MEAN NHL TEAM IS CLOSER
BOB MCKENZIE, TSN, March 26 2012
The National Hockey League's position on Phoenix - or Quebec City if you like - is pretty much the same now as it has always been.
That is, the goal is to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix. There are no immediate plans for relocation or expansion to anywhere, let alone Quebec City and, well... stop me if you've heard any of this before.
But here's what we also know to be true.
The NHL cannot possibly wait as long this year as it did last year for the Phoenix situation to resolve itself. Last year, the Coyotes were not locked in for another season in Phoenix until almost mid-May and the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg didn't take place until the end of May.
The NHL was able to wait as long last year because True North - the owner of the Jets - had an entire hockey and business and arena infrastructure ready, willing and able to accept a franchise at the last minute.
In spite of Sunday's arena news conference in Quebec City, neither Quebec nor Seattle are as well positioned as Winnipeg. So unless Phoenix is resolved in short order, the league will at the very least have to begin laying some relocation groundwork in the very near future.
Now there's nothing to stop the NHL from running parallel or simultaneous tracks - one leading to the Coyotes staying in Phoenix and the other one leading out of the desert - but it should be noted the NHL has yet to start down that second track.
So the good folks of Quebec City shouldn't get too excited just yet.
If the Coyotes are on the move, there's no guarantee it's to La Belle Province. It's certainly a viable landing spot, but so too is Seattle. And the Pacific Northwest may be a more desirable location from the NHL's perspective.
There's no NHL expansion on the immediate horizon, but if the league and Players' Association achieve labour peace and a new collective bargaining agreement next fall and if there are no further existing franchise fires to put out, growing the NHL to 32 teams would seem to make sense.
But even then, Quebec City might still be in tough - competing with a second NHL franchise in Southern Ontario, Seattle or who knows where.
So while it's all very exciting for Quebec City to get a new arena, that's not to be confused with necessarily being a tangible step closer to getting an NHL franchise.
Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
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