"We covet as much attention as we can get from every possible outlet and source." -- NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
If only this were true. In the last 24 hours I've received the following information: Erik Ohlsson, who works for the Swedish Daily Dagens Nyheter out of Washington, D.C., was denied accreditation by the league. American ties -- Swedish captain in the Finals...how many more selling points do you need?
On the other hand, sources tell us that James Hurst, who writes a twice-monthly column for the weekly Wellington Times (a gratis paper, by the way) was granted accreditation for Game 4 in Ottawa.
Now don't get us wrong -- we're not saying one writer is more deserving than the other. We're just trying to demonstrate that there is no rhyme or reason behind the NHL's alleged list of criteria required for any press member to secure accreditation into the Finals, and the preceding is an excellent demonstration of just how random it can be.
1) Numbers rarely tell the full story. Ottawa won 33 of their faceoffs; Anaheim won 32. But watching the game, it was blatantly obvious that number should have been tipped in the Ducks' favour. If Ottawa did win a faceoff, they rarely won it cleanly. We'd also like to take this opportunity to remind you that John Muckler could've had notorious faceoff man Yanic Perreault for a song -- Perreault flapped in the breeze until Phoenix picked him up for the psychotically low price of $700,000 on October 29th.
2) Why bother to admit that the team has a good luck song if you're not going to play it? Idiotic.
3) Why are defensemen making 6.5 million per year pushing the forecheckers to the inside on breakaways? Idiotic.
4) Now the media gets to spend thousands of dollars sending their employees 3,000 miles to duck* around in SoCal for 48 hours to see Anaheim win at home, or worse still, the Ottawa faithful who have forked out for Game 6 run the risk of seeing the Ducks win at the SBP. Idiotic.
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* Bad pun on my part -- trust me, that's not the vowel I wanted to use.
From today's Sun -- a piece that details the music being played at home games:
Gower is always on the lookout for a particularly potent pop tune or country classic to add to his arsenal. He found his latest secret weapon, Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape, during the series with the Buffalo Sabres. It was Game 2, the teams were in overtime, when the Buffalo DJ played the Stefani song. Seconds later, Joe Corvo scored. Hmmm.
SWEET SHOT
The very next game back at Scotiabank Place, DJ Marchand played the same Stefani tune. Holy mother of pearl, on the very next play, Alfredsson scored.
"It's been a good-luck charm for us ever since," Gower admits.
What -- you mean like this or this? Who else on Earth would notice something like that right away?
This is going to be short because I'm heading out:
1) Alfie touched the Prince of Wales Trophy -- commence your freakouts;
2) Today is The Driver's birthday, so needless to say he's pleased;
3) The following is an e-mail from California -- NBC dropped the ball. Big time. It reads:
OMG I am SO (expletive) pissed right now. This is when I watch hockey, deep into the playoffs. The Sens and Sabres go to OT, and they flip to the (expletive) Preakness. I get it, they're obligated. But they don't put in on an alternate (expletive) channel! I thought they may flip it to CNBC, or one of their several other channels that are showing Bo Flex ads right now -- nope.
(Expletive) it, two wasted hours and no payoff. I refuse to go to a bar to watch the end of it. I tried to enjoy the NHL, for a couple of weeks anyway and this is what I get. Thanks NHL, thanks NBC. That's the last game I'll tune in to for a very long time.
See, the Americans care about hockey, but they have very little patience. Frankly after reading that, can you blame them?
4) Sign spotted during the second intermission (given away courtesy of Rock 97): "Slash the Sen's". The team's now known as the "Sen" -- since when? If this is the case I would have to ask, "Slash the Sen's what?" That's two grammatical errors for the price of one, kids.
Please be safe and behave yourselves tonight. You've been given a window to tell all the naysayers to chew it for now. I highly encourage you to do so.
This is going to be fairly short, because the current series situation has caught between a rock and a hard place in regards to the column.
1) Two nights ago, James Duthie went full-blown OCD regarding the idea of the Sens facing a long layoff (as much as 12 days had they won last night). He brought it up at least three times before digging up the stats, and they read as follows: Three teams have gone 12-2 in the Semifinals, only to be beaten in the fourth round. They are the 1992 Chicago Blackhawks (swept in four), The 1995 Detroit Red Wings (swept in four) and the 2003 Anaheim Ducks (beaten in seven). Now it won't happen, so they can't talk about it anymore -- instead, they can talk about a Sens loss and the possibility (according to the media) of a Buffalo comeback/Senators chokejob. This team can't win (with the media, that is).
2) When I saw the Senators' starting lineup I almost choked, and 90% of my reaction was due to the defensive pairing listed. Why on Earth would Murray start the game with Redden and Meszaros? Why?
3) Pennywise's Knocked Down was played during the pre-game skate. Was LOVING that. Oleg Saprykin was the last off the ice, and shot a puck in the Buffalo net. The crowd cheered, but I remember thinking it was bad karma.
4) Guess who I was sitting beside last night? Go on, guess. I'll wait. Did you guess Dwayne Klessel? That's an E5. Frankly, I've never understood what the BFD was about this guy and why bloggers obsess about him, but anyways -- he looks nothing like he sounds, he's older than you'd think, eats a lot of popcorn and is need of a wardrobe overhaul/haircut. In other words, he fits right in with the majority of the population upstairs.
5) Scouts are nuts. One team in particular is beyond obsessive with their research -- I was blown away. I'm going to leave it at that, except to say that to see another team's assessment of the Senators without any kind of bias whatsoever (read: non-media and non-fan) was a total eye-opener.
6) The Sens didn't score after The Sweet Escape was played last night, but they did have a decent sequence. I say keep playing it. It's the only song the crowd can apparently keep in time with. By the way, the Senators also played a video montage set to Crowbar's Oh What A Feeling. This city's stuck in a Can-Con time warp.
There's some unbelievable material coming off Buffalo's WGR 550 website. They have a phone-in line where you can leave your complaints, and the audio rants are posted on the site each day. You seriously need to check this out -- you can find the page here.
(I actually took this photo during the New Jersey series. There was an inordinate amount of people dressed up last night, including a ton with painted faces and body parts -- everyone looked as if they overdid it on the Mystic Tan. I was freaked out by the fact that the painting seemingly had no age limit. There were plenty of older men painted up who would normally be seen during the 6 am rush at Cora's.)
Okay, okay...I'm here. I was at the game last night, and was up quite late (no, not because of that -- I was trying to clear some space on my DVR). A few things:
- I hope that A Channel's Ken Evraire doesn't coach a children's team of any sort, because his motivation skills really leave something to be desired. I was standing in the Red Zone with The Driver while checking out the festivities. At one point, Evraire appeared onstage with a microphone and said, "There are going to be some bad bounces that come Ottawa's way, and Buffalo are going to score some goals. Don't get your hopes up. Keep focused!" The Driver and I looked at each other as if to say, "Did that just happen?"
- How much more of a hint do you need that Daniel Alfredsson is a different guy? He did the post-game conference with his four-year-old son on his lap (who looks a lot like him, by the way).
- Gwen Stefani and the Senators are currently 2-for-2. The Sweet Escape was played before the sequence that led to Alfie's goal. My phone went nuts afterwards. Finger on the pulse, people! Now if only the team would play it more often.
- I overheard Daniel Briere being absolutely torched by some out-of-town media who were from one of cities where Briere is rumoured to end up after UFA. They ripped him to shreds, and that's before he's even changed jerseys into something more familiar.
- I was part of a rare phenomenon known as the Random Elevator Mock. I took a packed elevator down from the 4th level after the game. At one point, it stopped and opened its doors...to two lone Buffalo fans. It was like the world's slowest mocking drive-by. The doors parted, everyone laughed at and booed the Sabres fans for 12 seconds, the doors closed again and we were gone.
- I saw a rally cap/helmet movement being attempted on one of the Buffalo message boards last night, and 95% of the respondents were getting ready to plan their golfing season. Wow, they really are turning into us.
(Derek Roy, getting in a few preliminary rounds before the 2008 Olympic Team is selected. He'll also be competing in the 3 metre springboard.)
It's late and I'm exhausted from yelling and doing the "Keep It Out" dance, so only a few points tonight:
- Memo to Don Van 'Mensa'hoven: Not calling interference after Chris Kelly was blatantly hit from behind by Brian Campbell was a mistake. Calling interference on Joe Corvo in OT for not knowing what to do with the puck was a mistake. In short, please brush up on your knowledge of the interference rule. Much obliged.
- How about that fourth line for Ottawa tonight? Huge respect to them, especially during those sequences mid-way through the third period where they refused to give up the puck deep in the Buffalo zone. As for Triple Cream Brie -- the guy who Muckler was so hot on that during a taping of OTR in March, he referred to him as "Spareekin" -- dude's got confidence for days. He's so sure of himself when he handles the puck. It's great to watch.
- Did you notice Murray playing the Corvo-Preissing pairing with Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson after a while? It wasn't happening all the time, but one wonders if the coach was trying to protect his shakiest defensive pairing by matching them up with the big line, in the hopes that the forwards would keep the puck in deep and away from 7 and 42.
- I'm dying to see how the media deals with "Corvo The Hero". It's obvious the guy tries hard, and he's one of the team's best interviews -- I'll be irked if disparaging monikers are referenced this morning after his great moment last night. Ease up for God's sakes and give the guy his due. He sure as hell deserves it today.
- And finally -- speaking of the media, how about that love-fest in the first segment of the Satellite Hotstove? Watching the media being forced aboard the Senators bandwagon is beyond hilarious. It must drive some of them absolutely crazy to go without at least one negative dig to use against Ottawa.
It was hardly a memorable performance from Ottawa last night -- the Preissing-Corvo pairing was completely off-kilter, appearing to function as a panicky mess for the majority of the evening. On the Afinogenov goal, Corvo charged out to the point in some sort of misguided attempt to cover Kalinin but stopped short, which left Preissing all alone on the wrong side. And of course, Corvo was a major part of the atrocious sequence in the third (along with Schubert) that saw Ottawa fail to get the puck out of the zone on five or six attempts. Jason Spezza's skating left a lot to be desired (he was barely moving his legs) and Alfie, who continues to work hard, seemed to struggle a bit with timing -- particularly during pass reception.
On the plus side (besides the obvious win) -- a wonderful performance from Mike Fisher. There were also two notables who rarely get mentioned these days: Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly. Kelly busts his ass every shift, and his role on the PK is so integral to the defensive success that the Sens' forwards have achieved thus far. You could also mention Vermette in the same breath, but it should be pointed out that he had a beautiful sequence vs. Afinogenov mid-way through the 3rd where he continued to pressure the Russian off the puck. That's the way you need to deal with this player (especially when he's clicking, and last night was one of those nights). The Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov trio seemed to be the line obtaining the most chances -- I loved Vermette's demonstration that Afinogenov could be contained. One note on "Jack White" Briere: He was a non-factor last night, but so was Gary Roberts in the first game vs. Pittsburgh, and Ottawa saw how that changed. Maybe he's hurt, but I'll postpone judgment for the meantime. And how about "Triple Cream Brie" Saprykin registering his first playoff goal as a Senator? It's about as unexpected as having two players wearing No. 61 in a series.
The next 48 hours should be interesting. I imagine Buffalo supporters will be regrouping their smack. After all, when some Sabres fans aren't referring to Dany Heatley as "a murderer", they've been keeping busy acting as the Sens' alarm clock. How very Super Bowl of them.
(Hmmm...there's that card to play as well, isn't there?)
"BUFFALO ARE UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST TALENTED TEAM IN THE NHL, AND THE TEAM WITH THE STRONGEST CHANCE OF WINNING THE STANLEY CUP! OTTAWA'S HAD TROUBLE WITH SPEED ALL YEAR! WHAT DID I SAY EARLIER ON IN THE SEASON? OTTAWA'S SPEED IS HIGHLY OVERRATED AND IT WILL COME BACK TO BITE THEM IN THIS SERIES! I WAS THE ONE WHO SAID THAT! BUFFALO IS ALL ABOUT TEAM SPEED! BUFFALO IS ALL ABOUT TEAM SCORING! OTTAWA HAD TO FACE TWO OF THE FINALISTS FOR THE HART TROPHY, BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE NOW THEY MUST DEAL WITH RYAN MILLER, AND HE'S AN UNBEATABLE FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH! HOW ARE THE SENATORS GOING TO CONTAIN THE PRIDE OF GATINEAU, DANIEL BRIERE? I WAS THERE WHEN HE SCORED HIS 123rd POINT AS A MEMBER OF THE DRUMMONDVILLE VOLTIGEURS IN 1995! IT WAS ON A TUESDAY, AND THE MOON WAS IN ITS THIRD QUARTER! DANIEL BRIERE ISN'T JUST A MONSTER -- HE'S UN MONSTRE! RIGHT NOW HE ALSO LOOKS A LOT LIKE JACK WHITE FROM THE WHITE STRIPES, AND WE ALL KNOW HOW TALENTED THAT GUY IS! I PICKED PITTSBURGH TO BEAT OTTAWA IN THE QUARTERFINALS, SO WHY WOULD I GIVE THEM A CHANCE IN HELL OF WINNING NOW? BUFFALO IN 4! NO WAIT, MAKE THAT BUFFALO IN THREE! WITH THEIR TEAM SPEED, THEY CAN CLINCH THE SERIES IN ONLY THREE GAMES! THREE!!! YYYYYYAAAAAARRRRRRRUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!"
Here's Paul Devorski on the phone during the review of the Vermette goal. I kid you not -- this photo is completely unaltered, with the exception of miniscule adjustments made for clarity. Wassup?! (Sincerely, The year 2000.)
And here's Tom Preissing demonstrating how the Devils must feel after tonight's game:
Two out of three Hart Trophy candidates obliterated. You can't help but like that.
There really isn't much left to say about this series that hasn't already been stated -- there were more turnovers than a badly run small business, and no real hatred or drama which made for little buildup during the off-days. This of course, has led to a full-blown obsession with Elisha Cuthbert and her appearance at the SBP during Game 4. I was there but didn't see her. (I was in the auxillary portion of the Scott Norwood Section -- at one point, I almost took out Bob Cole while going to grab a club soda between periods. I think he may have come up to my chin.)
"Elisha Cuthbert is in the building!!!" "She has hair like Rue McClanahan!!!" "She's eating fries!!!" "Everyone says she's dating Mike Comrie!!!" "I heard they're doing it!!!"
Seriously? What the (expletive) is this -- Degrassi: The Next Generation?
Here's a picture of Elisha from the game that I found on some guy's blog:
Apparently the readers found the Cuthbert media coverage to be quite hysterical and "stalker-ish", to use their term. Here's Mike C.'s take:
"It's a hot actress and all they notice is she's eating a greasy snack? I'm betting these are the only things sportswriters care about: Chicks in hockey arenas and food."
Normally Mike, I don't think it takes a woman of Cuthbert's attractiveness to get them worked up into such a state. I mean, if I threw a bouffant wig and a pillbox hat on Lou Lamoriello, making him look like a dreadful facsimile of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, I bet at least half the press box would attempt to flirt with that hot mess.
(Aside -- for future reference, please attempt not to go "Brad Lidge" in your e-mails. It's just too damned easy.)
You've got to wonder though -- if the Rangers are up next, are all the male sportswriters in the city going to be walking around with notebooks shielding the fly on their pants?
Maybe Ottawa will be spared. Maybe they'll play Buffalo in the Conference Finals. Hurrah! More cliches! Anton Volchenkov's nightmares about Mike Grier! Daniel Alfredsson's unfinished business with Jason Pominville! More free-associating fans from the opposition with massive chips on their shoulders! It's more excitement than you can stand, damnit!
More later.
P.S. One last pic for this photo-heavy post: I'm told this cake was allegedly sent last night from a hotel in Times Square to another in East Rutherford, NJ. You have to look closely (photo was taken with a cell phone), but the icing reads, "Ram (a.k.a. Roy Mlakar) loves Boo Boo (a.k.a. Bruce Garrioch)":
How was this "wildly inappropriate" photo leaked? I'm thinking a lot of time and resources should be spent to get to the bottom of this. I mean, a lot.
First of all, I wasn't at the game tonight. 10 minutes before the puck dropped I was still biking in my basement while listening to SNFU's The Devil's Voice (totally weird coincidence). I might try for Wednesday's game -- depends if the Scott Norwood Section is already packed with riff-raff. They may not have room for me.
Anyway, I know I wrote this on Sunday and I meant what I said -- still do. I'm not going to bag on the team when they're still doing so many things right. But that still doesn't change how ten years of history can affect you, and how you assume things might play out, in spite of the team demonstrating that they can actually break old habits.
A perfect example of this was at the end of the second period. I sensed frustration on the part of the Sens at the inability to beat Martin Brodeur. Typically in the past, the anxiety would fester into a full-blown cluster(expletive), and the team would be out of the series in five games. But whatever I sensed was off the mark. The Sens' patience demonstrated thus far has been utterly remarkable, as well as (and this is huge) their willingness to keep their foot on the gas, regardless of the situation. Remember the Toby Jug's version of shutdown hockey whenever the team garnered a lead? Remember how many times it blew up in their faces? Those days are over.
I think part of the reason why I'm still expecting the worst is due to watching so many games at home and becoming overly affected by the commentary. Greg Millen's verbal humping of Martin Brodeur is beyond relentless. He kept insisting that Brodeur was unbeatable and after a while, you begin to believe it. I felt like Audrey Raines after going a few rounds with the Chinese on 24.
(Aside: How buggered up is she, by the way? When you click on that Wikipedia entry, be sure to note her "current status" -- top-right hand sidebar. As long as you saw last week's ep, I promise it won't be a spoiler. Just don't scroll down on that page.)
If I can, it'll be nice to see a game live and experience any momentum switches in a proper environment.
A couple of quick notes...
- Elliotte Friedman asked Ray Emery at the end of the game about the significance of going against Martin Brodeur "head-to-head". Ray dodged the question. Friedman tried to re-word. Ray deked once more. A few minutes later, Friedman interviewed Mike Fisher and tried to get the answer out of him. For God's sakes, let it go.
- I don't know who several media members think they're fooling, but a few have been pronouncing Brodeur's name "Bro-deeyeur" (say the second half to yourself as if it were one syllable, and hope that your co-workers aren't around). One talking head actually forced himself to use the wrong pronunciation last night -- he was about to state the backstopper's name correctly, and then stopped himself. The NHL Media Guide lists the phonetic spelling as "broh-DOOR". TUC has inquired about the new pronunciation to several Francophones as well, and they've been left just as baffled. Memo to the Name Changers: Knock it off. You sound like jackasses. If you actually want to pronounce a name right while sounding wrong, use Andrej Meszaros (MEHT-zahr-ohsh) as a template.
- Say what you want about Bob Cole (undoubtedly a lot of it will be negative), but he's become an ironic oasis amongst a plethora of screaming play-by-play announcers/colour commentators. Mike Emerick's incessant caterwauling over the most insignificant of sequences has left me with a desire to punch him in the uvula on more than occasion during this post-season.
(Apparently that's supposed to be Daniel Alfredsson. I don't get it either.)
So, the Game 2 curse lives on. It was a disappointing outcome to be sure, but the cynics should be somewhat placated by the majority of Ottawa's overall effort. It was a brutal beginning, but the Sens keep proving that they possess the ability to regroup and press forward. It's quite the hat tip to their visible maturity and as long as it continues, it will serve as a hope-filled reminder to those who obsess over the demons of the past -- in spite of such stumbling blocks as overtime losses.
I'm really hoping that people seize this opportunity to celebrate Daniel Alfredsson and the positively brilliant post-season he's had thus far. I realize there's a long way to go, but he seemingly can't do a thing wrong these days -- it's the ultimate demonstration of leading by example. That's why I'm left in disbelief when "observers" such as Mike Bossy begin spouting on Off The Record that if the Sens can't get it done this year, No. 11 has to go. You've got to be kidding me, right? Care to back up that argument with any recent examples of leadership gone awry in the Nation's Capital?
A few more bits and pieces about last night's game...
Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov are always going to be a huge part of the Sens' defense, but this is the series where the others -- the offensive blueliners -- are integral to second-round success. In short, it's all about risk and reward. This is the time to obsess over Redden's universally famous "first-line pass" (one that both Corvo and Preissing are also capable of accomplishing, by the way). All plays and passes become stretched to invade beyond the trap, and obviously the defensemen act as the catalyst. The blueliners have also been required to join the rush in an attempt to increase traffic and keep the puck onside. Obviously you're taking chances and if you get caught pinching...well, you end up with OT goals courtesy of Jamie Langenbrunner. To be fair, Joe Corvo made an effort to chase the Devil down. Preissing, on the other hand, failed to kick it into high gear. There's got to be a bigger effort than the one made by No. 42.
I know some people get on Antoine Vermette's case, claiming that he's soft and needs to ramp up the offense (for the record, Mike Fisher needs to improve on the latter as well, but that demi-deity always seems get away scot-free). It's probably true, but let me tell you one thing: Vermette's the only Ottawa player I trust to get to the puck first every time. Speed is a much bigger issue for this team than a lot of people want to admit. I think the over-under on the number of times I yelled, "SKATE!" last night was probably 50.
One more thing -- after the game, Martin Brodeur did an interview with the CBC. Here was the conversation between The Driver and myself as it aired:
Me: "Look at that hand holding the recorder, sticking out from behind the wall."
The Driver: "I see it."
Me: "It's all I can concentrate on."
The Driver: "I bet it's (Bruce) Garrioch."
Ten seconds later, we were both cracking up. Here's why:
And just in case you need additional confirmation (dude motors out of there pretty quickly), here's a still:
One more thing (and on a completely unrelated note): Damn NBC to hell for their afternoon games. They caused TSN to switch feeds yesterday at 3 pm from the NFL Draft (a.k.a. The Brady Quinn Watch) to Game 2 between the Sharks and Red Wings. After Miami took Ted Ginn Jr. instead of Quinn with the No. 9 pick, the whole draft turned into a total train wreck. The former Notre Dame QB was sitting there with an indescribable look of shock on his face -- all dolled up, sporting a pinstripe vest and dapper tie. He looked like he was on break from dealing the Pai Gow Poker tables at Mandalay Bay. I could've watched the fallout all day. Instead, I got another 30 minutes give or take, with no conclusion (because Quinn STILL hadn't been taken by the time the feed switched). For the record, Quinn went 22nd (!) to Cleveland, and breathed an ironically happy sigh of relief at doing so. Too bad I was unable to see it occur live.
Let no one speak your name again until this June. Potentially next on the docket from Stuff Magazine's Hot 100: Elisha Cuthbert (the real one). We know who the media wants the Sens to face in the next round, and 10 to 1 says they all make feeble attempts to dress better if they catch wind of the frat-boy mag fave being within 100 km of the city -- you know, because they all have a shot at getting with her. Personally, I'm hoping for it as well -- simply due to the plethora of 24 references that'll inevitably come out. By the way Kim, tell your dad to feel free to lay out Silver Spoons. He's annoying as all hell.
(Worst Photoshop ever, but made me laugh, so it gets a pass. I found this over at The Book of Face -- anti-Angie groups encompass at least 60% of all found. My favourite one, simply based on title alone: Sidney Crosby Is An Advertisement Slut.)
Emails are still trickling in regarding Sunday's column. One the more interesting messages (when it wasn't chastizing us about Wayne Gretzky -- whaa?) had some thoughts regarding Crosby's perception if, say, he suddenly sported a different uniform. Here are the pertinent excerpts:
"Clearly you are not a fan of Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's fine. You are entitled to feel however you wish. I am curious how much of it has to do with the fact that the Penguins are an American franchise and that is not one of the Original Six...If Crosby played for Ottawa or Toronto or Montreal the tune would sound a lot different."
Sigh.
The Original Six gaffe -- let's allow that to slide. What about this missive screams "American fan" to you? Oh, I don't know -- the idea that Ottawans would accept Sidney Crosby if he sported a Leafs or Habs sweater in the postseason (or at any time, for that matter)? You've got to be joking. Every Canadian that follows hockey, regardless of whether they care about them, is aware of the team rivalries in this country. And if the American media were doing their part, the U.S. fans would probably have a much better understanding of them. That being said, there are tons of sites, blogs etc., devoted to coverage of teams and specifically, Canadian rivalries -- may we present Exhibits A and B.
Here's what it boils down to: Putting Sidney Crosby in a Leafs or Habs uniform, and ultimately having him face the Sens in the playoffs would make the vocal displeasure from Games 1 and 2 look like a walk in the park. He would be despised. Vilified. Envision Darcy Tucker with a plethora of talent and pockets stuffed with Carmex. Oh, but he'll be in a Canadian uniform, so that'll make his North of the Border detractors love him? Yeah, we all care about those sorts of things so much these days.
A few leftovers from last night's game:
- About the Zamboni driver up there -- speculation is already beginning and some are wondering if Dany Heatley is dealing with an undisclosed injury. There's absolutely no jump to his game and he can't put anything away, even if it's gift-wrapped. His backhand specifically, is totally off the mark. It's gotten to the point where he's begun to hurt, more than help.
- Speaking of hurting more than helping: Barring a miracle, Wade Redden's time in Ottawa is undoubtedly drawing to a close. The turnovers, the lack of mobility combined with complete and utter weakness when faced with the likes of Gary Roberts -- this isn't working. Sporadic, well-played games will never justify a 6.5 million dollar salary. Is he leading off the ice? That's for the dressing room to know. What is known is if Redden were leading during play as-is, the series would be over by now...and tilted in the wrong direction.
- How did Mike Comrie go without a star last night? Another great performance from him.
- Let's just say it: Oleg Saprykin is as gritty as a triple-cream Brie, and rustier than a 1981 Honda Civic.
- Why is Gary Roberts allowed to bogart Emery's blue paint on a Penguins' PP without fear of reprisal? You know if it were the other way around, the old man would be cross-checking the Sens' player in the back, ad nauseam.
- Colby Armstrong won't be adored in this city anytime soon, but he gets points for this mature decision.
Hopefully today will be the last day where the media will incessantly remind us of who lost, rather than pointing out who won. Hopefully.
Yeah, go ahead and act like you weren't thinking it as well.
You can claim, a la Don Cherry, that Colby Armstrong had nowhere to go, but that still doesn't justify him flying in low, and bringing his shoulder into Patrick Eaves' head (who was having an above-average series before this, by the way). Fair hits aren't always acceptable hits. Claims of remorse were made, but Armstrong didn't seem to have any problem with running Ray Emery full-steam in Game 2 -- you know the guy is going to pull stuff like this. Retaliation by the Sens was measured tonight, but the meanness level still needs to be ratcheted up a notch -- without taking unnecessary penalties (like Christoph Schubert's late in the third). _______________
Dean McAmmond dropping the gloves last night was hysterical. Dangly arms, and didn't seem to react at all to Maxime Talbot's first punches. It reminded me of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer becomes a boxer, and allows his opponents to hit him until they tire themselves out. (Scroll to the :37 mark for a refresher -- this is worth watching just to hear the theme from The Contender again.)
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Yet another word on the PP -- what on Earth is the point of having a player like Dany Heatley down low? He won't fight to stay in position in front, and if he's standing to the side, he's useless unless the pass/rebound comes directly to him. If it's in his vicinity, he's inevitably beaten to the puck by a nearby Penguin, due to his incessant floating.
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Can we please acknowledge what a great playoff series Chris Kelly is having so far? He's always willing to do the dirty work, and I was so thrilled for him when he scored in Game 2 -- if the kid's got a knock, it's his woefully lead-filled hands. On the flip side of the coin: Memo to Dany Heatley -- the playoffs have started. You can begin scoring now.
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Not much negativity via the email regarding yesterday's column -- I had one missive which referred to me as "brain dead" that was also sent to the op-ed section, so I'm sure you'll be able to catch that in the paper in a couple of days. Good times. Strangely enough when I wrote the guy back, he wasn't able to come up with a reason why it's unacceptable to boo Crosby, yet taunting Marc-Fleury is considered fair game. Actually, none of Crosby's supporters in Ottawa have been able to explain how that works. Funny that. Where should we turn in times like these for a bit of common sense? Would you believe...a Leaf fan? From the TUC inbox:
Good morning Erin,
Great article today. I live in Ottawa but bleed Blue and White and I had some buddies saying how classless of the Sens fans etc. But I agree with you 100%. When you purchase a ticket you have the right to voice whatever opinions you want. I don't think Sidney goes home and cries afterwards. I think it's great to see the building so loud and into the games because it seems to only happen when the Habs or Leafs are in town and that's only because the fans are 50/50. No I don't have a rev up the red shirt or Sens car flag but I guess if a Canadian team has to win well.............I'll leave it at that.
Two words: Gets it.
P.S. Do you think anyone in the Ottawa media will have anything to say about the boos that were heard during O Canada last night? There was a boy in the building from Cole Harbour, NS last night -- good God, it's happening again! (In all seriousness -- a truly classless demonstration by those select Pens fans, and a proper demonstration for media members like Hugh Adami that provided the real definition of unsportsmanlike behaviour.)
Whatever was/is ailing Christoph Schubert's neck did not keep him from traveling to Pittsburgh tonight -- he was spotted in the airport, along with the rest of the team. The Sens also had a sketchy moment this evening, when Customs and Immigration were insisting that they were off-duty at 7 pm -- the time when the team was scheduled to leave. After a few tense minutes, Customs was finally convinced to stay on duty until 8 pm, allowing the Sens to clear Immigration and board their flight to the U.S.
First off, credit to Pittsburgh for coming away with a victory. Now onto the important stuff...
Mike Comrie has come into his own in this playoff series -- the effort is non-stop, combined with the feistiness of a little dude with a chip on his shoulder. Better still, if you were watching the telecast, you may have seen Comrie taking a leadership role during the PP, in an attempt to improve its effectiveness -- chirping at his teammates when they became sedentary. (More on this later.) Obviously, the Sens will not have salary cap room to retain Comrie in the offseason, but here's a question: How much money does the heir of The Brick fortune need? Comrie's salary likely resembles a slush fund to him -- 10 to 1 says he "invests" it in pimped out hot tubs and a truck like Jon Lieber's.
On to the PP, which obviously is still an issue. Alfredsson was able to put one away (displaying a large amount of joy and relief in the process), but some of the same problems from Game 1 still remain -- although there was some improvement with the play being brought down low. A new issue has arisen, and while it's been a known weakness for the Sens in the past, they likely thought it wouldn't rear its ugly head in this series: The dreaded faceoffs. Pittsburgh was relegated to the bottom of the barrel in faceoff wins during the regular season -- today was a different story. Maxime Talbot won 66 per cent of his (19-29) and Angie came away with 11 out of 14, or 79 per cent. On the other side of the coin, Mike Fisher went 6 for 19, Jason Spezza was 12 for 23 and Antoine Vermette ended up going 4 for 9. Adding to the frustrations were faceoffs that weren't won cleanly, making it difficult to get quick shots off while inside the offensive zone.
And finally, memo to Angie and Maxime Talbot: Were penalties deserved after you received respective shots to the throat and nose? Perhaps. But how's about you not fling your head back in a soap opera-worthy performance, followed by a blatant stare at the adjacent official in a feeble attempt to garner sympathy?
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