NHL’s Top Cop: BOBROVSKY!

Posted on June 16, 2013 by

Somewhere Jay Onrait is probably screaming. Why?

Sergei Bobrovsky

Because Sergei BOBROVSKY won the Vezina Trophy for the 2013 Season! As a Blue Jackets fan, and a huge fan of number 72, I was absolutely THRILLED when I heard the news. How thrilled? Let’s just say I pulled to the side of the highway on my way back to Columbus, got out of my car, and stared dancing and screaming with joy. That is how thrilled I was! (True Story)

Instead of this being a post of me straight-up fangirling over Bobbo, I will provide my opinion and analysis of the selection. First, we need to take a look at all three Vezina Finalists: Sharks’ Antti Niemi, Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist, and Blue Jackets’ Sergei Bobrovsky.

Niemi had what I like to call a “quietly stellar” season. His performances were not full of highlight reel saves, despite his flashy and unique style.

Antti NiemiNiemi’s stats alone warranted his name on the list of the top three in the league. Nemo finished the regular season with a 2.16 GAA, .924 Sv%, and 4 shutouts in 43 games. His numbers placed him 7th in GAA among goaltenders with at least 25 games played, and 6th in Sv% by the same metrics. Statistically speaking, however, Niemi was the weakest of the three candidates. Personally speaking, I do not use statistics as the foundation for accolades, though they do help paint a picture of a goaltender’s skill. Niemi received his Vezina nod due to his ability to steal games, play consistently, and shoulder a great deal of the game load for the Sharks, helping them secure a playoff spot yet again.

King Henrik is known for his athletic ability and unbelievable saves. Better yet, he is known for keeping the perennially offensively stagnant Rangers in most games.

Henrik LundqvistHe is flashy, he is exciting, and sometimes irritating. Lundqvist’s stats are just a hair ahead of Niemi, as he posted a 2.05 GAA and .926 Sv% in the regular season. Among goaltenders who played a minimum of 25 games, Lundqvist finished 4th in both GAA and Sv%. In my opinion, Henrik’s performance this regular season was typical for the 2011-2012 Vezina winner: solid, consistent-ish, and markedly better than a majority of his team. While I am unaware of the final tally of votes for the Vezina, I have a feeling it was a tight race between Lundqvist and Bobrovsky.

Before I discuss Bobrovsky, I should take a moment to explain why Craig Anderson, an early favorite for the award of NHL’s top netminder, was not a finalist. Simply put, Anderson did not play enough games.

Craig Anderson 2013 1In a 48 game season, Anderson only managed to play in 24 games, largely due to injury. It is almost unheard of for a goaltender to receive a Vezina nod after playing only about 50% of the season. Look at 2011-2012 Jennings Trophy winners Halak and Elliott; the two goaltenders 46 and 38 games respectively in an 82 game season. Their stats and performances would have likely earned them a nod for the Vezina last year had they played 55+ games. Basically, half a season, no matter how short that season may be, is not enough of a body of work for a goaltender to be in the running for the Vezina.

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Playoff Clouds, Teal (and Silver!) Lining

Posted on June 15, 2013 by

ChuckWith the Los Angeles Kings dispatched from the playoff picture, the burn of yet another San Jose Sharks playoff elimination at the hands of a team from SoCal has eased some. Enough, at least, to free my hands from covering my grimacing face, so as to place them on the keyboard and find the silver lining on a season that ended disappointingly, but was full of far more upside than anticipated.

Marleau SJS LAK 2013Looking back at January, and the very real possibility of an altogether lackluster season for the San Jose Sharks, I don’t see how — OK, aside from the massive losing streak and early playoff elimination — you look at what the Sharks managed to do this season and be all that disappointed. The team opened the season with a franchise-best nine wins before their first loss — not to mention Patty Marleau tying the all-time NHL record with goals in each of the first four games of the season. Talk about a statement from Captain Gutless, eh, JR?

From a management and roster perspective, the big story of the regular season was, of course, the big names, both traded away and acquired: in particular Doug Murray (to the Penguins) and Ryane Clowe (now a Ranger). Now, I love these guys to death, but those moves were astonishing in their addition-by-subtraction nature.

Sharks Minimalist logoThe team had simply gotten too slow to compete in certain facets of the game, and what a hat tip is due to management for pulling the trigger and moving these guys. The decision to make those changes had to rest on confidence in a number of areas including how well the team can do with the spades of draft picks now available to the Sharks in both 2013 and 2014, as well as the more immediate issues of trusting available to call-ups from Worcester, and the ability to make a move for another key piece or two to help build a complete team. Like picking up Raffi Torres (*ducks and covers* — we’re getting used to doing that here in Bay Area, not on account of the earthquakes, but rather how y’all tend to throw things and boo and hiss when we drop that particular name).

As any Sharks fan knows, the nail biting really gets underway in the playoffs. The first round this year, however, the boys in teal were a whole lot of fun to watch. After attaining the 6 seed in the west, the Sharks proceeded to sweep the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. (Sweep! And I don’t mean that to be a swipe at Vancouver, at least not any more than it obviously is.) In doing so, the Sharks, no doubt, shook off some playoff demons and nightmares from match-ups past. And rudely provided fans and media, both, with what eventually turned out to be false hope about the prospects for the match-up in round 2.

Niemi King 2012 LAK SJSI really don’t mean to come down too hard on the team here. The Sharks did indeed take the defending Stanley Cup champions to a seventh game in the conference semi-finals. Yes, they lost that game, in a grinding 2-1 defeat. But as a fan, you sense something unusual: a feeling of disappointment THAT the team lost, which is a real departure from years past, where the disappointment was aggravated by HOW the team lost. Team Teal has certainly done itself no favor in trying to shake the title of “chokers” during its previous eight consecutive years’ worth of postseason appearances.

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Bracket Troubles

Posted on June 13, 2013 by

I don’t do well at brackets. I have enough sense to stay away from the NCAA basketball bracket madness. I do torture myself though playing the NHL Stanley Cup bracket challenge. This year was particularly bad. I know the playoffs aren’t over yet, but with the finals matchup decided, I can talk about the implosion of my bracket, which is pictured below as it stands after the conference finals.

playoffBracket

Things got bad right off in the first round.

Looking at the East, only the Penguins made it through. Ottawa, given their season, seemed a good bet over Montreal. I was confident the Capitals would knockout the Rangers and that was a huge disappointment because a Rangers fan I am not. Toronto did almost take out Boston, but Boston alluded that fate and the team would go on to do even more damage to my bracket later.

I fared better in the West. The Blackhawks continued their excellent season and wiped out the Wild. Despite just squeaking into the playoffs, the Red Wings took care of the Ducks. L.A. dispatched St. Louis. However, I still don’t quite understand how Vancouver didn’t get past San Jose.

Of course, with such a bad first round, my second round was pretty screwed. In the East, I was still on track since Pittsburgh did move into the conference finals. For the West, predicating that Chicago would defeat Detroit was a difficult thing to enter into the bracket, but it seemed the right choice. In the days where it looked like Detroit might actually take the series I was thrilled and didn’t care that my bracket was going to get further pummeled. In fact, I would’ve preferred the bracket damage to the painful way Detroit ultimately exited. And, since I predicted Vancouver to take out L.A., my second round picks were further laid waste.

And then came the conference finals. As much as I love the Penguins, they certainly deserved to be swept given the mistake-laden play they displayed against Boston. At least Chicago persevered and I do have a bracket choice in the finals. Of course, I do have that big Penguins logo sitting in the “Championship” position and now that’s very wrong.

I am excited about the Blackhawks/Bruins series. The way these two teams played in the conference finals was great to watch and I envision many overtime games and a seven-game series. Certainly the triple OT of game 1 makes this prediction seem all the more correct.

The playoffs, despite the bracket trauma, managed to do what I was hoping for: getting me reengaged in NHL hockey. I’m already looking forward to the fall when everything starts over. My hope for the summer is that the Red Wings learn from the issues that cost them a 3-1 series lead against Chicago and that the Penguins sort out the disaster that was the Boston sweep.

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SCF Preview: Point-Counterpoint

Posted on June 11, 2013 by

Editor’s Note: “Jane, you ignorant slut.” The point-counterpoint format worked so well the last time, we invited the last two men standing to go a round: Mike Shoro repping the Hawks and Eddie for the Bruins. Eddie, who wears a second hat here as our consiglierei, banged out the text and it somehow found its way into Shoro’s hands (blame the NSA) and he did his some [bracketed] edits. Ladies and gentlemen and hockey obsessives of all ages, we give you the dream team, our very own glimmer twins and the two lucky bastards who still have teams playing hockey…

220px-2013_Stanley_Cup_playoffs_logoSo here we are. Original Six Stanley Cup Final. Two out of the last three champions. The two teams that make Canucks fans shed bitter tears whenever said championships are mentioned [important]. Saint Patrice versus Captain Grumpy Cat (or, wait, Captain Serious. Whatever. Dude looks like Grumpy Cat. And if his whining and tantrum throwing in the playoffs so far is any indication, basically is Grumpy Cat) [Grumpy Cat. Wow. A meme. We are so topical here. I’m glad we are mentioning memes. This will surely get him. Sick burn, dude.]. The Blackhawks were utterly amazing in the regular season and, following a slight hiccup in the first round vs Toronto, the Bruins have looked unbeatable in the last two rounds of the playoffs.

These two teams very much deserve to be squaring off for the Cup. Ultimately, this starts in goal. Corey Crawford got very little respect going into the post-season, despite he and Ray Emery (lol) somehow winning the Jennings Trophy for the goaltenders on the team with the lowest GAA in the regular season. The assumption was that he’s pretty much Chris Osgood; competent but unspectacular goalie made to look good by the team in front of him.

RASKThat may be the case, but if so, he’s doing a damn good Chris Osgood impression – putting up really solid numbers and backstopping his team to the Final [Chris Osgood? LOL Oh honey, please. Let’s cut the crap. He’s as much Chris Osgood as I am.]. Rask, too, has had his share of detractors, particularly the idiot cadre in the hockey media who decided he was a “non clutch” goalie who couldn’t win elimination games. Tell that to the Penguins. As it is, the two goalies in the Final have both the best two GAAs (Crawford first, Rask second) and SV% (Rask first, Crawford second). [While it’s somewhat close, I still think Rask is the better of the two goalies. His .950 even strength save % is much better than Crawford’s .928]

Things might look pretty even in net, but I think the Bruins clearly have the edge on the blueline. In general, the D corps match up pretty evenly. Both have a rock solid #2 D-man who can’t quite anchor a top pair by himself (Seidenberg and Seabrook), seasoned veterans who are usually solid but prone to the occasional terrifying lapse (Ference and Oduya), inexperienced young D on the bottom pair with a bit of offensive flair (Krug and Leddy), cuties with receding hairlines (Boychuk and Hjalmarsson) and, um, well Adam McQuaid likes to punch people and Michal Rozsival is old (the parallels fall down a little there).

zdeno-chara3The big difference is in each team’s franchise blueliner. Don’t get me wrong, Duncan Keith is an amazing player, and I’d take him on my team any day, but Chara is simply and consistently one of the best D-men in the league every single year (plus Keith baseball bats people in the face when he’s pissed. Classy stuff) [Oh man, you’re killing me. A Boston Bruins fan lecturing me on “class”. That’s rich.]. Yes, the Hawks have faced great players like Suter, Boyle [WTF?], and Doughty these playoffs, but none of them has the sort of defensive presence that Chara brings.

The combination of Rask, Chara, and Bergeron completely eliminated the Penguins’ much vaunted offensive threat for the entire Eastern Conference Finals. [Chara is far and away the best blueliner on either team, but I don’t think he gives the Bruin a “clear” edge over the Blackhawks on the blue line. Just as the Bruins have relied heavily on their D throughout the year, so have the Blackhawks. Crawford and Emery didn’t win the Jennings just because they played well. I’d say it’s pretty much a wash. And Boychuk is not hot, don’t give me that crap.]

That mention of Bergeron brings us to the forward matchups. Here, there’s a legitimate argument that Chicago has an edge over the B’s. 3 of their 4 top wingers are amazingly good, and the fourth is having a flukey playoff goalscoring run which is going to hilariously inflate his UFA contract this summer (hi, Bryan Bickell). [I’m going to laugh until the end of time when Calgary outbids Buffalo for him with a 5 year $30 million contract] They have the excellent Jonathan Toews centering their first line. That is genuinely intimidating. But at the same time, their second line centre is Michal Handzus, of all people. Their attempt at a Brad Marchand-style pest is Dave Bolland, who this season has been objectively terrible at hockey. [It’s funny how Dave Bolland was the original Brad Marchand and now Brad Marchand is a better Dave Bolland than Dave Bolland is.]

Bruins minimalist logoThe Bruins, on the other hand, don’t have anyone with the consistently strong career scoring numbers of a Hossa or a Kane, but they do have the two leading scorers of this year’s playoffs: Nathan Horton and David Krecji. Add in a suddenly very dangerous looking Milan Lucic and you have a top line that is the equal of the Blackhawks. Patrice Bergeron matches up very well with Toews as one of the best all-round forwards in the league, in fact he’s probably better. [Let’s not say what we know are inherent lies, ok? Give me a freakin’ break.] Plus the Bruins centre depth is better than the Hawks (Chris Kelly as 4th line centre is impressive). [Center depth, yeah. Handzus has been pretty meh although he has come up big when you’d least expect it]. That said, Hawks wingers probably shade the Bruins, so I’d call the forwards a wash. [As of right now, I’d say that’s fair. If Toews gets things going, however, I’d have to give Chicago the edge, even if Seguin ever decides to show up.]

Special teams are also a wash, in a rather depressing sense. Both teams have managed only seven powerplay goals each in the playoffs, and both had thoroughly meh powerplay records in the regular season. On the penalty kill, however, both have been beasts. Chicago is killing a ridiculous 94.8% of the penalties they take and, while not as impressive, the Bruins are at a very solid 86.5%. [Which is too bad since the Hawks will spend about 10 minutes on the PP each game thanks to Boston gooning it up.] End result? Expect more shorties than PP goals.

So where does this leave us? Two good teams, pretty evenly matched, possibly an edge to the Bruins at the back and maybe the Blackhawks up front. Unlikely to see many PP goals. Are we in for series of 1-0 or 2-1 slugfests? Somehow I don’t think so. Rask is due an off night, and Crawford is due several. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar to the 2011 final, with the home team dominating, and the first team to manage an away win taking the Cup. [I’d probably agree with this.] Putting my money where my mouth is, I have to go with Bruins in 6. Wouldn’t be surprised if it went 7, or if Chicago squeaked out a win, but there’s just been something about the Bruins these last two rounds.

I think Lord Stanley is coming back to Boston. [I’m obviously going to disagree with this. As much as the Bruins scare me, I could never pick against the Blackhawks. Whichever team wins game one, which I think the Blackhawks will do because fuck Boston.]

Posted in Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Let’s Go Avs!

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

Zak Avs twitter avatarHey, I’m Zak. I am from the mistake on the lake and the most cursed city in professional sports, Cleveland, Ohio. If you don’t believe me just google the fumble, the drive, the shot, red right 88, or the most recent curse to Cleveland sports the decision (I don’t even like basketball and that one just leaves a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about it).

Erie Lake Monsters logoSo you can probably guess that I am a Cleveland sports fan. I am a die hard Lake Erie Monsters fan, my ring tone is even the Monsters’ theme song Monster by Skillet. I am also a fan of the Tribe, I have a lot of memories, but as this is a hockey site not a baseball site I will move on. If I was a fan of football and basketball, and could actually stand watching a football or basketball game, I would root for the Browns and Cavs because I am loyal to my home town. I am bisexual, but I tend to be more attracted to guys.

I remember my first crush in high school being the captain of the hockey team (I should have suspected then that I was into hockey, but I was an idiot teenager and didn’t really think about it because he was straight). I am working on coming out, I am out to most of my close friends, but I believe that if you need to know I will tell you, otherwise who cares, I am still the exact same person I was just a few seconds earlier, you just have another tag you can attach to me. I have recently completed my degrees at Cleveland State, and have started looking for a full time job.

Lake-Erie-Monsters-295x300I played hockey when I was about 5 or 6 years old before my family moved to Oregon and I lost interest in the game. Fast forward to January 2011 to when one of my friends tells me that she has an extra ticket for the Lake Erie Monsters game and I say sure because I had nothing better to do that night, little did I know that my life would forever change that night at the Q.

Erie SeatsI went and I fell in love with hockey to the point where I would go out and buy a cheap pair of skates so that I could start re-teaching myself how to skate so that one day I could play again. I have since gone on to become a partial season ticket holder (check out my view at the right) with the Monsters, and can skate once again and am learning the game of hockey all over again. I hope to play in my first game in about 20 years during the winter rec league this year.

Avs minimalist logoA couple years back after I first started watching hockey again I figured I need to figure out which NHL team I would root for as I couldn’t get enough hockey. Being loyal to Cleveland my gut told me to follow the Avalanche our NHL affiliate, but it is nearly impossible to see an Avs game in C-town (even with NHL game center, it is hard to catch a game). So how am I to fill my need to watch as much hockey as possible, I have to pick one of the teams close enough to see a game on cable, the Pittsburgh Pengiuns or the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Since I am truly not a sports masochist and believe that I should be allowed to root for at least one winning team and much to the delight of my uncles in Pittsburgh (yes, I admit I am half yinzer on my father’s side) I decided to root for the Penguins under the stipulation that I would only root for the Penguins as long as they weren’t playing the Avs, because I have to root for the hometown team. So I am an Avs fan who will also root for the Penguins as long as they are not playing the Avalanche.

Go Monsters, Avs, and Pens!

My twitter is @lemonster88 if you care to follow, but be warned, it will mostly be Lake Erie Monsters posts during the season.

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Editor-At-Large

Posted on June 8, 2013 by

Hi everyone! I’m Tony Jovenitti. I’ll be the newest writer here, and I’m excited to get started. While I am a Penguins fan, I won’t be here to make fun of the Flyers goaltending situation, because Adam has that covered (and well, pot and kettle). I’m here basically because I’m gay, I like hockey and like writing about hockey.

I came out of the closet in not-so-private fashion a few months ago, and it’s been a wonderfully positive experience and opened many doors for me – including writing for Puck Buddys and joining a gay hockey league.

Tony Outsports

I interned with the Penguins in 2010-11, where I wrote features and blogs for the team’s Web site, and you can see an example of the work I did for the team here. It was a great season up until the Winter Classic. After that, the entire team got injured and Craig Adams was our best player in the playoffs. After the Lightning eliminated Pittsburgh, I moved to Madison, Wisconsin for a job. That brought me closer to bandwagon Blackhawks fans and self-loathing Wild fans.

But Wisconsin also brought me closer to the college game, so you may see some posts from me arguing that college hockey is more exciting. I’m a proud Badgers season-ticket holder for both the men’s and women’s teams. (You may also see some posts from me arguing that the women’s game features better plays than the men’s game).

CHN logoLast year, I started doing some work for College Hockey News, where I wrote various features about WCHA teams and a story about how college hockey is growing in Pennsylvania, mostly thanks to Penn State (Boo!). I went to college at Pitt, where I fell in love with hockey and the Penguins. All during school, I didn’t think it was possible to be an openly gay man while also being a hockey fan, let alone a hockey writer.

Brooks Orpik YCPI’m glad I was wrong, and this blog helped me realize that. After I came out, I received lots of support from my former colleagues with the Penguins. And everyone has been very encouraging as I finally start to play hockey. Brooks Orpik was right when his terrifying eyes told me that, “You Can Play.”

I don’t know exactly what I’ll be writing about here, perhaps I’ll start documenting my experience learning to skate and playing in the Madison league, but whatever it is, I’ll try to write it from my unique perspective. Hopefully, you all enjoy, and follow me on the Twitter!

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Canes and Stars Miss the Mark

Posted on June 5, 2013 by

Fashion Weak

Two Stanley Cup winning franchises unveiled new home and away jerseys for the 2013-14 season; both came up short.

The Carolina Hurricanes and the Dallas Stars underwent what should have been an extensive rebranding effort in their full jersey redesign. It seems like both forgot the part where they do something original, and of value to their team’s history, identity, and the league image of the NHL.

Starting with Carolina. The Hurricanes have a timeless red/black/white color scheme that offers so much in terms of aesthetic options. A quick look around the NHL shows what you can do with those colors. New Jersey, Chicago, and Ottawa (minus the gold) all use those colors with varying degrees of success. The Hurricanes, however, have fallen short of expectations.

nhl_e_hurricanes-unis01jr_576

The new home reds for the Canes are a disappointment. The smaller crest makes the jersey look unbalanced and more like a high school practice jersey than an NHL game sweater.

New+Jersey+Devils+v+Carolina+Hurricanes+7u-AhRGQWjSlLowering the logo by an inch or so would likely fix that aesthetic issue, however. Where the jersey really falls apart is the striping. It was a fantastic idea to keep the jersey stripes simple, especially after the complicated warning flag stripe on the previous design.

However, like Tampa’s veiled attempt to carbon copy the Toronto jerseys, Carolina seems to have taken the Phoenix look, with some minor adjustments. Here’s the issue: Phoenix can get away with the two-color jersey because, well, they only have two colors (brick and white). Carolina, on the other hand, has too much black within it’s logo to ignore. The incorporation of an inch wide stripe adjacent to the white would make these sweaters more well-rounded, and less like a generic practice jersey.

Canes new2The Canes’ new road whites are almost perfect, except not. Anyone who has NHL13 knows this sweater well. In fact, I think the Canes were in a rush to finish the road whites and someone called his 16 year old to do a mock up on an XBox. That being said, the stripes on the tail and arms are perfect and timeless. The red shoulder yoke, however, is awful. A thin black border on the shoulder yoke would tie the upper and lower together quite nicely. All together the road jersey is not horrible, but it is horribly unoriginal.

One last critique of the home reds. I have never been a fan of red pants on teams other than Detroit. The Hurricanes pulled them off in the past because of the significant black and grey stripes at the tail. The new look, however, I will have to see in action before I make my final judgement. I think the white stripes are thick enough to prevent the Cooperall-effect, but time will tell.

After the jump, it’s Dallas’ turn on the catwalk / chopping block.

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