My Brother Rocks

My brother Brian, who lives in Toronto, just called to tell me that he has an extra ticket for the Red Wings-Leafs game on Feb. 9! 25 rows up! Now I just have figure out how to get to TO that weekend. Whee!

Random All-Star Thoughts

Whoever booked the music for the All-Star game did a great job! The Hives played "Tick, Tick, Tick Boom" before the game started and then played music while the players were introduced. Then Kathleen Edwards sang "Oh Canada." The NHL finally hired someone with cool taste in music.

Rick Nash got robbed of a truck. Either Nash or Nabokov should have been MVP of the game. Staal was good, but not better than them.

Overall, I thought the game and the skills competition were great fun. Ovechkin was awesome in the breakaway shootout.

I *loved* hearing what DiPietro and Legace had to say while they were in net. Added so much more to the game.

All the players looked like they were having fun. Kovalchuk falling down after Nabokov stopped him was the best.

Not an All-Star note, but I was overjoyed to see the Spartans beat UM on Friday and then settle for a tie on Saturday. The own goal was unfortunate, but they played two good games.

So exactly what is a Gordie Howe hat trick you ask...

I grew up near Detroit and assumed that everyone knew what a Gordie Howe hat trick was. Then I moved to New Jersey and discovered that some people had never heard of it. It's simple: a goal, an assist and a fight, all in one game. There's also the natural Gordie Howe hat trick, in which all three happen in succession.

I like the idea of keeping this stat (though the NHL doesn't officicially do it) because it recognizes that most of the best hockey players are skilled scorers and strong enough to back up what they're doing if challenged. And I'm not talking about crap sucker punches and headshots. Those ARE NOT fights. And besides, most of the guys doing that aren't scoring a whole heck of a lot anyway.

Interestingly, Gordie Howe only had one of his namesakes (as far as I know anyway). But because he was known for his deft hands and hard fists, the name stuck. And I'm not sure who came up with the name either (maybe a Red Wings announcer? Ted Lindsey?)

Currently, I believe Brendan Shanahan, former Wing now with the Rangers, has the most GHHs with seven. Which is fitting. Shanny, along with Stevie Yzerman, exemplify everything that is great about hockey: class, skill, determination, grit and humor.

OK, have to go get ready for the MSU-UM game. Go Sparties! Have a good weekend! And kudos to Brian Leetch. It's about time his blue number 2 went to the rafters in the Garden.

The Cold War

No, it's not outside this time, but the Michigan State hockey team is playing the University of Michigan tomorrow and Saturday night in a home-and-home series that kicks off in Ann Arbor. UM is ranked No. 1 in the country and MSU is No. 5, as well as the 2007 national champion, so it should be a barnburner.

UM has Porter and Kolarik, who score goals like crazy, but MSU has Jeff Lerg, who comes up with huge saves in big games and Bryan Lerg (they're cousins) the captain who always seems to come up big in the clutch.

MSU-UM games always have an extra level of intensity and grit and I'm sure the atmosphere will be electric in both Yost and Munn. These two teams have played each other more often than just about any other college teams, with the exception of North Dakota and Minnesota (or at least that's what the NCAA tells me). The hockey clash has become the true rivalry between the schools. Because MSU's football team has been so awful for so long, that tilt has lost its luster. The same is true for UM's basketball team. The Sparties usually wipe the floor with them (MSU hosts UM in basketball this Sunday -- a total rivalry weekend). Only the hockey teams have remained fairly evenly matched.

Thank goodness the games are on Fox Sports Detroit and that we ponied up for the Sports Pack in addition to Center Ice. I know what I'm doing this weekend.

A Wednesday Whine

An old housemate used to make us save up all our whining for Wednesdays, upon which we were free to whine about any and everything. It stuck with me, so I'm instituting Whiney Wednesdays on the blog.

Who cares if the All-Star Game is boring? All all-star games are silly, meaningless and lack excitement. I'm sick of reading all these musings about how to make the NHL All-Star game mean something. Get over it. It never will and it doesn't matter that it doesn't. If you're that upset, don't watch.

The Flyers can't beat the Devils, so they whine. While the Flyers did beat Ottawa last weekend, they can't seem to beat their brethren up the turnpike. Frankly, I was more surprised that they beat the Sens. Philly's meltdown in the third period last night is why they won't go far in the playoffs in a microcosm. When things don't go their way, they whine and fall apart.

Ferguson's gone. Now what will Leafs fans whine about? The perceived mess in Toronto wasn't GM Ferguson's fault, but he did make it somewhat worse by keeping Kubina and not getting the team a stellar goaltender. Still, after Pat Quinn got the boot and the team kept losing, Ferguson was the labeled the bad guy and had to go. So who'll be pilloried now? Maurice?

Hmmm...only three whines. A good day!

Sweet revenge

Kudos to Mark Recchi for his resurengence with Atlanta. The Penguins put him on waivers and and then assigned him to the AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. The Thrashers picked him up on re-entry waivers and it seems that he's amazingly rejuvinated. Likewise, Curtis Joseph was idle (and only needs one more game to tie Terry Sawchuck for fourth place on all-times wins) -- the Senators had expressed interest, but had made no official offer. Finally, the Flames signed him to a one-year deal.

I know that putting people on waivers is part of the business of hockey and that it shouldn't be personal, but I have to believe that both Recchi and Joseph are hoping to thrash their former teams. I know I would. It's not personal, but if you're told you can't do something or are washed up, it's always nice to prove that wrong. Cheers to both of them.

Chris Chelios: Classy Iron Man

So I have to contrast Bob Clarke's appalling behavior with Chris Chelios' passion for the game. On Jan. 8, Chelios officially became the the second-oldest player to appear in the NHL. He averages a little more than 17 minutes of ice time a game and adds a strong presence to penalty kills, especially the 5-on-3s.

I've seen Chelios quoted saying he'd take a pay cut if he could play 20 minutes a game and he'd play for free if he could play 25 minutes a game. He was relentless in delving to the bottom of the NHLPA muck and handled a gruesome slaying at his restaurant with kindness and consideration for his employees and their families.

I hope he stays around and breaks Gordie Howe's longevity record. The game needs intelligent, thoughtful, tough guys like him who value honor and doing the right thing more than personal gain. Congrats Cheli!

A Disturbing Insight into Flyer Fans' Psyches

Bobby Clarke shot his mouth off and defended Steve Downie's hit on Jason Blake on TSN and it was reprinted in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here's the quote:

Blake was a guy who had no problem going out and saying he [Steve Downie] should be suspended for life or suspended for the year. When you say something that stupid, why shouldn't this kid go after him for it?"

What I don't understand is why that's news. Bobby Clarke is not GM of the Flyers organization. He's an antiquated gas bag who had Dave Schultz do his fighting for him when he was playing. So it's kind of like a guy wearing a full face cage taunting Chris Neil and then laughing when Neil breaks his hand.

Of course the quote was controversial and provocative. But it's really a sad window into the souls of Flyers fans that so many of them agree with Clarkie. Why else would the Inquirer publish it. They can't let go of the so-called Flyer glory days, never mind that they're long over and didn't involve Clarke's fists.

It's stupid and pathetic and is made even more so because any player who's on the ice against the Flyers has to worry about losing an eye or maybe getting a concussion that ends his career. What a great way to grow the game: throw sucker punches and knock out talented players. That's not passion for the game, that's classless bullying.

Hockey: Athleticism and Elegance

I didn't grow up in a hockey family -- we didn't flood our backyard each winter (but the neighbors usually did). I have no relatives, distant or otherwise, who play the game. But I did grow up in a family where Detroit sports were sacred. Sunday and Thanksgiving were reserved for Lions games. As a tiny kid, I remember staring in awe at all the clothes my mom and dad had on to go one of those Turkey Day games against the Bears back before the Silverdome was built. Summer evenings were spent with Ernie Harwell in the background, even if the Tigers were on television. My uncle played with Dave DeBusschere at the University of Detroit for Dick Vitale. But for some reason, hockey became my favorite.

It's fast, it can be unforgiving and it takes incredible athleticism and stamina to play well. But it also demands grace, elegance, intelligence and finesse from those who want to be great. This mix of strength and refinement always amazes me. How can a guy like Pavel Datsyuk, with such great hands and maneuvering skills, always make sure he's in his own end ferociously back-checking? He's fast enough to skate circles around many other players and he's big enough to absorb hits. Certainly there's greatness in every sport, but hockey is a level above the rest.

Hockey also seems to attract less arrogant athletes -- they really are playing more for the crest on the front of the sweater than the name on the back. Of course there are jerks everywhere, but in reading and watching interviews and games, I've never felt that hockey players are just in it for the money. Maybe that's because they make far less than superstar NBA, NFL or MLB players. I've not seen an NHL player who acts as though it's his right to play the game -- fans, owners and media be damned. Compare Sidney Crosby to Roger Clemens. Alex Ovechkin to Kobe Bryant. Nick Lidstrom to Terrell Owens. Steve Yzerman to Curt Schilling. Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I'd rather watch a humble superstar than a self-aggrandizing one any day.

The Flyers have no class and no guts

To follow up on yesterday's post...so now the Flyers have injured one of their own. Derian Hatcher put a head shot on Steen when the Flyers played the Leafs on Saturday. The force of the blow threw Steen into Joffrey Lupul, who went down hard and cracked the back of his head on the ice. He's been diagnosed with a concussion and a bruised spinal cord.

And this is after Downie got nothing for a cheap, across-the-ref sucker punch on Jason Blake.

I'm disgusted. But is John Stevens? Is Paul Holmgren? Will anything change? C'mon guys. This isn't exciting hockey, this is goondom to the extreme. Fighting does have a place in the game, but not the blindsided, chickenshit variety. If two guys both agree to go, then they go. It's honorable and can fire up a team. But chasing someone down from behind, ala the Bertuzzi-Moore incident or punching a guy that's being held down by the ref is pathetic, classless and gutless.

Between this and the Flyers' management refusal to allow their games to be seen on Center Ice by people who don't have Comcast cable, I wash my hands of them. I'm done. The Red Wings will always be THE TEAM, but I allowed myself to root for the Flyers a little because they were in the Eastern Conference. I go to see them because they're the closest team, but I'll be sporting the opposing team's sweater from now on.

Bettman wonders why people don't watch hockey. Tacit allowance of this crap is a big part of the reason.

Why the Flyers won't make the Cup finals (and may not make the playoffs)

A few disclosures up front: I've never been a big Bobby Clarke fan, especially when he GM'ed the Flyers into the ground by packing the team with goons and Tarzans who couldn't really skate or pass. And I was over the moon when the Wings swept the Flyers in the Cup finals in '97. But since I now live 18 miles from Philly, it's hard not to pay attention to the team.

As a whole, the Flyers seem to lack the driving, sweaty passion to win that's necessary to get through the playoff slog. Paul Holmgren did a great job of stocking the team with talent during the off-season and Richards and Briere and Smith and Carter and Biron are playing well. But as skilled as they are, they lack the intangibles necessary to win it all. They don't look motivated. They don't look like they're having fun. They don't play like winning the Stanley Cup is the most important thing in the world. (Look at the tape of Friday's game with the Devils if you think otherwise. Dull and sloppy.)

For that, I fault coach John Stevens. Stevens is a solid hockey coach, and he did a great job with the Phantoms, winnning the Calder Cup in 2005. But there is a difference between the AHL and the NHL and Stevens seems to be bumping up against it. He's also been annoyingly nonchalant about the nasty hits by Downie, Cote, Boulerice, Jones and Hartnell that resulted in suspensions. He seems more aloof than intense and I just don't think he's got what it takes to lead the Flyers to the finals. If the Eastern Conference stays as tight as it is right now, a few teams with solid records aren't going to make the playoffs and I fear the Flyers are going to be one of them.

Why playing hockey outside is fun

I realize that the Jan. 1 Winter Classic was the first NHL game played outside in the United States. But the outpouring of accolades from all corners makes me think that some folks thought it was going to be a bust.

Of course it was popular! Of course record numbers of people watched it on TV! Of course it was a sell out! Hockey, as most of us who aren't pros play it, is an outdoor winter sport. We play on ponds and flooded backyards and sometimes even the street. It's cold and fun and we all have to deal with the bad spots in the ice and the spot where the tree root bumps up and makes everything uneven.

Watching Crosby and Miller deal with the snow and the sleet was cool and reminded me (and the hundreds thousands of other people watching I'm betting) that we all have something in common. I'll never be able to juggle a puck on a stick blade like Crosby, but I have skated in snow and wiped out because of it. For a few minutes, Crosby was a little more like me than a superstar.

And it's no surprise that people came to the stadium and stayed through the weather. It's the exhilaration of watching something special. Of being outside. Of being with 70,000 other folks who think hockey is as great as you do.

The outdoor game in 2003 between the Oilers and Canadians was great, as was the game in Spartan Stadium between Michigan State and the University of Michigan (broke my heart to miss that one). If I were Gary Bettman, I'd schedule two of these a year -- one in Canada and one in the United States and rotate the teams that played. (Being biased, I'd also push for Original Six teams, but I'm trying to get over that.) Can we schedule the 2009 game(s) now? And can the Red Wings be one of the teams?