Category Archives: Hockey

Kicked in the Saku Koivu

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I attended the first Leafs home game of the post-Kyle Wellwood era tonight. After the victory in Detroit on Thursday, Leafs fans were a little more (cautiously) optimistic about the Leafs team this year. Of course, there are the omnipresent Leafs fans who figure “This is the year” every year. They’re the ones you see on TV all the time that give other more realistic Leafs fans a bad name and make people think that all Leafs fans are moronic sheep. Anyway, I hope tonight’s game wasn’t a more realistic indication of how the Leafs will do this year. Are they going to beat great teams like the Red Wings every time? Certainly not, but hopefully we won’t see too many more 6-1 losses either.

The Good

Curtis Joseph played the third and didn’t allow a single goal, much to the delight of the Joseph-loving Toronto fans. Strangely, one of the biggest ovations he got (with the crowd erupting into chants of “CuJo! CuJo! CuJo!”) was after he was beaten by a shot that rang off of the goal post.

A total of one penalty for both teams in the first period.

Twenty of Canada’s medal winners from the Beijing Olympics were there for the ceremonial faceoff. They got a well-deserved standing ovation, and then led the crowd of almost 20,000 in singing the national anthem a capella style. No matter what big musical star they could have gotten to sing the anthem, it couldn’t have been any cooler than 20,000 people singing in unision. It was amazing.

Mike Van Ryn made a very nice defensive move in the first, stripping a Montreal player of the puck. It was a play that Bryan McCabe could never have made, but of course you knew that already — I did say it was a very nice defensive move.

The Bad

The Leafs were playing their second game of the season, and it showed. There were lots of missed passes and lots of shots that missed the net by a foot or more. It seemed that there were a lot of players just out of place all night. The Habs would take a shot and the rebound (whether off the goalie or the boards) would go straight to another Montreal player. The Leafs would take a shot and the rebound would either go straight to a Montreal defenseman or would coast all the way to the neutral zone because there were no Leafs players anywhere near it. The Habs played like it was their twentieth game of the season — less missed passes, less players out of place, less penalties… though it’s possible that Montreal is simply a better team.

Penalty killing was awful. The Leafs had five penalties in the second period, leading to four Montreal power play goals. I suppose it improved in the third though, as the Leafs had four more penalties but no goals allowed.

In the second period, Carlo Colaiacovo (I spelled that right without even looking it up first! ) tripped over a Montreal player who was knocked down by another Leaf and limped off the ice in obvious pain. I thought maybe Captain Glass was injured again and would be out for a few weeks, but he returned in the third period, so maybe this should have been listed under “The Good”.

Toskala was shaky for the first two periods, though a few of the six goals he allowed weren’t his fault at all.

Toronto only scored one goal, and it wasn’t even that nice a goal. They had another one called back because Antropov directed it in with his arm. This was on Montreal’s backup goaltender — they didn’t want to waste Carey Price on Toronto.

The Ugly

Final score: Montreal 6 Toronto 1. ‘Nuff said.

The Leafs could really have used the scoring touch from their former number one center — Kyle Wellwood. Or Darcy Tucker. Or that other guy, what’s his name? You know, that Swedish guy? Anyway, the team is rebuilding and we all know that when a team is rebuilding, there are going to be some ugly games. But despite the final score, I don’t think this was really one of them. A young rebuilding team was simply beaten by a more talented team. They put up a good fight and as Andy Frost mentioned in the post-game show on the radio, the Leafs did not mail it in in the third period, they came out and played hard. You gotta respect that.

Fire Ricciardi and see ya Mats

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I haven’t written much about sports in a while, partially because lacrosse, hockey, and basketball are all over and not much is happening there. I missed a couple of weeks of baseball while on vacation, and returned to find (gasp) the Jays are pretty much out of the playoff picture. Not really surprising, and this just fuels the talk about whether J.P. Ricciardi should be fired as GM at the end of the season. I’ve been firmly in Ricciardi’s corner during most of his tenure as GM, but I think that experiment is over. We’re over 6½ years into Ricciardi’s “five year plan” that would see the Jays contending, and they have still yet to play a meaningful game in September (and it won’t happen this year). The pitching certainly isn’t the problem — AJ Burnett is finally healthy and pitching the way they hoped he would when they signed him (and it only took two and a half years to get there!), Halladay is Halladay, Litch, McGowan, and Marcum are pitching pretty well (when they’re not on the DL), and only four pitchers on the whole team have ERAs over 5.00, and none of those four has pitched more than 18 innings.

And then there are the hitters. Alex Rios is having a pretty bad year, and he’s leading the team in RBIs (49). Matt Stairs leads the team in homers with a measly 11. Nobody is hitting over .300. They are dead last in the AL in HRs, third last in RBIs, and fourth last in batting average. Compare that to the pitching stats: team ERA is second in the AL, they have the most complete games and the second-most strikeouts. They say good pitching will beat good hitting and I believe that, but to win a 1-0 game, you need to be able to score that one run. A team with good pitching and dismal hitting isn’t going anywhere in the post-season.

Is all of this Ricciardi’s fault? Is it his fault that half the team has spent time on the DL? Is it his fault that the hitters have forgotten how to hit? I suppose not, but he’s still responsible. He’s been running the team for almost seven years, and he’s got a far bigger budget than any of his predecessors, and the team hasn’t had a sniff of the playoffs the entire time.

I’m not sure what should be done with Cito. He came in mid-season and took over a team that wasn’t likely to make the playoffs, and led that team to probably their worst finish in four years. But if Cito had managed to fire up the hitters to the point where the Jays even hinted at contending this year, he deserved the coach of the year award. Just because he couldn’t do that doesn’t mean he’s no good — I’m not sure anyone could have. Given the team he had, I think Cito did OK. But if Ricciardi is fired, then whoever the new GM is will want to bring in his own guy, so Cito is likely to be fired too.

Over in the hockey world, Mats Sundin has still not decided what he’s doing next year. He’s an unrestricted free agent, and so he is under no obligation to anyone to decide quickly, but I’m kind of getting tired of the whole thing. The Leafs aren’t likely to do anything other than suck next season with or without Sundin, so I’m not sure why they are still pursuing him. They made him an offer, he hasn’t taken it, so just let him go. Thanks for all your contributions in the past, good luck wherever you go, buh-bye. He doesn’t owe the Leafs anything, and if he decides to sign with Montreal or Vancouver or New York or anyone else, best of luck to him. If he eventually calls up the Leafs and decides to take their offer, and they still have enough cap room left, great. I’m not against having Sundin back next year, but it’ll just make the team suck slightly less. It won’t make any difference in the long run.

A couple of sports quickies

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Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings on their Stanley Cup victory. Yes, the game-winning goal was ugly, but the ugly ones count just as much as the pretty ones. The Penguins put up a good fight, but the Red Wings were just too dominant. My finals prediction was Penguins in 6, and it ended up Red Wings in 6, so I really only missed by one. I haven’t watched a lot of playoff hockey this year, but I always enjoy watching the final (i.e. Championship) game of hockey or baseball, even if I don’t care who wins it. I watched the last ten minutes of the third period of game 5, and assumed like everyone else that Detroit would win it and that would be it. Also like everyone else, I was stunned when Pittsburgh scored with 35 seconds left, and resolved to watch the end of the game. The first overtime period was amazing, and I missed about half of the second OT because Gail returned from a Board of Education meeting and we chatted about it for a while. Just before the third OT started, I got sleepy and decided to watch the rest from bed, since Gail was going to stay up and work for a while. I was standing in my room brushing my teeth when the winning goal was scored. Last night I played baseball, so by the time I got home and turned the game on, there were only five minutes left in the third, but Pittsburgh scored with a minute and a half left to cut Detroit’s lead to one, and I thought “here we go again — can Detroit be a minute away from the Stanley Cup two games in a row and still lose?” It turns out the answer was no, but damn, that shot that trickled by Osgood with a second left on the clock was awfully close…

I’ve heard from a bunch of hockey people in the last 24 hours that the Penguins time will come, and very soon. With all the pressure that’s on them now, I kinda hope it does. They were “allowed” to lose it this year — even the mighty Edmonton Oilers were swept in their first Cup appearance in 1983 — but with all these analysts talking about them like it’s a given that they will win Cups in five of the next ten seasons, they better win one within the next two or three years, or their confidence might get rocked, and then they’ll go from perennial Cup contender to “they used to be good” before you can say “Ottawa Senators”.

Hey Ozzie Guillen — I need you to do one of two things, OK? Either (1) grow up or (2) shut up. We’re all tired of your childish little tirades. If you can’t keep your head on straight, just keep your mouth shut. Just manage your team, give the press the standard clichés and that’s it. Thanks.

I was working from home today, and I planned on bringing my laptop into the family room this afternoon and working while watching the Jays-Yankees game, but I completely forgot about the game. I left to go pick up Nicholas around 5:00, and turned the game on in the car. When I turned it on, it was 8-6 Toronto, bottom of the ninth, two outs, B.J. Ryan pitching. I figured I’d hear the end of the game before I got to Nicky’s caregiver’s place, and one way or another, I was right. A-Rod, who was on first, took second on defensive indifference, then Matsui his a single up the middle to score him. Now it’s 8-7, but still 2 outs and B.J. Ryan pitching — no problem, right? The next batter is Jason Giambi, who takes two quick strikes as I pull into the driveway. I decided to listen to the next pitch and hope for a strikeout or groundout and the game would be over. Well, the next pitch was a strike, technically, and it did end the game, but not in the way I was hoping. Giambi hit it over the right field fence for a walk-off home run. Yankees win 9-8. Yuck.

Both Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan had breakout seasons last year, and I remember thinking before this season started that if they do half as well this year, and none of the pitchers gets injured, then the Jays pitching staff is looking pretty decent. Well, Marcum and McGowan are both pitching just as well as last year if not better, Halladay has been his normal self (dominant pitcher, complete games all over the place, but he could be 10-3 instead of 7-5 if he had more run support), and A.J. Burnett has been, well, A.J. Burnett — sometimes unhittable, sometimes quite ordinary. All four are at or above .500, and the highest ERA of the four of them is Burnett’s respectable 4.32. If all that wasn’t enough, along comes Jesse Litsch, the former Tampa Bay bat boy, who’s currently 7-2 with an ERA under 3 ½. The Jays quite possibly may have the best starting rotation in the game.

Leafs looking for a coach? Why not a GM first?

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According to this article, the Leafs have begun contacting candidates for the vacant head coach position. Now, they also have a vacant GM position and normally, you’d fill the GM position and let him pick his own coach, but they haven’t named a GM. It’s possible that they are close to hiring the GM but just haven’t announced it yet, but in that case, it wouldn’t be Fletcher doing the search for the coach, it would be the new GM.

This only makes sense to me if they have decided that they will not have a new GM chosen before the start of next season. Fletcher can continue as interim GM until then, but they still need a coach. It seems unlikely that they will hire a new GM midway through the season, so Fletcher may continue as the interim GM for a year (though he’s already said he wouldn’t be here that long), and then next off-season they will hire a full-time GM. Hey, whaddaya know, Brian Burke is only under contract with the Ducks for one more year!

I don’t know why the Toronto media is portraying Burke like the saviour of the Leafs. It’s not like he put the Stanley Cup-winning Ducks together, that was mostly Bryan Murray’s doing. Other than the one season with the Ducks, he’s never seen the Cup finals as a GM.

Bottom line: I don’t know what the hell the Leafs are doing. What else is new.

NHL Final prediction

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We’re down to one series left. Just when it looked like we’d have two sweeps in the conference finals, the Flyers and Stars each decided to make a series of it, though Dallas had slightly more success than Philly did. In the end though, as the Emperor said in Return of the Jedi, everything has proceeded as I have foreseen. Well, almost everything. I’m 10-4 in my NHL series predictions this year, with only the big one left. This one is hard though — will Detroit’s experience overcome the Crosby and Malkin show?

Pittsburgh has had a pretty easy time of it in the playoffs so far, winning two series in 5 and sweeping Ottawa (though Detroit has only lost two more games than the Penguins), but Detroit is a more formidable opponent, so I’m going to pick Pittsburgh in six.

Note also one of my predictions from last year. I picked Ottawa to beat Pittsburgh in the first round (they did), but I added a postscript: “…though I don’t think I’d want to play Pittsburgh in next year’s playoffs.” This year, Pittsburgh and Ottawa met again in the first round this year, and Ottawa got smoked in four straight. Just sayin’.

Update: Jim Kelley also says Pittsburgh in six, so I’m in good company. Now, he’s analyzed the shit out of this series, and he arguably has more hockey knowledge than I do (being in the Hall of freakin’ Fame), but still.

Canadian Sports Personalities – Best and Worst

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I read an article on another blog on the best Canadian non-hockey sports announcers. There were also specific articles on the hockey people and the anchor desk people. I thought I’d put together my own list of Canadian sports announcers, writers and broadcasters, good and bad. These are in no particular order.

Best

  • Bob McCown — simply the best. Host of Prime Time Sports on the FAN 590, one of my favourite podcasts and according to Bob, “the country’s most listened-to sports talk presentation”. Says what he thinks, doesn’t care if he offends anyone, doesn’t (usually) pull punches during interviews, knows his stuff inside and out, and he’s funny too.
  • Stephen Brunt — he writes for the Globe and Mail, which I don’t read, so I only know him from his appearances on Prime Time Sports, but he’s very knowledgable. And he’s from Hamilton.
  • Jim Kelley — writes for sportsnet.ca, and also appears on Prime Time Sports. He’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a writer, and for good reason. He knows more than just hockey though. He, Brunt, and McCown make PTS the best sports show there is.
  • Dan Shulman — Used to do play-by-play for the Blue Jays. Smart guy, and just an all-around great broadcaster. So good, ESPN grabbed him and hasn’t let go.
  • Rob Faulds — I didn’t like him much when I first heard him on Jays telecasts, but he used to host Prime Time Sports when McCown was away, and I grew to respect him. Listening to him on the radio doesn’t feel like listening to the radio, it feels like talking sports over a couple of beers with your buddy.
  • Jennifer Hedger — smart, knows her stuff, and easy on the eyes. Married to Sean McCormick (see the worst list below), but nobody’s perfect.
  • Eliot Friedman — another former guest host on Prime Time Sports, but haven’t heard him for a while. Works on HNIC, though I think he’s underused there.
  • Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth — Cheek called every single Blue Jays game, including pre- and post-season, from their first day in 1977 until 2004, a streak of over 4,300 consecutive games. I grew up listening to him and Jerry calling Jays games on the radio.
  • Don Chevrier and Buck Martinez — called Jays games on TV in the 80’s and 90’s. Buck went on to manage the Jays, and I was disappointed when he didn’t return to the broadcast booth afterwards.
  • Jay Onrait — host of SportsCentre on TSN. Not particularly insightful, since he’s just reporting the sports news, but he’s pretty funny. The last couple of years, he’s done a real-time blog on trade deadline day which was very funny.

Worst

  • Mike Toth — I used to really hate this guy, but he’s growing on me. Now I only hate him a little bit. He hosts Prime Time Sports when Bob McCown is away, and he’s OK, but I prefer when Rob Faulds used to guest-host.
  • Sean McCormick — they call him The Dude. Or perhaps he calls himself that. Just seems a little too full of himself.
  • Michael Landsberg — speaking of full of himself…
  • Warren Sawkiw — did Jays broadcasts for a year after Tom Cheek passed away, then they fired him. Haven’t seen him since. Didn’t seem to add much to the broadcast, and had too much of a “golly gee whiz, I’m in the big league!” air about him.
  • Don Cherry — very entertaining and I enjoy watching Coach’s Corner because of him, but what an idiot. Thinks that any hockey game without a fight is a waste of time. Thinks that wearing helmets and visors to protect your head and face makes you a pussy. Hey Don, the truth is that it just makes you smart.
  • Nick Kypreos — thinks along Don Cherry’s lines. He was a goon when he played, and thinks that players who don’t know one end of the stick from the other but are great fighters make a valuable contribution. News flash Nick — the ’94 Rangers would have won the Cup even without you. He’s so pro-player anti-owners it’s not funny, which was particularly annoying during the lockout.
  • Fergie Olver and Tony Kubek — both worked for the Jays in the ’80s. To be honest, I don’t remember what it was I didn’t like about these guys, I just remember that when watching a game on TV where these guys were broadcasting, I’d turn the sound down on the TV and turn the radio on. I do remember that Fergie also hosted a kids game show called Just Like Mom where kids and their moms competed as a team against other kids and their moms. Fergie’s wife was the co-host.

A bit of both

  • Pierre McGuire — Most of the time, he’s fine, though he talks really quickly. (I do too, but I’m not a professional broadcaster.) He knows the fine points of hockey very well. However, when he gets excited about something, he talks a mile a minute and STARTS TO YELL. Then I can’t listen to him anymore.

The Seeing Eye speaks

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I had a dream last night. In my dream, I saw Cliff Fletcher announcing that Ken Hitchcock was the next GM of the Leafs. I don’t have dreams about sports very often; heck, I don’t have dreams that I remember all that often, so I’m taking this as a sign. Note that this was literally a dream — I’m not saying that I hope it happens, just that I dreamed it would.

I know Hitchcock is currently the coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Seeing Eye just tells the future; it doesn’t explain it.

Third round picks

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The second round is now over, and I went 2-2 in my predictions. I got the Pittsburgh series winner right, but they took out the Rangers in 5, not the 6 or 7 I said, and I thought Montreal was for real and Philly wasn’t, turned out to be the other way around. I’m now 8-4 overall this year.

Third round:

  • Pittsburgh over Philly
  • Detroit over Dallas

Second round picks

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I was 6-2 in my opening round playoff predictions, missing only the Washington-Philly and Anaheim-Dallas series. Now, calling Pittsburgh over Ottawa was not a real stretch, and Montreal over Boston was not supposed to be a stretch, but that series turned out to be much closer than I think anyone imagined.

Here we go with the second round picks:

  • Montreal over Philly
  • Pittsburgh over the Rangers, though I see this series going 6 or 7.
  • Detroit over Colorado
  • San Jose over Dallas — this one was difficult. Dallas must be brimming with confidence after knocking off the Ducks, but I think San Jose can still pull it off.