The NHL season is set to kick off shortly but before we can get to that we must first begin to discipline the early transgressors. It became no more evident that preseason isn't for the faint of heart this weekend when two different games, with now heated rivals, had instances of stepping over the line.
The big story comes out of Toronto. The easiest thing to do is dive in with this one. Let me first start by saying I haven't read anything about this game or event from anybody. All I did was watch the film from the same place I always watch. The rest is my take on what happened.
We have to begin on Friday when Toronto and Buffalo met in Buffalo. I watched the game. It was very physical and extremely chippy. There were three fights and multiple instances of pushing and shoving. It had a playoff type atmosphere in a game that meant nothing. Again, I have to continue and will throughout that this game and the others means nothing. Except in hockey, teams use these games to show toughness and intimidation. Friday's game was honestly somewhat weird. Kaleta ran around in his typical fashion but so did Jamie Devane for Toronto targeting Kaleta multiple times. Kaleta eventually dropped the gloves after trying to get after Dion Phaneuf. Master pest Steve Ott came out towards the end of regulation to stir up some of his own garbage by shooting a puck directly at Phaneuf which started another pile up. Then since overtime couldn't decide it they went to a shootout that seemed to last forever. For some comedic relief after all the misses and saves Paul Ranger came in on his attempt, used one hand to control the puck with his stick and took a soccer like kick to the back of the stick to fling the puck at net. Jonas Enroth didn't get the joke and took a slash at Ranger as he went by. This was all leading up to another game in less than 24 hours.
Now we head into Sunday with bad blood boiling. Let's get right to the point the game lost control. It started in the fight that lead up to the brawl. A much smaller but willing Corey Tropp dropped his gloves with Jamie Devane. The fight seemed all but average until the end. While spinning around Tropp fell backwards. Devane followed forward his momentum and possibly a forearm to the neck caused Tropp to hit his head hard off the ice momentarily knocking him out. There is no way for me to make a judgement on whether or not there was intent on the part of Devane. I could see how somebody could see both sides of the argument. I lean towards two guys getting into a scrap and they landed awkwardly.
As a Buffalo player or anybody on any team, seeing a guy knocked out can stir up quite the emotion. Especially if any unsportsmanlike events took place between players or even from the fans afterward. In steps John Scott. The man is not a genius. Without even another second ticking off we get the following.
6'8 John Scott, who has scored one goal in his entire career, lines up against Phil Kessel who would be classified as Toronto's best player. Forget the puck drop and let's go. Kessel backs off quickly before making like a lumberjack going for the final cut to the biggest tree. Luckily for Kessel two teammates jump in to save the fledgling forward. Kessel thrives at his fortune and takes another baseball-like swing before he finds players to tangle with more suitable for him. In the hectic scene David Clarkson looking at first mildly puzzled comes off the bench to join in. Then everybody goes at it. As things look to cool the goalies who received their invitations late to the dance got into it. Kessel takes another poke at the great beast as they try to separate the teams. Whew. Well that was interesting.
So now for my take. I understand the anger of Scott. However what he did amongst the hockey code was completely wrong. Even if he was upset by the previous fight it was two guys, both who can fight, agreeing to go. The outcome alone can't be the basis for his idea to go after the best offensive player on the other team who is not skilled in fighting before play has begun. Scott deserves a suspension of at least five games for the part he played. None of this would have happened if it were not for his actions.
If they guy I stood next to was a foot taller than me and looking to unprovokingly punch me in the face my first reaction might be to swing my stick at him. I might give Kessel a pass if it were not for the full swing he took or the idea that this should not be the first reaction of a hockey player. The second swing makes him look even more ridiculous as his teammates were forced to protect him. The fact he fought at all and cut the other guy is enough to give him some credit. The last spear probably canceled it out. In the end he came across as a punk when he could have just skated away. Two baseball swings of a stick warrant a suspension. He might have been okay after the first but not at all after the second. He needs 3 or 4 games.
Poor David Clarkson. I feel bad for him because in the spirit of the game he did what he thought was right. Except jumping off the bench is a straight up 10 game suspension. We had this happen already this year for goodness sake. He just signed his big contract this season after playing with New Jersey and even took less money than offered elsewhere to play in Toronto. He scores, loves to fights and as seen clearly sticks up for his team. Unfortunately for him, he was the only player to jump on the ice. I see no way he avoids the automatic ban.
Do we really need to have a winner and loser scenario here? Probably. Here we go as quickly as I can.
Winner: BUFFALO - This one is simple. After the dusts settle the only player that will be suspended is John Scott. Not a big loss there. For all the crap that people talked about Buffalo being soft when Ryan Miller kept getting plowed over, guess they can quiet down. That's a team that stands up for each other even if things don't go well.
Winner: JONATHAN BERNIER - You would think as the #11 pick you would be enjoying NHL success. Not when Jon Quick is ahead of you. Finally able to show he could be a number one goalie in a new town, he goes out and gets in a fight in front of the home crowd and handles himself well. Welcome to Toronto Jonathan. You just made a lot of friends.
Winner: RYAN MILLER - Wait. Both goalies are winners? Yep. Miller did not need to show any interest in this fight. He barely has shown interest in being in Buffalo at all. But it would have looked hypocritical for him to not participate in what could be described as team bonding. That's how you show you are not bigger than the team.
LOSER: PHIL KESSEL - There is no call for swinging your stick at a player let alone to do it twice. In both instances he was backpedaling from the crime scene making him look even more pathetic.
LOSER: TORONTO - The best thing to come out of this for Toronto was maybe some solidarity going forward into the season. The worst thing will be the suspensions of two of there best forwards, one for a straight up 10 games. That is something they cannot afford and could easily cost them a playoff spot.
Needless to say watching these teams compete the rest of the season could be interesting. Mr. Scott has a big ass target on his head now but I think it would be accurate to say Phil Kessel will be seeing a lot of Steve Ott and Patrick Kaleta. Have fun Phil.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The Toronto-Buffalo game took something away from the ferocity of the Edmonton and Vancouver game from Saturday night another I had the pleasure to watch. Vancouver played the role of aggressor going after the Oilers young stars. Edmonton is deep with young talent but lack a strong physical presence something they desperately need to surround their future. Vancouver took full advantage often taking runs at the smaller forwards. First it was Dale Weiss who clearly looked to target the head of Taylor Hall for which Weiss is suspended the rest of the preseason. Then it was large forward Zack Kassian's stick breaking the jaw of top Edmonton forward Sam Gagner when his hit attempt missed but his follow through connected. Kassian will miss the first five games for not playing with his stick under control.
There has been no secret between outspoken head coach Dallas Eakins and Craig MacTavish that the team was looking for an enforcer plain and simple. When Pittsburgh waived Steve MacIntyre yesterday it was only a matter of when. That answer was today. Big Mac is back with Edmonton. The only problem is he is awful as a player. What the Oilers needed and still need are physical and talented forwards. Without that they are destined to be pushed around and rely on powerplay chances for goals. I still have a feeling the first matchup between these two is worth the watch as much as the Toronto and Buffalo game.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Rough Stuff
I mentioned in an earlier post that it seemed like the season got off to a more physical start than usual. This past weekend only verified the statement. Let's begin.
The NLA (Swiss) was one I took particular interest in after their first weekend scrap put them one fight behind the league total from a year ago. Another weekend in the books and they no longer trail in that category. Not only did they pass it, they already became the first league to feature a goalie fight which came at the same time as two other simultaneous fights. This league would have hands down been my last pick to see the first goalie scrap. Now, just two weekends in there have been eight fighting majors and ten game misconducts. Last season there were four fighting majors and 29 game misconducts.
From Finland over the weekend we got this hit.
That's 38 year old Jere Karalahti making some serious contact with Markus Poukkula. Karalahti had a brief NHL career and has since gone on to rack up some serious penalty minutes in an assortment of European leagues, something he didn't do while playing in North America. Four game ban for Jere which is four more than anything he got during the game for the hit which was nothing. If you are keeping track that is the second questionable hit that has made this page from Finland this season.
As previously stated I'm going to be hesitant with juniors but at a time when fighting is on the decline they sure enjoy a bout. Within the opening weekend of each junior league at least one player has recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick. Not that it is surprising. The older players tend to score more and play a physically stronger game against younger competition. There were also more regular hat tricks than I care to count.
And in a sport played predominantly in winter, in many northern states, provinces and countries, where travel can be brutal, we already had our first postponement of what I can only assume will be dozens if not closer to 50. In Sudbury of the OHL they couldn't even get the first game of the year going. Why?
Looks like somebody forgot to turn the fog machine off. No seriously, it was just really fucking foggy.
WARMING UP
Clearly we have to discuss the incident yesterday between Toronto and Buffalo as I'm sure it is making its way around the various sports shows especially that one that hates hockey. Interestingly in a year where I mention the physical side of the game seemed to ramp up across the leagues, we get an event like this in preseason albeit. The fighting and hitting aren't going away. Ask anybody that witnessed that game or anybody around Vancouver or Edmonton right now. I will address the issues and my take in the next post.
The NLA (Swiss) was one I took particular interest in after their first weekend scrap put them one fight behind the league total from a year ago. Another weekend in the books and they no longer trail in that category. Not only did they pass it, they already became the first league to feature a goalie fight which came at the same time as two other simultaneous fights. This league would have hands down been my last pick to see the first goalie scrap. Now, just two weekends in there have been eight fighting majors and ten game misconducts. Last season there were four fighting majors and 29 game misconducts.
From Finland over the weekend we got this hit.
That's 38 year old Jere Karalahti making some serious contact with Markus Poukkula. Karalahti had a brief NHL career and has since gone on to rack up some serious penalty minutes in an assortment of European leagues, something he didn't do while playing in North America. Four game ban for Jere which is four more than anything he got during the game for the hit which was nothing. If you are keeping track that is the second questionable hit that has made this page from Finland this season.
As previously stated I'm going to be hesitant with juniors but at a time when fighting is on the decline they sure enjoy a bout. Within the opening weekend of each junior league at least one player has recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick. Not that it is surprising. The older players tend to score more and play a physically stronger game against younger competition. There were also more regular hat tricks than I care to count.
And in a sport played predominantly in winter, in many northern states, provinces and countries, where travel can be brutal, we already had our first postponement of what I can only assume will be dozens if not closer to 50. In Sudbury of the OHL they couldn't even get the first game of the year going. Why?
Looks like somebody forgot to turn the fog machine off. No seriously, it was just really fucking foggy.
WARMING UP
Clearly we have to discuss the incident yesterday between Toronto and Buffalo as I'm sure it is making its way around the various sports shows especially that one that hates hockey. Interestingly in a year where I mention the physical side of the game seemed to ramp up across the leagues, we get an event like this in preseason albeit. The fighting and hitting aren't going away. Ask anybody that witnessed that game or anybody around Vancouver or Edmonton right now. I will address the issues and my take in the next post.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Weekend Update
All of Europe is officially underway or at least the leagues I am following. To my enjoyment it is starting out physical as well. So where did we leave off?
KHL: Ilya Kovalchuk started off very slow in his return to Russia. His team however did not. Well a few more games are in the book and Kovy has himself two goals and two assists and the team is 5-0. Guess that really wasn't much of a surprise. Medvescak started off their rookie season in the KHL with a bang. It was such a bang I made a story about it. Well just like Philadelphia Eagles fans I might have jumped the gun a bit after only one game. Medvescak has since lost their last four games.
Austria: In all likelihood the European point leader will come out of this league. Two players already have seven points. Chances are this will also be the league that sees the most fighting. Former Edmonton player Alex Plante got into two fights on Saturday in a very heated game. This league is probably one of my favorites.
Swiss: It is early on but this league has also stepped up in the roughness department. Any guess on how many regular season fights there were last season in this league? I'll let you think. Jim Vandermeer didn't get the memo as he had a go of it already in his European debut after 695 NHL and AHL games. You're done thinking. The answer was two. Two fights in the season. Through the first weekend they have one.
Germany: Once again it is very early in the season. There have only been two days of playing so it is hard to see who the better teams are. The one thing the German league does a bit differently is not giving out a lot of fighting penalties. I honestly don't even know what qualifies. I've seen guys circle around and start throwing get double roughing calls and other times a minor altercation leads to majors. Either way the league is still physical. 8 misconducts were already handed out and more than one game has ended in large scrums.
JUNIORS
I'm not going to get to in depth with junior reports. More than anything I will show clips or highlight a future prospect. There is clearly going to be multiple players who record at least 100 points so that number can tend to be skewed. And penalties in this league are a whole different game one of which I won't even participate in until the season is over. In a quick intro into this reasoning it is because for whatever reason and in whatever year they started to not include misconduct penalties into the PIM total. I don't know why except maybe because they give them out more frequently than other leagues. It doesn't matter to me. The player still sits for ten minutes except that ten isn't included in the total at the end of the season. Well it does in my book so for record purposes I have to add it at the end of the season so it matches with the final numbers from the league.
The OHL and WHL both start this week. In seeing the Quebec league in action which is normally a bit short on fighting comparatively speaking I can say that the increased rules in attempt to combat fighting are doing basically nothing. Players receive a lot more penalties for getting involved in fights whether it is from removing their helmet, "staging"it off a faceoff, or getting into two fights in a game. In many cases they are ejected.
In Sunday's Gatineau-Sherbrooke game, under standard hockey rules, there were 179 penalty minutes. Hockey will always be hockey. Not sure what they think they can change.
QMJHL from Friday:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The NHL preseason also started this weekend and wouldn't you know we already got a guy suspended for leaving the bench to get into a fight. After seeing his teammate take a big hit Paul Bissonnette raced over to start an altercation. I wouldn't expect anything different from the Phoenix enforcer. He is quick to stick up for players and in this case his emotions took over. I'm fine with that. He gets a ten game suspension when the year starts which is generally the automatic suspension for leaving the bench. Biz will be back and ready to go.
OVERTIME
Overtime is precisely what it took to get an opening night win for Wait For It in the SAHL last night. Battling back from three one goal deficits the teams went into overtime tied at three. With roughly two minutes left in OT Anthony Tartaglia positioned himself in front of the net and chopped in a backhanded pass from Ryan Groth to secure the win. The goal proved to be the icing on the cake after a quick turn of events. Shortly after jumping on for their first overtime shift, Groth shattered his stick while forechecking in the offensive zone. With tired forwards on the bench the only option was to grab one of their sticks and continue on. After a quick regroup Wait For It made their way back into the offensive zone, won a battle behind the net and another in front to get the winning goal.
We were not able to get highlights but the winning celebration looked something like this.
Four different players scored in a balanced attack and with a goal and two assists Groth was named the most awesomest awesome player of the game.
KHL: Ilya Kovalchuk started off very slow in his return to Russia. His team however did not. Well a few more games are in the book and Kovy has himself two goals and two assists and the team is 5-0. Guess that really wasn't much of a surprise. Medvescak started off their rookie season in the KHL with a bang. It was such a bang I made a story about it. Well just like Philadelphia Eagles fans I might have jumped the gun a bit after only one game. Medvescak has since lost their last four games.
Austria: In all likelihood the European point leader will come out of this league. Two players already have seven points. Chances are this will also be the league that sees the most fighting. Former Edmonton player Alex Plante got into two fights on Saturday in a very heated game. This league is probably one of my favorites.
Swiss: It is early on but this league has also stepped up in the roughness department. Any guess on how many regular season fights there were last season in this league? I'll let you think. Jim Vandermeer didn't get the memo as he had a go of it already in his European debut after 695 NHL and AHL games. You're done thinking. The answer was two. Two fights in the season. Through the first weekend they have one.
Germany: Once again it is very early in the season. There have only been two days of playing so it is hard to see who the better teams are. The one thing the German league does a bit differently is not giving out a lot of fighting penalties. I honestly don't even know what qualifies. I've seen guys circle around and start throwing get double roughing calls and other times a minor altercation leads to majors. Either way the league is still physical. 8 misconducts were already handed out and more than one game has ended in large scrums.
JUNIORS
I'm not going to get to in depth with junior reports. More than anything I will show clips or highlight a future prospect. There is clearly going to be multiple players who record at least 100 points so that number can tend to be skewed. And penalties in this league are a whole different game one of which I won't even participate in until the season is over. In a quick intro into this reasoning it is because for whatever reason and in whatever year they started to not include misconduct penalties into the PIM total. I don't know why except maybe because they give them out more frequently than other leagues. It doesn't matter to me. The player still sits for ten minutes except that ten isn't included in the total at the end of the season. Well it does in my book so for record purposes I have to add it at the end of the season so it matches with the final numbers from the league.
The OHL and WHL both start this week. In seeing the Quebec league in action which is normally a bit short on fighting comparatively speaking I can say that the increased rules in attempt to combat fighting are doing basically nothing. Players receive a lot more penalties for getting involved in fights whether it is from removing their helmet, "staging"it off a faceoff, or getting into two fights in a game. In many cases they are ejected.
In Sunday's Gatineau-Sherbrooke game, under standard hockey rules, there were 179 penalty minutes. Hockey will always be hockey. Not sure what they think they can change.
QMJHL from Friday:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The NHL preseason also started this weekend and wouldn't you know we already got a guy suspended for leaving the bench to get into a fight. After seeing his teammate take a big hit Paul Bissonnette raced over to start an altercation. I wouldn't expect anything different from the Phoenix enforcer. He is quick to stick up for players and in this case his emotions took over. I'm fine with that. He gets a ten game suspension when the year starts which is generally the automatic suspension for leaving the bench. Biz will be back and ready to go.
OVERTIME
Overtime is precisely what it took to get an opening night win for Wait For It in the SAHL last night. Battling back from three one goal deficits the teams went into overtime tied at three. With roughly two minutes left in OT Anthony Tartaglia positioned himself in front of the net and chopped in a backhanded pass from Ryan Groth to secure the win. The goal proved to be the icing on the cake after a quick turn of events. Shortly after jumping on for their first overtime shift, Groth shattered his stick while forechecking in the offensive zone. With tired forwards on the bench the only option was to grab one of their sticks and continue on. After a quick regroup Wait For It made their way back into the offensive zone, won a battle behind the net and another in front to get the winning goal.
We were not able to get highlights but the winning celebration looked something like this.
Four different players scored in a balanced attack and with a goal and two assists Groth was named the most awesomest awesome player of the game.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Ville
There are always a few players that for some reason or another leave a lasting impression with me. Many started in the AHL. Many are former Hershey Bears. Especially the guys from the mid to late 90's. Ville Nieminen was one of those guys. There is more likely a direct relation to the type of player they were and my fondness for them.
Nieminen started his professional career in Hershey. In fact Hershey is the only AHL team he ever played for during parts of four seasons. He isn't your average Fin. Nieminen is what you could call a bit aggressive with his play. He plays the body and enjoys the physical side of the game. I wouldn't qualify him as a fighter. In the 369 games I tracked for him since the 01-02 season I had him in three fights. Take into consideration he received five game misconducts in the same span.
In his second AHL season Nieminen recorded 127 penalty minutes while also putting home 24 goals. Nieminen would move on quickly to the NHL where he played for seven different teams in his career. He managed 48 career goals, played in a Stanley Cup Finals, where he ended the playoffs with 55 penalty minutes before moving on to Europe. Since returning to Europe he has had two 20+ goal seasons and three 100+ penalty minutes seasons. Not bad for a shorter and less physical European game. Last year at 35 he led his team in scoring, finished second in penalty minutes and had the most penalty minutes of any player in the playoffs.
This year he is back again with his hometown Taparra team, where he has consistently returned at various times in his career, as the captain. No matter the age Ville knows only one way to play.
Two game suspension for Nieminen and he was ejected from this game.
I might not statistically follow all the leagues, but I got you covered.
Nieminen started his professional career in Hershey. In fact Hershey is the only AHL team he ever played for during parts of four seasons. He isn't your average Fin. Nieminen is what you could call a bit aggressive with his play. He plays the body and enjoys the physical side of the game. I wouldn't qualify him as a fighter. In the 369 games I tracked for him since the 01-02 season I had him in three fights. Take into consideration he received five game misconducts in the same span.
In his second AHL season Nieminen recorded 127 penalty minutes while also putting home 24 goals. Nieminen would move on quickly to the NHL where he played for seven different teams in his career. He managed 48 career goals, played in a Stanley Cup Finals, where he ended the playoffs with 55 penalty minutes before moving on to Europe. Since returning to Europe he has had two 20+ goal seasons and three 100+ penalty minutes seasons. Not bad for a shorter and less physical European game. Last year at 35 he led his team in scoring, finished second in penalty minutes and had the most penalty minutes of any player in the playoffs.
This year he is back again with his hometown Taparra team, where he has consistently returned at various times in his career, as the captain. No matter the age Ville knows only one way to play.
Two game suspension for Nieminen and he was ejected from this game.
I might not statistically follow all the leagues, but I got you covered.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
AHL Announcement
The AHL had been teasing fans recently with word of a big announcement that would be made today.
I'm not one to jump on board when I hear something like this being stated from an organization. It tends to be not as interesting as the hype would suggest. Quite frankly I completely forgot that they were even making an announcement until it started rolling through my feed this morning. So what could this major news be? I was about to find out.
Looks like there is a new sport in town in central Pennsylvania. Be aware Big 10.
I'm not one to jump on board when I hear something like this being stated from an organization. It tends to be not as interesting as the hype would suggest. Quite frankly I completely forgot that they were even making an announcement until it started rolling through my feed this morning. So what could this major news be? I was about to find out.
I'm going to be honest and admit I was annoyed by what I saw. After all the back and forth (St. John's feed was also going nuts) excitement, they announced the all-star game was going to be played in St. John's. Wow. Who would have guessed they would play the AHL all-star game in a city that has an AHL team. My mistake was not reading the whole thing. I eventually noticed what the hype was about.
The AHL all-star team this year will be playing not against each other in an east/west or North American/European format but instead be playing against Farjestad from the Swedish Elite League. That's a different approach and one I can get behind.
Using a soccer term this could be considered a friendly as this is a very typical thing to do in soccer and in European hockey. The only thing I question is how friendly will it be. It's a professional sports team playing against a group of all-stars. Pretty sure both sides want to win and play the game as intended while doing it in a way they all stay healthy. It should also be interesting to see the guys from Farjestad who previously played in the AHL come back to face off against former teammates.
In reading the report from the AHL it is actually the first time ever a Swedish Hockey League (previously known as the Swedish Elite League up until this season which I will continually say wrong) team has played in North America. The team president is Hakan Loob which leads me to believe John Buccigross got a little excited today. In fact maybe I should check to see if he made any comments about this event.
In a year that will see Rochester go to Switzerland to participate in the Spengler Cup and represent the AHL in Euorpe, we add on another new chapter to the story. I'm a proponent of blending leagues, teams, countries and continents especially when you have a select group to choose from. Many countries probably have never heard of hockey but many from the north play. Why not bring them together for various events for something different and exciting.
BUCCI UPDATE:
No comments from John on Hakan Loob. As a college hockey fan he did have something else interesting to report.
"The line to get Penn State hockey season tickets was so long today that the university had to shut down the sale. Wrapping around much of the interior of the Penn State student center and out the door, officials decided to call off the in-person sale to prevent students from missing too much class."
Looks like there is a new sport in town in central Pennsylvania. Be aware Big 10.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
We Got It
It took a few days but the KHL is the first to deliver. Not like that is important since they started first anyway.
This comes from the Barys and Severstal game played today. It happened early on in the game oddly enough because the game ended in favor of Barys by a 10-1 score with no altercations after. The player in blue is Josh Gratton. If you can tell, he is not Russian. He has had an interesting career from the ECHL to the NHL. He even is what you could say a veteran of the KHL but played in what I consider the minor Russian league last season. But the former Flyer is back in the top league and looking for dance partners.
AROUND EUROPE
The Austrian league is the only league (that I follow) to have started the season (England started as well but will only contribute brawling to this site). One game was played yesterday and four today. Should I even continue to mention that a former Hershey player scored both days? I'll stop at some point since it will continually be the same guys. However, Curtis Fraser picked up the first hat trick in the game from yesterday.
The KHL tilt came just in time as in the second day of action for the Austrian league they too had a fight that featured players without North American ties. Florian Pedevilla got into the scrap. I mention him because he also played last season for Innsbruck and picked up 99 penalty minutes with a scrap.
RANDOMNESS
Let's remember my great presumption of Kovalchuk leading the KHL in points. After a solid team showing in the first game of the season but Kovalchuk himself not getting any points, the team put in six goals today. And guess who did the scoring. Anybody not named Kovalchuk. Another zero point game for him. I should know better than to take a Russian even in a Russian league.
There is nothing like making a bold statement after one whole game which is kinda what I did with Medvescak. I loved their play making ability and toughness with all thee former AHL players. After the domination in their first game I thought it was on. Today they lost 5-1. Oops.
HC Bolzano is the newest addition to the Austrian league from Italy. They are the first team to join from Italy that I know of because I'm not going to look into it. If you are unaware, Italy isn't exactly a breeding ground for hockey and the teams generally tend to be mediocre. Don't tell that to this team. They won their first game today 6-1. I will stop short of going on a rant of how good this team will be after seeing what happens when I did that last time.
Germany and Switzerland begin this week to round out Europe. AND... Canadian juniors kicks off this week which allows me the ability to follow all the NHL picks and potential picks along with the craziness of 15-19 year olds.
This comes from the Barys and Severstal game played today. It happened early on in the game oddly enough because the game ended in favor of Barys by a 10-1 score with no altercations after. The player in blue is Josh Gratton. If you can tell, he is not Russian. He has had an interesting career from the ECHL to the NHL. He even is what you could say a veteran of the KHL but played in what I consider the minor Russian league last season. But the former Flyer is back in the top league and looking for dance partners.
AROUND EUROPE
The Austrian league is the only league (that I follow) to have started the season (England started as well but will only contribute brawling to this site). One game was played yesterday and four today. Should I even continue to mention that a former Hershey player scored both days? I'll stop at some point since it will continually be the same guys. However, Curtis Fraser picked up the first hat trick in the game from yesterday.
The KHL tilt came just in time as in the second day of action for the Austrian league they too had a fight that featured players without North American ties. Florian Pedevilla got into the scrap. I mention him because he also played last season for Innsbruck and picked up 99 penalty minutes with a scrap.
RANDOMNESS
Let's remember my great presumption of Kovalchuk leading the KHL in points. After a solid team showing in the first game of the season but Kovalchuk himself not getting any points, the team put in six goals today. And guess who did the scoring. Anybody not named Kovalchuk. Another zero point game for him. I should know better than to take a Russian even in a Russian league.
There is nothing like making a bold statement after one whole game which is kinda what I did with Medvescak. I loved their play making ability and toughness with all thee former AHL players. After the domination in their first game I thought it was on. Today they lost 5-1. Oops.
HC Bolzano is the newest addition to the Austrian league from Italy. They are the first team to join from Italy that I know of because I'm not going to look into it. If you are unaware, Italy isn't exactly a breeding ground for hockey and the teams generally tend to be mediocre. Don't tell that to this team. They won their first game today 6-1. I will stop short of going on a rant of how good this team will be after seeing what happens when I did that last time.
Germany and Switzerland begin this week to round out Europe. AND... Canadian juniors kicks off this week which allows me the ability to follow all the NHL picks and potential picks along with the craziness of 15-19 year olds.
Friday, September 6, 2013
The North American Way
The KHL might want to take a closer look at who they invite to join the league. There are currently 73 North American players on KHL rosters. In comparison there are 502 Russians. Newly inserted Medvescak has 24 North American players on their roster alone. They played their first game today and won 7-1.
The team combined for 18 total points among scorers. All 18 points came from North American skaters. If there is a team to root for this season, this might be the one. You need some skill? They have it. Play a bit of a rougher style against them? I would suggest not. I'm not going to say they are going to win the championship or even dominate the league, but they are going to bring an element this league hasn't seen. By the way, the team is coached by former Hershey Bear head coach Mark French who had been the team coach for the last four seasons. It might also explain why the team features former Hershey captain Boyd Kane who spent a total of five seasons in Hershey, including the last four and another five seasons with the Philadelphia Phantoms. The point is, if you happen to be in Croatia this season stop in for a game or two.
MORE STUFF
Ilya Kovalchuk made his return to the KHL today. His SKA team had an easy time winning 5-1. In keeping with my statement about him leading the league in points from yesterday, he attributed zero points.
Salavat and Torpedo has an interesting start to the season. 60 minutes and overtime couldn't decide a winner so they headed to a shootout. It only took 20 attempts before a winner emerged.
10 more games today and still no bouts. With the addition of the Canadian junior leagues to my library we won't be waiting long to see how Europe's toughness does against North America.
The team combined for 18 total points among scorers. All 18 points came from North American skaters. If there is a team to root for this season, this might be the one. You need some skill? They have it. Play a bit of a rougher style against them? I would suggest not. I'm not going to say they are going to win the championship or even dominate the league, but they are going to bring an element this league hasn't seen. By the way, the team is coached by former Hershey Bear head coach Mark French who had been the team coach for the last four seasons. It might also explain why the team features former Hershey captain Boyd Kane who spent a total of five seasons in Hershey, including the last four and another five seasons with the Philadelphia Phantoms. The point is, if you happen to be in Croatia this season stop in for a game or two.
MORE STUFF
Ilya Kovalchuk made his return to the KHL today. His SKA team had an easy time winning 5-1. In keeping with my statement about him leading the league in points from yesterday, he attributed zero points.
Salavat and Torpedo has an interesting start to the season. 60 minutes and overtime couldn't decide a winner so they headed to a shootout. It only took 20 attempts before a winner emerged.
10 more games today and still no bouts. With the addition of the Canadian junior leagues to my library we won't be waiting long to see how Europe's toughness does against North America.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Front Page News
Had I not been behind on the paper like I normally am, I would have noticed this yesterday on the front of the NY Times sports section.
Opening day of the KHL season and what do I see here? Maybe we should take this league a bit more seriously. The fairly lengthy article is a good read for an hockey fan from casual to intense. It mainly describes how league and team operations work in this expansive league that is the closest comparison to the National Hockey League. I won't go into great depth so here are some smaller things to take away.
Opening day of the KHL season and what do I see here? Maybe we should take this league a bit more seriously. The fairly lengthy article is a good read for an hockey fan from casual to intense. It mainly describes how league and team operations work in this expansive league that is the closest comparison to the National Hockey League. I won't go into great depth so here are some smaller things to take away.
- Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic and Slovakia are not only places you'd have trouble locating on a map, they also comprise the countries that house teams in the KHL.
- The league stretches across nine time zones. You better really load up the i-Pod for some of those road trips.
- The league has 28 teams as of this year and will continue to add. A top level team from Finland will leave the SM-liiga next season to join the KHL.
- Two teams were added this year. Medvescak left the Austrian league to join and a new team took home (see above picture) in Vladivostok, Russia. They are so new to the league their stadium isn't even finished.
Do yourself a favor and type in Vladivostok on a Google map. Then compare its location to the rest of some of the countries in this league I mentioned. Helpful hint: If you'd like to see place names in English, click on the drop tab in the right by the satellite image. Perhaps this team will acquire some North Korean fans. Or maybe the KHL expands into China and Japan.
I think one thing is certain at this time and that is the league isn't going to compete with the NHL. By compete I'm talking about attracting the majority of the best players in the world. Obviously the Kovalchuk deal over the summer (also picture above) had some heads turning. But at the same time I expect some players, especially Russians, to either go back home or stay there.
This league is either going to do very well or suffer with constant turnover. The expansion that has happened in the short time since the league formed is amazing. They have a boom or bust approach which I can appreciate. Either way is fine with me. Having another top league for players looking to play is a good thing.
By the way, if Kovalchuk doesn't lead this league in scoring something is wrong.
OVERTIME:
Three more games today in the K. Nothing extremely noteworthy to pass along. However, in a matchup with two teams named Dinamo each team got a tally in a 2-1 game from a... any guesses? Yep. A former Hershey Bear. How about them apples or other piece of fruit used in Russian sayings even though neither Dinamo team plays in Russia. Let's move on.
Speaking of former Bears, I never thought I'd have Babenko updates in back to back days but here I am ready to dish it out. We have had our first ejection of the season. I guess. Why wouldn't we want to start out the season with something bizarre. Straight out of the KHL league office it was announced today that after reviewing the tape from Wednesday's opening game Yuri Babenko was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for spearing. There you have it. A player ejected today from a game he played in yesterday. The season begins.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Hockey's Back
And so am I.
The KHL kicked off their season today with a game between Dynamo Moskova and Traktor. If it seems like professional hockey ended recently it's probably because it did. The NHL last played on June 24th. Two months off is plenty.
Traktor kicked off the scoring for the 2013-14 season. That's where it ended for them. Dynamo Moskova scored the next five to take an easy win. Leo Komarov, the Estonian born winger of a Russian father who grew up in a Finnish town that primarily spoke Swedish tallied a goal and an assist. Komarov was drafted by Toronto in 2006 finally making his debut last season after starting in the AHL, moving back to the KHL once the lockout seemed destined to continue, then eventually returning to play with the big boys in Toronto. He also played in all seven playoff games with Toronto where he also got into a fight.
You can't talk about most leagues without seeing familiar AHL faces and while he hasn't seen a North American rink in awhile, a former Hershey player got on the board as well. Yuri Babenko scored in the second for Dynamo, his first of what will end up being 12 goals this season. Well I did it now. Guess I will have to include constant Babenko chatter in this blog. Speaking of which, I think it needs a new name more related to hockey. I'll think about it tonight.
The real story in this game was the solid goaltending of Dynamo goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. He might not be a household name, but give him time. He only allowed one goal on 36 shots and was named the number one star of the game. If he can continue his hot start there is no denying Moskova could be a force in the KHL this season.
The KHL continues with a busy schedule throughout the week and weekend. The Austrian league is the next to start on Saturday. Where will the first scrap take place and who gets the first Gordie?
Delayed Call:
It's early on in the season for all of us including me. I incorrectly stated the Ilya Bryzgalov was the number one star of the game today in the KHL. He was not. He didn't even play. In fact, he isn't even on a KHL team or any team for that matter. My mistake. I will do better next time.
The KHL kicked off their season today with a game between Dynamo Moskova and Traktor. If it seems like professional hockey ended recently it's probably because it did. The NHL last played on June 24th. Two months off is plenty.
Traktor kicked off the scoring for the 2013-14 season. That's where it ended for them. Dynamo Moskova scored the next five to take an easy win. Leo Komarov, the Estonian born winger of a Russian father who grew up in a Finnish town that primarily spoke Swedish tallied a goal and an assist. Komarov was drafted by Toronto in 2006 finally making his debut last season after starting in the AHL, moving back to the KHL once the lockout seemed destined to continue, then eventually returning to play with the big boys in Toronto. He also played in all seven playoff games with Toronto where he also got into a fight.
You can't talk about most leagues without seeing familiar AHL faces and while he hasn't seen a North American rink in awhile, a former Hershey player got on the board as well. Yuri Babenko scored in the second for Dynamo, his first of what will end up being 12 goals this season. Well I did it now. Guess I will have to include constant Babenko chatter in this blog. Speaking of which, I think it needs a new name more related to hockey. I'll think about it tonight.
The real story in this game was the solid goaltending of Dynamo goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. He might not be a household name, but give him time. He only allowed one goal on 36 shots and was named the number one star of the game. If he can continue his hot start there is no denying Moskova could be a force in the KHL this season.
The KHL continues with a busy schedule throughout the week and weekend. The Austrian league is the next to start on Saturday. Where will the first scrap take place and who gets the first Gordie?
Delayed Call:
It's early on in the season for all of us including me. I incorrectly stated the Ilya Bryzgalov was the number one star of the game today in the KHL. He was not. He didn't even play. In fact, he isn't even on a KHL team or any team for that matter. My mistake. I will do better next time.
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