Archive for October, 2007

In recent times, the media has been reporting the dire straits of the NHL as far as popularity of the sport is concerned in the United States. Here at NHL Digest we have pointed to the great use of new media by the NHL and even how difficult it is to grow the sport while the games that are televised are tucked away on Versus.

I have created the following video to show yet another perspective on the popularity, or lack thereof, of the NHL in the United States.

In this video I use a tool created by Google, called Google Trends, that is used to graphically show the popularity of certain terms that are searched for on the Internet. Google Trends is very nice to use because it allows us to compare two terms against each other to determine which of the terms is most often searched for.

This video clearly shows that “Nothing” is more popular than the NHL as a search term used in the United States. This is absolutely embarrassing for me as a hockey fan.

That said, I had to publish the video in order to show just how poorly the National Hockey League has penetrated the sports market in the United States.
*Please share this video with as many hockey fans as possible!

Update: ”hockey” is more popular than “nothing”, but we are concerned about the popularity of the NHL and not hockey in general.

By Brad Lee of St. Louis Gametime:

A blog associated with the Toronto Globe and Mail posted a breakdown of average NHL ticket prices across the league.

The report was done by Team Marketing Report Ltd., which totally sounds like a made-up company, but whatever.

The chart lists all 30 NHL teams and their average ticket prices along with some other interesting data.

The Canadian teams were converted to US at a $1.002 exchange rate. The Coyotes had a large average ticket increase because of a re-zoning of their seats.

The FCI is the Fan Cost Index and includes: four average-priced tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two least-expensive and adult-size adjustable caps. Why you would need two game programs when buying one Game Time is enough is beyond us.

Granted, the $7 seats throw the average way off, but are you going to complain? Also interesting to note, the decrease in the Blues’ average cost is less than the increase before last season, but again, how much are you going to bitch at an ownership group that admitted that the increase was a mistake and then took a large step in correcting it?

As always, the comments are open for business.

Nate From Flyer Flies Writes:

Outrage. Disgust. Disappointment.

Pick any other similar adjective and slap it into a description of how a lot of hockey fans are feeling toward the Philadelphia Flyers these days. You will probably get a lot of people to subscribe to that way of thinking.

Why? Of course, it has to do with the recent rash of ugly hits that have been dealt out by Flyers players, the most recent of whom was defenseman Randy Jones.

Along with the actions of Steve Downie in a preseason game against the Sens, and Jesse Boulerice in the 3rd game of the season against the Canucks, Jones has become the paper target for all of those alarmists around the NHL who want to hang the Flyers organization for these 3 incidents.

Just as a refresher, let’s recall the incidents separately…

Downie received a 20 game suspension after landing a flying shoulder check to the head of Sens forward Dean McAmmond, causing a concussion that McAmmond has yet to fully recover from. Here is a clip of the hit on YouTube for reference…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=322zqTkL0-c

And then, there is the Boulerice incident. Boulerice, in the midst of a 8-2 pounding of the Vancouver Canucks, cross-checked Ryan Kesler in the side of the head, earning him a league-record tying 25 game suspension. Here is that video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpdvzF5QhQg

And finally, there is the Jones incident. Jones wound up checking Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron from behind and face-first into the boards during Saturday’s game in Boston. Jones received a 2 game suspension for the incident seen here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xAEetam6HQ

Now what I, and so many other fans of the Flyers and around the league are wondering is why is Jones being lambasted for this incident? Why is it getting so out of hand?

Not So Sensational(ism)

The answer is simple really. Sensationalism. It’s a sort of head game that is being played by too many angry fans and far too many sports writers who should know better. Many people who know the game are forgetting the unfortunate frequency of these incidents in hockey, and the some of the real reasons for them. Instead, the cumulative emotion surrounding these 3 Flyers’ suspensions is dominating the discussion.

What’s getting lost in that discussion, or sensationalism rather, is context. The context of the Jones hit and the many factors that led up to the subsequent destruction of Bergeron.

And worst of all, the media is completely failing to acknowledge the biggest reason for Bergeron’s injuries.

Who Is To Blame?

Patrice Bergeron.

That’s right. I said it.

Bergeron himself was the biggest factor in the hit that left him unconscious on the ice with a broken nose and a concussion. That might be the less politically correct viewpoint to take, and no one wants to come off as attacking an injured person, but does the media not have a responsibility to call it from both sides? You would think that the media outlets, or at least the writers, would be looking out for the NHL to some extent because what is good for the NHL is fair and even-handed reporting. Instead, some writers are taking the opposite approach. Follow the hot story. Like the old saying goes, “never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

Why are they failing to write about the fact that Bergeron slammed on the brakes about 2 feet away from the end boards with a defender right on his tail? He KNEW Jones was closing in. Otherwise, why would he have been speeding for the puck? If he thought he was the only one pursuing the puck, why did he turn his back, trying to shield the puck from Jones?

The fact is, Bergeron knew he was close to the end boards and he knew that Jones was right on his back. It was irresponsible of him to turn his back to Jones and face the boards.

It Happens Too Often

We see this happen over and over again through the course of any NHL season. A player gets crushed into the boards by an opponent, and far more often than not, the recipient of the hit gets up and skates away uninjured. Life goes on, and nothing more than a boarding call ever comes of it. That is, of course, if a referee even sees it.

But alot of those boarding incidents are created in large part by actions such as Bergeron’s. A player turns his back to an approaching checker, and gets sent face-first into the boards because the checker is not able to stop his forward momentum in time to avoid destroying his opponent. There was literally a split-second for Jones to react to Bergeron’s sudden stop. When Jones is expecting the puck to be moved into a cycle, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to finish a check that he thought would have landed Bergeron into the boards to the side…not face first.

Something needs to be done about players putting themselves in such harm’s way. Suspensions? Penalties? No. I don’t think its realistic. It has to do with coaching. Teaching these players that they don’t have to risk being seriously injured or killed to maintain possession of the puck is the answer. Do everything you can physically to protect the puck, but don’t leave yourself vulnerable to horrible injury.

Yes. Randy Jones is responsible as well. I’m not trying to absolve Jones of any wrong-doing, and I’m not looking through Orange-tinted glasses just because I’m a Flyers fan. It was an illegal hit, and Jones deserved the penalties he got. I wasn’t particularly crazy about the suspension, but it does seem to be consistent with suspensions handed down in recent years on other boarding incidents. For that reason, I don’t argue with any of the rulings on Jones.

They Must Be Head Hunting!

But what is driving me and many other people crazy is the fact that some want the Flyers organization and/or head coach John Stevens fined for this. Their reasoning? They must be encouraging it. Stevens must be telling his players to “head hunt”.

Get real. There are few things more destructive to his own team Stevens could do than start insisting they try to crack skulls mid-contest. First, the players wouldn’t go for it and he would lose the room quicker than if he urinated in the water bottles. In general, players have more regard for their bretheren than that, and Stevens is not that far removed from his playing days to forget it. Second, the upper management of the Flyers would squash him like a bug if they knew he was doing something that so obviously would draw negative attention to the team and the league as a whole. Remember…Ed Snider is not just the chairman of the Flyers. He is also VERY influential within the NHL itself. The Flyers organization is his baby…he would never stand for such a risky coaching tactic.

Now What?

Basically, hockey fans need to stop flying off the handle and ignoring every bit of evidence other than that which points to the Flyers returning to a “Broad Street Bullies” brand of goonery. That is a period of Flyers hockey that is near and dear to all Flyers fans’ hearts, but those of us with perspective of the present know that things can never be that way again…not in the “new” NHL.

Bob at Canes Country Submits: 

The Canes are off for a couple of days, so there’s not much going on at the moment here in “Carolinaville”. So let’s take a quick look at a little bit of this and a little bit of that around elsewhere. Remember Michael Leighton, the goalie who seemed to be pushing and sometimes outplaying John Grahame at training camp?

He’s been doing very well recently, including just pitching 2 shutouts in a row for Albany over the weekend. As a matter of fact, he was named AHL player of the week! Friday night, the River Rats bested Wilkesbarre/Scranton 1-0 then on Sunday they beat the Hershey Bears 2-0. The back to back shutouts along with time in his previous game, broke the old Albany record for the longest ever shutout streak of 148:15. I’m sure that Albany fans are thrilled, but this is great news for the Canes as well.

Team management will probably be looking for Leighton to be Cam Ward’s backup next year. John Grahame will be up for a new contract, and there’s no way that Carolina will want to pay him his current salary of 1.4 million again when they can sign Leighton for considerably less.

Could Jim Rutherford be sharing my concerns about how tough this team is? According to Spector’s Hockey Rumours, the Canes contacted Ottawa about the availability of Chris Neil. Spector says that Neil isn’t going anywhere, but that doesn’t stop teams from asking about him.

Tough players like Neil, who can garner another team’s attention in a physical way as well as contribute points somewhat consistently, are tough to find. Sean Avery is another example, but I can’t see the Canes trying to get him. It kind of surprises me that Rutherford would ask about Neil, and of course this is just a rumor, so it’s totally unsubstantiated. But Spector’s site usually holds a bit more validity than some others out there, so who knows?

The Hurricanes 4rth line of Letowski, Adams, and (normally) LaRose or Hamilton certainly isn’t going to strike fear in the hearts of anyone. It will be interesting to see if Rutherford continues his search, if he really is searching.

In the 70’s it was Bobby Clarke, Dave “The Hammer” Shultz, and Ed Van Impe…the original Broad Street Bullies. Those were the tough, rugged, in your face hockey players that sent shivers down the opposing player’s spines.

In 2007, instead of tough and rugged, it’s more like cheap and dirty. The Broad Street Bullies are back and they are head hunting…literally!

Steve Downie, Jesse Boulerice, and now Randy Jones….already 40+ games in suspensions between Downie and Boulerice and just a matter of time before a few more are added on for the latest cheap shot Randy Jones laid on Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron this past weekend.

What’s going on in Philadelphia? This is the 3rd incident in less than two months where a Flyer has made news for injuring someone. First it was a cheap hit by Downie, next an awful crosscheck by Boulerice and now a shameful hit from behind by Jones.

At this rate the Flyers won’t have anyone to put in the lineup come March. What’s worse is that the on ice antics of three players is really taking away from the fact that the Flyers are a much better hockey team than last year. In fact, they are one of the top 5 teams in the league right now.

I’m all for rough and tumble hockey, but this is not the way to bring the Broad Street Bullies back to town. This type of hockey doesn’t intimidate other teams or send a message; all it does is give the NHL a black eye.

It gives sports writers who know nothing about the NHL more ammo to trash talk the league. Instead of showing highlight reel goals like the ones Rick Nash and Jonathan Toews scored last week, all we will see is Randy Jones crushing Bergeron from behind in the corner followed by replays of the Downie hit and Boulerice slash…over and over again.

Should Bergeron have protected himself going into the corner a bit better? Absolutely, but Randy Jones has to know better than to lay a check on a guy’s numbers. Hitting from behind happens way too much in the NHL. Just watch a game, your bound to see 2 or 3 questionable hits per period.

The bottom line is that this needs to be stopped or next time we will be writing about a player being paralyzed after being checked from behind near the boards.

Patrice Bergeron got lucky. But will the next player be so lucky?

Jaclyn Donahe Reports:

The Bruins are hosting the Philadelphia Flyers today. The Bruins are 3-0-0 at home so far this season. I made an appearance at all three of those games, but needed the break today. Tim Thomas is starting in net for the Bruins. Thomas leads the league in both goals against average and save percentage.

Bergeron Hit!

With 3:53 remaining the first period, Patrice Bergeron was hit in the back boards to the left of Biron’s net.

Bergeron was lying motionless on the ice. Bergeron looked unconscious, and his wasn’t moving much. With the trainer over with him, he did move his left hand.

The team doctor is out there with him now. The Flyers trainer is out there assisting the Bruins trainer and doctors.

They immobilized Bergeron and are going to put him on the stretcher. When they showed the replay, Bergeron’s right shoulder took the brunt of the hit, and went into the boards right above the dasher.

The medical staff cut his jersey off, and as he was wheeled off on the stretcher, his eyes were not open.

Randy Jones got a 5 minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. To resume the live-blog as much as I can, Jeff Carter just hit the post behind Thomas’s left.

The period ended scoreless.

Not sure how much more live-blogging I will be doing, because it’s hard to focus on the game, but I’ll stick with it for as much as I can.

Bergeron Update:

Bergeron’s father was seen running towards the ambulance.

Rob Simpson confirmed that Bergeron’s parents were in there today to watch the game.

Bergeron lost consciousness and is being looked at by doctors at Mass General. The official update was very basic from Rob Simpson.

NESN showed the replay of the hit again (it’s been shown only a few times, thank goodness) and as Bergeron was wheeled off, there was blood under his visor on the left side of his face.

Randy Jones has since issued the following statement:via Kuklas

“Words really can’t express the way that I feel right now. I am very apologetic for the hit and what I did. It was not intentional. It is something that I have never done before and it is not part of my character. I am extremely sorry. I hope he does ok and everything works out for him. I wish him nothing but the best in his recovery.”