What Is Your Favorite NHL Playoff Memory?
April 27, 2010 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Columns
For any hockey fan, the playoffs are a special time of year. The games suddenly have more meaning and you can see rivalries develop quickly over the course of four or more games. The weather is nicer outside, the days are getting longer and teams battle with each other every second night for their chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s cup.
Playoff hockey has given us the most exciting moments in hockey history and some of our best memories as hockey fans. This season, the NHL has offered up a series of History Will Be Made commercials that are promoting this season of playoff hockey.
The commercials are simply constructed and feature some of the most memorable moments in NHL playoff history. What has been even more exciting to watch over the course of the release of these commercial spots is the growing list of fan parody videos that have been posted to YouTube and other Video sharing sites, featuring other memorable moments in NHL playoff history.
Why Simple Can be Good
One of the best things that could have happened for the NHL is for their set of videos to have them “Go Viral”. or be shared, among hockey fans across the globe. But, making the videos simple enough for fans to create their own parody versions is even better. Now, the NHL will benefit from the content produced by fans to promote the game in addition to the exposure of the original videos. Could it have turned out better? Probably not.
Sure, the fan parody videos aren’t exactly featuring the content that the league would prefer to see, but most of the parody videos identify important moments for fans. And, that’s the key. Hockey is live. There are going to be faux pas, referees are going to blow calls, players will make mistakes… that is the nature of game. Fans recognize that the game is not perfect and that sometimes everything doesn’t go as planned, but we still love the sport. The game can survive and thrive even though it is not perfect and, perhaps, because it is not perfect.
What Defines Playoff Hockey For You?
What is the moment that most defines the NHL playoffs for you? Was it a heroic performance by your favorite player? A game winning goal by an unlikely hero? Or, was it glaring mistake or a moment riddled with controversy? (Was Brett Hull’s foot in the crease?)
Whatever the case, it is important to recognize that for the game to be the emotional rollercoaster that excites fans, there are going to be a variety of memorable playoff moments – certainly not all of them perfect.
Kevin Stevens: Power Forward Until Head Injury
March 8, 2010 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Legends
Kevin Stevens was a player often overshadowed on a very remarkable Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Championship team. But, in the 1991-92 NHL season, he became the only player in the history of the league to have 50 goals, more than 100 points and 250 penalty minutes. This record remains unbeaten to this day, and is just one of several achievements by the unheralded Pittsburgh Penguins power forward.
Stevens will also be remembered for another remarkable feat during the 1991-92 NHL season – he was the 3rd person to have more points than the legend Wayne Gretzky in single season. Although teammate Mario Lemieux edged him out for the scoring title, Stevens scored an astounding 123 points for the Pittsburgh Penguins that season.
This achievement was also a record for the most points scored by a US born player in a single season at the time. Stevens 123 point single season has been bettered by only one American since. In the following season Pat LaFontaine scored 53 Goals and 95 Assists for 148pts.
The Injury
Sadly, a most unfortunate facial injury suffered courtesy of the visor of Rich Pilon on May 14,1993. Following the devastating hit, Stevens required reconstructive surgery on his face. In an operation that lasted more than four hours, doctors made an incision below his hairline which stemmed from ear-to-ear. This incision was later repaired with the use of 100 stitches. During the surgery, doctors peeled back Stevens’ skin and reconstructed his facial bones using of metal plates.
Video: Stevens Hits Pilon – Shatters Face.
Post-Injury Career
Stevens returned from the injury the following year and remarkably played quite well. In what would be his last prolific season in the National Hockey League, he managed to score 41 goals and added 47 assists, without missing a single game. Even though he still racked up 155 penalty minutes that season, Stevens wasn’t quite the potent power forward he used to be. Some suspect that the injury may have taken a mental toll on him, making him second guess physical confrontations he would previously have engaged in. Whatever the case, Kevin Stevens was never quite the same player again.
Who Was The First American Player To Score 50 Goals In A Season?
February 17, 2010 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Legends
The 1984-85 NHL season marked a notable event in the history hockey for the United States. With his 53 goals and 95 points, 21 year old Bobby Carpenter became the first US born player to eclipse the 50-goal benchmark.
Carpenter’s 53 goals surpassed the previous record of 41 set by St. Louis Blues standout, Joe Mullen, during the previous NHL season.
However, this is not the only record that Carpenter holds. In fact, Carpenter’s early career, from as far back as high school, was full of accomplishment.
High School To The NHL
In addition to being the first to score 50 goals in a season, Carpenter is also noted as the first US citizen to jump to the NHL directly from high school. What’s more, in 1981, Carpenter became the first player born in the USA to be selected in the first round of the NHL entry draft. It is not surprising that he was named the “Can’t-Miss Kid” by Sports Illustrated that very same year.
Carpenter played in the National Hockey League for 18 seasons from 1981 to 1999. His numbers were fantastic in his early days, but Carpenter had mixed success later in his career. During his 18 seasons he took part in 1,178 games, scoring 320 goals and adding 408 assists.
Winning The Stanley Cup
One of the highlights of Bobby Carpenter’s career was his election to the NHL All-Star game in 1985. The only moment to trump that All Star Game was when he finally won the Stanley Cup during the lockout shortened 1994-95 NHL season with the New Jersey Devils. Carpenter stuck around New Jersey following his playing days, adding more Stanley Cup rings in 2000 and 2003 as an Assistant Coach with the Devils.
Though he never scored more than 27 goals in a season following his record setting year, Bobby Carpenter was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007 along with former NHLers Aaron Broten and John Vanbiesbrouck.
Thoughts on the Cup Finals
June 15, 2009 by Kyle
Filed under Hockey Columns
Stanley Cup Thoughts
The 2008-09 season has come to an end, and I think it’s safe to say that the quality of this year’s playoffs already has us salivating for the 2009-10 season.
I know I’m already excited.
- Marian Hossa, last year with the Penguins, defects to the Red Wings because he felt they represented his best chance to win a Cup. He spurned a 7 year, 50 million dollar offer from the Penguins to win the Cup. I respect the decision to put the Cup first, even though it backfired. It was not a horrible choice as he came within 1 game of his goal, but he still must feel pretty awful right now. That said, he was invisible at best in the finals. He had a chance to have an impact on his own fate and he dropped the ball. Speaking of dropping the ball, did Tomas Holmstrom even play in this series? I can’t recall ever hearing his name. He’s aged quickly after taking so much abuse in front of the net over the years.
- Sidney Crosby becomes the youngest captain at age 21 to win the ultimate prize. Lemieux was 24, Gretzky was 23. This kid has taken heat from all over the place, from players on the ice, members of the media and especially fans. He’s now vindicated. I’ll go out on a limb and say that he’s just fine with Ovechkin being the most exciting, prolific player in hockey, and he’s doubly fine with teammate Evgeni Malkin being the top scorer and playoff MVP. He’s a Cup champ and the Pens would not have gotten so far without him. There should have been a lot of crow eaten and humble pie served this weekend.
- The Red Wings were virtually unbeatable at the Joe Louis Arena. 11-1 record. A lock to win game 7, right? Wrong.
- The home team was 12-2 in game 7 Stanley Cup finals history. Don’t tell the Penguins that. The home team is now 12-3.
- The Penguins were the first team in since the Habs in the beginning of the 70′s to win the Cup after losing the first 2 games on the road. Raise your hand if you thought it was over when the Pens went home 0-2. Everyone thought their opportunity to jump on the Wings would have been in the first 2 games when they were on 2 days rest after a punishing Conference final against the Blackhawks. Instead, the Wings showed that they had plenty of fight left in them. What this meant for the Penguins is that they had to win 4 of the next 5 games against Detroit, with at least 1 win coming on the road. Never before have the words “you’re not in trouble until you lose on home ice” carried more weight.
- Marc-André Fleury. What can you say about this guy? Here’s another guy who took heavy criticism for not winning the big one. From the moment he gave up the chance to win the gold medal in the junior championships a few years back, people said he’d be a decent goalie, but his legacy would be good, but nothing to show for it. Well guess what? Now he’s shed that title, and has taken on the title of “big time goalie”, “CAN win it all” and he’s also probably earned himself an invite and a serious look for the 2010 Canadian Men’s Olympic Team. My lasting image for this Cup finals will be Fleury’s last-second (literally!) save off of Nik Lidstrom. If there was ever a bigger, more important, more clutch save in Stanley Cup history, I’d like to know about it.
- In the Wings’ crease, there’s no more doubt about Chris Osgood. He had a bad (with gusts up to mediocre) regular season, but he elevated in the playoffs and probably would have won the Conn Smythe if the Wings had won. That probably would have solidified his standing as a hall of fame goalie.
- Did any role player have more impact on the outcome of a series than gritty Max Talbot? He’s going down not only in Pittsburgh as a folk hero, but his name will be forever remembered in HOCKEY history as the unsung hero who delivered on hockey’s biggest stage under the most adverse conditions. If the Red Wings had won the series, we’d be talking about Dan Cleary today, and not Max Talbot.
- If before game 7 you had told me that the Penguins would have scored 2 goals, and would play over half the game without Crosby, I’d have told you that the Pens had no chance of winning on the road. And no, this is not an opportunity for Crosby haters to say that he is overrated because the Penguins won the most important game without him. That’s a lazy and hollow argument.
- No breakdown would be complete without giving the coaches their due. Dan Bylsma rode in mid-season after the overdue firing of Michel Therrien and totally turned around the fortunes of his team. He deserves a huge amount of credit for the speed and effectiveness he’s had on this young roster. Mike Babcock also has the mantle of best coach currently in the game. He needs to be behind the bench for team Canada in Vancouver 2010. Considering the injuries and fatigue that his players had, he also gets a big round of applause.
Not to make this all about the Penguins, because the Red Wings are still a damn fine hockey team that simply ran out of steam. Injuries, age and fatigue obviously caught up to them as the series wore on. In retrospect, they needed a win in game 3 or 4 to put the series out of reach but fell just short. I suppose you can’t reason or argue with destiny. That being said, the Red Wings have been the NHL’s gold standard for 15 years now and there’s no reason to think they can’t be back again next season. Their core will be back, and guys like Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader showed that they are ready to step in to crucial roles that the likes of Draper and Maltby filled so admirably for years. They have the best coach in the league, the best GM, and more than a couple future hall of famers within their ranks. They’ll be a force for years to come.
If there was any ugliness to the series, it was post-game in game 7 where Kris Draper called out Crosby for not shaking hands. It smacks of sore loser talk and it was frankly unnecessary. Crosby, despite what many think, is a very classy player and is well versed in hockey history and protocol. Let’s please also keep in mind that at the very worst, Crosby is still a 21 year old who may have gotten caught up in the moment. There is no reason why Crosby would have intentionally snubbed the Red Wings.He’s much better than that.
In my prediction for the Cup finals, I said that Pittsburgh would win in 6 games. So I was off by one game. My underlying thought was that the torch is being passed to (or taken by) hockey’s next great team. With Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury and a few others all under contract for years to come, the Penguins are poised to remain great and be the team to be beat for years to come, if they can navigate cap issues properly. Perhaps they need to trade one of their big 3 away for future assets (Staal?) Shades of the Islanders turning the reigns over to the Gretzky/Messier Oilers in the mid-80′s, with Crosby and Malkin leading the way if things go their way.
Please leave your thoughts below on what you thought of these classic finals. With the draft just under 2 weeks away and free agency at the beginning of July, we’ll need to keep the hockey chatter going until then!
Momentum Swings Bring Excitement to Stanley Cup Final
June 8, 2009 by Tyler
Filed under Hockey Columns
The mainstream media pundits had all but written off the Pittsburgh Penguins after the first two games of the Stanley Cup final. Detroit was just too experienced and too disciplined for the Penguins.
Then, low and behold the Penguins stormed back to take two straight games at home. Wouldn’t you know it, the media couldn’t write enough stories about how old, tired, slow, and beaten up the Red Wings were.
So, with the series tied at two games apiece, the venue shifted back to Detroit for Game 5. The Red Wings were doomed! They had lost all momentum to the younger and more spirited Penguins in Game 4. Then…
The Red Wings came out and punished the Penguins at Joe Louis arena, winning 5-0, forcing the Penguins’ star netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury from the game in very convincing fashion.
So…what would the media say now?
Let’s take a look!
- CBC backtracks slightly, while staying neutral on Game 6, noting both teams are tremendous on home ice.
- Sportsnet calls on the Canadian Press for their story that is now focused BACK on the “Depth of the Red Wings”.
- SLAM sports also sourced the Canadian Press, but preferred the “Datsyuk Returns as Hero” angle.
- ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun scripted a story based on a 10 year old song from Semisonic – closing time. I’ll let you decide what to think of it – here.
- TSN highlights the momentum shift that special teams brings to the game. A very astute way of backing off the “Old and tired Wings story”.
- Globe and Mail cited the return of Datsyuk that “Energized the Detroit team”.
- My personal favorite is this post from TSN’s Darren Dregercalling fo rmore secondary scoring from Pittsburgh. He notes, correctly, that Fedotenko, Guerin, and Kunitz have combined for just 1 goal in the series.
However, Dreger doesn’t mention that Talbot has 2 goals, LeTang has a goal, and both Kennedy and Staal have scored in the series for the Penguins. If that’s not secondary scoring I am not sure what would qualify.
So we have seen media flip-flop from the Red Wings being experienced and winning to being old, slow, tired and losing. We’ve heard the pundits doubt the Penguins’ depth, desire and descipline and then suddenly jump on the Pittsburgh ‘talented and energetic’ bandwagon.
So what does a poor fan take away from this media mess?
Quit reading the papers and watching the news! Enjoy the swings in momentum, the tight defensive play and the wide open run and gun moments – this is some of the best hockey we have seen in years!
Oh – and of course keep reading NHL Digest!
Conference Final Impressions & Predictions for Cup Finals
May 28, 2009 by Kyle
Filed under Hockey Columns
Conference Final Impressions
I don’t know if these conference finals were all that fans expected them to be, but they have sure paved the way for what promises to be a terrific championchip series.
I suppose I’m glad to say that I had this series mostly right. I thought the Pens would be too much up front, and they were. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were a 2-man army that completely dismantled what was left of the Hurricanes. I thought Carolina would have had a little more juice left, but Eric Staal had hit empty after his 7 game marathon with Zdeno Chara. And needless to say, if Staal is not bringing his A game every night, the Canes just don’t have the depth to compete, no matter how much magic they may have, or how much the hockey gods were smiling on them. The only hope they had was for Cam Ward to be utterly spectacular, but he was shelled in games 2 and 3 and may have lost all confidence. It even looked as though his teammates knew that their run was over. Let’s remember that they were an overachieving team that went through 2 grueling 7-game series with the Devils and Bruins, neither of which they were expected to win. A tip of the hat to the Hurricanes for a good run this season, but they were soundly beaten by a team that looks possessed right now, especially Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin . Suddenly the Habs fan in me doesn’t feel so bad. A team was swept in more dominating fashion than the Canadiens were.
What can be said about the Red Wings? in my lifetime I don’t think I’ve seen such a complete and competent team. They simply do everything right, even with Pavel Datsyuk, Nik Lidstrom and Draper out of the lineup. Marian Hossa stepped up in games 4 and 5 to lead the offensive charge in the absence of Datsyuk. Chris Osgood is proving that he can indeed be a clutch goalie, with a huge performance in game 5. From top to bottom, the Red Wings get it. They know their roles well, they know how to win and they are smarter than any team out there. I salute the young Blackhawks for their tremendous season. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg and Martin Havlat will be a formidable core for a long, long time. And they’re supported with tons of other great young talent on the blue line that will ensure Chicago’s restablishment on the hockey map. Next season the Red Wings may not be so lucky, but then again, when have the Wings ever depended on luck for their success?
Stanley Cup Final Predictions
