Off Wing Opinion

The Hockey Rodent has been watching Robyn Regehr at work in the Calgary-Detroit series, and doesn't like what he sees:

I switch to the Red Wings and Flames in time to see a special description of The Tunnel of Death, a boarding move manifested by Calgary defenseman Robyn Regehr where he grabs the shoulder of an enemy forward from behind and rides the victim face-first into the boards twenty feet away!

While this is all very entertaining stuff to viewers of Vince MacMahon's Saturday morning fare, it is not hockey

Shame of Steve Levy for not denouncing it for what it is: boarding.

For us sleepy folk on the East Coast, PJ at Sharkspage has created a handy list unsung heroes on the Sharks. Color me guilty, as I turned in at 10:45 p.m. EDT last night. Still licking his wounds after seeing the Sens get bounced by Toronto, Black, Red and Gold is thinking over Ottawa's options in goal next season.

Blasphemy in Edmonton:

Oilers fans cheering for the Calgary Flames? Say it ain't so, Joe.

It would never have happened in the 1980s and early '90s when the two clubs waged wild Battles of Alberta that set a standard for gritty, no-holds barred, hockey.

But in the land of fading bumper stickers that proclaim "ABC: Anybody but Calgary," some Oilers fans are begrudgingly climbing onto the Flames bandwagon.

Mario Lemieux has resumed skating -- but who will he play for next: the Penguins, or Team Canada at the World Cup. Back in the States, the NCAA has revised eligibility rules for the NHL Entry Draft.

Steve Ovadia of Puck Update is getting married. Congrats to Steve and the new Mrs. Ovadia. Now if he's just moves out of Queens and gets a nice house in Scarsdale everything would be ok.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2004 at 12:47 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Rob Blake may be out for the remainder of the Sharks-Avalanche series, which looks to be somewhere around 60 minutes of hockey. Out in Denver, some are trying to draw inspiration from the 1975 New York Islanders:

Denis Potvin remembers the hopeless feeling he had taking to the ice for practice the day before Game 4 of his New York Islanders' second-round playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975.

The 1974-75 Penguins, a team that had nine players with 20 or more goals, led the series 3-0. Islanders fans thought it was over. The Penguins thought it was over. The media thought it was over. As much as he tried to have hope, Potvin thought the series was, well, over.

"It's hard to believe that you're going to be able to do it," Potvin said Tuesday from his Florida home. "It's hard to feel good about anything at that point. I mean, at that time, only one team had ever come back from 3-0 down and won a series."

Soon enough, that number would be two. If you root for the Avs (which almost were named the Rapids, more on that later), I wouldn't get your hopes up. Meanwhile in the San Jose locker room, head coach Ron Wilson was taking a look back at a piece of Washington Capitals history a local like me would rather forget:

"It happens more often than not that those trade-deadline deals make things worse instead of better," Wilson said. "I remember when I was in Washington, things were pretty well set up one year (2001) for us to play Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs, so we made what we thought was a really smart deal, Dainius Zubrus and Trevor Linden for Richard Zednik and Jan Bulis. It was a great deal on paper, at least that's what it seemed like to us.

"Then we lost the first five games after we made the deal, and we ended up playing Pittsburgh instead (losing in six games), and the chemistry was gone. I'd make the trade again tomorrow and be happy with it, but that's what happens sometimes."

This was the year of the infamous schedule change, where the Penguins asked the league to adjust the format because the Penguins wouldn't be able to use Mellon Arena for Game Three because of a conflict with a dance troupe called, "Burning The Floor". The result: a cock-eyed playoff series, where the Caps hosted Game One, while the Pens got Games Two and Three. As it turned out, "Burning The Floor" was cancelled, and the Caps were blown out on home ice in Game One, and were never really back in it.

And yes, we'd be happy to have Bulis and Zednik back too.

With the Leafs offense looking anemic, Pat Quinn is shaking things up -- moving Alexander Mogilny to the top line with Mats Sundin and Gary Roberts. And once again, Joe Nieuwendyk will not be in the lineup.

NHLPA head Bob Goodenow and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will take in tonight's Flyers-Leafs game in Toronto, and then meet again on Thursday to see if they can jumpstart the CBA negotiations.

Click here for the latest from ESPN's John Buccigross.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 at 1:28 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One item I missed over the weekend was the news that we might not see NHL players in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy if a labor crisis eats up too much of the 2004-05 regular season. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happier if the NHL never sent another player to the Olympics ever again. Instead, the brains that run international ice hockey should just substitute the Olympics for the World Junior Championships in Olympic years, and give a new group of young and hungry players an opportunity to excel on the world stage.

Another news item that leaked concerned the proposal to trim 10 games from the regular season schedule beginning next year. Turns out you can lose those ten games by simply eliminating interconference play, and setting up a schedule that more closely resembles Major League Baseball before the advent of interleague play. Like Tom Benjamin, I'm for it, especially if it means avoiding competing head on with baseball playoffs every year. There have been more than a few years when I've felt the start of the NHL season has gotten lost in the mix media-wise, and a later start can only help. And that doesn't even begin to examine the potential benefit from more reasonable travel schedules, and how that might keep players healthier for the playoffs.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that ownership in Ottawa is trying to hire Scotty Bowman to replace the deposed Jacques Martin, a move that might also involve Dominik Hasek. Brooks also talks about how the Rangers might try to sign Canucks goalie and former Rangers prospect Dan Cloutier, a possibility that Tom Benjamin examines here. Speaking of coaches, ex-Blues and Team Canada head coach Joel Quenneville had to leave the team at the World Championships last week after he was hospitalized for exhaustion. Anaheim's Mike Babcock has taken his place. Here's hoping Quenneville, one of the league's good guys, and one who has been mentioned in connection with the Rangers job, enjoys a speedy recovery. For all the news on the least significant international hockey tournament, click here.

Vancouver Canucks Op Ed is going on hiatus for the Spring and Summer. Congratulations to Jeff and Allanah on a great first season.

And finally, if you're not reading Colby Cosh's NHL Playoff Page, you're making a big mistake.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2004 at 12:42 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Newsday's Mark Herrmann floats an idea that the NHLPA won't ever let see the light of day:

The best suggestion out there is one that would reduce rosters. Allow each team to dress only 15 or 16 skaters a night instead of 18. Clubs would save a little money, and the sport would be better without a lot of unskilled plodders. What's more, if players are a little tired, there is more likely to be open ice and where there is open ice, there are more goals.

According to my calculations, that would mean the NHLPA would lose either 32 or 48 dues paying members. That's never going to happen.

Once again this playoff season, sports fans across North America have taken to booing national anthems. This time, it all started in Montreal, where Canadiens fans let the Star Spangled Banner have it before Games Three and Four of their series with the Bruins. But last night in Boston, the Bruins fans kept it classy.

Thanks to PJ for the link. PJ also found a piece from the Moscow Times outlining the dispute between Russian ice hockey and the NHL over player development and transfer -- an issue we examined in connection with the Washington Caps possible pick of Alexander Ovechkin in the upcoming entry draft.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2004 at 6:03 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.