Off Wing Opinion

If there is an NHL season, that is:

Stevens, a 13-time All-Star who has played more NHL games than any other defenseman, skated Friday for the third time this week at the Devils' South Mountain training facility.

Other than sore feet and a few blisters, Stevens was happy to be back on the ice with his teammates.

"That's the best part of the game," said Stevens, who smiled frequently during his roughly 45-minute skate with fellow defenseman Colin White and five other Devils. "That's the part you miss most when you leave the game, being around the guys."

I was thinking about Stevens today over lunch, and in particular, the devestating, vicious, mean-spirited, yet completely clean body check he laid on Paul Kariya during Game Six of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.

For me, there simply isn't any moment that encapsulates the sport at its best and worst at exactly the same time. Kariya's speed and creativity caught completely unaware by Stevens' skill and determination.

It was a brilliant and diabolical mix of geometry and physics that met in a thunderclap.

As Kariya laid motionless on ice, I prayed to God he was still alive, all the while hating myself for admiring the handiwork that had seemingly placed him on death's door.

But then Lazarus rose from the ice, staggered to the bench, and returned to the game to score the game-winning goal when the only place he had any business being was in a hospital bed.

How terrifying. How nauseating.

How incredible. How inspiring.

For most of the length of the World Cup, I've been ignoring news about the CBA negotiations. Why? First off, I didn't feel like wasting much time reviewing the issue while I was on vacation in Montreal. I figured one post a day on the actual hockey I was watching was more than enough. Second of all, nothing I wrote is going to change things one iota: ownership has decided to go with the lockout unless they get a salary cap, while the players will never agree to one.

Best to simply enjoy what hockey we have left -- all of three games -- and then hunker down for a long and frustrating wait.

That was until this morning, when the Rodent chimed in with a conclusion I'd come to some time ago:

What I have not (as yet) said, is that as much as I adhere to the principle of "free-market" salaries, I also subscribe to the notion that labor unions make sense when applied to migrant cherry-pickers, coal miners, textile mill employees, and child laborers.

I've got problems when it comes to applying the concept of a labor union to a trade where the lowliest paid employee earns $250,000 before taxes for nine months of work.

Back in June, I quoted the following from the Washington Post concerning the way Baltimore Orioles owners Peter Angelos looks at labor unions in professional sports:

"The more he dealt with players, and the longer he was in the game, the more he understood [that] these aren't dock workers," said one executive who worked under Angelos during this period and requested anonymity because he still does business with the Orioles.

Angelos began to refer to the players' association as a "guild," a term he used to draw comparisons of the players to pampered entertainers, according to a major league official who interacted with him.

For me, the bottom line on the CBA is this: if ownership was satisfied with the returns they were getting from their hockey operations, then they would simply allow the CBA to automatically renew, just as they have twice before since the last labor stoppage in 1994-95.

Instead, they're willing to shut the league down for perhaps a year or more -- a strategy that's enabled by the fact that many teams will actually lose less money during a lockout than during an actual season. I'm sorry, but that's a financial model that isn't sustainable. As the Bird noted this morning about how the World Cup is flying low on American sports radar:

All 682 of us hard core USA Hockey fans will be tuned in tonight as Team USA look to get past Finland and advance to the finals. If it's possible, the NJ Devils may have more fans than the US team. Why this is not a huge event in the sports community is not so much puzzling as it is sad.

Sad? Perhaps, as I'll watch hockey no matter how unpopular it might get. But paying for a ticket is another matter entirely, and is something that a hockey-mad individual like myself will only do on rare occassions any longer, as the quality of the on-ice product has dropped so precipitously in the last decade.

The amount of money that ownership can extract from fans like me has reached its practical limit. And the inability of the game's current leadership to grow the game, and attract enough new fans, has deprived it of the revenue it needs in order not only to survive, but to thrive as a going entertainment concern. The NHL, when looked at as an entertainment business, is in serious trouble, any only a radical alteration in the way the game is run, both on and off the ice, can save it.

I wish I could have written a detailed and extensive review of Canada's 5-0 demolition of Slovakia last night, a game that saw Jarome Iginla get his first two goals of the tournament.

Unfortunately, the game was an absolute snoozer -- and in a literal sense too, as I fell asleep sometime in the second period with Canada holding a 2-0 lead. By the time I woke up, it was 4-0, and starting Slovakian goalie Jan Lasak was headed for the bench. One more short nap later, and I found myself watching Peter Gammons on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

Farewell to the overmatched Slovaks, who were outscored 18-4 in their four-game stay in North America. Then again, how can you blame them, getting blown out far from home, and being forced to play three games before hostile crowds against Canada (twice!) and the U.S.

Waiting for Canada in Saturday's semifinal game in Toronto will be the Czech Republic, surging after their 6-1 wipeout of the perennially underachieving Swedes. In the other semifinal, Finland, the winner of the European pool, will face Team USA in St. Paul on Friday.

And what a way to reward the Finns: win the Euro pool, hop an international flight across the Atlantic, and get to play a rejuvenated Team USA right smack in the middle of the "State of Hockey". Luckily for the Finns, Minnesota is home to one of the largest concentrations of Finnish immigrants to the U.S. Granted, it's been better than a century since they first arrived, buit I'm guessing we'll see more than a few flags on Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center.

But it isn't as if the Americans aren't vulnerable, as the Rodent points out in an excellent analysis of Tuesday night's action:

While a very encouraging victory this was, it stands to reason that any opponent reviewing the tapes of Tuesday's game will realize that a trap will be effective against the Americans if coupled with a bit of forechecking so as to force mistakes and prevent Team USA from organizing a break-out unmolested.

The Rodent also noted:

Whereas the Russian defense had little difficulty moving the pellet out of danger against USA's other lines, the trio of Modano, Guerin and KT worked the forecheck to perfection, particularly with the lax officiating permitting Guerin and Tkachuk their usual liberties with opposition defenders.

This is especially important. If the Americans manage to defeat the Finns (not a given) and face the Canadians in the final at Air Canada Center, the officiating is not likely to be terribly lax. Recall that in their opening game with Team USA, the Canadians scored twice on the power play for their only goals of the game.

A few days ago, I wrote that Team USA was playing a lot like it did in the Nagano Olympics. But after last night's 5-3 win over Russia in St. Paul, I think it's time to update that to Salt Lake City.

In other words, good enough to beat the Russians, but probably not good enough to beat Canada. Whether or not it's good enough to beat Finland is an entirely open question.

It's safe to say we probably saw Team USA at their best last night -- using a disciplined backcheck and a physical forecheck to disrupt Russia's offensive rhythm, and create offensive chances off of turnovers. It's just the sort of hockey I got used to watching here in Washington when Team USA coach Ron Wilson was running the Capitals -- albeit without the tremendous offensive talent, or the sparkling playmaking demonstrated when Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Keith Tkachuk hooked up for Tkachuk's third goal.

But despite the win, it was hardly overwhelming (for more detail, check out Rocha's report card here). The Russians were in this game until the final moments, and showed plenty of determination and energy, even as the American forecheck acted like sand in the gears of the Russian offense. In particular, Team USA showed itself once again to be vulnerable to Russia's speed and quick strike playmaking ability -- qualities in plentiful supply in Finland, the team the Americans will face on Friday night in St. Paul.

And in the net that night won't be the young and inexperienced Ilya Bryzgalov. Instead, the Americans will be facing the recently spectacular Miikka Kiprusoff. The good news is that the Americans are playing just the sort of game that they need to in order to beat the Finns -- patient and disciplined hockey designed to create offensive chances off your opponent's offensive mistakes.

In a lot of ways Team USA reminds me of the Boston Celtics of the 1980s -- disciplined defense combined with offensive brilliance in the half court.

And when they faced their ultimate nemesis, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Celtics were eventually overcome when L.A. combined their "Showtime" offensive flair with the best elements of Boston's game. And if Team USA faces Team Canada in the final, that's exactly the sort of match Ron Wilson will have to gameplan against.

Want to play run and gun? Team Canada can do that. Want to dump and chase? Canada can do that too. Want to meld the two styles into a deadly combination? Well, that's simply the business Team Canada is expert in.

Steve Ovadia thinks it might be time to break up the Guerin-Modano-Tkachuk line, and get some of the other lines moving offensively.

When it comes to the Russians, the fans of hockey in the new sick man of Europe have a lot to be proud of. In six periods of play against the Americans on enemy ice, they essentially tied Team USA 6-6. Alex Kovalev continued demonstrating the superior brand of play he displayed in the playoffs with Montreal. Youngsters Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk all showed they belonged with the elite of international hockey.

If Russia ever gets its act together organizationally, they'd be a perennial terror in the international game again.

Back in Stockholm, the hometown fans got a rude surprise, as the Czechs took an early lead and never looked back, thrashing the Swedes 6-1.

I guess it would be easy to pin the blame on Swedish goalie Mikael Tellqvist, but a 6-1 drubbing just tells me the Swedes probably left everything they had on the ice in Helsinki on Saturday, when they battled Finland to a 4-4 tie, and lost the chance to win the top seed in the European pool.

As for the Czechs, they picked up where they left off in the third period of their round robin game against the Swedes, where they scored three straight third period goals (more brilliant detail from the Rodent). In the last four periods, the Czechs outscored the Swedes 9-1, the sort of dominance you'd expect a hockey power like the Czechs to demonstrate over a minor country like Belarus or Norway.

Now the Czechs await the winner of the last quarterfinal between Canada and the Slovaks. I'd like to tell you there's a chance for some sort of "Belarus" moment tonight, but there simply isn't. While I'm sure the gallant Slovaks will play better tonight (hopefully with Jan Lasak in net instead of Rastislav Stana, who played so poorly against Canada in Montreal last week), they simply don't match up well with the Canadians. And as Jes Golbez has pointed out, the Slovak coaching staff has the team playing with a defense first philosophy, something that definitely works against their strengths in speed and creative playmaking.

WORLD CUP ERATTA: A couple of weeks back, I made the mistake of saying the teams in the European pool were playing on the international ice sheet. WRONG! All of the European rinks were reconfigured to NHL size, with the exception of Hartwall in Finland which is just a couple of feet wider than regulation. Thanks to Richard Naso for pointing out the error.

ESPN's orgy of self-congratulation on its 25th anniversary ends today, and they're ending it with a list of the top 100 sports moments of the past 25 years. And when it came to number one, I have to congratulate them on getting it right.

Here I am, a little more than a week shy of my 37th birthday, a grown man, and I still have to choke back tears reading about it again. Once more to Brooks, Eruzione, Craig, Johnson, and all the rest: thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you.

And it will never, ever, be enough. How lucky I was to be alive and a young American hockey fan in February 1980.

For the rest of the list, follow the links below:

2-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100

And for all the ESPN-bashing I might engage in, don't think for a second that I'd ever want to go back to the world we inhabited in 1979. Life for the sports fan is better today thanks to the vision of ESPN's founders, whether or not some of the decisions the cable network makes today might actually do it significant harm in the long run.

Lots has happened since I last looked in on the tournament, as the preliminary round wound up, and elimination play began yesterday as the Finns fought off a determined German squad, 2-1. That win puts the Finns in the semifinal, where they'll face the winner of tonight's match between Team USA and Russia in St. Paul. Despite the on-ice success, not all is well in the Finnish camp, as defenseman Janne Niinimaa has left the team over differences with his head coach.

Perhaps my friends at Avokatsomo might be able to shed a little light on the subject?

Back in the North American pool, the biggest news over the weekend came from Team USA's camp on Sunday, as Brett Hull, a healthy scratch for last week's win over Slovakia, stormed out of the team's practice 10 minutes early after being assigned a green jersey -- the color usually reserved for players who will be watching the next game from the stands:

``Got a minute to talk to reporters, Brett?'' Hull was asked in a corridor outside the dressing room.

``What would I have to talk about?'' he replied.

``Fans want to know how you're doing,'' said the reporter.

``I don't give a (deleted) about the fans anymore,'' said Hull.

To be fair, Hull indeed has sacrificed a lot for Team USA, and the cause of hockey in the U.S. Last week in Montreal, the only moment when I felt tempers were really about to flare came sometime in the second period when Hull touched the puck and the native of Belleville, Ontario was greeted with a chorus of boos.

Despite the fact that Hull was playing poorly, it was really all I could take sitting there in the Bell Centre. So I steeled myself and shouted out: "Maybe you shouldn't have kept his Dad off Team Canada in '72."

Granted, it wasn't the best of answers, as Hull has said on more than one occassion that the snub of WHA players that kept Bobby Hull off the roster for the Summit Series in 1972 had nothing to do with him playing for Team USA (though I wonder). Still, it stuck in my craw. Even worse, the fact is that Hull wanted to play for Team Canada in his younger days, but was rebuffed, leading directly to his involvement with USA Hockey and his appearances for Team USA in the 1991 Canada Cup, the 1996 World Cup and the Olympics in 1998 and 2002.

The bottom line for me: Hull has bled for USA Hockey, and deserved to be defended (much as Bryan Trottier deserved to be defended when he decided to play for Team USA in the Canada Cup back in the 70s).

Defended personally, that is. Because as it stands right now, his play in the first two games of the tournament was simply indefensible.

Has Hull hung on too long? Perhaps. But is two games enough to judge? Probably not.

Team USA head coach Ron Wilson hasn't said whether or not Hull will play tonight against Russia. And we can't know if his decision to scratch Hull from the lineup against Slovakia last week was a recognition that Hull's best years were behind him, or simply a clever ploy to wring one more brilliant performance out of one of the greatest goal scorers in history.

In the other quarterfinal matches, Sweden meets the Czech Republic again this afternoon in Stockholm, while Canada hosts Slovakia in Toronto tomorrow night. In Stockholm, questions are lingering about Sweden's problems in goal. The last time they met the Czechs, the Swedes led 4-0 heading into the third period, but had to battle furiously to hold on for a 4-3 victory behind Mikael Telkvist. And Telkvist hardly looked unbeatable in the 4-4 tie on Friday that gave Finland the top spot in the European pool and the matchup with the Germans.

Then again, without Sweden's poor goaltending, this might have been a far less interesting tournament, as those two games were probably the most entertaining we've seen so far.

AS for Canada, they're reportedly trying to fight against overconfidence before their game with Slovakia, but I think this might be one game we could all afford to miss.

And speaking about missing games, yesterday's Finaland-Germany match was only available in the States on ESPN Broadband. And since I don't use a Windows-based PC, I couldn't access the feed. Can anyone tell me how the broadcast went off?

UPDATE: Brian List at On The Wings takes a hard look at Hull's production and behavior over the past few seasons, and doesn't like what he sees. And in Stockholm, the Czechs have jumped all over the Swedes, leading 2-0 after the end of the first period.

UPSET UPDATE: Make that 3-0 Czech Republic, who seem to have picked up where they left off from their last match with the Swedes.

Though it hardly matters now, I'm beginning to wonder whether or not Alexi Kovalev actually scored a goal in Thursday night's game against Team USA in St. Paul. I've watched this video clip from the CBC more than a few times, and it seems as if the puck hits both posts before bouncing out (something the CBC commentator would dispute).

Take a look for yourself.