Off Wing Opinion

I'll be in the box again tonight, but Ellen Blanchard is out of town, so Kate McGovern will be slipping behind the glass with her camera tonight for the first time. Don't forget to take a quick look at her gallery of pics from yesterday's practice.

As always, I'll be on AIM at Emacawriter during the game. Please feel free to stop by, say hello and ask any questions you like.

The obvious storyline coming into tonight's game is the return to Washington of favorite son Jeff Halpern. His return is also the subject of short features in the Post and the Times this morning. I'm curious to see how the fans treat Jeff when he first steps on the ice, but a part of me thinks it won't be anything like the reception that once greeted ex-Caps like Scott Stevens, Larry Murphy and Kevin Hatcher. Over at the team's message boards, one fan decided to express his disrespect for Halpern, and was quickly admonished by other posters.

One other note: Halpern was a guest on the John Thompson Show on WTEM yesterday, but they've yet to post the audio.

Here's a selection of stories floating around this morning.

Kolzig, Halpern reunite (Times)
Once the Caps' Captain, Halpern Returns Merely a Star (Post)
Dallas Morning News
Mike Vogel

More later.

UPDATE: Here's more previews from around the Web:

Japers' Rink
Caps Nut
D.C. Sports Chick
On Frozen Blog
The Peerless Prognosticator
Puckhead
The Sin Bin
Caps Chick

More later from the rink.

UPDATE: Greetings from press row. Just said hello to the Razor himself, Darryl Reaugh. Told him I loved the blog and he said thanks.

Here's a sign of the apocalypse: Fox 5 DC just interviewed about blogging. I'll let you all know when the story is going to run.

Still waiting on the starting lineups. Back soon.

STARTING LINEUPS: DALLAS: G: Smith; D: Boucher, Zubov. W: Stefan, Barnes. C: Halpern. CAPS: G: Kolzig; D: Erskine, Eminger; W: Gordon, Zednik; C: Laich.

SCRATCHES: DALLAS: Grossman and Barnaby. CAPS: Zubrus, Bradley and Muir. Looks like another disappointing mid-week crowd. Puck about to drop. Gotta go.

Anti Miettinen.

Photo by Kate McGovern

Chris Clark and Jeff Halpern.

Photo by Kate McGovern

Brian Sutherby after colliding with Marty Turco in the third period.

Photo by Kate McGovern

From the AP:

A second man accused of running a gambling ring with former hockey star Rick Tocchet will plead guilty and agree to cooperate with authorities, according to a report published Thursday.

James Ulmer will plead guilty Friday in state Superior Court to promoting gambling and conspiracy and faces up to 364 days in county jail, according to The Star-Ledger of Newark, which cited law enforcement officials who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

In his column last week at ESPN.com, John Buccigross wrote that he thought it was ironic that the league was working so closely with a group that owns a casino in order to build the Penguins a new arena, while Rick Tocchet has apparently been blackballed from the NHL for his involvement in this case.

Ironic? Yes. Unfair? You better believe it. But not surprising. There isn't one team in the NHL who would give Tocchet a job with a case like this hanging over his head. And with it looking like everyone else involved is copping a plea in order to testify against him, I think it's going to be a long while before Tocchet ever works in the NHL again, unfair as that might be.

The bottom line remains what I wrote last August:

Things don't look good for Tocchet, do they? In the end, his involvement has been an incredible stroke of luck for authorities in New Jersey. Had Tocchet's role in this affair been played by someone without his public profile and connection to the NHL, the spotlight would have been exclusively trained on the New Jersey State Police.

Instead, what would have been a one-day story in New Jersey gets the name "Operation Slap Shot", and the State Police get to publicly deflect all the attention onto Tocchet, Wayne Gretzky and his wife.

And so it goes...

A couple of days back, Tom Benjamin asked his readers what could account for the league's flagging support in the U.S.

While I don't have an answer for that question, the television ratings coming out of Canada are something that caught my eye:

Some Hockey Night in Canada games on the CBC have dropped by as much as 19-33 per cent this season. TSN isn't faring much better with some games experiencing an 18 per cent drop in viewership.

My guess is the league had to be expecting some kind of drop one year after the lockout. After all, you'd expect there to be an initial surge in ratings/attendance in the season immediately following the lockout simply from pent up demand.

Then again, what might be happening is the same sort of thing that's happening for all televised sports in the U.S. Put simply, televised sports competes in a very crowded marketplace. Literally every sport that's on television has suffered ratings erosion recently, with the possible exception of the NFL -- but even they have had to learn to live with less now that Monday Night Football has moved to ESPN.

Canada might have been a little behind the curve with this trend simply because televised hockey is so much stronger there, but there isn't any reason to believe that would remain the case indefinitely.

Yes, I know this is a stretch, but why should I even need an excuse to post video about Jennifer Beals? The comments come at about the five minute mark, where Beals mentions that she got into watching hockey while shooting The L Word in Vancouver:

Our photography intern, Kate McGovern, was out at Caps practice today and snapped some photos. Click here for a slideshow.

Here's Brian Sutherby.

Photo by Kate McGovern

Ex-NHL defenseman Eric Weinrich is alive and well and working as an assistant coach with the Portland Pirates of the AHL. He's blogging too, and yesterday he posted his thoughts about fighting a few days after the Pirates and P-Bruins racked up 13 fighting majors on Saturday night in Providence:

But if you are not prepared to stick up for yourself, you may get injured. I know it sounds a bit barbaric, but this is the way it works, or has in the past. When a player from one team tried to take liberties with another player, like taking a run at your best player or maybe a goalie, or you take a cheapshot to the face, you or someone would make amends. Sometimes it was a series of marginal checks against the other team or maybe a cheapshot to one of their guys.

More than likely, the player who inflicted the first infraction was challenged. So, as the code went, live by the sword, die by the sword. If you want to play on the edge, be ready to back it up. As hockey evolved, it was tit for tat. And, it actually kept most players fairly honest out there. And, the guys who just played the game hard and fair never really got into the rough stuff.

There's plenty more, be sure to read it all. Thanks to my podcasting partner Joe Tasca for the pointers. Here's what he said in his note to me:

Have a look at that boxscore. 13 fights in this day and age. For the record, it was the 4th meeting of the season between the two teams.

Yeah, let's have Washington play Anaheim more. Please!

More later.

Off Wing's Man Of The Night: Tim Thomas
45 saves, only one goal allowed in 4-1 win

OTT 4 CAR 1: Fisher (G, A), Gerber (29 S). Ladd (G).
ATL 5 NYR 4 (OT): Holik (GWG OT- 2G, A). Hossa (G, 3A).
PIT 3 NYI 2: Armstrong (2G), Crosby (2A). Kozlov (G).
MON 1 FLO 0 (SO): Koivu (GWG SO), Huet (36 S). Auld (39 S).
WAS 5 TBL 2: Kolzig (48 S), Ovechkin (G, A). Boyle (2A).
BOS 4 TOR 1: Thomas (45 S). Antropov (G).
SJS 2 STL 0: Clowe (G), Pavelski (G), Toskala (29 S).
CAL 5 COL 2: Iginla (G, A). Stasny (G, A).
ANA 3 EDM 2 (OT): Getzlaf (GWG OT), Selanne (G, A).
VAN 1 CLB 0: Naslund (G), Luongo (24 S).

OFF THE ICE
The NHL Needs To Return To Wooden Sticks, Calgary Sun
Pens' Future In Pittsburgh, KDKA
Two's A Crowd In NHL, Toronto Star
New YMCA Features NHL-sized Rink, The Business Review
The Stasny Bloodline Is Clear To See, Globe and Mail
Finnish Goaltenders Are Dominating NHL, Sporting News

HOCKEY VIDEO: Michigan State's Tim Kennedy goes coast to coast against the Wolverines:

RANDOM HOCKEY BLOG GENERATOR
On The Forecheck
Hockey Leaks
The Blackhawk Experience
Junior Hockey Blog
Thrash Talk

TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE: (All Times ET)
7:00PM NAS at PHI FSS, CSP
8:00PM SJS at MIN VS., TSN
8:30PM DAL at CHI KDFI

AHL SCOREBOARD: (NHL affiliates in parentheses)
Hamilton (MON/EDM) 3 Milwaukee (NAS/EDM) 0

Catching glove too stiff? Here's a solution I never thought of before:

Gotta love the tire treads. That sort of thing gives a glove some character.

Colin White catches Sean Avery looking the other way:

Ouch.

After watching the online video of the Caps-Thrashers battle -- trust me, it was more fun in person at the rink -- James Mirtle had some thoughts:

I think that, in general, it's a good thing that the NHL is pairing up with YouTube to provide video highlights

Earlier this month over at NBC Sports.com, I said that the league ought to be looking into adjusting the schedule to allow for more frequent interconference matchups.

But since then, we've seen a few things happen -- like the Caps-Thrashers brawl the night before Thanksgiving.

Now it looks -- thanks to Darcy Tucker and Paul Mara -- as if things are heating up between Boston and Toronto. Here's Bruins Nation:

After Mara laid down the law on Tucker, and after Savard did some minor trash talking to the media about Raycroft, tonight's game in Toronto is very important.

Mara had this to say about why he beat up Darcy Tucker: "He ran Z, one of our best players...And then he went after Savvy. We can't have that happening."

Look for some tension between Darcy Tucker and the Bruins tonight. I don't want Mara to fight Tucker, I want the 6-9 Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara to beat the crap out of Tucker.

Funny how Darcy brings that out in people, isn't it?

Last night before Joe and I recorded the latest edition of Caps Corner, he mentioned to me how interconference games meant nothing to him, and that it was the division battles that really made his blood boil. And now it seems like the blood is boiling on the ice too.

Imagine what it might be like if the league collapsed back into four divisions, and we went back to having to fight your way out of your division in the playoffs to get a chance at the Stanley Cup? Now that I might buy.

POSTSCRIPT: Why is it that Toronto-Boston can get me interested, yet when I saw that the Red Wings were playing the Stars last night I didn't feel much urge to tune in at all. As it turns out, though the Stars and Wings have been regulars at the playoff dance since the Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993, the two teams have only met 3 times in the playoffs since then.

No playoff history, no heat. But if the two teams were in the same division again and had to play each other in the offseason...

UPDATE: Similar thoughts from Hockey Rants.

Earl Sleek lets loose with a funny one. The lesson: Be sure to check the license plate before tossing any solid objects tonight.

Chris Pronger and the Anaheim Ducks arrived in Edmonton yesterday ahead of tonight's game against the Oilers. The best place to be tracking all of the madness seems to be Battle of Alberta, where I found the YouTube version of Pronger's homecoming press conference:

For another look at things, check in with Earl Sleek.

I know where I'm going to be tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST. How about you?

UPDATE: Just caught the end of the game, where Anaheim tied it 2-2 inside the last minute, and then won it in OT on a Ryan Getzlaf goal. As Pronger was leaving the ice, he was hit by an object thrown from the crowd, most likely a coin. A classless act, and not something I'd expect from the folks in Edmonton. I guess there's a rotten apple in every bunch, isn't there?

Here's an NHL ad that actually made me laugh:

But that's not the only one, here's Marty Turco:

How about Sergei Zubov?

And here's the guy who's getting my vote, Brendan Morrow:

Thanks to Steve Lepore and Alanah Downie for the pointer.

In this week's column, I recount the brawl between the Caps and the Thrashers (a gift that keeps on giving) and give the thumbs up to enshrining Fred Shero into the Hockey Hall Of Fame.

Off Wing's Man Of The Night: Alexander Frolov
Game-winning shootout goal gives Los Angeles the victory

DET 2 DAL 1: Draper (SH G), Hasek (20 S). Miettinen (G).
LAK 3 NJD 2 (SO): Frolov (GWG SO), Garon (20 S). Elias (2A).

OFF THE ICE
NHL Mail: Winds Of Change, TSN.ca
New Rules Have Taken Edge Off Of Game, SI.com
NHL Notebook: Vets Carrying Rangers, WagerWeb.com
NHL Shootouts Need To Go, The South End Newspaper
The Last Word, Calgary Sun

HOCKEY VIDEO: This is quite possibly the most evenly matched hockey fight I've ever seen. Three minutes of toe-to-toe brawling should be proof enough--note the handshake at the end.

RANDOM HOCKEY BLOG GENERATOR
Crashing the Zamboni
Ranger Pundit
One Fan's Perspective
Polemic
Goaltending Legends

TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE: (All Times ET)
7:00PM NYI at PIT FSNY, FSP
7:00PM OTT at CAR RSN
7:00PM ATL at NYR TURN, MSG
7:30PM BOS at TOR NESN, TSN
7:30PM FLO at MON FSFL, RDS
7:30PM WAS at TBL NC8, Sun
8:00PM SJS at STL FSBA, FSMW
9:00PM COL at CAL ALTI2, RSW
9:00PM ANA at EDM KDOC, OPPV
10:00PM CLB at VAN FSOH, RSW

NO AHL GAMES LAST NIGHT

Thanks to my old friend Tom Biro for tipping me off to the news.

I actually had some hopes for the Hawks at the start of the season, but injuries have taken their toll -- none more devestating than the one suffered by Michael Handzus.

One of my greatest hockey memories is of getting to watch a game in the old Chicago Stadium. The experience was one I won't even forget, and it's a shame that the fans in Chicago haven't been able to enjoy anything remotely like it in the past several seasons.

Chicago was a great hockey town not long ago. Hopefully, one day it will be again.

Off Wing's Man Of The Night: Chris Drury
Game-winning OT goal gives Buffalo 3-2 victory in Madison Square Garden

BUF 3 NYR 2 (OT): Drury (GWG OT), Miller (25 S). Straka (2G).
TBL 3 OTT 1: St. Louis (G, A), Kuba (G, A). Spezza (G).
ANA 5 CAL 3: Selanne (2G), Pronger (2A). Huselius (2G).

OFF THE ICE
Norrena

Off Wing's Man Of The Night: Kari Lehtonen
37 saves in third shutout of season

ATL 1 FLO 0: Kovalchuk (G), Lehtnonen (37 S).
CLB 5 MIN 3: Fedorov (2G, 2A), Carter (G, 2A). Backstrom (2 GA- pulled in 2nd).
PHI 4 MON 2: Gagne (2G, A), Knuble (G). Kovalev (G, A).
NYI 4 WAS 1: Blake (2G), DiPietro (33 S). Ovechkin (G).
BOS 3 TOR 1: Chara (2A), Thomas (27 S). Sundin (G).
NYR 2 PIT 1 (OT): Straka (GWG OT), Jagr (G, A). Malkin (G).
NAS 6 DET 2: Zidlicky (G, 2A), Mason (32 S). Lang (G, A).
PHO 2 STL 1: Nolan (G), Joseph (25 S). Hinote (G).
COL 4 VAN 1: Wolski (G, 3A), Stasny (G, 2A). Luongo (35 S).
SJS 2 NJD 0: Thorton (G), Grier (G), Nabokov (24 S).
LAK 3 CAL 1: Kopitar (G, A), Blake (2A). Kiprusoff (32 S).

OFF THE ICE
Wrong Sport, Right Message From Schembechler, The New York Times
Quick, Fast Teams Have Advantage In NHL, The Mercury News
Canadian Ponies Still In NHL Race, The Ottawa Citizen
As Salaries Rise In NHL, So Does The Pressure, INS News
Now Only The Ducks, But Looking Pretty Mighty, The New York Times
Hockey Nicknames Explained, Calgary Sun
Teams Right Season Course After Troubled Starts, The Ottawa Citizen
Picking A Fight, Edmonton Sun
Sharks Putting Heat On East, The Mercury News
A Points Race Sundin Hopes He Never Wins, The Toronto Star
Goal Oriented, The Washington Post

HOCKEY VIDEO: A shutout win last night reminds us of just how good the boys from Blueland are this year:

RANDOM HOCKEY BLOG GENERATOR
Lowetide
The Ice Block
Hockey Rodent
Always On The Road
The South Smythian Rolo-Gator

TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE: (All Times ET)
5:00PM OTT at TBL A Ch, Sun
7:00PM BUF at NYR MSG
8:00PM CAL at ANA RSW, KDOC

AHL SCOREBOARD (NHL affiliates in parentheses)
Toronto (TOR) 5 Syracuse (CLB) 3
Albany (CAR/COL) 5 Lowell (NJD) 0
Chicago (ATL) 7 Houston (MIN) 3
Hamilton (MON/EDM) 6 Rochester (BUF/FLO) 0
Hartford (NYR) 3 Bridgeport (NYI) 2 (OT)
Hershey (WAS) 5 Manchester (LAK) 4
Peoria (STL) 3 Omaha (CAL) 2
Grand Rapids (DET/EDM) 5 San Antonio (PHO) 3
Binghamton (OTT) 6 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PIT/EDM) 5
Portland (ANA) 4 Providence (BOS) 1
Worcester (SJS) 5 Springfield (TBL) 2
Norfolk (CHI) 7 Philadelphia (PHI) 5
Milwaukee (NAS/EDM) 2 Manitoba (VAN) 1

A couple of months ago, Sport Media Guide ran an interview with long-time hockey writer Helene Elliot. Elliot, as many of you will recall, works for the Los Angeles Times, which decided to stop sending a beat writer on the road to cover the Ducks and Kings. It's a very interesting read.

Thanks to the tireless Steve Ovadia for the pointer.

Be sure to take some time to read the feature article on Caps winger Alex Ovechkin that appears in today's edition of the Washington Post Magazine by April Witt.

While there are a couple of curious ommissions and editing errors (Ovechkin is referred to as an "offensive lineman" and the recent firing of Agent Don Meehan is not mentioned at all), the piece provides plenty of insight into Ovechkin, and especially his relationship with his mother Tatiana -- a former athlete and an international sports business professional in her own right.

In other words, Tatiana is no stage mother. She apparently knows the game as well as anyone, and has enough confidence that she encouraged Ovechkin to leave the employ of Dymano Moscow -- the multi-sport franchise that she still works for -- to sign a multi-million dollar contract with Avangard Omsk, the Russian Super League team owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

But my favorite passage of the story describes the delicate negotiations to get Ovechkin to leave Avangard Omsk and a guranteed salary of $2 million per year for the NHL. During the negotiations, Ovechkin used two cellphones: One connected to a conference call with Meehan, the Caps and his mother; and the other a direct line to his Mom...

Suddenly, the party line went dead. Sitting in the dark, waiting for the conference call to be reconnected, Alex contemplated his future in Omsk. "I think about the money," he recalled in English. "You can take the money and not be happy. Or you can take the dream."

The dream -- playing in the NHL -- meant testing his skills and determination against the greatest players in the No. 1 hockey league in the world. Alex told his mom he wanted to live his American dream. She agreed.

There's more, including an eyewitness account of Ovechkin's 21st birthday party that comes to a rather humorous conclusion. Read it all, and be sure to check out the accompanying slide show complete with narration from Ovechkin too.

From a profile of Don Cherry from ESPN.com's Scott Burnside:

Having given up a less-than-lucrative second career as the world's worst Cadillac salesman, Cherry turned out to be better suited to a pickax and jackhammer, so he took a construction job with Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. As St. Patrick's Day approached, Cherry, a devout Protestant, thought it would be a good idea to paint his tools and hard hat orange

Off Wing's Man Of The Night: Dany Heatley
Hat Trick & assist lead to 6-4 pouncing of Panthers

CAR 5 BOS 1: Walker (2A), Grahame (25 S). Bergeron (G).
PHI 3 CLB 2: Forsberg (G, A), Meyer (G, A). Nash (G).
MIN 4 PHO 0: Bouchard (G, A), Backstrom (28 S).
NYI 3 PIT 1: Satan (G, A), DiPietro (36 S). Malkin (G).
ANA 4 NJD 2: Marchant (2G), Penner (G). Elias (G), Gionta (G).
TOR 7 WAS 1: Tucker (G, 2A), O'Neill (G, 2A). Ovechkin (G).
STL 3 DET 2 (SO): Rucinsky (GWG SO), Cajanek (2G). Zetterberg (G, A).
OTT 6 FLO 4: Heatley (3G, A), Spezza (G, A). Roberts (2G, A).
MON 2 BUF 1 (OT): Souray (GWG OT), Huet (29 S). Miller (28 S).
TBL 3 ATL 2 (OT): St. Louis (GWG OT, A), Boyle (2G). Lehtonen (30 S).
DAL 5 LAK 3: Boucher (3G), Lindros (3A). Brown (2G).
EDM 5 CHI 1: Sykora (G, A), Smith (2A), Roloson (27 S). Holmqvist (G).

OFF THE ICE
Schembechler's Loss Felt In NHL, Too, SI.com
NHL, Leafs Give Logo Go-ahead For Film, CP
NHL Mail: Wish Upon A Star, TSN.ca
Radio Host Lambastes NHL Crackdown, Globe and Mail
Youth Will Be Served In NHL, Globe and Mail
TSN Solves Its Conflict, The Ottawa Sun
Selanne Having A November To Remember, NBC4i.com

HOCKEY VIDEO: Dany Heatley obviously took the right road when he dumped his music career and chose hcokey:

RANDOM HCOKEY BLOG ENERATOR
Covered In Oil
Odd Man Rush
Hockey Country
Girl With A Puck
Skate The Plank

TONIGHT'S SCHEDULE: (All Times ET)
7:00PM MIN at CLB KSTC, FSOH
7:00PM PHI at MON CBC, RDS
7:00PM WAS at NYI WB50, FSNY
7:00PM FLO at ATL FSFL
7:00PM BOS at TOR CBC, NESN
7:30PM NYR at PIT MS2, FSP
8:00PM PHO at STL AZTV, WB11
8:00PM DET at NAS FSS
10:00PM VAN at COL CBC, ALTITUDE
10:30PM NJD at SJS FSNY, FSBA
10:30PM CAL at LAK FSW

AHL SCOREBOARD (NHL affiliates in parentheses)
Springfield (TBL) 4 Worcester (SJS) 1
Grand Rapids (DET/EDM) 6 Chicago (ATL) 4
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PIT/EDM) 4 Norfolk (CHI) 2
Hartford (NYR) 3 Providence (BOS) 2
Philadelphia (PHI) 4 Albany (CAR/COL) 2
Portland (ANA) 2 Lowell (NJD) 1
Peoria (STL) 2 Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben (CAL) 1
Manitoba (VAN) 6 Milwaukee (NAS/EDM) 4
Toronto (TOR) 2 Syracuse (CLB) 1
Binghamton (OTT) 1 Bridgeport (NYI) 0
Rochester (BUF/FLO) 5 Iowa (DAL/EDM) 2
Houston (MIN) 5 San Antonio (PHO) 3

Sorry, but I got to the box a little late tonight. I'm joined by Ellen Blanchard who is at ice level with a photo hole for tonight's game.

As for me, I'm about nine stories above the action in the press box. Just like last time, I'm available by AIM and my handle is Emacwriter.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers South of the border in the U.S.

Back in a moment.

Pregame Capsules:

Mike Vogel
J.P.
Caps Nut
Caps Chick (In attendance after clearance from her lawyers)
Puckhead
Peerless Prognosicator

On Frozen Blog continues to follow "sweater-gate".

Starting lineups as soon as I get them. Don't forget, Brashear and Sutherby are serving suspensions, while Glen Hanlon's wallet is $30,000 lighter. Meanwhile, Eric Fehr has arrived from Hershey.

We're less than seven minutes from faceoff. Be right back.

Interesting news out of T.O. today: The NHL and the Maple Leafs have agreed to cooperate with the production of a new film starring Tom Cavanaugh of Ed fame:

[He] plays a gay ex-Leaf in a comedy film Breakfast With Scot currently being shot in the GTA and Hamilton. He's one-half of a homosexual couple