Joe over at Tasca’s Take had a sit down with Sunshine Network broadcast announcer Rick Peckham and discussed a few matters of the game and a few old Whale tales :wink

Rick makes the (obvious) observation that winning brings in fans and that teams that don’t win, don’t bring in fans… Gee, what a perception… Too bad there are too many that believe even losers should show great attendance records in order to keep there teams :rolleyes:

Give me a minute – I am trying not to have a heart attack…

Dave Andreychuk notched #20 tonight, giving him 19 seasons of 20 goals or more — nice job right? The goal was a game-tying goal in the final seconds of regulation — so it was absolutely huge…

Unfortunately it didn’t hold up and the Lightning were swept by the Senators for the season after Ottawa scored in overtime – a thrilling game all the same and one that the NHL would be smart to highlight as one of the years best (even though there were plenty of missed calls all over again :rolleyes)

The Lightning now have 104 points with 80 games played. They face no more playoff competition as the season finishes against Florida and then Atlanta.

With 104 points and a game in hand over Philadelphia, the Lightning are guaranteed no lower than the #2 seed in the playoffs. That may very well be a good thing with the Boston Bruins in the best position for a run at the #1 seed. With 2 games in hand, the Bruins have 99 points with two games vs. no playoff teams to come (Carolina and the flailing Washington Capitals) before finishing the season with a two game set against the Devils.

The Devils are going to be no pushover for the B’s — the Devils have a very good chance of winning the Atlantic division as they sit only 2 points behind the Flyers — and trying to take the #3 seed in the East.

The Buffalo Sabres are another story — they are on the bubble for the playoffs with 3 games left (which they must win all of and see the Islanders fall two out of three times before the end of the season to gain the #8 seed in the East. The Isles have Montreal, Carolina and then Philadelphia to close out the season while the Sabres have the Rags, Toronto and Les Habs to close the season out.

And don’t even get me started on the West…

“Smashville” finds itself out of the playoffs as of this moment – but probably only for another 24 hours. They face the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow. Edmonton would be the team bumped if the Predators win and part of me is going for the Oilers to make the playoffs (all six Canadian teams playoff bound? Holy smokes)… but then again, another part of me wants Nashville to make it and give a big middle-finger salute to traditionalists who hark that the Music city shouldn’t have hockey.

Bob McKenzie doesn’t even like the discussion when it comes to the Hart Trophy… Who’s the guy who should bring it home?

His name is Martin St. Louis. Best player on one of the very best teams in the NHL. Leads the league in points, is right up there in goals. The choice, it would seem, is obvious.

This comes while talking heads and fans are starting to make a case for guys like Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur and other goalies for the Hart. In this dead-puck era, maybe we shouldn’t give out any forward awards? Maybe goalies should get them all anyway? :rolleyes

TSN.ca – NHL – Canada’s Sports Leader

Report: Bettman issues warning

3/29/2004
Gary Bettman has seen and heard enough.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the NHL Commissioner sent a memo to all teams last week warning coaches and general managers that they are accountable for the behaviour of their players on the ice.

Oh gee, Gary, it’s only been a matter of WEEKS since the Bertuzzi incident, and there have been several incidents since then that have further given the NHL a black eye… You’ve been MIA all this time — do you REALLY think you should speak up now?

Really, Gary… Do you?

You’re only the commissioner… It’s not like you’re expected to show fortitude… or are you? Hmm, you are probably wondering about that….

:rolleyes

Tampa Bay goes to 103 points for the season as the Bolts demolish the Washington Capitals (or was that the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight? There really wasn’t much of a difference in play) 4-1 at Times Palace.

The 103 points furthers Tampa Bay’s record number of Points in a season, while Brad Richards 190th career assist set the Tampa Bay assists record. The game was played before the Lightning’s 8th straight sell-out crowd, another record… The victory was Tampa Bay’s 23rd at home this season – another franchise record.

Dave Andreychuk just missed his 20th goal of the season during the final minutes of the 3rd period. Andreychuk has 18 20 goal seasons and a 19th would put him one behind Ron Francis….

I make the cruel comparison to the Pittsburgh Penguins because Capitals goalie Matthew Yeats played well in front of a porous defense and was peppered with shots by the Lightning.

It should also be noted Eric Perrin — Martin St. Louis’ partner in crime at the University of Vermont — made his NHL debut tonight, notching 1 shot on goal as he played on the fourth line in place of Martin Cibak. Perrin played 9 minutes and forty three seconds on ice….

Cleared to play with the Hershey Bears following shoulder surgery, Nikita Alexeev returns to action tonight in an AHL matchup between Wilkes-Barre and Hershey.

Tampa Bay sweeps the New Jersey Devils for the first time in Franchise history.

Brad Richards scored his sixth game winning goal of the season, Fredrick Modin continued white-hot by notching two assists, and the Lightning reached the 100 point plateau for the first time in franchise history to remain on top of the Eastern Conference.

“I don’t think it’s the officiating, no,” he said. “You can maybe keep the game under control a little more with what happens leading up to an incident. But I don’t think you can change the officiating to where it will stop the incident. It’s the mind-set of the players, absolutely.” — Dave Andreychuck (c), 3-24-04 St. Petersburg Times

With all due respect to Dave, but it’s not the players alone that should be held accountable over actions taken on ice. I don’t want to liken Hockey Players to children and Owners and executives to parents, but honestly — if you don’t discipline your child and send a message NOT to do something — they’ll keep doing it. If you keep sending an uneven message what not to do, they’ll keep doing it and exceed what they aren’t supposed to do.

If officials don’t step in and call all penalties that occur on ice EVERY time they are officiating a game, they continue to slip up and incidents occur on ice that are detrimental to the league.

Dave goes on to say “I believe the respect has to come back for the players to each other. We have to take it upon ourselves as players. I think it will be an issue this summer.”

Coming from a team captain, you have to respect the idea of players better respecting each other on ice… but lets think this through – every player has a different story and different pressures. Their amounts of respect for each other vary. If you don’t have some governing of the game — much better governing than what we are seeing now — then you cannot expect players to show each other respect on ice. Instead, they’ll continue the eye-for-and-eye tactic until it’s too late and something truly tragic occurs on ice because someone in the league office didn’t get the message across that they were the ones that levy punishments – not opposing teams.

Martin Brodeur is the best goalie in the game and he proved that a little more tonight by winning his 400th game. Congratulations Mr. Brodeur.

It’s Ironic that this victory took place against the Florida Panthers. The hottest up-and-coming goalie in the league is Roberto Luongo.

With three assists tonight in the Lightning romp in Toronto (more on that in a bit), Martin St. Louis moves to 89 points for the season and a five point lead on Joe Sakic for the Art Ross Trophy. He also just shattered Brian Bradley’s single season Lightning record for points in a season (the record was 86 points which Martin was tied at the last few games).

So, with that out of the way, the title of this post deems tonights game a return of Lightning hockey. The last few games (since a victory in Carolina and arguably the game before it) the Lightning have looked and played like a tired, haggard team and with an intensive schedule to end the season it’s no wonder why. Fortunately, starting with a generous 5 on 3 Power Play at the beginning of the game, the Lightning quickly got into gear and got on the board.

Of course, with some botch ups (John Grahame mishandling a puck behind the net) it looked like the Lightning would relinquish a 3 goal lead in the 2nd and make this game closer than it was… Fortunately it did not happen. Vincent Lecavalier scored his 30th goal, Dave Andreychuk notched number 19 for the season (with 20, he will have 19 seasons of 20 goals or more — only Gordie Howe and Ron Francis have more) and Freddy Modin tallied number 27 on the year (2nd highest total since 32 in 00-01). Brad Richards, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brad Lukowich and Martin Cibak (Martin “Anemic” Cibak?) rounded out scoring for the Lightning…

7-2 the final in Toronto… The next road game the Lightning face is likely to be game 3 of the opening round of the playoffs. But up until then they still have to overcome being 2 and 4 over their last six games…

Somehow I dont think this will get copy on CNN…

Slovakian player Martin Mraz attacks an official during a Slovakian League playoff game.

Senseless violence, or every hockey fan’s dream?

After tonight’s game versus the leafs, the Lightning play out the rest of their schedule at home. It should be a welcome sight for a team that has dropped four of it’s last five and clings to the top seed in the East by one point going into tonights action.

And after tonight it is very possible the Bolts will be playing catch-up in the points race, unless they wake up and start playing like the team that went on an 18 game point streak through March and May and had not lost a regulation overtime game in a months time.

Calgary and Nashville have a history. It dates back to last year when Tomas Vokoun left his crease to deliver a strong elbow to Jarome Iginla. It continued when Iginla fought back againt Vokoun in a later game. And again this year when Jordon Tootoo threw a late punch at Iginla after knocking Iginla down in a fight.

Sense a trend here?

Saturday nights game was more of the same from Nashville. The Predators spent most of the game tackling Flame players, crosschecking them, interfering (my GOD the interfering) with nary a call. After a time, Calgary picked up on the lack of calls and returned the favour. Ville Niemenen crosschecked an opponent in the back, only to be crosschecked in the face himself.

And finally, Chris Simon pinned down by Scott Hartnell in a holding match, deep in Nashville’s end, in the final minute, forcing the flames offside for 30 seconds, costing a chance to tie. Ultimately, this led to a scuffle which involved Iginla being targeted once again, and the Flames somehow shorthanded.

Barry Trotz took a frustrating situation and made it worse by sending Jordon Tootoo – who was a lightning rod for trouble all night long – out with three seconds left. Calgary, down to four skaters, countered with Oliwa, and its three biggest defensemen in Regehr, Warrener and Commodore. This move promptly caused Trotz to haul Tootoo back on the ice for his own safety. The hockey hero of Nunivut responded by taunting Oliwa and the Flames from the safety of his bench – typical of his cowardly style.

And thus, the scene was set for the Flames to send the message that needed to be sent. Everyone knew it. 40 players and two coaching staff’s knew it. CBC knew it. The officials knew it. 18,439 fans chanting “O-LI-WA! O-LI-WA! O-LI-WA!” knew it.

Down went the puck, and off came the gloves. Krysztof Oliwa, unable to find anyone willing to dance prior to the faceoff, was actually skating away to the Flames bench when the fights started. The remaining Flame players werent going to take it anymore. After two years of constant dirty play by the Predators, payback was in order. That brawl was a message to “Smashville” that their dirty play will no longer be tolerated.

More importantly, that brawl was a message to the NHL itself. A message that the NHL has typically overlooked. By failing to call the Predators (and to a lesser extent, the Flames) transgressions, NHL referees, and by extension, the NHL itself, are guilty of condoning the sort of cheap, chippy violence that plagues the game. The end of this game is what one should expect when the referees lose control of the game through their own incompetence.

In the post Bertuzzi era, the focus on violence is intense. Unfortunately, the focus is only on the result, not the cause. Until the NHL starts looking at why brawls happen, this league can never become proactive in preventing violent outbreaks.

In the case of the Flames-Predators game, all it would have taken was for the officials to call both teams for the blatant tackles and interference that would have made an NFL lineman proud.

Saturday’s brawl was all on the officials, and the league itself.

Welll, it’s not as bad as the 2003 one….

TSN.ca – NHL – Canada’s Sports Leader

TORONTO (CP) – Payback cost Mark Messier a two-game suspension Monday.

The league handed the Rangers captain the ban Monday, one day after Messier was ejected for spearing defenceman Martin Strbak in front of the Pittsburgh net during a New York power play.

Part of the entire reason the NHL had a grisley accident with Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore is because of wrist-slaps like this when someone does something to injure someone…

What would have been the reaction if Messier was suspended for the rest of the season for intentional foul? Not much, really, seeing that Mark might be on his farewell tour and isn’t playing for a Playoff team.

Yet some of these weak suspensions are sending the message that “Hey, the media is after us – we have to show something to them that says we will not tolerate this stuff.” It’s no wonder that, with these incidents and the NHL’s lukewarm reception to disciplinary action, the league can’t shake it’s goons-on-ice image.

I’m not saying ban fighting (which is a straight forward attempt-to-injure) but you have GOT to step forward and do something when players use sticks as weapons, take cheap shots and the like. Too many get away with it without so much as a penalty being called on them…

I haven’t posted much in the last few days and it’s not because of the Lightning being slowed if not stopped by the opposition, but just because of personal reasons.

At any rate, the Lightning have lost the last 3 of 4 and plenty of worry warts are saying the end is near…. In the past few games the Bolts have seen several no-calls on penalties committed against Martin St. Louis and other members of the Lightning. This team has played a load of games in a very short span of time and are showing the affects of it right now. Not just being tired but being bruised and battered and getting nothing much more than a sympathetic “Sucks to be you” from the refs when a penalty isn’t called.

Maybe this is just sour grapes for the Lightning losing? Then again, I thought refs were supposed to call games evenly all season long? I also thought intentional acts to injure were supposed to warrant league retaliation against said player (go back to the Craig Adams incident in Carolina)?

I’m starting to feel like it will be a good thing if the league shuts down – someone needs to get there head out of there ass and restructure the sport from the ref level right up tot he Commissioners office…. Bettman and Colin Campbell aren’t getting it done.

From TSN.ca – NHL Mailbag

Scott — Last thing that might be on people’s minds right now with the trade deadline, the playoff chase, the Presidents Trophy duel, playoff seedings, team rebuildings, labor issues and the like. Should the NHL realign again and nix the East / West alignment? Hear me out… Some of the teams that are stashed in the west are anything but (Columbus a part of the west? Detroit? Chicago? Usually one considers the west being the left side of the Mississippi river… Not just that, but the ultra-regional alignment (northeast, southeast) ends up leading to a load of trashing of fans in the south (because, lets face it, the Southeast division is a joke even if it hosts one of the best teams in the league with the Lightning). Wouldn’t it be better to mix up the markets a bit and have two conferences of East-Central-West divisions? This might hurt some rivalries in the short run with how realignment turns out, but in the long run it could foster some great rivalries between teams we wouldn’t even consider rivals now. John Fontana, Palm Harbor, Florida

John, there is merit to the idea from a pure hockey sense, because I certainly agree that lumping substandard teams in the Southeast isn’t exactly the best way to promote hockey to new markets. On the other hand, and it’s guaranteed we’ll get sick and it’s guaranteed we’ll get sick of hearing this before 2004 is out, hockey is a business and the owners like having geographically-aligned divisions because it cuts down on travel costs. The loser in the equation becomes the fan who wants to see players in the opposing conference, while the fan who likes the geographic rivalries (Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto are pretty big around these parts as I would imagine Florida-Tampa Bay might be where you are, even with the limited history of the two teams). Since I can’t even fathom a situation in which the owners would agree to something that increases their expenses, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for realignment if I were you. – SC

SO much as for me making my post regarding needing NHL realignment :tongue

TSN.ca – NHL – Canada’s Sports Leader

Hey Scott, I have been hearing lots of stuff being thrown around about how Tampa Bay gets horrible crowds and no one in Florida cares about hockey. The other day I was watching a game on Tampa’s Sunshine network and its a good station, good commentators and the such but one thing I didn’t get was that they kept showing rules of the game. Like when the other team pulled their goalie this “Hockey 101″ thing popped up and it sayed pulling the goalie gets you another skater on the ice or something but there were others. One more thing is that my local radio station had this little prank phone call thing they did every night where they called the U.S.A. and asked them a question. Well one day I happened to be listening and they called a gas station in Tampa and asked the girl if she was happy that the lighting were in the playoffs. She had no idea who the lightning were and had no idea what he was talking about. Thats what I call Sad! Scott Semenchuk, Winnipeg,MB

Scott, I guess that’s just one of the things we take for granted in Canada. The rules of hockey are just a given here, but it’s just not that way in the southern States because they are relatively new to the sport. Even in a place like Washington, where NHL hockey has been around for 30 years, you’d be surprised at the explaining of rules.that still goes on. It’s really just a function of the relative importance that hockey has in our respective cultures. I’ll bet the people in Tampa would do a heck of job picking up zone blitzes and showing the nuances of a cover-two defence in football. – SC

:rolleyes:

And for the sake of passing on the attendence to those in Canada who only believe rumors that they are told with regards to attendence. Don’t tell me no one shows up.

Ted Fleming over at Tampa Bay Sports Net chimes in on the Bertuzzi vs. Moore incident and the ensuing media backlash. His logic about the violence in American sports and the hypocritical condemnation of Hockey for it’s violence is on the he right track…

The media is overplaying the incident in a character assassination much like other character assassinations they have performed in the past (Howard Dean’s “Yell” clip being replayed over and over again), but it’s not Bertuzzi’s character that is being dealt a blow. It’s the entire league that’s taking a fall because of it.

Ya’ gotta love The Instigator…. Basically sums up what is going on in the NHL with humor

Upon a little further research on William Houston’s article in the Globe And Mail with regards to a quote that was made by a “Tampa Radio Host” (Steve Demuig, it turns out. No shock there)…

It turns out the quote itself was pieced together and CHANGED by Houston to encompass ALL of Canada when Demuig’s comment was pointed towards one group alone, the Toronto Maple Leafs. This remark came after the Lightning beat the Leafs in Tampa, in reference to all the Maple Leaf fans that show up at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Agreeing with the remark or not, Houston has put a bullseye on Tampa not just from at good contingent of Canada. A fabricated statement which erases any credibility that Mr. Houston had.

Amid the first loss in weeks by the Bolts, while the NHL pundits are still oohing and ahhing over the Lightning and while the St. Pete Times can at least find time to get quotes from Gordie Howe and Chico Resch with regards to if the Lightning have what it takes to make a run for the cup, the Tampa Tribune found itself lost in a sea of NCAA coverage and…

…can’t post a single article or news brief about the Lightning in Monday’s edition of the Trib.

The Tribune can whine about not wanting to cover a team that plays in an arena that is named for it’s competitor. It can (and will) tell you that the Tribune needs to focus on what the readers want… But the Tribune also has a sick habit of finding preference for out-of-town news items for out-of-town sport teams.

None of them hockey teams. The Tribune continues to be run as a Good ole’ Boy” southern newspaper and an example of why the NHL has trouble existing in the south: lack of coverage and presumed lack of interest.

The Globe and Mail quotes a Tampa Radio host (name withheld by them) as saying the following:

“All we can hope for is Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup, the league shutting down next year,” a radio host in Tampa said this week, “and Canadians going to hell.”

I’m deeply interested in finding out who’s guilty of this remark or what the truth is behind it (the source)…

It had to happen sometime… And tonight was the night in an ugly drubbing.

The Lightning, after 2 weeks of an intense schedule, get a couple of days off to rest up and heal before Tuesday’s game against the Isles… Unfortunately this 3 day off period will be the bulk of the time off during the last weeks of March. A two week schedule has the Bolts playing every other day in most cases – with one more back-to-back game still to come.

Since the Todd Bertuzzi incident, many American “journalists” – the vast majority of which probably havent seen a game in their lives – have been chiming in on the game of hockey, its violence, and trashing the sport we all love for supposedly condoning Bertuzzi’s actions.

Most dont realize that Bertuzzi’s hit on Steve Moore was so far beyond the boundaries of the game of hockey that he has been almost universally villified within hockey circles as well.

But why consider that when there is sensationalist dogma to be had? The most revolting in a long list of bad articles on this incident was written by ESPN’s Jim Kelly, who felt that it was easier to blame Canada for Bertuzzi’s sucker punch rather than Todd Bertuzzi himself. This is my open letter response to Kelly:

======================

Mr. Kelly,

I, like many other Canadians, am writing in response to your outrageous column blaming Bertuzzi’s actions on Canadian hockey culture.

Normally, I find you to be a decent writer, but your logic in this piece is so poor it almost qualifies as slander.

While you are correct in stating that we embrace the physical style of play, you do Canadians, hockey, and the ignorant people who believe what you say – no matter how fabricated – a great disservice by trying to link Bertuzzi’s actions with “pysical play.”

Bertuzzi’s act is not sanctioned, condoned, or accepted by ANY code – written or unwritten – in hockey, or in life in general. To suggest otherwise is is assinine.

In your last paragraph, you wrote: “If Bertuzzi’s actions hadn’t fractured vertebrae in Moore’s neck, he’d have been an honored man in his locker room, the city of Vancouver and across all of Canada. Even now his apologists talk more about “poor Todd” than they do of the injured Moore.”

The flaws in this statement alone are staggering.

First, I doubt any Canadian who exists outside of your delusional fantasies have ever considered Matt Johnson, Marty McSorely or Jeff Kugel as heroes for acting like ridiculous cowards.

If you talk to real Canadians (do you know any real Canadians?), most consider those three players (as examples) to be the lowest order of scum for their actions. As far as most Canadians are concerned, we believe that Bertuzzi has joined them in this innermost ring of hockey hell.

And yes, there are apologists for Bertuzzi. Some of them happen to be Canadian. To use that as a means of painting all Canadians with the same brush is insulting. Some Americans defend Ty Cobb’s actions during his life and carreer to this day. Can I use this to paint all Americans as violent racists? Somehow, I think you would object to that characterization.

Speaking of Ty Cobb, where to beanballs, bench clearing brawls, and guys going into bases with their spikes up fit into your “this kind of activity isnt tolerated in the other major sports” argument?

The ironic thing about your article is that you yourself have become an apologist for Bertuzzi. You are trying to place the blame everywhere but where it belongs. You want to blame the league, Canada, and hockey culture.

Perhaps you should blame the one who deserves it? Todd Bertuzzi himself.

Afterall, thousands upon thousands of people have grown up in Canada, within our hockey culture, yet managed to not seriously injure an opponent through such a heinous act. I think you owe them, and us, an apology.

Sincerely,
Keith Short