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From the Ice Block
After Rodriguez sues the Forum, he might want to go out and sue whatever television station the cup-thrower watched the night before, for inspiring him to go to the game, and maybe find out if cup-thrower has any video game consoles, because we know video games cause us to do bad things too.
Of coruse, this happened on the “All you can drink” night at Times Palace…. That leads to further speculation from David….
Tampa Bay is bidding to host the Frozen Four in 2009, 2010 or 2011…
Can you imagine a stranger thing happening than the Frozen Four being hosted here in Tampa Bay???
I can. Quite happily, too 
Team Canada will be absent Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Lous in the upcoming World Championships, as it was revealed that Vinny is set to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
Add this to Brad Richards still recovering from abdominal surgery and Martin St. Louis’ wife’s difficult pregnancy and all three men are shelved for team Canada.
Well, John Tortorella doesn’t have to just sit aroudn and watch Tape any more…
But then again, that’s one thing he excels at and it will no doubt help him in his role as an Assistant Coach for Team USA.
Taken from Hockeybird.com
Are they kidding? So now every time they make some crappy offer and the union doesn’t accept it, they are going to file a complaint? Well it looks that way. So much for a partnership, and so much for good faith. This was the plan all along, and now you can look forward to replacement players and legal battles.
If this was the ‘plan all along”, the NHLPA could have circumvented the plan by actually showing some interest in COLLECTIVE BARGAINING to begin with. That means, you get an offer and you bargain over certain aspects of the offer… you negotiate. The NHLPA’s tactic with Collective Bargaining to this point has been thus: Recieve offer, find aspect you do not like with offer, reject offer. There has been very few attempts to find a middle ground, and the only time that has really happened was when Trevor Linden called several CBA discussions to order – where there was talk, not just flat out rejections.
Now the NHLPA is posturing by just waiting, and after a lockout and failed bargaining process (because there was no bargaining on the Players side of things) it’s high time someone held the PA accountable for dragging their feet and avoiding negotiations… If it has to be a National Labor Relations Board, then so be it. We lost the 2004-05 season, folks, and both sides are responsible – that much is true – but one side tended to be less intersted in bargaining and more interested in having their members whine and complain about the other side in the media while another faction of it’s members avoided negotiations by running off to Europe for the duration.
As for the assertion we can look forward to replacement players now? Good. I want the Tampa Bay Lightning back on ice and I wnat the bullshit posturing from the upper-echelon, overpaid star controlled NHLPA to be put on ice (no pun intended) so I can focus on my team again.
I’ve sometimes wondered if me and Vincent Lecavalier woudl ever meet somewhere or somehow cross paths in life. He’s only a few months younger than I am and when he was drafted and the big hoopla was made about him, I had this premontion that Vinny and I could be friends, could get along, could hang out.
And yet with each day, every season, every interview that I’ve read (not many, because Tampa Bay is not Montreal or Toronto) that link… that kinship that I felt disappeared. Vincent is a big name star, he’s got it all and he’s got confidence… He dates models and he’s an icon in Canada.
And today in the St. Petersburg Times, that link was renewed… That sort of hopeful understanding.
Tom Jones traveled to Kazan and spent time with Vinny. This is all chronicled in a piece called Rough Translation and some of the things that Vincent has gone through in Ak Bars Kazan have made me feel… well, like someone would understand some of the crap I go through daily being hard of hearing. That lack-of-understanding and such.
But to get off my personal points, this article by Jones chronicles some of the adversity that Vincent has faced in Kazan and how he’s kept a positive attitude. How trying it can be to understand his coach’s rants (Zinetula Bilyaletdinov speaks English but addresses his team in Russian), how not understanding what someone says makes you want to shrink away because you don’t know the translation, and the difficulty just to order a bowl of Oatmeal in Kazan.
And if you are interested in seeing the photos associated with the article (and there are a few), please check out this link.
Well, Florida’s Junior C entry into the USA Hockey junior tournament is getting set for their games. The Oldsmar Sandsharks start action on April 7th versus the Jersey Wildcats. A complete schedule can be found here is here.
Judging by how the stats are updated on USA Hockey’s site, it would appear the Sandsharks are a team coming out of nowhere. No player information or goalie information is availible on the web site.
Good luck, guys….
NEW YORK (AP) — Its season already called off, the NHL on Thursday canceled its 2005 entry draft that had been scheduled for June in Ottawa.
“In the absence of a collective bargaining agreement, we are not able to conduct an entry draft in the traditional sense on the dates scheduled,” Bill Daly, the NHL’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.
The NHL said there was no immediate word on when Ottawa will host a draft “although the league is committed to bringing an entry draft to Ottawa as soon as is feasible.”
The league had been facing a deadline on hotel rooms reserved for the June 25-26 draft at Corel Centre.
I don’t get it.
Is this another pressure tactic by the NHL to get the NHLPA to get with the program? If it is, it’s VERY detrimental to the League itself and only encourages top prospects (read: Sidney Crosby) to look elsewhere to play hockey because there is no guarantee the NHL will resume any time soon.
And from the looks of it, it won’t.
While I may be biassed, I’ve always considered Calgary and Edmonton to be the barometer of the NHL’s health. We are small markets, but small markets filled with some of hte most passionate hockey fans in the world.
This belief is supported by the attendance figures of many of our remaining teams.
The Edmonton Roadrunners are currently third in the AHL, averaging 8884, right behind Chicago (8999) and Manchester (8945).
The Calgary Hitmen obliterated the WHL and CHL attendance record by nearly 40,000 fans becomming the first team in CHL history to average over 10,000 fans. Also in the WHL, both Lethbridge and Red Deer set attendance records of their own, while Medicine Hat has sold out 90 straight games, prompting calls to replace their 4006 seat arena.
There is no doubt. Fans in this province eat, breathe and sleep hockey. It seems like a very logical place for a “goodwill tour” of prominent NHL players to start. Ryan Smyth thought so. He decided Red Deer, which is right in the middle of the province, and about 1 hour away from both Calgary and Edmonton would be a good spot for a game.
Afterall, they just packed 7200 fans into their 5800 seat arena on Saturday for a WHL game agaisnt their arch-rivals from Calgary. On Monday, 5700 showed up to watch oldtimers like Lanny McDonald and Tiger Williams face off against the local police/fire team. And Ryan Smyth’s expectations were modest. His hastily arranged tour only hoped to draw 1500 fans last night.
According to the Edmonton Sun, only 800 fans bothered to attend. 100 of those were only their because their children and grandchildren were participating in a mini-game of atom hockey players during the first intermission.
The NHLPA has long believed that the fans will flock to them because of who they are. The collosal failure that the OSHL was didnt break that belief, and I doubt this will either. In fact, Smyth already has his excuse for this failure:
“It was frustrating, but this has nothing to do with (the lockout),” Smyth said between periods. “Maybe we could have done a better job marketing, but I don’t think we had enough time.”
A couple of thoughts Ryan. You put this thing together. Why didnt you make the time? Blame marketing all you want, but people knew you were coming. Radio in both Calgary and Edmonton, of which Red Deer gets both made mention of it, and it has been mentioned in all of the papers.
No Ryan, people didnt go because people dont want to pay $25 (Red Deer Rebels ticket $20 or so) to watch a bunch of egotistical primadonnas play shinny for a couple hours. People didnt go because you did not offer a product worth watching. People didnt go because they are pissed off at what you have done to the game.
Smyth’s tour has three more stops to make. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan tonight. Saskatoon tomorrow and Winnipeg on Friday. We shall see if “poor marketing” leads to small crowds there as well. I am betting yes, as word out of Winnipeg is that they have already cut ticket prices in half because of poor sales. I hear sales are still poor.
And Winnipeg is a city full of people who would kill to get the Jets back. If Winnipeg turns it’s back on you Ryan, will you and your union bretheren still be making excuses?
Something tells me they will.
Well, Vinny’s championship streak has ended abruptly in Russia.
After winning the Stanley Cup and the World Cup, the Lightning’s 24 year old center has been bounced from the Russian playoffs along with the rest of the star-studded AK Bars Kazan team.
With 15 NHL-caliber players, AK Bars Kazan have proven to be the embodiment of the New York Rangers as they have paid a fortune for those services and have gotten only a marginal return at best.
Thanks to reader Doug Girvan the tip-off of the story.
Calgary Puck was probably the first site to pick up on the story (and it was passed on to me by Boltsmag contributor Keith) and they’re currently waging war with the articles writer… Who is replying in a very non-journalistic way to their comments.
I post this not to incite a US vs. Canada war or Liberal vs. Conservative war or anything like that. It’s just a roll-my-eyes article and the writer is further humiliating himself by trying to fight against those who have a problem with his opinion and who have a problem with extremism.
David at The Ice Block reports that several NHL team message forums have been hacked!
Several of the forums are currently down….
No hockey news in the local media this morning besides a WHA fluff piece in the Trib.
That being said, I can’t turn a blind eye towards congressional hearings and the world of Major League Baseball and what the media has been throwing out this morning.
MSNBC reports on John McCain’s bitch slapping of baseball. ‘They can’t be trusted.”
There’s a great piece by Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times entitled “Antitrust: That sums up how I feel about MLB” which also lays a very clear, literary smackdown towards last Thursday’s congressional hearings.
Meanwhile, I continue to lose respect for Pro-MLB-Till-I-Die Curt Schilling as he continues to attack Jose Canseco and avoid the problem that faces baseball. I make reference to the above Rick Telander column when I tell Curt Schilling that Baseball is not an island, Curt. Cut the pompous bullshit and admit there is a problem and there are guys – Canseco and others that you are too high-and-mighty to name – that are benefiting from steroid use and abuse.
And of course you can view thousands of more stories and varying opinions related to this on Google News.
A month ago, the players could have had 55% of ~$1.5 billion, or a $42.5 million cap.
Now, they can have 54% of $? or a $37.5 million cap.
Makes sense. The longer this goes, the smaller revenues get, the less the players deserve, and should expect.
Goodenow’s comments at the end suggest he still doesnt have a plan B, and is still waiting for the NHL to come up and say “ok, ok. we give up. We agree that you should be treated as a charity, and we should be willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars paying you!”
That plan has already cost the players $1.2 billion. I wonder how much more they have to lose before they cut their losses?
(Posted 9-22-05 by John F, this post was written by Mike Chen on March 17th, 2005 and appeared on his site. Due to software crash, it’s been reposted here in it’s entirety)
If you’ve been hunting for rumors during this whole CBA mess, you undoubtedly know of the mysterious Eklund. For those who don’t know him, he’s someone who claims to be an ‘insider’ who worked in the business, made a bunch of money writing, and is leaking info from both sides under his pseudonym on his blog.
His accuracy level is spotty, though he has had some amazing leads. And he’s aware of the controversy surrounding his identity – heck, he even sells t-shirts about them (with proceeds going to youth hockey).
My theory? I think Eklund is a self-made genius. I’ll tell you one thing, that bit about him being a former Hockey News writer is complete BS – no self-respecting professional writer would ever make the consistent grammar errors he makes. Yes, blogging is a fluid art form, but there are certain standards you naturally adhere to…and he never does. Is he really an insider? Well… I believe Mr. Eklund (taking his name after the former Flyer) originally started his blog just to spread conjecture as rumor. By having a ’secret identity’, he was able to play off that he was actually an insider. I believe he gets his scoops from listening to Canadian sports radio and reading a whole heck of a lot, at least in the beginning. I think, sometime around December, people on both the league and PA side started realizing that a ton of people actually read this guy’s blog. So they began strategic leaks to him – some honest, some not. He made contacts, kept in touch with some people, and ta-da! One day, Mr. Joe Blow’s fun blog suddenly becomes
pseudo-legit – and very, very popular.
Eklund smartly put ads on his site – with the sheer volume of traffic he claims to receive, he probably can’t quit his day job, but I bet he can go on a very nice vacation every few months.
It’s not a bad strategy, it gets people talking, and hey, some of his scoops have been right. And right now, he’s probably living a self-fulfilled prophecy, sitting at home thinking, “I can’t believe Bill Daly and Keith Primeau actually bothered to email me! How did it get to this?”
Heck, maybe I should have started doing that when the lockout started. So, when does the NBA lockout start?
Hockey is dying because of it’s European Values. Europe is evil, don’t you know? 
Thanks to Keith for giving me word of this story…
Wow, you learn something new every day….
For instance, I learned (because either I totally forgot to post this story or I totally missed it) that Andy Rogers, the Lightning’s top pick last season, was traded by the Calgary Hitmen back in January.
I also learned, while searching for news about the trade, that there is a Tampa Bay Lightning fan site being run by some diehard Russian fans (in both English and Russian). I came across it while looking for news on the Rogers story.
Tampabaylightning.ru is now in the Links section of the site…
Are you a young hockey player (younger than 20 years old) with some skill in the Tampa Bay area and looking for a chance to show your stuff? Would you like to compete on a junior hockey team that calls Tampa Bay home?
Well, wouldn’t you know it? The Oldsmar Sandsharks of the SEJHL are taking applications for tryouts for next season). All you have to do is print out their form, complete it and ave it faxed to them (the number is at the bottom of the form).
Former team enforcer Rudy Poeschek had an interesting day yesterday…. Driving around, hitting things, fleeing Hillsborough County Sherrif’s officers… and now sitting in a jail cell.
Up here in Canada especially, NHL fans are lamenting the fact that there will be no hockey this spring. People, just arent looking hard enough.
I write this having just gotten back from an Alberta Junior Hockey League playoff game between Brooks and the Calgary Canucks, and am caught in a quandry, as there are three games I wish to attend tomorrow.
The Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League are playing their home finale, trying to break a WHL attendance record currently held by Portland at 19,103, while my alma-matter, SAIT is facing cross town rival Mount Royal College in the deciding game of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference South final. Across town, the Calgary Flames will face the UFA Bisons in the Alberta Midget Hockey League semifinal.
There is also the Heritage Junior “B” playoffs, where the Airdrie Thunder shocked a championship contender to advance to the second round, while the WHL’s playoffs are less than a week away, where all four Alberta based teams have qualified for the second season. Three hours north, in Edmonton, the American Hockey League’s Roadrunners are fighting for their playoff lives.
Apparently there is no hockey being played right now. My bank account disagrees.
However, while one would expect numerous options in a large Canadian city, there is still plenty of hockey being played in Florida as well. In the ECHL, the Pensacola Ice Pilots lead the Southern Division, with the Florida Everblades safely in second place. In the Southern Professional Hockey League, Jacksonville will sadly miss the playoffs, as they stand in last place. In the SouthEast Junior Hockey League, the Tampa/Oldsmar Sandsharks lead the league with a 13-4 record.
No NHL? No problem.
The Puck Stops Here offers there summary of the greatest All-Time players by team in the Southeast division and I want to be one to argue some of these selections —
Atlanta Thrashers – Ilya Kovalchuk. This club has a short history. Ray Ferraro was one of their initial stars. Afterward, Dany Heatley and Kovalchuk have emerged. Since Kovalchuk did not miss most of last year due to a car crash, I pick him.
I don’t believe injury should really be the defining factor on why one player is picked over another player, especially in a case like this with Kovalchuk – who is very one dimensional – and Heatly. Dany is by far and away the better player with the complete game. Just because someone puts up numbers does not make him a better player.
Carolina Hurricanes (includes Hartford and WHA Whalers) – Ron Francis. He’s the all time team leader in any stat of note. WHA stars include Gordie and Mark Howe and Rick Ley. When they hit the NHL there was Mike Rogers and Blaine Stoughton. Kevin Dineen was a star along with Francis in the 80s. More recently Arturs Irbe and Jeff O’Neill have been some of the more successful players on this franchise.
This is sort of a cop-out to include the Whaler franchise with the Hurricane teams because — well, the Whalers weren’t members fof the Southeast Division…. But seeing Ron had two tenures with thsi franchise and contributed to both – I can understand his selection.
Florida Panthers- Robert Svehla. He was an early star of the franchise along with John Vanbiesbrouck and Scott Mellanby. Pavel Bure was a star during his tenure with the club. More recently they have had Viktor Kozlov and Olli Jokinen as stars. Roberto Luongo could one day become their all time best player.
Vanbiesbrouck was the face of the franchise during the teams glory years in the 1990’s. I can’t say the same for Robert Svebla. Scott Mellanby was also a key factor to the team but the all time best player sus far is the Beezer…. And Luongo will surely exceed him if the team improves around him.
Tampa Bay Lightning- Vincent LeCavalier. The early teams gave us Darren Puppa, Brian Bradley and Rob Zamuner as stars. The more recent Stanley Cup teams have Vinny along with Martin St Louis, Brad Richards and Nikolai Khabibulen. LeCavalier has the longest run with the team of that bunch.
This being Boltsmag — this happens to be where I truly have to voice my opinion over the selection. Vincent is a good player, but would you categorize him as the best player the Lightning has ever had?
I’m of the sort that doesn’t even think he is the best player currently on the roster.
If we are talking tenure and what someone has done in their tenure alone, Rob Zamnuer wins this contest because the gritty Zams didn’t just perform on ice but he won over the hearts of Lightning fans and kept hope alive during the dimming days of the franchise during the late 1990’s. Zamnuer wasn’t all that flashy but he put his heart into his game.
The best player ios not decided by tenure though… Of course, they aren’t decided by brief stints with the club either, or we could name how-many castoff Lightning players to this team?
The best player is a consistant performer for the franchise and he has made his teammates / linemates better, whoever they are. He also is consistant, resilent and motivated. Vincent Lecavalier has not been these things with the Bolts yet — Yet. That’s not saying he won’t continue to improve as he has the last two seasons after mediocre play his first 3 years, that is saying he hasn’t been the Tampa Bay Lightning’s best player.
I won’t name the backstops – that is too easy in my mind and overlooks accomplishments on ice. No hard feelings, Nikolai? Or Darren for that matter? You are both part of the reason this team ever rose from the ashes… Your contributions cannot be overlooked….
But honest to god, who is the best player the Lightning has had suit up?
When I say this name, it does feel like I am overlooking players — Brian Bradley, Shawn Chambers, Brian Bellows, Mikael Anderson all from the older teams, but this fellow has improved yearly with the Lightning and has helped the team win the most coveted trophy in pro sports…
The name is Richards, Brad Richards.
One could easily make the case for Martin St. Louis and indeed, it’s a tough arguement not to make for Martin. In fact I wanted to name Marty as Co-best player in team history but there was something holding me back… And that was the linemate that helped him get the numbers he was producing at even strength. Yes, Marty has also done wonders with Vincent Lecavalier but he has produced most with Freddie Modin and Brad Richards at his side.
Richards was taught as a youth that assists were mroe beneficial than goals… Though he has a knack for both. The soft spoke Prince Edward Island native has improved with every season he has played in the NHL – not to mention winning Conn Smythe last season during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Until the playoffs commenced, Richards was overlooked for this contribution to the Lightning in part due to his big name, big-hype buddy, Vincent, as well as Marty and Nikolai Khabibulin. The media hype surrounded these three players and the silent, consistant contribution by Richards was overlooked or downright ignored.
Brad Richards didn’t have a bitter contract holdout, nor a war with his head coach and a trade demand because he wasn’t getting pampered treatment. Richards may not be as great a two-way player as Martin St. Louis, nor a physically intimidating force as Lecavalier or Fredrick Modin, but he’s good at what he does… He’s consistant at what he does… He’s been the backbone of this team the last 4 years and hopefully well into the future.
That is the best player on the Lightning – not the overhyped-in-Canada Lecavalier. The contribution is coming from Richards… The guy who is improving those around him and making his team stronger by his presence…
Washington Capitals- Rod Langway. He won two Norris trophies with this club. Early teams offered Yvon Labre, Ryan Wlater and Dennis Maruk. Bobby Carpentor and Mike Gartner were Langway contemporaries. More recently, Kevin Hatcher, Dale Hunter, Michal Pivonka were stars. Olaf Kolzig and Peter Bondra were stars of the most recent teams
…and this one I happen to agree with.
Props for The Puck Stops Here for even venturing a “All time” list for the Southeast teams. In days gone by I’ve tried to get discussion going on this subject and have been ridiculed because “they all suck!”
Daly: “Hi Ted”
Saskin: “Hi Bill”
Daly: “Got anything new for us to look at?”
Saskin: “Nope. You?”
Daly: “Nope”
Saskin: “See you in September?”
Daly: “Have a nice summer”
(baseball related note – not worth checking into if you do not like baseball)
It’s our man Chris Chelios! He says a 12 team league is in the works by the players and that the lkeague is shamming people about their last offer…. That the media is misreporting it too and la de da…
Chris, I have two words for you — seek help. Or maybe that’s teh problem? You’re getting help from the likes of Ari Fletcher and “Baghdad Bob” when it coems to spinning things further in the media….
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