Before the season, I had given my buddy Keith soem grief about Calgary throwing a wad of cash at Cory Sarich. Not that I don’t like Cory, not that I feel Cory doesn’t bring anythign to the table or doesn’t contribute, I just think he got paid too much in his new deal.

Well, this Sarich hit from the other night has turned into celebration and a rallying point for Flames fans:

Cory’s gone but not forgotten in TB. i revel in his moment.

This year, an addendum to Rule 56, known as the Sutter Rule, was implemented taking aim at late game instigator penalties. It reads, in it’s entirety:

(NEW for 2005-06) A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime, shall be assessed an instigator minor penalty, a major for fighting, a ten minute misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent offense. In addition, the player’s coach shall be fined $10,000 — a fine that will double for each subsequent incident.

(NEW for 2005-06) (NOTE 1) No team appeals will be permitted either verbally or in writing regarding the assessment of this automatic suspension.

The NHL has made it clear that this penalty cannot be appealed, and made a sizeable issue out of this rule before the season began in it’s misguided attempt at eliminating fighting from the game.

Two nights ago, this rule was to be put to the test for the first time, as Coyotes forward Shane Doan took an instigator at the end of a game filled with dirty hits. The rule makes it clear: Doan was to be suspended for one game, and the coach to be fined $10,000.

Except the coach in question is Wayne Gretzky.

Suddenly Colin Campbell decided that this rule is not as simple as it seems, and though it is not mentioned anywhere in the rule book, he now has discretion on whether to hand out the penalties. Campbell’s excuse was that Doan isnt a goon, therefore the rule should not apply to him.

Please.

You think Campbell wouldnt have thought twice about the suspension and fine if it was Jarome Iginla and Darryl Sutter in question?

How about Mark Bell and Trent Yawney?

The NHL found itself caught in the embarrassing position of having to fine it’s most notable personality for a rule it felt was extremely important four months ago, and somehow found an even more embarrassing excuse to avoid living up to it’s own rules.

But then, there always was one rulebook for Gretzky, and one for everyone else.

During the 2004 playoffs, Sports Illustrated had a difficult decision to make. They were going to put the Flames, who had just eliminated Detroit, on the cover of their magazine. Instead, they chose to put the NBA playoffs on the cover, and Flames fans couldn’t have been more grateful.

We dodged the curse.

Not so this year. The Flames, SI’s pick to win it all, are struggling to find their identity. Hell, the Flames are struggling to kill a penalty. Sitting at 1-3-1, the Flames are probably wishing the media pundits would have left them alone so that they could climb into a dark hole in peace.

Fortunately, Calgary has some company. SI’s #2 pick? The Flyers. The team that SI called “Young, fast and ready to roll” have sputtered as well, stumbling out of the gates at 1-2-0. Even if one can only count the number of games played on one hand, who would have figured that Washington would have won more games than either the Flames or Flyers? Who would have figured the Capitals would win two games in the entire month?

The Lightning, SI’s #4 pick, havent exactly wowed either, sporting a very pedestrian 2-2-1 record, in the very pedestrian Southwest Division.

The only team out of SI’s top four that is doing well are the Ottawa Senators, the only undefeated team at 4-0. While at first thought it appears they have escaped the wrath of Sports Illustrated, you just know they are going to end up facing the Leafs in the playoffs, and have their hopes crushed just like ever year.

Thankfully, with a new edition on the stands, Sports Illustrated will have cast hockey to the shadows like it usually does, and the hockey world can right itself.

But until then, to add insult to injury, the New York rangers are 2-1-2 and leading the Atlantic. They were SI’s pick to finish dead last.

It’s been an amazing 72 hours as players are moving everywhere, and often to places you would last expect. Amonte to Calgary. Holik to Atlanta. Gonchar to the Pens. Pronger to Edmonton? As the mad dash for news flames across the internet, people everywhere are looking to scoop eachother to earn prestige and power on their respective discussion forums.

This leads me to one of my greatest pet-peeves about this lockout and the internet. I’ve bit my tongue for long enough, as I have finally gotten tired of this evil plague that has spread across internet discussion forums unabated.

This plague is Eklund, the false hockey god.

Eklund is just like John and myself, and every other blogger on the net: A bunch of people posting their opinions, generally not worried about whether others care. Eklund has somehow amassed a following that would have shamed David Koresh.

Despite the fact that his rumors site is batting about .010 in the accuracy department.

Make no mistake about it folks, Eklund is a plague, and you are the carrier. In these hectic days of free-agent orgies, Eklund’s “rumors” – usually lifted off of legit news sources, and usually posted AFTER they appear elsewhere – are being posted everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. He’s infected Hockeyforums, letsgowings, Calgarypuck, Scout.com, even Hockey’s Future (would link, but their server sucks and the site is unreachable… but that is another rant.) I could go on, and on, and on, and on.

And while I rant against Eklund, I also have to say I am impressed by him. Despite the fact that he is incorrect nearly 100% of the time, he has hundreds of loyal zombies refreshing his site every minute, desperately hoping to spread the virus to their home forums. All the while, he collects money from banner ads and from direct donations. One cannot help but to be impressed at how well he controls the sheeple that follow him, and how easily he has used them to fatten his own pockets.

Me, I refuse to follow the herd. I have never visited his site, and I will never visit his site. For the sake of every message board on the internet, I hope anyone reading this does too. He’s gotten fat of the naivity and ignorance of hockey fans long enough. Let this phenomenon die already. The internet will be better off for it.

It’s a good day to be an NHL hockey fan. The first such good day in 301 days as the longest labour war in sports history is approaching it’s conclusion. The buisness of hockey is about to take a backseat to the game of hockey for the first time in nearly a year. The next couple of months will be dominated by the ultimate real-life rotisserie league as fans dream about who will be coming to their teams. What will the new rules be? Will the NHL rig the draft so that the Knicks can grab Ewing… er the Rangers can grab Crosby? In Calgary, the Western Conference banner will finally go to the rafters, while Tampa will finally get to defend their Cup.

Expect to be the victim of a massive publicity campaign, with the once hated players at the forefront, as everybody and their dog (no word on whether Modano’s dog will be strong enough to go on camera after the starvation diet Mike had to put him on) will be talking about how this deal is good for the fans, and how it is all about getting back on the ice. It isnt about the money.

And then, cutting through the euphoria like a knife through warm butter, one spoiled player reminds me why we had to wait as long as we did for this day, and why we ended up with the deal we did.

Scott Niedermayer is not happy. In fact, he blames his fellow union members for not having the guts to go through a two year lockout to avoid a salary cap:

“We were told what to expect, and if a player didn’t feel he could handle what we were told would happen, he should have spoken up last summer. Then this deal would have been in place and we wouldn’t have lost the season,” Niedermayer said.

“I’m a little disappointed in that. You have to be committed. It’s hard, but you have to be honest with yourself.”

First of all Scott, several players did speak up last summer. And last fall. And last winter. They were all pressured into backing down or retracting their statements by your union brothers.

The fact is, Bob Goodenow and the NHLPA executive should never have even contemplated a strategy that involved missing at least two full seasons. Such a plan constituted little more than reckless endangerment of hundreds of NHL carreers. But then, the NHLPA’s strategy was never about helping the rank and file. It was about the stars. Stars like Scott Niedermayer.

The average NHL carreer lasts just 5 years. Any player, agent or fan who seriously expected the likes of Mike Commodore to give up 40-60% of his NHL carreer so that stars like Scott Niedermayer can continue to make $7 million a year was delusional. Such a strategy offered the lower tier and fringe players nothing. The NHL, however, gave them everything they could possibly want.

The minimum salary will skyrocket to $400,000 now, and will be at a cool half a million by the end of the deal. Not only that, but a hard cap should ensure that the NHL remains a 30 team league well into the future. The jobs will still be there for guys like Commodore, and they are guaranteed a very healthy paycheque. The stars, like Niedermayer, however will have to make due with less as teams try to fit 25 players into their budgets. Unfortunately for Niedermayer, there are a lot more lower tier guys than there are at his level.

And so, 10 months after it began, the lockout will end as the NHL successfully split the union down economic lines. Guaranteeing the lower paid majority will retain their healthy paycheques removed the will to fight from the majority of the union. While they will still be taking paycuts in most cases, at least they will still make a kings ransom to play hockey, and they dont have to give up another year of their short carreers so the stars can retain their fat paycheques. Afterall, why should Nolan Pratt care if Jaromir Jagr can only afford one ferrari this year instead of three?

One day and one year ago, the entire city of Calgary was on edge. The entire nation was eagerly anticipating that nights game, as the Calgary Flames had a chance to bring the Cup home.

The game ended up exactly as the entire series had gone: extremely tight, with neither team giving an inch. While the history books will record this one as a Lightning OT win, in Calgary, there is only one way to describe this game:

It was in.

With nine minutes left, Martin Gelinas’ shot went in and out of the net so fast that nobody on the ice even saw it. If a Flames player or a referee had seen it, and called for a review, there is no doubt in my mind that Gary Bettman would have handed the Stanley Cup to Jarome Iginla that night.

But, the game moves faster than the eye some times, and it was not to be. Replays suggest that Gelinas scored, but by the time they could be looked at, play had resumed and the argument became moot. One more inch perhaps, and someone would have realized. The red light would have come on, a city would have gone mad.

We were literally one inch from the Stanley Cup.

Following the disheartening loss in game 4, and without Ville Niemenen who was lost to suspension, many were once again writing the Calgary Flames off in the 2004 playoffs. Evidently “many” weren’t paying attention in the previous three rounds.

The theatrics began a day before the game, as Darryl Sutter blessed sportswriters with a classic rant. Without actually accusing the league of bias, Sutter all but stated the league of cheerleading for Tampa, and stated that the decision on Ville Niemenen’s suspension was made in New York – where Gary Bettman works – rather than Toronto – where league disciplinarian Colin Campbell is based. Bettman responded by trying to dismiss the argument, stating he would look at taking action against Sutter following the playoffs. While fans in Calgary were calling into radio stations looking to donate money to pay for the expected fine, Bettman never did take any action. Read into that what you like.

In both Calgary and Tampa, standing room only crowds flocked to their respective arenas to watch the pivotal game 5 – fans in Calgary spending over an hour in lines throughout the city trying to get passes into the Saddledome for the game, as once again, the statheads told us how important this game was. 83% of teams that win the fifth game of a tied series go on to win the series.

Sutter’s “world against the Flames” rant appeared to pay off. The Flames were intent on winning this game, taking the play to Tampa in the first. Somehow, the Lightning managed to escape the opening frame with a 1-1 tie. Not content with their effort, the Flames pressed even harder, outshooting the Lightning 14-3 in the 2nd, but only had one goal to show for it, as should-have-been Conn Smythe winner Jarome Iginla sent a seeing-eye shot past Khabibulin’s stick. Despite the Flames dominance, it all appeared that it would go for naught when Modin tied the game very early in the third on a powerplay after Rhett Warrener was flagged for holding Tampa’s dead man walking – Vinny Lecavalier.

The rest of the third period, and the entire overtime would test the hearts and nerves of all fans as it quickly became evident that the next goal would win.

Late in the first overtime period came what is now known in Calgary simply as [b]The Shift[/b]. Jarome Iginla was on the ice for the final two minutes of the game, and simply took it over. He very nearly won the game himself, but for the heroics of Khabibulin, and after losing his helmet in a scrum, rushed back into the defensive zone to help his teammates defend against a Tampa attack, only to rush back on the offensive, and thread the puck through two Tampa sticks, on goal, allowing Oleg Saprykin to bang the rebound in and send the entire city of Calgary into a frenzy.

The Calgary Flames, eight years removed from their last playoff run, were now just one win away from capturing the grestest trophy in sport, and had two chances to do it.

Unfortunately, in what ultimately may have become the turning point, Shean Donovan suffered a serious charlie horse late in this game, and while he was expected to return for game 6, he was unable to play the rest of the series. The loss of Donovan wiped out the Flames 2nd line of Nilson-Donovan-Niemenen, which had sparked the Flames the entire playoff run. After surviving several tests of depth in this playoff run, the Flames would later discover that Donovan’s injury may have been one too many.

Well, so much for my seven part recap of last year’s finals. The skinny on games two and three: Lightning returned to form, Kipper was awesome, Stillman got the crap beat out of him (deservedly), Lecavalier and Iggy proved that stars can fight, and the two teams split the two contests.

One year ago, one of the most infamous games the Flames have ever played, and ever will play took place at the madhouse that was the Pengrowth Saddledome. It was a ridiculously tight checking game that otherwise could have gone down as a defensive masterpiece, except that it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was also a game that also proved hairspray causes brain damage.

There are really only two things to remember about this game: The 5-on-3 in the first, and Niemenen running Lecavalier in the third.

This game was decided in the first period, but not by “clutch hero” Brad Richards. No, it wasnt decided by the players, but by the referees. In particular, one referee: Kerry Frasier. In a series of decisions that will baffle me for all time, and which angered an entire city to the point where the NHL was left with no choice but to change officiating assignments for game 6, Kerry Fraser took the the game away from the players.

Barely 90 seconds into the game, the chain of events went something like this: With the play deep in the Lightning zone, Darryl Sydor runs Jarome Iginla from behind with Fraser looking straight at the two players. Inexplicably, he decides not to call a penalty on this play. Watson evidently did not see the hit, as the play was starting back up the ice. A few seconds later, Frederik Modin is hauled down by Mike Commodore, who had no choice but to take the penalty or risk a fairly easy goal against. This call was made by Watson. Behind the play, and with everyone knowing that Calgary was already going a man down, Chris Clark and Nolan Pratt come together, with each taking a fairly weak swipe at the other. After deciding a check from behind wasnt worthy of a call, Frasier somehow decided that the Flames deserved to go two men down. In game four of the Stanley Cup Finals, Fraser made one of the weakest penalty calls of the entire season.

Instead of what should have been a Flames powerplay, or at worst, a one man advantage for Tampa, Frasier handed one of the deadliest teams in the league a full two minute two man advantage. The gift goal the Lightning received turned out to be the only goal of the game. And while the obvious – and accurate – counter argument is that the Flames were unable to tie the game in the remaining 57 minutes, the fact remains that Tampa didnt really earn their goal either. But for Kerry Frasier, this game is scoreless for who knows how long, as neither team was really able to penetrate the defense of the other the rest of the game. And while Tampa Bay might have won legitimately anyway, chaging nothing, we will never know, as Kerry Frasier ripped the decision from the players.

The second play that will be remembered forever in Calgary was Niemenen’s hit from behind on Lecavalier. While you can’t really defend Ville, as it was as much a hit from behind as the one Sydor layed on Iginla in the first, and it was also deserving of a major, as the hit drew blood, it is Lecavalier’s reaction that really drew the ire of Flames fans and players. Before I get into that, it is notable that once again, Frasier was staring right at that hit, and once again, Fraser chose not to make the call. It was Watson who called the penalty from across the ice, as this time, he saw it.

All Lecavalier had to do was get up, go to the referee, show the blood, penalty called. Instead, he had to make a big show of it, playing dead for the benefit of the referees. (He must have picked up some acting lessons from Mike Ribiero). There were even stories that one of his teammates told him to stay down. Watson skates over, looks at Levavalier, announces the major while the fans and Flames players were getting ready to applaud Lecavalier as he struggled back to his feet — only to see him jump right up with a big grin on his face and do his little hair flip towards the Flames bench. LORD IT WAS A MIRACLE!

Not surprisingly, Niemenen was immediately suspended for the hit. A curious decision given that the NHL admitted it was basing a decision on suspending Stillman for his illegal check in game 1 on whether Nilson could go for game two. While there was no doubt Lecavalier would not miss any time, no such concession was made towards the Flames forward on a hit that was no worse than the one Stillman laid out.

The game ended as it began, with the crowd mustering up all of the vitrol and venom it could and aiming it towards the referees. That fury would be captured, and used by Darryl Sutter before game 5, as he launched a Gretzkyesque tirade against the NHL and it’s decision making, suggesting that the league was cheering for Tampa to win, and that it was the world against the Flames.

The most striking part of this game was the looks on the faces of the fans during and after the game. Quite honestly, if the same events had taken place in a town like Detroit, there would have been a riot. The fury in the eyes of the fans was that strong.

However, ultimately, the final verdict of this game is that the Flames lost their chance to take a stranglehold on the series, and we were headed back to Tampa Bay to begin a best of three for the cup as everyone in North America was left to wonder how the Flames would bounce back.

Today begins what I hope will be a seven part retrospective of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Rather than a bland, dry recap, I hope to tell the story from the point of view of a Flames fan. Dry recaps can still be found on the websites of all major sports sites, but hockey, more than perhaps any other sport, is ruled by emotion.

Today, two sides are locked in a life-or-death struggle for supremacy over the National Hockey League. One year ago, the same could be said. Except that one year ago, the battle was fought on the ice, as the Stanley Cup Finals opened up featuring the unlikely Tampa Bay Lightning, underrated by everyone in hockey and the impossible Calgary Flames, who had no business even being there.

I always had something of a “dismissive liking” of the Lightning before this series. While I doubt I would have cared either way if they didn’t exist, they were a team I didn’t mind cheering for, and if Montreal or Ottawa couldn’t make the finals, Tampa was as good a choice as any to represent the East. However, that feeling died the second the final buzzer sounded a few nights earlier, and Dave Andreychuk ignored the Prince of Wales Trophy.

You were now the enemy. I hated you. By the end of the series, I would come to hate some of you more than others, but let’s leave that for the game six recap…

We had already knocked off all three division champions from the West. The top team of the weakest division in the East shouldn’t be much of a problem, or so many of us thought. The result of game one only reinforced this belief. In Calgary, the media was throwing out stats like “80% of the teams that win game one go on to win the Cup.”

And really, why should we have felt worried after the first game? Despite six days off, Tampa couldn’t take advantage of Calgary’s rust, generating few great scoring chances. The vaunted Lightning powerplay only managed to go 1-5, and gave up a shorthanded goal on Iginla’s remarkable second effort play. When the Flames got their legs under them, they simply rolled right over Tampa’s defense, and by the time the second period had ended, the Flames were up 3-0.

While a lot of people – especially in Tampa – were talking about the “skill and finesse” of the Lightning vs. the “dirty goons” from Calgary, this game proved immediately that such characterizations are not very accurate, as the Flames simply out skilled the Lightning in the first two periods, while the Lightning resorted to the goon show in the third.

On the same play in the third, Cory Stillman left his feet to elbow Marcus Nilson in the head, while Andre Roy crosschecked Ville Niemenen into the boards from behind. Both plays should have resulted in major penalties, as both were deliberate attempts to injure, however the referees ultimately chose to only call minor penalties against the two players. It is still absolutely baffling that the league would announce that it would suspend Stillman only if Nilson was unable to play in game 2. Just goes to show the league hadn’t learned a thing from the Bertuzzi incident, but that is a can of worms that I really don’t want to open right now.

Honestly, what did we have to fear from this Tampa Bay Lightning team? We outworked them, we out chanced them, we outscored them, our goaltending was better, and when push came to shove, the Lightning could only counter with cheap shots.

Though one realistically had to expect Tampa would rebound and return to its own game, on this night one year ago, we were only interested in partying.

After all, 80% of teams that win game one go on to win the Cup.

When the lockout began, Bob Goodenow made several comments basically stating that his union did not care what the fans thought. He wasnt interested in winning the PR battle, he said.

But, much like the insistance that the NHLPA would fight the salary cap to the death, time has revealed another truth: the players need the fans with them, not against them.

With that in mind, Canada’s entry in the World Hockey Championships has a message for you:

“We arent greedy! Honest! No, we mean it!”

GM Steve Tambellini summed up this little PR stunt quite accurately:

“That’s a very, very important aspect of what people should recognize,” Team Canada GM Steve Tambellini said Sunday. “These are players that are not involved in club (NHL) issues right now, they have volunteered their time to play for their country.”

What are you looking for, Steve, a hero cookie? We were always aware that these players arent getting paid to play in this tournament. They never have. Are we supposed to forget that the NHLPA’s unwillingness to negotiate a CBA until the eve of the seasons cancellation because Dan Boyle has decided to play in this tournament despite the fact that, as he puts it: “We’re not making a dime here”?

Are we supposed to simply forgive these players for robbing us of our pasttime this winter because they were willing to take a free trip to Europe without demanding some spending cash?

That the players felt the need to point out that they arent getting paid actually demonstrates just how out of touch with reality they are. Do they really expect us to salute them for doing what is expected of them?

Players dont go to these tournaments for the money. They never have. They go to represent their country. While I am sure Boyle, Tambellini and the rest of Team Canada are proud of themselves for not asking for more money, the fans are not going to be swayed.

If you want our respect, give us back our game.

It was one year ago this week that the Stanley Cup playoffs began. Eight teams began the second season with diverse expectations. The Red Wings and Avalanche were looking for yet another title. The Canucks were trying to gain some playoff respect. The Flames and Predators were just happy to be there.

I had hoped to write a retrospective of the entire first round, but the “other three” series are a blur. I have vague recollections of the Predators putting a little scare into the Red Wings before Curtis Joseph came off the bench to push the Wings into the second round. I remember the Blues showing a distinct lack of discipline as they very quickly bowed out to the Sharks. I don’t even remember anything of the Dallas Stars. They were that unremarkable in their series against the Avs.

Truth be told, I couldn’t care less about those series. No, as a Flames fan there was only one playoff series that mattered. And it wouldn’t have mattered if we had lost the series in four games. All that mattered was that after seven agonizing seasons in the Western Conference basement, we were back.

While many in Vancouver were predicting the Canucks would easily go through to the second round in four or five games, we in Calgary were simply enjoying the moment. Just knowing that we were playing in April again put the city in heaven. Even losing the first game was a victory in its own way.

The first playoff game at the Saddledome was surreal. Fans were so excited that the team got a standing ovation when they came out for the warm-up. The zamboni driver received a giant cheer afterward. Simon nearly blew the lid off the building by scoring the first goal. The fans in the 300 sections beating their thunderstix in a cadence that sounded like a war drum.

We all forgot how extreme the emotions are in the playoffs. The elation as the Flames came back from 4-0 down to take game 6 to overtime. The dejection as Brendan Morrison scored in triple overtime to salvage the game for Vancouver. When Matt Cooke scored with 6 seconds left to tie game 7, the entire city just stopped.

Calgary, a city of 1 million people was just too stunned to move.

And then, Chris Cuthbert’s call:

“Here’s Yelle, a shot! Auld big. A rebound. Huge! Another! They score! A rebound. And its Martin Gelinas, the former Canuck, and the Calgary Flames will end the Cup curse, and move on to Detroit in round two!”

With those words, the Red Mile was born.

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.

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.

Much has been made of the $6.5 million bridge that could not be gapped yesterday, leading to the cancellation of the NHL season. People on all sides are angry that such a small difference could not be made up.

Was it really a small difference, however?

Bob Goodenow’s angry reply to Gary Bettman’s ultimatum on Monday suggested that the commissioner’s comments about the difference actually totaling $200 million ($6.5 million x 30 teams) was out of line. Bob stated that only nine teams even spent up to $42.5 million, so it was ridiculous to argue that all teams would spend up to that limit.

Bob is correct when he suggests only a handful of teams would be able to spend up to that cap. However, Bob ignores the trickle down effect that this would cause. The NHL would be facing the exact same situation that killed the league in the last CBA, albeit on a smaller scale.

Toronto (as an example) will be spending up to the cap, no matter what the cap. They will be spending it on just 23 players. The end result is that those 23 players would be worth $6.5 million more in the NHLPA’s proposal than it would the NHL’s. Actually, they would be worth as much as $11.9 million more if you count the provision allowing teams to surpass the cap by 10%.

While the Hurricanes (as an example) will never spend up to the cap, they will be adversely affected by any extra spending the top teams are allowed. For as player x on the Maple Leafs gets paid more in a higher cap, the union will argue that player y on the Hurricanes with similar stats should make more as well. The continued presence of arbitration will work to cement this belief, and the Hurricanes are stuck with a contract that would make sense in Toronto, but not Carolina.

Bob Goodenow knows this, and this is why he has spent the entire lockout trying to play to the rich team’s abilities. The rollback benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The luxury tax benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The higher cap benefits the rich teams more than any other group. The provision to go 10% above the cap benefits the rich teams only.

Bob Goodenow does this because he knows that the rich teams will set the market for all teams. So while only the likes of the Maple Leafs will spend that extra $6.5 million up to the salary cap, it will force the likes of the Hurricanes to spend up from $30 to $36.5 million.

Bettman was dead on when he called the cap a magnet. It is magnet that pulls everybody higher.

Bettman was also correct when he characterized the difference between the two offers as being $195 million.

Except that it is worse than you think. Over the course of a six year deal, that difference works out to nearly $1.2 billion.

And that is without touching all of the loopholes the union wrote into it’s cap offer designed to inflate the salary cap itself as fast as possible – including, ironically, linking the cap’s upward movement to league revenues – while offering no possibility of lowering the cap for any reason.

While one might think they were close to a deal, the reality is that well over $1 billion stood between us and a hockey season.

It all started with a simple radio interview. Fan960 radio in Calgary interviewed Mike Commodore yesterday. They talked about Commodore’s time in Lowell of the AHL, and about Ville Niemenen’s injury. Then, the radio host asked him “Would you support a salary cap?” The answer has spurred a great deal of talk, even in the US.

“I’ll risk the slap on the wrist, I don’t want to spend however long my career lasts playing here in the American Hockey League (with Lowell), so I think whatever it takes.

“There’s different kinds of caps and it’s got to be a realistic one. You can’t cap it up at $30 million, we’re over that. It’s got to be realistic so both sides are making money.”

Commodore didnt just state he was willing to accept a cap, he took a shot at the union leadership:

“I don’t think it’s being handled well at all,” he said. “The thing is, you look at the PA and who’s in charge … it’s all the guys that have made $30 million playing this game. If there’s never another game of hockey … and they don’t make another cent playing in the NHL, they’re gonna be all right.

“There’s lots of guys in my shoes that if we miss a couple of years, that’s a huge deal.”

Mike Commodore came out and said what many fans have thought all along: The NHLPA isnt out to support the fringe players like Mike Commodore. They havent talked to him much, they just dont care about him.

What is most amazing about Commodore’s comments is that they even caused a Toronto based hockey writer to pen a quality column. Damien Cox used Commodore’s comments as a springboard for a columng for ESPN detailing the litany of contradictions between the union leadership, and union membership. Bob Mackenzie wrote an article for TSN.ca wondering if Commodore speaks for players at the lower end of the pay scale.

In case the NHLPA was hoping they could argue that Commodore was taken out of context despite it was a live interview, that plan was nixed when Commodore said the exact same words to the Calgary Herald later that day.

Maybe the union will tell him to state that, like Mike Ribiero, he didnt say what he said he did.

More likely, expect to see another $6 million + player, with $30 million in the bank to come out in support of the union within the next day or two.

Then consider who the union really supports.

Lasted as long as this entry.

My god is that trophy ugly.

When the World Cup started, everybody on this side of the pond was salivating over the possibility of a Canada – USA matchup for the Gold Medal game. Who forgot to tell the Finns the plan?

While many Canadians were disapointed that we didnt get to knock off the Yanks a second time in this tournament, I, for one, was very happy with the matchup. And not just because that meant that five Calgary Flame players were on the rosters.

I was elated by this matchup because it was a battle of nations who live, breathe and die hockey. While 2 million people watched poker on ESPN in the states, a paltry 350,000 watched the Finland-USA semifinal on ESPN2. Compare that to over 700,000 watching in the middle of the night in Finland – a nation of about 5 million people.

In the United States, this gold medal game would have been just another hockey game nobody cares much about. In Finland, it was the biggest game in that nation’s history.

How can you be disapointed with that kind of reaction?

Riding the stellar goaltending of Miikka Kiprusoff, and the same committment to defense that wins Stanley Cups, the Finns got through a relatively mediocre European pool, and past the rapidly aging Americans, only to fall in the final to the Canadians 3-2. It was exciting, high flying hockey, and the perfect lead into the NHL season.

Whoops… forget I said that.

Vinny Lecavalier was named tournament MVP, and while not a bad choice, I do not believe he was the best choice. I suspect Lecavalier won mainly as a result of his overtime goal in the semifinal against the Czechs. While an argument can definitely be made that Lecavalier was the top forward in the tournament, IMO, Martin Brodeur was far and away the Canadian – and Tournament – most valuable player. Though Brodeur should be getting used to being passed over, as he lost the Conn Smythe to JS Giguere two years ago, even though he was the better goaltender.

And while this tournament will be labelled a success by all, one cannot overlook that Helsinki, St. Paul and Toronto all struggled, and failed, to sell out games – victims of overpriced tickets for a tournament lacking in prestige after an eight year hiatus. Even in the land where kids learn to skate before they learn to walk, Canadians werent enthralled by this tournament like they were in 1996 or in the Salt Lake Olympics. the NHL and IIHF have a lot of work to do before the next World Cup – which will hopefully be held before 2012.

However, much of this may have to do with NHL arenas going dark tomorrow at midnight, as it is hard to get up for such a tournament on the eve of doomsday.

Regardless, Congratulations to team Canada, champions of the world once again.

Disney has been trying to sell the Mighty Ducks for years now, with absolutely no success. Afterall, who wants a mediocre franchise with a lukewarm fanbase and revenues comparable to the smallest Canadian markets, according to Forbes?

According to TSN.ca, A former owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Hartford Whalers, Howard Baldwin, has made an offer on the franchise.

It was slightly less than Disney is looking for.

Baldwin has offered $50 million. That is what Disney paid in expansion fees to get into the NHL. While Disney has been desperate to get out of the sports ownership buisness for years now, it is debatable if Disney would sell the franchise at that price.

However, it offers those of us who hate the Mickey Mouse image (pardon the pun) that a franchise named “Mighty Ducks” projects as Baldwin would likely move the team to Kansas City in 2007 when that city’s new arena is completed.

Of course, it should not come down to this. Metropolitan Los Angeles has a population base of over 20 million people. How can someone come into the NHL’s second largest market with what would usually be considered a lowball offer and be taken seriously – by major media outlets at least?

I would suggest the NHLPA watch this situation closely. That offers like this can be made for teams in a market like Los Angeles shows that the owners are not bluffing. Franchise values are mostly stagnant or declining because NHL hockey is not a good investment right now. Baldwin is trying to take advantage of the situation. What concessions the union ultimately agrees to will determine if it is a reasonable risk.

The WHA has many skeptics, myself chief among them. Joseph at Tasca’s Take feels I am being a little hasty in proclaiming the WHA to be dead on arrival. While he is also skeptical about the WHA’s potential for success, Joseph believes the potential reward is worth the risk. I would tend to agree, but the risk is threatening to magnify beyond it’s worth.

I suppose I would find the WHA a little more worthwhile if those running it didnt appear like chickens with their heads cut off. There is a lot of activity, but no thinking.

I used the XFL as an example simply because Americans would understand the reference. The WHA seems more like the Canadian Baseball League to me. The CBL was a league that ended up being started up last year in a big rush, put teams in markets that made no sense, grabbed some relatively big names but overall very little talent, did no marketing, and was run by people so arrogant they figured Canadians would support the league simply because it was Canadian. The CBL lasted barely half a season before falling to dust.

I see all of these factors in the WHA. The rush is on to try and get teams into buildings, players signed, tickets sold. The lack of preparation will cause a world of problems.

Halifax has no lease, and will be lucky to end up in a substandard arena as the Mooseheads wont be likely to share the Metro Centre. Their owners say they need 7000 fans on average to succeed, and are ignoring that Halifax has already failed numerous times as a pro hockey market. Not to mention that the prices will be $50-80 per ticket, when there already exists a QMJHL team that has a great product and costs less than $20 to attend.

Toronto and Hamilton still dont have leases, and really, there arent any decent arenas available.

Florida doesnt have a home yet, and is in a market that isnt known for financially sucessful hockey teams. Meanwhile, the “Founders Franchise” doesnt have a home because nobody actually wants to own the team. I did notice that the FF mainly drafted players that nobody will care about or miss if it should find no home. Planning for the inevitible.

The WHA buisness plan consists of exactly two things: The NHL remaining dormant, and people remembering the “glory days” of the original WHA, while forgetting that the original league was a financial disaster featuring an unending merry-go-round of franchise relocations, contraction and broken dreams. That WHA actually had real talent. This WHA will be very lucky to match the AHL.

The biggest obstacle will be a lack of financial stability. As Joseph noted, there is no real TV deal. No season tickets are being sold yet, which means that the WHA will have to rely almost exclusively on walk up ticket sales. When the WHA proves to be a minor league, it will draw minor league crowds. And minor league crowds are not enough to survive.

Like the CBL and the XFL, the WHA will end up being just another interesting idea poorly executed. The true winners in all of this will be the established organizations: the AHL, ECHL and Canadian Major Junior, all of which will benifit greatly from a dormant NHL.

Did you know?

Did you care?

If you do, Brad Richards was taken by the mysterious “Florida” franchise in the first round, 8th overall. They also took Ben Clymer in the 5th round.

Today the WHA is holding its amateur draft, trying to poach exceptionally talented juniors like Sydney Crosby and Dion Phaneuf away from the CHA and NHL

Yes, Florida, you have a team. It doesn’t have a name. It doesnt have a home – we know it wont be Orlando or Jacksonville, it doesnt have a lease, and it doesnt have a season ticket base. But it has Brad Richards. And Martin St. Louis. Assuming, of course, they choose to play in this league.

And while it seems the Florida franchise is in a state of disarray, it is still better off than the “Founders Franchise”, which also drafted players this weekend, but doesnt even know what country it will play in. The WHA says the team will play in either Cincinatti or Vancouver – assuming anyone is willing to own the team. My bet is Cincinatti, as GM place is leased to the Canucks, and the old PNE is leased to the WHL’s Giants. Not to mention that Victoria has an ECHL franchise, and half of the BCJHL Jr ‘A’ league is based in greater Vancouver. We Canucks love our hockey, but there are limits to how many teams we will support.

The other six teams are a little better off. Four have names, but only three have actually signed leases. To the best of my knowledge, only two season tickets have been handed out – in Detroit via raffle. No TV deals yet, and perhaps a handful of carreer minor leaguer’s signed, if that.

And only three months until puck drop to get all of this organized.

I’d like to think of the WHA as being little better than the XFL, but in doing so, I’d be insulting Vince McMahon, who managed to get one full season out of his league. One season more than I expect of the WHA.

From the Calgary Herald:

“In my mind, I thought it would be no problem to beat them because they’d be tired after coming after us the way they did,” said Bolts centre Tim Taylor. “They just come at you, come at you, come at you. That’s why I felt very confident after the first period. They don’t have too much offence, and I just thought that they’d tried to give us everything in trying to hit us.”

You know, Tim, if you are going to comment about how easy you figured it would be to beat a team, it would be wiser to do it after a win, rather than a loss, eh?

The Flames have played this style through 104 games now, and still show no signs of slowing down. If you figured one period would wear the Flames out, you havent been listening to your coach, who said to expect that kind of play throughout.

Besides, we all saw how effective hitting the Lightning that hard was in the third period. The Flames were able to use an over aggressive 3-2 forecheck numerous times in the final stanza as Lightning players continually turned the puck over fearing the big hit that was coming.

The result, Miikka Kiprusoff’s 5th post season shutout, leading the NHL, and a Flames franchise record.

As to the belief that Calgary has no offense? Calgary’s 54 goals this postseason is the most of all teams, and their average of 2.46 per game is third only to Tampa (2.74) and Philly (2.78).

But feel free to keep speaking, Tim. I have no doubt that your comments are finding their way onto the Flames dressing room wall.

With the Flames’ rampant success, and tickets for games selling out in an average of ten minutes, the profiteers have come out in full force.

While you can land a pair of tickets to finals games held in Tampa for a couple hundred dollars on eBay, tickets for the games in the Saddledome are going for over c$1000 a pair.

But one idiot really takes the cake. This twit actually wants $8000 American for a pair of club seats to game 3. Face value of these tickets are $325 each.

Gee, wondering why you have no bids yet, Sparky?

I like the Tampa Bay Lightning, I really do. If they werent playing the Flames in this final, I’d probably even cheer for them. But could someone please gag Tim “the Tool” Taylor already?

Taylor has been whining about the trap being employed by the Flames to win game one.

“Once again, a team says they are not a trap team,” Taylor said. “They are definitely a trap team. The way they play, I see us going back as a league another five or six years back to the old trap and not calling clutching and grabbing. This is a time for the league to really step up and do a job calling the game the way it’s supposed to be called.”

A couple of points, Mr. Taylor:

First, the Neutral Zone Trap is not based around clutching and grabbing – which your team was quite adept at as well on Tuesday – but on sound positioning.

Second, find me one team in the NHL that wont employ the trap up 3-0 in the third period of a hockey game.

Third, dont you find it odd that as a checking forward yourself, that you should be whining about your opponents checking you to death?

Fourth, going into the final three minutes of that game, Tampa held a 5-2 advantage in powerplays. I would suggest, Mr. Taylor, that the officials were doing exactly what you wanted them to do.

And finally, do you really want to wake the officials up? I agree wholeheartedly that the officiating could have been better. Cory Stillman leaving his feet to drill Marcus Nilson’s head into the glass would have been a major penalty, game misconduct and a suspension in the regular season. It should have been such on Tuesday as well. Andre Roy should also have gotten a major and a game misconduct for running Ville Niemenen from behind on the exact same play.

Thus, instead of being down two men for a full five minutes, you were only shorthanded one man for two. If anything, the officials allowed you the chance to try and get back in it. You didnt.

You went 4-0 vs the New Jersey Devils, Tim. Obviously the trap didnt affect you then. So why are you crying about it now? Or are you just looking for an excuse to explan why you were beaten silly in your own barn in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals?

Might I recommend that you play better tonight? Or would you prefer to spend your time trying to think up another excuse should you be outworked again by the Flames?

I sit here at 1:00 AM Mountian time, and there are still horns going off outside my window as people celebrate the Flames third Campbell Bowl victory. Quite honestly, I am still too wired, and in too much a state of shock and disbelief to go to bed, so here I am with some random factoids about the Flames playoff run that you can all use to amaze your friends with at random trivia parties. :wink

The Flames have become the first team in NHL history to defeat three division winners on their way to the final. To win the Cup, we would have to defeat a fourth.

The Flames are also the first Canadian team to make the finals since 1994.

Martain Gelinas has scored the series winning goal against Vancouver, Detroit and now San Jose. Beware the Eliminator, my Lightning or Flyer friends.

Rhett Warrener’s rookie season was 1995-96, when the Panthers went to the SC Finals. He was traded to Buffalo in 1999, helping to bring the Sabres to the finals in his first year there as well. This year was his first year as a Flame, and here he is in the finals again. I suspect 29 teams will be interested in his services in the hope that this pattern holds.

Karma is a funny thing sometimes…

In game seven of the first round, Ed Jovonoski was jumping up and down like an idiot in the penalty box when the Canucks scored their controversial tying goal. He was still in the box when the Flames won the series on a powerplay goal.

In game six of the series vs Detroit, Derian Hatcher elbowed Matthiew Lombardi in the head – Lombardi hasnt played since. Gelinas was able to win the series when Hatcher completely failed to cover his man, choosing instead to stand in front of the crease uselessly.

In game three of this series, Alex Korolyuk did a little showboating on his empty netter. Tonight, he scored another empty netter – this time on his own goal as he missed a pass that would have set Patrick Marleau up for a golden chance to tie.

Just goes to show that bad people get what they deserve.

In Calgary, they call it the ‘C of red’, a playoff tradition that dates back 20 years where all Flames fans are asked to wear red for playoff games:

In response, the Flames first round opponent in 1985, the Winnipeg Jets, began the Whiteout, a tradition that has followed the franchise to Phoenix.

But where there are fashion trendsetters, there are always copycats trying to live off the coattails of others success. In response to Calgary’s C of red, the San Jose Sharks asked its fans to create an “Ocean of Teal.” Predictably, it failed miserably. I’m sure Sharks management is baffled, but really, why would anyone voluntaraly own or wear a teal coloured t-shirt? Ooooh, intimidating!

Undaunted, the Philadelphia Flyers have chosen to hop on the fashion bandwagon, encouraging its fans to wear orange. While orange may be a more manly colour than teal, one has to wonder if the Flyers will be able to succeed where the Sharks failed.

It leads me to wonder if Tampa Bay will copy the idea as well. What colour would they wear? A “Black out” to follow home colours? I mean, Lightning does show up most clearly in the dark… Hopefully for Lightning fans, they won’t re-visit Vancouver’s crying towel tradition.

This proves a sad point in the NHL as well — traditions are so rarely born and so often copied… Be it songs played in arenas, things thrown on ice (Rats? To copy octopi? Get real!), or chants by fans. Doesn’t anyone have an original idea to build a tradition? Vancouver having the crowd sing a verse of O Canada during every game is a rare original tradition, and of course the Stars prolonged Goal horn, along with the crowd making sure to pronoucne STARS during the Star Spangled banner, are both original traditions…

Something rare, something unique… Something that foregos the clich?nd actually makes a dent in the fabric of the NHL’s history….

…which hopefully doesn’t become orange crushed.