Blog Hiatus: NHL Lockout Rant

So, I was silly enough to start a hockey blog around the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And with my luck, the NHL would lockout the season, cancel any training camps and preseason games, and whatnot. But I'm sick of supporting a league that locks out its players (and ultimately, the fans) every 10 years or so. Regardless if the season is cut in half, why should money get in the way of things? Its different, if you're salary is being cut from $80,000 to $65,000 and having to make due, but getting salary cuts to players making over millions of dollars? To me, that's being selfish.

The worst part, is that players are willing to play in Europe, for millions of dollars less, than what they would make in North America. It plainly shows that there is no such thing as loyalty to a team or city. In the video that the NHLPA released (I'll link the video at the end of the post), the players would like some sort of way to play, but still be in negotiations. Yes, because you'll have time to sit in a board room after practices, road trips and games. Plus, that defeats the purpose of the owners locking out the players.

And why are people blaming Gary Bettman? He's only doing his job, same with Donald Fehr. But this nonsense has to stop. Players need to stop being greedy, owners need to stop being greedy, and they (including the league) need to look at what really drives the NHL; the fans. Owners are bringing in the millions, while some families need to starve themselves to go see an NHL game (I'm being a little drastic, but you get the point). Everything from concessions to merchandise to tickets are insanely expensive ($4.00 for a bottle of water for goodness sake). If the NHL wants it to be about the fans, then make it about the fans. If the players want to play, let them play! Easier said than done, but why is it that the Stanley Cup has the chance of not being won by a team for only the 3rd time in over 110 years? As a die-hard hockey fan, I'm sick of it.

Lets let the NHL players flee to Europe, put hard working players over there out of a job, and bump up the kids in the jr. leagues, who don't care about the money, who just want to play. Give young North American players a shot, because the current NHLer's are just taking the league for granted. There's no clear winner in this lockout, but there's no clear good guy.

As for this blog, any changes or updates that surface, I'll do my best to report it. As for hockey, I'll support the Ottawa 67's at Scotiabank Place this year, cause I have a feeling that'll be the only team to play in the Bank this year.

Here's the message the NHLPA sent out via YouTube about the current lockout.

Post Free Agent Market

First off, a very belated "Happy Canada Day" to all the Canadian followers of this page. I had a great day celebrating our nations birthday, and I hope you did as well.

But with me being a hockey nut, before I headed out to Parliament Hill to enjoy the festivities, I was glued to TSN, SportsNet, NHL.com, essentially any channel that would have the Free Agent signings of the day. Obviously, the biggest transactions didn't come until Independence Day, for all the American followers. You know which names I'm talking about -- Zack Parise and Ryan Suter -- both getting matching contracts to the Minnesota Wild for the same amount of time. Is this a smart investment for Wild GM Chuck Fletcher? With Heatley and Koivu already stealing the show, the two new Wild players have already pumped more season ticket owners than previous years, which makes you feel for the rest of the team, that it takes two free agents to pump that kind of dough into the Xcel Energy Center. Regardless, the West should see a good change of players heading elsewhere to different teams.

I would expect to see Jaromir Jagr pump some people into Dallas to see their games, signing a 1-year deal for about $4.55 million. And "BigMac Jokinen" (for those who don't get it, I'll post a video at the end of this post" is headed to Winnipeg to indulge in their second year as a new franchise coming from Atlanta.

I won't really touch base on the draft, because there isn't much to talk about... yet. Sure, Nail Yakupov went first overall as expected, doesn't necessarily make him a number 1 forward. I would like to see Malcolm Subban play behind Tuukka Rask this season, but wouldn't be surprised if he spent the year down in Providence.

That pretty much sums up this Sunday morning. Hope to report soon with more off-season news! Happy summer!

Video courtesy of HockeyWebCaster;

"If the Great One tells you to eat a burger, you better go eat one"

Stanley Cup and NHL Awards

So, first off, congratulations to the Los Angeles Kings for a stellar post-season to capture Lord Stanley's Cup. They're an impressive team, with a great group of players who deserve every moment. And kudos to New Jersey, a group of experienced, talented players who turned heads all post-season.

With that in mind, with the NHL Awards being on Wednesday, as well with me being from Ottawa, I was overjoyed with the hardware the Senators took home. Erik Karlsson won the Norris Trophy as top defenceman, and he was up against Nicklas Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara, a former Senator. With Lidstrom retiring, I think it would've been a great homage to send him out with another trophy. Karlsson is a young player with a ton of potential, and he will have his time once again, and hopefully with the Stanley Cup.

I wanted coach MacLean to win the Jack Adams award, but reading up on how Ken Hitchcock took the struggling St. Louis Blues, and leading them to a 43-15-11 record after replacing Davis Payne, is really something.

With the NHL draft coming later tonight (its 2:15 EST as I'm writing this), I'm excited to see who will be drafted. In my opinion, its much more open this year, meaning there isn't a clear-cut player who we all know will go number 1 overall. It will be an exciting few days of NHL transactions that are going to unfold. 

Game 5 in New Jersey

The Devils managed a 3rd period push to save themselves for another game. Game 5 is in NJ on Saturday, and I really hope this is the start of a comeback. What a story that would be eh? Coming back from 3 games down in the final to win the Stanley Cup.

I was in disbelief, but very impressed, at the speed of LA's power play this evening, scoring almost immediately off the draw. But Martin Brodeur would let that be the only puck go by him.

It's a shame that the NHL isn't following the every-second-day game rotation, but it works because people can sit back and watch it on a Saturday, plus I wouldn't be able to watch it on Friday anyways.

Let's see if LA can follow the trend of winning the Cup on the road.

Stanley Cup in Los Angeles

The new NHL champions could be crowned as early as tomorrow, with LA having a 3-0 threshold on New Jersey for the Cup Final. It would be great to see the Kings win it for the first time in they're existence. Although I love and respect Martin Brodeur, I would love to see him hoist it one more time. As for a return next season, I would love it, but wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if he decided to hang the skates for a final time. I loved that his father was able to watch him play in game 2, but a shame they lost in overtime.

But you have to be impressed with Los Angeles and how they've preformed this post season. They're perfect on the road, and only 2 loses out of the 17 games they've played. An amazing record for an 8th seed that people predicted to be eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks. Speaking of the Canucks, if Los Angeles can win game 4, this'll be the third year in a row the Canucks have lost to the cup champion team (Chicago in 2010, Boston in 2011, and LA in 2012). Must be bad luck somewhere in Rogers Arena, or maybe the Sedins have the wrong skates on.

Back on track, it'll be nice to sit down with some friends, watch the game, have a few beers and watch the cup potentially be won at home since Detroit won it in 2008 (people can quote me if I'm wrong). Hope you all are able to watch and enjoy what may be, the last NHL game this season before September comes.

Cheers!

Game 1 and my inability to watch it

Folks, game 1 of the cup final tonight. My prediction? Well, it can go ether way. I love LA and they're talent, but I've been a huge Martin Brodeur fan since I was a wee-little boy. As much as I want New Jersey taking their 4th cup in 17 years, I think the Kings have been patient... And by patient I mea 45 years patient.

I might not be able to catch it because I am currently in the waiting room of the doctors office. For the past few days my throat/mouth has been in a peril of pain and swolleness. I thought it was time to give in and check in with the professionals. I think my home remedies of Halls cough drops and ginger ale serves its purpose, but not in this case.

Stanley Cup Finals and I'm an adult

A little while has passed, and quite a bit has happened in the hockey world, and my personal world.

New York defeated Washington in quite the hard-fought series. As much as I wanted the Capitals to win (because NY took out Ottawa, and it would be quite the underdog story for Braden Holtby), it would be cool to see a Lundqvist/Kings final. But, I want New Jersey to take it to the Cup final. Give Brodeur one more. That would be a sweet way to retire; do the ol' Scotty Bowman "sign your papers during the ceremony" sherrah. Although he does have a couple Stanley Cups, some hardware, including two Olympic medals, one more can't hurt?

And, today, I officially became an adult. I'm still trying to comprehend it actually. I can now legally vote, own a credit card, buy lottery tickets, all that jazz.

18 years ago my mother gave birth to possibly the greatest thing since the telephone (who are we kidding). All jokes aside, I'm blessed I've been able to spend 18 wonderful, amazing years with an amazing group of supportive and wonderful people. Many thanks to those who have made my life a blast to live!

Canucks throwbacks

Going back to my graphic work for NHL 04, doing a new set of jerseys that I will have available for download. Its the Vancouver Canucks alternate jersey worn in 1996/97. Don't get confused with the ones worn a year before when some teams expanded with third jerseys; the ones in 1995/96 had straight black socks, clashing with the pants. The year later added stripes to the socks, and made the foreground colour a dark-red to match the uniform.

The gradients were a bit difficult to work with. Not so much on the chest and back, mainly the arms. Duplicating the layer with the gradient style added caused it to not show. Had to re-add it. Nonetheless here it is. I like the outcome, managed to get the C in the logo to fit inside the yellow bar without too much trouble.

Capitals-Rangers off to a game 7

Washington managed to hold off the Rangers to a 2-1 win. Tons of things caught my eye this game;
- Braden Holtby needs to get control of his rebounds. If they're low shots, there isn't much he can do rather than try to get control of them. If they're up at his chest, no excuse. Cover it with your glove, and if it ends up coming down, tackle that son-of-a-gun.
- Rangers need to get to those rebounds. They're taking shots, and leaning back and waiting what happens. Crash the net, get in Holtby's face, and clean up the garbage.
- The Rangers goal with 0:30 seconds remaining shouldn't have counted. There was a Ranger forward right in his space (when I said crash the net, I didn't mean literally), granted he was pushed. The shot went wide, but Holtby couldn't get his blocker out to try to get a piece. It ends up going off a player, and in. Classic goalie interference.
- Washington is way to cocky. On the scoreboard, they were showing previews to purchase tickets for next round. That's a huge slap in the face to the Rangers, and I'm sure they took it as motivation cause they scored following the faceoff. If there are hockey gods (hopefully not on the Rangers side), New York will win at home and play New Jersey (who thought of that?).

But speaking of the conference finals, Los Angeles vs. Phoenix, and New Jersey vs. WAS/NYR. I definitely didn't have this in my pool.

"Our worst day, is their everyday."

Just settled to watch the Capitals-Rangers game on CBC, and Ron MacLean made a good point.

These two teams, their cities rather, were victims of the terrible 9/11 attacks back in 2001. It never dawned on me, that almost 11 years ago, this act shook the whole world. Ron went on the credit all emergency personnel, volunteers, virtually anyone who helped aid those who needed it that day.

Then he said something that got to me;
"Our worst day, is their everyday."

Coming from a family where my grandfather, and two uncles served and fought for our country, makes me think that we don't give enough credit where credit is due. The ones who put their life on the line, so we can keep living ours, is something some of us, myself included, seem to forget about.

Just a quick thought I had before puck drop.