Defence Wins Championships, But Loses Fan Interest

If a team cannot erase a one goal first period deficit, is it the team having the problems, or does there continue to be an issue with defensive systems making a triumphant comeback in the 'new' NHL? Argument can easily be made to show the latter is to blame for the ever decreasing lack of offence.

It is not a low scoring game that makes real fans of the great game cringe, it is a complete lack of quality chances. Watching a well played defensive game where the teams are still able to produce chances keeps the fans interested and entertained. If scoring chances between the teams register a combined 8 or 9 it is very difficult to convince people that the game is worthwhile watching..

Ultimately this is a complaint that has been resonating for years and there has yet to be any long term solution reached. This is not so much a complaint as it is an assesment to make sure attention is paid to an issue that the 'new' NHL has yet to resolve.

Congrats to all the teams that live to battle in Round 2, stagnant defence or not , they have earned their ticket.

One round closer to the Stanley Cup final...sweet.

A new form of torture

For Calgary Flames fans, watching their beloved team is a new and painful method of torture. After the first two pitiful games in Detroit, Flames fans were just hoping for a win. Instead the Flames delivered two wins, and played good solid Flames hockey.

As the series returned to Detroit, all tied up, the city of Calgary was renewed with optimism. The Flames had found their game. They had the momentum, and everyones weekend plans involved a couple of weekend games. Just like it was at the start of the series, a Flames series victory seen inevitable for Flames fans.

Heartache, frustration, and annoyance are the common symptoms for Calgary Flames fans now, after the teams brutal loss today. The Flames have played terrible hockey on the road all year, and they seem to be taking it to a new level in the playoffs. Its painful to watch. Really painful.

With a victory in game 6, the pain could reach a whole new level in game 7. With a loss in game 6, at least the suffering will be over for the fans.

No Guts, No Glory

I would like to applaud the gutsy call by Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz last night. With just over three minutes left and trailing by two goals, Trotz pulled the goaltender to give his team an extra skater.

The gutsy call worked out for Trotz as his team scored and pulled within one of the San Jose Sharks. This left the Predators nearly three minutes to score the tying goal. Although the Predators were unable to even up the game, that brave decision made overtime seem like a very real possibility.

I would like to applaud Trotz for putting his team in a position to take the game to overtime. If it wasn’t for his decision, a Sharks win would have been a lock.

RE: Please Read ... Urgent

Dear New Jersey Devils Organization,

As an avid hockey fan, I have been appalled to discover that you have been trying to pass off an inferior clone in place of Martin Brodeur. While he looks and moves similar, if not the same as the real version, he has obviously not been programmed to stop the easy shots with the confidence of the original.

Maybe I'm just being overly critical, because the fact that you have been able to pass this clone off on everyone else deserves recognition and applauding. While his settings have been tweaked to make the 'big save' I am unhappy with the engineer's ability to tweak the 'cheap goal' setting.

While this Brodeur is a very well built replica, as a fan with too much time on his hands I would truly appreciate it if he can be stored in a rubbermaid or ziploc container until, at the very least, the original needs to hang up his skates...which should occur by roughly 2015.

The NHL, and the peoples against the Tampa Bay Lightning 2007 Stanley Cup bid foundation thank you for addressing this concern upon reading.

To reiterate please give us back the Brodeur we know and love.

Yours Truly,
Overreacting Mainstream Media.



Originally posted on
www.creasecrashers.com

Confidence in Halak

In an article available on TSN it seems that Guy Carbonneau is trying to do the right thing and give rookie goaltender Jaroslav Halak some confidence. If Carbonneau were to stop talking after the first part of each statement, he might have just done that. However, as you continue to read his statements, one becomes very unsure if he actually has any confidence in Halak.

Statement # 1
"He (Huet) will be on the bench, so he'll have a chance to go in the warm-up and feel the game close to the ice." - this is good and it sounds like he'll be staying with Halak, as the rookie goaltender has proven to be a solid netminder.

Too bad it was followed by
"After that, we don't have a plan. We'll go period by period, day by day" as in if Halak has one bad period, he'll be back on the bench. No pressure there.

Statement #2
"Right now, Jaroslav is playing really well. He has given us a chance to win every game and the reason we're here is because of him, so we're going to show him confidence." An excellent statement made by the Habs coach. He finally shows some confidence in Halak.

Unfortunately he then said
"But you never know what's going to happen." - Sounds like Carbonneau is thinking/expecting Halak to crumble at anytime.

A final comment in the article, about the Bruins goaltending that I thought was worth mention: "It doesn't matter to us who is in net. Even if Jesus is in net, we'll try to beat him." Hmm... If Jesus was indeed a goalie, I'm guessing he'd be pretty good.

Surprising Performances

There's been a couple of surprising performances in the last week that I have found very shocking. First the 5-1 loss by Carolina to the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers and the 7-2 loss by Toronto to the New York Rangers. Both Carolina and Toronto need to win to make it to the playoffs, so any loss brings them on step closer to the golf course, which is what makes these games so surprising.

A desperate hockey team doesn't lose 5-1 to the worst team in the league. A desperate hockey team doesn't lose 7-2 to one of the teams they are chasing.

So the question you have to ask is do these teams really want it? Both teams have clung to the chance of making the playoffs with some strong play over that last couple of weeks, maybe it's just been too much and they had a let down. It could be that their respective coaches have run out of ways to motivate them.

For whatever reason it is, these performances just aren't acceptable by a professional hockey team at crunch time. It's games like these that people remember on why they missed the playoffs.

Duel M.V.P. Awards

There was a comment made on the HNIC broadcast tonight about the idea of duel M.V.P. awards. One M.V.P. for the Eastern Conference, and one M.V.P. for the Western Conference. At first I was unsure of the idea, but the more you think about it the more it seems like a good idea.

With the NHL schedule the way it is you can't compare two players against each other when one plays in the east and one plays in the west. The type of game played in the west are dramatically different now as well. With the East being a run and gun type of game, where in the Western Conference is all about tight defensive hockey. A perfect example of this is the Calgary Flames. With four games left in the season they have 209 goals against. Out of the eight playoff teams in the Western Conference they place eighth in goals against. In the Eastern Conference however they would be second only behind New Jersey.

The current voting process is done by the media. Can they still be counted on to cover their assigned team day in and day out, while still keeping up to date with what's happening in another conference? Especially when you only see two-thirds of them other conference over the course of the season. It can be easily argued that the only reason Vancouver is the Northwest leader is the play of Luongo, who is by far the Canucks M.V.P. Does someone in Pittsburgh know how valuable he is to the Canucks? Probably not, and Luongo isn't even going to be considered for M.V.P.

If you compare Sidney Crosby to Joe Thornton most would think that Crosby's eleven more points this season could indicate that he is more valuable to his team. When you break it done though both have contributed to 43.4% of their teams goals. It just happens that Western teams a more defensively focused. Can you punish Thornton because of that?

With game play and schedule starting to make two very distinct conferences maybe it' time to have an M.V.P. for both conferences.