(Photo: ECHL.com)
Wednesday night, the Washington Capitals were in San Jose as the Caps began a four-games-in-six-days road trip. Ensuring that the team took two points on that first game was important, especially since they were coming off a 3-1 loss to division rival Philadelphia on home ice. Couple that with the Caps’ position in the standings—the first wild card position—sitting behind the New York Rangers by three points, and they needed to get something going with that first road game.
At 15:02 of the first period, Jay Beagle would get the Capitals on the board first with a wrist shot. The play actually began with some smart work by Michael Latta to keep possession of the puck as he was hounded behind the Sharks’ Antti Niemi’s net to get the puck to Brooks Orpik who made a nice pass to Beagle.
With one minute remaining in the first period, Eric Fehr would be called for hooking on San Jose Sharks Joe Pavelski, which would put the Capitals down a man gong into the second period. Fehr’s penalty would prove costly when Brent Burns tipped in a goal just 21 seconds into the second to tie the game for the Sharks. Back at even strength and Burns would put his Sharks up by one with a wrist shot just 22 seconds later.
Pavelski who drew the penalty on the Capitals at the end of the first would find himself sitting for two minutes for high-sticking Brooks Laich. And while on the power play the Capitals would tie the game from Troy Brouwer’s tip-in, assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.
With just 5:12 remaining in the second period, Logan Couture would again get the Sharks ahead with his wrap-around. The Capitals would begin the third period down by a goal, and scoring would stall until more than half way through the third.
Beagle would make his second of the night with a backhand on the short side after finding himself completely open when Mirco Mueller ended up colliding with the linesman; tying the game for the second time. Roughly two minutes later the Capitals would regain the lead from John Carlson’s wrister, assisted by Marcus Johansson and Backstrom, who had his second assist in the game.
Unfortunately for the Capitals, the Sharks refused to be intimidated and just a minute later Joe Thornton would knot the score assisted by Pavelski and Melker Karlsson. Regulation would end with the score tied.
Into overtime the two teams would head, and 2:42 into that fourth frame, Joel Ward would get his wrist shot far side assisted by Mike Green and Beagle. The win would start the road trip off on a positive note and with that assist in overtime, Beagle would reach a career high with a three-point game (two goals, one assist).
With the three points, the Calgary native also set a new career high in goals (9), assists (8) and points (17) this season. Perhaps most impressive is that Beagle has earned as many points this season as he had in the previous two years combined, having scored six goals and earned 11 assists from 2012 to 2014.
Beagle could be considered the Capitals’ good luck charm, as the team is 16-0-4 all-time when Beagle scores a goal and more importantly has gone 13-0-1 this season when he earns a point.
The Capitals will continue their road trip when they take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center for a Valentine’s Day matchup.
“Fan experience” is a hot bed buzz word in the sports industry, and customer service fits right into this category. Being with the Syracuse Crunch (AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning) as an intern since the beginning of the Fall semester, I have met several people who work in the War Memorial at Oncenter Arena, as well as fans. It is easy to be distinguished as part of the front office team of the Syracuse Crunch since we all dress in business professional attire at games, therefore intern or not, I tend to field several questions from the fans.
It’s important to be friendly and professional, especially when you stand out in the crowd wearing business professional attire, generally I don’t wear a heavy coat or winter boots around the arena (because I am able to change them in our office) and I am typically walking around with just my cell phone, game night roster and small notebook/pen. I have assisted fans by taking pictures of them in the arena, following up when pucks escape the rink during warm ups and end up in the laps of fans, or just direct fans to the proper office to have their questions answered.
For this game on 01.24.15 vs. the Hartford Wolf Pack, I went for a more eclectic look, both the knit yellow cardigan with cream stitching, and the cream and black wool knit skirt are from Anthropologie. Again, with the winter weather here in Central New York, adding opaque black tights is necessary and my footwear choice was tall, black leather boots from Cole Haan. For jewelry, a gold watch from Nixon, a simple gold vintage bangle, a cream and gold bangle from Coach, and double layer pearl stud earrings. My purse is a cream and black houndstooth pattern from Coach.
Wrapping up a weekend of home games in the back half of the AHL season generally leads to a lot of multi-tasking. So far my time spent with the Syracuse Crunch Hockey Club (AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning) there have been several ticket promotions and theme nights, consistent fulfillments in sponsor contracts, players traded or called up that are flying into their new city and need assistance, and those are just a few examples of regular functions on game day.
It’s hard to know going into the night, especially as an intern, just exactly what to expect. So dressing for the unexpected can be difficult. Typically, I utilize a spot up in one of our press areas during the actual game and I am responsible for tracking when ribbon light and score board advertisements/commercials run for our sponsors. I also photograph these advertisements on occasion as well. I make visits to our sponsors who are tabling and couponing to check in on them and to photograph their set-ups and have assisted with some of our in-game sponsor activations. So looking business professional, even as an intern, is necessary.
For this specific game night on 02.07.15 vs. the Springfield Falcons, I was going to be doing a lot of walking around the arena visiting with sponsors and performing the aforementioned tasks, therefore I chose to wear a pair of flat boots. I paired a simple fitted black knit skirt from J.Jill, with a crème and black patterned swing shirt from Anthropologie. We are right in the heart of Winter here in Central New York, therefore legwear is necessary. I decided to wear a pair of opaque crème colored tights with my tall black leather Cole Haan boots. For jewelry, a gold Nixon watch, a simple vintage gold bangle, a crème and gold bangle from Coach, and double layer pearl stud earrings from a local jeweler. I finished this look with two accessories that are handmade and sold on Anthropologie Angie’s shop on Etsy. Those accessories are a red and black flannel infinity scarf and a black felt clutch purse with red felt flowers.
(photo: Dinur Blum)
After 14 amazing seasons in the NHL, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov made an announcement Wednesday that he would retire. A member of the San Jose Sharks for 10 seasons, the Sharks reacquired Nabokov on Monday from the Tampa Bay Lightning and, as expected, it was so that he could retire as a Shark.
Nabokov was originally drafted by the Sharks in 1994, and throughout his illustrious career, he led all goaltenders selected in that draft year for career games played, wins, and shutouts. Additionally, he is the winning-est goaltender in the Sharks’ franchise history with 293 wins. He also holds the title for most games played (563) and most shutouts (50) for the club. In his first full NHL season in 2000-01, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy as the League’s Rookie of the Year plus was selected to play in the NHL All-Rookie Team and the NHL All-Star game all in that same season.
Overall, he has played in 697 career NHL games with San Jose (1999-2010 seasons), the New York Islanders (2011-14 seasons), and Tampa Bay Lightning (2014-15).
The season with the most accolades for Nabokov was in 2007-08. He led the NHL in wins (46), was tied for 3rd in shutouts (6), and was 3rd in goals-against average (2.14). That same season he was runner-up for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender and finished 7th in voting for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL’s most valuable player. He played in the NHL All-Star Game and was named to the NHL First All-Star Team. Additionally, he had 46 wins that season, 4th most in a single season in the NHL with 77 appearances. Those 77 appearances in a single season ranks third most in NHL history.
Probably one of the coolest stats to happen to a goalie happened to Nabokov on March 10, 2002, in Vancouver. He scored a goal – only the 7th goaltender (and first of European descent) to do so. But what’s more impressive is that he was the first NHL goalie to score while his team was on a power play.
Among his incredible regular-season statistics, Nabokov also ranks 23rd all-time in postseason wins with 42 out of his 86 career Stanley Cup Playoff games. He helped lead the Sharks to two of their three Western Conference Final appearances in 2004 and 2010.
His achievements stretch across the international stage as well. In 2004, he was named to the roster for the World Cup of Hockey for that year. A native of Kazakhstan, he represented Russia in 2006 as their starting goaltender and in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Additionally, he led Russia to a gold medal in the 2008 World Championships (he played in the 2011 World Championships as well) and was voted “Best Goalkeeper” and named Russia’s top player for those games in 2008.
For San Jose Sharks fans, and probably for “Nabby” himself, it was a bittersweet moment Wednesday night when he dropped the ceremonial puck before the start of the contest between the Sharks and the Washington Capitals. The crowd went wild and were chanting “Nabby! Nabby! Nabby!” as was so often the case during his career in San Jose.
(photos are my own)
Nabokov reflected on his career as a hockey player and his retirement during his press conference Wednesday afternoon:
“Growing up in Kazakhstan in the 1980s, I never could have dreamed of making it to the NHL and play against the best players in the world. I’m really proud to be able to finish my career where I started in San Jose and where I had my best years. This is my home and this is where my heart is.”
As for myself, Nabokov was the first NHL goalie that I had watched when I was first introduced to the game and the Sharks. And I can’t help but believe that he had something to do with my love for the sport. He will be forever remembered as one of San Jose’s greatest goaltenders and will forever be a San Jose Shark. Thank you, Nabby.
As a student enrolled in the “Sport Venue and Event Management” graduate program at Syracuse University, it is safe to say that both my time and finances are on a budget. Currently I am completing my practicum work with the Syracuse Crunch Hockey Club, the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. I am working mostly with Sponsorship Services, however like most interns, I assist where I can and need to be ready for any task at a moments notice. Especially in the AHL, I have learned that no matter your role, it can be all hands on deck. You also never know who you will meet at games, and for someone entering the sports business job market at the beginning of this coming Summer, “dress to impress” takes on a new meaning every game. This, combined with the frigid, snowy Central New York Winters can make dressing professionally for each game tricky.
Fortunately, prior to enrolling in my Masters program, I spent some time as a retail manager, therefore I have been able to reinvent my wardrobe a few times. For me, I have found it is not the quantity of pieces I own, but the quality, that serves me best. If you continue to follow my fashion journey through the back half of this AHL season, you will see that I tend to repeat pieces, however I will also switch it up. I like to mix high-end with low-end, vintage and hand-made, both for clothing and accessories.
This is a photo montage of what I put together for my first home game of this Spring semester (01.10.15) vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. I paired a sheer black long sleeve shirt with a slight scoop neck from Lands’ End with a grey tweed pencil skirt from Lauren, by Ralph Lauren. I added black stockings to compliment the sheer shirt and wore my black Ellen Tracy kitten heel shoes to complete the look. For accessories, I kept it simple and professional with a gold link watch by Nixon, a thick gold chain necklace from Anthropologie, and delicate emerald (my birth stone) and gold post earrings, ring and bracelet from a local jeweler. Even working from the press box, I like to have a purse with me. For this look I added a black, leather envelope clutch from Kate Spade. For make-up, I went with a clean look, however added color with a slight red lip gloss.
HIGH FIVE, a division of Parks and Recreation Ontario, is joining forces with the Canadian Women’s Hockey League to launch #HIGHFIVE4Girls, a campaign offering complementary tickets to the 2015 Clarkson Cup to organizations that empower girls through sport and recreation.
Said CWHL commissioner Brenda Andress of the partnership,
“We are delighted to partner with the #HIGHFIVE4Girls Campaign … We want to share the success of our elite female athletes with the kids taking part, and hope to leave them with a lasting positive impression of the joy found in playing the game of hockey.”
HIGH FIVE seeks to ensure that all children have “positive sport and recreation experiences that support their healthy development,” which dovetails nicely with the increasing focus on the growth of girls’ youth hockey. Part of encouraging kids to stay active and involved in sports as they grow and develop is generating positive experiences.
“It’s time that we focus on promoting positive experiences in sport and recreation, so that kids want to stay involved. The research is clear: we know why girls and boys stay in sport and why they leave, and 70 per cent leave sport because of negative experiences,” said HIGH FIVE national director LJ Bartle.
Giving young girls the opportunity to see athletes compete at the highest level at the Clarkson Cup will certainly go a long way in providing not only an incredible experience for young girls, but will also introduce them to new role models — and endear the league to them. Establishing a young fanbase can only help the CWHL grow, as little girls grow up desiring to play on the teams they cheered for as children.
As Andress noted, the #HIGHFIVE4Girls campaign “gives young fans the chance to check out what the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is all about.”
The Clarkson Cup will be held at Centennial Arena in Markham, Ontario on March 4-7, 2015.
Photo: Lisa Gansky
It’s been a long time coming.
After being scratched for the Vancouver game on February third, and amid rumors coming to light about his relationship with the rest of the team, Evander Kane of the Winnipeg Jets first opted for season ending shoulder surgery. Hours later, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, along with defenceman Zach Bogosian, and goaltender Jason Kasdorf, for defenceman Tyler Myers, forwards Drew Stafford, Joel Armia and Brendan Lemieux, and finally Buffalo’s latest first round draft pick in the 2015 entry draft.
Kane, 23, has played 361 NHL games over parts of six seasons after being drafted fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009. He has 222 points (109G, 113A) in those games, and 385 PIM. There have been rumors that there were problems between him and other Winnipeg players in the locker room for a while now, and after the tracksuit incident this week, it appears to have been the final straw. Kane refused to play the game in Vancouver, and was recorded as a healthy scratch. He underwent the surgery over the weekend, and the recovery time is expected to be 4-6 months.
Bogosian, 24, was also a first round draft pick for the Thrashers, this time in 2008, going third overall. He’s played 393 NHL games over seven seasons, with 127 points (40G, 87A) and 325 PIM. He was a regular top four defenceman for Winnipeg.
Kasdorf, 22, was a sixth round pick for the Thrashers in 2011, and is currently playing for the RPI Engineers in the ECAC. He has played two games so far this season with a record of 1-1-0, and a GAA of 3.49.
Myers, 25, was a first round pick of the Sabres in 2008, twelfth overall. In six seasons with the Sabres, he’s played 365 games and collected 151 points (45G, 106A) and 256 PIM. In 2010, he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie for that season, with 48 points in 82 games. He leads Sabres defencemen this season with 13 points.
Stafford, 29, was drafted 13th overall by the Sabres in 2004. In nine seasons, he’s played 563 games and collected 322 points (145G, 177A) and 327 PIM. He was third on the Sabres this season with 24 points.
Armia, 21, is currently with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, his second season there. Over 87 games, he’d collected 52 points (17G, 35A) and 69 PIM. He was drafted 16th overall by the Sabres in 2011. He’s expected to report to the St John’s Ice Caps, Winnipeg’s AHL team.
Lemieux, 18, was drafted 31st overall (second round) by the Sabres in the 2014 NHL draft. He’s currently in his third season with the OHL’s Barrie Colts, where he’s collected 117 points (68G, 49A) and 317 PIM in 153 games played.
It’s hard to tell so far how this trade is going to shake out. With Kane out until next season, the Sabres have given up two very good played in Myers and Stafford, for Zach Bogosian. Kane is a player with a lot of talent who has struggled in the locker room, and a change of scenery can only be good for him. It would be nice to see him succeed in Buffalo, and maybe he can bring some success to a team that’s been struggling at the bottom of the league for the last few seasons. Bogosian can only help shore up Buffalo’s blue line, especially with them losing Myers. Myers could be an excellent addition to Winnipeg. At 6’8, he’s big enough to fit in with the Jets’ hard and fast style, and could easily slot into the hole left by Bogosian. Only time will tell though, and hopefully Kane will be ready to go by the start of next season, and can make a difference in a new city.
Most parents who have kids that play in the NHL, only have one son who plays. Yes, there have been brothers who have played and Vancouver even has twins playing together. But, yet again it is rare.
Picture a farmer in the middle of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Cannot find Thunder Bay? Let me help. Thunder Bay is around 856 miles north of Toronto, Canada. This sod farmer is special because he has three sons playing in the NHL. Can you guess his name? He is Henry Staal and his sons are: Eric, Jordan and Marc.
Henry Staal is different from a lot of other NHL parents. Most like to be there and cheer their sons on, not Henry! He has a hands off approach towards his sons careers. It seems to be working because all of his sons are healthy and expecting to play 1,000 games each. It is said that Henry was showing his kids some moves on a frozen pond and got into it and wiped out. “Maybe that is the reason he is the furthest from a hockey dad there is?” Eric said. This hand off approach started when the brothers where in the minors. Henry would not sit with the other parents. The others would cheer, yell, scream, get mad at the refs, etc. Not Henry, he didn’t cheer nor yell. He sat there and watched the game. Could Henry be the most nurturing hockey father in the whole NHL? Or is the yelling, screaming and pushing their son kind of parent better? You make the pro and con list. You decide.
To show solidarity in 2013 when Marc got an injured eye, his brothers Jordan and Eric wore visors. This family supports each other with love and caring, not with harsh words. Henry Staal is the head of this family but he knows his limits and he respects them. It is nice to know that some parents just watch their kids play the game.
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(Photo: Alan Sullivan)
Having fallen to their nemesis and arch rival the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, the Bruins had been talking about how important it was to come back from that and bring a sense of urgency. The Boston Bruins were playing their tenth of 19 three games in four nights, having narrowly beaten the New York Islanders on Saturday night, followed by the loss to the Canadiens, before seeing the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
After the Canadiens game, in which the team appeared to come out flat, there was some concern that the team was falling into a mindset that was allowing for an increase in mistakes.
“There’s going to be mistakes in every game. That’s what hockey is. It’s a game of mistakes,” Brad Marchand said. “The thing is to try to minimize those. We’ll have a rest day tomorrow and make sure that we come ready to play on Tuesday.”
Unfortunately, it did not appear as though the team was ready to play a full sixty minutes. Once again there were major spans of time when the Bruins made passing errors and struggled as they had during the weekend. Despite having a five minute major power play in the first (a result of Antoine Roussel’s stick check to Adam McQuaid’s neck) and a four minute power play (the second half of which was negated when Carl Soderberg was called for tripping), the Bruins not only were unable to capitalize on these man advantages, but instead gave up a short handed goal on each.
Niklas Svedberg
At the end of the first period the score was 3-1 in favor of Dallas, who added two even strength goals after David Krejci had tied the game. The defensive play in front of Niklas Svedberg was completely absent. Miscommunication could be seen in almost every play. Watching the scrambles for the puck were painful, but when Zdeno Chara and David Pastrnak collided in open ice in the offensive zone, it was clear that something wasn’t working.
The Bruins are sitting in a wild card slot for the playoffs, with the Florida Panthers just four points behind, having two games in hand. This is somewhat unfamiliar territory to the team in recent years and stems in part from their difficult start to the season.
“Well, we’re sitting in eighth place right now and even if we were winning I think we would still have that sense of urgency and you know the mental preparation to make sure that we’re ready to win the next game whoever it is against,” Torey Krug said after the loss to the Canadiens. “So yeah we haven’t been playing well the last three games, so we’re going to take a look at our game and try and fix those mistakes, and you know, approach it even if we were playing well, approach it the same way.”
Urgency is defined as importance requiring swift action; an earnest and persistent quality. And while the Bruins may be earnest in their talk, they struggled during the weekend to put that into action, a situation that needs to be addressed.
“You tackle that problem head on, I mean, I said we were sitting in eighth place and that’s not a comfortable position to be in,” Krug continued. “So we have to make sure that we take that problem, we face it and we take care of it because if you don’t take care of that then you’re going to fall behind in a lot of hockey games.”
Jamie Benn (Photo: Rhonda McClure)
And fall behind they did, three times during the Dallas game. Not once during the game were the Bruins on top. Was it that the Stars had figured out a way to defeat the Bruins’ style of play?
“Just play good team defense. That’s a big thing for our team right now, is taking care of our own end,” said Stars Jamie Benn, who scored two goals in the game. “We know we can score goals, but it’s keeping them out of our net that we need to focus on.”
Kari Lehtonen (Photo: Alan Sullivan)
And while the Bruins contributed to their own lack of finish, the Stars goalie, Kari Lehtonen, stood tall in the net for his team, stopping 41 of the 44 shots that made it to him. He was essential to the Stars, while their offensive play aided them by scoring goals.
“Well, I thought we had some good shifts early on. But obviously their goals kind of put us back on our heels,” responded Patrice Bergeron. “But yeah, I think offensively we were doing some good things and defensively we weren’t at all, and you can’t do that against a team like that. Where that’s not our style to play run-and-gun and exchanging chances.”
The Bruins have mentioned a number of times getting away from their game. So the obvious question would seem to be if they know they need to play their game, then why don’t they?
“Yeah, that’s a good question. I thought we were done talking about it a month ago, but I guess not,” said Rask. “We just keep going back to the same mistakes we used to do and not keeping our heads in the game. If we don’t fix that now, it’s going to be too late pretty soon. So hopefully we don’t have to talk about it anymore.”
The team heads to Vancouver on Thursday to begin a five-game road trip. Hopefully they can get in some extra team bonding, regain their trust in each other on the ice and get back to playing their game.
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