At just 20 years old, the Buffalo Sabres‘ Zemgus Girgensons leads the way in fan voting for the All Star Game with (currently) 803,805 votes. He added 400,000 votes in just one week and he can give a lot of credit to his home country, Latvia. Born January 5, 1994 in Riga, Latvia, Girgensons started playing at EVHS Hockey School and played several years in various leagues in Latvia. After moving to North America in 2009, he has played in the Empire Junior Hockey League (now the U.S. Premier Hockey League), the Eastern Junior Hockey League, the United States Hockey League, the American Hockey League, and now he is in 2nd season in the National Hockey League. He has also played for Latvia in both the World Junior Hockey Championships and most recently, the 2014 Olympics. With the surprising finish that Latvia displayed at the Olympics, it seems the country is really rooting for the only Latvian player currently in the NHL.
“The fans back home have always been all about hockey,” says Girgensons. “They’re just kind of crazy.”
At this point, he should be happy they are crazy about hockey since they are the ones helping him stay in the lead. Nearly 82% of his votes are coming from Latvia, and with roughly 2 million people in the Latvian population, it sure does seem like Girgensons will be suiting up for the All Star Game.
Girgensons is fairly unknown to people outside of Buffalo, NY and a lot of those people are not happy with this unknown player being in the lead. Most fans have their favorite players, who they of course would love to see in the game, so the frustration is understandable when you have a player who is not well-known and is beating out some of the top players in the league. The next closest players are Chicago Blackhawks teammates Patrick Kane with 375,758 votes and Jonathan Toews with 367,962 votes.
Girgensons has 420,000 more votes than the next closest players, so his Latvian countrymen are doing him well casting their ballots – and there are still about 3 weeks left to vote. Girgensons could be en route to be the highest vote-getter in All Star Game history if he continues receiving votes from his country and Sabres fans. The way it stands right now, Blackhawks fans better get voting if they want their players in the game.
Voting ends on January 1, and the top 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, and goaltender will move on to the All Star Game. Currently those in position to move on would be Girgensons, Kane, and Toews for forwards; Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith (361,830 votes), and Montreal Canadiens P.K. Subban (351,726 votes) for defensemen; and Blackhawks Corey Crawford, (311,166 votes) for goalie. Fans can continue to vote on NHL.com/vote and those eligible in the U.S. and Canada can enter for a chance to win a trip to the 2015 All Star Game in Columbus, taking place on January 24 and 25.
Winnipeg Jets left-winger Evander Kane was suspended two games by the NHL on December 8th for boarding Anaheim Ducks’, Clayton Stoner, on Sunday, December 7th. Stoner was not injured by the hit and went on to play for the remainder of the game.The Jets went on to lose to the Ducks 4-3 in overtime after tying it late in the third.
Kane boarded the Anaheim defenseman with less than a minute left to play in the second period. Stoner recovered quickly from the hit and immediately dropped his gloves against the 23-year old Kane. Stoner was sent to the penalty box to serve a 2-minute minor for roughing, while Kane was charged with a major penalty and a game misconduct. Kane’s two game suspension will cost him $56,451.62 in salary money. The forfeited wages will go toward the players’ emergency assistance fund.
NHL Director of Player Safety, Patrick Burke, announced the suspension on December 8th. It was the first suspension of Kane’s NHL career. In the video released by the NHL, Burke stated, “the onus is entirely upon Kane to avoid this check completely or, at the very least, minimize the contact.” He concludes in the video that “Kane does neither.”
The Winnipeg Free Pressreported that Jets’ head coach, Paul Maurice did not expect the NHL Department of Player Safety to suspend Kane at all for the hit from behind on Stoner. Instead, he thought a 5-minute penalty would have sufficed for Kane’s offense since it was a “hit on the numbers.”
Winnipeg will face the Dallas Stars in the Big D on Tuesday, December 9th without Kane. He will also miss the Jets’ game against Colorado on Thursday. The Ducks return to Winnipeg for a rematch on Saturday; Kane will be eligible to play in that matchup.
The NHL Network will broadcast the first annual Canadian Women’s Hockey League All Star Game on Saturday, Dec. 13, CWHL Insider has reported. The American broadcast will expose even more fans to women’s hockey and is a big step for the league in the States.
The broadcast will start at 12:30 p.m. Saturday from Toronto’s Air Canada Center. Sportsnet will broadcast the game in Canada as part of their recent broadcast deal with the CWHL.
The All-Star Game, which will feature a skills competition and two periods of hockey, will begin at 1 p.m. The CWHL invited 42 players from all five of its teams to participate, including 19 Olympians and national team players. Fans can vote for each team’s captain until tomorrow. After that a private draft will take place to determine teams.
The event is free to attend, though tickets are now required due to the high demand. Fans can get tickets here. Fans are encouraged to wear their favorite jersey to the game. The event may also feature surprise guest appearances from CWHL alumni.
The All Star Game was announced last month and is another step forward for the sport, which is growing, but remains part of a niche.
“The Inaugural CWHL ALL-Star Game presents an incredible opportunity for the league to showcase its top talent, both in person at the Air Canada and through our broadcast deal with Sportsnet,” said CWHL commissioner Brenda Andress. “As we grow the league and its fan base, it seems only natural to add an event like this to our annual calendar of exceptional sporting entertainment.”
After a tough 6-4 loss against Toledo Walleye on Thursday night, the Reading Royals set out on a mission to come out and beat the South Carolina Stingrays in back to back games this Saturday and Sunday. After a lot of back and forth between winning and losing this season, the fans were excited to see what this weekend’s turn out would be.
Saturday
1st
South Carolina took an early lead in the first. After a couple of close shots, the Stingrays finally sank the first goal of the night on a power play after Reading’s Adam Comrie was called for holding. The Stingray’s forward took advantage of the opportunity and scored his 7th goal of the season at 4:11. The second goal for South Carolina came on another power play after Kevin Walrod was sent to the box for for a high sticking minor. It was in the later half of the period that when the Stingray’s Braden Pimm jammed on under Royals goalie Connor Knapp. The Royals ended the period down by two.
2nd
At the beginning of the second period, the Stingray’s widened their lead to three. They took advantage of a four-on-three power play opportunity following a tripping minor penalty on Brandon Alderson (Royal Ryan Cruthers and Stingray Marcus Perrier still had time left on two minor penalties called at the end of the first). At just 1:08 into the period Wayne Simpson took his time to set up his shot and fire it past Connor Knapp’s glove. Now down by three, the Royals realized they needed to push harder if they wanted a chance to win the game. About halfway through the second period, the Royals finally scored their first goal after being fueled by a fight between Bryant Molle and Stingray Anthony Collins. Adam Hughesman broke South Carolina’s goalie Jeff Jakaitis‘ streak and took his chances of achieving his third shutout in a row.
3rd
The Royals started the 3rd period like the second, down by two. Regrettably, they allowed South Carolina to regain their three goal lead early in the third. After Knapp blocked a shot by Rob Bellamy, the puck slid in front of the right side of the net where Joe Devin tapped it in for a score of 4-1. The final goal of the night came from Royals forward Willie Coetzee, who shot one in about halfway through the period. This was his second goal of the season, but he has only played with the Royals in four games so far. The Royals were unable to score any more goals Saturday night. They left Santander Arena hoping to put the game behind them and get revenge on the Stingrays the following night.
(Source: Purdon Photography: Royalshockey.com)
Sunday
1st
On Sunday night 2,809 fans entered the stadium hoping to see a better conclusion than the previous night’s game. It was Toys for Tots night and fans hoped to see an early goal for the Teddy Bear Toss. Sadly, they had to wait. The first period started slow until the first penalty came along at 5:15 when Michael Caruso got called for cross-checking giving South Carolina a one man advantage. Surprisingly David Marshall was able to make his way up to the Stingray’s defensive zone, but unfortunately his feet couldn’t carry him fast enough as a Stingray caught up with him and stole the puck.
The Royals got their chance with a one man advantage after Stingrays forward Caleb Herbert got called for high sticking just seconds after Royals’ forward Brandon Alderson and Stingrays’ Rob Bellamy were both called for roughing. This power play went goalless as the crowd was forced once again to hold onto their teddy bears for the Teddy Bear toss. All luck wasn’t lost, however, as Rob Bellamy got called back to the box about a minute later for a delay of game giving the Royals another chance. The Royals could not make use of this power play either as the score remained 0-0 for the rest of the period.
2nd
Like the first, the second period started slow. The Royals got a few shots on goal, but none of them were able to find the back of the net. At 10:15 the Royals got their third power play of the night. Joe Devin of South Carolina was called for a four minute double minor after high-sticking Royals forward Ryan Cruthers in the face. The next four minutes also went without any goals as the fans got antsy to through their teddy bears.
With two and a half minutes left in the period, Reading found their fourth power play of the night when Rob Bellamy got his third period of the night for tripping. With just 55.6 seconds left in the period the puck was bound just inches in front of the goal crease but Stingray goalie Brandon Anderson managed to get his glove over it. At 41.3 seconds left the Royals were given their best chance of the night: a two-man advantage after South Carolina defenseman Marcus Perrier was sent to the box for cross-checking. The second period ended still scoreless, but the Royals would start the third period with a 1:19 of power play time left.
3rd
At 1:38, just after the Stingray’s penalty expired, the fans saw their long-awaited Teddy Bear Toss. Royals forward David Marshall scored with assists from Adam Hughesman and Michael Caruso. Marshall later commented on his Teddy Bear Toss goal, “Yeah obviously it’s pretty neat. To be honest, I was excited that we finally had a lead in the game. To be honest, I mean, the teddy bear toss was great, but when you’re struggling like that and you score and then it’s like that layover of time. You know if goes to a good cause, but that layover time you get nervous, especially when you’re stringing shifts together in the last couple of weeks. You hope to keep the momentum going, but it worked out good. I think everyone jumped out pretty quick. There was a pretty quick turnover, but it was pretty neat. It was the first one I ever scored, I think, with the winner. You know, everything starts raining down, so it’s pretty neat.”
For the next few minutes the Royals pushed hard and kept the Stingray’s on their toes. This paid off at 7:30 when Adam Hughesman sunk one in the back of the net for the Royals second goal of the night. Soon after the Royals got their fifth power play of the night and yet another good scoring chance after South Carolina forward Joe Devin got two minutes for tripping. Unfortunately, at 12:46 Maxim Lamarche got called for interference giving the Stingrays a chance to try and catch up to the Royals 2-0 lead. Fortunately for the Royals, the South Carolina power play went goalless much like the rest of the other power plays throughout the night. With only 1:34 left in the game, South Carolina got desperate, called a timeout, and pulled their goalie. The game got rougher with a lot of hitting and digging against the boards as the teams tried to keep the puck from one another. In the end, neither team was able to score any more goals and the Royals went off with a victory to end their three-game losing streak.
(Source: Purdon Photography: Royalshockey.com)
Martin Ouellette was selected as the number 1 star of the game by stopping a total of 24 shots and earning his first shutout as a professional. When asked how he feels Ouellette commented, “Obviously it’s great. Especially since we’ve had a couple of tough games this week. It’s great to have the whole team bounce back and get back on top. They played great in front of me and made my job pretty easy for most of the night. I think everyone is happy and pretty excited.” Overall, the entire team was excited for their first shutout of the season and are hoping to win more of the upcoming games.
What’s Next?
The Royals are now ranked 8th in the conference with a record of 10-8-1-1. They trail behind the Wheeling Nailers who they play next weekend three games in a row. On Friday and Saturday the teams will meet in Reading. On Saturday night the team will continue their Christmas tradition of wearing ugly sweater jerseys which will be sold online after the game. Then Sunday night they will travel to Wheeling for a 5 o’clock game. After that the Royals will be on the road for a while as they end their block of four straight weekend back-to-back home games. They will not play at home again until December 27th when they face the Elmira Jackals.
As the final horn sounded on Saturday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, three things were crystal clear. The first was that the Florida Panthers had learned from their disappointing shootout loss of December 4th against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The second was that the team has been doing some great things this season. And the third? A youngster named Aaron Ekblad is not only a skilled player, but an immensely centered player both on and off the ice.
Having let the Blue Jackets get up three goals on them just two days before while Panthers were in Columbus, it was clear that such play would not be an option going forward. The team had managed to tie the game and force it to a shootout, but they also recognized that it shouldn’t have ever come to that if they had played a hard and full 60 minutes. So it was not surprising to see them bringing their game to the Sabres on Saturday.
That approach showed results just 13:05 into the first period when Brad Boyes’ snap got past Sabres goalie Michal Neuvirth to put the Panthers on the board first. Boyes’ goal was assisted by Jussi Jokinen and Aaron Ekblad. Florida would take that one goal lead into the first intermission.
Despite being up a goal, with just 4:44 remaining in the first, Panthers’ Erik Gudbranson and Marcus Foligno, of the Sabres, dropped the gloves in what was a brief fight that many on HockeyFights.com felt was a win for Foligno. It was not one of those staged “shall we dance” type fights. Foligno had come over and checked Gudbranson hard just after Gudbranson had passed the puck. Gudbranson wanted Foligno to know that he did not appreciate the treatment. And in fact, in watching the fight afterwards, it was clear that Gudbranson was talking to Foligno as much as he was trading punches.
After the game, Gudbranson was asked about his physicality—including the fight—in the game.
Erik Gudbranson
“Yah, I don’t think the past five games I played to my abilities and that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I’m in a little funk is to get physical again, get engaged in the game early,” he told reporters in the locker room. “I think that was a big key to me feeling more comfortable out there tonight and helping the team win.”
The second period was not met with the same “jump”—as head coach Gerard Gallant called it postgame, and that allowed the Sabres an opportunity to tie the game up 11:02 into that period as Drew Stafford’s one-timer managed to get in behind Roberto Luongo. Unfazed though, the Panthers didn’t waste any time in responding when Tomas Kopecky managed to get the monkey off his back by tipping in a shot from Ekblad at 12:55. The second assist on that goal went to Nick Bjugstad.
The Sabres continued to push and approximately three minutes after going up a goal the Panthers found the score once again tied as Brian Gionta tipped in his third goal of the season from the pass by Mike Weber which was assisted by Torrey Mitchell.
The Panthers continued to bring their game though, and with just 17 seconds remaining in the second period, Bjugstad tipped in what would stand as the game-winning goal, assisted by Ekblad and Tomas Fleischmann.
Post game there was much use of the phrase “carried the play,” and overall it was true that Florida had continued to push and battle throughout the game. But no one in the Panthers locker room believes they can sit on their laurels going forward.
“You know, I think there’s certain things to our game that we need to clean up. They only got what we gave them,” Gudbranson said in discussing the win. “So just cleaning the little things up, just being stingy defensively, get through the neutral zone is good.”
“I thought the boys played well tonight, especially during the third period where we kept pushing even though we didn’t score,” Luongo said. “We kept attacking, moving our legs, carrying the play. Anytime they had the puck we felt that we already had a guy pressuring them and they didn’t have much room to execute.”
After the game, and after his impressive three assists to extend his point streak to four consecutive games, Ekblad was told that he had surpassed some major defensemen in scoring, including Duncan Keith and Shea Weber. He was asked if that was a “cool feeling.” The exceptional rookie, who is so poised out on the ice, showed that he is just as poised in the locker room.
“Those guys are great players. I’m sure they’ll surpass me again,” he said. “I don’t want to get too cocky or anything like that, but [I’m] pretty happy to be producing and I couldn’t be doing that without some help from these guys. They’re making great plays and getting me those opportunities.”
When it comes to taking advantage of those opportunities, while it is clear that Ekblad has immense skill, he has also spent countless hours honing that skill, especially when it comes to his sifter.
“It’s kind of a skill that you kinda work on,” he told reporters when asked about his accuracy at the net. “In Junior before every practice, me and one of my best buddies, Brendan Lemieux, he’d stand in front of the net and I’d just take like 20 or 30 pucks and shoot them every day. It kinda adds up after awhile and that’s just kind of how I worked on it.”
In an ironic twist, Ekblad’s friend, Lemieux, was also drafted this past summer in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He was taken in the second round (31st over all) by none other than the Buffalo Sabres; the team on the receiving end of those sifters.
Aaron Ekblad, Shawn Thornton and Derek MacKenzie
Ekblad explained that the sift was working and it was creating scoring opportunities for his teammates who were in and around the crease. And he seems truly thrilled when his teammates score, as in the goal by Kopecky.
“Oh I love it,” Ekblad said. “I love that line, you know [Derek MacKenzie] and [Kopecky] and [ShawnThornton]—some of the hardest working guys in the whole league, so it’s pretty special to watch them.”
A skill player such as Ekblad offering up such praise about a line that most people dismiss as nothing, shows his hockey IQ. And Gallant’s ability to roll four lines has obviously allowed for his team to keep the games to such tight numbers in most games. And perhaps Gudbranson said it best.
“You know they played very well for us and they’ve been very good for us all year,” he told reporters when asked about the veterans getting goals in Saturday’s game. “You know just because they aren’t on the score board doesn’t mean they’re not doing their job.”
The team now heads out on a big road trip this week when they take on the St. Louis Blues (Monday, December 8th), the Detroit Red Wings (Friday, December 12th), and again see the Sabres, this time in their barn (Saturday, December 13th).
Gudbranson summed up how important the win Saturday night was over the Sabres in less than ten words—showing that it is quality, not necessarily quantity, that makes the difference in shots and responses.
You’ve all had that phone call from a loved one or friend, “I’m in your area, can I stop by to say hi? I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.” From start to finish, these little delights take about just that and taste like you’ve been baking all day long. They’re also a great cookie to bring to a function, mail to a loved one or try baking with a little one.
You’ll need:
1 box chocolate cake mix (If *gasp* you don’t like chocolate, you can use vanilla, lemon, strawberry… the options are endless)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup powdered sugar
1. Mix the cake mix, canola oil and eggs together in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, place your powdered sugar.
3. Once mixed, take a spoonful of dough and drop it into the bowl of powered sugar, roll around until covered, then place cookie on a piece of parchment paper on cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookie has a lightly crisp outside to the touch.
Optional, once you’ve taken the cookies out of the oven, allow to cool 3-4 minutes, then dip the tops in whatever excess powdered sugar you might have.
Blades captain Hilary Knight, who scored the overtime winner Sunday, finished the weekend with three goals and three assists. ESPNw was filming at the game on Saturday night for a feature on Knight and Blades Coach Digit Murphy, which will air at a later date.
On Friday, it was an 8-3 route by the Inferno filled with intensity that the Blades could not match. The two teams skated to a one-all tie after the first with goals from Bray Ketchum for Boston (her first of the season) and Sarah Davis for Calgary. In the second, the Inferno exploded for three goals, only one of which the Blades could answer. Rebecca Johnston put a puck behind Blades goaltender Brittany Ott. Jessica Campbell would capitalize on the power play for Calgary to make the score 3-1. Boston answered when Rachel Llanes found the back of the net. However, with Calgary on the power play again, Campbell would score to put her team ahead 4-2.
In the third, a strong Calgary team did not let up and extended their lead to 6-2. Corrine Buie would answer for the Blades, her first of the season, to make the score 6-3 but the Blades could not score again. The Inferno beat Ott twice for the 8-3 final score.
On Saturday, the Blades shook off the last night’s performance and came back with a win. Monique Lamoureux found the back of the net first, unassisted, but Danielle Stone would net the tying goal for Calgary shortly after. Rachel Llanes scored to give the Blades a 2-1 lead, assisted by Knight. Knight capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play to give the Blades a 3-1 lead after one period.
After a scoreless second period, Knight registered an empty net goal when Calgary pulled Camile Trautman. It would seal the Blades’ win.
On Sunday, the Blades’ overtime win would feature a back-and-forth battle throughout the game. Haley Irwin scored first and the first period would end 1-0 in favor of Calgary. In the second, the Blades came back when Hilary Knight found the back of the net. The Blades extended their lead to 2-1 when Blake Bolden, assisted by Kacey Bellamy, beat Calgary goaltender Brian Delayne. Calgary would capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play, though, and made it a 6-on-3 advantage after pulling Delayne for the extra skater. With the game-tying goal, the game went to a five minute sudden-death overtime.
With less than one minute left in overtime, Knight picked up the puck at her own blue line while her teammates went for a line change, broke away, and buried the puck behind Delayne.
Knight leads the team in scoring with four goals and eight assists in eight games.
Despite the wins, the Blades still could not catch the Calgary Inferno in the CWHL standings. The Blades improve to 6-3-1 with 13 points, while Calgary remains in first place in the standings at 7-2-2 (16 points).
Next weekend will be the first annual CWHL All Star Game at the Air Canada Center in Toronto.
Unfortunately, their best efforts were not awarded with a win, as the Big Bad Bruins came out on top 5-2, making their home losing streak a new franchise record at seven in a row.
Seeing The Same Struggles
It seems as though the team is showcasing the same struggles every game: offense and goaltending. All season long, this has been their recurring nightmare.
The team isn’t producing or “executing” offensively as Coach Dave Tippett has brought up so many times. They’re being outshot due to the fact that the game is being played in their defensive zone a whole lot more than their offensive zone.
The turnovers are also out of control at this point. Opposing teams are just being handed opportunities and cashing in on them. The Coyotes are creating chances to be scored on, and it is getting them farther and farther from catching up to the lead.
For the second game in a row, there was a change in goaltenders during the second period. Mike Smith was doing the replacing this time, after four goals on starting goalie Devan Dubnyk. Smith let in one in the third period on the Bruins power play, but other than that, he held strong. This is the second time in two games that the team has made the switch between goalies, “If one of them [the goalies] wants to take the ball and run with it and win a bunch of games,” said Tippett. “I’m all good with that.”
Playing a team like Boston is tough, especially considering the quality of their offense. They play a faster game than Arizona, and they have those supserstar forwards that the Coyotes are lacking. Compare the depths of the offense of the two teams, and they are on different spectrums.
Going into the game, they knew it would be tough. Boston didn’t want to go home from their road trip empty-handed, getting a win was a top priority. Playing against an angry team like that is undoubtedly a challenge, and when you don’t have a team that can play up to it, either offensively or defensively, then you’re in trouble.
Though the score might reflect something different, the players feel that the effort that they put out there was getting closer to the way that they need to continue to play. Again, the aforementioned mentality of the team was brought up post game, and defenseman Keith Yandle commented on it saying, “I thought especially compared to last game, we came into this with a good mindset…..I thought our mindset was where it needed to be at and we just weren’t able to get it.”
Talking about the way the team played, starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk said that he “thought our effort was there” in the game, but unfortunately they just couldn’t get it.
One improvement is that the Coyotes finally scored at home after 185:34 minutes of being scoreless. They were able to muster up some offense to get themselves on the board, but not enough to win. Coach Tippett said there’s “not much solace” in giving up five goals, even if you do “score a couple goals” to get yourself in the game.
“This whole string has been tough to chew on.”- Dave Tippett
Bruins Get The Win
Now on the other side of things, you have the Boston Bruins. Going into the game, the Bruins were 0-3 on their West Coast road trip. A struggling team plagued by injuries was coming into the game against the ‘Yotes, and were hungry to win, and that’s just what they did.
“Yeah we definitely didn’t want to go home without getting the win on this road trip and you could tell the guys were desperate,” said forward Brad Marchand, who tallied two goals in the teams victory. “We played really good right from the get-go and everyone was buying in and doing what we had to do. We’re going to be happy with this but hopefully we can keep building on it.”
Goaltender Tuukka Rask, who has had a “weird year” spoke more about the teams efforts, saying, “We scored 5 goals which helps obviously but I thought we really played a solid 60 minutes.” Playing through the full game has been a downfall of theirs, and they’ve allowed many leads to slip away just by not pushing through the whole length of the game.
Coming Up
The Coyotes take on the Nashville Predators at home on December 11th after a 5 day break from games. The Coyotes played Nashville at Nashville and lost 4-3 in a shootout back in October. With the Preds being hot this season, how will the struggling Coyotes prepare to face off?
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