If you had the opportunity to list the seven deadly sins in your life, what would they be? For me, Girl Scout cookies top the list, but not just any flavor, Thin Mints in particular. Of course supporting the Girl Scouts and buying cookies is a good thing, my little sister is one and I would never dream of rejecting her pleas to purchase a box. But anyone who has a mild addiction to the Thin Mints perfect snap, smell and taste knows that the season to purchase them is limited and stocking up with multiple boxes isn’t always viable (or smart). Through research, trial, error and we’re talking LOTS of error (that one batch that could actually be used as hockey pucks, looking at you!). Finally, the recipe is just right and adaptable if for some crazy reason you don’t like the mint flavor, you can use regular chocolate for a delicious alternate.
Dough
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature – needs to be slightly soft
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
Coating
1/2 – 3/4 bag mint flavored baking chocolate (We purchase at our local craft store, such as AC Moore in the baking aisle)
or
1/2 – 3/4 bag semi-sweet baking chocolate and 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
*We’ve used both versions of the coating and it’s been delicious either way. We’ve also used just the semi-sweet chocolate as a coating for those that aren’t fans of mint!
Directions
1. Mix all ingredients in large bowl until you reach a dough consistency.
Cookies pre-baking
2. Chill dough in bowl for 15-20 minutes in the fridge or 10 minutes in the freezer.
3. While dough in chilling, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4. Using your chilled dough, begin pulling pieces forming 1 inch balls — here’s where you need to get creative, using the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, smoosh the dough ball until it’s a flat “puck” skating in around 1/2 inch thick, place on a lined cookie sheet.
5. Bake the pucks for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Oven temperatures vary, so keep a close eye on them, one minute they’re perfect, the next they’re burned to a crisp. You’re looking for a crisp cookie, remember they’ll bake a bit more once you take them out. Keep the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, it’ll allow for easier cleanup at the end.
6. While allowing the cookies to cool, melt your chocolate, the mint chips or the plain chocolate and peppermint extract, or just plain baking chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave, stopping to stir every 15-20 seconds.
7. Drop a “puck” cookie individually into the melted chocolate, using a fork, pick it up so the cookie lies flat on the prongs. Lightly tap the fork on the side of the bowl to help remove the excess chocolate coating. Place the cookie back on the baking sheet {that should still be lined with parchment paper}. Once the cookie sheet is full, place in the fridge to allow the cookies to set for approximately 30 minutes.
8. Enjoy! These cookies, while delicious on day 1, tend to taste better the following day, allowing the flavors to set over night makes them taste just like the Girl Scout variety.
*Although they initially need to be refrigerated in order to set, they don’t need to be stored there. However, we strongly suggest if you live in warmer climates to keep them in a cool place — pucks are meant for cooler weather after all!
(Photo: AP Photo/Bruce Bennett, Pool)
The New York Rangers will live to play another day.
With two world-class goalies in Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Quick, this series was bound to become a goalie battle at some point. Quick’s night to shine came with Game 3, but on Wednesday night, the spotlight was on King Henrik. Lundqvist made 40 saves on 41 shots to lead the Rangers to victory and prevent the L.A. Kings from taking the Stanley Cup in four.
“Definitely we didn’t want to see the Cup coming out on our home ice” said Lundqvist. “Just the thought of it made me sick. We wanted to win at home in front of our fans.”
The theme tonight was luck. With a little bit of “puck luck” for the home team, Rangers players and fans alike left Madison Square Garden in significantly higher spirits than they did on Monday night.
The Rangers started off fast and aggressive. Following an early New York power play in the first period, LW Benoit Pouliot tipped in a shot by D John Moore at 7:25, and the Rangers went into the first intermission up 1-0. Pouliot’s goal was the first allowed by Quick in 123 minutes and the first scored on the L.A. goaltender at Madison Square Garden. New York then took a (now infamous) 2-0 lead at 6:27 in the second with a wrist shot by RW Martin St. Louis. Throughout these playoffs, a 2-goal lead has only spelled disaster for any team that isn’t the Kings, and it seemed as if this trend would continue when Kings RW Dustin Brown cut the lead in half two minutes later on a breakaway. The score became 2-1, and viewers everywhere started to feel a certain sense of déjà vu. But the hockey gods were smiling on the Rangers in Game 4, and Brown’s goal would be the last time the puck found the back of either team’s net. For the first time all series, the Rangers found a way to hold onto the lead.
That wasn’t without a few close calls, though:
Basically as close as the puck can get without actually being a goal. Anton Stralman gets a stick on the puck to help save a first period chance for the Kings (via @myregularface).
Lundqvist, Derek Stepan, and a convenient pile of ice save this near-goal in the third period (via @myregularface).
In the words of Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, “Thank god for soft ice.”
Despite being outshot 41-19, the Rangers found a way to win with a final score of 2-1. And though it wasn’t a perfect game by any standards, Game 4 was a solid team effort for the home team. “For the most part we were all right, but I know that we can be better, and I expect us to be better next game,” said Vigneault. “At this time of the year, it’s only about one thing: it’s about the team.”
“When you play this game, you have to battle. But you have to rely on your teammates, and sometimes you have to rely on some luck,” said Lundqvist. He certainly had help from both tonight. D Anton Stralman was able to deflect the puck off the goal line and keep the Kings off the board in the first period–“Got a little lucky,” he said–and C Derek Stepan shoveled the puck out of an ice pile with his glove to prevent a tie game in the third. But in the end, the Broadway hat and First Star of the Game honors went to Lundqvist for a performance in net that D Dan Girardi described as “king-worthy.”
“He led by example tonight,” said Stepan. “We’re gonna need Henrik to be tall again.”
“He had to make some huge saves in the second and the third. And we got a few bounces. You need those. Maybe the luck is changing a bit,” Vigneault said.
So now the momentum’s with the Rangers, and they return to L.A. in hopes of extending the series and keeping the 2013-14 NHL season alive for another few days. With the postseason looming in the very near future, the Rangers aren’t ready to go home yet, especially empty-handed. They’ll try to become only the second team in playoff history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final, something that hasn’t been done since the Toronto Maple Leafs came back to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in 1942. The Kings still have a 3-1 series lead as well as home-ice advantage for Game 5, but with a victory finally under their belt and some newly regained confidence, the Rangers are ready for the challenge. “It isn’t impossible,” said Lundqvist. “We’ve come back from 3-1.”
Rangerstown celebrates the victory. (via @NYRangers)
The last 4-game Stanley Cup Final sweep was in 1998, and the records will stay that way for at least another season. For now, Rangerstown can let out a collective sigh of relief and celebrate another battle won.
–
Game 5 will be back in L.A. on Friday with a 5pm PT (8pm ET) start time.
(photo: rangers.nhl.com)
It is 1928. The New York Rangers are two seasons old, sparkling from their phenomenal first season. They still share the Garden with the New York Americans, but they’re not playing there; the circus has taken over Madison Square, so every game of the Final will be played in Montreal. The Rangers are down 1-0 in a best-of-five series.
They don’t know it yet, but the next three games will be plagued with controversial reffing, injury, and painful shutouts.
But before all that, at the start of the second period of second game of the 1928 Stanley Cup Final, Lorne Chabot, the Rangers’ star goalie, leaves the ice with an eye injury.
There is no backup.
Two rounds ago, in 2014, the LA Kings were skating where the Rangers are now: down 3-0 and painfully aware that there was no more room for error or accident or bad luck. Absolutely everything must go your way with that kind of deficit. Puck luck, penalties, and the strange sports alchemy that sometimes bubbles up into Stanley Cup silver can take a team just as far as smart hockey, but you don’t get one without the other.
“You earn it,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said on Tuesday. “You always say you earn your luck by working hard and making good decisions. I don’t know … we’re going to have to play really well and we’re going to have to rely on some luck. That’s just the way it goes. That’s the way the game is played.”
Lady Luck is fickle, but she’s not blind: to win the lottery, you have to first buy a ticket. Still, over the course of the last three games it seemed like despite having bought the whole convenience store, the Rangers couldn’t seem to cash in. They outshot the Kings 2-1 in the third game, which they lost in a definitive 3-0 shutout. They won roughly the same amount of face-offs and spent less time in the penalty box. Lundqvist, though maybe not the hero New York expected him to be so far in the Final, has performed on par with Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.
Of course, performing on par is not necessarily good enough. As Lundqvist put it: “It’s not about playing great. It’s about winning.”
But making the kind of a comeback required for the Rangers to win takes a special kind of amnesia, where the ice is fresh but the stakes are still high. You have to be able to forget all the missed shots, the bad hits, and the whiffed pucks without losing site of the fact that there are no more chances.
“It’s all about the next game. It goes so quick. It’s so important. Whatever happens before this, it’s gone,” Mats Zuccarello said on Sunday.
In playoff history, only four teams out of 177 have come back from a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. One of those four teams is the Los Angeles Kings.
“They know it’s possible and we know it’s possible,” Lundqvist mused. “They’ve done it. And we know we can do it.”
3-0 is down, but it is not out, and New York City never goes down easy.
In 1928, 44-year-old manager-coach Lester Patrick suits up and skates out to the crease. He is not, nor has he ever been, a goalie. He played 25 years as a defenseman in various sweaters across various leagues, but this is his first professional game in goal.
Rangers winger Bill Cook scores first, on Montreal Maroons goalie Clint Benedict. Shortly after, Montreal Maroons center forward Nels Stewart ties the game, and the buzzer blows for overtime. The Rangers, far from home and terribly young, need something that looks very, very much like a miracle.
They don’t know it yet, but Lester Patrick will stop 17 of 18 of the shots leveraged at him over the course of the game. Future Hall of Famer Frank Boucher will score the game winner for the Rangers, giving them the first Stanley Cup Final win in franchise history.
They don’t know it yet, but they are going to win.
Photo credit: Brad Penner, USA TODAY Sports
It’s been a very up and down postseason for the LA Kings and star goaltender Jonathan Quick. The entire 2014 playoffs have been defined by flukey goals and weird bounces. Monday night was no exception as Quick played his best game of the playoffs, turning aside all 32 of the New York Rangers‘ shots. Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, Henrik Lundqvist was subjected to misfortune as two pucks deflected in off his own teammates and the third one deflected off Ryan McDonagh right back to Mike Richards before Lundqvist could react and get over in time to make the save. But let’s start from the beginning.
First Period:
Both the Kings and the Rangers got off to a strong start, though neither goalie was tested much and neither team registered many scoring chances. Jeff Carter was able to capitalize on an opportunity with one second left on the clock when the puck deflected off Dan Girardi‘s skate past a helpless Lundqvist who could do nothing. Despite the goal, all in all, it was a pretty evenly played period.
Second Period
The Kings got into a little bit of penalty trouble here as they gave the Rangers three power plays, almost in a row. However, New York matched LA’s discipline by taking three penalties of their own. Jake Muzzin scored on the Kings’ second power play of the period when Marc Staal got called for high sticking. On the kill, Martin St. Louis got a piece of Muzzin’s shot, enough to redirect the puck past his goaltender who was also being screened by Carter.
Richards’s goal came with just under three minutes left in the period.
For his part, Quick stopped all 17 shots the Rangers threw at him, including robbing Derick Brassard twice in a row – once with his toe and then with his paddle.
Third Period:
Seven seconds in, Chris Kreider broke in alone, but was once again stoned by Quick. There was a particularly hilarious sequence in the middle period just after a Kings power play had expired where Lundqvist missed the initial save and the Kings had an empty net opportunity. With a pile of bodies in the crease, Girardi dove face first onto the ice and kept it out with his skate. As one fellow TPP writer put it,
After killing off a mid-period penalty, LA was excellent. Once Lundqvist was pulled with 4:21 left, the visitors put on a clinic, not allowing even a single shot on goal. They carefully passed the puck around and didn’t take any chance at risking an odd man rush. A few Kings came within inches of scoring in the empty net, but couldn’t quite make it.
Analysis
There’s not to much to say about this game except that Jonathan Quick was in some kind of other worldly zone. The Rangers dominated in pretty much every aspect of the game, except in the faceoff dot and on the scoreboard. They handily outpossessed and outchanced the Kings. The only thing New York couldn’t do was outscore LA, though that’s really the only thing that matters.
The Kings looked to improve defensively and while they did that, they were mostly bailed out by their goaltender. It’ll be interesting to see how both teams respond on Wednesday. The Rangers were rather unlucky but played pretty well overall. With the experience of 2012 to lean on, the core of the Kings feel prepared and ready to close out this series. However, the Rangers won’t go down without a fight. The hardest game to win is always the fourth one so the Kings’ defense and Jonathan Quick will once again need to be stellar if they’re going to hoist the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years.
For the Rangers, they really just need to keep playing their game the way they were. A fortuitous bounce or two will break their way eventually if they continue to apply that much pressure on their opponent. Whether or not that’ll be enough to beat this suddenly offensively hot Kings team remains to be seen.
Tune in Wednesday night to NBCSN at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT to find out who comes out on top in this battle. Can the Kings break a 16 year streak of a team going up 3-0 and not being able to finish it off in the fourth game or will the Rangers rally and stave off elimination to send this game back to Los Angeles? It promises to be an exciting game, especially since the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe trophies will both be in the building.
(Photo: The Pink Puck)
It was a beautiful day in Bedford, NH (if not a little warm) as the Manchester Monarchs took to the links to host their annual Ace Bailey Golf Classic. Current and former hockey players with ties to the area joined teams of golfers to raise money in honor of Ace Bailey.
Ace Bailey played 568 NHL games, dressing for the Bruins, Red Wings, Blues, and Capitals. After his playing career was over, he stayed in hockey. He became the Director of Pro Scouting for the LA Kings. It was that position that he held when he was unfortunately a passenger on United Flight 175 on September 11, 2001. Since he passed away, the Monarchs have hosted an event in his honor to benefit him.
[tubepress video=”S_pD3bgvzWA”]
“It is a special honor for the Monarchs Care Foundation and our celebrity attendees to participate in this annual event in remembrance of Ace,” said Darren Abbott, President of the Monarchs. “Ace was a special part of the Los Angeles Kings organization, in addition to the hockey community. He had a fun-loving and jovial demeanor that touched everyone that he met. Our tournament has raised upward of $340,000 over the last 12 years and we remain fully committed to raising money in Ace’s memory to celebrate his life and his love for children.”
[tubepress video=”HTMYx2BkIsA”]
Teams of four paid to play in the tournament and were joined by a celebrity golfer with ties to hockey, usually hockey in the area. Some of the celebrities included former Bruin and Director of the Bruins Foundation, Bob Sweeney, Monarchs Director of Hockey Operations, Hubie McDonough, former Monarchs assistant coaches, Bobby Jay and Scott Pellerin, and former Monarchs players Jeff Giuliano, Eric Healey, Patrick Mullen, Doug Nolan, Ian O’Connor, and Richard Seeley. Other celebrity golfers included Ty Conklin, Mark Mowers, Dick Lamby, Justin Soryal, Riley Wetmore, and Chad Ruhwedel.
[tubepress video=”ZR-5VX9DSJg”]
The Monarchs Foundation, the charitable arm of the Manchester Monarchs, hosted the event. The proceeds went to The Mom’s Place at Catholic Medical Center and the Ace Bailey Children’s Foundation. Both are local charities and many that came out recognize the importance of benefitting local charities.
[tubepress video=”t3ZAU9EyQK8″]
Throughout the season, the Monarchs take part in a number of local charities. In the summer, things are little more relaxed as players spread out for the off season. However, being in the off season does not stop the team from wanting to give back. They understand and appreciate the support they get from the community. It is important for them to be active members of that community between the seasons.
(Video credit: Heather Stebbins)
(photo: ECHL)
The pinnacle for the ECHL, the Kelly Cup is the Culmination of all the blood, sweat and grit of a hard fought season. The Alaska Aces took the 2014 Kelly Cup after defeating the Cincinnati Cyclones in six games with a 4-0 shutout victory. It was the first ever championship for Head Coach Rob Murray who took over the team three seasons ago. This marks the third time the Aces have captured the ECHL title, and the first for their Captain.
Aces Captain Nick Mazzolini raises the Kelly Cup
photo: Tony Tribble, Cincinnati Enquirer
Leading the ECHL in scoring with 31 points, Aces Captain Nick Mazzolini led his team all season long, continuing the momentum into what would be the final game with the opening goal on the power play with just 22 seconds left in the first period. The captain’s goal would be all Alaska needed to win, as goaltender Gerald Coleman shut the door for the Cyclones offense, delivering a 23 save shutout performance. Coleman, with his second shutout of the Finals, became the first goaltender to win two Kelly Cup titles in ECHL history and both with Alaska.
The Aces, despite struggling in the series to score on the man advantage, capitalized on another power play in the second period, with forward Drew MacKenzie converting on a backdoor feed at the left circle. Alex Belzile added to the tally with a wrister to beat Cyclones goaltender Rob Madore through the five hole with a little more than four minutes left to play in regulation. With the score 3-0 in the Aces favor, Cincinnati pulled Madore for the extra attacker and Aces forward Turner Elson, netted yet another empty net goal in the playoffs to leave the final score 4-0.
Cyclones goaltender Rob Madore had an unbelievable playoff series, leading his team in between the pipes. He logged almost 1500 minutes, playing in every one of Cincinnati’s 24 playoff games. Game 6 was no different as Alaska poured on the pressure and Madore collected 41 saves for his team. His stellar play, with mind boggling butterfly saves and a reach that defies his 5′ 11″ frame rightly earned the Kelly Cup Playoff MVP title.
“It’s always nice to be recognized, but…it’s a testament to how well the guys played in front of me for the last two months,” said Rob Madore, who was also named third star of the game. “They have been awesome. Everyone down to a man has done their job above and beyond and that includes the guys that didn’t even see a lot of game action.”
For game highlights click here.
For a full recap along with post game interviews with the Kelly Cup Champion Aces, see Doyle Woody’s post from the Anchorage Daily News here.
The Alaska Aces will return home to Anchorage with the Cup to celebrate their victory. Festivities take place on Wednesday night at Sullivan Arena.
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
For all the emphasis that’s been put on the statistics and patterns-turned-storylines of this Stanley Cup Final, games like Monday night’s Game 3 prove that numbers aren’t everything.
Coming into this game, the L.A. Kings had not led for a single second of the series. They had trailed 2-0 in three consecutive games and faced a 2-goal deficit three different times (2-0, 3-1, 4-2) in Game 2. And on Monday night, the New York Rangers outshot the Kings 32-15 at Madison Square Garden.
But despite these rather condemning statistics, L.A. will enter Game 4 on Wednesday with a 3-0 series lead over New York.
This Kings team has been called the “cockroaches” of the 2014 playoffs, in the sense that they have become seemingly unstoppable, unkillable. They came back from a 3-0 series deficit against the San Jose Sharks in round 1; they forced a Game 7 in Anaheim in the second round and eliminated the top-ranked Ducks; and they fought off a comeback by Chicago to defeat the Blackhawks in a Game 7 overtime matchup in the Western Conference Finals. If the Rangers can’t find a way to start a comeback of their own, the Stanley Cup will be headed back to Los Angeles for the second time in three seasons.
While Games 1 and 2 of this final NYR/LAK series both ended as overtime thrillers–with final scores of 3-2 and 5-4, respectively–Game 3 finished with a decisive 3-0 win for the Kings. By the end of Monday night’s game, all of the “rules” of this series that had been established in Games 1 and 2 had been broken.
For those of you keeping track, here’s what didn’t happen in Game 3:
- The Rangers did not score first.
- The Rangers did not score at all.
- The Rangers did not take a 2-0 lead in the first period.
- The Kings did not trail by a 2+ goal deficit during the game.
- The Kings did not rally and make a comeback to strip the Rangers of the aforementioned 2+ goal lead.
- The game did not go into overtime.
- And, interestingly enough, the Kings did not outshoot the Rangers.
Here’s what did happen:
Jeff Carter finds the back of the net with less than a second remaining in the first period (via @myregularface).
- The Kings scored first, on a buzzer-beater by C Jeff Carter at the end of the first period.
- The Kings scored second off of D Jake Muzzin‘s powerplay goal 4:17 into the second.
- The Kings scored third with a snapshot by C Mike Richards in the closing minutes of the second period and never looked back.
- The Kings took the lead and held it through the end of the game.
- The Rangers had more than twice as many shots on goal as the Kings.
Oh yeah, and one more thing:
Quick dives and stops Mats Zuccarello’s shot in the first period (via @myregularface).
Quick stopped each of the 32 shots he faced and recorded his ninth career shutout in a performance that won him First Star of the Game accolades. It’s not that the Rangers took bad shots or didn’t have golden opportunities to score; in fact, at one point in the second period, New York had thirteen shots in a row. But tonight, Quick brought his A+ game, made some truly spectacular saves, and kept the Rangers off the scoreboard. Tonight, Quick reminded the hockey world why he’s a Conn Smythe winner.
Chris Kreider’s breakaway shot, 7 seconds into the third period, is also denied (via @myregularface).
Quick’s goaltending, combined with the Kings’ strong penalty killing, made for a quiet crowd in Madison Square Garden and a frustrated home team. “[Quick] made some big saves that could have changed the game for sure,” said Rangers C Brad Richards. “It felt like we were real close…then all of a sudden, the period’s over.” Every time the Rangers looked like they had an offensive rally building, the Kings found a way to shut them down.
The Rangers pulled G Henrik Lundqvist with 4:21 remaining in the third for the extra attacker, but Quick remained perfect in goal in spite of New York’s late 6-on-5 advantage.
“We’re down 3-0 and it feels like we can easily have two wins…It’s not about playing great, it’s not about having great looks. It’s about finding ways to win, and [LA has] been able to do that, so we have to leave everything out there now in the next game,” said Lundqvist after the game.
Only four teams have overcome a 0-3 deficit in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it’s happened only once in the final round, when the Toronto Maple Leafs came back to win against the Detroit Red Wings in the 1941-42 season.
The most recent team to come back after losing its first 3 games? The 2013-14 Kings.
(via @FOXSportsLive)
But again, as proven earlier, numbers aren’t everything. Patterns and statistics don’t necessarily point to inevitabilities. So for now, the Rangers plan to take the rest of this series one game at a time and use the next 48 hours to prepare for Game 4.
“We’ve had some good efforts, and we’ve just had some mistakes that ended up in the back of our net…we’ve got to work ourselves out of this,” Rangers LW Rick Nash said. “We’ve just got to worry about this next game. We can’t look at the big picture now.”
–
Game 4 of the series begins Wednesday night (June 11) at 8pm ET/5pm PT.
(Source:Reddit)
The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed twenty three year olds Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson, both of their Calder Cup finalists, to three-year contracts.
Johnson, a native of Spokane, Washington, who went undrafted by the WHL, is now making a name for himself in the NHL ranks. Standing at only 5-foot-9, he is one of only three players to appear in all 82 regular season games and all four of the team’s playoff games. He ranks fourth on the Lightning with his 24 goals, and fifth with his 50 points. He also led all rookies for average time on the ice, and face-offs. Out of his 96 career games, he has 27 goals and 56 points.
Before his full-time stay with the Lightning, he played in 137 games with the team’s minor league affiliate the Norfolk Admirals (now the Syracuse Crunch.) In those games he had 68 goals and 133 points, giving him the title of the AHL’s MVP in 2013. During his time with the Admirals he recorded 16 goals and 35 points, helping them to win the Calder Cup in 2012 and make a return to the finals in 2013.
He signed his contact extension just after returning from the IIHF World Championships where he recorded six goals in eight games with Team USA.
The six-foot Ondrej Palat missed only one game with the Lightning last season and ended with a plus-32 rating with his 23 goals and 59 points. He led all Lightning skaters in plus/minus, and became only the third player in Lightning history to finish the season with a plus/minus rating better than 30.
He has played in 95 career games with the Lightning and won Rookie of the Month honours in both January and March. Between December 23-January 9, he had an eight-game point streak where he recorded four goals and six assists.
A native of Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic, he represented his country at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia where he skated in four games.
(Photo: The Madison Square Garden Company, 2012)
There’s always a certain theatricality to sports, especially during the finals: players become celebrities, media coverage becomes virtually non-stop, games become wars.
On Saturday night, for example, horse racing’s biggest event of the year–the Belmont Stakes–commanded the country’s attention. In the weeks leading up to this race, the attention was all on California Chrome as he won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in chase of the elusive Triple Crown. In the lead-up to the third and final race, California Chrome became a household name, and his story as the “everyman horse” became representative of something bigger in the eyes of all his supporters. There’s a reason California Chrome’s fifth-place finish on Saturday was met with so much disappointment.
It’s classic theatre: find a hero (or twenty), give them overwhelming odds to overcome–something for the audience to root for–and surround the story with flashing lights and interviews around every turn until the end finally comes and brings the story to a close. This is when sports become something more than athletic competitions, and they bring viewers across the nation along for the ride.
This year’s Stanley Cup Final is no different.
It’s hockey’s version of Broadway vs. Hollywood. In a series bringing players and fans alike on a coast-to-coast journey, the New York Rangers and the LA Kings battle it out on the ice in the race for four wins and the ultimate title of 2014 Stanley Cup Champions. And with the first two games turning into overtime thrillers, the series is living up to the hype:
“[The series is] a mix of a little bit of everything…it feels like you’re at All-Star weekend because there’s so much media that normally you don’t see. There’s a lot of people that come up and ask you different types of questions right now,” said Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist. “But then at the same time you’re really focused on what you need to do. So it’s a mix of being in the Olympics, being at All-Star weekend. But it’s fun. It’s a lot to take in, but it’s also exciting to see a different side, I guess.”
A crowd gathers to watch Game 1 in Bryant Park. Note that this particular game was held in LA, nearly 2800 miles away.(via @misterdevore)
Every individual game has an element of theatre as well, whether it takes the form of a roaring crowd or a well-timed penalty, a crazy bounce or a dubious call. Nothing is done halfway: the singing of the national anthem features recording artists and patriotic flair, and every goal comes with flashing lights and music, met with either cheers or silence from the crowd. It’s pure showmanship, and that’s a big part of what makes the playoffs so entertaining. It’s a performance both on and off the ice.
The Rangers and Kings bring forth another storied series final this year, featuring a number of subplots and storylines that have been highlighted throughout the series so far; the Kings keep making comebacks and NHL history, while the Rangers continue to show that they are in no way underdogs, despite the fact that they trail 2-0 in the series right now.
Saturday’s Game 2, which ended in double overtime, marked the third game in a row that the Kings came back from a 2+ goal deficit to win in overtime. The Rangers took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission with goals by D Ryan McDonagh and LW Mats Zuccarello. The two teams then traded goals in the second (a wristshot by C Jarret Stoll and a powerplay goal by RW Martin St. Louis) to make the score 3-1. Kings D Willie Mitchell found the back of the net three minutes later to make it 3-2, only for C Derick Brassard to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead eleven seconds later.
Then there was the controversial third-period goal to put the Kings within 1:
The ensuing “interference-or-good goal?” discussion and review made for some intense hockey analysis for the rest of the game. It was the source of discussion during timeouts and intermissions, the big “what-if” of the game. (What if the goal had been called off? What would this game have looked like then? What if this hadn’t been the start of another Kings comeback?) Even a day later, the question of the goal’s validity still remains. When asked if he thought the goal was interference, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault simply replied, “Ask the NHL.”
Another third-period LA goal by RW Marian Gaborik tied the game 4-4, and that would remain the score until midway through double overtime, when Kings captain RW Dustin Brown tipped in a shot by Mitchell to bring the final score to 5-4.
VIDEO: How do you know if a performance is a success? Just let the crowd tell you. (end of game 2, via @LAKings)
And just to add to this dramatic finish, there’s the fact that the Kings haven’t actually led a game in over 229 minutes; their last three game-winning goals have all come in sudden death.
On Monday night, these two teams will find themselves in the spotlight once again, this time for two games at Madison Square Garden–New York City’s biggest sports stage. 1994 was the last time New York City hosted a playoff game, so expect huge performances from Rangerstown. There will be a lot of red, white, and blue in the stands, as well as cheering and music and hometown pride. And the Rangers are positive that the home-ice advantage will suit them well:
“It’s going to be huge,” said D John Moore about playing at MSG. “It doesn’t get any bigger than this. We’re going to expect [the fans] to be loud and be behind us.”
“It’s the biggest game New York has had [at MSG] in 20 years,” said Vigneault. “I think our fans are as excited as we are.”
In short, Madison Square Garden is a venue that demands a show, and it most certainly will get one.
So pick your hero: whether you’re rooting for the Rangers or the Kings; for the East or the West; for the team that hasn’t trailed for a single minute or for the team that has yet to lead a game, yet leads the series, remember that this series is just heating up. We’ve seen hockey in Hollywood…now let’s bring it to Broadway.
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Game 3 of the series begins at 8pm ET/5 pm PT on Monday, June 9.
Russia claimed the coveted gold medal at the 2014 IIHF World Championship Sunday May 25 at Minsk Arena, Belarus, defeating Team Finland 5-2. The Russians remained undefeated throughout the tournament, surely motivated by a disappointing early exit in Sochi which saw the team – initially a favourite to challenge Team Canada for the top spot – exit the Winter Olympics without a medal.
“I’m glad for the guys who won (for the) first time,” said Evgeni Malkin following the win. “Great team, great coach, and we deserve it.” Questioned on if the win takes away the sting from Sochi, Malkin responded honestly. “Not yet. It was this year, we can’t forget. It’s a small step, we have four more years and we just (have to) keep going.”
Malkin secured two goals and one assist in four games at Worlds. The win provides a rare highlight in a frustrating season for the 27-year-old Russian centre, punctuated not only by the disappointment in Sochi but also the Pittsburgh Penguins well-publicized early exit from the playoffs this season. The Pens, tipped as front-runners during the 2013-14 regular season, made it to the Eastern Conference Second Round but fell to the New York Rangers in Game 7 after the Pens blew a 3-1 series lead. This resulted in a major restructuring of the Penguins management team. The Rangers are now battling the LA Kings in the Stanley Cup Final, with the Kings currently leading the series 2-0. NHL players competing in Worlds came mostly from teams who experienced an early exit from the 2013-14 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It’s the first time I’m captain of this team and we have such a good team, coaching staff. We played with injury, it’s not a secret, but we just played and we win the game,” said Alex Ovechkin after the win. Also asked about Sochi, he replied, “I don’t think you can compare this one. It’s kind of the situation when you have two different tournaments, two different levels.”
The Russians dominated offensively in the 5-2 win, with 39 shots on goal to Finland’s 26. Team Russia capitalized on the Fin’s penalties, scoring 4 of their 5 goals on the power play. Both Malkin and Ovechkin secured a goal in the second period of the gold medal game, securing the team’s second and third goal, respectively.
The gold medal winning Russian national team at the presidential reception in the Kremlin on May 27, 2014.
The team returned home to a heroes welcome, enjoying an open-top bus ride through the centre of Moscow and proudly displaying the trophy to thousands of fans who greeted the team by waving flags and chanting ‘Ros-si-ya!’ After the parade, Team Russia were invited to a reception at the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin.
A passionate hockey nation, Russia will once again cheer their heroes when the 2016 IIHF World Championship comes to Russia. The tournament is set to be held in Moscow and St. Petersburg, April 29 to May 15, 2016.
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