(Photo: MGMcGrath.com)
The Buffalo Sabres and USA Hockey Twitter accounts have been hinting at big news for Buffalo over the past several hours, and today the major announcement was finally revealed:
In a press conference earlier this morning, USA Hockey announced that Buffalo, New York, will host two world championships in 2015: the 8th annual International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship from January 4-12, 2015, and the International Paralympic Committee Ice Sledge Hockey World Championship from April 24-May 2, 2015. Both championships will be held at the HARBORCENTER, which is scheduled to open in early October 2014. Buffalo mayor Byron Brown notes, “Buffalo is the first city in the world to be selected for two world championships in the same year.”
“We’re extremely pleased to bring these two world championships to HARBORCENTER,” says Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey. “The athletes and fans will be treated to a state-of-the-art facility in an area where hockey is an everyday passion. Between the HARBORCENTER and Sabres staff, the local community and our terrific New York affiliate, we have an infrastructure in place that will ensure an outstanding experience for everyone involved.”
Teams from the United States, Canada, Czech Republic, and Russia (Group A) as well as Finland, Sweden, Japan, and Switzerland (Group B) will compete for the gold medal in the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship. Team USA has won gold in 2008, 2009, and 2011, and they have not missed playing in the gold-medal game since the championship began in 2008. The United States has hosted the event only one other time, in Woodridge, Illinois, in 2010.
The IPC Ice Sledge Hockey World Championship will feature teams from the United States, Canada, Russia, Czech Republic, Norway, Italy, Germany, and Japan. This will be the event’s eighth year, and these eight teams will compete for the gold medal; Team USA has won gold twice, in 2009 and 2012, and has hosted the championship twice as well (2000 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and 2008 in Marlborough, Massachusetts).
“To have the opportunity to host two world championships in the span of four months is terrific not only for HARBORCENTER, but also our community,” says John Koelmel, president of HARBORCENTER. “We’re proud of the confidence USA Hockey has in us and we look forward to welcoming athletes and fans from across the world.”
“A strong relationship with USA Hockey is important to us,” says Ted Black, president of the Buffalo Sabres. “We’re excited to bring these two world class events to Buffalo and HARBORCENTER. We’ll work hard to have visitors leaving these events excited to come back.”
More specific details for these two events regarding schedules and ticket sales will be released as the championship dates draw nearer.
Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
Three down, one to go. But it’s not that simple and it won’t be that easy. The LA Kings are in for a battle against the Chicago Blackhawks, who will look to stay alive in the series on Wednesday night.
For the first time since 2012, the Hawks are on the brink of elimination as the Kings have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead. However, as Kings’ coach Darryl Sutter cautions, “You don’t get nothin’ for three.” While the Kings do have a perfect 4-0 record when leading a series 3-1 (a record set in 2012), they know it won’t be easy. You don’t just knock off the defending Champs without a lot of effort (and perhaps a pinch of luck). After being faced with the possibility of an early summer six times already, this will arguably be LA’s hardest task yet.
Following the Game 3 loss, Blackhawks Coach Quenneville decided to make some line changes in Game 4 to try and counter LA’s red hot second line. He started Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane on a line together and for the most part, it worked. While Kane didn’t pick up any points, his line gave LA fits, particularly in the third period. More on that later.
Period 1:
The Hawks had a lot of jump right out the gate and spent the majority of the first few minutes in the offensive zone, though they weren’t able to generate much out of said zone time. Just as the Kings had started to generate some offensive zone time of their own, they took a couple of undisciplined penalties. First Anze Kopitar took a hooking penalty and about five seconds after the team finished killing that penalty, Dustin Brown got called for high sticking Duncan Keith. However, 40 seconds into the second power play, Jake Muzzin hit Marian Hossa who was in front of the crease and Hossa got called for goaltender interference.
Ten seconds into their first power play, the Kings scored. Muzzin had what felt like an eternity to line up his shot and he picked the corner over Corey Crawford‘s left shoulder. Toews had an opportunity to clear the zone while the teams were still at 4v4 but was unable to. Muzzin did a really good job of pressuring Toews and taking the puck away.
But the Kings weren’t done there. A few minutes later, with some aggressive play in the neutral zone, Marian Gaborik got the puck deep into Chicago’s zone. Kopitar stripped Keith in the corner and fed Gaborik who tipped it five-hole.
With five minutes remaining, Patrick Sharp took a roughing penalty and the Kings made him pay. Pretty passing opened up a few seams and Brown was able to put the puck into the open net after a deft tip pass from Justin Williams and Muzzin.
The Kings went into the first intermission up 3-0.
Period 2
Both teams traded penalties and goals. Neither team was able to capitalize with the man advantage. Shortly after the Kings killed off a bench minor for too many men, Drew Doughty scored with a deft little wrist shot that deflected, knuckled and beat Crawford over the glove.
A minute later, Brandon Saad finally broke through for the Blackhawks with a beautiful backhander that he roofed over Jonathan Quick‘s shoulder. He had ample time and space to pick his shot and he nailed it.
Chicago proceeded to hem LA inside their own zone for much of the remainder of the period but were unable to convert on anything.
Period 3
The first nine minutes were pretty even for both teams. But then Chicago’s top line was rewarded with a goal for some hard work down low. During a scrum midway through the period, Doughty robbed Toews on the goal line but the puck eventually worked its way over to Bryan Bickell who chipped it over Quick’s left shoulder.
Crawford was pulled for the extra attacker with three minutes left, however the Hawks were not able to close the gap. It took two minutes and four tries before Tanner Pearson finally got the empty net goal.
Final score: 5-2 LA.
Brief Analysis
The Kings played a good game against a good team. One thing to note, though, is how their team wide shooting percentage has risen to ridiculous levels from a near league-low 6% to an absurd 11.3% (over a relatively small sample size) in the postseason. To put that into perspective, NHL team average is around 8% at 5v5.
The Kings’ special teams have really taken over the series with the Blackhawks. Their power play is scoring at a 40% clip. During the regular season, teams with the best power plays had a success rate around 18%. Their penalty kill units, since ceding goals in the first two games, have really shut down the opposition and made it difficult to generate any momentum. As a team, they’re doing an excellent job of getting into lanes, blocking shots and lifting sticks. And when there is a breakdown, Jonathan Quick has been there to bail them out.
All in all, the Kings are getting rather lucky with their goal scoring right now. They’re also getting a lot of depth scoring throughout the lineup, particularly from defensemen Jake Muzzin and Drew Doughty. Will it regress? Eventually, yes, but when, I’m not sure.
Their goaltending has been very good and aside from one or two miscues, Quick has been doing his part to keep his team in the game. At the other end of the spectrum, there was nothing Corey Crawford could do on Monday night. The Kings have done great work of tipping/deflecting shots and providing multilayer screens. It’s incredibly difficult for a goaltender to do his job when he can’t even see the puck.
The defending champs will not be easily denied a victory in this series. The Kings cannot count on their good fortune with special teams to hold up. While they excelled through 40 minutes on Monday, they will need to make sure their 5v5 play is very good. I fully expect Chicago to come out hard and make life very difficult for LA.
Next game: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. If necessary, Game 6 will be on Friday, May 30th.
(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports)
In a press conference held this morning, the Washington Capitals introduced Barry Trotz as the team’s new head coach and Brian MacLellan as the new GM. Capitals owner and CEO, Ted Leonsis, says it was a “bold decision” to replace the head coach and GM at the same time, and he is optimistic for the future of the team following this staffing change. The Capitals are seeking to create a “new identity” for the team, and this transformation will begin with the appointments of Trotz and MacLellan.
Trotz is currently the 4th winningest coach among active NHL coaches (15th all-time) with a career record of 557-479-(60)-100. He served as head coach of the Nashville Predators for 15 years and has been a finalist for the Jack Adams trophy twice in the last 5 years. Trotz is known as a “defensive coach” and hopes to bring a stronger defensive game to the offensively-minded Capitals team: “Defense is about getting the puck quickly so you can do something offensively,” he says, and he notes that from an “outsider perspective” that the Caps have “a lot of talent up front, a lot of goal scoring” but “need balance.” When asked about Ovechkin, Trotz says that he ” really set this franchise going forward when he came in” and plans on having a 1-on-1 meeting with the Caps’ captain to discuss his leadership role and vision for next season’s team: “The team takes on the identity of their top players.”
MacLellan has been with Washington for 13 seasons, serving 7 seasons as the Capitals’ Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel, and he now becomes the 6th GM in Capitals history. He will also take on the role of Senior Vice President. MacLellan hopes to help create a “hard-working, disciplined team that plays a two-way game” with “better support on the ice” and “5 guys working in sync together.” He brings his own individual experiences and history with the team to the GM position and supports the idea of a “new identity” for the Caps as well.
The Capitals missed the playoffs this year for the first time since the 2006-2007 season, and they placed 9th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 38-30-14.
Question, straight up: Exactly when did it become popular to flip on a hockey game and obsess over everyone’s ties?
Think about it. When you take into consideration all of the forechecking, goal-scoring and glove-dropping, it’s hard to imagine that there’s any time left in the span of hockey viewing to devote to fashion critique.
Yet in many sects of professional sports, fashion has intertwined itself and stolen the audience’s focus, and hockey is no exception. Since those working in the National Hockey League don dressy duds, it has become habit for a lot of us to be on the lookout for whatever spiffy neckwear the gentlemen in front of the camera or behind the bench are rocking during any given game.
In the wake of such fashion-forward fandom, there is a hub giving any cravat worn during the hockey season all the love—and criticism—that it deserves.
Enter NHL Ties: The Twitter destination created for giggles, continuously growing into a well-recognized spot “where ties still count.”
“We watch a lot of hockey up here,” the NHL Ties team told me in an interview from their headquarters just outside of Seattle. “Sometimes a game just needs to end in a ‘tie’ and we feel the only skills competition should be used for knotting a (neck)tie, not unknotting a tied game.”
The masterminds behind NHL Ties choose to keep a bit of anonymity as to not ruin the whimsy and mystère behind their Twitter persona. But here’s what we can tell you: the team is run by a CEO and CTO—Chief Tie Officer, for those keeping track at home. Their operation also has the help of a “scoring intern,” and a few “unpaid interns” who help grade all neckwear and rank them at the end of the evening in the team’s coveted Tie Battles, a lead up to the highly-coveted “3 Stars of the Night.”
We also know that the concept for NHL Ties came along while watching a San Jose Sharks broadcast, and was solidified as an idea for a Twitter hub thanks to a little encouragement from Sharks Pre-Game Live host Brodie Brazil.
“Our CTO was watching some Sharks pre-game shows… Drew (Remenda), Randy (Hahn) and Brodie had some incredible knots and dimples going to the first night, so we tweeted a screen cap and ‘ranked’ them. The next game Brodie quipped back ‘You need a whole new account for this tie thing.’”
So on March 14, NHL Ties sent out its first tweet, and has been rating tie patterns and knot dimples well into deep in the 2014 playoffs. Any day or evening that NHL games are televised, the team is at work putting games hosts’ and coaches’ wears up against each other for Tie Battles in a fight for who gets “3 Stars” honors at the end of the night.
The team is also generous when it comes to retweeting clever snippets from followers, endearingly named “knotheads.” They tell me that one of their regular followers came up with the tag #Tie99—Drew Remenda’s Twitter persona likening his rockstar neckwear to Wayne Gretzky.
So not surprisingly, the account garnered a fan base “right out the gate,” the team told me.
NHL Ties’ band of loyal followers doesn’t just include puckheads at home watching games on the tube. Some nationally-recognized subjects of the accounts’ many Tie Battles have responded to the attention brought to their neckwear. “Some of the broadcasters who are very active on Twitter retweeted their battles and would often make comments about the 3 Stars: ‘I was robbed!’ or ‘No fair, Bob Miller messed up my tie before we went on camera.’
“The guys on NHL Network are the most vocal—and that includes a number of behind the scenes production personnel—about their battles. I’ve heard they rib each other during commercials after a Battle or 3 Stars has been posted. “Next to them is probably the Sharks team. We also have a few behind-the-camera personnel from (Comcast SportsNet California) who chime in and actually help us get shots of the guys.” Of course, because without screen caps of the subjects, how in the heck would the staff show their public out in the Twitterverse how all these fancy ties are being critiqued?
When it comes to grading, NHL Ties isn’t just simply “liking” or “disliking” someone’s neckwear. Oh no, this operation out of Redmond, Washington takes its tie-ranking seriously. “The KDS (Knot, Dimple, Style) matrix really focuses on symmetry of the knot, the symmetry of the flare of the tie from the knot, and the dimple,” the team informs me. “Knots have difficulty levels, so even a perfect four-in-hand will score lower than a good half or full Windsor. And just as true, a bad full or half Windsor will score way lower than a good four-in-hand.”
Everyone catch that? That isn’t even getting into how the dimples are scored. Which, I was taught, are “graded based on the same sort of symmetry.” Yet, even with this rigorous judging platform: “Anybody wearing a proper bowtie will win all the time and is guaranteed a first star at the end of the night.” Because, just as every hockey tilt has its three stars of the game, every evening full of hockey viewing deserves a Best Dressed ranking as well. While NHL Ties’ grading system seems to rival most formulas on a TI-89, their “tie-lestrator” is decidedly modest machinery. “It’s just an iPad, Penultimate App and a Wacom Bamoo stylus.”
With the 2014 season drawing to a close, we have to ask: What is NHL Ties going to do in its off-season?
Go underground until September? Grade ties on broadcasters for other sports to stay fresh?
“We’ll do some Throwback Thursday battles with classic games, and look at ways that we can make things a little more interactive with the followers next season.”
However, we can expect the team to take a brief hiatus, just as the rest of the league will. “We don’t want to do too much, because absence makes the heart grow fonder… right?”
(Photo: NHL.com)
The finalists for the NHL’s General Manager of the Year Award were announced yesterday. Marc Bergevin of the Montreal Canadiens and Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks have been named finalists for the second consecutive season, and Dean Lombardi of the LA Kings has been named a finalist for the first time.
Bergevin has been with the Canadiens since May of 2012, and was commended for his success in acquiring offensive threats during the offseason.
Bergevin guided the Canadiens (46-28-8, 100 points) to their second
100-point season since 1992-93, leading the team to the playoffs for the
second time in as many years as general manager. He bolstered the offense
with the summer signing of Daniel Briere and also added grit with the
offseason acquisitions of Douglas Murray and George Parros. Bergevin then
shored up the roster with midseason trades for Thomas Vanek, Mike Weaver
and Dale Weise, all of whom played critical roles in the team advancing to
the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in the past five seasons.
LA Kings General Manager Lombardi was appointed to his position in 2006, and was GM during the team’s 2012 Stanley Cup win. The Kings are currently in the Western Conference Final.
Under the direction of Lombardi, the Kings (46-28-8, 100 points)
earned their fifth consecutive playoff berth, recorded their fourth
100-point season in franchise history and made their third straight
appearance in the Western Conference Final. He solidified the team’s blue
line by re-signing defensemen Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin and Slava Voynov
and did the same up front by bringing back Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford,
Trevor Lewis and Jordan Nolan. Lombardi then kick-started the club’s
offense with the addition of Marian Gaborik at the Trade Deadline; after
being blanked six times in 63 games prior to his arrival, the Kings were
not shut out once in the final 19 contests of the regular season with
Gaborik in the lineup.
Murray was named general manager of the Anaheim Ducks in 2008. The Ducks won the Pacific Division title for the second consecutive season before falling to the LA Kings in the playoffs.
Murray paved the way for the finest season in Ducks history, leading
the team to its second straight Pacific Division title; the top record in
the Western Conference for the first time in club history; and franchise
records in wins (54), points (116), points percentage (.707), home wins
(29) and road wins (25). He set the Ducks up for success by re-signing Matt
Beleskey, Saku Koivu, Ben Lovejoy and Kyle Palmieri as well as enticing
Teemu Selanne to return for one final season. Murray also traded for
Mathieu Perreault during the preseason; added depth players in Mark Fistric
, Tim Jackman, Stephane Robidas and Jakob Silfverberg; and oversaw the
development of young goaltenders Frederik Andersen and John Gibson.
The winner of the award will be announced June 24 at the 2014 NHL Awards.
On Thursday, May 22nd it was announced that the New York Islanders may have solved their long running goaltender problems. The team acquired 28 year old Jaroslav Halak on May 1st, 2014 and have agreed on a four-year contract with the net-minder. Halak has represented Team Slovakia at two Winter Olympics and has played for Montreal, St. Louis, and Washington. He has 272 career NHL games and 144-85-29 record.
The Islanders have also announced that they will be retaining their 2014 first round draft pick and transferring their 2015 first round pick to the Buffalo Sabres. The draft pick was part of the deal that sent Matt Moulson to Buffalo and brought Thomas Vanek to Long Island.
(Photo: Mark Welsh/DailyHerald.com)
Much like a baseball fan doesn’t utter word of a pitcher’s hitless game, I made no mention of the Blackhawks’ home ice winning streak. Jinx fail-safes be damned, all good things must come to an end.
The Los Angeles Kings Wednesday struck down Chicago’s United Center win streak, where they’ve taken the last seven home playoff games. In fact, their home-ice win streak went back 11 games, into their regular season March 25 against the Dallas Stars.
Speaking of streaks, until Wednesday, the Hawks beat the Kings in all of their 2013-14 meetings and the past three home playoff games.
“Yeah, I mean, you always want to win on home ice, Blackhawks winger Ben Smith said Thursday. “We’ve had some success on home ice before yesterday. What can you do?
“We have to go out there and win a game in L.A. for sure. It’s something that we’ve done before. Being able to draw from that experience is nice. You know, it’s one of those things where you have to move on, as I said before, try and win Game 3.”
It wasn’t just the loss on home ice. It was a 6-2 flogging, with all of the Kings’ goals coming from the end of the second period on without an answer from the boys in red. This followed a 3-1 Blackhawks win in Game 1 and Chicago victories against Los Angeles for all of the regular season meetings.
Coach Joel Quenneville was pleased with the first 38 minutes of the game, before the meltdown began.
Nick Leddy scored a breakaway goal with a backhand shot with 5:44 left in the first during a Power Play, when Willie Mitchell was called for holding against Patrick Kane. It was Leddy’s first goal of the playoffs. Duncan Keith was credited with the assist–he’s had seven in the postseason.
Smith (2) scored 1:40 into the second with a beautiful wrister, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Johnny Oduya (4) and Brandon Bollig (1) were credited with the assists.
Then, with 1:46 left in the period, Justin Williams scored his sixth goal of the playoffs tipping the puck past Corey Crawford. Mike Richards (4) and Dwight King (3) were credited with the assists.
“It was a huge goal for us. To be honest with you, I thought we were a little flat heading up to that goal,” Carter said. “We got a bounce. The guys worked hard to get to the net. It gave us a little bit of life. Gave us a little bit of extra energy going into the third.”
That’s an understatement.
For the Blackhawks, it all went downhill from there.
“They got a little momentum at the end of the period scoring a big goal for them on an innocent play, gave them some life,” Quenneville said. “Took a couple funny penalties, they were both in our net, that was it.”
Bollig took a misguided interference penalty against Tyler Toffoli at just 1:14 into the third and despite the Hawks’ status as Penalty Kill leaders (topping the league by 7.5% above the next-highest team until Wednesday’s game), the Kings tied the game on their Power Play.
Jeff Carter scored with a deflection past Crawford just 23 seconds into the Power Play. Carter, who had four goals up until then in the playoffs, was assisted by Drew Doughty (9) and Slava Voynov (4).
A flurry of Kings goals followed, netting Carter a hat trick.
On yet another controversial call, a “too many men on the ice” penalty sent Brandon Saad to the box and another puck into the net.
Jake Muzzin, who has four goals in the postseason, scored another Power Play goal with a slapshot, assisted by Alec Martinez (5) and Anze Kopitar (15). This gave the Kings a 3-2 lead.
Less than five minutes later, Toffoli scored his fifth playoff goal with a point-blank wrister on Crawford’s glove side– assisting, Tanner Pearson (6) and Carter (9). The Blackhawks made an embarrassing mistake here, stopping play when they believed the puck went off the net.
Carter tallied again 14:44 into the third, with a wristshot assisted by Pearson (7) and Matt Greene (1).
The Blackhawks were unable to do anything with an extra attacker on the ice, and Carter scored an empty netter, giving him a hat trick and his seventh playoff goal with 3:31 left in the game.
The Kings’ Jonathan Quick made 23 of 25 saves. Crawford made 25 of 30. Shots were 31-25 Kings, faceoff wins also favored Los Angeles 43-27.
This led to the final score of 6-2, and that didn’t sit well with Chicago.
“Well, the sun rose this morning,” Smith said Thursday. “Obviously we’re not happy with what happened in the last 22 minutes or so…
“We want to let the pain we felt sink in. Having said that, we want to move forward and know that, for a good portion of that game, we were in control and playing well. If we focus on that, try to bring that for 60 minutes, it puts us in a good spot to win games. We’ll learn from it, for sure, and try to move forward.”
Both the Blackhawks and Kings are battlers; and both teams plan to start fresh at the Staples Center, although for different reasons. The Blackhawks have to shake their Game 2 loss, and the Kings have to fight a team that will be trying to redeem itself.
“It doesn’t matter what happened last series. It’s completely new. On Saturday it won’t matter what happened in Game 2. You got to start fresh every night,” Greene said.
“You got to be ready for that new battle every night because you know they’re going to do the same thing. They don’t care what happened in Game 2 either. They’re going to come out and play hard.”
The Blackhawks do have one advantage–the return of Andrew Shaw.
Shaw, who has been out of the lineup since Game 1 of Round 2 against the Minnesota Wild is expected to return for Game 3 Saturday.
“It will be huge. He’s a guy that brings a lot of energy,” Smith said. “His presence in the room, his presence on the ice, his physicality. His energy mostly is the biggest thing. Having him back would be nice.”
Shaw had two goals and two assists in seven playoff games this season.
“He’s got an element that you appreciate, his competitiveness,” Quenneville said. “He’s got some skills. He’s got some abrasiveness. He’s got the right attitude to find a way to get the job done.”
Putting him on the ice will mean taking away another player, likely Bollig, Kris Versteeg, or Peter Regin. Bollig, who has served a suspension, been a healthy scratch, and taken some risky penalties in the playoffs seems a reasonable candidate. He is also, however, the “muscle” on a team that fell behind 35-23 in hits in Game 2 and 34-25 in Game 1. Regin skated in a white sweater during Friday’s afternoon practice, but Quenneville won’t likely show his cards until the last possible moment.
The Blackhawks and Kings face off at 7 p.m. CT Saturday at the Staples Center, airing on NBC.
The Kings are 3-3 on home ice this postseason.
The rest of the Western Conference Final is as scheduled (tentatively) as follows:
Game 4: Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings 8 p.m. CT May 26 NBCSN
Game 5: Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks 7 p.m. CT May 28 NBCSN
Game 6: Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings 8 p.m. CT May 30 NBCSN (if needed)
Game 7: Los Angeles Kings at Chicago Blackhawks 7 p.m. CT June 1 NBCSN (if needed)
The winner of the best-of-seven series will go in to play the winner of the Eastern Conference Final, either the Montreal Canadiens or New York Rangers.
These players will all put their bodies, blood, sweat, and tears (maybe the tears are more from is hockey fans) on the line these remaining games…Because it’s the Cup.
(Photo: GamingEnthusiast.net)
As the Stanley Cup playoffs have come down to the final four teams, another competition now sees four remaining players left in the running: the race for the cover of EA Sports’ NHL ’15. The New Jersey Devils’ Martin Brodeur won the cover spot last year, and it is now time for a new player to claim this much sought-after honor.
What started as a field of 60 players (two from each team) has been narrowed down to four individuals: Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins), Drew Doughty (LA Kings), T.J. Oshie (St. Louis Blues), and P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens). Hockey fans everywhere have been voting for who they think deserves to be the NHL ’15 cover boy the official NHL.com cover voting page as well as on Twitter (tweet #NHL15____, filling in the blank with Bergeron, Doughty, Oshie, or Subban to cast your vote). But now that we’re down to the final four players…let’s take a closer look at who’s still in contention, shall we?
Patrice Bergeron
(Photo: NHLPA)
Quick facts:
- #37 C for Boston Bruins, “A” (has played 10 seasons with Boston)
- Born in Ancienne-Lorette, PQ, Canada, on July 24, 1985
- 2013-2014 regular season: 80 games, 30 goals, 32 assists, +38 rating
- 2013-2014 postseason: 12 games, 3 goals, 6 assists, +1 rating
- Career stats (regular & postseason): 754 games, 206 goals, 355 assists in 10 seasons
Awards/honors:
- 2003-2004 Young Stars game
- 2004 World Championship gold medalist
- 2005 World Junior Championship gold medalist, MVP, All-Star team
- 2010 Olympic gold medalist
- 2010-2011 Stanley Cup winner with Boston Bruins
- 2011 joined Triple Gold Club (most recent member)
- 2011-2012 Selke Trophy winner
- 2012 Spengler Cup winner with Team Canada
- 2012-2013 King Clancy Trophy winner
- 2013-2014 nominee for Selke Trophy
Drew Doughty
(Photo: NHLPA)
Quick facts:
- #8 D for Los Angeles Kings (currently in his sixth season with LA)
- Born in London, ON, Canada, on December 8, 1989
- 2013-2014 regular season: 78 games, 10 goals, 27 assists, +18 rating
- 2013-2014 postseason (as of 5/22/14): 16 games, 1 goal, 9 assists, +7 rating
- Career stats (regular & postseason): 508 games, 71 goals, 192 assists in 6 seasons
Awards/honors:
- 2008 All-Rookie Team
- 2008 World Junior Championship gold medalist, Best Defenseman, All-Star team
- 2009 World Championship silver medalist
- 2009-2010 Norris Trophy finalist
- 2010 Olympic gold medalist
- 2011-2012 Stanley cup winner with LA Kings
- 2014 Olympic gold medalist
T.J. Oshie
(Photo: NHLPA)
Quick facts:
- #74 R for St. Louis Blues, “A” (has played six seasons with St. Louis)
- Born in Mt. Vernon, WA, USA, on December 23, 1986
- 2013-2014 regular season: 79 games, 21 goals, 39 assists, +19 rating
- 2013-2014 postseason: 5 games, 2 goals, 0 assists, -3 rating
- Career stats (regular & postseason): 395 games, 95 goals, 167 assists
Awards/honors:
- 2013 World Championship bronze medalist
- Member of 2014 USA Olympic team
P.K. Subban
(Photo: NHLPA)
Quick facts:
- #76 D for Montreal Canadiens (has played five seasons with Montreal)
- Born in Toronto, ON, Canada, on May 13, 1989
- 2013-2014 regular season: 82 games, 10 goals, 43 assists, -4 rating
- 2013-2014 postseason (as of 5/22/14): 13 games, 4 goals, 8 assists, -1 rating
- Career stats (regular & postseason): 323 games, 51 goals, 144 assists
Awards/honors:
- 2011 All-Rookie Team
- 2012-2013 Norris Trophy winner
- 2013 NHL First All-Star Team
- 2014 Olympic gold medalist
There you have it, hockey fans: your final four NHL ’15 cover contenders! Each player’s respective team is getting involved in the campaigns as well, especially on Twitter; the Bruins, Kings, Blues, and Canadiens all have giveaways for people who vote for their players, and T.J. Oshie and P.K. Subban each have campaign videos up on YouTube. (Links to Oshie’s videos: 1 2 3 4. The video for Subban is here). Voting for this round ends on Sunday, May 25th, and #NHL15 tweets on Thursdays count for double, so get your votes in now!
Who will it be? #NHL15Bergeron? #NHL15Doughty? #NHL15Oshie? #NHL15Subban?
Well, that’s all up to you.
The wait is over – Jim Benning is the new General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, the team announced Wednesday. Benning, a 51-year-old Edmontonian and former Canucks defensemen, joins the team after a successful stint as assistant GM with the Boston Bruins.
Interestingly, Benning was behind the bench for the Bruins when the team famously shattered the Canucks’ Stanley Cup dreams in a Game 7 shutout at the Stanley Cup Finals in June 2011. The Game 7 loss marked the start of a rapid decline for the Canucks which led the team to breaking point at the close of the 2013-14 season. This resulted in the rebuild that Benning is now a significant part of.
Another interesting thread in the Canucks rebuild is the connection between Benning and recently appointed President of Hockey Operations, Trevor Linden – the two are former teammates, playing for the Canucks from 1988 to 1990. Benning’s nine year tenure in the NHL was drawing to a close just as Linden’s career was beginning, an irony not lost on the former Canucks captain.
“It’s interesting how this game reconnects people. We were teammates once, and then worlds apart and now we’re aligned once again,” smiled Linden. “What really became apparent is how much we connected on our vision and our values and how we see winning organizations in the National Hockey League, but we certainly didn’t have those conversations 25-years-ogo when I was a rookie and he was a young guy.”
The search for a new GM has been widely debated and hotly tipped as the foundation for the Canucks to rebuild their team upon. Linden involved himself heavily in the search and felt the hockey intelligence the two shared was evident.
“There were moments of clarity for me in speaking with Jim that we just really connected on a hockey level,” Linden said in a statement released Wednesday by the Canucks. “Our beliefs on how success is built in the National Hockey League were very aligned.”
Jim Benning has a textured history as a former NHL player. He was drafted sixth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft. He spent five seasons with the Leafs before the team traded him to the Canucks in 1986. There he played 241 games, scoring 15 goals and notching up 55 assists for a total of 70 points. He was named the team’s top defenseman for the 1987-88 season.
From a managerial standpoint, Benning has a knack for drafting franchise-changing players. He played a key role in securing Tyler Seguin for the Boston Bruins, and drafting Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek during his 12-years as the top scout for the Buffalo Sabres. His eye for young on-ice talent is crucial for the Canucks as they prepare for their sixth round draft pick at the upcoming entry draft for the 2014-15 season. A former sixth round pick himself, the number marks another interesting and poetic coincidence for the new GM.
“Jim recognizes that there’s a lot of work to do and I think we’ve got some big decisions to make heading into the draft and certainly the summer,” said Linden. “We’re going to get to work on that, obviously the combine is next week and the great thing about this situation is Jim is able to start immediately with us, so he’ll be in Toronto for the combine with us.
”The draft is first and foremost, but we’ve also got our minds turning to the coach search and working through that. That may be impacted a little bit by teams still playing, so we’re going to have to work around that a little bit, but I think having a general manager work with me to select a coach is really critical.”
Linden did not shy away from the gargantuan task of selecting a new head coach, but assured fans that Benning has what it takes.
“Jim is an extremely hard worker, he recognizes how much commitment it takes to build a championship team,” said Linden. “He’s a guy that doesn’t have an ego, I think he’s looking forward to rolling up his sleeves and getting to work, and he’s a very down to earth dedicated person, so he’s going to fit great in the structure with the organizational values that we want to create here. I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Benning, the 11th General Manager for the Canucks, will address the media in a news conference at Roger’s Arena on Friday May 23. The announcement marks the latest move in what is arguably the largest rebuild in the team’s 44-year history.
Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today
If you or someone you know is 19 or under and interested in learning how to play hockey like a pro, this is a great opportunity. Olympians Julie Chu and Caroline Ouellette will be in Los Angeles to host a Play Like A Girl hockey camp. It will be a two day camp on June 11th and 12th, 2014 at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo (just a few miles south of the LAX airport).
Julie Chu
- Tied for second most decorated female in Winter Olympic Games history
- Key member and assistant captain of Team USA, Chu has 3 Olympic Silver Medals from 2002, 2010 and 2014 Winter Games and 1 Bronze from 2006 Winter Games .
- Winner of Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award in 2007, given annually to the top collegiate female hockey player in the United States
- In 129 games played at Harvard University, she recorded 284 points in 4 years.
- Ranked 2nd in all-time NCAA scoring
- All-time NCAA assists leader
Caroline Ouellette
- Served as Captain for Team Canada in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games
- Holds 4 Olympic Gold Medals from 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games
- In 97 games played for the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Ouellette recorded 229 points
- 2005 Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award
- Ranked 11th overall in all-time NCAA scoring, and 3rd in all-time Duluth Bulldogs scoring
Camp fees are $150 and include one hour a day of on-ice instruction and a meet and greet/Q&A with the highly decorated Olympians. There are still spots available to take advantage of this incredible opportunity. To sign up or for more information, go to lakings.com/girlshockey.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email the LA Kings Fan Development Department at fandevelopment@lakings.com or call (310)535-4472.
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