The Norris Trophy is annually awarded to the best defensive player in the NHL, an accolade that follows Boston Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara season to season. Previously winning the award in 2009, this year marks Chara skating to the finalist circle at a total of six times throughout his career, 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2012. Chara will join fellow contenders Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks and Shea Weber in the fight for a blue-liners top tribute.
“Well it’s obviously a huge honor,” said Chara. “It’s one of those things that you’re very proud of and it’s something that you need to have the whole team working towards the same direction and working together, and it’s a reflection of the whole season — having a steady and strong season as a team. That’s why we have a number of guys nominated. I’m very humbled and obviously it’s a huge honor to be nominated.”
While the award is notably to recognize the achievements of one player and his individual defensive performance, the Bruins Captain devotes himself to the team, they rise and fall together. The steady play for the Slovakian native and his ability to adapt on a game-by-game basis is just one cog in the defensive powerhouse that both Bruins brass and fans of the black and gold have come to love.
“He’s the best defender in the League – I don’t think anyone’s close, defending. And I thought this past series he was terrific. I know it was after the voting, but I thought he was just terrific,” said GM Chiarelli. “He still gets up, you know, you play a team with a real star, and he really takes that as a challenge, and I think his – I guess – skating, is good, and you maybe don’t see him shoot as much because you’re used to seeing him on the one-timer but he still blasts it. So I think he deserves the nomination, I think he deserves the award. And it’s no offense to the others.”
The statistics on paper aren’t overwhelming, although his size and presence both on and off the ice certainly are. With six bought’s in the finalists circle, the single win in 2009 doesn’t come as a shock from a general managing standpoint.
“So no, it doesn’t surprise me,” said GM Chiarelli. “It’s a little disappointing, but he doesn’t have that coast-to-coast ability. I know we’ve seen it a couple of times, but that’s not the trademark of his game. So it doesn’t really surprise me, so as I said earlier, this guy defends. To defend is so difficult, and to love doing it, there’s very few players who love doing it, and he does.”
The key phrasing to take out of Chiarelli’s sentiments, that Chara loves what he’s put on the ice to do. For anyone questioning if there’s truth behind that statement, the largest player in the league may have a similarly large heart when it comes to the game he’s built a life around.
“I really do enjoy that,” said Chara on new roles and leading the younger defensemen. “As you get older and you’ve been in the league for a while, you don’t realize how much you’re going to maybe miss that part of the game once you’re gone. So I’m not saying that I’m thinking about being gone or retiring, but I’m kind of realizing that the time is not going to be always there. I enjoy really coming to the rink every day. I enjoy competing in practices against guys and always in the games. I love the game. I’ve said it many times — it’s a humbling game and I love everything about it. So every little part of it, you have to obtain joy. You have to have fun and work hard at it, and if you do that, you have no regrets. You basically do what you love and it’s much easier than coming to the rink and thinking about, Oh my God, I have to do this again. You always want to look at it in a positive way.”
While the winner won’t be announced until June 24th at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, win or lose, Zdeno Chara will remain a winner in the eyes of Boston and the management that has helped pushed his game to it’s highest caliber.
The energy was palpable with elimination in the air, the Bruins looked to close out the series, one round closer to the ultimate goal of Lord Stanley’s Cup and they did just that, after clinching the series 4-1 against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. One round down, the intensity of the situation is already revving up for round two. Skating into another Original Six match-up is one thing, but playing a best of seven series against continuous division rivals will bring the old time hockey to center ice.
The Canadiens and Bruins have history, heat and some may argue, hate for one another. It’s a rivalry that spans more than just the ice, it bleeds into the stands, coats both cities and has skated through the ice chips of time. The teams will meet for the 34th time in NHL Playoff history, the highest amount of playoff meetings between two teams in any professional sport.
“It’s a good rivalry,” said Thornton. “I mean, we’ve played them a lot in my seven years here, so my initial feeling is embrace it. It’s good – both cities really get into it, both teams get into it, so I’m going to enjoy it.”
The Bruins have spent the majority of the past few seasons battling adversity, it’s a quality that makes not only the team, but the organization as a whole standout. Although the first round series between Boston and Detroit may not have played out as aggressively as similar current first round match-ups, the physicality was in full force. Size, strength and persistence allowed Boston to advance — those factors will need to skate with them into the second round.
“Again, it’s always great to play these guys. Detroit was definitely a great challenge. Same thing with Montreal, I think. They’re a great team,” said Bergeron. “They’re a team that definitely is playing some great hockey right now. They played well against Tampa. It’s going to be a good challenge again for us. And like you said, there’s lots of history behind both teams so it’s going to be fun to be part of it.”
Will the familiarity with Montreal from past meetings be a blessing? Perhaps, but that familiarity felt by Boston will also stand to assist the Canadiens in their quest to advance, it’s a give and take mentality on both sides.
Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli addressing the media
“It’s definitely a team that we’ve seen a lot in the last few years,” said Bergeron. “We know what they got, they know what we got, so it’s always a huge battle against them. We’re expecting a tough and long series and we definitely got to approach it the same way we did against Detroit, which is one game at a time. Right now, we got to get a little bit of rest and make sure we look at some videos and the coaches are going to do a good job to make sure we’re ready for them.”
Beyond the already intense nature of playoff hockey, the magnitude of the rivalry is just another mental preparation to expand upon.
“Yeah, definitely,” said Lucic. “Fourth time now since 2008 that we faced them here in the playoffs, first time that it isn’t a first-round match-up, so another Original Six battle that we get to be a part of and a lot of hatred between the teams, the fans, the cities when it comes to this kind of rivalry, so we expect them to bring their best. We saw what they were able to do in the first series, and like I said we got to be prepared to come out and elevate our game as the playoffs move on.”
Prior to the NHL re-alignment, the heat between the two clubs could be seen multiple times a season. Whether somehow pre-meditated on the possibility board in an NHL office, or not — some of the best playoff hockey in rivalry terms, will face-off in the second round.
“I guess so, yeah,” said Rask. “They changed the schedule so we don’t face them six times a year now, but still we’re pretty familiar from playing them. I guess when they changed these playoffs I guess they want the rivalries to be in the second round…”
The excitement for the players ran high following their advancement on Saturday, and channeling that energy into the coming week of practice leading up to Game 1 will be a key component in their foresight to succeed. The playoffs are meant as a challenge and while Detroit was just that, the expectation of Montreal being the same is just that, an expectation.
“It’s obviously another difficult one,” said GM Chiarelli. “We had — we were mediocre against them during the year, but they’re a team that has given us trouble historically, so it will be a challenge. That way — much is said about their size and their speed and allegedly, that’s what gives us problems. I think that’s part of it. I think it’s just sometimes, you just don’t have success against [a team] sometimes. Having said that, that applied to Detroit, too, so you see what happens with that.”
With one round in the books, the quest is still a long and tiring one, but previous postseason experience unites the Boston organization.
“We all want to — we all have one thing on our mind,” said GM Chiarelli. “It’s to win, and to win and to be consistent in winning, and to be able to roll over each year and compete for the Cup. As hokey as that sounds, it’s what we do and it’s something that we take a lot of pride in. Success is fleeting, too, so you could — next year, we could lose in the first round and you guys will be all over us, and I understand that so the respite from that is nice, too.”
With their name adorning the Cup in 2011 and an almost taste of victory in 2013, the black and gold are hungrier than ever. Soon enough, fans will see if the Canadiens are able to make it out alive or if the Bruins will skate four wins closer towards the top of the NHL victory ring.
It’s a sense of pride…to be looked upon as a leader. My role has changed over the years, obviously I’m not scoring 100 points like I did in the past. That is kind of the nature of the beast and your game has to change at some point. I’m the person that can go out there and help lead by example with effort and help these young kids learn how to be professionals not only on the ice, but off the ice and in the community.
Riley Nelson, Captain of the Colorado Eagles, has seen his fair share of hockey games and he knows how to keep everything in perspective. At 36 years old, he is the elder statesman of the Eagles Hockey team. He has been with the team since the 2003-2004 season, back when the team was part of the CHL.
Nelson grew up in Cranbrook, British Columbia, home to NHLers Steve Yzerman, Rob and Steve Niedermayer and retired NHL and Olympic Coach Tom Renney to name just a few with hockey connections to the town. His parents got him on the ice early, as his older brother was learning to play the game and they could see how much Riley took to it. He played on his first team when he was 5 or 6 and his hockey career just took off from there.
He really enjoyed playing the game and skating around so he didn’t really watch a lot of hockey until he was 10 or 12 years old. This was the time when Wayne Gretzky was with the Edmonton Oilers and the rivalry with the Calgary Flames was heated. These were the games Nelson would watch, ones that featured “the Great One” and he would relive some of Gretzky’s moves when he took to the ice himself.
“When you are a kid, you are out there playing hockey, there are certain players that you want to pretend to be. For me, it was Wayne Gretzky, Messier and I even pretended to be goaltenders. I think I just so enjoyed playing hockey that that was the biggest influence for me.”
Nelson grew up in a town that was known for their hockey players and his brother played with Scott Niedermayer. He watched his brother and Scott practice every day and learned a lot about the game just from watching them play. One of his best coaches was when he played bantam, Coach Hunter, and Nelson played with his son as they grew up. Coach Hunter really instilled a sense of work ethic and what you need to play the game, especially when your parents are making sacrifices for the game.
“When you are playing travel hockey, your parents are putting a lot of money and time into it. I think he kind of portrayed the image that you know, you’re not out here just to have fun, you are representing your town, and your parents are putting a lot of time into this and expect you to work hard and the fun is a part of it. You shouldn’t be playing hockey if you aren’t having fun, but your parents are dedicating a lot of their time and money and energy into something and you need to fulfill your end as well.”
When it came time to make a decision of where to play, college or in the WHL, he opted to head to Michigan Tech, in part because he was a bit older at the time and he didn’t want to give up any scholarship rights to play in the Western League for maybe one or two years. He also felt that college would be the best route for him over the long term. He felt a little bit of regret, committing to 4 years of college but he wouldn’t go back and change it. Being a smaller player, Nelson didn’t think he would have been ready to play professionally at 20 years old regardless.
“I’ve been little my whole life, but I was 140 pounds when I went to college as a freshman so I was really small. I needed that extra time to develop physically and mentally. In that time you learn how to play the game as an individual and you know what is the best way to play for yourself.”
His biggest influence on his hockey career didn’t come until later when he had already turned pro. The Colorado Eagles Head Coach Chris Stewart has made a big impact on Nelson. The two share a past as Stewart coached his brother on the Olds Grizzlys for four years in the AJHL. He is also one of the main reasons Nelson made the move to join the Eagles and that he’s stayed for so many seasons.
Colorado was an ideal place for a British Columbia transplant, the weather and what is available to do outside is very similar. Nelson’s wife grew up in Georgia and her family is still there; living in Colorado makes it easy to visit both sides of the family since it is right in the middle. He loves living in such a beautiful place, so it’s been an easy choice to stay for so long with the same team.
“I love to play here, I love playing for Stewart, and I had always wanted to have a home base, and not bounce around from team to team. I’m happy to be with a team competing for the championship every year and we have. Every year that I’ve been here we’ve always been a contender, we’ve always had winning seasons.”
The Colorado Eagles have compiled an impressive record, winning two Ray Miron’s Presidents Cups, three regular season titles, five conference season titles and six division titles in eight seasons as part of the CHL. They continue to have success in the ECHL and although all teams in the Western Conference make it to the playoffs, the Eagles have ranked within the top 4 teams in the Conference each year since joining the league in 2011.
photo: Standout Imagery
Playing with a consistently successful team gives a player incentive to stay and many of the Eagles players are returnees along with the coaching staff. Along with Nelson, Assistant Coach Aaron Schneekloth was a former player who turned to coaching after ending his career with Colorado. Nelson says he has always been satisfied with playing for Colorado and that there is a mutual respect and partnership that is working that isn’t always true with minor league teams.
“I’ve been on teams that are just horribly run, players are treated with no respect, paychecks aren’t on time, sometimes they don’t show up for weeks at a time, apartments are in terrible shape, buses, I mean you name it, endless amounts of horror for the players. They eliminate all that stuff here. They treat you with respect, you are treated like you should be treated and that helps a guy perform. When all those things aren’t an issue and all you worry about is getting yourself to the rink, being prepared and playing hard, it makes a difference.”
It isn’t just the Colorado organization that works hard to support its players, the fans are a huge reason the players feel at home with the Eagles. The arena is consistently sold out, even on a Wednesday night, which is a pretty special phenomenon. Nelson says that barring a blizzard outside, the fans show up and cheer for the team.
“We have what I believe are the best fans in minor pro sports. They are smart and they know the difference between a team that comes out and doesn’t play hard or one that comes out and gives them everything they have. Even if we lose on a night like that they are ok with it. They just want to see you go out there and work hard and entertain them and that’s what we try to do.”
One of the main reasons Nelson thinks the fans are so vested in the team is because the team spends a lot of time giving back to the community they are a part of. The players go out to schools, hospitals and there are many community promotions throughout the year. For example, this past March, the Eagles, in conjunction with the Larimer and Weld Country Sheriff’s Departments and Lucky Joe’s of Fort Collins, raised over $41,000 to help a young boy Wesley Martin and his family. Wesley has a large cyst on his brain that will require specialized surgery to remove this summer. It was a procedure that his family’s medical plan didn’t cover. This is just one of the many ways the Colorado Eagles Foundation impacts the community. Nelson thinks it’s important for young players coming in to the organization to understand that being involved in the community is a big part of being a professional hockey player. As the Captain, he hopes that through his effort not only on the ice, but off it, that the young guys understand that connection with the community.
“There are a lot of things that the Eagles take pride in and community is right at the top. It’s the reason why the seats are filled every night and it’s not just because we are a winning hockey team. It’s because we give back to the community.”
He also thinks it’s important to keep everything on an even keel and keep focused on what you want. He is impressed with how driven the young guys are, especially with their diets and their personal training programs. It is so much different than even when he was younger, it’s a very different world. But Nelson says it is easy for the young guys to get distracted and lose their focus, even with all of their specialized training programs. And sometimes, they spend so much time on being an athlete that they forget about the other things in life.
“You can’t let one thing in your life control everything else. It’s very important to work hard but you have to keep everything on an even level. Just in your life. I mean its ok to go out every once in a while to celebrate…but you can’t let hockey rule all of your relationships in your life.”
Nelson really learned the importance of keeping things in perspective when he suffered an injury to his shoulder in the middle of last year. It ended his playing season and he needed surgery to repair the damage. Surprisingly, it was his first major surgery of his playing career. The physical toll of the injury was the easiest part to work through, but the mental and emotional part of the injury lingered for him. It changed his relationship with his teammates while he was recovering, not being able to take part in the normal routine of the season.
“Going to the rink and seeing the guys, it changes because you’re not in the trenches working every day. You’re not in the locker room during the games and on the road. You feel like an outcast because you aren’t putting in the work. You are putting in the work to get yourself better, but sometimes you see the team struggle, or you see the highs and lows and you want to be there with the guys.”
Working through an injury was also hard on his family. At the time his son was only 1 year old and as much as he wanted to be able to help his wife, he couldn’t.
“When I hurt my shoulder I couldn’t even pick him up and my wife had to do all the work. That’s hard sitting and just watching. “
Battling through his injury, he realized how much of the day to day stuff one takes for granted, not just the hockey part of life. He felt that he took for granted all the things he could do, even while injured and that for so many people, their predicament was much more dire than his.
“It’s very humbling and you feel sorry for yourself, but then you have to sit back and think, I have it pretty good compared to a lot of people. All I have to worry about is getting myself out of bed, go to rehab and work on my shoulder, it’s not that hard.”
It would have been easy to just hang up the skates after his injury, especially after such a long playing career. Instead, he focused on getting his shoulder ready to play hockey. Nelson worked really hard to push out of his mind that self doubt or to think about what he would do after hockey, because in his heart he knew what he was going to do.
photo: John Babitz
“I came back because I wanted to play and I wanted to win another championship. I didn’t want to end my year and my career in Colorado that way.”
Riley Nelson wants to leave hockey on his terms and he and his team are making yet another run in the Kelly Cup playoffs. Both the Eagles and Nelson have been a match for so long, it is hard to imagine a team without the veteran Captain leading the way.
“I would like to think that I’ve given everything that I have on the ice for the Eagles and I think that mutual respect and partnership is working for both sides. “
In their best start of the series so far, the LA Kings took the crowd out early and dominated the San Jose Sharks from puck drop. I’ll just show all the goals in GIF form but for a more comprehensive look, check out Jewels From the Crown‘s recap.
Tyler Toffoli got the eventual game winning goal off a slick saucer pass from fellow rook Tanner Pearson. I can’t even describe how good this play was so here, look.
A few minutes later, Dustin Brown teamed up with Anze Kopitar for a two-on-one. Brown shot the puck into Niemi’s right pad as he sealed off the left post and Kopitar put the rebound home.
LA got a late power play at the end of the first period but was unable to score. They started the second with 1:29 remaining and it didn’t take long before a bounce went their way. Jeff Carter got credit for the goal, but really the credit should go to Brad Stuart who accidentally deflected it into his own net.
Drew Doughty teamed up with Carter and Marian Gaborik to create this play, but Gaborik’s read of the situation on the ice really makes it happen (and a lucky bounce for the Kings). Kings’ color analyst Jim Fox does an excellent job breaking it down. Basically, with Doughty down near the blue line, he was wide open for a possible one-timer. However, instead of taking the obvious route, Gaborik finds an open Carter who spins away from pressure and ends up banking the puck in off of Stuart. It’s a fortunate bounce and flukey, but the Kings will take it nonetheless.
That ended Niemi’s night, not that any of the goals were his fault. Sharks’ coach Todd McLellan was trying to send his message to his team as they’d been a bit slow and lackluster up to that point. And it sort of worked. While the Sharks only registered ten shots on goal over the rest of the period and went several minutes between shots, during the last 10 minutes they had a lot of shot attempts and significant zone time.
So what’s been different for LA over the last couple of games? The biggest thing is that they’ve been building off a good performance in Game 3 following horrendous outings in the first two games. Since Game 3, they’ve been cleaning up a lot of things that needed work. Mostly, it’s the little things put together that are making the difference. Things like working as a 5-man unit, better defensive support to their goaltender (i.e.: clearing rebounds, limiting odd man rushes, blocking shots, etc) and most importantly, closing the gap. San Jose has started to model their game a bit after the Chicago Blackhawks with long stretch passes and waves of guys coming with speed. In Game 5, LA figured out how to counteract that stretch pass and use their own speed (the slowness is mostly on defense) to create scoring chances for themselves.
Probably aside from the rest of the team picking up their game was Jonathan Quick‘s improvement in net. On Saturday night, he was stellar, tracking pucks, controlling rebounds and finding shots through traffic. He had two saves of the game. The first one was on Brent Burns as he went post-to-post to deny a sure goal on the power play. The other was this beauty below.
Gumby does it again. The balance, strength and flexibility on display in this save are just insane. When he’s at his best, he frustrates the best players in the world. Just when you think you’ve got an open net or you’ve found a hole, somehow he finds a way to keep the puck out. The Kings will need Quick to put on another show like that on Monday night if they have any chance at getting to Game 7.
The more balanced lineup is also coming up huge for the Kings.
Justin Williams’ presence on the 3rd line coming up huge. Kings have out-shot the Sharks 14-1 with him on the ice at evens.
Robert tweeted that at the end of the second period.
#LAKings 3rd line is rolling. Stoll (12-4 in the Corsis), King (13-4) and Williams (15-4) have answered Sutter’s call for better depth play. — Cörey Masisak (@cmasisak22) April 27, 2014
This tweet came just prior to the start of the third period.
Every line now has a combination of a space maker, a playmaker and a scorer which seems to have helped the Kings generate some offense. They’re going to need that depth scoring if they expect to keep going in the series.
Despite this being their best game so far, Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell sees room for improvement. “I didn’t think they [San Jose] played their best game. I don’t think we did either, but we found a way to do enough to win.” He knows that they’re going to have to keep working hard to win another game. The key to that? “Just stay in the moment. We believe. This core group, we’ve done it a bunch of different ways over the years but we really haven’t done this. I think everyone is kind of using it as a little bit of motivation to try and claw back. It’s like looking up hill. You look at the top of the hill, all of the sudden it seems pretty daunting. But if you look just right in front of you, it’s more manageable.”
So far, one step at a time is paying off for the Kings.
The Grand Rapids Griffins enter this postseason with the hope of defending their Calder Cup title and repeating as champions. The first series in the AHL is a best of 5 series and the Grand Rapids Griffins are already in excellent position to take the series. They are up 2-0 on the Abbotsford Heat.
Due to the distance between the teams, the series opened up with the first two games in Abbotsford. The first game was a long test for the two teams. The Griffins tied it a little past the halfway mark in the third period. Mattias Backman had the tying goal and the first goal of the post season for the Griffins. Backman joined the team after finishing his time with the Swedish Hockey League. It was not until 34 seconds remained in the second overtime that the game was over. Ryan Sproul added his first of the postseason and gave his team the series lead.
When it came time for Game 2, the Griffins put forth a much more solid showing, winning 7-2. Sproul added his second of the postseason. Teemu Pulkkinen added a goal after recording an impressive 31 goals during 71 regular season games. The team also got support from captainJeff Hoggan, Cory Emmerton, Trevor Parkes, and Andrej Nestrasil, who had two.
Yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings, NHL affiliate of the Griffins, were knocked out of the playoffs when the Boston Bruins won their game 4-2, winning the series 4-1. With that news, Detroit made a couple of roster moves that are sure to help out their AHL affiliate. The Red Wings assigned forward Tomas Jurco, defensemen Riley Sheahan and Xavier Ouellet, and goaltender Jake Paterson to Grand Rapids.
This season, Tomas Jurco had 32 points in 32 regular season games with Grand Rapids as well as 15 points in 36 games with Detroit. Jurco skated in 3 of Detroit’s playoff games but was held without a point. The 21 year old from Slovakia also skated for his country in the Olympics, notching a goal in 4 appearances.
Riley Sheahan split his time between Detroit and Grand Rapids this season. During his time in the AHL this season, he had 18 points in 31 games. While with Detroit, Sheahan had 24 points in 42 games. That included 9 goals. Although getting into one game with Detroit last season, he got his first goal this season. Sheahan also played in all five postseason games for Detroit this season.
This was Xavier Ouellet’s rookie season, after finishing his time in the QMJHL. The rookie spent 4 games in Detroit during the regular season, but was unable to get on the score sheet. He was in Detroit for the playoffs as well, but only got into one game. During his 70 games with Grand Rapids, he had 17 points.
Finally, Jake Paterson was Detroit’s third round pick in the NHL Entry Draft in 2012. He recently finished his season with the Saginaw Spirit. It is unlikely that he will see any time during this postseason with the goalie tandem already in place. But Paterson will probably make his professional debut next season.
Last season, Riley Sheahan and Tomas Jurco were critical pieces of the Calder Cup winning team. Despite their young age, they have valuable experience to bring back with them to Grand Rapids. These additions could definitely make the Griffins even more dangerous than they already are.
Game 3 in Grand Rapids is schedule for Wednesday. Game 4, if necessary, will be Friday and Game 5, if necessary, will be Saturday.
The Manchester Monarchs and Norfolk Admirals did not have much chance to reflect on Game 1 as they were back at it last night for Game 2. After the Monarchs took the first game, Norfolk was likely looking just to get on the board in Game 2 since they did not get one past JF Berube during the first game.
Both teams made a couple lineup changes prior to the second game. For Manchester, the only change that they made was to put Colin Miller in instead of Derek Forbort. Conversely, Norfolk had gone with 7 defensemen during the first game. They took out defenseman Kevin Gagne and forward Radoslav Illo to replace them with forwards Maxime Sauve and Steven Whitney.
Manchester seemed to pick up where they had left off. They were controlling the pace and most of the shots. In fact, the Admirals only had two shots halfway through the first period. It seemed like this game was going the same way as the first had gone. Rookie Monarchs goalie JF Berube was not looking as steady as he had in the first game, though.
Although Admirals goalie John Gibson was not giving up many rebounds, it was the Monarchs that struck first in this game as well. There was a lot of traffic in front of the net and it looked like the Monarchs just needed a good bounce. But, it was recent addition Nic Dowd, a Hobey Baker Finalist this season, that notched the first goal of the game and his first professional goal. The assists went to Dowd’s linemates, Andy Andreoff and Linden Vey. Just over a minute later, the Monarchs got on the board again. Zach O’Brien had his second in as many games when he fired a shot from the blocker side that beat Gibson.
At the end of the first period, Vinny LoVerde hit Steven Whitney hard into the corners. Although it was a legal hit, the Norfolk trainer came out to check on him. Thankfully, Whitney was out again for his first shift in the second period and appeared to be fine. But the Monarchs learned that the most dangerous lead in hockey is the two goal lead.
Tensions finally boiled over just over two minutes into the second period. A fight (via www.hockeyfights.com) broke out between Steve Quailer and Nolan Yonkman after the net got knocked off. Quailer barely got a punch in as Yonkman got a number in, but it was good because someone needed to step up. Following that, the game saw it’s first power play as Norfolk’s Zack Stortini got called for interference after a clear elbow to Brayden McNabb’s head.
The first power play goal of the series came in the second frame when Manchester’s Colin Miller was serving a tripping penalty. Berube was caught out of position after a weird rebound. It bounced right onto the stick of Norfolk’s Max Friberg who put the puck past Berube.
With that goal, the ice clearly tilted in favor of the Admirals and away from the Monarchs. Later that same period, Norfolk’s Dave Steckel tied up the game. Once again, there was a lot of traffic in front of the net and the puck appeared to just be tipped in. Steve Eminger and Sami Vatanen had the assists. Throughout the whole second period, Manchester only managed to get 5 shots after seeming like they were skating circles around the Admirals in the first period.
When the Monarchs came back out for the third period, they really needed something to change for them. They had a couple chances on the power play but were not able to make the most of them and need to do so in order to win. The Admirals also have a lot of big bodies to support a physical game that the Monarchs struggled to keep up with.
In the third, the Admirals took their first lead of the series. Norfolk came into the zone with a strong passing effort between the forwards and William Karlsson beat Berube on a somewhat soft looking goal. Despite the Monarchs putting a strong push to tie the game late, they were not able to even the score. With Berube pulled for an extra attacker, Gibson came up with a highlight reel save. That one save could have changed the entire series.
The series heads back to Norfolk for games 3 and 4. Game 5, if necessary, will also be played in Norfolk. Due to the distance between the two teams, Manchester only got to have the first two games on their home ice. It was not what they would have expected after earning the top honors in the conference since home ice advantage is supposed to be a perk. But, as Monarchs Head Coach Mark Morris said, there is nothing they can do but play the games.
So, what does Manchester need to do in order to take 2 of the 3 games in Norfolk and win the series? They have to stick to their game. Throughout the season they have been a fast team that’s able to get in behind the defense. That’s when good things happen. Norfolk has a lot of big bodies which means they don’t always skate as quickly. The Monarchs also need to find a way to convert on the power play. That can be the difference between wins and losses. Finally, the Monarchs might need to look at the lines. Something just didn’t seem to be clicking the way it had been during the regular season.
Game 3 will be in Norfolk on Wednesday, Game 4 will be on Friday, and Game 5, if necessary, will be on Saturday.
The highest priority for the New Jersey Devils leading up to the 2014-15 season is getting Cory Schneider a contract extension. Schneider will make $4.5 million in the final year of the 3 year, $12 million contract he signed with Vancouver before being traded to New Jersey at the 2013 draft. The Devils have a history of letting key players test the market and eventually letting them leave to another team. In some cases they leave for division rivals. With the price they paid (9th overall draft pick), letting Schneider start the new season without a long term extension should be a cause for concern for the organization especially with so many teams potentially looking to fill their starting goalie position, or even looking to upgrade their current crop.
Playoff Teams
The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a hard time making playoff runs with Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease since their back to back cup final appearances in 2008 and 2009. Fleury’s stats have been very concerning the last few years. In the 36 playoff games he played in, Fleury went 17-18 allowing 112 goals on 978 shots (.885 Save %). Keep in mind Fleury lost his starting job to Tomas Vokoun in last year’s playoffs after only 4 games. With his contract expiring the same time as Schneider’s, the Penguins can upgrade their goalie without losing any assets. The Penguins have a lot more to offer a goalie looking to win a cup than the Devils do especially with star players like Crosby and Malkin in the lineup. Goal support won’t be an issue on most nights either.
Minnesota has one of the most interesting goalie stories this year. Josh Harding started the year off great going 18-7-3, but sadly had to stop playing for health reasons. He was getting a majority of the starts and playing much better than Niklas Backstrom, who was having a terrible year until he got injured about a month after Harding stopped playing. Their goalies to end the season were Darcy Kuemper, a 23 year old who put up very respectable numbers in 26 games, and Ilya Bryzgalov, who was acquired from Edmonton. As of today, Backstrom has two years remaining on his contract, Harding has one more, Kuemper will be a restricted free agent and Bryzgalov will be an unrestricted free agent. It is safe to say that this goalie corral will continue into next season. If Schneider reaches the free agency market, he might be getting phone calls from fellow country men Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.
The St. Louis Blues will be looking for a new goalie this offseason. They currently have Ryan Miller and Bryan Elliot in net, but both are going to be unrestricted free agents this summer. If Ryan Miller decides to sign somewhere else then the Blues can sign Elliot to a low cap contract and wait for Schneider to become available. They have a few American players themselves to try and convince Cory to come to other side of the Mississippi.
The truth is playoff teams don’t need to do much convincing, especially not powerhouses like St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
Non-playoff Teams
Bubble teams like the Devils will be lining up to sign Cory Schneider, especially those that are just a goalie away from making some noise.
The first team that comes to mind is the New York Islanders. The Islanders are moving to a new arena after next season and are essentially missing that number one goalie. Depending on how they play next season, they can make a good case for Cory to cross the Hudson. This will be the move that hurts the Devils the most. An up and coming division rival stealing their goalie away would send the team back to the Micky Mouse era.
Vancouver traded Schneider to alleviate their goalie controversy. It turns out it didn’t help much. Roberto Luongo was traded less than a year later. The Canucks do not have a solidified starter and could try to get Cory back to where he started his career. Who knows how much Schneider enjoyed his time there.
Time for Action
Lou Lamoriello will have to strongly consider trading Schneider if they can not reach an agreement before the season starts.
As if the first four games of the Sharks-Kings series weren’t physically charged enough, Game 5 was set to be the nastiest rumble of them all.
Hard hits in the latter part of Game 4 down in LA carried some bitter feelings in an already-tense series between two teams that really don’t like each other. It was a vibe that you could feel throughout the Tank as you entered Saturday afternoon before anyone else had arrived.
And while I’m prone to dress for such an occasion, I wasn’t feeling particularly ready to “drop my gloves” come time to pick out my game night ensemble.
Even with all that anger and intensity in the air, I was in a particularly flirty mood and chose an outfit rather romantical.
(Yes, I made up that word. Just roll with me here.)
I decided that a big game called for some new fishnets. And this floral pair fit the bill.
Plus, I snagged them from the mall for four bucks. Score!
Since this was still a work night, I paired them with a soft, blouse-y blush shift dress to keep from looking too vampy. Add black ballet flats, chunky scarf and a leather jacket, and I was good to go.
Well, almost.
…Okay so maybe some of that aggressive spirit from Game 5 wore off on me.
I have quite a bit of fun with my jewelry, and decided that Saturday night needed to be a “skulls” night. Simple sterling silver skulls rings, and one colored sugar skull bracelet.
A lingering concern regarding the Boston Bruins is their ability to close, to control a series and down their opponent without letting it go the full seven. On Friday, looking to clinch their spot in a heated second round match-up with the Montreal Canadiens, they momentarily silenced the critics.
After a troubling start to their first round series against the Detroit Red Wings, the Bruins seized momentum and ran with it. First it was a 4-1 win at home. Then a 3-0 shutout in Detroit, followed by a dagger of a 3-2 overtime victory at the hands of a Jarome Iginla deflection.
Still, many in Boston had their doubts. Would this be like the Leafs series? If they lose then have to go back to Detroit and then what? The thoughts settled in, the worries of paranoid Bostonians; but on Friday, the Bruins relinquished fans of those fears.
“We just knew that if anything, you learn from those experiences and you don’t want it to be repeated,” Bruins Coach Claude Julien said postgame. “So you just go out there and just play. But same with the streak we had this year — everybody talked about it. We never talked about it in the room. So we never talked about the last year’s series against Toronto. All we were focused on was doing the job today and preventing us from taking another trip to Detroit.”
With the Garden rocking early, Justin Abdelkader took a forgetful hooking penalty just three minutes in. Then, jumping on the opportunity, Loui Eriksson and the Bruins second power play unit made the Wings pay. Smooth quarterbacking by Dougie Hamilton led to the goal, as the young rookie’s maturation was on full display in the first round series against the Wings.
“I think it’s the same kind of thing in juniors or your first year where things are moving fast and by my third or fourth year it was slowing down,” Hamilton recalled postgame. “Hopefully, I can get to that point again in the NHL but I can definitely see the game a lot easier now compared to last year. Things happen a lot slower.
Hamilton blossomed as both a puck mover and defender; and his frequent end-to-end rushes were wildly impressive. His overall development has clearly gained steam.
“I think it’s just being more comfortable,” he said. “Think this whole year I have gotten better, last summer as well. So I think I’m a better player and just more comfortable. I don’t really know otherwise. Just having fun right now and trying to do my best.”
Bruins Loui Eriksson
As the game ensued we continually waited for Detroit’s desperation to break through. On the brink of elimination, it’d only be a matter of time. After generating their first real scoring chance of the night with just under ten to go in the middle frame, they finally found their skating game. A combination of good goaltending and defensive structure, the Bruins limited the Wings as much as possible and weathered their initial rush.
But a Milan Lucic penalty changed everything. Detroit gained possession in Boston’s end, and it was Pavel Datsyuk (yet again) batting home the rebound off a blast from the point. The game was tied at one with momentum shifting drastically. This Bruins team is different though and they keep trying to show us that. They’ve responded time and time again this season, and perhaps their biggest response in the biggest of forms (both literally and figuratively) came on Saturday afternoon.
After Detroit netted arguably the biggest goal of the series, the Bruins got it right back. With a crucial four-on-three advantage in hand, it was the almighty captain Zdeno Chara with the enormous response in the form of a one-timed missile; Patrice Bergeron set up the captain with the perfect feed from the corner.
“It was getting tight. A lot of penalties, and again, when you’re killing a lot of penalties, you’re losing some momentum, and they picked up a lot of momentum there at a certain stage of the game,” Julien said. “And when you score those kind of goals — obviously Zdeno [Chara]’s kind of gave us the life back, or the momentum back, that we needed because they had just gotten it from us. By that time in the game, you could see that they had a sense of believing, so we had to right away get that next goal and get ourselves back on top of that game.”
At that point there was no looking back for the Bruins.
Milan Lucic extended the lead to 3-1 after a terrible Detroit turnover found the stick of Torey Krug, who centered the puck to the big winger. After a late scare, the Bruins added an empty-netter and won the first round series 4-1. Their date with the Canadiens was set, but it wasn’t time to think of that just yet.
“We knew they’re through and that’s who we would be playing. But no, guys were just focused on today and trying to end it today,” said Iginla postgame when asked about their next opponent. “There’s really no discussions about Montreal. So the next couple days we’ll be thinking about it, and we’ll get back at it, and work and those matchups will start. But today was just about the Red Wings and trying to advance.”
A cold windy, rainy Saturday in Boston usually means a chilly press level at the Garden. Nearing the end of April, the desire to be warm while still having an air of spring in your outfit is a fine line to skate. While black is considered a basic, I tend to think that it’s more of a fall, winter color when it comes to shirts and sweaters, unless they’re of the tank top variety. For the matinee, possible elimination game, I went neutral In my color scheme and comfortable across the board.
Breakdown: Black tank top, Forever 21, $1.80 Black lightweight waffle sweater, Target, $22.99 Nude leather pleated skirt, Forever 21, $19.80 Snakeskin print heels, Target, clearance, $15.49
Media Tip: Today’s media tip, is a girl tip that everyone should follow; always have more than one pair of nylons lurking in your wardrobe. I don’t know why, but no matter how many pairs I purchase, they all meet an untimely demise at an absurdly fast rate and I find myself running short on time, sprinting into the pharmacy to purchase a pair last minute.
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