Though he’s been around for two years, having Beau Bennett in the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins is a relative rarity. The young player has been plagued with injuries, most recently a hand/wrist injury (which he described as “fluky”) that required surgery and caused him to miss 50 games just this season.
Bennett’s most recent assignment was back to the Wilkes-Bare/Scranton Penguins for a two-game stint aimed at returning him to NHL-ready condition, and his time there earned him both an assist and praise from team GM Ray Shero. But with his return on Friday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets (only his 39th game in the NHL), Bennett made it clear not only why he was the first pick of the Penguins in the 2010 draft, but why he was more than ready to be back playing at NHL level.
Bennett returned to a slumping Penguins team who had lost their last three games all by one goal. They needed one more win to clinch a playoff spot, but that win eluded them. To add to their woes, they had just lost new acquisition Marcel Goc to an injury that would require three weeks of healing time. And a rested, ready-to-go Bennett turned out to be just what they needed.
The game against Columbus was tense, going scoreless for two and a half periods thanks to superb goaltending by both Marc-Andre Fleury and Curtis McElhinney. And then 10:35 into the third, Chris Kunitz broke the shutout and scored on a cross-ice pass from Sidney Crosby. Before Penguins fans were even done celebrating, 47 seconds later Bennett netted a goal in a 2-on-1 breakaway with Jussi Jokinen. That goal would turn out to be the game winner, as Blue Jackets late efforts only netted them a single goal from Matt Calvert on the powerplay. Bennett did not seem at all fatigued or out of shape after logging 14:51 of ice time, registering three shots on goal and four hits (tying him for second-most out of all the Penguins).
It’s unclear where Bennett would fit in on a perfectly healthy Pens lineup (though on the third line with Brandon Sutter seems like a good bet, or perhaps subbing in for the injured Pascal Dupuis on the first line), but one thing is clear – an injured Pens squad certainly needed a little ray of sunshine.
As the Olympics took place in February, both the Canada and the US women’s hockey teams were not shy about stating the animosity that existed between the two teams. And the Canadians managed to earn the gold, while the U.S. took the silver. Well, the next generation of women, for these two teams, are already getting to know each other. Some of the women who will play each other tomorrow during the International Ice Hockey Foundation’s (IIHF) Women’s Under-18 gold medal game in Budapest, Hungary will undoubtedly see each other across the ice a number of times in the coming years. And some of them will likely face each other during the 2018 Winter Olympics.
On Saturday, the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 team beat the Czech Republic team in their semi-final game to ensure their chance at gold. The gold medal game will be live streamed on the IIHF’s website at www.iihf.com beginning at 1:30pm Eastern.
Team USA, beat the Czech Republic with a 3-1 final. Goal scorers for the United States included Sydney Baldwin and Rebecca Gilmore who both scored power play goals and an even strength goal by Kenzie Kent. Vendula Pribylova scored the lone Czech goal during five-on-five play.
“The Czech Republic was a difficult opponent tonight and I was proud of our team’s resiliency, for not getting down when the Czech’s tied the game,” said U.S. head coach Jeff Kampersal. “We earned the win by maintaining our composure, working hard and sticking to our game.”
And it would have been understandable had the US team been knocked slightly off their game when the Czech team tied it in the second as the US had managed to put 21 shots on goal in the first period versus the one shot on goal from the Czechs. When the game was finished the Czech Republic’s goalie, Klara Peslarova, stopped 58 of the 61 shots she saw. At the other end of the ice, US goalie, Kaitlin Burt saw just nine shots in the entire game, and allowed one to get by her.
“Our team played really hard today,” said USA captain Jincy Dunne. “Our forwards did a great job at just being relentless no matter where the puck was.”
The Czech team may have felt that the hockey gods were against them when they discovered they would be playing their semi-final game against the No.1 seeded American team. Team USA had scored a tournament-high 20 goals in their three previous games against Russia (6-1), Hungary (7-0) and Sweden (7-0).
Of course, Team Canada has also been undefeated during the tournament. Their games were against Japan (7-1), Finland (7-0) and the Czechs (5-0), before entering their semi-final game against the Russians, whom they would beat in overtime (1-0).
Though under 18 in age, it is anticipated that both teams will be bringing their strongest play. Eternal rivals, it is likely that Team USA is hoping to remind Team Canada that they must always keep an eye on Team USA. And perhaps for those women who watched with dissatisfaction as Team USA fell to Team Canada during the Olympics, this game means just a little more.
Again, IIHF will be live streaming the game beginning at 1:30 pm Eastern on their web site www.iihf.com.
The Manchester Monarchs and Worcester Sharks are two teams that know each other well, they meet twelve times in a season. Last night they met for the final time in Manchester and have one more game to play in Worcester. Despite Manchester being atop their conference, they have never overlooked Worcester. The series has not been an easy on for the Monarchs. But with the chance to clinch a playoff berth, Manchester came out of the gates sprinting and the Sharks were never able to catch up.
Manchester had some new faces in the roster, partially to make up for the fact that a couple key defensemen, Vincent LoVerde and the recently acquired Brayden McNabb, were both out of the lineup with apparent injuries. This meant rookie Colin Miller got back into the game after being sidelined to make room for McNabb. Ben Danford, signed to an ATO after finishing his senior year at Canisius, got into his first game.
It did not take long for the Monarchs to set the tone in the first period. After an impressive save by Sharks goaltender Harri Sateri on Monarchs forward Sean Backman, the Monarchs did get onto the board 1:21 in. Former Shark James Livingston, who came to Manchester at the trade deadline, netted his first goal against his former team. Jeff Schultz took a shot from the blue line that Livingston got his stick on. Miller also had an assist on the goal.
“For me, it just feels good to chip in wherever I can. So I was pretty excited to get one against Worcester, against the former team. But it was just good to get us on the board early,” Livingston said.
That was nowhere near it, though. About halfway through the period, Brian O’Neill was coming out of the Monarchs penalty box after serving a penalty for boarding Sharks forward Dan DaSilva. It was the perfect set up for him to get behind the defense. He fed Hunter Bishop at the opposite corner of the goal and Bishop put it home. Following that goal, the Sharks killed off two consecutive penalties. But following those two penalties, the Monarchs got another even strength goal. Mid season addition to the Monarchs Steve Quailer took a shot from between the top of the face-off circles and beat Sateri.
Worcester would take one more penalty during the first period and that would prove dangerous for them. The Monarchs have struggled on the power play and it seemed like their struggle was continuing during the first part of this one as well. Almost exactly halfway through, though, the Monarchs took advantage. Sateri made an initial save and the rebound found itself on O’Neill’s stick. He had a wide open net and converted for his 22nd goal of the season.
“He’s been stellar, the puck seems to follow him around the rink. I think you have to give a lot of credit to (Jordan) Weal and Backman too,” Head Coach Mark Morris said of Brian O’Neill. “They’re dynamic and they seem to be getting better. They look for one another and O’Neill’s found his scoring touch that we all knew he had. It’s great to see.”
The teams came back for the second period with Manchester having the 4-0 lead and the ice seemed to tilt in the opposite direction. The Sharks were putting a lot more pressure on rookie Monarchs goalie JF Berube and he was coming up big. Dan DaSilva had a number of great passes in the middle frame but Berube stood tall and stopped all the flurry of shots by Worcester. In fact, Manchester did not get onto the shot board until the 6:40 into the period. Unfortunately for Worcester, the score remained 4-0 after the second period despite the Sharks outshooting the Monarchs 12-5.
In the final frame, the Sharks finally got onto the board with one of their own. With a lot of traffic in front of the net, the puck managed to find it’s way in. According to Berube, it might have hit off his back or off one of his defenders. But, in any case, it ended up in the net and Sharks rookie defenseman Dylan DeMelo earned credit for his second of the season.
But that would be it for the Sharks. On the next Manchester power play, O’Neill had his second of the night, both coming with the man advantage. There was a scramble in front of the net. Sharks defenseman Taylor Doherty went down in front of Sateri and it seemed like Sateri made the save. But the puck wound up on O’Neill’s stick and he rung it off the post and into the net to put Manchester up 5-1.
After seeming to take their foot off the gas a little in the second, Manchester came back hard in the third and looked like they were playing with the post season in mind. The win clinched them a spot in the playoffs and they were the first to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference. O’Neill earned honors as first star of the game (2g, 1a), JF Berube earned second star (1 goal allowed, 27 saves), and Colin Miller earned third star (3a).
“It’s nice when you can have a good start like that. I thought we were quick with the pucks and really made the most of our chances. Second period, not so much; third period, we were back to playing hard again. That was good to see,” said Morris. “We played with a lot of conviction. We took advantage of a team that had to play some hockey earlier this week. We take them when we can get them especially when you’re coming down the stretch. You want to start to build toward putting complete games together.”
The Monarchs have now won 7 of their last 8 with that lone loss coming at the hands of the Sharks. Today, Manchester travels to Lewiston to take on the Portland Pirates. Although Manchester only has 8 games left this season, 4 of them are against the Pirates. It’s another intense division rivalry. On the line is the VIP Cup, a competition award to the team that comes away from their series victorious.
The Buffalo Sabres announced yesterday that they will be hanging jersey number 39 in the rafters during the 2014-2015 season. Outstanding goaltender Dominik Hasek will be the last to wear number 39 and his number and jersey will join Sabres greats Gilber Perreult (#11), Rick Martin (#7), Rene Robert (#14), Tim Horton (#2), Danny Gare (#18), and Pat LaFontaine (#16).
Hasek is being inducted into the Sabres Hall of Fame on Saturday, March 29th (NHL.com).
Not only was Hasek an outstanding goaltender for the Sabres, but he also played a lead role on the world stage. He redefined and reinvented the position of goaltending. Before Hasek, there were two styles of goaltender: stand-up (think Bill Ranford) or butterfly (think Patrick Roy). Hasek defied the rules and created his own style built upon instinct and information. Hasek realized that geometry dictated the possible path of each shot, and by understanding where the puck could go and where it could not go, Hasek was able to develop what is now known as the Hybrid Style of goaltending. Companies even started making a new style of pads to accommodate the new bread of youth goaltenders being raised on amazing, sprawling saves and blocker-hand puck covers.
Dominic Hasek was willing to break all the rules of goaltending in order to make a save. He was known to drop his stick to grab a loose puck with his blocker. He once pushed a net over from behind after getting caught with his pants down playing the puck out of his crease, because he knew he would stand a better chance of stopping the goal in a penalty shot (he stopped it). He was also able to kick his legs up in a somersault action in order to cover more of the net from his backside when a shot was raised up under the bar. This move was even christened the “Hasek Roll,” and it allowed the sprawling goaltender to recover immediately to his feet at the conclusion of the roll, ready to make another save. Most importantly, he will always be famous for his amazing, seemingly frantic rebound saves.
Hasek was a kind of “gumby” man who could contort his arms, legs, and torso toward any incoming pucks. While these saves became awe inspiring and appeared to show off a natural talent at work, Hasek’s skills were based on logic and math as well. By knowing when a shooter was too close to raise a puck over a sprawled pad, and understanding that a backhand rebound chance from the top of the circle can only travel in a straight line into his glove or over the net if he stands way outside of his crease, Hasek was able to redefine the position and dominate at a level no previous goaltender had before. Every time you see a goalie drop his inside leg when a skater moves aggressively from behind the net with the puck, and every time a goalie lays his back flat on the ice and “snowmans” his arms and legs into his body, you are seeing the influence Hasek has had on goaltending.
Hasek holds many records and is one of the most decorated goaltenders of all time. He has won six Vezina Trophies, given to the best goaltender in the league, (94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 01), the William M. Jennings Trophy, fewest goals against minimum 25 games played, (94, 01), and the Lester B. Pearson Award, most outstanding NHL player voted on by the NHL players association (97, 98). He is also the only goalie to win the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding player in the NHL each year (97,98).
Along with all his awards, Hasek set many Sabres franchise records including, most all time games played (491), shutouts (55), wins (234) and lowest goals against average (2.22). He set a team record of 13 shutouts during the 98-99 season, the same season he led the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Final.
After his time with the Sabres, Hasek went to the Detroit Red Wings where he won two Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008. He appeared as an Ottawa Senator during the 2005-2006 season.
In international play, he led the Czech Republic to a gold medal in 1998. He was also a part of the Czech team that took home the bronze in 2006.
Dominik Hasek is not only held dear in the hearts of Sabres fans, but to the many young goaltenders who looked up to this legend and dreamed of competing the way he did. He has not only earned a place in the Sabres Hall of Fame, but he deserves a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
As detailed in my introduction to the Pink Puck kingdom: Before my career as a sports reporter, I was a full-blown, studio-raised, ballet-tights hating dancer.
Which means that, in addition to classical ballet training, I was subject to lots and lots of musical theater.
And believe me, I still hold a bit of Broadway love deep down in my heart.
So when the Winnipeg Jets come to town to play the Sharks, I eat up every “West Side Story” “Jets versus Sharks” pun and parody that gets thrown my way.
Inspired by two of my favorite dance numbers from the movie–the muy caliente “Mambo” and the attitude of “Cool”–I through together this little ensemble:
THE RED CHEVRON TIGHTS: For every four or five different pairs of black stockings that own, I have a pair in a crazy color.
These red wine semi-fishnet stockings are the only crazy pair that’s press level appropriate, but oh-em-gee are they saucy.
I balanced out the uber femme tights by keeping the rest of the outfit edgy: Black H&M tunic dress, black moto boots, and pewter jewelry.
The Las Vegas Wranglers took to the ice to shave their heads to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research after their 4-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors on Sunday March 23rd. The St. Baldricks Foundation has donated over $127 million in research grants to fund Pediatric Cancer Research since their inception in 1999. This year marks the eighth consecutive year the Wranglers organization has participated in the event and the third straight season they have hosted an event of their own. This year they brought in a record high amount for the charity raising $34,583.70 for St. Baldrick’s.
Wranglers’ forward Justin Bernhardt (left) helped shave the head of teammate John Armstrong (right) during the team’s annual on-ice fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s Foundation Photo Credit: Allyson Eames
Las Vegas Wranglers players, staff and Wranglers fans lent their support to the cause, shedding their locks for a good cause. Those who went under the razor and shaved their heads include Head Coach and General Manager Mike Madill, Equipment Manager Jeff Maxwell, Director of Ticket Sales Matt Langseth and VP of Sales and Marketing Todd Hutton.
The following 15 players also participated in the on-ice event: goaltenders Travis Fullerton, Mitch O’Keefe and Josh Watson; defensemen Nolan Julseth-White, Nick Wheeler, Greg Coburn, Charlie Cook, Jeff May, Bryce Reddick and Brendan Remple; forwards Geoff Paukovich, Cody Purves, Geoff Irwin, Adam Huxley and Adam Hughesman.
The St.Louis Blues executed their will over Minnesota, shutting down the Wild 5 to 1. This marked the Blues’ 50th win of the season, one win away from tying the Blues franchise record for most wins in a season.
T.J. Oshie was the first Blue to put up points on the scoreboard and he would end the night with a hat trick. His second goal of the night would come at the end of the first period, when he picked off the puck in the neutral zone and scored between the goalie’s legs for a short handed goal.
Jaden Schwartz’s power play goal in the second period gave the Blues a 3 to 0 lead. By this point, the Blues had completely taken over the game. Every player was grinding in the corners, and racing to be the first player to the puck. The Blues never took their foot off the gas pedal, as they accelerate into the playoffs.
Oshie’s third goal of the game came when he deflected Jay Bouwmeester’s shot from the point past Wild Goaltender, Darcy Keumper. This was Oshie’s first career hat trick and the Blues took a 4 to 0 lead.
Brendan Marrow would get the final Blues goal of the night on the power play to give them a 5 to 0 lead. Zach Parise was the only Wild player who could get the puck past Ryan Miller, for Minnesota’s lone goal. Ryan Miller stopped 27 of 28 shots to help the Blues destroy the Wild 5 to 1.
The Blues have nine games left to play in the regular season and already have their eyes set on Lord Stanley’s Cup.
It was defensemen Sami Salo who finally ended the highest-scoring tiebreaker in NHL history. After 13 rounds, Sami Salo took his first career shootout to give the Lightning a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.
The 39-year-old deked goalie Evgeni Nabokov with a backhander to give the Lightning their fifth lead in the tiebreaker. On the other side, Ben Bishop finally ended the game by stopping Islanders rookie Johan Sundstrom.
There were a combined total of nine goals in the shootout, a new NHL record. Five goals were scored by the Lightning. This game comes in second to the fifteen rounds set by the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals back in 2005. That game was ended by Marek Malik to give the Rangers the win. Malik went on to play with the Lightning.
“This was my first shootout goal,” Salo said, “Some nights it goes in and some nights the goalie makes the save.”
During regulation, it was Ryan Callahan who scored both of the Lightning goals, and Ryan Strome and Matt Donovan who scored for the Islanders. Callahan had tied the game at 5:50 of the third period when he got a rebound from Eric Brewer for his 15th goal of the season.
The Lightning are currently 40-24-9, two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for second place in the Atlantic. The team have points in 10 consecutive games (6-0-4) and have gone past regulation in the three past games.
They visit the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Some days you want to wear bright happy colors and others, black, just black. While I’ve probably mentioned a million times that wearing black is a terrible choice for me, given my pale skin and dark hair, and my childhood nickname of Wednesday Addams — it didn’t stop me from delving into the color of choice for mobsters for the Bruins, Blackhawks match up.
Breakdown:
Black chiffon long tank top, Anne Taylor Loft, clearance $12.99
Black knit pullover sweater, with longer back, Target, $22.99
Black leather pants, TJMaxx, $16.99
Grey/Tan (I swear they change color in certain lighting) ankle boots, Target, $17.49
Mint Green Tote Bag, Target, $24.99
Media Tip: While showing up decked up in team apparel is frowned upon, showing a little team pride isn’t the worst thing you could do. For example, my mint green tote bag harbors a Stanley Cup Final pin right above it’s clasp. Team spirit in a tiny way!
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