hockey

By RICK SADOWSKI
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman has grown weary of talk regarding poor television ratings in the United States and the view in some quarters that sports fans have little interest in the league and perhaps even less in this year's Stanley Cup Finals.

By ERIC DUHATSCHEK
Toronto Globe and Mail
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

It was the sort of move that can sometimes make a coach look like a genius.

From among a group of young, untried and mostly interchangeable parts up front, Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle needed to find a replacement for the left winger on his nominal top line, Chris Kunitz, who was out with a broken wrist.

Not much was working, chemistry-wise, since Kunitz's departure so with six days off between games, Carlyle tried something new -- inserting Andrew Miller, an untried rookie with a rich hockey pedigree, into the lineup.

By JIM ALEXANDER
The Press-Enterprise
Friday, May 25, 2007

Maybe we've been asking the wrong question all along.

All this time, we've been fixated on whether the Anaheim Ducks can stay out of the penalty box and not put such a burden on their penalty killers.

By GREGG PATTON
The Press-Enterprise
Thursday, May 24, 2007

The Hockey Universe is just going to have to deal with it.

The Anaheim Ducks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The team that couldn't get a decent shot off somehow managed to put a few in the net anyway.

By BABE WAXPAK
Scripps Howard News Service
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Dear Babe: I purchased the hockey stick Mark Messier used to score his 600th goal. It's a Louisville stick signed on the blade.

By JIM ALEXANDER
The Press-Enterprise
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

If the Anaheim Ducks stole one from the Detroit Red Wings in Game 4 last Thursday, would Sunday's result be considered grand larceny?

They were horrendously outplayed for, oh, most of the afternoon.

By JIM ALEXANDER
The Press-Enterprise
Thursday, May 17, 2007

To hear Tomas Holmstrom tell it, he's lucky to be able to get from Point A to Point B on skates.

"I'm awful," he said the other day, when asked if he could outskate any of his Detroit Red Wings teammates. "I don't defeat anybody. I'd fall down. I don't have the stride."

OK, so maybe he wasn't quite nimble enough to get out of the way midway through the second period Tuesday night, when Rob Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of the Anaheo, Ducks hammered him into the boards from behind. That pair of runaway trucks left Holmstrom with 13 stitches worth of cuts and a pretty severe headache.

Anyone for last laughs?

Holmstrom made it back for the third period, which is more than Niedermayer could say after getting a game misconduct for his part of the hit.

Not only that, but Holmstrom was the best player on the ice throughout Detroit's 5-0 Game 3 victory _ including Dominik Hasek. And in the process, he produced a couple of highlight clips he might want to save on video to show the kids that, yes, Dad can too skate.

On a power play in the first period, Holmstrom came flying up the right side. Henrik Zetterberg, stationed at the near boards, zipped the puck to him in the faceoff circle, and Holmstrom _ wide open because Francois Beauchemin failed to pick him up _ snapped the puck past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

For good measure, Holmstrom used his skating ability to set up Detroit's fifth goal in the third period. He breezed down the right wing and put a cross-ice pass right on the tape to Valtteri Filppula, who flipped it past Ilya Bryzgalov.

Think this "can't skate" business is a wee exaggeration?

"That's his secret," teammate Kris Draper said. "He's deceptively fast. That's what he calls himself, but he can't pronounce the word."

Holmstrom's second goal, which made it 4-0 Wings early in the second period right after Bryzgalov replaced Giguere, was more in keeping with his traditional modus operandi. Filppula tried a wraparound move from the back of the net, Bryzgalov made the initial save, but Holmstrom batted in the rebound.

He scored a career-high 30 goals in the regular season and now has five in the playoffs. Most of his success has come from creating clutter in front of the net, which under normal circumstances is about the only way a goal gets scored in the postseason.

At worst, he impairs the goalie's vision. At best, he'll redirect or deflect a shot, like he did with the deciding goal in Detroit's 2-1 victory in Game 1.

This should explain how effective he is: Everybody wants to have a Tomas Holmstrom. The Ducks are trying to groom Dustin Penner for the role, as a big strong guy who can be almost impossible to move in front of the net.

But the effective player becomes a target, too.

Red Wings players and Coach Mike Babcock declined to take the bait when questioners suggested the hit on Holmstrom was dirty or over the line. Most said they didn't get a good look, since it occurred on their bench side.

Yet it's not a stretch to suggest they were quietly steamed about it.

"I'm a big believer in looking after each other," Babcock said. "What I mean by that is, I don't care how much is on the line at any time, you have to look after the other player. When he doesn't see you and you decide you're going to bury his head off the turnbuckle or whatever, that's a decision you make."

It looked bad, with Holmstrom lying on the ice for several moments before being helped to the dressing room, woozily.

"They just wanted to make sure I didn't have a concussion," he said. "I got stitched up and I was ready for the third."

No one in his dressing room was surprised.

"He comes right back up," Nicklas Lidstrom said. "That's the way he plays. Even when he's on the power play, he gets knocked down in front of the net or gets pushed out of there and he gets right back in. That's what he did after getting stitched up."

It certainly didn't hurt his skating.

By KEITH MCARTHUR
Toronto Globe and Mail
Friday, May 11, 2007

Peter Puck, the 1970s-era cartoon character who helped teach Americans about hockey, is getting a makeover and prepping for a comeback.

Again.

For 25 years, Brian McFarlane, the former broadcaster and historian known as Peter Puck's "father," has been trying to bring back the scrappy puck that dished out hockey rules and history during game intermissions on NBC and CBC broadcasts between 1973 and 1980.

McFarlane obtained the rights to the cartoon character from U.S. animator Hanna-Barbera in 1979. He won't say how much he paid, except that it was in the tens of thousands. Over the years, he's worked with various licensing companies and manufacturers to try to leverage the investment, with little success.

"It's all a blur of talks and conversations and meetings," said McFarlane, 75. "... We haven't garnered much business from Peter Puck over the years. I felt embarrassed in a way, because I feel it shows that I'm not really a good businessman, perhaps."

Now, finally, a line of Peter Puck apparel is hitting store shelves and an undisclosed national financial institution has secured a three-year deal in which Peter will be its official "spokespuck."

A modest start, perhaps, but McFarlane and Segal Licensing, his latest partner, have big plans for the character, which could involve books, toys, breakfast cereal -- even his own computer-animated television program.

Stuart Pollock, the president of Segal Licensing, said there's been interest from various broadcasters in a half-hour television program depicting the adventures of Peter Puck. The original voice of Peter Puck, Ronnie Schell, would be replaced with a younger actor.

"We think there's unlimited potential," Pollock said. "We think it will grow as the kids grow."

Others are more skeptical.

"I've never had a sense that people are clamoring for the return of Peter Puck. I think the fact that no one has picked it up over the past 20 years ... might be slightly telling," said Bob Stellick, a Toronto-based sports-marketing consultant.

Keith McIntyre, the president of K.Mac & Associates Marketing, said he can see how Peter Puck will appeal to guys in their 40s who grew up with the character. But he said it will be harder to make him appeal to kids, who are more likely to play hockey on Xbox than to watch the game on TV.

"From a nostalgic point of view, it would get my attention," said McIntyre, 46. "From a kid's point of view, I think it will be a lot more challenging to be relevant."

NBC officials came up with the idea of an animated cartoon to use during their hockey broadcasts as part of an effort to persuade affiliates in the southern United States to carry the games.

McFarlane, NBC's play-by-play broadcaster, flew to Hollywood to meet with Hanna-Barbera producers, armed with hockey knowledge and books. He said he helped shape Peter Puck, but does not claim to be the creator.

Just 44 minutes of Peter Puck cartoons were made. They aired on NBC and later on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts.

McFarlane, who introduced the segments, assumed the daunting task of responding on behalf of Peter to the hundreds of letters that young viewers sent to the cartoon character.

"I fell in love with Peter Puck," McFarlane said yesterday. "I got to be known as Peter Puck's father around the league."

For a few years, he operated a hockey museum in Niagara Falls, Ont., where one of the big attractions was the chance to view the vintage Peter Puck cartoons. McFarlane isn't sure why he's had no success in the past, beyond the Niagara Falls museum venture, with bringing back Peter Puck. He said he was too busy with other projects to put enough time into it. And he thinks Segal brings more expertise to the character than other licensing partners he's worked with.

For the latest effort at bringing Peter Puck out of retirement, Segal has given him new equipment, with skates and hockey gloves. His two-piece wooden hockey stick has been replaced with a one-piece composite stick.

It's not the first time Peter Puck has been given a makeover. McFarlane, who said he is a big fan of women's hockey, stuck a bow tie and eyelashes on a Peter Puck costume to create Penny Puck.

His plan now is to start with Canada, but he said the sky's the limit.

"I think there's a huge audience ready to accept him in the U.S. and then I think we should look very seriously at the European and even the Asian markets to see what might transpire there," McFarlane said. "They wouldn't have a memory of him. He would be quite new and refreshing to anyone overseas."

By JIM ALEXANDER
The Press-Enterprise
Thursday, May 10, 2007

Anaheim Might Ducks star Teemu Selanne's face has collected so many stitches lately, it's worth an extra look to make sure he doesn't have Bud Selig's signature on his forehead, too.

Bumps here. Bruises there. A little swelling, a little blood, more than a little scar tissue.

"(Stuff) happens," he said.

That's one way to look at it. But here's another: This is the face of playoff hockey, in all its gory glory.

It's the culture of this sport. It's a heritage embodied in Bobby Baun, who returned to a Stanley Cup Finals Game 6 after breaking his ankle _ and scored a game-winning goal in overtime, for Toronto over Detroit in 1964.

Many since then have honored that code, playing in pain and without complaint. Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux played in the 1992 Finals with a broken hand. Detroit captain Steve Yzerman basically had one good leg in the 2002 Finals.

The stoicism reaches comic proportions at this time of year.

Teams will say a player is having problems with an "upper body injury" or a "lower body injury." No way will you provide your opponents with a road map, because if they know your guy has a bad hand, they'll take a shot at it.

During the Ducks' previous series, the running joke was that Vancouver players with broken bones and strains and pulls were laid low by the flu.

"The flu seems to be leaving," Coach Alain Vigneault said before Game 4.

"Upper body flu or lower body flu?" asked a questioner.

Even Vigneault laughed, knowing no one believed his subterfuge but feeling obligated to go along with it anyway.

More than occasionally a player will ignore aches and pains that he maybe shouldn't.

"You can say that all season long, but it's probably more magnified in the playoffs because there's just so much more at stake," Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said.

"You want to be there for your teammates. You want to be there competing and playing for your team. A lot of times there are little nagging things where maybe in the regular season you might take a couple of games off and let them heal. But here you could be a game away from being defeated, or two games away."

The coach can be caught in the middle, balancing long-term health issues against a desire to get that player back in the lineup.

"Coaches like to put a lot of pressure on injured players," Anaheim's Randy Carlyle said, discussing Todd Marchant's return from surgery to repair a sports hernia. "He's felt my wrath. I'll say, 'When are you coming back?' Or, 'Don't bother the regulars.' It's in jest, but ...

"If a player tells you he's available and feels he can make a contribution, sometimes you take the percentages. If it's a Mario Lemieux or a Wayne Gretzky at 50 percent, is he better than a (average) guy at 100 percent? Those are the questions you have to ask."

Anaheim may be risking rust with another long layoff between rounds, but this could also be considered healing time. Center Sammy Pahlsson, for example, took three days off this week for what Carlyle cryptically called "maintenance days."

"It's just good to get a couple of days off, to take the chance that we have to heal a little," Pahlsson said. "It's just a little wear and tear. That's what happens in the playoffs. You play the full season, play a lot of games, then play all the time in the playoffs. Guys get worn down."

Or sometimes just unlucky.

Selanne, for example, was hit in the face by a puck during warm-ups before Game 5 of the Minnesota series, although some Ducks people darkly hint that with all the bad blood surrounding that series, it wasn't an accident but was actually a puck shot from the Minnesota end of the ice.

Then Selanne got clipped in the face four times by sticks over the next five games, once by his own teammate, Pronger.

Imagine if Selanne didn't wear a visor.

"Hey, it's a good look for him," Pronger joked.

"What can you say? He got hit five games in a row and hasn't skipped a beat. That's pretty impressive, to battle through the things he has and not miss a shift. That's a good role model for the younger guys."

After all, they've only heard the stories about Baun and Lemieux and Yzerman, handed down through the years. But one look at Selanne's face makes the point far more vividly.

In this sport, at this time of year, pain is no more than an inconvenience.

By RAY RATTO
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, May 03, 2007

It isn't timidity, or even hesitancy, that put the San Jose Sharks' hold on their Western Conference semifinal series with the Detroit Red Wings in jeopardy. It's strategy borne of playoff tradition, basic conservatism, and an overarching faith in the goaltender, his defensemen and the blessings of the neutral-ice trap. It makes sense, it's responsible, and it usually works.

But frankly, it's scaring the hell out of the customers.

For the third time in four games in this series, San Jose scored the first two goals, and for the second time, those two goals didn't hold up, leaving the citizens to wonder if maybe the Sharks were being the anti-Warriors _ a little too mindful of their responsibilities on the other end of the building, as opposed to the M.O. of our current local favorites, the Golden State Oh What the Hells.

Wednesday's 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4 of this Western Conference semifinal was Game 1, and especially Game 2, to an almost eerie tee _ the Sharks scoring twice in the first, then letting the Red Wings carry the play until the end. It is a dangerous way to play, and requires exquisite confidence not only in your goaltender, but in your defensemen and the trap.

It is, for those of you not so steeped in hockey lore, the anti-Warriors plan.

It was strategy much beloved in Game 1, when the Sharks' early goals were enough, but not so much in Game 2, and definitely not Wednesday night, when Mathieu Schneider's deflected slap shot at 16:04 of overtime beat Evgeni Nabokov and sent the series back to Detroit tied at two.

Or maybe it isn't strategy at all; head coach Ron Wilson suggested that the real problem is that only one line _ the Joe Thornton/Jonathan Cheechoo/Milan Michalek line _ is exhibiting much creativity, allowing the Wings to clamp down on the other three.

Point is, though, it's has been the M.O. for four games, and whether by design or error, it has worked only half the time.

Schneider's goal, which came during a delay-of-game penalty to San Jose's Craig Rivet, came after the defenseman made a brilliant reactive stop of Scott Hannan's clearing attempt. He gloved the drive, laid it onto the blade of his stick and whistled a shot back at goal which hit the Sharks' diving Patrick Rissmiller and changed direction enough to beat Nabokov, almost lost in a crowd in front of him, and hit the roof of the net.

The result was chilling, but the overall pattern is more long-term disturbing for the Sharks. As much as they believe in Nabokov, the defensive pairings and their neutral-ice trap when ahead, it might be time for the Sharks to loosen their defensive requirements at least enough to allow for some offense. After all, the rope-a-dope is a strategy that, when employed by anyone other than Muhammad Ali, often leaves you as the dope.

San Jose had built a quick lead on a snappy goal by Jonathan Cheechoo near the end of the first period, and then doubled it at 8:07 of the second on a bizarre knuckleball by Marcel Goc that amazingly deflected off defenseman Andreas Lilja's helmet.

Indeed, Detroit's best moments seemed to be restricted to those times when Tomas Holmstrom, just back from an eyelid injury, found his place in front of the San Jose net. His first appearance of the Wings' power play was typical Holmstromic work, as he planted himself immediately in front of Nabokov's line of sight and caused five shots and five rebounds. None resulted in goals, but it seemed to be the template for victory that the Red Wings had lacked in the first three games.

It was certainly sufficient on Detroit's first goal, on which Holmstrom was properly placed to pick up the rebound of Nicklas Lidstrom's slap shot with 4.5 seconds left in the second period and slip it past Nabokov. The power-play goal, coming as it did at the worst conceivable time, narrowed San Jose's lead to 2-1, but seemed to be only minimally damaging until Robert Lang tied the game in the waning moments of regulation.

That goal, at 19:26.9 , was an unusual softball for Nabokov to allow. Lang had received the puck from Valteri Filppula, who had won it in a struggle alone the left-side wall, and as he closed on Nabokov, the goalie seemed to lose focus for a moment, as if he expected Lang to pass to Holmstrom, free on the right side and heading toward Nabokov. Lang, though, chose to do it himself, putting a snap shot past the hesitant Nabokov, and ended a 40-minute run in which the Wings had outshot the Sharks, 29-5.

Weirdly, that was almost the exact margin of shots in Game 1, in which the Sharks scored twice in the first 10:09 and then were out-shot thereafter, 31-13. Nobody seemed to be complaining about the Sharks' defensive posture then, of course, but that night, they blocked 18 Detroit shots and helped Nabokov collect one of the easiest shutouts of his career.

This was a different night, though, with a different result. The Sharks could not escape their willingness to be seduced by their confidence in their defensive skills and tactical strength. It has worked one time in three tries, and though the Warriors were burned by being insufficiently careful in Game 5 of their series, the Sharks have been burned twice by being too careful, and people are starting to think that it seems less like a winning strategy than an overly conservative world view, one which has put San Jose's Cup dreams in peril.