With the win over the Phantoms Sunday night, the Bears have reportedly set a professional hockey record for consecutive home victories.
Twenty-three home wins in a row is quite an achievement, but it's not the professional record in my book. The record is 33 held by the 84-85 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the CHL. Their home record was 33-0-0, no overtime wins, no shootout wins, 33 wins in regulation.
You could quibble about whether the CHL is an amateur or professional league. I'll accept that some people consider the C amateur, but, according to NCAA bylaw 12.2.3.2.4, if a player participates in one game in the CHL, he is ineligible to regain his amateur status. If the NCAA considers it a professional league, then I do as well.
I don't mean to take anything away from the Bears, but the front office and the media have gone overboard with a semi-meaningless stat. Up until the Patriot-News started writing about it, I had no idea that "Consecutive Home Wins" was an official statistic.
One interesting thing that popped out at me, when I was researching who had this record in different leagues, is that no team that has attained a record of this type has won their championship that year.
Consecutive Home Win Records:
NHL
1929-30 Bruins - 20 in a row; Stanley Cup Champions - Canadians
1975-76 Flyers - 20 in a row; Stanley Cup Champions - Canadians
AHL
1996-97 Phantoms - 19 in a row; Calder Cup Champions - Bears
ECHL
1994-95 SC Stingrays - 18 in a row; Kelly Cup Champions - Richmond Renegades
IHL
1965-66 Muskegon Mohawks - 22 in a row; Turner Cup Champions - Port Huron Flags
CHL
1984-85 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds - 33 in a row; Memorial Cup Champions - Prince Albert Raiders
It's a hockey truism that the best team doesn't always win a playoff series. The team that wants it most wins. Let's hope, after all this success, that the Bears still will want it the most come playoff time.
Post on Dmitry Kugryshev coming in a couple days.
Grizzled Vet
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Mea Culpa.
I lost a paragraph in my last post due to editing. It should have read:
"GM George McPhee is much smarter than I am and probably will trade for depth across the board. They'll need a couple NHL proven D-men and forwards in case of injuries in the post season."
I'd have looked much smarter if I had left that in. Unfortunately, I didn't actually write that. I was thinking that GMGM would probably make some trades that weren't like anything I proposed, but I didn't anticipate any of the moves that he made.
Let's take the moves in order.
Scott Walker from the Hurricanes for a 2010 7th round pick and a bag of pucks.
Walker's a servicable grinder who's best known for either this or this. He's scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 33 games played this year. He had an "upper body" injury that kept him on IR for quite a while so far this season.
Walker is a total depth add. If Bradley decides to run his mug through a cheese grater again, Walker can step in for a game or two.
Milan Jurcina from the Blue Jackets for a 6th round pick.
I don't understand this at freakin' all. If the Jackets wanted Clark and a 6th for Chimera, why wasn't this the original trade? I'm sure that this makes some sense salary cap-wise, but, from my view couch-side, "no comprende."
(update: Per the Washington Post, Jurcina's out for 4-6 weeks with a sports hernia)
Eric Belanger from the Wild for a 2nd round pick.
Belanger is a defensive centerman. He'll give them some depth down the middle and will hopefully help out a lot on the penalty kill. He's usually good for 35 - 40 points a season, and he's already at 35 so don't expect too much more on the score sheet.
Joe Corvo from the Hurricanes for Pothier, Osala, and a 2nd rounder.
My first reaction was, huh? I didn't/don't understand this move. Corvo is an "offensive" defenseman. Not exactly something the Caps need. Once I thought about it though, it made more sense. One of the reasons that the Caps got knocked off by the Pens last year was the play of Mike Green in Game 6 and 7. Green was logging a ton of minutes in that series which may have contributed to his defensive lapses. With Corvo in the fold, they'll have the ability to limit Green's ice time without sacrificing much offense.
So to recap, George McPhee addressed none of the needs that I posted about and traded away one Bear. I really didn't think that he would go after a goalie or a shutdown defenseman, so that's one for me. I said that the Bears should be safe and one got traded away, that makes it 1-1. Not bad.
Oskar Osala is one of my favorite players due to his upside. I think that Oskar will probably get more first/second line time with the Rats which will help him in the long run. Good luck, Oskar!
Grizzled Vet
"GM George McPhee is much smarter than I am and probably will trade for depth across the board. They'll need a couple NHL proven D-men and forwards in case of injuries in the post season."
I'd have looked much smarter if I had left that in. Unfortunately, I didn't actually write that. I was thinking that GMGM would probably make some trades that weren't like anything I proposed, but I didn't anticipate any of the moves that he made.
Let's take the moves in order.
Scott Walker from the Hurricanes for a 2010 7th round pick and a bag of pucks.
Walker's a servicable grinder who's best known for either this or this. He's scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 33 games played this year. He had an "upper body" injury that kept him on IR for quite a while so far this season.
Walker is a total depth add. If Bradley decides to run his mug through a cheese grater again, Walker can step in for a game or two.
Milan Jurcina from the Blue Jackets for a 6th round pick.
I don't understand this at freakin' all. If the Jackets wanted Clark and a 6th for Chimera, why wasn't this the original trade? I'm sure that this makes some sense salary cap-wise, but, from my view couch-side, "no comprende."
(update: Per the Washington Post, Jurcina's out for 4-6 weeks with a sports hernia)
Eric Belanger from the Wild for a 2nd round pick.
Belanger is a defensive centerman. He'll give them some depth down the middle and will hopefully help out a lot on the penalty kill. He's usually good for 35 - 40 points a season, and he's already at 35 so don't expect too much more on the score sheet.
Joe Corvo from the Hurricanes for Pothier, Osala, and a 2nd rounder.
My first reaction was, huh? I didn't/don't understand this move. Corvo is an "offensive" defenseman. Not exactly something the Caps need. Once I thought about it though, it made more sense. One of the reasons that the Caps got knocked off by the Pens last year was the play of Mike Green in Game 6 and 7. Green was logging a ton of minutes in that series which may have contributed to his defensive lapses. With Corvo in the fold, they'll have the ability to limit Green's ice time without sacrificing much offense.
So to recap, George McPhee addressed none of the needs that I posted about and traded away one Bear. I really didn't think that he would go after a goalie or a shutdown defenseman, so that's one for me. I said that the Bears should be safe and one got traded away, that makes it 1-1. Not bad.
Oskar Osala is one of my favorite players due to his upside. I think that Oskar will probably get more first/second line time with the Rats which will help him in the long run. Good luck, Oskar!
Grizzled Vet
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Trade talk.
Monday starts the scariest three days in the Bears season, the final days leading up to the trade deadline. The problem with being a fan of an AHL team is that during trades your team often loses players, and they don't get anything in return.
Who could be on the block from the Bears? Perreault, Bouchard, Neuvirth, Holtby, Alzner, and Collins.
Fear not Bear's fans! I don't think that we're going to be losing anyone.
Why???? Let me tell you.
The hockey world's consensus is that the Caps need to get a better (proven is a word that is thrown around) goaltender and a true shut-down defender.
Ok, let's try to define a proven goaltender. He should have experience winning playoff series and preferably have a ring, right? Who fits that bill?
Here are Caps Goalie statistics for comparison:
Jose Theodore (GP 35; 20-7-6; GAA 2.94; SV% .906)
Semyon Varlamov (GP 17; 12-2-2; GAA 2.44; SV% .916)
Michal Neuvirth (GP 17; 9-4-0; GAA 2.75; SV% .914)
Goalies of record for Stanley Cup champions:
2009 Marc-Andre Fleury (think the Pens are giving him up?)
2008 Chris Osgood (GP 21; 7-8-4; GAA 2.94; SV% .894)
2007 J.S. Giguere (Lost job to Hiller in ANA, traded to TOR GP 24; 6-10-5; GAA 2.90; SV% .907)
2006 Cam Ward (GP 41; 14- 21-5; GAA 2.74; SV% .913)
2004 Nikolai Khabibulin (Injured, out for season)
2003 Martin Brodeur (Yeah, right)
Ok, maybe we need to look at former Vezina winners.
2009 Tim Thomas (GP 35; 13-15-7; GAA 2.52; SV% .915)
2008, 2007, 2004, 2003 Martin Brodeur (see above)
2006 Miikka Kiprusoff (See note for Brodeur)
2002 Jose Theodore (hey they already have a Vezina winner)
As you can see, proven goaltenders are often anything but. If a goalie hasn't won a cup, he gets criticized for not be able to win a "big game" (Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabokov, Jose Theodore). Even if he wins a Cup, he's not necessarily a proven goalie (Chris Osgood, Cam Ward, Giggy).
I don't believe that there is a goalie out there, that would be available, that is a significant enough upgrade over what the Caps have now to be worth losing any players or prospects.
Ok, since we probably can't get an upgrade in goal, let's look at trading for a shutdown defense-man. First we have to figure out what a shutdown defense-man is. He should be a leader in +/-, right?
Here's a list of the top 25 Dmen in +/- to this point in the season. (I know I suck at spreadsheets. Honestly though, Google Docs sucks.) Interesting point in that spread sheet, the Caps have five players on that list already (Schulze #1, Green #2, Poti #9, Erskine #13, Pothier #20). Since everyone says the Caps need a shutdown defenseman, they must not already have one, so we can't use +/- as a metric.
Plus/minus is a very simple statistic, and I think that it shouldn't be used at all anymore. Why? Say you jump over the boards after your coach pulls the goalie for an extra skater late in the game. A D-man slaps a seeing-eye puck to clear his zone, and it goes in. Guess what? You just picked up a minus, for being one of the best offensive players on your team. That has never seemed right to me. The only way +/- can be used is to compare players on the same team with comparable ice time.
A more recent, and better, metric is Goals Against per 60 Minutes of Ice Time (GAON/60). This gives how many goals are scored against when a player is on the ice, on average, over 60 minutes. Here's a list of all defense-men in the NHL with more than 25 Games played ranked by GAON/60. Again, the Capitals have three players in the top 25 (Pothier #2, Schultz #10, Erskine #24).
This statistic can be deceiving as well. A shut down pairing may have to play against the opposing first line game after game and get an undeserved higher score.
To account for that, at least partially, is a correlating statistic Goals Against per 60 Minutes Off Ice Time (GAOFF/60). This doesn't tell us much about the player, per se, but tells much about his influence when he's not on the ice. If the goals scored per 60 while he's on the bench go up, he positively influences the game. If they go down, he may be a liability when he's on the ice. What you need to do is take GAOFF/60 and subtract GAON/60, the higher the remainder the better. Results here. Guess what, the Caps have two players in the top 25. Pothier at #4 and Schultz at #23.
There are only six teams in the NHL with two players in the top 25: ANA, CBJ, DAL, NYR, SJ, WAS. San Jose is gunning for the Cup, so they're not going to be trade partner. Anaheim, Dallas, and the Rangers are all out of the playoffs right now but are still within spitting distance of getting in, so I don't see any of them trading good players away. That leaves the Blue Jackets as a potential trade partner that has enough depth of good D that they might be willing to trade one away.
Who are the targets according to the statistics? Chris Russell and Mathieu Roy!
Was your reaction, WHO? I know mine was.
Statistics don't lie, but they often they don't tell the whole truth either. If I were to pick the shutdown defense-man on the Blue Jackets, I'd say Fedor Tyutin, who ranks 90th on the OFF-ON list. Why do I think that Tyutin is the shutdown guy? Because he's on the shutdown pairing, always on the ice against the opponents #1 line, and he plays a ton of short handed minutes.
What does this mean? It means that Tyutin isn't any better than the players the Caps already have. In fact, statistically, he's much, much worse.
Since we can't use teams that have defensive depth as trade partners, let's take a look at teams that are out of the playoff hunt instead. They'll definitely want to trade, right?
In the East, I'd say that the Leafs and the 'Canes are the only teams who, deep in their hearts, know that they aren't making the playoffs this year. In the West, we have the Jackets(already addressed) and the Oilers.
As I started to write a breakdown of possibilities of each team, I realized that the write up for every team sounded like the one for the Jackets. The best statistical player is a 5th/6th D-man with little SH time. The #1 shutdown D-man on any that team isn't better than what the Caps already have.
None of this takes into consideration the salary cap. I was only looking at improving the areas the media masses insist that the Caps need to. I also didn't take any "intangibles" into consideration. Intangibles are what kept way too many players in the league past their sell-by dates (see Hasek, Dominik; Bure, Pavel; Satan, Miroslav). I don't discount intangibles, but they are a way of making a choice between two otherwise equal players. Intangibles are not the way to raise a player over another that he is otherwise inferior to.
My conclusion? There is no need for the Caps to make a trade at the deadline. The players that are going to be offered for trade aren't better than what the Caps already have. So by my estimation, the Bear players should be safe.
Grizzled Vet
Postscriptum: If you want a more detailed explanation of the statistics used, go to Japer's Rink, Laich It Or Lump It wrote a great fan post on how it is calculated. If you are a stat geek and are wondering where I got my info on GAON/60, GAOFF/60, check out Behind the Net. If you do, yes, there is a reason I didn't include a player's CORSI score into my arguement. No, I won't tell you why I didn't. Defensive Time On Ice/pairing info came from Dobber Hockey's brilliant Frozen Pool Line Combo Widget. Goalie stats are from NHL.com as of Feb. 27th.
Who could be on the block from the Bears? Perreault, Bouchard, Neuvirth, Holtby, Alzner, and Collins.
Fear not Bear's fans! I don't think that we're going to be losing anyone.
Why???? Let me tell you.
The hockey world's consensus is that the Caps need to get a better (proven is a word that is thrown around) goaltender and a true shut-down defender.
Ok, let's try to define a proven goaltender. He should have experience winning playoff series and preferably have a ring, right? Who fits that bill?
Here are Caps Goalie statistics for comparison:
Jose Theodore (GP 35; 20-7-6; GAA 2.94; SV% .906)
Semyon Varlamov (GP 17; 12-2-2; GAA 2.44; SV% .916)
Michal Neuvirth (GP 17; 9-4-0; GAA 2.75; SV% .914)
Goalies of record for Stanley Cup champions:
2009 Marc-Andre Fleury (think the Pens are giving him up?)
2008 Chris Osgood (GP 21; 7-8-4; GAA 2.94; SV% .894)
2007 J.S. Giguere (Lost job to Hiller in ANA, traded to TOR GP 24; 6-10-5; GAA 2.90; SV% .907)
2006 Cam Ward (GP 41; 14- 21-5; GAA 2.74; SV% .913)
2004 Nikolai Khabibulin (Injured, out for season)
2003 Martin Brodeur (Yeah, right)
Ok, maybe we need to look at former Vezina winners.
2009 Tim Thomas (GP 35; 13-15-7; GAA 2.52; SV% .915)
2008, 2007, 2004, 2003 Martin Brodeur (see above)
2006 Miikka Kiprusoff (See note for Brodeur)
2002 Jose Theodore (hey they already have a Vezina winner)
As you can see, proven goaltenders are often anything but. If a goalie hasn't won a cup, he gets criticized for not be able to win a "big game" (Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabokov, Jose Theodore). Even if he wins a Cup, he's not necessarily a proven goalie (Chris Osgood, Cam Ward, Giggy).
I don't believe that there is a goalie out there, that would be available, that is a significant enough upgrade over what the Caps have now to be worth losing any players or prospects.
Ok, since we probably can't get an upgrade in goal, let's look at trading for a shutdown defense-man. First we have to figure out what a shutdown defense-man is. He should be a leader in +/-, right?
Here's a list of the top 25 Dmen in +/- to this point in the season. (I know I suck at spreadsheets. Honestly though, Google Docs sucks.) Interesting point in that spread sheet, the Caps have five players on that list already (Schulze #1, Green #2, Poti #9, Erskine #13, Pothier #20). Since everyone says the Caps need a shutdown defenseman, they must not already have one, so we can't use +/- as a metric.
Plus/minus is a very simple statistic, and I think that it shouldn't be used at all anymore. Why? Say you jump over the boards after your coach pulls the goalie for an extra skater late in the game. A D-man slaps a seeing-eye puck to clear his zone, and it goes in. Guess what? You just picked up a minus, for being one of the best offensive players on your team. That has never seemed right to me. The only way +/- can be used is to compare players on the same team with comparable ice time.
A more recent, and better, metric is Goals Against per 60 Minutes of Ice Time (GAON/60). This gives how many goals are scored against when a player is on the ice, on average, over 60 minutes. Here's a list of all defense-men in the NHL with more than 25 Games played ranked by GAON/60. Again, the Capitals have three players in the top 25 (Pothier #2, Schultz #10, Erskine #24).
This statistic can be deceiving as well. A shut down pairing may have to play against the opposing first line game after game and get an undeserved higher score.
To account for that, at least partially, is a correlating statistic Goals Against per 60 Minutes Off Ice Time (GAOFF/60). This doesn't tell us much about the player, per se, but tells much about his influence when he's not on the ice. If the goals scored per 60 while he's on the bench go up, he positively influences the game. If they go down, he may be a liability when he's on the ice. What you need to do is take GAOFF/60 and subtract GAON/60, the higher the remainder the better. Results here. Guess what, the Caps have two players in the top 25. Pothier at #4 and Schultz at #23.
There are only six teams in the NHL with two players in the top 25: ANA, CBJ, DAL, NYR, SJ, WAS. San Jose is gunning for the Cup, so they're not going to be trade partner. Anaheim, Dallas, and the Rangers are all out of the playoffs right now but are still within spitting distance of getting in, so I don't see any of them trading good players away. That leaves the Blue Jackets as a potential trade partner that has enough depth of good D that they might be willing to trade one away.
Who are the targets according to the statistics? Chris Russell and Mathieu Roy!
Was your reaction, WHO? I know mine was.
Statistics don't lie, but they often they don't tell the whole truth either. If I were to pick the shutdown defense-man on the Blue Jackets, I'd say Fedor Tyutin, who ranks 90th on the OFF-ON list. Why do I think that Tyutin is the shutdown guy? Because he's on the shutdown pairing, always on the ice against the opponents #1 line, and he plays a ton of short handed minutes.
What does this mean? It means that Tyutin isn't any better than the players the Caps already have. In fact, statistically, he's much, much worse.
Since we can't use teams that have defensive depth as trade partners, let's take a look at teams that are out of the playoff hunt instead. They'll definitely want to trade, right?
In the East, I'd say that the Leafs and the 'Canes are the only teams who, deep in their hearts, know that they aren't making the playoffs this year. In the West, we have the Jackets(already addressed) and the Oilers.
As I started to write a breakdown of possibilities of each team, I realized that the write up for every team sounded like the one for the Jackets. The best statistical player is a 5th/6th D-man with little SH time. The #1 shutdown D-man on any that team isn't better than what the Caps already have.
None of this takes into consideration the salary cap. I was only looking at improving the areas the media masses insist that the Caps need to. I also didn't take any "intangibles" into consideration. Intangibles are what kept way too many players in the league past their sell-by dates (see Hasek, Dominik; Bure, Pavel; Satan, Miroslav). I don't discount intangibles, but they are a way of making a choice between two otherwise equal players. Intangibles are not the way to raise a player over another that he is otherwise inferior to.
My conclusion? There is no need for the Caps to make a trade at the deadline. The players that are going to be offered for trade aren't better than what the Caps already have. So by my estimation, the Bear players should be safe.
Grizzled Vet
Postscriptum: If you want a more detailed explanation of the statistics used, go to Japer's Rink, Laich It Or Lump It wrote a great fan post on how it is calculated. If you are a stat geek and are wondering where I got my info on GAON/60, GAOFF/60, check out Behind the Net. If you do, yes, there is a reason I didn't include a player's CORSI score into my arguement. No, I won't tell you why I didn't. Defensive Time On Ice/pairing info came from Dobber Hockey's brilliant Frozen Pool Line Combo Widget. Goalie stats are from NHL.com as of Feb. 27th.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Why Olympic hockey is great!
I know that I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but this Olympics has had some great hockey.
So good that I left a Bears game early last Sunday to make sure that I could get a table for a bunch of us at Red Robin so we could watch the game together.
Watching the US beat Canada surrounded by my friends was great, but something happened today that was even better.
Some of you may know that I work for the National Guard. I do this as a full time job. Actually, I'm on Active Duty for the Army, which means that I'm pretty much theirs 24/7/365. I've missed a couple of games over the years because of this, but I'm not complaining. It's a good life, and I love serving my country. So when the state declares a snow emergency, I'm on duty. Usually staying at the Armory running a command post, sometimes out on the highways helping stranded motorists.
You can probably guess where I was for the past two days. There were 20 soldiers from two different units at the Armory from 0800 yesterday till about an hour ago. We didn't have much call for our services this time. The snow stayed north and southeast of us, but we still had to stay there. We do what soldiers do when there isn't a mission going on. Sleep, watch TV, watch videos, play cards, shoot hoops, etc...
Luckily, I was second in seniority there this time, so when the US/Finland game came on, I was planning to use my authority to watch the game. I was finishing up some paperwork in my office when I hear a cheer from the break room. That was unusual, then I realized that it was 1505. The game had started. I hurried to the break room and was shocked to see that not only was the hockey game on, the room was packed! As I arrived the US scored their second goal, and the place erupted again.
Now my unit isn't known for having hockey fanatics. There are a couple puck-heads, but the bulk of my unit is drawn from Reading. We are a completely ethnically diverse unit, and every single one of these soldiers was jumping up and down for joy on every goal. I spent the rest of the game, explaining the rules to people who have never in their life watched a whole hockey game. Explaining why after 6 goals the US eased up (I used a football analogy, "Look this is like scoring 42 points in the first quarter of a football game.") There was a room full of new hockey fans created today in a small Armory in north central Pennsylvania. People who up until today never had a reason to watch a game but now are intrigued enough to watch the gold medal game and maybe some ECHL games live.
That's why Olympic hockey is great.
edit--We were able to convince the manager of Red Robin to turn all of the TVs in the bar area to the US/Canada game. After watching some he told me, "This is like watching an All-Star game, except this is one that really matters."
So good that I left a Bears game early last Sunday to make sure that I could get a table for a bunch of us at Red Robin so we could watch the game together.
Watching the US beat Canada surrounded by my friends was great, but something happened today that was even better.
Some of you may know that I work for the National Guard. I do this as a full time job. Actually, I'm on Active Duty for the Army, which means that I'm pretty much theirs 24/7/365. I've missed a couple of games over the years because of this, but I'm not complaining. It's a good life, and I love serving my country. So when the state declares a snow emergency, I'm on duty. Usually staying at the Armory running a command post, sometimes out on the highways helping stranded motorists.
You can probably guess where I was for the past two days. There were 20 soldiers from two different units at the Armory from 0800 yesterday till about an hour ago. We didn't have much call for our services this time. The snow stayed north and southeast of us, but we still had to stay there. We do what soldiers do when there isn't a mission going on. Sleep, watch TV, watch videos, play cards, shoot hoops, etc...
Luckily, I was second in seniority there this time, so when the US/Finland game came on, I was planning to use my authority to watch the game. I was finishing up some paperwork in my office when I hear a cheer from the break room. That was unusual, then I realized that it was 1505. The game had started. I hurried to the break room and was shocked to see that not only was the hockey game on, the room was packed! As I arrived the US scored their second goal, and the place erupted again.
Now my unit isn't known for having hockey fanatics. There are a couple puck-heads, but the bulk of my unit is drawn from Reading. We are a completely ethnically diverse unit, and every single one of these soldiers was jumping up and down for joy on every goal. I spent the rest of the game, explaining the rules to people who have never in their life watched a whole hockey game. Explaining why after 6 goals the US eased up (I used a football analogy, "Look this is like scoring 42 points in the first quarter of a football game.") There was a room full of new hockey fans created today in a small Armory in north central Pennsylvania. People who up until today never had a reason to watch a game but now are intrigued enough to watch the gold medal game and maybe some ECHL games live.
That's why Olympic hockey is great.
edit--We were able to convince the manager of Red Robin to turn all of the TVs in the bar area to the US/Canada game. After watching some he told me, "This is like watching an All-Star game, except this is one that really matters."
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Sometimes people are just stupid.
After being alerted for a snow emergency at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and manning an operations center for the past three days, I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people that are just plain stupid out there.
If you were caught out on I-78 in Feb 2008 and by some reason thought that you absolutely had to go to work at the Shoe Barn on Wednesday in the middle of the storm and got stuck on I-78 again, you are stupid. You may have a master's degree and an IQ of 150, but you have just failed in the game of life in this society.
If you are a truck driver and you were caught driving on I-78 Wednesday night, we don't care that your home terminal is only 20 miles away. It doesn't matter that the road is clear where we stopped you. It doesn't matter that having you turn around on a secondary road is going to make you go out of your way. It doesn't matter that you are low on fuel.
Get the picture, I don't care what excuse you're using it doesn't freaking matter. What matters is that you are so wound up in yourself that you are inconveniencing everyone else. And for once in your life I can rain on your little, me parade. The world does not revolve around you and your problems. Most of the problems that you spend your time bitching about were caused by people just like you thinking only of themselves. Get over yourself, stupid!
What does this have to do with hockey you ask? Not much but I'll tie it in somehow. Ahh, I got it!
Sometimes elite hockey players are stupid too.
The Capitals had their historic win streak come crashing to a halt this week. It's been coming for a while, their play in the defensive zone has been sub-standard. The work ethic has been there, but the thought process hasn't.
The Caps defensemen have been caught pinching, not trying to skate through checks and making soft passes. But these weren't the worst mental mistakes. The worst were cross ice pass in the defensive zone and flying the zone early.
I am not a fan of cross ice passes in your own zone. One of the first rules you learn in hockey is never pass the puck in front of your own goal. I take a very literal interpretation of that, as in never make a cross ice pass behind the blue line. I understand that these guys are professionals and that they understand the game better than I do, but doesn't it follow that their opponents do too?
The reason you don't want to pass the puck in front of your net is if an opponent intercepts the pass he's in on goal alone. This almost bit the Caps a couple times last night, once in the dying moments of the third. The fact that the Sens didn't score is irrelevent. The fact that a soft pass across the net was deemed to be a good idea at the time, speaks to the growing stupidity defensively the Caps have been exhibiting.
The forwards are guilty as well. Their job is to pinch the boards at the half-wall, keep track of the D creeping down and open themselves up for an outlet pass for the breakout. Their job is not to fly the zone before the D has uncontested possession. Some players can get away with this AO, the other Alex. When those two fly the zone 10-1 an opposing D is going with them. However when Brooks Laich flies the zone, he's not going to get the same respect. The forwards have all been doing this for the last 10 games and it caught up to them.
Mental mistakes caught up the Caps, but I'm going to bet that Bruce Boudreau isn't going to let the boys get away with this much longer.
Grizzled Vet
If you were caught out on I-78 in Feb 2008 and by some reason thought that you absolutely had to go to work at the Shoe Barn on Wednesday in the middle of the storm and got stuck on I-78 again, you are stupid. You may have a master's degree and an IQ of 150, but you have just failed in the game of life in this society.
If you are a truck driver and you were caught driving on I-78 Wednesday night, we don't care that your home terminal is only 20 miles away. It doesn't matter that the road is clear where we stopped you. It doesn't matter that having you turn around on a secondary road is going to make you go out of your way. It doesn't matter that you are low on fuel.
Get the picture, I don't care what excuse you're using it doesn't freaking matter. What matters is that you are so wound up in yourself that you are inconveniencing everyone else. And for once in your life I can rain on your little, me parade. The world does not revolve around you and your problems. Most of the problems that you spend your time bitching about were caused by people just like you thinking only of themselves. Get over yourself, stupid!
What does this have to do with hockey you ask? Not much but I'll tie it in somehow. Ahh, I got it!
Sometimes elite hockey players are stupid too.
The Capitals had their historic win streak come crashing to a halt this week. It's been coming for a while, their play in the defensive zone has been sub-standard. The work ethic has been there, but the thought process hasn't.
The Caps defensemen have been caught pinching, not trying to skate through checks and making soft passes. But these weren't the worst mental mistakes. The worst were cross ice pass in the defensive zone and flying the zone early.
I am not a fan of cross ice passes in your own zone. One of the first rules you learn in hockey is never pass the puck in front of your own goal. I take a very literal interpretation of that, as in never make a cross ice pass behind the blue line. I understand that these guys are professionals and that they understand the game better than I do, but doesn't it follow that their opponents do too?
The reason you don't want to pass the puck in front of your net is if an opponent intercepts the pass he's in on goal alone. This almost bit the Caps a couple times last night, once in the dying moments of the third. The fact that the Sens didn't score is irrelevent. The fact that a soft pass across the net was deemed to be a good idea at the time, speaks to the growing stupidity defensively the Caps have been exhibiting.
The forwards are guilty as well. Their job is to pinch the boards at the half-wall, keep track of the D creeping down and open themselves up for an outlet pass for the breakout. Their job is not to fly the zone before the D has uncontested possession. Some players can get away with this AO, the other Alex. When those two fly the zone 10-1 an opposing D is going with them. However when Brooks Laich flies the zone, he's not going to get the same respect. The forwards have all been doing this for the last 10 games and it caught up to them.
Mental mistakes caught up the Caps, but I'm going to bet that Bruce Boudreau isn't going to let the boys get away with this much longer.
Grizzled Vet
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Two days, two posts.
I'm not going to start posting every day, don't get used to this. I found a couple more things on the web yesterday that I thought you might get a kick out of.
The Bears and a Bears favorite gets some love on the NHL.com.
The Boston Bruins have the best ads, hands down.
My proof:
My favorite:
On the somber side:
DisGraceland would like to extend our condolences to the Burke family on the death of their son, Brendan. For those of you who don't know, Brendan made a bit of news this season when he announced that he was gay. This made quite a bit of news in Canada, bringing the homophobia that is prevalent in locker rooms to light. Brendan was a brave young man to expose himself this way when he didn't have to, but no one could accuse Brian Burke's son of not having truculence. Go with God, Brendan.
We'd also like to note the passing of Hershey Bears blog. Chris Rahn's A Bear's Minute has been taken down. Good luck with your next project, Chris.
The Bears and a Bears favorite gets some love on the NHL.com.
The Boston Bruins have the best ads, hands down.
My proof:
My favorite:
On the somber side:
DisGraceland would like to extend our condolences to the Burke family on the death of their son, Brendan. For those of you who don't know, Brendan made a bit of news this season when he announced that he was gay. This made quite a bit of news in Canada, bringing the homophobia that is prevalent in locker rooms to light. Brendan was a brave young man to expose himself this way when he didn't have to, but no one could accuse Brian Burke's son of not having truculence. Go with God, Brendan.We'd also like to note the passing of Hershey Bears blog. Chris Rahn's A Bear's Minute has been taken down. Good luck with your next project, Chris.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Two months off? Who do you think you are, John Walton?
That's not a slam on JW, just a comment in the spirit of the trolls on PennLive. I've been crazy busy with work, volunteering, family, church, and going to hockey games. Those are just a few of the reasons why I've been neglecting the blog. It's not just the time that I spend writing; I haven't had the time to do the research required to present my thoughts accurately. Each info post usually takes about four hours of research/writing time.
I actually started several posts, but by the time I could get back to them the reason/situation that I was writing about became stale. I know, I know, "Suck it up cupcake." I'll do better I promise.
Another reason I haven't posted is there was very little going on. My inspiration comes from adversity. Bad PP/PK, Caps calling up too many of our players, little known players getting bagged on, etc... None of that was happening. The Bears were on a historic win streak, winning big, not a lot of roster movement. In other words, nothing intrigued me enough to spend the time researching and writing.
With the snow emergency today, the work day at the AFCA warehouse was cancelled, and the Bears game was postponed, so I have a few hours to sit down and write.
This will be a mish-mash of a lot of my thoughts during the past two months.
Holy bejowlies, are the Bears good this year or what?!?! They've got 21-point lead in the East Division, 12-point lead in the Conference, and five-point lead in the league! Inconceivable! But I could get used to it!
They are crazy good, and they're not the only team in the organization that's having a good year.
The StingRays are leading the E by five points, and our parent club is tops in the NHL riding a historic win streak.
Three years ago, the Caps and the Rays were both bubble playoff teams. So what changed?
Our boy, Bruce Boudreau! Since he got the Caps job, he's turned around the entire organization.
His system of interchangeable players, up-tempo, in your face, straight to the net game-planning, and solid development of prospects up and down the line have propelled the organization to the tops in all of hockey for this year. Go take that E class for a spin, Coach, and get yourself a garden salad!
I love that little toe lift at the end -- classic Bruce!
Here's a great video from a Caps/Thrashers game that I was telling people about.
This is the video they were making fun of.
How'd you like to go up against these Bears?
"You're a tripod #2. A TRIPOD!"
There's been a little DisGraceland controversy brewing on Penn Live lately. We were all talking about this last year; we knew that we would be big when the Penn Live trolls turned on us.
I refuse to respond to trolls on that site, for a lot of reasons, but I will address some of the criticism here.
We don't think that we're bigger than the game or players. People don't pay money to come see us. When we're on the JumboTron, it's because we're doing something that comes natural to hockey fans. Celebrating a goal, chirping an oppenent, dancing during a good song, etc... We don't try and attract the attention of the camera guys, we're just having a good time.
If you sit near us and hear profanity, it's from the players not us. A couple of us have young, impressionable children, and we're very aware of how little ears pick up on stuff like that. We can't stop the players from throwing the f-bomb, but we don't do it. We chirp players, we get under their skin, but cursing at them means that we've lost our little game. If we can't think of something clever to say, we'll be quiet. Trust me on that, it's happened a few times already this year.
The King has never and will never throw anything on the opposing bench. Has stuff been thrown in the air and ended up on the bench? Yes. Did he throw it? No. Did he think it was funny? He thought it was hilarious. How many times has it happened? More than once. After the season, we'll put up the photographic evidence.
We are allowed to wear the masks because they are half-faced allowing us to be recognizable and because they have large eyes which allow full vision. The mask ban that was over-publicized for the Moose series was done to keep people from wearing alien Halloween masks. Typical Herco over-reaction if you ask me, but they're a corporation and have lawyers that run things like that. I understand their concerns, but I believe that those concerns were blown out of proportion. Just my personal opinion on that one.
Oh, almost forgot. Scooter120, we know who you are and where you sit. We appreciate the fact that not everyone likes our constant chirping, but we aren't the only ones who chirp. In fact, chirping has been going on there longer than I can remember. I know that so you should know it too, and yet you chose to sit in that section. Maybe you should move your seats next year to 116. I understand it's alcohol-free so you wouldn't have to put up with the riff-raff. Or you could pony up and get a box. I sat in a box once and hated it, because I felt removed from the crowd. Since that seems to be what you want, it might be a good option. You know who we are, we know who you are. If you have a problem with us, come and talk to us. We're pretty easy to spot in a crowd. We're actually really nice guys, as long as you don't play for/coach the other team. Join as the AFCA warehouse to see our charitable side; everyone is welcome. If you have a reasonable concern, we'll address it, honest.
DisGraceland's charity, American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA) needs your help. They are searching for a volunteer with mad Excel "skillz". If you can help out, please email climb@helpchildrenwithaids.org.
Two points for discussion:
What parts of DG do you like, which don't you like, why?
Who is a better goalie, Neuvy or Holtby, why?
Feel free to leave comments on the facebook page or in the comments below.
GVet
I actually started several posts, but by the time I could get back to them the reason/situation that I was writing about became stale. I know, I know, "Suck it up cupcake." I'll do better I promise.
Another reason I haven't posted is there was very little going on. My inspiration comes from adversity. Bad PP/PK, Caps calling up too many of our players, little known players getting bagged on, etc... None of that was happening. The Bears were on a historic win streak, winning big, not a lot of roster movement. In other words, nothing intrigued me enough to spend the time researching and writing.
With the snow emergency today, the work day at the AFCA warehouse was cancelled, and the Bears game was postponed, so I have a few hours to sit down and write.
This will be a mish-mash of a lot of my thoughts during the past two months.
Holy bejowlies, are the Bears good this year or what?!?! They've got 21-point lead in the East Division, 12-point lead in the Conference, and five-point lead in the league! Inconceivable! But I could get used to it!
They are crazy good, and they're not the only team in the organization that's having a good year.
The StingRays are leading the E by five points, and our parent club is tops in the NHL riding a historic win streak.
Three years ago, the Caps and the Rays were both bubble playoff teams. So what changed?
Our boy, Bruce Boudreau! Since he got the Caps job, he's turned around the entire organization.
His system of interchangeable players, up-tempo, in your face, straight to the net game-planning, and solid development of prospects up and down the line have propelled the organization to the tops in all of hockey for this year. Go take that E class for a spin, Coach, and get yourself a garden salad!
I love that little toe lift at the end -- classic Bruce!
Here's a great video from a Caps/Thrashers game that I was telling people about.
This is the video they were making fun of.
How'd you like to go up against these Bears?
"You're a tripod #2. A TRIPOD!"
There's been a little DisGraceland controversy brewing on Penn Live lately. We were all talking about this last year; we knew that we would be big when the Penn Live trolls turned on us.
I refuse to respond to trolls on that site, for a lot of reasons, but I will address some of the criticism here.
We don't think that we're bigger than the game or players. People don't pay money to come see us. When we're on the JumboTron, it's because we're doing something that comes natural to hockey fans. Celebrating a goal, chirping an oppenent, dancing during a good song, etc... We don't try and attract the attention of the camera guys, we're just having a good time.
If you sit near us and hear profanity, it's from the players not us. A couple of us have young, impressionable children, and we're very aware of how little ears pick up on stuff like that. We can't stop the players from throwing the f-bomb, but we don't do it. We chirp players, we get under their skin, but cursing at them means that we've lost our little game. If we can't think of something clever to say, we'll be quiet. Trust me on that, it's happened a few times already this year.
The King has never and will never throw anything on the opposing bench. Has stuff been thrown in the air and ended up on the bench? Yes. Did he throw it? No. Did he think it was funny? He thought it was hilarious. How many times has it happened? More than once. After the season, we'll put up the photographic evidence.
We are allowed to wear the masks because they are half-faced allowing us to be recognizable and because they have large eyes which allow full vision. The mask ban that was over-publicized for the Moose series was done to keep people from wearing alien Halloween masks. Typical Herco over-reaction if you ask me, but they're a corporation and have lawyers that run things like that. I understand their concerns, but I believe that those concerns were blown out of proportion. Just my personal opinion on that one.
Oh, almost forgot. Scooter120, we know who you are and where you sit. We appreciate the fact that not everyone likes our constant chirping, but we aren't the only ones who chirp. In fact, chirping has been going on there longer than I can remember. I know that so you should know it too, and yet you chose to sit in that section. Maybe you should move your seats next year to 116. I understand it's alcohol-free so you wouldn't have to put up with the riff-raff. Or you could pony up and get a box. I sat in a box once and hated it, because I felt removed from the crowd. Since that seems to be what you want, it might be a good option. You know who we are, we know who you are. If you have a problem with us, come and talk to us. We're pretty easy to spot in a crowd. We're actually really nice guys, as long as you don't play for/coach the other team. Join as the AFCA warehouse to see our charitable side; everyone is welcome. If you have a reasonable concern, we'll address it, honest.
DisGraceland's charity, American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA) needs your help. They are searching for a volunteer with mad Excel "skillz". If you can help out, please email climb@helpchildrenwithaids.org.
Two points for discussion:
What parts of DG do you like, which don't you like, why?
Who is a better goalie, Neuvy or Holtby, why?
Feel free to leave comments on the facebook page or in the comments below.
GVet
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Jay Beagle is important.
"Why do they play Beagle? He sucks. When was the the last time he scored?"I thought that it was just typical fan grousing when I heard it the first time. Then came Fans #2 and #3 and now #4. One is blip; two is a coincidence; three is a pattern. Four means it's time to nip this in the bud.
Jay Beagle is an undrafted center that got to the AHL level by doing what it took to succeed on any team he played with.
He wasn't drafted by a Canadian Major Junior team, so he played in the Alberta Junior League. That made him eligible for NCAA play. He played college hockey at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. A good school but not really a hockey powerhouse in the Western College Hockey Association.
He dropped out after his sophomore year and signed an ECHL one-way contract to play for the Idaho Steelheads. He was seen during their Kelly Cup run and invited to the Caps development camp. The Caps liked what they saw and signed him to a two-way AHL-ECHL contract.
By March of 2008, they had seen enough to sign him to his first NHL contract.
What's not to like?
"He doesn't score much."
He's not a scorer, wasn't one in Juniors, wasn't one in college, probably not going to be one here. His job is to make the opposition crazy by controlling the puck in the offensive zone. If he loses the puck, he drives them crazy trying to get it back. He's defensively responsible, and he's good on the draw.
"He's always playing stuck up against the boards."
That's his job. He's the first one in on the forecheck, interfering with the opposition's break out attempt. He got the puck away from them, and now they want it back, so they drive him into the boards. He'll hold onto the puck until he gets some help in the zone, and then he starts the cycle. He's aggressive, he's tenacious, and he gives 100% every night.
"He sucks."
I can't argue with that. Not because I agree with you, but because it's your opinion. Opinions are like armpits - everybody has a couple, and most of them stink. I can say that I disagree and, seemingly, so do his coaches, who probably know a little more about hockey than you do.
Again I ask, what's not to like?
A friend of mine, Katie Zellers, has been writing about Bears players on a Capitals website, Rock the Red. If you haven't seen this yet, you should take a look.
Comments welcome.
Grizzled Vet
Saturday, November 28, 2009
SQUIRREL part deux.
Who knew that "SQUIRREL" was such an insult.
P Bruins squirrel of the game Brad Marchand knew it.
From the King's opening salvo of, "Marchand you're a squirrel. A SQUIRREL." It was on.
During the pre-game warmup, he started chirping back. "I'm not a squirrel, YOU ARE!" Which caused the rejoinder "I'm rubber, you're glue."
Hey, if a player kicks it grade school style, we're ready, brother.
At one point it looked like he was going to climb over the glass. He had to be restrained by teammates going down the tunnel.
He was talking to the Kings all game. He spit at the boys during the second period, hitting the gentleman in front of them, Mike Hollweck. After the game he was still screaming at us. I've never seen a player get that bothered by a chirp.
I'd say that "Squirrel" is a winner!
Most athletes have a pretty thick skin. It's a necessary part of playing any sport. Your opponents chirp you, their fans chirp, during practice your teammates chirp you. Show that you can't take the guff and you've made your life hell. I can almost guarantee that Mr. Marchand is going to be hearing squirrel in the locker room & practice for the rest of the year.
Man, I love our job.
Grizzled Vet
P Bruins squirrel of the game Brad Marchand knew it.
From the King's opening salvo of, "Marchand you're a squirrel. A SQUIRREL." It was on.
During the pre-game warmup, he started chirping back. "I'm not a squirrel, YOU ARE!" Which caused the rejoinder "I'm rubber, you're glue."
Hey, if a player kicks it grade school style, we're ready, brother.
At one point it looked like he was going to climb over the glass. He had to be restrained by teammates going down the tunnel.
He was talking to the Kings all game. He spit at the boys during the second period, hitting the gentleman in front of them, Mike Hollweck. After the game he was still screaming at us. I've never seen a player get that bothered by a chirp.
I'd say that "Squirrel" is a winner!
Most athletes have a pretty thick skin. It's a necessary part of playing any sport. Your opponents chirp you, their fans chirp, during practice your teammates chirp you. Show that you can't take the guff and you've made your life hell. I can almost guarantee that Mr. Marchand is going to be hearing squirrel in the locker room & practice for the rest of the year.
Man, I love our job.
Grizzled Vet
Sunday, November 22, 2009
SQUIRREL!!!
Last night was DisGraceland Night at the Giant Center. Not officially, of course, but it sure seemed planned.Ranger Scratch dropped the ceremonial puck dressed as Elvis. I've been told that Scratch is a lynx, but honestly he could be any furry mammal. Seeing him dressed in a black jumpsuit with a huge pompadour was amazing.
Greg Mace from ABC 27 filmed a teaser at our tailgate. Then he filmed the boys entering the GC, the Royal Processional around the concourse, and interviews with the King and yours truly.
If that wasn't enough, the staff sought us out to be the sumo wrestlers for the first intermission. Rink King and I went head to head for three rounds and ended up with a split decision. We won four tickets to WWE Raw on Monday Nov 23 that we are auctioning off on our facebook group to raise money for the American Foundation for Children with AIDS. To bid go here.
So what does the title of this post mean, you ask. In honor of absolutely nothing we have decided to label the shortest player on the opposing team, "Squirrel" and yell it at him every time he touches the puck. The King is informing the chosen player of this honor every time he goes to the bench, in addition to his other chirp duties. The Bruins player to be squirreled is Brad Marchand #17. Feel free to welcome him to the GC on Wednesday.
My highlights of the night, in no particular order.
Having Kip Brennan throw us his stick after we rode him like a rented mule all night.
Sumo wrestling with Rink King. Funnest thing I've ever done at a hockey game.
Having Ed Coffey announce that we were auctioning off the tix to raise money for AFCA.
Having Greg Mace include AFCA in our interviews.
Having the entire Springfield bench shaking their heads at my attempt to draw up a play during a time out. "Look coach this is what you need to do: PUT THE PUCK IN THE NET!"
Having my huckleberry, Peckham, fall as he went over the boards. "Watch out Peckham, that white stuff is slippery."
Grizzled Vet
Friday, November 20, 2009
DisGraceland on TV.
A local television station is doing a piece on DisGraceland this Saturday. They will be filming while the boys are pumping up the fans, pregame, on the rail. We'll be tailgating by the blue arrow on the map below. Tailgate will be from 3:30 to 5:30 followed by the Royal Processional of the Kings into their castle.
Come on out and join us, usual tailgate rules apply. Who knows you might make the news.
Grizzled Vet
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Can a brother catch a break?
A Bears favorite does it again. Quintin Laing stopped a Michal Rozsival slapshot in the Rangers/Caps game last night with his face.
The result is a broken jaw and he'll be out for several weeks. You may remember that Lainger lacerated/ruptured his spleen playing for the Caps last year. It was months before he was healthy enough to play again. He plays the game with reckless abandon so accidents are bound to happen, but it's sad that such a nice guy has to deal with this again.
I was looking for video of the incident and then decided that I really didn't want to watch it. Pucks to the melon are never fun.
Coach Boudreau had some nice things to say about him:
Coach Boudreau had some nice things to say about him:
From NHL.com staff writer Dan Rosen
"I mean, what a courageous guy," Boudreau said. "You could see it from the bench that he was turning and Rozsival shot it and we were hoping it just sort of skimmed off of him but when he got up his jaw was pretty swollen."
Justin Bourne quit professional hockey and became a blogger after breaking his jaw. (btw: I highly recommend his blog.)
As part of DisGraceland's charitible giving this year, we're going to take up a collection to get Quintin one of these.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Nylander saga coming to a close.
For others, the mere mention of his name sends them in to uncontrollable fits of rage.
Here is a little background on the story in case you don't know it. Nylander was signed as an UFA (unrestricted free agent) by the Caps in 2007 for a little less than $20mil for four years. His salary cap hit is $4.875M/year. He has a "no movement" clause in his contract which means that he cannot be waived, sent to a lower league, or traded without his approval.
Nylander was signed to be Ovechkin's center. He's a typical, old school, Swedish centerman; pass first, shoot next, go in the corners never. He likes to play a controlled game on the ice. This doesn't fit into Coach Boudreau's system at all. This resulted in Nylander being put on the shelf for most of last year and all of the current season.
He took a conditioning assignment to Grand Rapids in order to show him off to overseas scouts. Since he hasn't played in the NHL this season, he is allowed to be loaned to a team overseas. The Caps will still be responsible for his contract, although the team he is loaned to can pay some/all of it. The upside for the Capitals is his salary cap hit will come off of the books for the remainder of this season. That will work out somewhere in the $3.5 million range.
In order to be loaned overseas, Nylander had to be put on and clear waivers. He cleared last week. Now they just have to find a team to take him. Dinamo Minsk seemed to be the frontrunner. They waived Josef Boumedienne in order to make room for him. KHL rules only allow five non-Russian players per team. So far, though, there hasn't been any movement.
What does this mean for the Bears? Well, the only reason that Karl Alzner is playing for us this season is because the Capitals couldn't fit his salary under the cap. With Nylander off of the books, Alzner is gone, like right freaking now. They probably won't even let him go home to pack up.
It also gives them the flexibility to keep prospects up without playing them. Personally, I don't think that they would do this. The Caps are very good about making sure that their prospects get playing time in order to develop, but the possibility exists.
The new cap room also raises the chance that the Caps could look to strengthen weaknesses by trading. If this happens, names like Carlson, Neuvirth, Perreault, Holtby, Osala, and Gordon would be the chips on the table.
So far, GM George McPhee has resisted the siren's call of "must win now" and kept his prospects in the pipeline. Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom are going to be RFAs at the end of the season, and keeping them both will be difficult. GMGM may decide that this year is going to be the best shot of winning a cup and raid the cupboard to get that extra piece to push them over the top.
Bottom Line? If/When Nylander leaves the Caps, nothing good will happen for the Bears.
Time to give back.
Dru is a friend of ours and is having kidney transplant surgery today, Tuesday, November 17th. We ask for your prayers for his recovery.
Dru is a member of Lebanon Area Evangelical Free Church and serves as a senior high youth leader. When his church found out about Dru's need several people volunteered to donate a kidney to him. Another youth leader, Brad Kresge, was determined to be a compatible match, and he is undergoing surgery today as well.
Dru started having problems with his kidneys in high school, about 10 years ago, but it wasn't until two years ago that they diagnosed him with Alport syndrome. This was controlled by medication until last April. The meds stopped working, and he had to have a permacath implanted and needed to have four-hour-long dialysis treatments three times per week, until the surgery.
A kidney transplant costs around $250,000. Then he will need follow-up care and anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life. If you are able to help out, you can do so at the National Foundation for Transplants.
Regular readers know that DisGraceland's main charity is the American Foundation for Children with AIDS. The King, Beanie Boy, and I all volunteer at their warehouse sorting medical supplies. AFCA does this the first Saturday of every month from 10-2. A while back, I asked for donations to help us win Parade magazine's America Giving Challenge. I was disappointed that no one donated. Very disappointed. I'm restraining myself from going into one of my patented rants over the issue.
Here's your chance to redeem yourself. No money required. If you're on facebook click this link. Don't ask questions, click it!
That should take you to Chase Community Giving page on fb. Now click the vote for this charity button. Painless right?? Where are you going? We're not done with you yet.
Click this link. Copy this: "American Foundation for Children with AIDS". Paste it in the "enter your charity of choice" block. Click the radio button next to the block you entered it in. Enter your email address. Enter your zip code. Uncheck the box to receive info from Good Earth (unless you want info from Good Earth). Click Cast your Vote.
There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now go and feel better about yourself for the rest of the day.
BTW, AFCA is at Step Into Africa, an exhibit about the AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, currently showing at West Shore Evangelical Church in Mechanicsburg. Stop by and check it out if you're in the neighborhood. It's FREE, just like the clicks you just did!!!
Grizzled Vet
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Bears Roller Coaster
Welcome to the new ride at Hershey Park, the Hershey Bears Fan Coaster. The ride is one of the new electromagnetic coasters which shoot you out of the gate going from 0-60mph in two seconds.
The launch for the Bears this season had us riding high. Three wins out of the gate, including an 8-1 smackdown of Binghamton, had me dreaming of a 140-point season.
Then we hit the top of of the loop and back down we came. Losing 4 out of 5 with the one win in overtime against Bingo, had me searching for what was going wrong.
The boys were outshooting their opponents for the most part, which is a good sign. Our penalty kill ranks in the top five in the AHL, so that's not the problem. So what is?
A couple things pop out immediately.
Problem one: Power Play. At one point during the downturn, they were ranked 23rd in the A on the PP. Today, they are only in 17th with a PP% of .138. That means that the Bears score on one of eight power play opportunities. I don't know what kind of benchmark Coach French has set for his PP unit, but I'm betting it's going to be closer to .225 than .125. The Hartford Wolfpack is leading the league with a .295 percentage, which is exceptional. With the offensive talent on this team, we should be able to come close to that.
Problem two: Goaltending. Michal Neuvirth is a Hershey hero. He stood on his head during the Cup run last season. He looked great in training camp, pushing Semyon Varlamov for the number two spot in Washington. Then he got hurt. His injury was undisclosed, but rumors were it was a groin injury. He came back to Hershey. When his injury healed, he went out and lost three of four games, and didn't look good doing it either. Groins are the worst possible injury for butterfly style goalies. Think about it. Up/down, up/down, push to the side, up, rest. That's a goalie's action for a game. The up/downs take the most effort. That's why you don't see goalies going down in the butterfly during warmups that often.
The ride bottomed out of the loop and back up we went. Four wins on the bounce. Jason Bacashihua decided that he was going to be the rock they needed in net and went out and stoned the opposition. He was the #1 goalie in the AHL with a .948 save percentage after four games.
The saying goes, "What goes up, must come down." Last night, we caught the express drop on Farenheit. Losing 5-0 to Portland hurt. Watching the game on atdhe.net, I didn't see too many let downs that would contribute to that score. Again we were outshooting the Pirates, but nothing was going in. JP Lamoureux was outstanding in net for the opponents. He should have been arrested after the game for grand theft on one Osala shot.
To address some comments that I'm sure I'm going to get: Portland's third goal was called correctly. I'll admit that when it happened I thought that our boy Koharski had been eating too many donuts again. But a thorough search through the rulebook found that as long as the net's pegs are still on their moorings, play isn't stopped. If an offensive player tipped the goal over Cash, that would have been a minor penalty for goaltender interference. But, since it was Ammo tipping it over, no call. I hate being wrong on the rules of hockey. I hate the fact that my least favorite ref made the right call. However, I'm man enough to admit that in this one instance, Mr. Koharski knew the rules better than me.
DisGracefully Yours,
Grizzled Vet
The launch for the Bears this season had us riding high. Three wins out of the gate, including an 8-1 smackdown of Binghamton, had me dreaming of a 140-point season.
Then we hit the top of of the loop and back down we came. Losing 4 out of 5 with the one win in overtime against Bingo, had me searching for what was going wrong.
The boys were outshooting their opponents for the most part, which is a good sign. Our penalty kill ranks in the top five in the AHL, so that's not the problem. So what is?
A couple things pop out immediately.
Problem one: Power Play. At one point during the downturn, they were ranked 23rd in the A on the PP. Today, they are only in 17th with a PP% of .138. That means that the Bears score on one of eight power play opportunities. I don't know what kind of benchmark Coach French has set for his PP unit, but I'm betting it's going to be closer to .225 than .125. The Hartford Wolfpack is leading the league with a .295 percentage, which is exceptional. With the offensive talent on this team, we should be able to come close to that.
Problem two: Goaltending. Michal Neuvirth is a Hershey hero. He stood on his head during the Cup run last season. He looked great in training camp, pushing Semyon Varlamov for the number two spot in Washington. Then he got hurt. His injury was undisclosed, but rumors were it was a groin injury. He came back to Hershey. When his injury healed, he went out and lost three of four games, and didn't look good doing it either. Groins are the worst possible injury for butterfly style goalies. Think about it. Up/down, up/down, push to the side, up, rest. That's a goalie's action for a game. The up/downs take the most effort. That's why you don't see goalies going down in the butterfly during warmups that often.
The ride bottomed out of the loop and back up we went. Four wins on the bounce. Jason Bacashihua decided that he was going to be the rock they needed in net and went out and stoned the opposition. He was the #1 goalie in the AHL with a .948 save percentage after four games.
The saying goes, "What goes up, must come down." Last night, we caught the express drop on Farenheit. Losing 5-0 to Portland hurt. Watching the game on atdhe.net, I didn't see too many let downs that would contribute to that score. Again we were outshooting the Pirates, but nothing was going in. JP Lamoureux was outstanding in net for the opponents. He should have been arrested after the game for grand theft on one Osala shot.
To address some comments that I'm sure I'm going to get: Portland's third goal was called correctly. I'll admit that when it happened I thought that our boy Koharski had been eating too many donuts again. But a thorough search through the rulebook found that as long as the net's pegs are still on their moorings, play isn't stopped. If an offensive player tipped the goal over Cash, that would have been a minor penalty for goaltender interference. But, since it was Ammo tipping it over, no call. I hate being wrong on the rules of hockey. I hate the fact that my least favorite ref made the right call. However, I'm man enough to admit that in this one instance, Mr. Koharski knew the rules better than me.
DisGracefully Yours,
Grizzled Vet
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