The Atlanta Thrashers’ Bryan Little showed a quick flash of his 30-goal ways from two seasons ago during last night’s game against the New York Rangers. It was his first goal of the season and a pretty awesome way to get things going.
The goal starts off with a little shake-and-bake around Sean Avery that had the Rangers’ forward turning and skating to nowhereseville. Then he completely out-hussled the Rangers’ Marc Staal before slipping the biscuit between goalie Marin Biron’s legs. It was, quite simply, a thing of beauty.
In continuing my hardly planned out, entirely random trip around the league to share with you each team’s goal song, this week I’m going to the Prudential Center, the official home to the New Jersey Devils.
Historically speaking, the Devils have never been known as much of a “scoring” team. After all, their Stanley Cups came as a result of playing the “trap” and winning 1-0 and 2-1 games. But as the years have passed, things have changed: the team gives up more than 8 shots in a game, goaltender Martin Brodeur is beginning to show his “age”, and a lot of the defensive minded players from yester-season are long-gone. So now the team’s new approach is offense. And lots of it.
Now the Devils score a ton more goals than ever before, and make for a much more exciting team to watch. When they score at home, here’s the goal song that gets played. It’s called “Hey (You Suck)”, the latter part of that name coming courtesy of the fine folks of New Jersey. It’s this week’s hockey music of the week:
Did you know that “Ovechkin” in Russian means “little female lamb”?
It’s true. Information like this, along with a ton of other Ovechkin-related stuff, all appear in a really great article in this month’s GQ magazine. It dives head-first into everything that makes Washington Capitals’ all-star winger Alex Ovechkin, well, Alex Ovechkin. It’s so good, in fact, that I’ve borrowed some excerpts from the story to share as this week’s hockey quote of the week.
Author Michael Idov, in his first piece for GQ, exposes what many fans today know about Ovechkin the person. There's the silliness . . .
Ovechkin's dangerous-looking friend Magomet, whom Alex has been texting throughout our talk (he texts nonstop, with prodigious -smileys), has rolled up in an Audi SUV painted a scabrous matte black. For a while, we cruise down Tverskaya. Each time he sees a pretty girl walking by, Ovechkin shouts "BOOM!" at the top of his lungs.
Between the explosions, we decide on our next outing. Once again, the place is Ovechkin's idea: a skating rink. I've never skated in my life.
"I've never skated in my life," I say.
"Great," says Ovechkin. "So we'll all laugh at you."
"Great."
"BOOM!"
. . . his playboy lifestyle . . .
Ovie can't help himself. He shows up with two very young telochki, Lera and Olesya, that he's picked up at Soho Rooms. They're dressed like snow bunnies and have clearly had at least some skating classes between them. A stray thought visits me that Ovie has brought one of them to keep me company, but before I can figure out which one, it becomes rather obvious he's planning to keep both. Dressed in all white, complete with a white cap, he whooshes down the slushy ice—spraying a frozen margarita's worth on each dramatic stop—twirls, parodies figure-skating moves (impressively), snaps souvenir photos, rolls video, and takes turns making out with Lera while Olesya documents the proceedings and making out with Olesya while Lera does the documenting.
. . . and, of course, his love for the game . . .
Tales of Ovechkin's childhood brim with prophetic apocrypha: When he was 2, he grabbed a toy hockey stick at a store and wouldn't let go; at 5, he glimpsed a Dynamo game on TV and cried until Dad switched the channel back; at 10, he hit a goalpost so hard the puck broke in half. (His coach kept the halves as a kind of religious artifact.)
. . . but what Idov does really well is he talks about the two achievements central to Ovie's passion for winning: an Olympic gold medal and seeing his name on the Stanley Cup. He talks about how Ovechkin is well aware that with each time that he fails to achieve either (in particular, see the Capitals' playoff results from the past two seasons, and Russia's "performance" at this past Winter Olympics), he is getting further and further away from his chance of ever succeeding in either regard. Idov summed this all up beautifully at the end:
All the perks are his (the next time I call him, he's mid-shoot on a Reebok commercial), but true glory is proving slippery. No matter how materialistic this post-Soviet boy comes across, he has signed up for more than this. And so have the fans. Ovechkin's massive fame is still a kind of loan, and it matures soon.
This year better be legendary.
This year better boom.
The article itself is long, but it’s chock-full of other interesting Ovie-facts in there (hint, his on-ice nemesis plays for the team that Ovie idolized growing up). Take a read here.
There’s not much to say about this photo other than . . . OUCH!
San Jose Sharks’ forward Ryane Clowe is about to need a nose job (good thing his team's from California) after the Calgary Flames’ Tim Jackman lands one right on the kisser during a first period scrum this past Sunday. Have a look and try not wince:
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Yeah, so, if you happen to be a professional hockey player in the NHL, and you get into a fight and are asked to head to the locker room, it’s probably in your best interest to not attack any fans on your way out.
A few days ago, Rypien got into a bit of a tussle with Brad Staubitz of the Minnesota Wild. They fought in the first period and were about to throw down again before being separated by a linesman. Really, it was nothing out of the ordinary, that is, until Rypien punched Staubitz while he was being restrained. That got him a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. This, of course, led to him being sent to the locker room.
On his way out, Rypien received some kind words from the Wild faithful, the kind that which he did not take kindly to, and responded by trying to rip out the trachea of James Engquist, a random Minnesota Wild fan near the Canucks’ locker room. He was stopped by the fan’s friend, as well as Rypien’s teammate, Manny Malhotra, but the damage was already done. Here’s the video:
Rypien was suspended indefinitely immediately while the league reviewed the situation. Today, they handed down their decision – a six-game suspension.
And rightfully so. The guy is a professional athlete, playing in front of thousands of boozed-up, crazy-ass fans. He should be numb to their antics. If not, then he should plug his ears with his per-game paychecks that he gets to play the game.
I say, suspend him longer. Go in to the double digits and set an example, Campbell. Otherwise, before you know it, we’ll be back to the Milbury-caveman days of beating fans with their own sneakers:
I almost feel obligated to give Brent Burns this week’s goal of the week for the sheer fact that, really, he’ll probably never have another highlight goal like the one I’m about to show below. A solid stay-at-home defenseman, this 7-year vet (all with the Minnesota Wild) has a career high of only 15 goals in a season, back in 2007-08, and has tallied just 40 in 378 games total.
But lets not harp on what he can’t do and take a look at what he can do – which is some pretty nifty skate work and pinpoint accuracy . . . orrrrrrrrrrr, he’s capable of just closing his eyes, spinning around and throwing the puck towards the net. Regardless, this here, folks, is an awesome friggen goal. Have a look and enjoy:
In continuing my hardly planned out, entirely random trip around the league to share with you each team’s goal song, this week I’m going to Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale , Long Island, official home to the New York Islanders.
The Islanders made some noise last week when they (finally) introduced a new goal song. Previously, it was a smorgasbord of sound clips, including four (maybe five) fog horns, a drum mash-up, series of “whoos”, all concluded with good old Quagmire from Family Guy doing his “Giggidy Giggidy Goo” thing. It was, how do you say, very unique.
Anyway, the uproar came as a result of the Islanders players voting to get rid of the drunk music tech guy’s mash-up old goal song in favor of something new, as a means for creating their own team identity. Some fans were happy to hear the old song go. Others felt betrayed. But in the end, it is what it is and they have a new goal song for the 2010-11 season.
Originally introduced last Monday against the New York Rangers, the Islanders new goal song is “Live is Life” by Opus. It’s below . . . take a listen. It’s certainly an interesting choice. Not exactly the hard rock, riot inciting kind of song that most other teams play, but certainly easy to chant along to. Below the video (by the way, there’s no Youtube video of the goal up yet, that’s how breaking this news is, lol) Islander Zenon Konopka explains why the goal song was changed, plus there’s a bonus video below that of Konpka interviewing sophomore forward John Tavares about the song change (yeah, they really went all out in trying to make sure the fans would understand the change). Enjoy:
As all of you are probably aware, Atlanta Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec had a scary incident during the team’s home opener against the Washington Capitals. At 2:25 into the game, while waiting for a faceoff, he collapsed onto the ice. If you haven’t seen video of the incident, see below:
He did not regain consciousness until he was back in the ambulance and even at that point, he could not feel anything in his legs. When he got to the hospital, he regained feeling, and a slew of tests were performed that resulted in his situation being diagnosed as a result of neurocardiogenic syncope . . . or that he fainted. The reason why, well, nobody really knows. He simply fainted.
The worst damage to come from all of this is the concussion he got when he bonked the back of his head on the ice when he fainted. It’s his fourth and most serious. How he bounces back remains to be seen, but I would venture to guess the fact that he had three prior might have something to do with his whole fainting spell.
Pavelec spoke to reporters about the whole incident today, his first day back at practice, and I thought it would be good for posting. I pulled the quotes from ESPN. It gives an interesting and somewhat scary recap of the whole thing from his perspective. Take a read:
"I would like to tell you but I don't remember,” he said. “The last thing I remember is the national anthem ... and then I woke up in the ambulance." That’s right, no recap of the game whatsoever.
He went on: "I couldn't feel my legs. So I was a little bit worried what happened. But when I get to the hospital I started to feel my legs and the doctors told me what happened. And after those tests in the hospital right away they tell me I'm going to be fine."
And he concluded: "It's nothing serious and hopefully it'll never happen again and like I said they said I'm ready to go."
Let’s certainly hope so. And let’s hope he gets back on the rink sooner than later.
Pretty funny photo out of Anaheim from a few days ago. Anaheim Ducks defenseman Andreas Lilja trips up an unidentified Phoenix Coyotes player, though it actually looks like he’s kicking him square in the nuts. Love the fans reaction in the past. Sort of a “Seen this before” look on his face, lol. Have a look below:
I saw this goal by the Edmonton Oilers’2010 #22 overall pick Jordan Eberle against the Calgary Flames this past weekend and am still trying to close my mouth from the jaw dropping’ness of it all. Nevermind the dangle-and-snipe at the end, how about the kid’s burst of speed to get to the puck? Reminds of a certain Russian forward from yesteryear . . . rhymes with Mavel Pure.
Have a look and enjoy. Glad he didn’t break his shoulder, back and neck during the fall after:
In continuing my hardly planned out, entirely random trip around the league to share with you each team’s goal song, this week I’m swinging by the Consol Energy Center, the official new home to the much beloved Pittsburgh Penguins (insert sarcasm here).
The Penguins have scored an awful lot of goals in recent seasons, what with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and now Mike Comrie on their roster (sarcasm continued). When they score at home this season, this is the goal horn and song that’ll be going off. It’s Blur’s “Song 2” and it’s pretty f’ing awesome. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it as a goal song in the past, but now that I’ve heard it, I can’t think of a better goal song. It’s too bad the Penguins are such an annoying team, lol.
Have a listen below. Sorry that it’s such a boring video. To make up for it, I also included the actual Blur video below-below, for your visual entertainment:
Dude, what’s going on with the players this season? Seems like every day somebody else is getting suspended.
The latest one to feel the full brunt of Colin Campbell’s hockey stick slap of discipline to the hands is Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson who was suspended for two games for hittingbull-dozingmac trucking train slamming Buffalo Sabres forward Jason Pominville on Monday night. Have a look below:
Anyway, Hjalmarsson met with the media for the first time today regarding the suspension and came off sounding a bit frustrated about the whole situation. He thought it was clean and expressed a little regret regarding the action, but truthfully, it all came off sounding a bit too much like a press release:
"It was too hard of a hit, I guess," he said. "Maybe I should have considered him being in a vulnerable position a bit more and not hit him as hard. That's what (the league) said."
Well, well, well – if that’s what the league said, then certainly that must be the case, Mr. Hjalmarsson.
*Sigh*
I’m no psychologist but, judging by what Hjalmarsson did on the rink and the way he’s acted off the rink, I think I’ve come to a pretty sound conclusion on his personality: Niklas Hjalmarsson . . .
As you’ve probably already heard, Ribiero was picked up by the Dallas police this Sunday for public intoxication at RA Sushi Bar Restaurant in Plano, Texas. What you probably don’t know is that he was also arrested along with his wife, Tammy Williams and three of his friends. His mugshot is, obviously, the only to have made it to the Internet. Giving in to the little bit of TMZ in me, below is his mugshot.
This came following a Dallas Stars victory over the New York Islanders in which Ribiero collected 3 assists and also scored the shootout-clinching goal. Good reason to celebrate.
"I wish there were cameras there and you could have seen what happened," he said. "I guess a lot of people would have a different opinion about what happened. I've cleared my mind of what happened, and I just want to put that behind today and look forward to tomorrow."
People are honestly talking about whether or not the Stars should discipline Ribiero. I understand that police were involved, but the guy was held overnight, not being released until 5:45 am on Monday morning, and has been pretty embarrassed courtesy of the Dallas police having nothing better to do than post his mugshot online. In fact, the local enforcement published all documents related to the arrest online -- including his home address. There's a link out there, but I just don't feel right about posting it here, for all 10 of you to read, lol. Anyway, luckily for Ribiero, the Stars’ organization has a little more common sense and will be keeping this all internally. Head coach Marc Crawford on the situation:
"We talked to Mike, and we just keep moving forward," he said. "That's the best way to approach things. There's not much more that we can say about that."
Good. People should really drop this, like all the hockey blogs out there talking about it--sheesh, lol ;-)
The New York Rangers played the New York Islanders on Long Island in front of what will likely be a season-high in attendance for the Islanders: 11,748 fans, or the local high school and rotary club. But that’s not the story. And neither is the fact that the Isles beat up on the Rangers in a 6-4 victory.
The story coming out of the game is that Isles defenseman James Wisniewski made a rather lude gesture towards Sean Avery, a known gentleman around the league.
Have a look. Below the video is Avery’s quote on the situation. A lot of people think he’s a douchebag, but I personally think he’s spot on with his assessment of the situation:
"It's pretty obvious what the guy was doing," Avery said, "but I'm sure nothing will happen to him because nothing ever happens. It's interesting, he'd get a warning for something like that."
"Can you imagine if I did that? They sent me to rehab the last time I did something. It's crazy."
There’s really no great way to describe this. It was made like two months ago and is about 3 ½ minutes long . . . and it’s worth every second of your time. Seriously. If you’re in between periods of the Canadiens and Maple Leafs game or the Flyers and Penguins game (*snore* - sorry fans, it's just a boring game so far), watch this and enjoy the goosebumps that follow:
In continuing my hardly planned out, entirely random trip around the league to share with you each team’s goal song, this week I’m going to the XCEL Energy Center, home to your Minnesota Wild.
Catchy guitar rift . . . driving drum beat . . . and a super-easy chant to follow and what do you have? Probably one of the best hockey goal horn/songs in all of the NHL. It’s “Crowd Chant” and it’s by Joe Satriani. The song itself is used by other hockey teams out there, but that doesn’t diminish its awesomeness in the slightest. Have a listen below and enjoy:
The poll is this: what do you think? Is it too harsh, not enough or just right? The poll is on the upper left corner of the page - just click and submit and you can see everyone else's results, too.
My quick opinion: it's not enough. Doing something like that is so incredibly dangerous. I mean, I know Cammalleri was probably angry for what he perceived as a cheap head shot from Nino a few minutes earlier, but after seeing replays of the hit, I really, truly believe that it was just Nino attempting to go shoulder to shoulder with Cammalleri and due to the size difference (5 inches . . . with skates), it ended up being a shoulder glancing the head hit instead.
Regardless of intentions, it doesn't warrant a slash to the throat.
Cammelleri actually performed the act and got the same-length suspsension. Something just doesn't seem right here (and to all you smart asses out there, don't go saying it's because Cammalleri missed Nino's throat, lol, this isn't horseshoes).
Make an example of him, Campbell, and grow some balls so stuff like this doesn't happen again. If you go with five games, I guarantee you you wouldn't see something like this happen again the rest of the season.
Hockey Photo: Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins Winter Classic Jerseys
Big, big, big stick tap to the hockey blog Icethetics for doing some pretty nice detective work and coming up with the closest thing to a visual on the much-anticipated Pittsburgh Penguins 2011 Winter Classic Hockey Jersey:
The blog’s write-up is here and it’s actually a pretty cool read to see how they went about piecing together all of the information and coming to this conclusion. That said, this isn’t definite, but Icethetics is normally pretty on the money about this sort of thing, so I’m fairly confident that we’ll be seeing something if not exactly like this, then something pretty darned close to it. Until then, we’re stuck awaiting a formal announcement from the team.
Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals have already presented their jersey, a throwback to their 1974-75 jerseys that will be complimented by red shorts and a red helmet. Captain Alexander Ovechkin’s a fan and the forums and blogs have been for the most part positive. Have a look below and judge for yourself:
Former Capitals' captains Rod Langway and Yvon Labre with Ovechkin on stage modeling the jersey.
Hockey pugilist forward Darcy Tucker has retired from the NHL after 14 seasons. I would do more of a write-up on the guy, but to be honest with you, I never really took all that much of a liking for him, particularly after the whole Mike Peca knee-to-knee incident.
Personal politics aside, here are the basics on Tucker. He had 215 goals and 261 assists for 476 points in 947 regular season games. During those games, he amassed 1,410 penalty minutes. This, despite being only 70 inches and a little under 180 pounds. That said, it’s obvious that a large amount of his weight was his balls.
Tucker played with the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. He was an unrestricted free agent this past off-season, but couldn’t sign with anyone. He decided that, at 35, it’s best to put his health first for him, his wife and three kids, and so will become a sports agent.
For more insight into his decision making, check out the ESPN article.
