The only things I can think of are: the Shark system was very conservative (Darryl Sutter coaching), and the Sharks were Owen Nolan’s team then; Selanne just had to be one of the guys. I think he may have been playing his off-wing as well.
He still put up 29 and 28 goals in his two full seasons there. Those are roughly equivalent to 40 goal seasons in the 80s.
I should clarify; Darryl Sutter was the coach in '01-02, but he got fired early in '02-03. Ron Wilson then took over, as the Sharks went from winning the Pacific Division in '02 to astonishingly finishing with the second-worst record in the conference in '03.
Perhaps just as astonishing, after getting rid of Nolan and Selanne, they again won the division in '04 and made it all the way to the West Final.
Here’s a youtube clip of the Spacek hit. Damien Cox, unbelievably, says that the NHL needs to ban these hits. I really have to ask what Cox expects Spacek to do in that situation. Let Booth waltz in on net?
Yes, it sucks that Booth got hit in the head, but he did have his head down. That’s about as clean a hit you can get without banning checking completely. Spacek couldn’t exactly get smaller - I’d have to think even Gionta (ok, Gomez maybe!) would have ended up hitting Booth’s head, considering his position before the collision! I suspect, but don’t know, that Booth’s previous concussion came back to haunt him; another player wouldn’t have gone down as easily. It would be awesome if any hit to the head could be prevented, but I don’t see how without fundamentally changing the game.
Question: It appears that I don’t understand the standings. I thought points mattered first, but looking at the East (at about 9:30 pm) the Sabres are sitting in third with 90 points (72 GP 40-22p-10) while the Pens are in fourth with 91 points (74GP, 42-25-7).
Why that order? The two games in hand can mean the Sabres could have more points in theory, but the Pens have more wins and more actual accumulated points.
Same in the West: Canucks 94 points, 74GP (45-25-4) are in third with the Coyotes in fourth at 98 points and 75GP (46-23-6). Even with the game in hand, the Coyotes have a better record than the Canucks. Why are they in fourth?
I’m beginning to suspect it might have to do with division leaders…do they automatically get 1,2,3 regardless of their actual points and wins? That seems weird. If a whole division had really crappy teams, third place in the playoffs could still go to someone with half the points as the 4th, 5th, 6th place team (in an extreme example). Best should be best, IMHO.
LOL - I think I just answered my own question. That’s what I get for looking at a newspaper’s standings, and not through NHL.com.
I still think its a little weird.
Hehe 11 round shoot-out after a 0-0 game? Man the goalies did not want to let anything in. Only one shot past Howard in 11 rounds 
With this one I am finally starting to breathe easier about the Wings in the playoffs, and even starting to think about improving their position. But its not a certainty yet, still gotta play every game well.
Calgary is eight points behind Detroit as of tonight; they would have to win four games more than Detroit does (with only seven games each left) to have a chance to push them out of the playoffs, and that’s assuming Colorado and LA aren’t still behind them if that happens. It’s all over but the math - Detroit’s in, and at the moment they’re seeded 6th.
Too bad I missed that game - sounds like a good one! I saw the summary on NHIC, at least!
How many arenas don’t have enough room for the visiting backup goalie to sit on the bench with his teammates? It seems Montreal is like that, as is San Jose (Vancouver’s Raycroft, sitting in/near the stands, wouldn’t give a straight answer about how good the hot dogs are in the Shark tank…). Are most arenas like this?
HNIC just showed a clip from the game between the Abbotsford Heat and the Hamilton Bulldogs, where the 'Dogs won 4-0. After (what I agree seems to be) a bad call by the ref, the Heat’s coach goes apeshit, at about 3:15 in this rather poorly edited video. Very funny!
Just watched the highlights of the Blues game tonight on NHL On The Fly; damn, Keith Tkachuk needs to see a dentist.
There’s a neat little bit of trivia that goes along with that (well, it’s neat to me anyway, but I’m a nerd like that. May be TLDR) Anyways, Jim Playfair is the coach that lost his shit. The referee he was mad at is named Jamie Koharski.
If that last name sounds familiar, it’s because Jamie’s father, Don Koharski, was a long time National Hockey League referee who retired at the end of last year and is now a supervisor.
Us older guys (and girls) who remember watching hockey back in the 80s might remember an incident in the 1988 Wales Conference Finals between the New Jersey Devils and the Boston Bruins. After Game 3 (I think), New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld was incensed at the elder Koharski’s officiating and accosted him in the hallway near the officials dressing room. Koharski fell, but he thought that Schoenfeld pushed him. He was yelling at Schoenfeld “You’re done!” i.e. Schoenfeld would be suspended. Schoenfeld yelled back (something like) “You fell, you fat pig! Have another donut!” (The general) You’ve probably seen this incident before; it usually gets brought up when coaches losing their temper is discussed. More about this can be found here.
Anyways, Jim Schoenfeld was a long time defenseman, mainly for the Buffalo Sabres, before he became a coach. One of his teammates on the Sabres was a fellow defensman named Larry Playfair. And to wrap it up, Jim Playfair is Larry’s younger brother.
I knew the Koharski relation/comparison, but not the rest. Kind of cool, in a weird way. The more I watch hockey, the more I realize how many families are in the sport; same last names just pop up everywhere! There are the really well known ones, like the Sutters and Staals, but even beyond that it seems nearly every player has a father or brother in the sport at the NHL level at some point. Of course they can afford to keep their kids playing hockey, but I guess it surprises me just how much of a genetic component to the talent there might be.
Irrelevant comment about referees: a couple of weeks ago Montreal had the referee pairing of LaRue and St-Laurent. Benoit Brunet thought it was too bad they couldn’t also have Tim Peel to complete the set!
Looks like I’m going to a Kings game this Saturday! It should be fun, I think they’re playing against the Ducks.
That’d be even better if St. Laurent and Peel Streets intersected.
You know how awesome Carey Price is? He is the best goaltender of all time, and I can say this because it’s clear that even his own team mates think so. It’s the only reason they expect him to be able to post a shut out every damn game he plays, and so the rest of the team can take it easy and not bother trying to score more than one goal.
Credit to Cam Ward for a great game.
The NHL’s “history will be made” commercials have spawned a hilarious set of parodies. Here are some of my favourites:
And my absolute favourite(although it’s better when you only watch the last half, which this link automatically does for you):
Steve Ott’s purpose in life is to make people hate him, and I do.
Good job, Mr. Ott.
You have a silly name.
There’s a reason his nickname is “The Rat.”
Man I would be amazed if Colorado slipped out of the playoffs. They looked so good early in the year. and pretty good in the middle of the year. I spent the first month or two of the season wondering when they would fall back to earth. But they didn’t. I finally accepted they were just a good team again and stopped paying so much attention. But now they are in major danger of falling out of it. I guess my first instinct was right. Although the top and middle of the western conference(excepting Colorado) has been very hot as a group the second half of the year.
Ottawa has clinched a playoff spot thanks to a two-goal effort from rookie defenceman Erik Karlsson, including the game-tying goal with less than 10 seconds left in the game. Karlsson’s been fantastic lately, with 10 points in his last 6 games.
Habs have put up back to back shutouts, blanking Philly 1-0 on Friday, then following up with a 3-0 whitewash of Buffalo.
You know it’s gonna be your night when Ryan O’Byrne(!) scores a goal.