The Ty Conklin Undefeated World Tour comes to an end. Pens fall to ATL, 3-2 in a SO. Still 9-1-0 with a GAA at like 2.00 ain't bad.

And the bitter irony...Crosby, Letang, Malkin, Kovalchuk and Hossa can't score...by Mark Recchi kills his old team.

That was funny...I told my friend before the game that Recchi was going to score the game winner. He laughed at me.

The other interesting thing about the Bowman interview was that he wouldn't rule out taking the job if he was asked this week.

I say there's a 50/50 chance Bowman is running the Leafs by next weekend.

He certainly didn't. He did seem to hint at the fact that it may take a little more to pry him away from Detroit at this stage of the season than it would have before the season began.

I love the fact that there was some speculation that one of the reasons the board didn't offer Bowman that job was because they felt like they "knew" hockey, unlike the situation with the Raptors where, presumably, they didn't feel like they "knew" basketball well enough.

It's a combination of two things:

a.) Like you said, they really think they're qualified to make decisions about NHL player personnel moves. That seems ridiculous on the outside, but Peddie at least really seems to believe it. This isn't all that shocking, actually -- if you spend any time around people who are very successful in the business/executive worlds, they tend to assume they know more than anyone else about just about everything. That's probably a benefit most of the time, but not here.

b.) They like being around the hockey organization. It's just fun. Makes them feel like big shots. They probably didn't get to hang out with the cool kids in high school, now they do. Tie Domi was the master at exploiting this sort of thought, which is why he had Tannenbaum in his back pocket for years.

It would be immature and disrespectful of me to call a group of well-respected businessmen "jock sniffers", but that doesn't mean I won't do it.

Wonder if the league will look into suspending Mats...

Apparently the shoving incident wasn't listed in the official's report, and Shick said it was no big deal and they weren't going to pursue it.

that must be it. thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

the Avs finally won a freaking game, coming back to beat the Canes 5-4 last night. it's the most goals they've scored in a game since putting up 9 on the Blues on the 9 of December. since that game, their offense has been in hibernation.

I'm guessing if Sundin was a rookie or his jersey was orange he'd be getting a suspension. He's getting away with that one because of who he is.

Maybe, but don't forget he was suspended for tossing a broken stick into the crowd, which seemed pretty innocent at the time. He didn't get any special treatment there.

A ten-game suspension (I think that's the standard "abuse of official" penaltyu) would actually be good news for the Leafs. It would help make sure we don't get a cheap win streak to fool us into thinking we're back in the race, and it would keep Mats healthy heading into the trade deadline.

Unreal end to the end of the Sharks-Ducks game tonight. Ducks pull Giguere with 1:30 left, Sharks nearly score into the empty net twice and then Weight just shoots it with 27 seconds left across the crease and it goes in off Semenov for the tying goal. Then with 2 seconds left Michalek walks right in and Giguere makes a huge save. 30 seconds into overtime Ducks win on a point blank shot from Beauchemin (who never seems to pinch in on the attack).

Definitely could be the turning point of the season for a very inconsistent Ducks team.

Well, most of tonight's game was crap, but actually the Ducks season has been turned for a month now (since Niedermayer came back). They have been much closer to their Cup-winning selves in that time.

We pulled tonight outta our ass, though.

Great game by the Oilers tonight to get to .500...not to mention that we beat the Flamers!!! We're on a 4 game winning streak and the last three wins have come in regulation...something very rare for the Oilers this year!!!

Last year, the Avalanche had one guy doing all the fighting - Ian Laperriere (if I remember right, Jeff Finger had 2 fights and Mark Rycroft had 1...Scott Parker, Brad May and George Parros all had none in their short stints with the team last year).

In just the last 3 games, 6 different Avs have been involved in 6 different fights. They and the Panthers had 3 fights in the first period of last evening's game alone (something that's highly irregular for both teams). Even Brett Clark and Ollie Jokinen got caught up in the pugilistic euphoria.

I always enjoyed hockey more when each team had a few guys had who would go if they needed to. You'd see two heavyweights square off and wonder who might be up next. These days, the two heavyweights have their meaningless fight early on, then you never hear from them again and there's no bad blood the rest of the game.

Then again, as predicted the crackdown on fighting has done wonders for the game's profile in the US, so I guess it was worth it

Totally. You can throw a stone around here without hitting some soccer mom who just loves hockey so much now that there aren't as many fights. She has her entire family involved in the game, kids playing youth hockey, family going to the games, watching it on TV. Hockey's never been hotter!

Fire on Ice!*


* That is the Wings' actual "official" slogan this year. Fire on Ice. It's incredibly original.

I hate that. I was at a Pens/Caps game and within the first 2 mins Larque and Brasher fought. What for? Who knows...there was no need for it. If the game got chippy or people took liberties, I am all for fighting. But I hate meaningless fights like that.

I also am not a big fan of the pre-planned fights.

speaking of them, they interviewed Steve Montador during the first intermission last night. He had fought with Lappy in the first period (and yes, it was one of those "hey, wanna go" fights off the faceoff.) Anyway, Montador was already sporting a pretty decent black eye, and the interviewer asked if he tried to protect that eye during the fight, and his response essentially boiled down to "oh, that? it's just a little scratch".

coming a few hours after seeing LT laugh it up on the sidelines on Sunday because of his bruised knee, it really showed how tough these fucking hockey players are.

Maybe I'm just getting old and looking at things through my nostalgia goggles, but it used to be that if Baumgartner and Churla went at it off the opening faceoff, you thought "Oh boy, here we go, setting the tone. This is going to be a good one tonight!" Now if Belak and Brashear go, you think "OK, I guess that's out of the way, it will be a no-hitter from here on out."

While I do think that hockey players are freakin' tough, in fairness to LT a knee injury isn't something to treat lightly for a running back.

Also, if he felt it would prevent him from doing his awesome LT moves, and therefore deminish his effectiveness, then he is doing the right thing for his team. Look at how Terry Glenn almost cost his team an interception because he was trying to play when he probably shouldn't be and ended up falling down on a comeback route.

After Belak and Brashear go there isn't anybody left on the ice who would dare drop them...definitely not the case back in the day.

Times have changed and so has hockey. I get it. But, what I don't get is how UFC can be one of the fastest growing spectator sports going and yet we have to clean up fighting in hockey??

If you can't play because of injury then you shouldn't be laughing and having a good time on the bench...especially when you are in tough against the defending Super Bowl Champs in their house. Hit the showers and let the guys playing the game stay focused. Same goes for Rivers and his retarded antics yelling at fans all game long...that's bush league garbage...even more so when you are riding the pine.

Agree on Rivers thing with the fans, but just because you are injured you should sulk in the locker room? I disagree with that. Be out there, support you teammates, and hell, if someone cracks a joke, it shouldn't be wrong to smile just because you can't play.

I guess you and I will have to agree to disagree, then.

"If you are too hurt to play, then you are too hurt to stay."

Great post. Also a lot of the fights in the first few minutes of the game aren't necessarily staged - a lot of them are payback for things that happened a few games (or even a few months or seasons) ago.

I love the new wave of kids like Boll, Lucic, Voros, Clarkson coming in who can play and throw it down with the heavyweights if they need to. We seem to be going in the right direction if only we can get rid of that ridiculous instigator penalty.

Way to make me really nostalgic - I loved Shane Churla back in the day

Apparently, after all these years, the Leafs are finally ready to start listening to me. TSN is reporting that the team has done what I've suggested for months: asked Cliff Fletcher to come back to Toronto as interim GM until the end of the season (at which point they'd do a full search).

It would be just about a perfect fit. Fletcher is popular in Toronto, he knows how to handle the pressure of the job, he's available, and he wouldn't expect a long-term commitment. And despite the fact that Damien Cox will use the term "draft schmaft" in every single article he writes about him if this happens, Fletcher has actually done pretty well at rebuilding type deals. His fault was always that he waited too long to make the deals, but Clark-for-Sundin worked out pretty well and he got three very good NHLers (Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan and Alyn McCauley) for a veteran Doug Gilmour.

So, great idea. Can't wait to see how the MLSE board screws this up.

LT going back to the locker room and staying there instead of being on the sidelines supporting his teammates in any way possible? Yeah that would have went over really well amongst his teammates and in the media.:rolleyes:

EDIT: Sorry, didn't mean to interupt the hockey talk.

Has JFJ been sacked?

No, of course not. They're letting him twist in the breeze, while they work on replacing him and immediately leak every closed door discussion to the media.

Laraque and Orr went 7 seconds into last nights Pen-Rangers game. And that was about it for the game. Until the last 30 seconds, when Ruutu took a shot at Brandon Dubinksy, and Adam Hall and Marc Staal tangled along the boards.

Pens jumped out to a 3-0 in the 1st period. At one point they had 6 shots, 3 goals. End up winning 4-1.

Malkin's 2nd career HT...on Penguins toque night no less, so the ice was littered. Ty the Cok-eror now 10-0-1, GAA below 2, and a pair of SO's. Crosby ties Vinny for the scoring lead (63 pts) with a pair of assists, and the Pens tie NJ at the top of the Atlantic.

Edit to add - and Malkin STILL not good enough to get an All-Star invite. The league would rather have Marc Savard there.

Was Fletcher still around when the Leafs decided to waive Steve Sullivan and ship Jason Smith to Edmonton for 2nd (Kris Vernarsky) and 4th round (Jonathan Zion) picks?

I don't think that is so terrible, Savard is a terrific player, and doesn't have the luxury of playing with someone like Crosby to help his stats.

No, he was fired in 1997. Those were Dryden/Quinn moves.

Agreed...I think Savard is a fine choice considering this is his first All Star appearance and he's been in the top 10 in league scoring the last two seasons...it's about time he got some recognition for his accomplishments. Besides, Malkin will have his opportunities for years to come.

If it wasn't bad enough for the Rangers, I just found out that Michael Nylander is out for the year.

Isn't Nylander on the Capitals?

Yeah I'm a moron....

somewhere, Kevin Lowe is smiling

You bet...Smyth and Nylander both out...and the Oilers playing .500 hockey...it could be much, much, worse.

Now if they could just catch/pass the Ducks in the standings, Lowe's head might explode.

Just when the knife in the back started to feel less uncomfortable, Pronger, via Jim Rome, wiggled it around a little bit:

http://communities.canada.com/edmont...id-s-crib.aspx


I would think something like this would've made headlines around the city just like everything else hockey related but this is the first I've heard of this anywhere. In one sentence he says that he wished Oiler fans would move on and accept things as they are but in the next he rekindles the fire with these allegations.

Classy, Pronger, very classy.

I hate Chris Pronger.

Always have, always will.

pretty solid evidence there that Jim Rome is, in fact, an idiot.

Agreed...doesn't mean I wouldn't want him back on my team, though.

I'm over the whole ordeal and have been since the day it happened but when crap like this surfaces, whether it's true or not (and if it is true then that is a pretty tasteless "joke" or stunt), it just breeds negative press all over the place. Now every radio/TV station in Edmonton is obcessed with the accusations and I'm sure both the Sun and Journal will be littered with editorials about it over the following weeks. Not to mention how Pronger is going to be hounded about the comments over the next little while and the next time he comes to Edmonton. Serenity NOW!!!!

Seriously, I'd rather hear some more about when the Leafs are going to fire Fergie and how they are going to do it...and when...and all the reasons why...and who is going to get his parking space...and where he takes his suits to get dry-cleaned...and what kind of toothpaste he may or may not be using...please, TSN/Sportsnet, I need to know more!!!!!

Same here. Maybe it is because of my Red Wings fondness, or maybe it is just because Pronger is a piece of garbage. He was always taking cheap shots at the Red Wing players when he played for St. Louis, and it was mostly because he could not keep up with the puck control game they played. What is Anaheim, his 4th team? HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa. Jerk.

Why is Rome an idiot? Aside from his incident with "Chris" (Jim) Everett back in the 90's, he is a pretty smart guy. He has built a radio/tv empire on the premise of smack talk. Like him or not, that is good business sense. ;)

I have the same sentiments for one of your current blueliners...a certain senior citizen who I absolutely can't stand but would love have on my team.

LOL. He is beyond the senior citizen status, he is playing hockey straight from the grave. For the record, I never really cared for Chelios until he came to the Wings in that trade. With that being said, I still don't really like the guy, it is more a matter of tolerance. :D

there's a lot of players that I hate that I'd love to have on my team. Pronger is one of them. Chelios is certainly not.

That bolded quote exemplifies my feeling on Pronger coming to the Ducks.

All that said, I entirely believe the crib story. Sorry, Pronger's a big time ass on the ice, but by and large he's quiet and introvertive off of it. He isn't a Moss or a TO where's going to make stuff up like this. I believe him, and I have seen indications from Oilers fans that they are capable of doing this, as they are a rabid fanbase (this is not necessarily a comment on the Oil fans here on this board, but everyone knows hockey is a passion for Canadians).

And this is completely outside of the fact that Kevin Lowe is in this franchise, and he is ironically the Lowest piece of shit in hockey.