Ovechkin isn’t suspended for the All Star Game, of course.  He’s suspended for the regular season.  Ovechkin could go, but is choosing not to, because he doesn’t want to be a distraction at the ASG.

It wasn’t long ago that hockey fans were complaining that Ovechkin hadn’t earned a slot in the ASG, considering his numbers.  He has twenty goals and nineteen assists for 39 points, which aren’t bad numbers.  But they aren’t standard Alex Ovechkin numbers, unless you consider he is on pace for more goals than he had last season.

Ovechkin was quoted by the Washington Times (via Puck Daddy) as saying:

“My heart is not there. I suspended, so why I have to go there?” Ovechkin said. “I love the game; it’s great event. I’d love to be there, but I’m suspended. I don’t want to be a target. I feel I’m not deserving to be there right now. If I suspended, I have to be suspended. That’s why I give up my roster [spot].”

There is almost always something lost in translation with Ovechkin, so I don’t know if he actually means wondering why he has to go to the game, and more of why he should go to the game.

Is his point being made?  Does he actually have a point to make? The speculation and tin foil hats came out when Crosby didn’t go to the ASG because he was believed to be protesting the NHL’s stance on player safety and head shots.  The NHL eventually changed their policy on head shots, but if Crosby wanted to publicly protest head shots, he could have said so.  He could have eaten the potential fine for speaking out against the NHL, even if it wouldn’t have been a savvy PR move.

I don’t think there is much of a protest here.  Ovechkin was suspended for a reckless hit on Zbynek Michalek, and he seems to accept the suspension, unlike Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. From his blog, Ted’s Take:

I do not agree in any way with the suspension of Alex Ovechkin for 3 games. I support Alex Ovechkin. He is our bedrock player – our Captain; and he and his family know that we are always here to support him.

Well, isn’t that nice?  You support him?  You are paying him enough, you should support him, but what that has to do with his suspension is beyond me.

The problem is that the All Star Game is looking less and less star-studded right now.  There are more players bowing out and injured every day, and losing a player like Ovechkin certainly damages the luster of the game.  But the All Star Game is nothing more than a commercial for the league. A poorly produced one at that.  They need the stars to show up to make it a commercial worth watching.

But you can not tell me that the All Star Game is that important, when the league thinks this is a good idea for ASG entertainment.

I’ve expressed my love for Tim Thomas in the past.  Any goalie who is willing to check a player to the ice rather than make a conventional save is aces in my book.  Just look at this check he laid on Jason Blake.  I like Thomas’ attitude in the game.  Which I thought this photo summed up perfectly:

Well, all good things come to an end, don’t they?

Today, the Boston Bruins were at the White House to be honored by President Barack Obama.  Better late than never, I guess.  At least, most of the Boston Bruins were at the White House.  One conspicuous absentee was American born goaltender Tim Thomas.

When it was announced that Tim Thomas was playing for Team USA at the Winter Olympics in 2010, Thomas was interviewed on the ice at the Winter Classic.  He was given a United States flag that flew in a combat mission in Iraq with the US Rangers, and told that every player would be adopted by a Wounded Warrior.  Darren Pang said that it must mean a lot to him.  Thomas responded:

“Yeah, it does. I mean, I’m American to the bone.”

Yep, American to the bone.  But doesn’t go to the White House.  Because of politics.  What’s more American than snubbing the President over politics?

When Thomas accepted the honor (and he was the one who pointed out over and over that he this was a dream come true for him), he didn’t mention that he would only be honored to play for the part of America he agreed with.  He didn’t say he was only playing for the red states or the blue states of America.  He was playing for the United States.  Did he let his politics get in the way when his opportunity came along?  Did he say that he didn’t care for our nation’s leadership and therefore couldn’t represent our country in the Olympics?  No, he didn’t.  He honored America by showing up and doing his job.

The issue here isn’t that Thomas wanted to express himself by not showing up to the White House, it’s that he did it in a stupid way.  He did it with a short-sited action that hurt his teammates, and upset plenty of fans of hockey.  And the only impact he made was on the world of hockey.  The people who agree with him will still be his fans, the people who don’t might not like him as much, and people who don’t like the Bruins will continue to not like them.

It should go without saying that Thomas has every right to do what he did.  That we have to qualify his rights says how ridiculous the rhetoric has gotten.  He wasn’t required by the team to be there, and it’s a credit to GM Peter Chiarelli that he didn’t make the appearance at the capitol mandatory.  He didn’t make it mandatory even though he knew Thomas didn’t want to go.  Of course he has the right to express himself, even if it is in a stupid way that winds up backfiring.

At the game, we all shut up for the national anthem, whether we think it should be played before sporting events or not.  When a soldier is singled out to be honored at a game, you applaud them, whether you agree with the war they fought in or not.  You pay your bills, even if you think they are too high.  You drive with car insurance.  You do the right thing, because that is the society that we collectively chose to live in.

And you show up at the White House when your team is asked, because it is an honor to be invited.  Whether you like the President or not.  You do the right thing.  Because doing the right thing is supposed to be American as well.

So how do I feel about Thomas?  Disappointed.  It could be pointed out that he has always been a conservative, and an active one at that.  But being conservative or liberal doesn’t give me a reason to like or dislike you.  Members of my own family are politically 180 degrees from me, and I still love them.  It’s how you act that matters.  And this was an act that I don’t respect.

_________________________

After I wrote this, NHL.com posted this statement from Thomas:

“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.

This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT”

I think it’s fine he feels this way, but he is either in denial or naive if he feels this isn’t about politics.  His beliefs he acted on were political. But it isn’t his job to think, it’s his job to stop the puck.  Maybe he will start thinking later.  And somehow, I doubt this is the last public statement he will make about this.  Wait and see.

Update: I like Jason Cohen’s take on Thomas calling this a statement “not about politics or party” :

@Tapeleg the word he wanted was "partisan."

January 23, 2012 5:09 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@Jason___Cohen

Jason Cohen

My apologies if my grammar wasn’t perfect in this update.

(I posted the red band NSFW trailer below. It’s better)

One of the things I’ve been asked a few times is whether or not, in the context of the awful tragedies that unfolded this past summer, if it was tasteless to release a movie that ‘celebrates’ hockey fighting.

The short answer is no, it isn’t tasteless.  And the movie doesn’t necessarily celebrate hockey fighting.

The movie follows someone who stumbles into a ‘career’ as a minor league hockey fighter, and who not only likes his role in the sport, finally finds one place where he is comfortable in life.  He is still a square peg in the round hole of hockey, growing up with little to no ambition to be involved in the sport, beyond going to games with his super fan friend.  His family wants him to do something more with his life, but while his brother is a doctor, he isn’t going to go down that path.  He is invited to a tryout with the local hockey team for his ability to fight.  When he finds hockey, it’s a cultural learning curve for him, and some of the comedy from the film comes from that.  And some of the comedy comes from the fighting.

There’s the one punch knock out.  There’s the fight with his own teammates.  And while, like most movies this side of the latest Mission Impossible, our hero tends to bounce back from the fights and injuries a little too quickly, over time you see the accumulated effects of the fights.  But still, the fighting is mostly… funny.

Yeah, I said it.  There is some slapstick to the fights.  And like all good movies, the context is certainly being manipulated.  When a fight is meant to be funny, you know.  And when one is meant to be dark and upsetting, you feel it.  The movie plays both sides while focusing on how those sides affect our hero.

Then you think of the classic hockey movie to end all hockey movies, Slap Shot.  The comedy came from hockey fighting and violence on the ice.  We are much more forgiving of Slap Shot because of the era it was filmed in, and we take it in that context.  Just like people are taking the idea of Goon in the context of the era it’s being released in.  But make no mistake, Slap Shot would be a crap movie if all the scenes with fighting and violence were taken out.

I feel like I’m defending something that doesn’t have to be defended.  Fans of hockey and casual observers had their attitudes shifted, or at least questioned, after the deaths of Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak and Rick Rypien.  And still, hockey fighting exists.  Sites like hockeyfights.com are still running.  Puck Daddy still posts videos of the fight of the night.  Fighting is still part of the rules of hockey, and still accepted at the professional level.  It seems like everyone likes a good fight, but don’t like to look at it afterwards, like a drunken one night stand.

When I became a hard core fan of the game, I didn’t understand hockey fighting.  I didn’t realize why it existed.  Now I understand why it is part of the sport, even if I think it is less useful or necessary than before.  I think it’s being phased out, which isn’t a bad thing.  There are fewer and fewer reasons to ask the players to police themselves, and fewer players in that role that I want to see make that judgement call.  Players and enforcers are bigger and stronger, and there are more opportunities for injuries in fights than ever before.  Maybe in the past, when players drank beer after the games and workouts consisted of having a walk around the block, getting punched in the head repeatedly by a 1970s era doughboy wasn’t that dangerous.  Today, things are different, from bigger players to more practiced and skilled fighters dropping the gloves.

I can understand the world turning it’s back on hockey fighting while ignoring the long term effects of boxing and cheering on UFC fights.  It’s only a little hypocritical in the larger picture, but that’s fine.  The fans can be more than black and white about the issue.  Hockey fighting can be harsh and awful AND at time necessary and worthy of attention.  The people who fight in hockey can be celebrated AND their chosen skill can be less acceptable than before.  The conversation and attitudes can evolve beyond hockey fighting being simply good or bad.

There is more to the movie Goon than a few hockey fights.  It’s a story that centers around a hockey fighter.  And it is a comedy.  In fact, it’s a damn good comedy.  And if you aren’t so turned off by the subject going in, you might enjoy yourself if you see it.  It has all the elements of a good hockey movie.

And it deserves your time, attention and money much more than the latest Michael Bay blockbuster.  There are plenty of people willing to go to Transformers 10: Turn On Your Headlights.  Goon is a movie for us.  It was made by hockey fans, and you can tell.  See it before you decide what it really is.

UPDATE: This is the red band (NSFW trailer) which is much better than the one above.  I think it better represents the movie and it’s story.  Remember, NSFW language:

Click here to view the embedded video.

- I didn’t rewrite enough.  There were some bad choices, but that’s what you get when you don’t write enough for years, then try to do it publicly.

- I had a lot more fun that year than in any year following.

- I had a lot of passion for the game. And I wonder where that passion went.  It certainly isn’t there like it used to be.

But the other day, something occurred to me about the passion part: The passion for the game is still there, it’s the amount of passion that’s diminished.  And I don’t mean the passion related to the game specifically, I mean the passion for ANYTHING.

(yes, I am going to talk about myself for a minute here.  There are a lot of sentences that start with the letter I.  You can skim this part if you want)

The last few years have been a struggle.  You probably don’t care for any details, but if you want them, you can sit down with me at a bar or a game and I’ll give you the short version.  Part of the struggle has been finding the passion for things I care about.

For a while, that translated into wondering what I cared about, even though I already knew what I cared about.  It was the same things I cared about for years, I just didn’t feel like I cared enough about it.  Hockey has been  one of those things (among others).  I could still care intensely about the game when it was on, I would still love the hell out of going to the rink and practicing on my weak skills, I would still get excited when it was time to talk about hockey, and when I sat down to write about hockey, I mostly enjoyed that as well.

What I didn’t feel was a right to feel good about it.  I didn’t feel motivated to get up and do something about it.  I would make excuses not to write.  I would make excuses not to play.  I have two great people who agreed to podcast with me, and I have made excuses not to record with them or anyone because of the slightest difficulty.  They deserve full apologies.  They will get them.

This is stupid, isn’t it?  Anyone with a computer and the internet can start a hockey blog.  The successful ones do two things well: write and stay with it.  And I’ve kind of done both, but only kind of.  I put down the blog, pick it back up, put it down, and rinse and repeat.  I got very discouraged with my podcast, even though I believe in the medium and believe in the format and idea behind it.  I didn’t push though that discouragement when it struck and didn’t fight hard enough to get back on track.  I think we all have periods we doubt ourselves; it’s our reaction to it that makes us who we are.

The long and the short of it is I used to believe more in the things I made, and more in the things I liked to do, and I let other people convince me otherwise.  I’ve had a few experiences recently that have reminded me otherwise.

We are a few days into the New Year, so this post would have been more timely a few days ago.  That’s OK, I took my time to consider this, and what to do about it.  I don’t believe in New Years resolutions.  We tell ourselves we are going to do something, then it falls apart and we wind up with another excuse to be mad at ourselves.  We make a resolution to lose 40 pounds, and as soon as we skip a day of exercise, we give up.  Hard resolutions are ridiculous.  I like the idea of setting a goal, or a theme.  Or even a few of them.  So here we go.

The Year of Pucking Dangerously:

I love hockey.  It’s in the title of this blog and it’s there for a reason.  I love to watch it, I love to talk about it, and even at the low level of skill I have, I love to play it.  So this year, one of the themes is hockey.  Not just collecting jerseys, but getting more involved and invested in the sport.

Yes, that means more blogging.  Not daily, but can’t I manage maybe two posts a week?  It’s a lot more than I have been doing lately.  And as out of practice as I’ve been, I don’t expect the first posts will be any good.  Some of them may even be crappy list posts and just general and short thoughts, but they will be there.

It means more podcasting.  I blew up the podcasting schedule for The Rink after wanting to relaunch it this season.  The biggest issue has been the quality of the internet connections foisted upon me (if you didn’t know, I travel for a living and don’t often have quality internet connections, and since the podcast tends to rely on a decent Skype connection…), but even then, a few month off is way too much.  The biggest thing we can build for ourselves on the internet is a reputation and the trust of the people who read or listen to what we do.  Frankly, I blew it, but plan to earn it back.  If you were disappointed in my output, I will be trying to rectify that.  Believe me, I have been disappointed as well.

It means learning to play hockey.  I am fairly out of shape, and while dropping some pounds and gaining some wind would make a good resolution, that isn’t the real goal.  The real goal is to be able to play hockey better, to the point where I am not embarrassing myself on the ice, and can maybe play in a charity game or two.  Which means carrying a little less James around on the ice and getting in shape enough to not be exhausted at the end of the night.  It also means getting more skill and vision on the ice itself.  It’s been long lamented that armchair fans of the game don’t understand what the game looks like when you are in the middle of it, and I can tell you for a fact, it’s true.  And yes, that means you will be hearing about rec hockey here on the blog.  But hey, this has never been a strictly NHL blog, and it’s my voice here, so I get to make it what I want.

There are other goals for this year.  I will be starting my own side business.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I didn’t know what to start.  Now I do.  I might reference it every so often here, but I plan on keeping it separate from hockey.  I plan to put a little more effort into my Pod Geek site.  Again, I don’t have to post every day, but I plan to post more than I have, and with a better understanding of what my direction is.  I will cut myself a little more slack.  I tend to beat myself up a lot when I don’t follow through with my plans or ideas, and I’m going to do that a lot less.  And I’m going to start saying ‘No’ a lot more, and follow though on when I say “Yes” more.  In an effort not to disappoint, I say yes to more things than I should, then don’t execute the ones I should have said no to in the first place.  That’s going to change.

So there you have it.  Laid out for you, trying to be accountable, trying to come up with a way to actually do the things that I care about and made a habit out of pushing to the back burner.  Life is way to short not to do the things you want.  It’s time to do more than see what happens, it’s time to make it happen.

(And a big thank you to Greg from The Post Pessimist Association blog.  He listened to me complain, talked to me, and helped me get to the point where action was the only step to take.  I seriously would be wallowing in a pool of self-pity and anger if it weren’t for him right now.)

I’m in the middle of a drive from Denver to Minneapolis, where I will be spending the next 6 weeks, and of course, I had to look for hockey along the way. The only game I could find was in Sioux Falls, SD, between the Sioux Falls Stampede and the Omaha Lancers of the USHL.

You would be forgiven for not knowing about the USHL, but if you’ve ever watched the NHL Draft, you have heard it mentioned.  Along with the NAHL, the USHL is an American junior development league.  Most of the players are looking for college scholarships or to be drafted.  It’s the American equivalent to the CHL Canadian junior league, only smaller and less prestigious.  Apparently,  it’s more authentic to ride a bus around the prairies of Canada in the freezing cold than it is to do the same in Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska.  And probably a little more challenging.   The US National Team Development Program plays in the USHL, so they have that going for them.

But we aren’t here to talk about practice, we’re here to talk about a game.

The arena is housed in the Sioux Falls Convention Center, and while the outside looks new, the inside looks anything but.  First, the outside. which is attached to the Sheraton hotel.

Once you get inside, that’s when things look a little different.

Whoa. That’s a barn.  Or a shed.  Or a… thing.  It’s hard to describe, but it has similar properties to the rink in Port Huron.  Mostly in the quality of seats, and that the “upper” sections are truly upper.  They are well above the ice.

That seating is about eight to ten feet above the ice.  And it wouldn’t be that bad if the slope of the seats were at a severe enough angle to be able to see the action on the near boards.  But it isn’t, so you are constantly wondering what is going on when the play comes too close.  I recommend that if you go to Sioux Falls, you sit higher up where you seem to gain an advantage, or in the pricey seats along the boards.  And I don’t normally recommend sitting along the boards. See what I mean?

Check out those Omaha Lancers jerseys.  It’s like some weird hybrid of a Montreal Canadiens jersey and a Flyers jersey.  How cool would that look in the right orange with a Flyers logo?

OK, on to the game:

Referee Kevin Curtis (the ref with two first names) was not well liked by the home crowd.  He made one bad penalty call, and one tough goal call that was, in my opinion, the right call.  The crowd disagreed, as the net came off it’s moorings, but as a Stampede player kicked the puck into his own goal, the goal was counted.  The net wasn’t off enough to make a difference, so the right call was made.  For a minor league ref, especially one without the benefit of a ‘War Room’ in Toronto, that is a pretty good night.

Action!

This is something you don’t see in the NHL, but you often see in junior and college hockey.  When a goal is scored, the team congratulates the goalie as well.

Stampede Head Coach Kevin Hartzell did not look pleased the entire game.  He was yelling at his players and trying to direct and motivate them, but looked like a coach with a losing record.  Probably because he does have a losing record this season.

Your final, Lancers 3 Stampede 2.

It’s unfortunate that a controversial goal was the difference maker in the game, but I think the right call was made.  In the end, that’s all you can ask for.  And a little entertainment.  And I was certainly entertained.

It’s good to be back on the road and seeing hockey outside the world of the NHL.  I love it out here, and hope to see more games around the nation before the season is over.  In fact, I have some other things coming up that I will update you on in the next few days.

I get asked, and maybe you do as well, about the best way to start a hockey blog, so I thought it was time to put up a post I can point to the next time someone asks.  These are just my beliefs and experience, and other people may have a different opinion than mine.  It’s a big internet out there, and lots of ways to do it.  If you have something you want to add, the comments are open.

_______________________

The first key to starting a hockey blog is…. don’t.

No, really, don’t do it.  It’s a lot of work, and if you are doing it to make it as a sports writer or get a lot of attention, there are better ways.  And there are already tons of hockey blogs out there.  It will just lead to disappointment and resentment, and your family leaving you on the side of the road with a Gary Bettman bobble head.  You will not like it.

Plus, it’s a lot more work than you think it will be (this part is true).

………

…….

Still here?  OK, then.  Let’s do this.

__________________________

First, go to WordPress.com and get a free blog.  WordPress is some of the best blogging software out there, and they make it very easy to take your content to other systems and sites when you want to move on.  Later, if things are going well, you can get your own domain and hosting, and run your own copy of WordPress, but for now, let’s stick with the free option.  (If you don’t know what hosting is, or any of the technical internet stuff, don’t worry about it for now, as it really doesn’t matter)

It’s good to know the difference between WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress:

• WordPress.com is a free blogging service that is hosted on the wordpress.com servers. They maintain the site.  It’s similar to Blogger in this respect, but I think it’s better and more robust.
• WordPress.org and self-hosted WordPress is blogging software that is similar to WordPress.com, only you host it on your own site or server.  You have more control, but more responsibility as well.

Next, start writing.

But wait, don’t I have to set up a banner and build a blog roll and link my twitter account, and get a color scheme and put the roster and team record in the side bar and….

NO. That is the last thing you should do.  It’s easy to make something really pretty, spend all your time on web design, and then sit back and marvel at your creation when you should be writing.  Rather than get bogged down in all of that, just write something and put it out there.  In fact, skip the introduction and jump into it.  If you write with a unique and individual voice, who you are will come out in your posts.  Want a great example?  Read any two or three posts from Scotty Hockey.  Don’t look at his sidebar, just read a few posts.  You will immediately get a sense of who he is.

Repeat after me: It’s not the site, it’s the writing.

That is what they mean when they say “content is king.”  People won’t keep coming back to your blog, read your work, or care about what you have to say without writing something.  It’s astounding how many people this is lost on.

Now that you are writing, what should you write about?  Well, what do you believe in?  We live in a media savvy world, and your audience can tell if you are being honest with them or not.  Even if you have an unpopular opinion, or even worse, if you have a popular opinion, as long as it is genuinely yours, you should go with it.  There should be a reason you have a hockey blog, and that is what you should write about.  Otherwise, shut it down and become a really good commenter.  There is nothing wrong with that.

I can’t tell you what to write, any more than other people should be able to.  That is completely up to you.  I have my beliefs on what makes a good hockey blog, but that’s a post for another day.

__________________

But as for starting, here are a few do’s and don’ts that might help:

DO turn off twitter.  Seriously, you don’t need the distraction.  If you are spending most of your energy on twitter, you are taking away from your material for your blog.  Twitter is great, and a wonderful place to have a conversation, but it isn’t the same thing.  Shut it down for a while.

DON’T spend a dime.  I’m not kidding.  There is no reason for you to have to spend anything on your blog to start with.  Did you get a blog from WordPress.com?  Great, that’s it.  You don’t need anything else, and you don’t have to spend money.  Save that for when your blog takes off and you want more control over it.

DO own everything you do.  Embedding YouTube videos is fine, but don’t take photos you aren’t licensed for, or plagiarize (obviously) or use anything a person or company can come back and demand you take down or pay them for.  Blogs like Puck Daddy use Getty Images because they have licenses for those images.  You do not.  Yes, this is hard.  It’s harder to make your own post images than just take something from Getty Images, but as you build your reputation and skills as a blogger, it will pay off for you down the road.  I promise.

DO attribute quotes and link to posts and articles.  There are a lot of good writers and journalists out there that are doing hard work that deserves attention, and chances are you will be talking about and quoting their work.  They are in the locker rooms and on the buses, getting quotes and filing stories, so you should link and attribute to the people who you quote.  Links also get the attention of the people you are linking to, and that helps build your audience and reputation.

DON’T look at your site meter or site stats.  I know, you want to know who is reading your blog.  But if you get obsessed with the number of readers you have, you will start to lose readers.  Sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s true.  You aren’t writing for a demographic.

DON’T worry about comments.  There are a ton of hockey blogs out there, and people don’t have time to comment on every post they read.  Your encouragement and enjoyment of your blogging should come from within, not from the comments of others.  It can be discouraging to write your butt off and not get a single comment, but don’t let that stop you.  Worry about the post more than the comments.

DON’T believe the hype.  You can have a great post that is practically ignored, and one that was a throwaway joke that gets thousands of hits.  Don’t pay any attention to that.  Don’t let other people determine what your content should be.  And if others say you are doing a good job, work even harder to impress them with your next post.  If they say you are crap, ignore them and post something that you like.  It’s the internet, after all.  Everything is crap.

DO rewrite.  I’m astounded by how many people forget to do this.  ”The best writing comes from rewriting.” – some writer who was really smart.  Spellcheck goes in here as well. Use it.  It is your friend.

DO ask people’s opinion, and then listen to them.  The first part is easy, but the second part is not.  If you really aren’t interested in other people’s opinions on your work, don’t ask.  It wastes their time and yours.

________________

OK, enough of that.  You have some guidelines, but now you have to write, and you have to keep at it.  The world doesn’t need another ten post blog that fizzles out for no reason, so it’s time to kick this thing into gear, and make it into a challenge.

I challenge you, as a brand new blogger, to write a post every day for 30 days.  No days off, no slacking, post something you feel sets the tone and voice of your site, even if it’s just a youtube video.  Post for thirty day and make a habit out of it.  Sit down at the same time every day if you have to.  Throw something you wrote away and start over if you have to.  But just start writing and keep writing.

If that sounds too hard, well, do it anyways.  Blogging should be hard.  Twitter is easy, but taking the time to write good sentences, form them into paragraphs (did I forget to mention to write in paragraphs?), and do it day after day isn’t, but that’s what makes it fun and worthwhile.

If it’s any consolation, I’ve done it before, as have other people.  It can make you fall in love with hockey blogging.

So if you’re going to do it, that’s how.  The three Ws: WordPress, Write, wRepeat (see what I did there).

Happy blogging!

The NHL Situation Room blog explained the decision this way:

At 14:07 of the second period in the Blues / Avalanche game , video review was inconclusive in determining if the net was completely dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line. There for,  the referee’s call on the ice stands. Good goal Colorado.

78.5 (x)  When the net becomes displaced accidentally. The goal frame is considered to be displaced if either or both goal pegs are no longer in their respective holes in the ice, or the net has come completely off one or both pegs, prior to or as the puck enters the goal.

The question of whether the net was off it’s pegs was inconclusive, so the “call on the ice” stands.  Two things about this:

First, there was no call on the ice.  If there was, it was done in secret.  The ref neither signaled goal or no goal (wash out).  That is academic, but interesting to note.

The second thing is another rule that could have been applied, from section 25 of the NHL rulebook, Awarded Goals, and rule 25.2, which states:

25.2 Infractions – When Goalkeeper is On the Ice – A goal will be awarded when an attacking player, in the act of shooting the puck into the goal (between the normal position of the posts and completely across the goal line), is prevented from scoring as a result of a defending player or goalkeeper displacing the goal post, either deliberately or accidentally.

I think we can safely say that this is what happened.  Not only did the Blues players take the net off it’s moorings, they carried the puck in with them as well.  You could say that the puck wasn’t shot by an Avalanche player, but you could say that a shot was what put the puck into the defenseman (OK, it was a pass) in the first place.  And if you check out rule 78.4, Scoring a Goal, the second paragraph states:

A goal shall be scored if the puck is put into the goal in any way by a player of the defending side. The player of the attacking side who last touched the puck shall be credited with the goal but no assist shall be awarded.

If the net had stayed on it’s moorings, the goal would have counted.  The Blues knocked it off, and therefor the right call would have been to award the goal anyways.

The unfortunate part is that this was the game winning goal.  Had the Avs tried to score in the third period, rather than sit back and defend a one goal lead, they might have scored another goal or two, and St. Louis fans might feel a little less screwed over by the call (which they weren’t, really).

The Avs have won seven in a row at home, which is a stark contrast to the beginning of the season.  Maybe they can keep it up against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who were shellacked by the Sharks tonight.

Research, for the win.

(I don’t photograph well)

Sports Authority Field, as seen from my apartment. Note how skillfully blocked the Pepsi Center is

Last night, as I left the Pepsi Center after the Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals, the chant went up.  It wasn’t “Let’s go, Avalanche,” which follows just about every victory.  It’s wasn’t “Capitals suck!” No, it’s something that we tend to hear every weekend in Colorado these days.

“Tebow! Tebow! Tebow!”

They were dressed in Broncos orange and blue, and they were having fun.  But it wasn’t the fight and the goal from Cody McLeod, or the goaltending of J.S. Giguere, or even the better than usual play of the defense that got them going.  It was Tim Tebow.  It was an invasion.

And this wasn’t the first time I hear the chant at the home of the Avalanche.  At the LA Kings game on October 30th, a drunk man behind me, who seemed to know a  bit about hockey, started chanting “Tebow! Tebow!” during the game.  I couldn’t figure out why.

Outside the Pepsi Center, mere steps from the exit, there were men selling “It’s Tebow Time” shirts, surely unlicensed merchandise with his number 15 on the back.  They were making a killing.  The guy across the street selling his Grateful Dead inspired Avalanche shirts must have been drooling with envy.

————————

The Canadian hockey fan tends to laugh at this kind of thing, and at the fans in a market like Denver, but often don’t understand the culture of the local sports fan in America.  Even in a market like Toronto, where there are four major sports represented (and I am counting the CFL as a major sport, because it is in Canada), and a few minor ones, hockey is still king.  This year, when the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League won their championship, no one noticed.  Sorry boys, the NHL playoffs are on.

Head west to cities like Vancouver or even Calgary and Edmonton, and you have two major sports and one or two smaller ones, as well as plenty of junior hockey.  Fans of the CFL are fairly passionate about their teams, but when the Calgary Stampede practice in a field (and I mean field as in expanse of grass, not football field) just outside their stadium, you know where the sports dollars are going.

In places like Colorado, where there is an over-saturated sports market, you have to pick your poison.  All four major sports are represented, along with indoor and outdoor lacrosse and soccer.  There was arena football, but thankfully that no longer exists here.  Minor league hockey exists to the north (the popular Colorado Eagles of the ECHL), and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies)  are to the south.

The sports culture in Denver is a constant rotation from one team to the next, one season to the next.  It creates the local sports fan, the fan who doesn’t care what the sport is, who the team is, so long as they play in Colorado. They can survive a heartbreak from one team because right around the corner, there is another team ready to spark more hope.

———————

Denver also has a complex.  When you think of Denver, what do you think of?  Exactly, not much.  There isn’t a scene here of any sort, not something culturally to hang our hats on.  When you think of cities like Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, LA, and even Minneapolis, Salt Lake, Detroit, and other larger cities, you get an impression, or a clearer picture of what that city is about, good or bad.

Denver has none of that.  It’s the quiet city that sits on the edge of the mountains.  It’s big enough to warrant attention, but rarely gets it.  It’s the MLS soccer of the United States.  It’s great when attention is paid to it, but quickly fades from memory.

And keep in mind, I love it here.  I love my city, and think the world of it.  But exciting it is not.

———————-

The nation’s attention is captured by Tim Tebow.  I still can’t figure out why, but it’s there.  And here in Colorado, he is the most divisive of people.  There are controversial political figures that don’t garner as much of a love / hate relationship as Tim Tebow.  He currently owns this city.  More people could rattle off his stats than tell you who the current mayor is.

And when the nation’s attention is turned towards Denver, the citizens take it as their own.  The hype has captured the attention of the fans, and when they see the highlights night after night on every sports show, from ESPN to whatever Versus is doing, they get excited.

ESPN dedicated most of a SportsCenter to Tebow recently.  It was laughed at for the most part, but John Buccigross made the point that would ultimately matter to ESPN:

Our much lampooned Tebow Hour on Sportscenter last Wed? Every time we were talking Tebow, the rating went up. Viewers drive content.

December 12, 2011 7:16 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Buccigross

John Buccigross

Denver Broncos fans have a similar complex to the one Avs fans have had the last few years.  It’s born of anticipated defeat.  Warranted or not, the loser complex exists, and watching players leave for greater success elsewhere has turned Broncos fans into shells of themselves.  The same thing happens with the Colorado Rockies.  That’s just the business of sports, of course.  But being a fan isn’t a business from the fan’s perspective.  It’s love.

So why does the love flow for Tim Tebow?  I wish I could put my finger on it.  I’m a hockey fan.  I do not care for the NFL, baseball can’t hold my attention, and I do not care at all for the NBA.  I love is firmly with the Avalanche.  And while they have a few great young players, it’s still very much a team sport that doesn’t hinge on one person as much as football hinges on a quarterback.  The man at the center is going to garner that attention.

But the attention of a nation?  How does this happen?  And why does it invade the rest of the sports here?

I’ve groused in the past of the hype that Sidney Crosby gets, and how overblown the coverage of him is.  But while Crosby is the face of the NHL, Tim Tebow is just another player.  The NFL doesn’t need a face like the NHL does.  They may have lost Payton Manning (and by extension the Indianapolis Colts), but the business of the NFL doesn’t depend on a single character the way the NHL currently does.

Colorado isn’t unfamiliar with it’s evangelical sports figures, either.  Bill McCartney, former head coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes, was also the founder of the Promise Keepers, a Christian organization for men that garnered a lot of attention in the state.  At the time, the Buffaloes were playing better than they are now, and as with the sport, so goes the state.

———————-

If there’s one thing the Broncos have going for them, it’s who they put out in front of the fans.  When you look to the management side of the organization, the man who is front and center is former Broncos quarterback John Elway.  Even while some question what his job is with the organization, he is certainly out front and making fans happy.  Turn that around to the Avalanche, and in a similar role you have Joe Sakic.  But if you have seen him lately in connection to an Avs game, buy a lottery ticket, because it’s your lucky day.

The Avalanche have always been lauded for their marketing efforts, and the relative silence of the management team.  This week, some of that silence was broken when the Denver Post sat down with Josh Kroenke, owner or co-owner (depending on how you look at it) of the Avs.  It’s unusual to see this kind of communication from the organization, but perhaps a new era is starting to open up?  Wait and see, but don’t hold your breath.

———————

What does all of this mean for the sports scene in Colorado, and more important to my own self-interests, what does it mean to the Colorado Avalanche and their business, as well as the culture of the fans?  It’s hard to tell.  If I knew, I would be a marketing super genius.  If Tim Tebow is a flash in the pan, then we could be back to the status quo soon.  But if the national hype machine continues to roll, there could be plenty more to come.

What I do know is that, as a fan of a sport competing for the attention of the local sports fans (and currently losing), I’m ready for it to no longer be Tebow time.  Perhaps when the Broncos start losing again, that time will have passed.

After plenty of hand wringing and consternation, after so much fan speculation and more plots than the end of the movie Clue, more promises made than in the Godfather, and more… well, you get the point… the NHL has finally voted on a scheme for realigning the league.

I’m usually not one for the instant analysis these days, which is part of why the blog has been so slow (by the time I feel like I have a solid, well thought out opinion, the moment has passed), but this time, I’m excited enough to jump into the fray.  Here are the conferences (copied from Kukla’s Korner):

The Conference format:

First off, the conference I am most concerned with, the one the Avalanche will play in.  This is looking like a truly competitive conference, with the Sharks (who have become a bit of a playoff rival) usually fielding a solid team, and LA always right on the doorstep.  The Ducks have their ups and downs, but the solid core  on their first line make them an interesting competitor.  The wild card here is Phoenix, with their ownership issues meaning that they could move within the next season or two.  If they were to move east, they could be integrated easily into either of the seven team conferences without any fuss.  That, of course, would help every team in this conference (more on that in a moment).

In Conference B, the Jets, Stars and Wild join the central division teams.  This helps the eastern time zone teams thanks to a new schedule format that sees each team play an away game outside of their conference only once per season, while playing conference rivals six times (three at home, three away).  This seems to keep things reasonable and more balanced as far as travel is concerned.

The Southeast division is split down the middle  Winnipeg moved to a more geographically obvious conference), with Washington and Carolina joining the Atlantic, and Florida and Tampa Bay joining the Northeast.  Both conferences are made up of seven teams, and this is going to be significant in playoff implications, as the top four teams from each conference make the playoffs.  This means that there is a better odds-on chance of making the playoffs in the two eastern conferences than the western two.  But the Southeast split sent a perennially weaker team and stronger team to separate conferences (even if the Capitals haven’t won a Cup while the Hurricanes have).

The initial reaction could be that this doesn’t seem like a fair distribution of teams from a competitive viewpoint, but the point of realignment shouldn’t be about making things more competitively even.  That is supposed to be the promise of the salary cap, designed to bring the almighty parity to the league.  And while that hasn’t necessarily been the case, to base realignment off current rosters would be foolish indeed.  Creating rivalries is as much about geography and chance as it is the players involved.  Rivalries in the NHL rarely follow the player as much as the logo these days (Todd Bertuzzi being the obvious exception).

My initial thoughts on this scheme are generally positive.  I like what I am seeing in the two extreme coastal conferences (A and D above), but see a few issues with the B and C.

If I were to pick a winner and loser for this realignment, I would say the Red Wings, Ducks and Kings are winners (easier travel, and a few weaker opponents to pad their points), while the main loser is the Blue Jackets.  What is adding a few boring teams like the Wild and Jets to the schedule going to do for ticket sales?  Nothing fast.  It would be better to just cancel the home games against Minnesota, and bring in a Celine Dion impersonator.  It would be more interesting.

I’m sure I will have more thoughts later.  I can’t wait to see how this looks when the final point totals from this season are inevitably compared with this season’s point totals (even if they are misguided thanks to schedule adjustments).  But overall, I give this a solid ‘not bad.’

It’s easy to look at this and say that Clutterbuck should get the book thrown at him, or at least a one game suspension out of it, but I disagree.  No fighter is going to stop while still entangled with his opponent, but the bigger issue here is what the linesman did.  He went in alone to break up the fight.

USA Hockey has put their officiating training manuals online, and the basic manual states about ‘Altercations’ (page 58):

Never enter an altercation by yourself. You are putting yourself in danger of being punched by a player and may also give a player a free shot at the player you are holding onto. Always wait until your partner is there to go in together.

USA Hockey should ask the NHL if they can use this video for training purposes, as this was a textbook example.

What you can’t see in this video is that there is a second ‘altercation’ going on between Keith Ballard and Minnesota’s Kyle Brodziak.  While this had turned into a wrestling match, the Clutterbuck and Lapierre fight was turning into the more serious incident.  You can see a bit of it here:

Choices have to be made, and with two tussles going on, there are only so many linesmen to go around. The difference between the amateur ref and the professional ref is that the pro is trained a little better in handling themselves in breaking up a fight.  Still, USA Hockey is correct in asking two linesmen (or refs at the amateur level) to go in at the same time to break up a fight.

Why doesn’t the referee next to the fight intervene and help out the linesman.  Part of the answer lies in what Dan Hamhuis of the Vancouver Canucks did.  Right after Darren Gibbs gets socked in the jaw, Hamhuis grabbed Clutterbuck’s face and pulled him back a bit (or at the very least, restrained him a little).  It didn’t last long, but this isn’t tag team wrestling.  You need your referees to be able to hand out the penalties and see what is going on.  Had the ref intervened, they would have never caught this.  Whatever Hamhuis’ intentions (I’m SURE he was just trying to keep the linesman from getting hit again), you have to keep your hands out of the field of play while you are on the bench.  He got a misconduct for it, which is the right call.

So while some may look at the punch and say that Clutterbuck (a favorite of fans from all thirty teams) should get a game or two, hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the blame will be spread around a bit.  And as much as a mistake as it was to go in alone, good for Darren Gibbs for doing a tough job.  I’m sure he will be ready to bob and weave a little more next time.