The best hockey talk in the business returns for 2009. Listen now as Rod Black talks with star centres; Marc Savard from the Bruins and Andrew Cogliano from the Oilers. Also hear from the Islanders, Bill Guerin, Team Canada star, Jordan Eberle and Devils GM, Lou Lamoriello.
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Terry Jones appears courtesy of the Edmonton Sun
No matter where he played or who he played with, Anderson always made it fun.
Glenn Anderson didn’t get the date wrong. He didn’t mistakenly think his banner-raising was this Sunday, not next.
But he showed up here yesterday. For the event.
Right off, you get the idea that his Edmonton Oilers Hall of Fame banner -raising, like Anderson himself, is going to be a little bit, well, odd … unusual … out there …
Anderson got off the plane and proceeded directly to sign and be photographed for collector authenticity with 300 unique concept hockey jerseys that will be on sale at a kiosk at Rexall Place tonight for the San Jose Sharks game.
“I received approval from the league last night in New York at the Rangers game. Also, I have a collector’s hockey stick.
“The hockey sweater is an artist design picturing my life from the first backyard rink to the Stanley Cups.
“Instead of being on canvas and framed, it’s all on a hockey sweater. It’s really cool. Nobody has done it before. It’s different.”
Kind of like the person.
After years of fighting his space cadet, skate-to-the-beat-of-a-different-drum image, you may have noticed, watching the telecast of the Hockey Hall of Fame inductions that Anderson has come to embrace it.
The latest of the glory gang to be honoured arrived 10 days early because it’s not just the Glenn Anderson banner-raising, but Glenn’s Global Games Raising The Rafters Weekend.
“I’m a little bit behind the eight ball with some stuff,” he said of organizing his own personal hockey fantasy camp, modelled after the highly successful Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier camps — “except more fun.”
It’s an extension of a project Anderson and Igor Larianov worked on during the Hall of Fame weekend in Toronto.
“It’s a fantasy camp featuring three-on-three hockey. It’s first-class all the way.
“The players will be outfitted head-to-toe. Each team will have uniforms from a team I played for in my career, home or away — an NHL team, a Canada Cup or All-Star team. They’ll have sweat suits and team jackets. We’ve rented a restaurant for an evening. They’ll be part of the Oilers function with the Don Metz videos and everything.
“We’ll start the tournament at the rink at the River Cree Resort & Casino on Friday and then move to Rexall on Saturday and Sunday.”
The price tag is $20,000 per four-man team or $6,000 per player to be placed on a team.
There’s still room for another team or two, and another player or two.
“Each team will get a girl,” he said.
Huh?
Anderson laughed, explaining that he’s arranged with Hayley Wickenheiser to provide a female member of Canada’s national women’s hockey team for each team.
And each team will get an Oiler great.
“Jarri Kurri, Dave Semenko, Dave Hunter, Ken Linseman, Craig Simpson, Kevin Lowe, Paul Coffey, Bill Ranford and, hopefully Mark Messier,” he said.
On Thursday, Anderson will present a cheque for $10,000 to the Cross Cancer Institute, which made him an honorary chairman during his Oilers career.
And what else?
Oh, yeah.
The banner-raising.
That’s at next Sunday’s game, with Wayne Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes in town as they were in 2007 when Mark Messier’s No. 11 went up.
The Oilers have led the league with their banner-raisings for Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Coffey and Grant Fuhr.
And this one, says Anderson “will be different.”
It took a long time for No. 9 to go up there, but Anderson said it isn’t going to take a long time for him to sit down.
“I’ve been to a lot of banner-raisings and the best ones are the ones that don’t go on and on.”
He’s seen Mark Messier bawl and doesn’t think he’ll do that.
But will he shed a tear?
“I hope I do,” he said. “If I don’t have the tears, I want to show people how much I cared about the city.”
And a message?
“I plan on telling the players on both teams how we bled the Oiler colours here and came to play for the crest on the uniform. And that it’s one thing to say it and another thing to do it.”
I don’t know about Gretzky’s guys, but that’s a message that Kevin Lowe’s modern-day Oilers need to hear.
Terry Jones appears courtesy of the Edmonton Sun
There was no cooling off period for the head coach here in frigid Edmonton last night. He spent a few moments with his coaching staff then made a very brief, but to the point speech to his team.
I didn’t hear it, but I can only imagine. In fact, I don’t have to. His post game comments after a frustrating loss to the Oilers said it all.
Click for Wayne’s comments:
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The Coyotes started sluggish, recovered, but let it get away. He has challenged his veterans. Colorado won’t come soon enough.
See you on AZ TV.
- Todd
Listen to this interview with our favorite, Louie Debrusk. Louis, once a broadcaster for Phoenix Coyotes Radio, is now a big star with Sportsnet covering the Edmonton Oilers. Click to hear feature:
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- Todd
So, I’d love to tell you about how Mueller is out with an injury, and that Winnik is in. Or the decision to start Telly in goal, instead of Bryz coming off his first shut out. Or, I could go on and on about how this team is really starting to roll four lines, night after night, and that they are finding ways to win games even when they don’t play their best…
Or, we could wax poetic about how important tonight and tomorrow night is in terms of racking up points before the holiday. Yes, I could. But two things:
Wayne does that better than me, so you can listen. And, secondly: IT’S THIRTY BELOW AND I AM FREEZING! Coach Gretzky:
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Check us out on the Coyotes Radio Network tonight … we’ll be the one’s with the chattering teeth.
- Todd
Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
When is the game in-the-bag? If a team is ahead by a country mile even before the Hot Stove League have had a chance to pontificate, when is enough enough?
Here’s the thing. Either you’re going to be accused of piling on if you keep applying the pressure, or you let up and risk allowing a team to score a couple. If you’re up by five goals as the third period begins, the odds are the two points are yours. But what if???
Don’t we always hear that the good teams possess the killer instinct; the unblinking ability to put the boot to the throat, making sure that your opponent doesn’t get back up? Finish the job. Championship calibre teams can do that. So, what’s with this notion of taking the foot off the gas?
In football, if you’re got a sizeable lead, you can always get your first-string quarterback out of there, not to mention your marquee running back. Baseball’s a bit different, as you can’t substitute back in guys once they’ve been yanked. Nonetheless, a team sporting a big lead will often take out their star players late in the game, unless they’re gunning for some specific milestone or accomplishment.
So what about hockey? Its ebb-and-flow is unique in the world of sports. Even with a rather sizeable lead, a change-in-momentum means a game isn’t really out-of-reach until that final buzzer sounds. And there are many examples of teams doing exactly that – teams coming all the way back from seemingly unsurmountable deficits.
Ask any Los Angeles Kings’ fan about the Miracle on Manchester back during the 1982 playoffs. Better yet, ask any Edmonton Oilers’ fan about the Miracle on Manchester back during the 1982 playoffs.
The St. Louis Blues did it a number of seasons ago while on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring a bushel of goals and stealing a win away from the home team. Last season, the New York Rangers saw a 5-0 lead slip away against the Montreal Canadiens, and the hometown Habs stormed back to win 6-5, the arena going nuts in the greatest single-game comeback in the Canadiens’ long, storied history.
Did the Leafs and Rangers take their foot off the gas? Did they relax, even if subconsciously? When the Rangers were nursing their five-goal lead, most observers would probably had declared that game, for all intent-and-purposes, over. Time to head for the exits and beat the traffic, which was my father’s favourite thing to do at all sporting events we ever attended together.
But that’s what makes sports worth watching in the first place; no matter how much one handicaps a game, no matter how stacked one lineup appears against the other, until the puck is dropped, no-one knows for sure how things will turn it. This isn’t professional wrestling. This is sports. The original reality T.V.
Which makes it all the more curious that former NHL’er and veteran CBC broadcaster Craig Simpson mused out loud this past Saturday night that he found it interesting that Canadiens’ head coach Guy Carbonneau wasn’t taking his foot off the gas, as the two teams entered the third period with Montreal leading Toronto 6-1.
The Maple Leafs ended up changing their goaltender for the final frame, going with crowd favourite Curtis Joseph, who was donning the blue-and-white for the first time in a regular-season game since returning to the team this past off-season…and early on he stops a breakaway opportunity. Despite having been outplayed for the majority of the game, the Leafs had a goal wiped out, and hit a couple of posts behind Jaroslav Halak.
Hey, this is hockey. A couple of inches here-and-there, and the hometeam are suddenly back in a game they have no business being in. No doubt the faithful would have been whipped into a frenzy, and before you know it, a 6-3 deficit doesn’t look so insurmountable.
That’s one reason why a team should never take it’s foot off the gas. Goals are still at a premium in this league; get them when you can.
Another reason; one of the truism’s of sports is never let up. That’s when injuries can occur. The hockey community trots this line out all the time.
Yet another reason; once a team has a something akin to a 6-1 lead, any extra goals scored don’t mean all that much in the context of that particular game, but come the end of the season, those bonus goals could be huge. Could decide a playoff ranking, could mean a personal bonus for a player, could win someone a scoring championship.
And another reason: the people who pay the freight, the fans, both in attendence and watching at home. Keep the game exciting – don’t just go through the motions. Oh, naturally, it won’t be as intense when one team has a 6-1 lead after two periods (unless it gets chippy), but just mailing it in for 20 minutes shouldn’t cut it with anyone.
Okay, but what about arguments why a team should let up somewhat? What about long memories? Despite the fact I’m in general agreement with The Professor, Sean Avery, that most NHL players are simple (most athletes, for that matter), one attribute professional hockey players can brag about having are long memories.
You continue to pile up the goals late in a game, chances are good you’ll hear from that same beleagured squad when you next meet.
But so what? That’s part of what makes hockey so great. The on-going feuds. This isn’t house league, where everyone gets a trophy. This is the National Hockey League, thee best league in the world. Nothing is given to you. You have to earn it.
So, instead of whining that a team with a 6-1 lead continues to try to fill your net, make them stop. Play to win that third period. Hockey folk always go on about trite stuff like that. Well, then just do it. Take control of your own destiny. And after all that, you’re still getting your butt kicked, then it’s time to look skyward to the press box, like all those annoying TV shots, and direct your gaze at the team’s GM, stoically watching the proceedings unfold. Blame him if you must, not the team that’s skating circles around you.
I’m not advocating what happened a few years ago in the NFL. One team refused to field their players on an extra-point attempt, so the team kicking for that extra point instead walked it into the undefended end-zone for two points.
Which served the protesting team right for pulling a sulk prank my four-year-old has perfected. Which was also great, watching a continent of bettors go absolutely bananas because their precious point-spread was compromised.
Okay, come to think of it, I was all for that.
Really though, if I were that team (was it the Patriots?), I would have just kicked a single point, just to show that I was classier than your team, who removed themselves from the field in the first place…unless I really needed that second point, which at that point, I would have said merci beaucoup, and walked in.
But there would have been no dancing.
The bottom line is, the game isn’t over until the final buzzer goes…and when there’s no chance of a time-consuming replay.
The sole responsibility of preventing a team from scoring a ton of goals rests with the other team. Not the team looking to hit double-digits.
There is no proper time to take the foot off the gas. This is the big leagues. No coasting. Leave that for the office softball game.
- Mick Kern
Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
What are the keys to winning on home ice?
You would think that the home ice and crowd would be an enormous advantage wouldn’t you?
Why do so many teams struggle on home ice?
I have a few thoughts on this subject as we prepare for the 2008-09 NHL regular season.
Last season in the Eastern Conference, Carolina was the only team that DID NOT make the playoffs with more points than the eighth-place Boston Bruins on home ice. The Hurricanes had an excellent 24-13-4 record on home ice, good for 52 points. They finished one game below .500 on the road to miss the playoffs by just two points.
In the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers had 47 points on home ice, going 23-17-1, and missing the postseason (along with the Blackhawks) by only three points. Nashville snuck into the eighth spot with three more points on home ice than the Oilers.
You might think the power play at home would be a huge factor, right? It didn’t work out quite that way as only 10 of the 16 playoff teams ended the regularseason in the Top 16. New Jersey and Calgary were ranked 28th and 29th overall in PP % on home ice, yet both made the playoffs.
Tampa Bay was fourth and Los Angeles was fifth overall in home PP % , yet neither were close to making the postseason and, in fact, picked first and second overall in this year’s draft.
Penalty killing at home saw the Bruins dead last at only 74.7%, yet they finished eighth and got in. Washington was 25th and Pittsburgh was 27th overall.
Clearly gone are the days of an intimate home building with crowds standing above you and ice dimensions suited to your team’s style of play. Every building is eerily similar, so the only advantage a team has is how many fans are in their building and how supportive they are.
Here are my keys to having a home-ice advantage.
1) Goaltending early in games. If your goalie gives up a soft, momentum-deflating goal early in a hockey game, especially in a non-traditional hockey market, the fans really get frustrated and the players feel it. Your goalie has to show everyone he has the presence to lead, especially early.
2) Every team has to have a line that bangs and crashes and gets pucks in deep, forechecks hard and energizes the bench and the crowd. The visiting team has to come into your rink knowing that they have to survive the first 10 minutes of the game, if they want to have a chance. The home team has to have players that are relentless on the puck and keep the energy high.
3) The “D” has to have the confidence to close gaps. There is nothing like seeing a road team easily skate through the neutral zone, gain the blueline untouched, and score an easy goal on your home ice. That is as deflating as any one thing. When the forwards hustle back and the “D” are standing up and playing physically, then the fans and the bench and the momentum from the home side can take any hope away from a team on the road trying to win in your building.
There is no question that athletes have large egos and love the fans and the noise and the adulation both on and off the ice. Having a jam packed home building can only help out every player. There is nothing like having the pressure and the expectations from your own crowd as they will push you through the tough times in a game.
That being said, not every building is full, so you have to find a way to get it done. The points I made earlier are the keys to getting off to a great start and maintaining that momentum to win hockey games on home ice and getting you team into the postseason.
For gretzky.com, I’m Darren Pang