Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Before they dropped the puck for Game Seven on Wednesday evening between the Penguins and the Capitals, NHL.com had been running a poll, asking fans to choose the greatest seven-game playoff series in NHL history.

The 2009 Pens and Caps were leading, by a considerable margin, over the Red Wings and Avalanche brawl earlier this decade.  All the seven-game classics that occurred before the year 2000 received less and less of the vote as they got smaller in the rear-view mirror.  Guess most of us oldtimers either don’t know how to switch on a computer, or were too busy being six feet under (personally, I voted for the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens series from 1979, the infamous Too Many Men On The Ice series.  That entire series was top-notch hockey).

Well, casting a vote for the current Pens-Caps series before Game Seven was even played was like opening your Christmas presents early.  Not on December 24th, but on December 19th.

In order for this to truly be considered the “Greatest Seven-Game Series in NHL History”, it had to deliver when it mattered most…Game Seven.

Well, so much for that.

What a let-down, unless, of course, you bleed Penguin blue, or whatever it is Penguins bleed.  A 6-2 romp by Pittsburgh in the deciding game immediately puts this series near the bottom of the five or six previous series that were in that NHL.com poll.

Yes, it was a great buildup, through the first six games, thanks to high-tempo play and three overtimes, and lead changes, and Crosby and Ovechkin, and the young goaltenders, and the history of hate between these two franchises.

But it was, in the end, not to be.  The Ron McLean’s and Don Cherry’s can whine on and on about the slashing call on Shaone Morrisonn that led to the powerplay that led to the first Pittsburgh goal, but here’s the thing boys.

Whether you personally like it or not, the officials have been calling that call all season. No, not every time.  But that’s the tricky thing about the NHL.  By now, the players know that it might be called a penalty, so they can’t plead ignorance of the law when it is called.  You take a chance delivering a slash.  No matter how light, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, you take your chances.  And tonight, the Caps got burned.

What really sunk their boat was the second goal only eight seconds after the first.   The Craig Adams shot the kid should have had.

Still, the fire-wagon Capitals, the most exciting team in hockey, as we’re told over and over and over again, had plenty of time to respond, and failed to do so.  Sure, the team they were facing are a very good, and deep team.  It wasn’t going to be easy.  But here’s where legends are born, forged from the fire of adversity.

All that was forged were the bad cheques that promised that this was the greatest series ever.

You can’t hang this series loss on Varlamov.  Without his goaltending, the Capitals don’t get this far.  Probably they lose, in five, to the stinkin’ New York Rangers.  Sure, the kid should have had at least that second goal, but he picked up the Caps a number of times in the past month.  It was time for his teammates to return that favour.

So whine all you want about the officiating.  Chant “Crosby Sucks” until you’re rockin’ the red in the face.  The fact remains, the better team won.

And, for now, Crosby got the better of Ovechkin.  Both are world class players.  Both are already superstars at such an early age.  Both performed, for the most part, at an elevated level throughout this series, which was the number one reason why it was a delight to watch.  Yet, to me, Crosby delivered a bit more than Ovechkin.  That may be the result of the team systems employed, but Crosby always looked like he’d plow through a wall, the goaltender, the Zamboni and his grandmother to score a goal.

Crosby at times looks like the world’s most skilled and determined plumber.  Ovechkin is a painter of immense talent, a true artist.  Both possess rare skills that can be breathtaking to behold.  Yet, so far, Crosby has gone further in the playoffs than Ovechkin.  And until one of these dudes hoists the big mug, you can have all your Art Ross and Hart Trophies.  They are nice, but it’s the playoffs that truly matter, probably something that might be lost on the non-hockey sports journalists that suddenly found themselves covering the Capitals this spring.

Until the Capitals win the Stanley Cup, and with their two young goaltenders only getting better all the time, that is a distinct possibility in the next few years, I’ll take Sidney Crosby over Alexander Ovechkin.

Though really, no-one loses with either selection.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

It happens every Spring.

Somebody somewhere has to sit through a lengthy overtime game, and the next day, still sore from the experience, they slump behind their computer keyboard and bang out a column calling for a revamp of how the NHL approaches overtime in the playoffs.

Some of the reasoning behind this yearly call is sound.  By the time a game featuring multiple overtimes ends, a sizeable majority of the TV audience have abandoned the broadcast for bed.  If the game is on the West Coast, most of the continent have tuned out.

Another salient point is the quality, or lack therefore, of play as the overtimes pile up.  A great example would be the marathon between the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals in Game Seven of their 1987 playoff series.  As the overtime dragged on, so did the play.  Yes, goaltenders Kelly Hrudey and Bob Mason were called upon to make a number of fantastic saves, but a lot of the play consisted of the most blantant examples of clutch-and-grab, as players on both teams struggled to maintain the earlier pace of the game.

One other point often brought up is that following a lengthy overtime game, a great deal of the energy is sucked out of the remainder of the series, which produces sub-par hockey at a time of the season when the league wants to put its best skate forward.

All good points, though each can be debated concerning their relative merit.  Even if one accepts those points at face value, I still believe that they are not enough to warrant a change to how playoff overtime is conducted.

Shudder the thought that one day the NHL will embrace the shootout in the playoffs, but logic dictates someone somewhere has already floated this idea.  The shootout has come to stay in deciding regular season games that couldn’t decide anything after 60 minutes of regulation time and an additional five minutes of 4-on-4 overtime.

The shootout is a tidy end to a game.  It’s tailor-made for television; it looks good, it produces a winner within a set amount of time, and even a non-hockey fan can flick on the TV and be drawn in by the spectacle.

I’ve come to learn to live with the shootout.  It’s not going away anytime soon.  One reason I can hold my nose and learn to like the novelty is that I know it won’t find its way into the playoffs.

Well, not yet, anyhow.

Some are now calling for the NHL to adopt 4-on-4 play following one period of overtime.

Why wait until then?  If you’re so hot on deciding the game, then go to 4-on-4 in the first overtime period.  Even better, play the entire game that way.

Why tinker with the very matrix of the game in this fashion?  I’d prefer the game was consistent in its makeup.  Why are we tarting up the game?  Is it another ill-fated attempt to curry favour with non-hockey fans?  Yes, it’s always good to try to grow the game, but at what cost to the very intergrity of the sport?

One suggestion that I read made the most sense.  You want to make sure most NHL playoff overtimes don’t drag into the middle of the night?  Easy as pie.  Call the game as it’s called for the first three periods.  Don’t put the whistle away and “let the boys play”, as the Bob Cole’s of the world utter every time we head to OT.  Let the officials do their job and call the game.

Penalties are a part of hockey, as are the resulting powerplays.  You want to fix overtime?  No need to call a contractor.  This is an easy do-it-yourself job.

Stop putting away the rule book during overtime.  Problem solved.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

There are a handful of players in a given sport that people will go out of their way to see play.  These are the true superstars of their respectives games.  In the National Hockey League, the pantheon of current hockey gods is a short list.  It usually starts with Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, followed by Evgeni Malkin, and could also include Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk, among others, depending on your preferences.

One of those hockey gods passed through Toronto on Tuesday evening, March 24th.  Ovechkin and his merry men of Capitals took on the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.  The Capitals are among the elite teams in the league, with serious Stanley Cup aspirations, though there are continuing questions about their goaltending.  The Maple Leafs have been out of the playoff race for a couple of months, though their recent strong play has put them back in sight of eighth place in the East.

Regardless, no-one seriously expects Toronto to make a run for that last spot, though no-one in Hogtown have thrown in the towel as-of-yet.

With all this in mind, one might have expected a Caps-Leafs game this late in the season to end up something like 7-6 Caps, which might not be textbook hockey from a coaches perspective, but it would be something the fans would appreciate.

I made my way to the A.C.C. early tonight, fearful that all the seats up in the pressbox would be occupied.  After all, the Capitals are one of the league’s most exciting teams to watch, and it’s Ovechkin’s first game in Toronto since his mini-feud with Don Cherry over the extent of AO’s goal celebrations.  There should have been a palpable buzz around the arena.

There wasn’t, or at least there wasn’t one I could detect.  Maybe Leafs’ fans are resigned to missing the playoffs once again.  Still, Ovechkin is in town.  That should be enough.

6:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time – made my way through the corridors up to press row.  The Capitals were just outside their dressing room, preparing to take the ice for the pre-game warm-up.  Jose Theodore and Ovechkin were closest to the door.  All of the Caps rocked back-and-forth on their skates, anticipating getting onto the fresh sheet of ice.  They looked like the kids at my local Scarborough arena every Sunday afternoon during public skating hour; they couldn’t wait to get out there.  Anyone who thinks these guys only play for the money are completely off-the-mark.  These guys got this far not only because they have talent, and worked to develop that talent, but because they all share a deep-seeded passion for the game.

I once read that John Lennon used to look forward to getting on-stage during the early years of Beatlemania, as it was one of the few places where he, and his bandmates, felt they were safe, where they were in control, and could be themselves.  Looking at Ovechkin, this thought crossed my mind. Waiting to hit the ice, he looked like he was in his element.  Nothing could touch him here.

6:40 pm - during the warmup, one of the cameras centres in on Ovechkin as he scoops up the puck, shakes-and-bakes his way towards the net, and unloads a rocket.  The camera proceeds to follow him for the majority of the warmup, as this is broadcast onto the giant screen perched atop the scoreboard suspended at centre ice.  Even in the warmup, Ovechkin is the show.

6:45 pm – Ovechkin is the second-last Cap to leave the ice at the conclusion of the warmup; Michael Nylander is the last.

7:06 pm – the teams emerge from their respective dressing rooms and charge onto the ice in preparation for the game.  Ovechkin hits the ice, and the camera centres in on him again.

7:10 pm – puck is dropped to begin the first period.  The crowd is strangely quiet tonight, as though they were attending a night school seminar.  The early play in the game mirrors this.

7:11 pm – Alexander Ovechkin takes SHIFT #1.  There is a fair amount of cheering as Number Eight heads over the boards.  After about a minute of skating around, he heads back to the bench.

7:15 pm – SHIFT #2.  This is a quick shift, 30 seconds at most, as a faceoff is required.

7:17 pm – SHIFT #3. The Caps employ their chief offensive weapon high in the opposing team’s zone.  He’s like a Russian bomber, flirting with Canadian airspace, but never actually dipping a toe over the line.  Ovechkin curls behind the Leafs’ defensive pair, who have to be mindful of his position, while at the same time, keeping their eyes on the play unfolding in front of them.  For those who criticize Ovechkin for not having the word backcheck in his vocabulary, he’s gone one better.  Any time he’s on the ice, he’s a threat to score.  The other team has no choice but to be constantly cognizant of this factor.  That, in turn, directly affects how they play.  How’s that for backchecking?  Ovechin knows what he’s doing.

On this shift, Ovechkin is hit with a long pass, but he’s offside.  The moribund crowd stirs to life at the possibility of magic, but slumps back into their seats with the whistle.

7:21 pm – the scoreboard shows a brief yet tasteful tribute to former NHL’er and one-time Maple Leaf sniper Walt Poddubbny, who passed away earlier this week.

7:25 pm – SHIFT #4.  On this tour-of-duty, Ovechkin throws his body around, first with a hit on Leafs’ defenceman Luke Schenn, and then with a very slight crosscheck to the chest of Matt Stajan.  One of Ovechkin’s longer shifts, or so it seems.

7:32 pm – SHIFT #5.  Once again, Ovechkin silently patrols the Leafs’ blueline, waiting for a pass to spring him free.  It reminds me of watching a game at the War Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo back in January 1990.  The Sabres were hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Mario Lemieux was in the midst of a lengthy point-scoring streak, before injuries forced him to pull up short of Wayne Gretzky’s record.  Lemieux would be employed in exactly the same manner as Ovechkin, but remember, back then the centre-ice two-line pass was still forbidden.

7:30 pm – Peter Ing, former Maple Leafs’ netminder, is introduced to the crowd as that night’s Alumni member.  He’s in attendence with his young daughter.  A hearty round of applause for the mostly forgotten Ing, who looked like the Next Big Thing for the Leafs when he debuted in the 1989-90 season.  It wasn’t to be, and Ing only played 74 games in the NHL, also suiting up for the Oilers and Red Wings.

7:39 pm – SHIFT #6.  The Caps keep trying to hit Ovechkin with the long bomb, but to no avail.  You can sense even the pro-Leafs crowd would perfer to see one of these passes connect, if only to inject some life into this stale game.  During this shift, Ovechkin has to take a faceoff, the only one all night he’ll take, and he loses it.  Okay, so he’s not Bobby Clarke or Stan Mikita.  Also during this shift, Washington manages to sustain some pressure deep in the Leafs’ zone.  One gets the feeling the Capitals have the ability to ratchet up their game when they wish.  Tonight, we are wishing.

7:44 pm – first period over.  No score.  10-6 shot advantage for Washington.  No penalties called.  No real flow to this game yet.  Ovechkin had six shifts, and was on the ice for 7 minutes and 1 second, third-most ice-time for the Caps, but the longest average shift time.  Luke Schenn of the Maple Leafs was on the ice for 8 minutes and 18 seconds.

8:02 pm – second period begins.

8:03 pm – SHIFT #7.  Ovechkin get physical with Leafs’ centre John Mitchell during this shift.  Also notice TSN’s Pierre McGuire wildly gesticulating between the benches.  He’s planted there during the TV broadcast to offer a different perspective on the proceedings.  He sticks out like a sore thumb.  One cannot be the shy type to have that job.

8:06 pm – SHIFT #8.  During this shift, the first penalty of the game is called.  Milan Jurcina goes off for two minutes for tripping.  Ovechkin does not play on the PK.  The crowd perks up with their Leafs on the powerplay, and the home team applies some pressure in the Capitals zone, but fails to capitalize.

This game needs a goal.

8:11 pm – SHIFT #9.  Ovechkin can’t beat the defenceman one-on-one.  It only takes once.

8:17 pm – TORONTO SCORES.  The shot from the point snakes its way through the crowd and eludes Jose Theodore in the Washington net.  1-0 Toronto.  The A.C.C. erupts, proving that everyone hadn’t nodded off.  It’s the first NHL goal for Maple Leafs’ defenceman Phil Oreskovic.

8:18 pm – SHIFT #10.  Nothing to note.

8:21 pm – Washington picks up another penalty.  Shaone Morrisonn is nabbed for hooking.  Jose Theodore makes about five very nice saves in-a-row during this penalty kill.

8:23 pm – SHIFT #11.  Ovechkin makes a nice deke behind the Toronto net, but ends up losing the puck.  It appears to be only a matter-of-time before he finds the back-of-the-net.

Attendance tonight is announced as 19,362.  That’s 19,362 people who’ll have a problem falling asleep later tonight, as they’re catching a few winks at the arena, and will be well rested when they get home.

8:30 pm – SHIFT #12.  Ovechkin shoots the puck into the Leafs zone, just off-side.  After a faceoff, he’s part of the cycle the Capitals utilize in front of Martin Gerber.  No quality scoring chance is created as a result, but once again, the Caps hint that they could take this to another gear, if they so choose to.

With exactly a minute left to play in the second period, the Maple Leafs pick up their first penalty of the game; Jamal Mayers gets two for interference.

SHIFT #13.  Apparently I’m so excited at the prospect of watching the Capitals on the powerplay, I neglect to write down the time on my Coleman wristwatch.  Suffice to say, Ovechkin comes over the boards and takes his place on the point for the beginning of the PP.

One thing leads to another, and AO finds himself cutting towards the net, to the left of Gerber, who he dekes with a nifty little move that pulls the Leafs’ goaltender out just enough so that Ovechkin can go to the backhand and deposit the puck in the net.

1-1 tie. Ovechkin’s powerplay marker is his 51st goal of the season.

The question-of-the-day, though, in this hockey mad city, is in which manner will he celebrate said goal?

The answer is…in a subdued manner.  A brief kiss of his finger, and then a raised hand.  Then again, what did anyone expect?  Ovechkin tearing off his uniform, to reveal a Coaches Corner t-shirt underneath?

When the goal is announced by the booming voice of Andy Frost, there is a fair amount of applause from the crowd.  There weren’t that many people pulling for Washington this evening.  The hockey fans in Toronto know the game as well as anyone else on the planet.  They may be rather staid during most of the game, but they know a good goal when they see one.

The second period ends with the score knotted up at 1 goal apiece.  Ovechkin finally had the opportunity to come alive in this frame, registering a number of shots, and, of course, the powerplay goal.  He’s averaging a minute and 3 seconds per shift.

8:55 pm – third period is underway.

8:57 pm – SHIFT #14.  Ovechkin just missed connecting on a one-timer to the right of Martin Gerber.

It’s around this point that Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau calls a thirty-second time-out.  Not sure why, but I am curious how his team will respond afterwards.

9:03 pm – SHIFT #15.  Ovechkin lands his third hit of the game on Matt Stajan.  Why’s he ragin’ at The Stajan?  Actually, all the hits have been minor, just part of the flow of the game.  Ovechkin is known for enjoying that aspect of hockey as well as collecting the goals, a big reason why fans have taken to him.

9:06 pm – SHIFT #16.  Ovechkin takes one of his shorter shifts of the game, as the puck goes over the boards, and he changes up before the resulting faceoff.

9:07 pm – The “Go Leafs Go” chant starts up for the first time this evening in the A.C.C.

9:14 pm – SHIFT #17.  Wow, it’s been almost 8 minutes since Ovechkin was on the ice.  Can’t remember now, but there had to have been a TV timeout factored in there somewhere.  On this shift, he moves into the slot area with his stick coiled, but Gerber freezes the puck before it can get to Number 8.

It appears to these eyes as Ovechkin’s (and most everyone, with the notable expection of Mike Green) shifts are getting shorter as the third period progresses.

As for Washington defenceman Mike Green, I’ve heard and read the hype for the entire season, so it was also a delight to finally see Number 52 in action.  He’s everywhere, and he’s fast.  Green is a rover, and against a team like the Maple Leafs, he’s able to rocket safely back into position after one of his many forays’s deep into enemy territory.  No doubt other games he occasionally gets caught out of position, but the rewards far outweigh the risks.  Thank goodness he plays for a team, and a coach, that permits him to fully utilize his formidable skill set.  Green is a delight to watch.

9:17 pm – SHIFT #18.  Ovechkin chops at (on?) defenceman Jeff Finger in the Leafs’ zone.  Nothing to see here, move along.

9:21 pm – SHIFT #19.  Ovechkin takes a feed and gets off a nice shot that’s either just wide of the top left post behind Gerber, or hits a piece of the goaltender, and goes wide.  It happens so fast, I don’t know, and I don’t have the benefit to replay where I’m sitting.  Ovechkin has a lightning-fast shot.  During the same shift, he falls down deep in the Toronto zone, but still manages to pass the puck towards the slot.

WIth less than three minutes left, the Capitals come as close as a team can to scoring without actually lighting the lamp.  Somehow, Gerber keeps the puck out of his net.

And, as we all know, for TV hockey commentators will remind us each and every time, when that happens…

…the other team comes back and scores.

Well, first, John Erskine gets nabbed for hooking with 2:26 left in the third.

Toronto goes on the powerplay, and wIth 2:36 left to play, Pavel Kubina’s slapshot from the point finds its way into the back of the net.  The puck goes through the legs of Theodore, who had some traffic in front of him.  Typical NHL goal.  2-1 Maple Leafs.  The crowd finally appears to be fully awake.

We all had no idea what was in store for us mere moments away.

9:25 pm – SHIFT #20.  OVechkin sets up behind the Leafs’ goal, not in a Gretzky Office sort of way, but just because that’s where the puck is for the longest time.

With just over a minute left to play, Boudreau elects to pull Theodore.  It leads to almost immediate dividends, as the Caps push the equalizer past Gerber.  2-2 tie with 57 seconds left on the clock. Brooks Laich, who I understand is the extra attacker, gets the goal.  Ovechkin picks up an assist.

A hotly debated goal, at least by Leafs’ netminder Martin Gerber, who in his Curtis Joseph-like zeal to get to the offending referee and make his objections known, gets a little too physically friendly with ref Mike Leggo, and then proceeds to shoot the puck in the direction of the officials, though I have to admit, I didn’t see that infraction occur.

Doesn’t matter.  The officials did, and after assuring all that the goal stands, they hand Gerber a ten-minute misconduct, and he is asked to retire to the splendour of the dressing room for the remainer of the game.

Which means a cold Curtis Joseph, with a big grin on his face, is pressed into action.  After sitting at the end of the Maple Leafs’ bench for the past 59 minutes and three seconds of the game.  Scarfing down hotdogs.

Okay, maybe not, but Cujo couldn’t be any colder than when Toronto head coach Ron Wilson elected to use him in the shootout earlier this season instead of Vesa Toskala, and that turned out very badly for the Leafs.  No doubt the Capitals were licking their chops.

When the Washington goal is announced, the A.C.C. crowd boos very loudly.  They are finally into this game, though to be fair, there wasn’t much of a game to be into for most of the night.

SHIFT #21.  Curtis Joseph stones Ovechkin on a one-timer with 10 seconds left on the clock. The place erupts.  Ovechkin makes a face like he thought he should have had that one.   Probably everyone else in the joint thought he was going to connect, as well.  We head to overtime.

9:31 pm – SHIFT #22.  Ovechkin wasn’t on the ice to start the first, second or third period, but he’s out there to start the extra frame.  4-on-4.  Plenty of room for the Capitals’ predators.  He makes a nice rush up the ice, and sets up Mike Green in the slot, but Joseph is square to the puck, and stops it.

9:34 pm – SHIFT #23.  Ovechkin gets in a few rather light slashes at Alexei Ponikarovsky.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

9:36 pm – SHIFT #24. First off, the official NHL game sheet has Ovechkin having only 23 shifts, so somehow I’ve got him taking an extra shift.  The NHL stats guys know what they’re doing, but since this is how I tracked the game, I’m going with this phantom Shift 24, just to I don’t have to go back and figure out how I screwed up the math.

Regardless, Ovechkin helps draw a Pavel Kubina hooking penalty with 52. 3 seconds left in overtime.  During the 4-on-3, Ovechkin can’t keep the puck in the zone, but the Caps regroup quickly and regain the zone.  Once again, Joseph stones Ovechkin in the slot, and the A.C.C. crowd parties like it’s 1999.  We head to the shootout.

I’ve only seen one previous NHL shootout live, and it was that game where coach Wilson had Joseph come out of the bullpen for Toskala.  Doubt there will be the same result tonight, as Cujo has been at the top of his game in his less than six minutes of service.

Toronto elects to shoot first, which I think is almost always the best move for the home team.  Noted sniper Jeff Hamilton starts things, and damn if he doesn’t bury it.

That would be the only goal of the skills competition, as Theodore shuts the door on Blake and Mitchell.

As for Joseph, he stops Backstrom and Semin shoots wide, which sets up Alexander Ovechkin against Curtis Joseph.  Either Ovechin ties the game, or Joseph is elected mayor of Toronto.

The crowd is completely into the affair by now, whipped into a frenzy by their distate for the tying goal, and by the huge saves by Joseph.  The boos cascade around the building as Ovechkin sets himself at centre ice.  It’s a delicious piece of theatre, the game distilled down into this solitary encounter.  It’s the shootout as its best.

Ovechkin gets the signal, and moves in on Joseph.  Cujo goes down a bit early, and maybe guesses on the shot, but Ovechkin can’t find the handle, and as he moves to his right with the puck, rapidly running out of room, the crowd roars as it anticipates that this game is over.

Which it is.  3-2 Toronto.  58 minutes of mostly subpar hockey, with a few exceptions.  It’s the last two minutes, and all the extra activities, that have people talking.

The three stars reflect the peculiar nature of this game.  Oreskovic gets the third star, a homer call, thanks to his first NHL goal.

Mike Green gets the second star, and for good reason.  He was everywhere, registering 10 shots and was on the ice for 30 shifts, totalling 29 minutes and 7 seconds.  This man earns his pay.

Curtis Joseph is awarded the gold star, and even though he was only out there for the last chapter of the game, he earned it.  Former NHL goaltender and current broadcaster Greg Millen was sitting about three seats to my left, and I heard him loudly proclaim as he left the press box, that he’d never seen anything like it in all his years in hockey, a goaltender getting the first star for what was basically a one-inning relief appearance.

As for Alexander Ovechkin, the superstar ended the evening with a goal and an assist.  The goal was a powerplay marker, and the assist picked him up a plus one rating for the night.  He was on the ice for 23 shifts, for an average of a minute and one second per shift.  Ovechkin totalled 23:27 in ice time overall, and took 7 shots.

He was pretty much everything he’s advertised to be.  All eyes were on him whenever he took to the ice.  The game overall, save the last six minutes, was a dud, but one always had the feeling that at any time, given just an inch, Ovechkin would explode and fill the net with pucks.

23 shifts.

A player worth paying to watch.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

The wonders that a little overcooked Ovechkin goal celebration will do.

Thanks to his too-hot-to-handle 50th goal celebration the other night, the likes of the esteemed Thomas Boswell have seen fit to wade into the fray and comment about the game of hockey.

Boswell is a well-respected sports journalist, and the author of one of my favourite tomes on the great game of baseball, “Why Time Begins On Opening Day”.

Apparently he has a new book in the works, “Why The NHL began with Alexander Ovechkin”.

And maybe it did.  Maybe the creative, hot-dogging talents of the Russian sniper are what the league has been sorely lacking.

Ovechkin’s antics in Tampa no doubt made a number of sports highlight shows across the United States, which may have been the first time some of these programs lowered themselves to talk about hockey, other than when they get atop their moral high horse and show the shocked masses a hockey fight.

American hockey fans are as passionate and as knowledgeable about the game of hockey as any Canadian fan is, and they’d be the first to tell you that the overall coverage of the game is spotty, at best, in the lower 48.

Up here in the Great White North, one gets a sense of that when listening in to ESPN All-Night, which delves into detailed breakdowns of everything pertaining to football, baseball, basketball, college football, and college basketball, but offers nary a word about hockey.  And since one can’t listen to the program all the time, if they have done a segment or two on hockey, it pales in comparison to the coverage of those other sports.

And that’s the way it should be.  ESPN would go out of business fast if they didn’t tailor-make their program to suit the tastes of their audience.  For that same reason, TSN up here in Canada doesn’t devote a large part of their updates to cricket, even though there’s a growing, passionate audience for the sport in this country.

The plight of the American hockey fan is further underscored by the patchwork of cable television access to the Centre Ice package and the NHL Network.  Having manned the phones for the call-in portion of the NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman here on the NHL Home Ice, I know first-hand the constant frustration that U.S. fans have with gaining access to these services they are eager to pay for.

Depending on the market, some have the services, while others are patiently waiting, even though that wait appears to have no end.

Maybe the theatrics of AO is enough to convince those broadcast barons still holding out that NHL hockey is enough of a money-maker for them to include it in their overpriced, watered-down cable bundle.  The NHL will never come close to equaling the other major U.S. pro sports, but so what.  It is a niche product, one that appears to still be growing, and if handled properly, there’s money in dem der hills.

So, as Thomas Boswell basically writes in his column today in the Washington Post, the fans of the NHL should be rejoicing in the rejoicing of Ovechkin.  Time to drop the conservatism that has shrouded this league for years, and get with the other big time sports.  Time to act like you haven’t been in the endzone before.

What irks me is not Ovechkin and his pretty slamdances into the glass after a goal, or his Jimi Hendrix impersonation the other night.  I can live with it, though I don’t believe that all his celebrations are unplanned.  I’m not a Washington fan, so while I appreciate the beauty of most of his goals, I’m not cheering for the guy.  Yes, he’s good for hockey, but he’s not hockey.  Bobby Orr wasn’t hockey, neither was Wayne Gretzky.

What does irk me is two-fold.

First off, is the defensive reaction of a large contingent of Washington Capitals fans who believe that Ovechkin is above criticism.  Now granted, having motor-mouth Don Cherry take on Ovechkin does make one want to circle the Ovechkin wagons as well, but one has to rise above such pettiness.

Ovechkin is one of the true superstars currently at work in the National Hockey League, one of the few players people will pay good money to watch, even if they’re marginal hockey fans.  Regardless, he is still a member of the Washington Capitals, not the Harlem Globetrotters.  The opposition is, well, it could be the Lightning, or the Thrashers or the Rangers, they’re not the Washington Generals.

It’s alright for opposing fans to boo the guy.  It doesn’t mean they’re bums, or have no class, or don’t understand the game of hockey, or don’t appreciate what a stud like Ovechkin brings to the sport.  Rather, it means that they are fans of their home team.

Don’t worry that Thomas Boswell, or Boomer Gordon, or Elliott Friedman, or even Mick Kern, tells you otherwise.  You are the fan.  You paid your money.  You decide how you should react.  Well, outside of acts of violence.  Oh, and please keep your shirts on, fat guys.  Someone might get hurt.

The world is not the same as it was in 1950, or 1960, or 1985, and thank goodness for that, and the culture of hockey reflects these mostly positive changes.  Still, within the very matrix of the game we all love so very much, there beats the heart of some simple truths, be they actual facts or dearly held on to beliefs.  At some point, the line blurs between the two distinctions.

Hockey is a sporting culture onto itself within North America sport.  Its true sporting cousin may be Australian rugby, more so than any pampered American past-time.  To equate how hockey players should behave in relation to players in the NFL or MLB or the MBA is to miss the point by a wide margin.

Sports, to a large degree, is an everyday, peacetime substitute for the tribalism that still pulls at every person’s heart.  Us against them.  We’re better than you.  You’re not one of us.  It’s in your DNA.

Hockey, in some part due to its marginal place at the table when it comes to media attention on this continent, has taken this outsider’s status and has made it a part of its identity.

We don’t need ESPN or USA Today or ABC or the Washington Times to acknowledge our greatness, or even our very existence.  The game of hockey, meaning all the players at every level, and the coaches, and fans, and hockey moms and dads, and all the support staff, we know who we are, and we’re more than alright with that.

Which may explain why fighting, despite all evidence to the contrary, remains near-and-dear to most hockey fans on both sides of the border.  The very fact that a game of hockey can be disrupted at any point by (at least) two men fighting is, on first, and second, and even third glance, highly anachronistic.

It can’t logically be defended, and even the most zealot supporters of fighting in hockey usually fall back on well-worn clilches to justify its continual existence in the game.

Yet, like so very much of this game, regardless of where you personally stand on fighting (and I, for one, wouldn’t miss it if it disappeared tomorrow), fighting is a key part of the mosaic that makes up hockey, a game that is so passionately loved by its fans for daring to swim against the tide in today’s streamlined, edges-sanded-down society we have molded for ourselves.

While it’s not the only dangerous sport out there (auto racing comes to mind, as does facing a heater at home plate, as does facing a blitzing linebacker), the very nature of this sanguine sport sets it apart from every other sport on this continent.

It’s played at a very high tempo, they wear blades, they carry sticks, they are encouraged to hit one another, they fire a virtual bullet around the unforgiving ice, and there’s boards to contain all this, no real out-of-bounds, unless the puck goes over those boards.

There is nowhere to hide out there.  Hockey exposes you.  Its very disposition is one of violation.  Hockey is inherently a violent game, and no amount of rule changes, and equipment tweaks, and philosophical discussions is going to alter that fact.

Which brings me back to Thomas Boswell, and the almost paternalistic tone his article takes regarding some of the negative reaction to Ovechkin’s on-ice antics, and the second thing that irks me about this whole affair.

The arguments in favour of Ovechkin celebrating goals in this fashion are persuasive.  The NHL does need to inject some colour into its players, who are its greatest asset, yet are often hidden behind helmets and visors and over-protective PR departments who act as though they’re pertrified that one of these guys might actually say something quotable.

When Ovechkin puts the celebratory cherry on top of the ice-cream sundae goal he just scored, he will garner attention, even in U.S. media outlets who couldn’t be bothered to throw the NHL a few scraps of bread at the best of times.

That’s all fine.

What irks me is the likes of Boswell scolding the hockey fans/media/establishment who either do not care for the antics of Ovechkin, or have no problem with them, but would rather he do it sparingly.

Such theatrics are not a part of the culture of hockey.  Oh sure, Tiger WIlliams rode his stick a couple of times, and Theo Fleury slid across the ice after that big goal, and others probably did the Funky Chicken, for all we know, but overall, the culture of hockey has always been about Team, not Player.

It’s part of why hockey fans, whether American or Canadian, bleed the sport when cut.

It’s about shared identity with the group, it’s about the others in the foxhole.  The NFL comes closest to matching that, but even then, the wide receivers, and running backs, and quarterbacks, and the odd superstar linebacker, pull against that collective.

Hockey is about Us, not Me.

And while Ovechkin is just as likely to do his happy dance when one of his teammates scores, he still manages to pull the spotlight towards his antics.  Nothing wrong with that, and after all, there are different unwritten rules for superstars, but I really doubt that new people, who have shunned the sport for years, are suddenly going to watch the NHL just because Ovechkin likes to jump around after a goal.

Most hockey fans, with the obvious exception of supporters of the Washington Capitals, understand that some players in the league will have a problem with Ovechkin’s theatrics.  These same hockey fans will also understand that such differences have a way of being settled, which doesn’t have to mean fisticuffs, but the on-ice frontier justice has always been a part of the game, even though it logically cannot be defended.

A hockey fan understands that reality, whether they approve of the goal celebrations or not.  An outsider does not.

The outsider is correct in questioning such archaic thinking, but then again, they haven’t been baptised yet.

Hockey fans shouldn’t worry about the arrogance of Thomas Boswell, attempting to shame us into grafting onto hockey the culture of the other big money sports in America, though I have a feeling the NHL head offices in New York would be all for that integration into the sporting mainstream.  After all, that can only mean more money.

Yet, if anything, over the years, NHL hockey has managed to survive the actual NHL.  The small-minded dictatorship of the Norris Family and Clarence Campbell.  The bumblings of the likes of Gil Stein.  The misguided notions of league grandeur and phantom network TV contracts of Gary Bettman.  The crimes of Alan Eagleson, and the scorched Earth policies of the likes of Bob Goodenow.

Somehow, the actual game continues to thrive, thankfully with rules changes now-and-again to correct its course.

Hockey is different from every other big sport in North America.

Mr. Boswell, stick to baseball.

What you write about that game connects me with a sport that is my favourite.  And as a Canadian, even though the game of baseball has deep roots in this country, I will always remain just outside the lines when it comes to truly being a part of that culture.  Your books, and articles, allow me a glimpse into that world, one I wish I had been born into.

While baseball is my favourite sport, hockey is my religion.  It’s in my blood, so much so that it continually calls me back, even when I try to deny its pull.

It’s all around me, on a constant basis.  Every month of the year.  There is no off-season for hockey in Canada.

Hockey is Canada, even though only about 3 million people may watch Hockey Night In Canada on any given Saturday night.  Even though, particularly with a changing demographic, less and less people have suited up and played it.

That may matter forty, fifty years from now, but not right now.  Hockey is Canada, and Hockey is also specific parts of the United States, just as much.  But only certain parts.

While it’s great that the game is in markets such as Washington, D.C., and Nashville, and Atlanta, and Phoenix, and Dallas, it’ll never, NEVER, have the same resonance that it has in Edmonton, or Winnipeg, or Montreal, or Halifax, or Saskatoon, or Moose Jaw, or Toronto, or Glace Bay.

Or in Detriot, or the state of Minnesota, or New Hampshire, or Vermont, etc.

So on behalf of the so-called “hockey purists” you dismiss in your article, I’m going to trump you, Mr. Boswell, and ask you to keep your professorial musings about the game of hockey to yourself.

Ryan Malone isn’t a moron, as your article claims.

Ryan Malone understands how hockey works.  You don’t.

Hockey ain’t baseball or football.  Somehow, someway, even in today’s video game society, hockey is purer.  Not by much, but by enough.

And that is something you’ll never understand.

Leave my game alone.

I appreciate it.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s