Stacking the Pads

NOVEMBER 12th

2006-11-13T00:51:00.000-05:00

Europe - Karjala Tournament
Backlund (SWE) - W - 1.00
Koschechkin (RUS) - W - .926 - Shootout: 2 saves of 3 shots
Malek (CZE) - L - .946 - Shootout: 1 save of 3 shots
Wallinheimo (FIN) - L - .958

NHL
Backstrom (MIN) - L - .921
Boucher (CHI) - W- 1.00
Giguere (ANA) - W - .923
Markkanen (EDM) - L - .862
Norrena (CBJ) - L - .947
Sanford (STL) - W- .909

NOVEMBER 11th

2006-11-11T23:50:00.000-05:00

Europe - Karjala Tournament
Cechmanek (CZE) - L - .909
Eremenko (RUS) - W - .818
Ersberg (SWE) - L - .844
Wallinheimo (FIN) - W - .967

NHL
Aebischer (MTL) - L - .862
Aubin (TOR) - W - .962
Belfour (FLA) -L- .833
Biron (BUF) - W- .867
Brodeur (NJ) -W- .900
Fernandez (MIN) - W - .938 - Shootout: 3 saves of 6 shots
Garon (LA) - OTL - .941 - Shootout: 2 saves of 5 shots (1 miss)
Gerber (OTT) - L - .862
Holmqvist (TB) - W - .900
Huet (MTL) - n/a - .923
Joseph (PHX) - L - .889
Kiprusoff (CGY) - W - .923
Kolzig (WSH) - W - .976
Lehtonen (ATL) - L - .861
Luongo (VAN) - L - .857
Lundqvist (NYR) - L - .893
Mason (NSH) - W - 1.00
Nabokov (SJ) - n/a - .929
Niittymaki (PHI) - OTL - .865
Theodore (COL) - L - .968
Thibault (PIT) - L - .828
Thomas (BOS) - W- .893
Toskala (SJ) - W - 1.00
Ward (CAR) - W - .900

NOVEMBER 10TH

2006-11-11T23:39:00.000-05:00

NHL
Auld (FLA) - OTL - .808
Biron (BUF) - W - .789
Bryzgalov (ANA) - L - .333
Caron (CHI) - W - .960
Fleury (PIT) - L - .864
Gerber (OTT) - W - .824
Giguere (ANA) - n/a - 1.00
Hasek (DET) - W - 1.00
Kiprusoff (CGY) - 1.00
LeClaire (CBJ) - L - .862
Lehtonen (ATL) - L - .800
Lundqvist (NYR) - W - .933
Roloson (EDM) - W - .963
Sanford (STL) - L - .882
Vokoun (NSH) - L - .949

Who's the best in the net?

2006-09-28T17:28:00.000-04:00

Alan Muir of SI.com gives us his list of the best netminders as of opening night this season. The usual suspects are there, but there is a surprise or two.

And what the heck is happening in Sweden? Linköping and Frölunda, who finished 2nd and 3rd last year, are in 10th and 11th places, respectively. Frölunda's record is atrocious: 0-3-2 after being soundly beaten by HV71 today by a score of 6-1. I've watched several video clips of their games and find myself wondering if someone put a Salo jersey on some random guy off the street and put him in net. There is no way Salo played this poorly last year, not with the success the team had. Looking only at the scores of the games, I thought maybe the defense is porous this year. But the video shows sloppy positioning and terrible reaction time on his part. What's happened? He's no spring chicken at 35 years of age, but there has to be something going on for there to be such a dramatic difference between this season and last. HV hasn't been faring much better, but they finally leapt ahead of the pack of "former-winners in the basement" today with their victory over the Indians, putting them in 8th place. Ooooooh, look out, here they come now!

Catching up with the team previews

2006-09-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

There's more great analysis on nhl.com, looking at many aspects of the teams as we inch closer to the start of the regular season. As far as the goalies go...

All jokes aside, Rick DiPietro's confidence is back after a career-high in wins last season. (Note: Wade Dubielewicz is featured as backup in this article, but the Isles appear to be courting Mike Dunham, who has played in all three of the Islanders' pre-season games so far.) King Henrik will be out to prove his stellar season was no fluke, just as the Senators will benefit from Martin Gerber proving himself in a new city, with hungry Ray Emery at his heels. And in Minnesota, now that the question of the #1 position has been settled, the battle for ice time will be played out for the backup role between club prospect Josh Harding and Finnish import Niklas Backstrom. With Antero Niittymaki's unfortunate injury, the Flyers will have to rely on Robert Esche as their starter, rather than go with the tandem plan as predicted. Predators players and fans alike are relieved that Tomas Vokoun's health problems cleared up and he is ready to pick up where he left off. The kid with the bright yellow pads gets his first shot at a full season as the #1 goalie. Pittsburgh's backup situation is a lot less confidence-inspirig. CuJo is the undisputed #1 in Pheonix, and John McGourty thinks an improved Coyotes defense will do wonders to help improve his numbers.

Goalie geek heaven continued...

2006-09-21T21:31:00.000-04:00

Phil Coffey continues his team-by-team analysis at nhl.com. With Marc Denis gone Pascal LeClaire can really come into his own in Columbus. No look at Dallas would be complete without discussing Marty Turco's strange tendency to fall apart in the postseason, and what is there to say about Detroit other than: Hasek ? Alex Auld has a few interesting things to say about his old team. Up in Habs territory the crease is a bit crowded. And the worst job in hockey might just be being Martin Brodeur's backup.

A goalie geek's gold mine

2006-09-18T22:46:00.000-04:00

Phill Coffey over at NHL.com is doing a fantastic job of previewing the teams for the 2006-2007 season. He looks at each aspect of the teams, but of course I go right for the goalies.

Will Bryz or Giggy end up with the #1 job in Anaheim? The Thrashers focus on keeping Lehtonen healthy and closing the revolving door to the backup position, while Toivonen may get the chance to shine this season in Boston. Even though Buffalo has no worries in net (which will free up management to do something about their hideous new logo), there couldn't be a bigger no-brainer than Calgary's goaltending situation. Brind'Amour gives Cam Ward kudos, Nikolai Khabibulin is out to prove 2005-2006 was just a fluke, and Jose Theodore intends to start fresh in Colorado.

Another conversation with the Flyers fan

2006-09-18T17:17:00.000-04:00

I’m not a huge football fan, but I am a casual Giants fan just by default because that is the team my family has always rooted for. (Yes, I know this is a hockey blog… stay with me on this, I promise it will tie in).

Yesterday as I carbo-loaded in preparation for my first official game with my new team, an all-women’s team, I watched the Giants/Eagles game. I actually found myself quite into it, even yelled at the TV a little. And this was during the first half, so you can’t call me a bandwagon Giants fan for that. I did wander off to do some other things but came back when I found out they’d tied, and watched the rest of the game. I was happy that the Giants came back and won, but was even more gleeful about the fact that I could gloat about it to that Philadelphia transplant in my office. My opportunity came toward the end of the day as I was getting my afternoon coffee. Flyers Fan happened to be loading up on caffeine as well.

Me: So… I watched a football game yesterday.

FF (warily): Really? What game did you watch?

Me: Oh…the Giants/Eagles game.

We had a friendly banter about the game, and then when we both discovered that the other had lost their cable connection mid-game, the conversation turned to Cablevision, otherwise known in these parts (ok, just in my house) as “Evil Empire”. He complained that they are always telling him to buy this or that device to increase his bandwidth.

FF: I think it’s just a ruse so they can keep paying your Rangers.

Me: Nah, the salary cap has saved the Rangers from themselves.

FF: Ok, then it’s for the Continual Mark Messier Retirement Party.

Me: Maybe. But it might be funneled into the Brian Leetch Retirement Party fund, since it looks like we’ll be getting him back in time for him to retire.

FF: What happened? You guys were doing so well, sticking with the young guys… now you have Shanahan, and maybe Leetch? Why don’t they just call up Wayne Gretzky and ask him to play for another few years?

Is it me, or does this “Flyers fan” know an awful lot about the Rangers?

In other news…
The only good thing this Ranger fan can say about the Devils’ 5-0 mauling of the Bruins in their first pre-season game is that defenseman Johnny Oduya, formerly of the Frölunda Indians, had 3 assists.

And speaking of the Frölunda Indians, they played their first game of the regular season today, and lost to Linköpings 5-2. Goaltenders were Salo for Frölunda and Cechmanek for Linköpings. (Talk about retirement parties…)

Yesterday, Ak Bars Kazan bested Metallurg Magnitogorsk by a score of 3-1 and kept Czech sensation Jan Marek scoreless.

14 hours...

2006-09-16T22:57:00.000-04:00

In 14 hours the first pre-seaon game will be underway, and I can finally start to relax. I honestly don't know how I survived the lockout, so edgy have I been for the last two weeks or so, waiting for the season to start. Tomorrow's matchups will be: Bruins/Devils, Predators/BlueJackets, Oilers/Coyotes, and Panthers/Flames.

In other (actual, real) news, the Hawks just can't seem to get a break in net. Hopefully they won't have to rely on the services of a backup very much, if the old Bulin Wall can stay healthy and get back to his old form.

Old and new faces

2006-09-15T06:38:00.000-04:00

Yet another milestone on the road to hockey season passed yesterday: training camps officially opened, and the fruits of the summer of free agency can be seen list (below) of all goalies officially invited to each teams' camp. Legace in St. Louis? Luongo in Vancouver? Belfour in Florida? If you've been under a rock all summer (or maybe just watching baseball), you're in for a few surprises.

However, can someone explain why Miikka Kiprusoff is mysteriously absent from Calgary's official roster? Also, Mike Dunham has reportedly been invited to the Islanders' camp.

The information was collected from the official press releases linked on the NHL site. Format is as follows:

Name (2005-2006 league)

Anaheim
Michael Leighton (AHL)
Ilya Bryzgalov (NHL)
Nathan Marsters (AHL, ECHL)
Jean-Sebastien Giguere (NHL)
David McKee (ECAC)
Michael Wall (AHL, ECHL)
J.P. Levasseur (QMJHL)

Atlanta
Fred Brathwaite (Russia)
Dave Caruso (CCHA)
Michael Garnett (NHL)
Johan Hedberg (NHL)
Kari Lehtonen (NHL)
Ondrej Pavalec (QMJHL)
Dan Turple (OHL)

Boston
Brian Finley (NHL, AHL)
Tim Thomas (NHL, AHL)
Hannu Toivonen (NHL)

Buffalo
Adam Berkhoel (NHL)
Martin Biron (NHL)
Adam Dennis (OHL)
Ryan Miller (NHL)
Thomas Tragust (Italy)

Calgary
Leland Irving (WHL)
MAtt Keetley (WHL)
Brent Krahn (AHL)
Kevin Lalande (OHL)
Curtis McElhinney (AHL)

Carolina
Cam Ward (AHL, NHL)
Kevin Nastiuk (AHL, ECHL)
John Grahame (NHL)
Craig Kowalski (AHL, ECHL)
Justin Peters (OHL)

Chicago
Sebastien Caron (AHL, NHL)
Corey Crawford (AHL, NHL)
Nikolai Khabibulin (NHL)
Patrick Lalime (NHL, AHL)
Tom Lawson (ECHL, AHL)

Colorado
Petr Budaj (NHL)
Kris Mayotte (ECAC, ECHL, AHL)
Jose Theodore (NHL)
Tyler Weiman (ECHL, AHL)

Columbus
Ty Conklin (NHL, AHL)
Dan LaCosta (OHL)
Pascal Leclaire (NHL,AHL)
Steve Mason (OHL)
Fredrik Norrena (Sweden)
Tomas Popperle (Germany)

Dallas
Dan Ellis (AHL)
Tobias Stephan (Switzerland)
Marty Turco (NHL)
Mike Smith (AHL)

Detroit
Dominik Hasek (NHL)
Jimmy Howard (NHL, AHL)
Logan Koopmans (ECHL, AHL)
Stefan Liv (Sweden)
Joey MacDonald (AHL, ECHL)
Drew MacIntyre (AHL, ECHL)
Chris Osgood (NHL, AHL)

Edmonton
Jeff Drouin-Desiauriers (AHL, ECHL)
Devan Dubnyk (WHL)
Jussi Markkanen (NHL)
Bryan Pitton (OHL)
Dwayne Roloson (NHL)

Florida
Ed Belfour (NHL)
Jean-Marc Pelletier (AHL)
Craig Anderson (NHL)
Dvid Shantz (OHL)
Alex Auld (NHL)

Los Angeles
Jonathan Bernier (QMJHL)
Barry Brust (AHL)
Dan Cloutier (NHL)
Yutaka Fukfuji (AHL, ECHL)
Matthieu Garon (NHL)
Jason Labarbera (NHL, AHL)
Ryan Munce (ECHL)
Daniel Taylor (OHL)

Minnesota
Niklas Backstrom (Finland)
Manny Fernandez (NHL)
Josh Harding (AHL)

Montreal
David Aebischer (NHL)
Yann Danis (NHL, AHL)
Jaroslav Halak (AHL)
Cristobal Huet (NHL, AHL)
Loic Lacasse (LHJMQ)
Carey Price (WHL)

New Jersey
Frank Doyle (AHL)
Marin Brodeur (NHL)
Jordan Parise (WCHA)
Scott Clemmensen (NHL)
Gregg Naumenko (AHL, ECHL)

Nashville
Karl Goehring (AHL, Finland)
Chris Mason (NHL)
Pekka Rinne (NHL, AHL)
Tomas Vokoun (NHL)
Scott Reid (AHL, CHL)
Jesse Deckert (WHL)

NY Islanders
Rick DiPietro (NHL)
Wade Dubielewicz (NHL, AHL)
Chris Madden (AHL)
Mike Mole (ECHL)
Billy Thompson (AHL)

NY Rangers
Chris Holt (AHL, ECHL, NHL)
Henrik Lundqvist (NHL)
Al Montoya (AHL, NHL)
Kevin Weekes (NHL)
Stephen Valiquette (Russia)
Alex Westlund (Russia)

Ottawa
Ray Emery (NHL)
Martin Gerber (NHL)
Jeff Glass (ECHL)
Kelly Guard (AHL)

Philadelphia
Rejean Beauchemin (ECHL, AHL)
Robert Esche (NHL)
Martin Houle (ECHL, AHL)
Scott Munroe (CHA, AHL)
Antero Niittymaki (NHL)

Phoenix
Curtis Joseph (NHL)
David Leneveu (NHL, AHL)
Mike Morrison (NHL, ECHL)
Pier-Olivier Pelletier (QMJHL)
Phillippe Sauve (NHL)
Josh Tordman (QMJHL)

Pittsburgh
Patrick Ehelechner (Germany)
Marc-Andre Fleury (NHL, AHL)
Andrew Penner (AHL, ECHL)
Dany Sabourin (AHL, NHL)
Jocelyn Thibault (NHL)

San Jose
Taylor Dakers (WHL)
Thomas Greiss (Germany)
Evgeni Nabokov (NHL)
Dimitri Patzold (AHL)
Nolan Schaefer (NHL, AHL)
Vesa Toskala (NHL, AHL)

St. Louis
Jason Bacashihua (NHL, AHL)
Manny Legace (NHL)
Chris Beckford-Tseu (AHL, ECHL)
Curtis Sanford (NHL, AHL)
Marek Schwarz (Czech Republic)

Tampa Bay
Jonathan Boutin (ECHL, AHL)
Sean Burke (NHL)
Gerald Coleman (AHL, NHL)
Marc Denis (NHL)
Johan Holmqvist (Sweden)
Karri Ramo (Finland)

Toronto
Jean-Sebastien Aubin (NHL, AHL)
Todd Ford (AHL, ECHL)
Jean-Francois Racine (AHL)
Andrew Raycroft (NHL, AHL)
Mikeal Tellqvist (NHL)

Vancouver
Wade Flaherty (AHL)
Roberto Luongo (NHL)

Washington
Brent Johnson (NHL)
Michal Neuvirth (Czech Republic Jr.)
Daren Machesney (OHL)
Maxime Daigneault (AHL, ECHL)
Olie Kolzig (NHL)

Even Flyers fans are laughing

2006-09-13T16:19:00.000-04:00

Not many people in my office are hockey fans. A few guys are sports fans in general, which means they listen to WFAN and hear about hockey once in a blue moon. Usually only when something bizarre or major is happening, because that is the only time WFAN bothers to talk about hockey. Which is probably a good thing, because Mike and the Mad Dog know as much about hockey as I do about the dietary habits of the Majestic Norwegian Moose. But I digress.

There is a guy in my office who grew up in Philly, and who's sports interests lie mostly in football and baseball, but is aware enough about hockey to be a casual Flyers fan. I used to sit near his cube, so he got a real earful about the lockout. Today he wandered down to my office for a chat.

Flyers Fan: I have two questions for you. First... what's the realistic life span of a hockey player?

Me: Life span???

FF: I mean.... career span. How long is a hockey player's career usually?

Me: Well, it depends...

FF: Well, this 15 year contract....

(I start laughing. I had no idea where he was going with this up until that point.)

FF: How old is DiPietro?

Me: Well he'll be 40 if he plays until the end of his contract.

FF: Isn't that kind of old?

Me: Let me put it this way. The best goalie in the world, actively playing, is 41. And he's got a bit of rust on him, as much as I hate to say it.

FF: Who is that?

Me: Dominik Hasek.

FF: Oh yeah.... Hasek.

Me: DiPietro isn't going to be playing until he's 40. Maybe by then he can be GM.

From the "you have to be kidding me" file...

2006-09-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

I think the stench from the sewage this spring must have gone to Charles Wang's head. This doesn't quite top firing your newly hired GM and replacing him with last season's backup goalie, but it comes pretty close.

Thank you, Mr. Wang, for giving Devils and Rangers fans something they can agree on.

A Devil of a quandry

2006-09-11T21:36:00.000-04:00

I came upstairs to write a nice, calm, rational post about the last of the big-name free-agent goalie signings (Bryzgalov and Miller) and Vokoun's big-money contract extension, but I got distracted by this. Thanks to astute reader SquishyGirl, I now have a major moral dilemma. I can't have a goalie blog and not read this book. But I gag at the thought of lining this man's pockets with even one red cent. I could buy it used... but then I'd have to wait. And my blog would not be cutting edge. (Because.... you know.... I just have my finger on the pulse of goalie related news. Ahem. Yeah.) I could steal it, as the intrepid D-Man recommended, but that goes against my moral fiber. And yes, I do have some of that. I try to get at least 15 grams a day.

My dislike for Maaaaaarrrr-ttttyyyyy admitedly has a lot to do with the fact that I am a Ranger fan. A Ranger fan living in the midst of enemy territory, where cars on the highway every morning sport the logo of the hated rivals, where people who find out I am a hockey fan immediately assume I am a Devils fan. However, there is more to it than that. He is cocky, and has the kind of face you just want to wipe the smirk off of. Even his status as goalie - and therefore a step above all other human beings- isn't quite enough to mitigate my territorial loathing of the man. Even the fact that he is a living goaltending legend isn't enough to make me part with my hard-earned cash for this book without a twinge of irrational rivalry-induced guilt. But in the end, I will probably end up taking one for the team and forcing myself to read this equivalent of supermarket-tabloid goalie-related drivel, just because no self-respecting goalie fan can pass up the opportunity to read the divinely inspired words of the Goalie God Himself, Saint Martin.

Someone please shoot me if I have the same reaction after reading this book as I had after reading Eric Lindros' book: "hey... he's really not such a bad guy after all". Really. Please. Put me out of my misery if those words leave my mouth. Or in this case, fingertips.

I'm holding every last one of you to that. Beacuse I can't resist. You all know I will probably be pre-ordering this book and will devour it the minute it arrives on my doorstep. Now please excuse me while I go look for my spine. I seem to have left it somewhere....

Prospects Tournament, Day 2

2006-09-10T12:48:00.000-04:00

Scores from yesterday's games:

DET 2 (Vicari, 19-18)
TB 1 (Ramo, 27-25)

NYR 4 (Holt, 7-3; Murray, 10-9)
ATL 5 (Turple, 28-24)

CBJ 6 (LaCosta, 27-25)
STL 2 (Schwarz, 27-21)

DAL 3 (Silverthorn, 27-27)
MIN 0 (Westblom, 34-31)

Also.... the winner of the Nordic Trophy is Färjestad.

Tourney time!

2006-09-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

The Prospects Tournament is underway! Because it took me an extra day to get my ducks in a row, this post is actually two-fold. Below are all the goalies participating, and after that... results from the first day.

Atlanta Thrashers
David Caruso (Ohio State - NCAA)
Ondrej Pavelac (Cape Breton - QMJHL)
Dan Turple (Kitchener - OHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets
Dan LaCosta (Barrie - OHL)
Steve Mason (London - OHL)

Dallas Stars
Tobias Stephan (Kloten - SUI)
Steve Silverthorn (Idaho - ECHL)

Detroit Red Wings
Jimmy Howard (Grand Rapids - AHL)
Stefan Liv (HV71 - SWE)
Dominic Vicari (Michigan State - NCAA)

Minnesota Wild (I almost typed "North Stars". Hello, what year am I in?)
Miroslav Kopriva (Austin - CHL)
Kristofer Westblom (Kelwona - WHL)

New York Rangers
Chris Holt (Charlotte - ECHL)
Al Montoya (Hartford - AHL)
John Murray (Sioux Falls - USHL)

St. Louis Blues
Reto Berra (GCK - SUI)
Marek Schwarz (Sparta Praha - CZE)

Tampa Bay Lightning
Riku Helenius (Ilves Tampere - FIN JR)
Karri Ramo (HPK Hameenlinna - FIN)

September 8th Tournament Games - Results
(Goalie's names, with shots vs saves for each game)

ATL - 4 (Caruso, 32-29)
DET - 3 (Howard, 29-25)

CBJ - 4 (LaCosta, 14-14. Mason, 12-10)
MIN - 2 (Kopriva, 26-22)

DAL - 5 (Stephan, 35-33)
STL - 2 (Berra, 35-31)

NYR - 3 (Holt, 31-29)
TB - 2 (Helenius, 35-33)
game won in OT, game-winning goal scored by Staal.

The ultimate road trip

2006-09-08T08:13:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading THN writer Laura Sullivan's book "Away Games". During the lockout, she traipsed across Europe, getting a feel for the European leagues and the impressions of the NHL players who either went "home" or tried out life in a new country and new culture for several months. The idea was fantastic. The execution left a little to be desired. While full of interesting information, eye-opening observations and unique player interviews, the writing was somewhat choppy and editorial errors abounded. (The most glaring of which was the paragraph about the Ivan "Hnilicka" Memorial. Those silly Czech names, they're all the same, right?)

Complaints aside, I completely devoured this book. As someone who already has an interest in European hockey, and wondered what the experiences of the NHLers who played there were like, this book was right up my alley. Sullivan's descriptions of the countries she visited supplemented the main purpose of the book well. I've now added Finland to the list of places I absolutely must visit before I die, with Slovakia coming in a close second. (Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic and Germany were all on the list already). And what the heck, while I'm globe-trotting I might as well take in a game in Latvia, if only to experience the fans more than the game itself.

The disrupted flow of the book probably has something to do with the fact that Sullivan seems to have made two sweeps through the continent- first to get a look at regular season games in most of the leagues, then back again to catch playoff games. The various mid-season tournaments (Euro Tour games), and post-season international play (World Championships) were covered as well. Sullivan visited the obvious countries (Russia, Sweden, Czeh Reoulic, etc.) where the bulk of the NHL players landed, but didn't skip the more unlikely hockey destinations such as England, Hungary and Norway.

One issue the book raised several times was that of the NHL players taking jobs away from local talent. This was something I had wondered about, and though it seemed to be an underlying issue, most of the players interviewed said they were welcomed and and quickly felt part of the team, regardless of language barriers. I think I personally might have been on the disgruntled side were I living over there. There is something a little unsettling about a star player leaving his country for greener pastures, only to come back to play when those pastures lie fallow for a year. On the other hand, there were benefits, especially for those countries whose home-grown talent returned to their roots. Across the board, the general feeling seemed to be that local hockey would benefit from having its stars come home; not just financially, but also in terms of enthusiasm and participation. So in the end it's hard to say whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that so many NHLers headed across the pond. I just wish some of it would have been televised over here in North America. I watched more Discovery Channel and Law & Order that year than I had in my entire life up until that point. If this ever (God forbid!!!) happens again, I'll take the opportunity to make sure I cross off at least a few of those places off my "must visit before I die" list.

Getting closer...

2006-09-05T22:55:00.000-04:00

It won't be long now. Rookie camps are opening, then training camps will start, then the pre-season, and we'll be on our way. All of this European fare has been interesting in the interim, but I sorely miss "my NHL" (please don't sue me, Mr. Bettman). How in the world did I survive the lockout?!

Over across the pond, the Nordic Trophy games came to an end today. Unfortunately the site hasn't been updated with the final standings, but it does at least show that the championship game will be on September 9th between Färjestad and Kärpät (go weasels!).

The Russian Super Leauge's season begins on September 7th. I'll have my eye on Ak Bars Kazan, which should be interesting considering the only Russian I remember from my college days is how to read the alphabet.

But here... over here on US soil, we get a little treat. The annual Traverse City Prospects Tournament takes place in Michigan from September 8th through the 12th. Prospects representing eight NHL teams will take to the ice; Detroit, Tampa Bay, Columbus, Dallas, Atlanta, Minnesota, St. Louis and the NY Rangers. Speaking from the perspective of a Ranger fan, it will be great to get a glimpse at some of our "marquis" prospects (Montoya, Sauer, Staal, Sanguinetti, etc.) as well as some of the lesser known ones.

And the calendar drags on...

Odds and Ends (and weasels)

2006-09-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

The first part of the Euro Tour is complete, with the Russians coming out on top with 8 points. The next competition begins November 10th in Finland; The Karjala Cup (or Tournament, depending on which website you visit).

The Nordic Trophy games are coming to a close, with one game completed today (Tappara vs. Kärpät, 2-4) and four scheduled for tomorrow, the last day. As of yesterday, Färjestad was in the lead with 10 points, with Djurgården nipping at their heels with 9. Hopefully Frölunda will manage to beat Djurgården tomorrow and keep them from overtaking the top spot.

One thing of interest that I found out recently is that "Kärpät" in Finnish means "weasel". I suppose the weasel-like creature on their logo should have given it away, but you know me and my powers of observation. Interestingly, this is also Atlanta Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen's nickname. I am assuming the word "weasel" doesn't have the same negative connotations in Finland as it does here. Could you just imagine the "Detroit Weasels"? And as a nickname... well it just brings up images of Pauly Shore that I'd just as soon not remember.

Euro Tour, Part 1

2006-08-30T22:41:00.000-04:00

There's an unofficial European Championship that takes place each season. It's called the Euro Tour and is comprised of four competitions between Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic. After all four tournaments are played, the 1st and 2nd ranked teams will play for the gold and silver medals, and teams 3 and 4 will play for the bronze. The first tournament, the Ceska Pojistovna Cup, starts tomorrow (August 31st) and will be played in the Czech Republic and Sweden. The schedule is as follows... and check back in this post for updates on scores.

8/31 (update)
CZE 2
FIN 1
Of note: Game decided by shootout. Jan Marek, NYR prospect, scored the game tying goal for the Czechs.

RUS 4
SWE 3
Of note: Game decided by shootout.

9/2 (update)
FIN 3
RUS 4
Of note: Big brawl in the 3rd period, with 4 Finns and 3 Russians handed rouging minors.

CZE 2
SWE 4
Of note: Jan Marek does it again, tying the score at 2, but it's not enough. The Swedes score 2 goals in the last 6 minutes to finish it out at 4-2.

9/3
SWE 2
FIN 3

CZE 3
RUS 4
Of note: Marek gets another goal.

Another hockey freak

2006-08-29T21:42:00.000-04:00

If you want more information about the state of Swedish hockey (and other various things), please visit HockeyFreak's blog . You'll have to pardon the fact that she is a Djurgården fan.... some people just don't know any better. ;)

Blame it all on Ulf Dahlen

2006-08-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

My Swedish obsession, that is. Henrik Lundqvist, bless his frighteningly talented heart, is not the first "rookie from Sweden" to capture my attention. No, that distinction belongs to former Ranger (and former Capital, former Shark, and former NorthStar/Star...) Ulf Dahlen. I'm blowing a lot of dust off the old memory banks to write this entry, but it seems to me that I was captivated by his talent and enthusiasm. The man was always grinning. (Think of a Nordic Petr Prucha). Of course the fact that I was about 15 virtually guaranteed the fact that I would have a stupid teenage crush on him. But that aside.... I followed him after he was traded to Minnesota, at that time still the NorthStars. Of course, when I went into hockey oblivion and the Rangers had their best season, he also had several fantastic seasons. Figures.

Anyway, I was then the type of person I still am now; fascinated with learning about other countries and cultures, and I developed sort of a fondness for Sweden. Combine that with my soft spot for goalies, and my ears perked up at the beginning of last season when I heard about the Rangers new backup goalie, Henrik Lundqvist. We all know how that story ended, King Henrik rides into New York City on a white horse and sweeps the entire Garden off their feet and has them chanting his name in a few short weeks, igniting hope of playoff games to come, if we dared hope that much, snatching up an Olympic gold medal on his way..... until he was a complete idiot and waited several days to reveal that he was hurt and it was bye bye season, bye bye Rangers....

Oops. Sorry about the rant. Naturally, my curious nature lead me to read about his career in Sweden, which in turn lead to the discovery that his twin brother was still playing over there. Around the same time, I struck up an online friendship with a woman from Sweden who is also a big hockey fan, and before I knew it, I was logging on to the Elitserien website each day to look for scores and try to pick apart articles, which is really quite difficult without a Swedish dictionary. Of course I followed Frölunda, but because my new friend Ina was an HV71 fan, I had half an eye on them as well.

Funny how things come full circle. My first hockey favorite, Ulf Dahlen, has taken an assistant coaching job with the Dallas Stars. Now, there's no guarantee he'll make the team, but there could be a new "rookie from Sweden" for Dahlen to pass the torch to this year: Joel Lundqvist.

Not a great start for my Swedish buddies

2006-08-12T11:26:00.000-04:00

With the Nordic Trophy underway, Frölunda has played two games so far and lost both of them. At least yesterday's 5-4 loss wasn't as bad as Wednesday's 9-0 spanking. Damn language barrier, I wish I could read some articles and know more about what's going on!

In case anyone's curious...

2006-08-09T17:28:00.000-04:00

Scores from today's Nordic Trophy games:

3 TPS
4 Färjestad

2 HIFK
3 Djurgården

Well it's about time

2006-08-09T00:34:00.000-04:00

The waiting is over for Manny Legace- he finally got a date to the prom, and this year the prom is in St. Louis. It has baffled me all summer that he was unclaimed for this long. He had a banner year, hitting career highs in games played (51), wins (37), and shutouts (7), with a 2.19 GAA and .915 save percentage. Somehow he ended up with the blame for Detroit's disappointing first-round exit from the playoffs placed squarely on his shoulders, and it wasn't just his former team who wasn't biting, he wasn't getting calls from anyone.

The press says he'll battle Curtis Sanford (13-13-5) and Jason Bacashihua (4-10-1) for the number one spot in St. Louis, but really, how much of a battle can it be? Unless he's utterly deflated from the playoffs and the fallout thereafter, it seems like a no-brainer to me.

Land(s) of the midnight sun get an early start

2006-08-08T21:07:00.000-04:00

Hockey is underway already in Finland and Sweden, with the newly organized "Nordic Trophy" tournament. This tournament was initiated by 8 elite professional clubs ostensibly to drum up interest in pre-season hockey and/or bring the two countries' top leagues closer with a little friendly competition. The teams involved are:

Finland
HIFK
Kärpät Oulu
TPS Turku
Tappara

Sweden
Djurgårdens IF
Frölunda HC
Färjestads BK
Linköpings HC

Today's games featured Tappara vs Djurgårdens and Kärpät vs Färjestads. Much to Swedish hockey fans' chagrin, both Finnish clubs won. (With scores of 6-1 and 4-1, respectively).

Is this thing on?

2006-08-05T09:44:00.000-04:00

As you can see, I didn't keep up with the free agent signings like I said I would. It all became a little overwhelming. I've been on vacation, figuratively and literally, but now I'm back.

(Edited to add: I couldn't help myself... I went back and updated the goalie status in my free agent post. Carry on...)

While I was away, Detroit signed Dominik Hasek. While I revere the man for what he's brought to the game, I really think it's time for him to pack it in. For real this time. And Detroit needs to stop scapegoating their netminder for their post-season flop- it wasn't only in goal where they fell apart. That said, I do hope he has a great season with them.

The other bit of goalie news to catch my eye this week was Mika Noronen (formerly of the Vancouver Canucks, formerly of the goalie-glutted Buffalo Sabres) signing with Russian League team Ak Bars Kazan. I can't really say why I like Noronen, but it's probably that whole underdog thing- in Buffalo he was 3rd fiddle but deserving of a bigger role, if he wasn't stuck in Biron's and Miller's shadows. Though I didn't follow the Russian league as closely as I did the Swedish league last season, I do plan to keep my eye on them this year, Ak Bars in particular. Noronen will get much more playing time over there (40-ish games compared to the 10 or so games, crumbs from Luongo's table). What remains to be seen now is who will fill the backup role behind Luongo. Canucks fans on HFboards have been bickering about it for days... just as Devils fans are bickering about the rumors of Mike Dunham replacing Scott Clemmensen.

Ah, the fun of the off-season. I sure as heck couldn't have guessed Hasek would be back in Detroit and Belfour would be in Florida by summer's end.

Sorting through the trades

2006-06-25T21:42:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week for the NHL ever since the Hurricanes took that big shiny prize home with them. First there was the awards show, and to fulfill my goalie-news-obligation I will inform you that Miikka Kiprusoff won the Vezina. I hope he had a good excuse for not being there to accept it, because if not, Teemu Selanne made him look pretty lame. The Flying Finn is in his homeland running a charity hockey school, but sent a taped speech in acceptance of the Masterson Trophy (for "perserverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey").

But the big news is all the trading going on around the draft, and after a few days of letting it all sink in I'm going to try to make some sense of it all, at least as far as the newly relocated goalies. Naturally, the biggest deal to hit the press so far is the Luongo-Krajicek-draft pick to Vancouver for Bertuzzi-Auld-Allan trade. (I will leave my thoughts on Todd Bertuzzi out of this discussion, as this is certainly not the right forum for that sort of rant.) Vancouver picked up their much needed "#1" goalie, though I'm not sure where that leaves Cloutier, as the Canucks said they are not planning on trading him. Luongo was reportedly surprised by the deal, having thought he and Panthers management had a verbal agreement to a 4-year deal, complete with three conditions: publicly state that they won't trade him, bring on Francois Allaire as his goalie coach, and sign Jamie McLennan as his backup. Panthers GM said Luongo was asking more money than they could spend, but it sounds like the "pain in the ass" tax was getting a little high as well. So Florida now has Alex Auld, presumably as their starter. The Panthers did not pick up Jamie McLennan's option, but instead sent a 2008 draft pick to Chicago for Craig Anderson, Blackhawks backup and goalie for the US team at the 2006 World Championships. I'm wondering about that, because based purely on stats, McLennan has the upper hand (3.01 GAA and .906 SV% in 17 games vs Anderson's 3.32 GAA and .886 SV% in 29 games).

The other big move found 2003-2004 Calder trophy winner Andrew Raycroft going to the Maple Leafs for Finnish phenom Tuukka Rask, currently playing in Finland's elite league, SM-Liiga. This kid won't even see his 20th birthday until October, and was named best goalie in this year's under-20 World Junior Championships, and was named to that tournament's all star team. According to The Hockey News' website, Rask is "one of the best goaltending prospects currently out there. [He] was one of the best goaltenders in the 2006 WJC, and is a sure-fire NHLer in a matter of 2 or 3 years". Sounds like he'll fit right in with Tim Thomas, the Bruins' late season surprise who actually played in the SM-Liiga for four (non-consecutive) seasons, and countryman Hannu Toivonen. Hopefully the change of scenery will help Raycroft will shake off whatever fog he was in this season.

And in most recent news, Buffalo extended a qualifying offer to Biron, who whether or not he accepts, has made it known that he would like to be traded. Also, Huet signed a two-year, $5.75 million (US) contract with Montreal, though there is no truth to the rumor that he celebrated by partying with- I mean, at - a Hilton.

Weekend roundup

2006-06-11T20:39:00.000-04:00

Since I was away for the weekend at a family event, I missed Game 3. I heard it was an exciting game, and the reports I read said both goalies shone. Sounds like Rexall Place took a page out of the Madison Square Garden fans' playbook and jubilantly screamed the name of the goalie they were booing the last time he played in front of them. Hey, even if bandwagoners are screaming your name, it's gotta feel pretty darn good if 17,000 of them are doing it. Since I don't feel I can really comment on a game I didn't see, I have some Euro-tidbits to offer you.

Firstly....
The Czech Extraliga is continuing to fine-tune their rulebook. After making a few rule changes last summer, including the controversial lifting of the no-touch icing rule, they continue to make adjustments for the coming 2006-2007 season. So far three changes have been announced:

the Extraliga will adopt the "3-point rule", which I am assuming (yeah, I know, never assume) is similar to how the Swedish Elite League awards points: 3 points for a regulation time win, 2 points for an overtime win, 1 point for a tie or an overtime loss and a big fat goose-egg for a regulation time loss.

post-season seeding has been changed. Instead of the first 8 teams automatically going to the playoffs, teams 7 through 10 will play a preliminary series (best-of-5). The top two teams from that series will join teams 1 through 6 for the quarterfinals.

and perhaps oddest of all, at least to NHL fans, no secondary assists will be awarded on goals. This should make stat-geeks' heads explode when trying to compare points across leagues.

Secondly...
The 2010 Winter Olympic games, to be held in Vancouver, will feature North American sized ice surfaces. This will allow for games to be played at existing facilities, and of course will allow for more seating, which translates into more ticket sales. Since many European players play in North America, it shouldn't be too much of an adjustment on the whole.

Thirdly....
(and most vaguely) Some NHL teams will play exhibition games against some Russian Superleague teams. Details such as who, when and where have not been decided upon (or maybe just not released). The NHL has not issued an official statement as yet. Stay tuned, this sounds like it could be fun.

The last Musketeer

2006-06-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

So... Cechmanek went to Linköpings, Langkow landed at HV71, leaving one last piece of the puzzle of the Swedish Goalie Exodus: Holmqvist's replacement. Today Brynäs filled that gap with fellow World Championship goalie Robert Kristan from Slovenia. Since Slovenia isn't the hockey Mecca that Sweden and Finland are, there isn't a whole lot of information available (in English anyway) out there. Eurohockey.net (where I get most of my information, bless that site!) has the history of the clubs he's played for, but not so much as far as stats. He did play all 6 games for Slovenia in the WC, but unfortunately had a far from stellar record: 0-4-2, 3.81 GAA, .887 save percentage. I hate relying solely on numbers, because they only tell part of the story. I don't know enough about Slovenian hockey to know if the team he had in front of him had as much to do with that record as he did. I'm venturing to guess it was a group effort failure- just look at Norrena in Finland, who played the same amount of WC games and came out with a 1.11 GAA and .950 save percentage. Norrena's good, there's no doubt about that, but the Finnish team was great too. They took the bronze... Slovenia didn't make it to the semifinals, much less the medal round.

Anyway... eurohockey.net also reports that Montreal Canadiens winger Niklas Sundström is headed back to his homeland, to play for MoDo, where he played from 1991-1995 before coming to the NHL. The Canadiens website doesn't seem to mention it- maybe it's too new. Or maybe I got distracted by the message board banter about Huet and his contract (or lack of one). He'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so who knows where he will end up.

And last but not least, I was happy to see Markkanen in net tonight for the Oilers, but it killed me to see the outcome. Mind you, I am rooting for the Hurricanes, but I'm a sucker for a goalie story, and Markkanen's a former Ranger, and I wanted to see him do well. And frankly, I think he did play very well, despite the score. He had no chance on a lot of those goals, and didn't get a whole heck of a lot of help from his team mates, in either offense or defense. They took so many penalties I thought I was watching a Ranger game!

A word about Roloson

2006-06-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

If you read the first post in this blog, you know that I have no love for “Roli”. I can concede that he is a good goaltender, and in the playoffs he’s been a great goaltender. I find his delay of game tactics and whining quite off-putting, however, which is why he’s one of my favorite goalies to bitch about. (Him and Marrrrrrrrrrrrr-ttttyyyyyy… heh heh heh). However, I am not one to be happy about another’s misfortune and I am truly sorry for him having to miss the rest of the series. I’ll admit, when he was crouched on the ice I thought he was dramatizing just a bit, since that’s what we’re accustomed to seeing. I was stunned when they lead him off the ice, and even more shocked to hear (read, technically) MacTavish’s glum words “Our goalie’s not good. He won’t be back in the series”. Ouch. There is a silver lining to this cloud, for me at least. Ty Conklin or Jussi Markkanen could step up and really bring it when it counts, you never know. And wouldn’t that be fun to see! Maybe Markkanen will take after Kiprusoff and jump in and steal the show. Not likely, given his regular season performance, but this is the playoffs, and all bets are off. All bets, that is, except for the one I have with a co-worker. (I’ve got Edmonton, in case anyone was curious. My co-worker has been dancing a gig of glee, counting his money ahead of time in anticipation of a sweep. I don’t think it’ll be quite that easy for the ‘Canes.)

Scratch that

2006-06-07T08:50:00.000-04:00

HV71 has signed a goalie to replace Liv. Though I'm not all that convinced he's much of a replacement. Scott Langkow, who played a few games in the NHL but mostly plied his trade in the IHL and AHL, has been in Finland since the 2002-2003 season. The most recent statistics I can find on him are from his 2003-2004 season with Ässät Pori, where he had a 13-19-10 record with a 2.98 GAA. My grasp of Finnish is even more non-existant than my grasp of Swedish (at least Swedish is somewhat similar to German, which I used to speak quite well), so my forray to his current team's website (Lukko Rauma) revealed absolutely nothing in terms of information about Mr. Langkow. Strangely, I didn't even see his name on the roster. Perhaps they've updated their site since 31. May, when the trade took place. But something tells me I'm missing something.

Maybe he woke up in the past two seasons and kicked it into high gear. Maybe HV has a hot young prospect ready to wow us all, and Langkow will play second fiddle. All I can do is put my patient hat on and wait and see.

Hmmmm....

2006-06-05T18:03:00.000-04:00

I don't speak Swedish... so I have no idea what HV71's plans are as far as a new #1 goaltender. However, I think with the signing of defenseman Lance Ward from the AHL's Binghamton Senators (80 games played, 3 goals, 20 assists.... 278 penalty minutes), part of those plans might be "beat the snot out of anyone who even looks at the blueline".

More Euro-stuff

2006-06-04T17:54:00.000-04:00

In January of 2007, the IIHF European Champions Cup will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia. This championship is a contest between the top teams of each of the "major six" European hockey countries (Finland, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). The winning team of the top pro league in each country will compete for the title of European Champion. The six teams were divided into two divisions as follows:

Alexander Ragulin Division (A)
A1- HPK Hämeenlinna (FIN)
A2- Sparta Prague (CZE)
A3- MsHK Zilina (SVK)

Ivan Hlinka Division (B)
B1- AK Bars Kazan (RUS)
B2- HC Lugano (SUI)
B3- Färjestads BK (SWE)

The tournament will run from the 11th through the 14th of January.

The trans-atlantic goalie shuffle

2006-06-04T00:02:00.000-04:00

Look out, the Swedes are coming. And the Finns. And the Finns who play in Sweden. And the Finns with Swedish-sounding names. It has amused me all season that the Red Wings have enough Swedes to put an all-Swedish skating unit out on the ice. I thought to myself, how funny would it be if they ended up with a Swedish goaltender too? Well, whaddya know, they've got one now. Stfan Liv, who played for HV71 in the Swedish Elite League (and for Tre Kronor in the Olympics and World Championships) is going to Detroit. He was their 4th round draft pick in 2000, and just signed a one year contract with them. He'll compete for a position in camp this fall, and if he doesn't make the team, will go to the AHL.

Tampa Bay has been busy as well. Coach Tortorella was vocal about his disappointment in his goaltending tandem of Sean Burke and John Grahame, and apparently they are on their way out. Just in the past week, Tampa has signed Johan Holmqvist (Brynäs - SEL), Fredrik Norrena (Linköpings - SEL) and Karri Rämö (of Hämeenlinna in the SM-liiga, Finland's top pro league). What they're going to do with all these Scandinavians beats me, but it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

The Minnesota Wild signed Finnish netminder Niklas Bäckström (not to be confused with the Swedish Niklas Bäckström, who is billed as the second coming of Peter Forsberg, available for the draft this year) to a mulityear contract whose details were not disclosed. Bäckström was also playing in the SM-liiga, and was on the 2006 Olympic roster and played in the 2005 World Championships.

Now... I'm not too familiar with Finland's pro leauge, but it sure did jump out at me that Sweden's league lost 3 top goalies. HV71, Brynäs and Linköpings all went to the playoffs this season, and now their #1 goalies are headed for greener pastures. Who will fill the void? Linköpings has already taken care of that- they've signed former Flyer and King Roman Cechmanek, who was playing in Germany this past season.

It will be interesting to see where all these guys end up, and who will step up for their previous clubs. Stay tuned, because I intend to keep my eye on this bunch!

Testing the waters

2006-06-03T14:53:00.000-04:00

My little profile over there on the side sums it up pretty well. I love to scour the 'net for interesting goalie-related news, but make no claims to provide all the news that's out there. This is mostly a place for me to comment on stories I find interesting as well as providing a little info for the goalie-minded. My focus will be mostly on goalies, because that is my passion (some would say obsession....), but I will definitely be talking about other things too. Bascially, whatever strikes my fancy. Living in the USA, my primary focus is the NHL, but I have become a fan of the Swedish Elite League as well, thanks to my curiosity about Henrik Lundqvist's old team, and a fellow hockey fanatic friend who lives in Sweden. My two favorite teams over there are the Frölunda Indians and HV71 (who desperately need a new name). Besides Sweden, any news from Finland, Russia, and the Czech Republic catches my eye as well.

And I suppose any introductory post in a blog like this one would be incomplete without a list of my favorite goalies. As my friend is quick to point out, I like just about any goalie, just because they're goalies. But I do have my favorites, and I do have the ones I love to hate.

Favorite of all time:
Mike Richter (yeah, I'm a total homer)

Current Favorites:
Nikolai Khabibulin (despite his crappy season... I know he can do better!)
Henrik Lundqvist (what Ranger fan wasn't completely dazzled by him?)
Tomas Vokoun
Dominik Hasek

On my S-List:
Martin Brodeur
Dwayne Roloson
Robert Esche

International Goalies I have my eye on:
Milan Hlinicka (CZE)
Stefan Liv (SWE, will be in Detroit this fall)
Fredrik Norrena (FIN, recently signed by Tampa)

Those are just the ones on the top of the list. This year provided quite the crop of new and not-so-new goalies that are really fun to watch. This was definitely the year of the "unseating of the #1". I have to really hand it to Kevin Weekes for handling a difficult situation with such class. Who would have ever thought Bryzgalov would start playoff games ahead of Giggy, Toskala ahead of Nabokov, or Ward over Gerber? And where the heck did Cristobal Huet come from? Marc-Andre Fluery? Ryan Miller? Antero Niittymaki? What a great year it's been for goalie-gawking. It will be very interesting to see if all those new success stories can provide repeat performances next season.

But first, the Stanley Cup. Bring on the finals! Let's go 'Canes!