After watching the video of the Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell and reading the morning after quotes by Bruce Boudreau, Ovechkin himself and a few others I want to weigh in on this controversy.
It is clear in the video on NHL.com that this was an intentional hit from behind by Ovechkin and that the final [...]
All it took was two listless games against Calgary and Edmonton at the end of the Western trip for Jacques Lemaire, the Devils coach, to call a team meeting Tuesday after practice. Halfway through the meeting Lemaire encouraged the players to talk to each other, closing the door behind him as he left. In Marty [...]
With all the Olympic euphoria going round, it may be time to take a closer look at our 2010 reality.
In 2010, we saw two or three great hockey games: the Gold Medal USA-Canada Final, the USA-Switzerland game, and perhaps the Canada-Russia blowout. The nationalist pride element may have moved these games one notch higher than [...]
For two and a half periods last night in San Jose Carey Price looked like Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy all rolled into one. Except for a fluke short-handed goal at the beginning of the second period, a deflection by Patrick Marleau, he baffled the San Jose Sharks shooters with a lightning quick [...]
Not since the eighth and final game of the 1972 Russia-Canada Series has there been such bubbly excitement and nervous anticipation as there was for Sunday’s Olympic Gold Medal final. Hockey fans in both countries pointed towards the three o’clock puck drop like children waiting on Christmas Eve for Santa to come. They were not [...]
What does the general manager of a hockey team really do? Everything.
In the case of Team USA, Brian Burke is responsible for every detail: the choosing of his players, the philosophy the team will follow, the look the team will have on the ice, the coach behind the bench, etc. You name it; [...]
Last week, USA Hockey, in celebration of Hockey Across America, asked parents and players in their minor hockey systems to name their hockey heroes so that they might be put on the honor list of the organization. The immediate answer that came to my mind was Keith Veltre and Dennis Ruppe, the hockey coaches at [...]
Lou Lamoriello has done it again!
Whenever dark clouds hover over Devilsland, the whole population shrugs their collective shoulders and thinks: “Lou will handle it. He will come
up with something.” This year’s dark cloud was the lack of scoring.
In early February every year, right around Groundhog Day, like Puxsutawney Phil, Lou comes above ground, looks at [...]
The New Jersey Devils have a team-first, no-stars philosophy that has carried the team as they rebuilt their blue line corps through the last few years, rough years after the retirement of Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko and the departure of Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski. Patrik Elias has been the standout forward, the go-to guy for [...]
Scott Gomez. The name rings a different bell for almost every hockey fan who hears it. New Jersey Devils fans hear “traitor”. New York Rangers fans hear “ epic failure”. Montreal Canadiens fans are still trying to figure out what they hear.
Perhaps a look at his career passages might shed some light.
I was there, a [...]
