Five for Fighting

Capital evening

Just in case we needed a reminder that Alex Ovechkin is the man (and that the Washington Capitals have a bright future), there were the NHL awards on Thursday night. Kudos to Ovechkin, who won the Hart Trophy (league MVP) as well as the Lester B. Pearson Award (players' choice for outstanding player). Let's also not forget Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, who won the Jack Adams Award (top coach). Remember how lousy the Capitals were when Boudreau took the reins? They went 37-17-7 with him. Fantastic.

And I trust Nicklas Lidstrom is looking up contractors in the yellow pages today after winning his sixth -- sixth! -- Norris Trophy. Another trophy wing onto the ol' house, maybe? It's just stunning to see what that guy does year after year.

Am I the only one who's ready to start this next season immediately? Honestly, I'm going through withdrawl here, folks. Although seeing the Celtics come back from a 24-point deficit was pretty amusing :)

Hasek retiring

Just saw the story in TSN about Dominik Hasek deciding to retire after his illustrious career. Can't say I blame the guy. He's into his 40s, and the injuries were finally catching up to him. Only Chris Chelios can flirt with a career nearing 50 years of age. Anyway, congrats to Hasek for all his fantastic work in the NHL, and enjoy playing golf year-round. Come on, you know that's what he's doing. That's what I would do, anyway!

Illustrious... that's a big word for a girl on vacation.

It's all over

It was an exciting finish, wasn't it? The Penguins found out a hard lesson tonight... you can't make up for missed opportunities and mistakes in less than two minutes. They tried, and it was pretty nail-biting, but the Wings controlled this one in so many facets.

So kudos to them for their Cup victory. Can't believe another season is in the books already. Seems like we just began training camp.
Of course, I say that, and training camp really isn't that far away!

Detroit ready to rock?

Maybe I'm being premature, but methinks this one is over. The first goal Marc-Andre Fleury gave up was iffy, but he was just beat on great plays on the following two Red Wings goals. Impressive comeback, for sure. And a reminder to the Penguins that when you get chances, any chances, you better put them in the back of the net.

What was that joke we said during the season, that the two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey? Looking true at the moment.

Game 5 musings

OK, a bit stunned that the Pens are leading after the first period, much less possessing a 2-0 lead. Random thoughts:
**Paschal Dupuis apparently got the memo that the Penguins need more than one guy in the playoffs (I mean two guys. Sorry, Marian, since you were the one who scored the first goal. And it was pretty).
**Poor Nicklas Kronwall. The guy is just trying to clear a puck and it just happens to deke off Adam Hall's skate. That's incredibly unfortunate. Your heart has to go out to the guy for that one.
**Evgeni Nabokov.. Nabokov? Nabokov? Bueller?
OK, that's all for now.

Winging it

Couple of thoughts as I'm watching Game 4:
**You always want to get scoring from the "who?" guys, those players whose names don't just roll off the tongue or garner the most notice on the roster. For example, one Jiri Hudler for the Red Wings. Not the brightest star on the Red Wings' squad, but he just came up with a biggie in the third period. Believe it was his fifth goal of the playoffs. Can't put a price on how valuable those are.
**Penalties kill, especially bad ones. The Pens are playing with fire with that delay of game penalty by Marc-Andre Fleury. Nobody capitalizes on things like that better than the Wings.
**Pretty slick goal by Marian Hossa in the first period. They need more from him.
**Speaking of which, same to Evgeni Malkin. They need anything from him. Still looking for his first point. In Game 4. Not good at all.

Good news, sad news

First, congratulations to Doug Armstrong, who is the St. Louis Blues' new vice president of player personnel. He will hold that title until 2010, when he assumes the general manager position with the Blues. Just talked to him a few minutes ago. As he said, he will be working with some greats up in St. Louis, including John Davidson, Al MacInnis and current general manager Larry Pleau. The Blues should be going nowhere but up from here on out, as they've got a great group of young guys and prospects taking them through the next few years.

Now, the sad news... Vancouver Canucks defenseman Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident in New Brunswick today. He was just 21 years old. Bourdon played 27 games last season with the Canucks, who were pretty banged-up on the blue line if you recall. I'm going to get a little mushy here, so forgive me. My heartfelt sympathies go out to his family. No one should be leaving us at age 21. And no parent should ever, ever have to watch their child go before them.

Wings and things

Watching Game 2 of the Red Wings-Penguins. A few thoughts:
Do you think Marc-Andre Fleury would like to yell "little help, guys" to everyone in the Pens locker room? The guy's getting bombarded by the Red Wings; meanwhile, his teammates can only get a shot on goal if they're on the power play. Yikes. Evgeni Malkin still sorta missing.
The Wings' greatness lies in their top players, yes, but also in everyone else coming along with them. Scoring continues to be spread-out. Brad Stuart jumped in with his first of the playoffs in the first period.
I love a physical player, but I'll think that much more of Niklas Kronwall if he doesn't leave his feet on those hits.
Methinks the Wings are going to keep on making Fleury's life miserable. Yeah, I know. Shocking statement from me there.

Oh, and what IS up with the Red Wings and Pistons playing on the same night? Why are execs paid so much when they can't even schedule a city's two teams on different nights? Dum-da-dumb-dumb.

Tackling the padding

Gary Bettman talked this weekend of decreasing the size of goaltender equipment, and how it is a high-priority issue before next season. It's about time. We've only been talking about this for how long now? But enough talk. Do something about it.
The key, obviously, is protecting the goaltender. That can be done without resorting to the outlandish-size pads that some of these guys wear. Anyway, Brett Hull was one of the men pushing for this, and he was on the committee talking about it at the GM meetings this past February.

Something tells me when he talks, the NHL will finally listen.

Stanley Cup picks, anyone?

Hey folks,

The Stanley Cup Finals are a few days away, but we all know the matchup. Detroit vs. Pittsburgh. Hockeytown vs. the Steel City (even though it hasn't been a major manufacturer of steel for years). So, who's your pick?

I'm taking Pittsburgh in 7. Just have a love of that city since I grew up about 2 1/2 hours north of it, and I'm loving what the Pens are doing. Great youth. The only question mark, in my book, is their goaltending. But I think it'll be a good one nonetheless.