Different Roads, the Same Turnaround

There is one story line in the Stanley Cup Finals that no one is talking about, and it might be the best angle going in the media friendly Chicago – Philadelphia series that begins this weekend. It isn’t the clash of the Byfuglien/Pronger titans, or Gary Betteman’s refusal to acknowledge the NHL’s new ‘Marian Hossa has to play in every Stanley Cup Finals’ rule.

Think back to 2007. Something monumental happened in early June that had nothing to do with the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup.

For the first time in the history of the draft, two American players were neck and neck, competing for the spot as the number one prospect. One was a winger bound for the University of New Hampshire that had played on the USNTDP team, but was a couple of years from the NHL. The other was a right wing playing across the border for the London Knights, considered ready to step into the NHL immediately. The team with the number one pick went with the guy ready to step in right away.

The Chicago Blackhawks took Patrick Kane. The Philadelphia Flyers went with James Van Riemsdyk.

I probably don’t need to tell you that 3 years later, the two are once again neck in neck for a much more important number one slot.

On the one hand, it is a difficult line to drum up. There is no real rivalry between the two, since they are at much different points in their careers. Van Riemsdyk has taken a roundabout path to the NHL. He spent two decorated years at UNH, starring on the United States World Junior team before making 2009-2010 his rookie year. He has been great for the Flyers, and I wrote the following back in December:

‘I had the fortune of taking in a Sharks-Flyers game in San Jose. For the Flyers, the best player on the ice wasn’t Richards, Carter, Briere or even Pronger. As far as I could tell, their most impressive player was James VanRienmsdyk. JVR was flying every time he was on the ice. He was around the puck a lot, and when he got it on his stick, good things were happening for the Flyers every time. Naturally, then, at whistles and line changes, me and my buddy Andrew would look for #21 in white. We rarely saw him. VanRiemsdyk’s ice time was, for whatever reason, limited to around 13 minutes that night. Even that number surprised me when I looked it up the next morning. Looking at his stats, while he would get second line ice time occasionally, only once did Stevens play him 20 minutes’

I still think that pretty well sums up Van Riemsdyk’s rookie year. He has been great, but he is treated like a rookie. Maybe it is for the best. I thought he could handle more when I watched them, but I didn’t see enough of Philly to know for sure. He has had some big goals though, in the playoff run where he has had a somewhat larger role than he did when I saw him, so maybe that is a bit of vindication.

Kane is at a completely different point in his career. He signed and joined the Blackhawks immediately after he was drafted, making his debut in the 2007-2008 season. By now, he is in his third season, the other rokkie that jumped into the NHL with him that year, Jonathan Toews, is the captain, and he is a marquee player in the NHL, having put up 70 and 88 points the last two years.

Obviously Kane is a better player at this point, but that can’t be taken to mean that he was a better pick because of the developmental stages that they are at, which make it an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison. Kane’s rookie numbers were a fair amount better than JVR’s but that doesn’t settle it either, since Chicago has just turned it around in the past two years, and Kane went into a pretty bad lineup where he was asked to score right away. Van Riemsdyk, on the other hand, went to a team that had already turned their fortunes around from the dismal 06-07 that gave them the pick, and therefore played a different role.

The basic takeaway is that here is no legitimate comparison between Van Riemsdyk and Kane, and that to call it a matchup between the two is misleading since they play such different roles. The lack of a viable comparison, though, is one of the things that makes this such an interesting storyline.

The two players show the volatility of the NHL draft, and the quirkiness involved with the process between draft day and actual NHL production. Kane is not the norm. Even in years when lots of players sign, and even for number one draft picks, very few contribute right away, simply because hockey players are drafted at such a young age. VanRiemsdyk isn’t exactly the prototype number two pick either. At the number two position, most picks would be playing a larger role than he has by their third season of eligibility.

Nothing will be resolved (it isn’t as though if Philly wins, it is proven that picks should wait to enter the league or that JVR is better than Kane), but it is still interesting consider, if for no other reason than to think about how just 3 years after both teams were at the bottom of the league, they find themselves on top, with the rewards of their futility playing important, though different roles.

All Things Hockey, Playoff Edition Part III

(Note-This was mostly done by Thursday night when the second round opened, but on Wednesday night, I came up with a stomach flu that made it impossible to think clearly enough to get it done, so almost a week late, here is the first round wrap up and second round preview I’m sure you have been holding your breath for.)

1. San Jose Sharks - 5. Detroit Red Wings

Advantage Detroit

All I canthink of here is history. The Wings don’t lose in the playoffs. The Sharks do. As a franchise, Detroit has always had the Sharks number (I have no idea if that is true and I don’t feel like looking it up, but we always seem to struggle at the Joe). The only other thing that I would say is that Datsyuk was on a freaking mission in game seven. If he plays like that he will give anyone fits.

Advantage San Jose

As close and excruciating as it may have seemed, the Sharks effectively dominated their first round matchup with the Avalanche. Of course, a veteran squad like Detroit will be harder to control than the young Aves, but then again the Sharks won’t have to, because Jimmy Howard has shown no indication that he is capable of standing on his head like Anderson did (that isn’t to say that Howard has been bad, just that he hasn’t given indication that he is capable of a run like that of 50 save performances). On the other hand, the way the Sharks were firing, only a hot goalie was going to stand in their way (and in the end, not even that could do it). God help the Western Conference if the first line wakes up.

Heart

It seems silly to even point out that I will be rooting for the Sharks.

Head

As a Sharks fan, I am confident. I really like the way they are playing, and if San Jose is on their game, it doesn’t matter who is lining up on the other side. Sharks in 5.

2. Chicago Blackhawks - 3. Vancouver Canucks

Advantage Vancouver

The Canucks will certainly take the edge that they have on the defensive end of the ice. Antti Neimi was passable against Nashville, and the young goaltender’s confidence will certainly grow as the postseason progresses, but he is still a rookie. Luongo, on the other hand, remains one of the league’s top goaltenders through his struggles, and represents a pretty decided edge in net for the Canucks. The other factor that the Canucks need to exploit if they are going to take down the Hawks, is depth. Vancouver has a plethora of talent beyond their top 6 forwards, with players like Mason Raymond, Steve Bernier and Pavol Dimitra contributing two way games, and a level of depth at the forward position that Chicago can’t match on paper.

Advantage Chicago

Hossa, Kane and Teows anyone? How about Seabrook and Keith on the point? Vancouver has the depth, but Chicago has 5 of the 6 best players (at least 5 of 7) in this series. Believe it or not, this could work towards their advantage.

Heart

I really would like to see Vancouver come out here for a couple of reasons. One is that I think that the Sharks, if they can get past Detroit, have a better shot at the ‘Nucks than the Hawks. The other is that I just like Vancouver. Kessler, Ehrhoff and the Sedins are some of my favorite players. Also there are their sweet 1990s jerseys that will forever give Vancouver a place in my heart.

Head

Unfortunately, it goes against my heart, but I see Chicago coming out of this one. Vancouver could take it, without a doubt, but I think that the Kane goal in game 5 of the Nashville series was a turning point for this team, and that they will be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the playoffs. Hawks in 6.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins – 8. Montreal Canadaiens

Advantage Montreal

Jaroslav. Halak.

He is going to need to steal in the neighborhood of 3 games in order fot the Canadiens to have a prayer in this one. Then again, he did just that and the Canadians should have won 5 of the 7 games that they just played against the best team in the regular season, so clearly they can’t be written off.

(On a side note, I need to beat my chest a little bit on this one. I have been a huge Halak guy for a couple of years. I put faith in him in the Olympics for Slovakia, being bullish on them. Before that, I was yelling about him needing to play in last year’s playoffs over Carey Price. So allow me to give myself some credit for being right on this one. For once.)

Advantage Pittsburgh

Outside of goaltending, it is really top to bottom. At forward, the Pens are stronger at top end talent, defensive play, depth, and special teams. That doesn’t leave much in the way of weakness for le Bleu Blanc et Rouge to take advantage of. Really, though, the single biggest advantage for the Penguins is Sidney Crosby, who seems determined to settle any debate about who the best player in the league is, and was by far the best player in round one.

Heart

The Habs are a great franchise, and it is fun to see them go deep. Plus, it is always fun to root for the underdog 8 seed. On the other hand, Crosby is putting together such a virtuoso performance thus far in the playoffs, that having lost Ovechkin, the league really needs to see Sid keep going. For my own entertainment, I have to go against the instinctive underdog pick and say I want to see the ice birds keep playing.

Head

On the same page as my heart with this one. The Penguins are too deep, and have too many Sidney Crosbys (1 is too many) to be taken down by a team like Montreal. Even if Halak plays out of his mind again (and even he is likely to return to earth a bit), it shouldn’t be enough to take more than 1 or 2 games. Penguins in 5.

6. Boston Bruins – 7. Philadelphia Flyers

Advantage Philadelphia

Advantage Boston

Heart

This is the matchup that everyone had in mind when they looked at the bracket this year, right? ‘Can’t wait for that Winter Classic rematch!’ you all said, no? Me neither. But somehow, that is what we ended up with, as the Boston Bruins are somehow going to get home ice in the second round. As for an interest, it just comes down to likability, and Zdeno Chara is a hell of a lot better than Chris Pronger in that regard, something that can really be extrapolated down the roster. You gotta go with baked beans over cheesesteak in this one.

Head

It is tough to say, since none of the 6-9 seeds in the East were able to really distinguish themselves down the stretch. I like Boston’s goaltending, and they have some solid bite that a banged up Philadelphia squad really can’t seem to match, so give me the Bruins in 6.

Eulogies

Washington Capitals

The Caps fell just short, and became the second consecutive President’s Trophy winner to go out in the first round. Jaroslav Halak played out of his mind after being reinstated from the bench after Cary Price failed to instill a jolt in Les Habitants. Even though it took the Habs 7 games to get rid of the Capitals, and it took back to back 50 save performances to do so, it was an all around brutal performance from the best team of the regular season, and one that is leading to some tough questions around the beltway.

They are questions that should be asked, too, since the Habs could realistically have taken out the Capitals in less than 7 if not for the heroics of John Calrson and Nick Backstrom in game 2, the Habs could easily have taken over earlier. Still, the Capitals were a dominant regular season team, and a first round exit won’t sit well with this franchise.

Ovechkin has taken some heat since the end of the series for failing to come up big when it mattered for Washington. This is probably unfair. Ovechkin was, as always, all over the ice, he just failed like everyone else to solve Jaroslav Halak.

Still, a first round exit for a 1 seed and Presidents’ Trophy winner begs a lot of questions. They will be likely to change something to try to get this team where it wants to be this summer. The Sharks responded by bringing in Dany Heatley. The Capitals can’t swing a piece like that without moving a significant asset to free up space. Really, they shouldn’t, either. They are still a young team and will be back in the coming years. Chances are they just need reps, but the early exit will make for an interesting offseason for Ovechkin and company.

New Jersey Devils

This is the big question mark in this section. What the hell happened in New Jersey. I think that the answer is pretty simple: the Devils just underperformed. Sure, the Flyers were a bit better than your typical 7 seed, but there is no way that they were a better team than New Jersey. That is what happens in the playoffs, though. Ask any Sharks fan. Teams step up and others step down. Four wins isn’t that many. This year, New Jersey was a victim of that.

Still, there has to be more to say about the Devils. They really were one of the most interesting teams in the league this year, and besides, saying that sometimes teams have a bad series really doesn’t explain much.

The best transition is to address something that no one seems to want to talk about, and something that has shaped the award nominations for 2010. That is the fallacy of Martin Brodeur.

No one is trying to say that Brodeur sucks, or that he hasn’t had a great career, so calm down, Newark (30 days without a murder-http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/152898!). What I am saying is that he has been the most overrated player in the NHL for at least 5 years now, and yet he will somehow escape blame despite being outplayed by Cam Ward and Brian Boucher, neither of whom is likely to join him in the hall of fame, in back to back years. Brodeur was the beneficiary of the dead puck era that his team helped to create.

Brodeur has been great, but he has been the beneficiary of a lot of elements. If Felix Potvin or Mike Dunham, the next goalies taken after Brodeur in the 1990 draft, went to New Jersey instead, do we look at them as potentially the greatest goaltender ever? Probably not, but they definitely would have received significant boosts. More pertinently, though, if the Flames took Brodeur, rather than Trevor Kidd with the pick 9 earlier, and Brodeur never crossed paths with Jaques Martin, Scott Stevens or Scott Niedermeyer, I am sure we would look at him differently.

That actually brings me to my next Devils related point. All that has been made of the Devils in the media has been that they are a Jaques Martin style clog it up team. The problem is, they don’t have the two aforementioned Scott’s, and the game has changed with the subtraction of clutch and grab and the red line. The Devils aren’t dumb. They built a team around skill and speed, with one of the most skilled group of forwards in the East starting a couple of years ago.

This year, they were built like a team that could wheel, and outscore teams. Their style, though, was cramped by Martin and his trap and chase game that stifled Marian Gaborik in Minnesota. Now that he is gone, that team should be dangerous next year. Look for their goals per game to go way up.

The more interesting question, though, is how the Kovalchuk trade will be remembered. Kovy has made it clear that he intends to test the free agent waters (as I said, it has been clear that he wanted to since he turned down Atlanta’s offer, and he has said as much since the Devils lost), so even if he re-signs, it should be noted that it will be because of New Jersey’s pitch more than because he was traded there.

So, disregarding a potential return, it is impossible to call the move anything but a failure. That doesn’t make it a bad move, though. I wrote at the time that Cormier, Bergfors and Oduya was a lot to give up for a couple of months of Kovalchuk, and it looks even more true after a first round exit. Still though, it was a gamble, and gambles don’t always pay off. This one didn’t but that doesn’t make it an error.

Buffalo Sabers

This is another one that I didn’t see coming. They say defense wins championships, and the Boston D core with Tukka Rask in net is certainly formidable, but between Ryan Miller and a deep blue line, the Sabers looked primed to go deep into the tournament. Alas, they didn’t hold up to that end and so American Hero Ryan Miller will watch the rest of the tournament from the bench.

It is hard to pinpoint what it was that kept the Sabers back. Obviously, their goaltending and defense wasn’t a problem, but they had sneaky deep scoring. Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jason Pomminville and Tim Conolly made up a solid and underrated core of forwards. Jochen Hecht, Drew Stafford and Paul Gaustad are solid complimentary guys. This team was better than they got credit for, until they ran into Boston.

As for the series that ended up taking them down, the Buffalo Boston matchup was a close one that really just was a few bounces away from working in the Sabers favor. The 2 OT game comes to mind, in which the Sabers blew a 2 goal lead in the third, but it wasn’t the only one. Two of the B’s other wins came in the form of a 2-1 game decided on a 3^rd period goal by Patrice Bergeron, and another saw a 5-3 win after an empty netter after a back and forth game that the Sabers led 2-0 and 3-2. Each game, with the possible exception of game 6, the clincher, was up for grabs, the Sabers just couldn’t seem to hold on to any of them in the end, and it sent them home early.

Ottawa Senators

The 4-5 matchups in hockey are funny. On paper, you would expect them to be the closest of the first round matchups, with the teams separated by only one seed. Oddly enough, because of the 1-2-3 division winners seeding, this is largely not the case. That is what happened in the East this year. On top of that, there were a pretty clear 1-2-3-4 in the Eastern hierarchy, leaving the Sens with a really difficult matchup despite their respectable seed.

Still, Ottawa kept it close with Pittsburgh. They had game 6 wrapped up, and were primed to send it to the ‘Burgh for game 7, but 2 third period goals sent it to OT, and the dagger was delivered by Pascal Dupuis, ending it for Ottawa.

As good a season as was had by the Sens, it was probably for the best. Injuries absolutely decimated this team and they would have limped into the second round (and that is being kind). Milan Michalek was out with a torn ACL to match Alex Kovalev’s, Alfredsson was supposedly playing hurt, leaving their forwards decimated without the two top line level guys.

Still, Ottawa had a good year. They may not have gotten what they liked out of Cheechoo, but Michalek was able to salvage the Heatley debacle and let’s be honest, no one saw this quick of a turnaround for Ontario’s forgotten team. They got production from a previously unknown lineup, and a 5 seed exceeded all expectations. They were dealt with by Pittsburgh, but it still has to be considered a good season in Canada’s capital.

Phoenix Coyotes

Never has a lower seed taking down a higher seed felt less like an upset than in the case of the ‘Yotes and Wings. Hats have to be off around the league to the job that has been done, taking a team in turmoil, without an exceptional roster, and putting them in contention. Still, a first round exit seems about right for Phoenix.

They can be happy to have sent it to game seven though. Sure, a deep run may have had lasting impact on hockey in the Valley of the Oppressively Hot Sun (actually it wouldn’t have, but everyone seems to think it would have so I am going with it), but by creating a little bit of buzz, it will at least….

What the hell am I talking about? Phoenix should have seen their last game. I am sick and tired of people making excuses for that franchise. Look how great their fans are, almost selling games out during the stretch! They are all wearing white, they must love hockey! Please. You watched 2 playoff games and decided Phoenix could be a hockey market? That’s funny, because I looked at their revenue sheet and saw that despite 4 home games in the playoffs, they will still come out at a substantial loss. I watched a game in November where I could count the people sitting in a given section on two hands. Why is everyone so desperate to save hockey in Phoenix? I just don’t get it.

Anyway, I shouldn’t be taking away from this team. The job that Tippet has done is remarkable. The players deserve a lot of credit as well. No one did more with less than Phoenix did this year. I just hope they do it somewhere else next year.

Nashville Predators

There are some things you just don’t come back from. The Predators were primed to put themselves in a position to pull off the biggest upset of the first round (and that is with Montreal-Washington up in the air, still), up a goal with just a minute left, and Marian Hossa in the box for 5 minutes. Rather than burying the heavily favored Hawks, though, they somehow gave up a shortie to Pat Kane, sending the game to OT and with that, the series had swung.

Sure, they could still have won the game on the 4 minutes of ensuing overtime power play, or battled back in game 6 to force a winner take all situation, but really, the Kane goal sealed the fate of the Predators. There are some losses that you just don’t come back from. The Predators giving up a late, shorthanded goal was one of them. Playing a superior team, a Chicago win became a foregone conclusion with the Preds crushed and the Hawks up 3-2.

It didn’t help that the Predators likely had the weakest roster in the playoffs. Pekka Rinne played well for them, Barry Trotz is one of the best coaches in the NHL, and they have a solid core of defensemen with Ryan Suter, Shea Weber, Dan Hamhius and Denis Grebeshkov but their forwards severely lack luster, and even their strengths are somewhat unintimidating. To be frank, the Predators are the team that I would have liked to see in round one for the Sharks. The big surprise wasn’t that they let it slip away after pushing the Hawks to the brink, but rather that they pushed them there in the first place.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings got a lot of buzz as an upset candidate. They came out of a division with three playoff teams, including the conference leader, play a versatile game, and only had 2 points fewer than their first round opponent, the Vancouver Canucks. It didn’t work out, though, as the Canucks took over after an initial scare and ended the Kings season in 6. For me, this leaves goaltending issues in Los Angeles.

Johnathan Quick was the guy this year, but Jonathan Bernier is in the system as one of the game’s top goaltending prospects, and while Quick jumped out to stellar numbers this year, he had some issues over the 82 game schedule. Quick isn’t exactly old, having played his second year in the NHL, but the Kings will likely have to decide where they are going in the next year or two, and it probably means cutting ties with this year’s backup, Eric Ehrsberg.

The hope for the future in LA is on the blueline, though. They have two of the best young defensemen in the world in Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. Guys like Matt Greene, Randy Jones and key addition from Pittsburgh Rob Scuderi round out one of the best D corps in the league. The Kings are a young team, and with forwards like Dustin Brown, Alex Frolov and Anze Kopitar, they can build around that core for a promising future for the Kings.

Colorado Avalanche

It is easy to look at the Avalanche’s performance in the quarter finals as an overachievement from a young team. In a sense it was, since no one had this team in the playoffs, let alone putting the fear of god in the 1 seed San Jose Sharks (ok, maybe some people did, but no one would have if it hadn’t been the Sharks). From my perspective, the series itself was something of a shellacking, with the Sharks losing the two games that they did in fluky fashion, and basically dominating an inferior team.

If the Avalanche season is taken as a whole, though, it is in a much different perspective. More than an overachieving group, the Avalanche showed a glimpse of a bright future this year. The team brought 12 forwards and three defensemen 25 years of age or younger to their playoff roster this year. Headliners of this youth include Matt Duchene (19 years old), Ryan O’Reilley (19), Chris Stewart (22), TJ Galliardi (22), Peter Mueller (22, who didn’t even play due to injury), and Paul Statsny (24). To get playoff experience with that many young guys on the roster is extremely valuable and could well help the Aves get to the top of the Western Conference in the next couple of years. Colorado doesn’t have much in the way of prospects coming up, but that is largely due to the fact that they have all of their blue chippers playing in the NHL at young ages.

It clearly wasn’t their year, as much as their veteran/journeyman goaltender, at the seasoned age of 28 tried to make it so in the first round. They got worked by a better team, but in defying all odds to make the playoffs, they gave the Western Conference a scary glimpse of what is to come in the Rocky Mountains with the most promising young core in the NHL.

I Hate California

Here are my thoughts from Phoenix’s win over Detroit to force game 7 on Sunday Afternoon:

The piece connecting the seat to the handles on the stationary bike I was riding while I should have been watching the game was gray.

My iPod is still black.

I rode 21.3 miles in 60 minutes, and burned 749 calories.

Why, you may ask, did I describe the stat bike I was riding when I promised a recap of game 6? Because I didn’t see game 6. I should have, too, since it was on NBC, the one network carrying hockey that we do get at SCU, but I didn’t. That’s because when I went to the gym to work out while I watched the game, I asked the attendant to change the channel, to the hockey game, which is on NBC, which is channel 11 ( I swear on Dany Heatley’s life I told him all three of those things).

I then went and began my work out on the bike. His response to my request was to say ‘sure,’ then to come over a couple of minutes later, presumably to honor the request, but instead what he did was this: He turned the TV (the same one that is constantly on NBC when garbage like the Bonnie Hunt Show or Ellen is on) to channel 11, NBC, per my request. It was on commercials. Fine, I had my game, I knew that it was on the right network, he could go back to his desk. But he didn’t. Instead, he noticed that it was on commercials.

Presumably, since I know for a fact that this kid got into Santa Clara, he doesn’t have an IQ of 42 and knew that if I wanted to watch the game, and that I told him it was on NBC, I wouldn’t hold it against him if I had to sit through a couple of ads before the game came back on. Unfortunately, that isn’t a presumption that I can safely make, because instead, in a virtuoso performance of stupidity, this idiot decided that I would rather watch the NBA game, which was ALREADY ON THE TV NEXT TO THE ONE HE WAS CHANGING.

Then, in what can only be described as the worst customer service I have seen since, well, the last time that I went to Santa Clara’s dining hall, he ignored my ‘excuse me’s. Then, he walked away. Fine, I thought, I’ll watch the basketball game for a few minutes, then get him when he comes back by. But no. This guy left the gym which he was getting paid to supervise, and didn’t come back for over 45 minutes.

In his defense, he was probably still drunk, or at least hung over, from the night before (after all, he was asleep when I got to the desk to ask him to change the channel). On the other hand, he was getting paid. He knew he had to go into work. That isn’t a defense at all.

So why ‘I hate California?’ Because for an hour, while I was peddling and staring at the bike, and occasionally glancing at a devastatingly uninteresting NBA game, I legitimately wanted to transfer. This didn’t seem like something that happened in a place where most kids aren’t spoiled by perfect weather and the spiritual home of participation trophies. It doesn’t happen in places where people don’t for some reason take the NBA, which would be dead if it wasn’t being propped up by ESPN, more seriously than the greatest game in the world (I’m not even an NBA hater like a lot of hockey fans. I enjoy it for the most part, and I have watched quite a few playoff games when hockey wasn’t on. It just isn’t in the same league as the NHL, entertainment wise, and it is impossible to enjoy when I know that I am missing a hockey game for it.).

So if it still sounds like I’m bitter, I’m not. I’m angry. I’m sick of a sense of entitlement amongst workers who don’t know a single thing about customer service. I’m sick of an obsession with a league that isn’t as good as its competition, yet receives all the attention. And I’m really sick of having to work out at the worst run gym that I have ever been to.

Malley Center in particular, California as a whole: Get off you’re a**. Do something. You are not owed anything by the people who pay your salary. At what point did it become ok to do the bare minimum, and to do it spitefully when you are working? Last time I checked, this country’s unemployment rate is reaching 10%. Fire these lazy, contemptuous scums. Find someone who will actually do their job. I don’t even blame the workers (well I do, but I don’t just blame the workers). Doing a crappy job and just scraping by with the bare minimum has to be grounds for dismissal. If you are a boss, it is your job to bring some GD accountability to the workplace. If you are a worker, and you don’t like your job, you need to pretend you do, or we need to find someone who does. Thank You.

Anyways, I am glad as hell that the Red Wings and Coyotes went to game seven, but I couldn’t tell you how it happened. Who knew it was symptomatic of a larger problem.

Having said all that…

I Love California

It is all worth it.

Allow me to brag for a paragraph or two. This Sunday, the second of May, was one to remember. It began by making the 40 minute drive from Santa Clara University to the beautiful beaches of Santa Cruz. The company on the ride was a close friend, and ohbytheway six sorority girls. Good ones.

After making the drive through the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains (although I was a bit distracted from their allure on this occasion), we arrived at the beach. There, we met 65 friends (fraternity brothers), and over 200 girls, almost all of them attractive. The girls broke out their bikinis as we coached them through a 5 round volley ball tournament, with the beneficiary being multiple sclerosis, and, you know, us. (By the way, that isn’t ‘dude there were like 200 girls.’ There were 22 teams of 10. Do the math.)

Anyways, the sun was great, the beach was great, the girls were beyond great, and all in all, it was a great day. It got even better, though, as me and a couple of different friends were forced to skip out shortly after the tournament wrapped up and took our towels, sun burns and 20 phone numbers back to Silicone Valley. It would have been nice, hanging around, talking to the girls and DDing for them if need be, but what we went back to was actually able to top it.

How were we able to top a great beach with more or less every good looking good girl at SCU (there are plenty, by the way)? Because we had the best of the other world back in San Jose. After a quick stop at school, we ended our day at the beach with…that’s right…a playoff hockey game, when we headed to the tank and caught game 2 of the Sharks and the Wings.

At the arena, we got an electric crowd, and a game that didn’t disappoint, with the Sharks staging a third period comeback to take a 2-0 series lead back to the Joe in Detroit. To top it all off, the 5:00 start allowed us to walk out of the arena with daylight and grab a bite to eat before taking the evening to actually be college students and get ready for the week ahead.

So yeah, I think I can put up with the BS for a couple more years as long as California sprinkles in a few days like that to make it all worth it.

All Things Hockey, Playoff Edition Part II

TFLN- Playoff Edition

I have never read Texts From Last Night, but I am familiar with the idea. I also talk almost exclusively about hockey with friends and family during the NHL playoffs. I’m not going to be able to put together what happened on 4/18 by myself, so hopefully this will help bring me to an actual recap.

My Dad:

“Marleau looks hurt.”

I actually buy this one. Marleau hasn’t been going to the net like he usually does, he hasn’t been physical at all and he just doesn’t have the pop that his game usually does. I didn’t see it myself, but once he said it, I think that this is plausible. He looked great against Phoenix on the last night of the season, and I didn’t see anything that shook him up in games one or two, but something definitely looked off in game 3.

“Watch the tape. The bad play in the sequence at the end of the game last night was not by Boyle or Nabokov. It was by Murray. Why did he reverse the puck? Kind of a lazy play. He had Thornton on the other side all alone ready to break it out, with no pressure on that side from the Avs.”

Maybe. I mean it isn’t wrong, for sure. The thing is, I just can’t bring myself to look for blame on that play. I really just think that it was a freaky play, one that can’t be put on anything but bad luck. Obviously there was a level of laziness that can be assigned to a number of players, but at the end of the day it was just the sort of thing that only seems to happen to the Sharks. I made plenty of dour jokes about God hating the Sharks and luck, neither of which are realistic, so I guess I will just blame quantum mechanics, particle physics, the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle and chaos theory for putting that puck in the net.

High School Roommate, Andrew:

“Heatley is hurt we are going to get swept by the Aves.”

Easy buddy, don’t jump. Besides, we already won game two but all but eliminated (read: eliminated) a sweep.

“Anderson is playing like Hiller did last year for the Ducks.”

Eerily so. I give him credit, but it is something that I had thought many a time since the beginning of the series.

Dave Damashek:

“The San Jose Sharks have to have taken over for the Boston Red Sox as the hardest team in sports to root for these days.”

First of all, I don’t actually know Damashek, he said this on Bill Simmons’s podcast. But it is a fair point. The Sox pre-2004 (between like 1995 and then) kept coming up just short. Obviously, the Sox had a much longer run of coming up short that made it so frustrated. The thing is, the Sox rarely had the best team from 1918-2003, and the fact is the Sharks have had what could be the elite squad in the NHL the last few years, and yet they have fallen short making it all the more frustrating. And by the way, my first reaction Sunday night was to compare the Sharks loss to the 2003 Aaron Boone game. The certainty that we had control in overtime followed by a freaky, almost implausible sudden death defeat (in 2003 because Boone had been an automatic out for 7 games) left the exact same empty, helpless, frustrated and pissed off feeling with me when the game was over.

Fraternity Brother, Lou:

“Heatley was benched.”

An interestingtheory, but I don’t buy it. Heatley was the best Shark in game one. You can’t put your best corer on the bench like that. I agree that it looks suspicious, since Heatley was fine at the end of game 2 (he played on the powerplay before Seto scored and nothing appeared to shake him up), and now appears to be headed back, but I just don’t see the Sharks sitting him down at this point.

High School Teammate, Mike:

“100% understandable. at least youve had the past few yrs to grow accustomed to being very very frustrated.... well see how things go this yr (major sic’s)”

Believe me, each successive year makes the frustration 100x worse. It isn’t something you get used to. The good thing is that the Sharks have outplayed the Aves badly for 2 games now, and I still would pick them if I could somehow be objective. That is as positive a note as I am going to get too, so let’s take a look at the rest of the NHL which was as good as the Sharks were bad the past few days.

Award Watch

The NHL Awards, with the exception of the Conn Smythe, are regular season awards. That being the case, we may as well wrap up Awards Watch for the season, by making official picks for the big NHL trophies.

(For the MVP, I’m going to wait, and do it on its own)

Calder

I had a long debate with my friend Austin (featured above) about the Calder race late Tuesday night. Austin, an Avalanche fan, was adamant that Matt Duchene has been the best rookie in the National Hockey League. I was adamant that he was wrong.

My choice remains unchanged, which is to say that as much as I resent his donning of Canadian colours (as opposed to American colors) in international competition, Tyler Myers is the clear cut rookie of the year. With due respect to Austin and to Matt Duchene (who has had a great rookie campaign by any measure to be sure), the key part of that sentence is ‘clear cut,’ which is to say that it isn’t even close.

My argument was that Myers has been the number one defenseman, leading the team in ice, for the number three seed in the West. This alone is a great ROY resume, but it does go deeper than that. Myers is a special player, who brings Chara-esque size and defensive zone ability to a Norris Trophy type of skill set. Watching the Sabers from any sort of analytical disposition, Myers sticks out as a special player.

If you want to compare him directly to Duchene, that comes out for Myers too. Duchene is indeed a good player with a chance to be a star in the NHL. Myers, on the other hand has a chance to be the best player at his position. Duchene has a really nice skill set, but chances are he is just another 70-85 point winger, and while they are hardly a dime a dozen, there are a few in every class.

The statistics favor the Buffalo defenseman as well. Consider the following two categories: first, points. Duchene has 55 to lead all rookies, but Myers is just 7 behind, and from the point. Since Myers is a defenseman, which gives him the edge in scoring (Myers is 11^th amongst defenseman, Duchene doesn’t crack the top 50, coming in at 66^th among forwards. The second number of importance is 9. That is the number of front page statistics (on NHL.com) that Tyler Myers ranks in the top 10 in rookies for. Not among defenseman, among all rookies. He leads rookies in games played (82), time on ice (amongst players with more than 20 games), shifts per game (same) and assists. He also ranks top 10 in points, goals, power play goals, shooting percentage and is second in plus/minus.

All of that pales in to comparison, though, to the most compelling and convincing reason that Tyler Myers deserves the Calder Trophy, which I stumbled upon the next morning. Mark Recchi was on the NHL Live radio show. EJ Hradek asked him about the key matchup in the upcoming series that Recchi was looking for against Buffalo.

Without hesitation, Recchi answered “We have to find a way to contain Myers.”

He didn’t say, “Myers is a good player.” He didn’t say, “Myers is a tough guy to go up against.” He didn’t even say, “It will be tough to match up with Myers.” He used the word contain. Recchi is in the same division as Myers, so he played him 6 times this season. He has also seen his fair share of hockey, having played in the NHL for almost 1600 games. That is a lot. I don’t think I have done 1600 of anything, Recchi has played an NHL game 1571 times. He knows what he is talking about. Myers was the first thing he mentioned. Containing a D man. That’s how good this kid is, even if he is a G-D Benedict Arnold.

The Final Ballot- 1.Tyler Myers, 2. Matt Duchene, 3. Jonathan Tavares, 4. Jimmy Howard, 5. James VanRiemsdyk

Adams

The case for Dave Tippett is pretty simple. Last year, the Coyotes were a bad team, with an inexperienced coach, and they missed the playoffs by 12 points, finishing in 13^th place.

This year, they brought back essentially the same bad roster. There were two main differences. First, the team was marred in controversy regarding potential ownership changes and relocation. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this wasn’t responsible for the turn around.

The other difference was behind the bench. No one wants to come right out and blame the great one, but he was learning on the job, and it was a difficult situation. This year, they hired Tippett through the chaos at the beginning of the year. If Gretzky wasn’t at fault, he was at least unable to turn the situation around. Tippet was.

I have said it before, there really isn’t a star on the roster (with due respect to Shane Doan or Wotjek Wolski). Their defensemen are good, but not great. Bryzgalov is having an unbelievable season, but he has been there for a couple of years, and it hasn’t made the difference. Watching Phoenix, it is clear that they win as a well coached team that comes to play every night. That is been the difference, and that is why Tippett is the only one who warrants talking about for the Adams Trophy.

The Final Ballot- 1. Dave Tippett, 2. Cory Clouston, 3. Joe Sacco, 4. Lindy Ruff, 5. Todd McLellan

Selke

The Selke trophy, given to the best defensive player in the NHL, is probably the most visceral of the awards given each June. It is nearly impossible to narrow down the award on numbers alone.

Some stats help, but nothing narrows it down. Plus minus is a good indication, but Alex Oveckkin led the league, and no one in their right mind would say he was the best defensive player. Takeaways have given Pavel Datsyuk the award couple of times (and rightfully so), but Alexander Ovechkin and Maxim Afinogenov are in the top 11 in that category. Besides, so much more goes into defense than can be calculated.

That isn’t to say that stats, can’t be used, in fact they should. The first category, though, in the vetting process should be the eyeball test. Does the guy get beat on the rush? Does he get back in the zone every time? Is he physical? Plenty of guys do those things, and if they do, then you move to stats to determine the favorite.

For me, Ryan Kessler is the guy. Does he pass the visceral test? Yeah. So let’s go to the stats. Datsyuk is way ahead of Kessler in takeaways, but Kessler has the two spot. The thing is, Datsyuk is nowhere near the top of the league in blocked shots, and Kessler is in seventh. He isn’t at the top of the league in hits, but that is because most hits forwards throw are on the other end of the ice. Anyone who watches the Canucks knows that Kessler is a physical guy in his own zone.

Ryan Kessler has been underrated since he came into the league, but that should change this year, since Kessler should win the Selke.

1. Ryan Kessler, 2. Pavel Datsyuk, 3. Mike Fisher, 4. Sidney Crosby

Vezina

I really don’t want to say that it is Ryan Miller, and that if you followed hockey this year, you don’t need an explanation, and leave it at that. But it is Ryan Miller, and if you followed hockey this year, you already know that. Bryzgalov has put together a great campeign and warrents mention (Brodeur on the other hand

Back in the USSR

The KHL playoffs are streaming this morning on ESPN3.com, the same network that can’t get the NHL. Anyways, I couldn’t be more excited. What better way to get my mind off of the tragedy of the Sharks loss last night than with the league that is single handedly trying to rejuvenate the Soviet empire? I have no idea what to write about it, other than “it is freaking awesome!” so I’m just going to write down everything that comes into my head and hope it works.

First of all, the game is in Russian on the webcast, rather than with translations. This sounds like a bad thing, but it actually is significantly enhancing the experience. I haven’t been this excited to not be able to understand something since I tried to watch “Lost” my junior year.

I looked up the rosters on the official English Language website of the KHL, Wikipedia. Unfortunately, there really weren’t any players that I recognized. This would b e a good time to mention that the teams are HC MVD (I thought that was a television abbreviation along the lines of LAK or NYR, but it turns out that is the team name), and AK Bars. I don’t know anything, including where they are from, about these teams, other than that Ilya Kovalchuk played for the Bars before he came to America. Anyways, as far as the rosters, it was a little bit disappointing. Alexi Morozov (aka one of the biggest busts in NHL history) plays for the Bars, as does Danis Zaripov, who played for the Russian Olympic team, but that is it, and there isn’t anyone of note on HC MVD. So no Federov, Jagr, Yashin or Radulov. Oh well.

For some reason, listening to what song they are playing between play is supremely entertaining. It is mostly a stream of techno so far. Disappointingly, though, it isn’t Russian Techno, but American pop techno. So far, we have heard “Call on Me” by Eric Prydz, a Cascada song (can’t remember which one) and “Sandstorm” by Darude. Come on, Russia! You are the bastion of techno! Don’t let the imperial capitalist pigs of the West drag down your proud national spirit, expressed in the form of synthesizers and pounding artificial beats!

It has been 20 long years since Mr. Gorbachev tore down that wall, the Soviet Union was disbanded, and the Cold War was thought to be over. Today, though, in 2010, and only now, am I willing to declare the Cold War officially, 100% over. There are two reasons for this. First of all, the Soviets er, uh, Russians and the Americans are leading the charge towards a nuclear disarmament (BUT OBAMA SUCKS BECAUSE WE STILL PAY TAXES! WHAT HAS HE DONE? REPEAL HEALTH CARE! GO TEA PARTY!..by the way, I can’t print my new name for the Tea Party movement, since there is a 99.999% chance you would be offended by the language, just know it was funny. I promise).

I discovered the second, and frankly more important reason while watching the introduction to the KHL game. The music playing in AK (still haven’t looked up where they play) was none other than Europe’s “The Final Countdown.” That’s right, one of the themes from Rocky 4. None other than documentary that logged the US defeating Russia in the cold war via boxing match. And now it is played in Russian hockey arenas. The war is over.

There audio track of the game now has a woman conducting an interview in the background of the play by play (like there are 2 audio tracks being played simultaneously). I am so confused. Is it a production error? Maybe. Is it intentional? I don’t know. I can’t imagine why you would need 2 commentaries at the same time, but that is probably because my feeble American brain has been corrupted by the vices of capitalism and so called freedom of democracy, in which the bourgeois play the role of invisible dictator, and cannot comprehend the complexities of the glorious Russian system.

Goal! AK Bars are on the board making it 1-1! Unfortunately, nothing goofy happened and it basically looked like a goal being scored in the NHL. I couldn’t be more disappointed.

This, unfortunately, is AHL level hockey. Of course, I knew that before this game based on the fact that Radulov is the best player in the league by quite a bit, Robert Esche is the best goalie, and, well, because I watched Russia’s Olympic team, but it is clear watching it that this has a long way to go if it thinks it is going to challenge the NHL.

I think that the coach for AK is the Russian National team coach. I have no idea, though, since every Russian hockey coach is required to have the same bad haircut, be a little bit overweight, and just basically look exactly the same.

I looked it up, he isn’t. I have never been happier to be wrong, considering it speaks to the above theory.

5 Ideas for Fake “What if X Didn’t…” NHL Commercials

I actually like the commercials that are running all over the games right now, with the classic moments being thrown into reverse, followed by the ‘what if question.’ They are a more than adequate version of the NBA’s “Where Amazing Happens’ ads. Fortunately, like the “Where Amazing Happens’ campaign, even though they are solid ads they are almost too easy to mock, so let’s take a shot.

1.What if Raffi Torres wasn't a douchebag? A clip of a ref with his arms at his side, then backing up to Milan Michalek lying motionless on the ice, then floating up until his head goes flying into Torres’s elbow, then about 4 seconds (unless it is in slow motion, then it will be like 10), until you get back to the point where Michalek was actually touching the puck. Yeah I’m still bitter.

2. What if David Stern Didn’t Plant Gary Betteman as the NHL commissioner? An empty rink, with a ‘2005 NHL Playoffs’ banner visible.

3. What if the NHL Players’ Union Had Their S*** together? Same thing. Equal time right? And yeah, I’m still bitter.

4. What if Jaques Lemaire didn’t almost kill hockey? A 45 minute clip of teams trying and failing to enter the zone, followed by Brodeur’s inflated numbers coming across the screen.

5. What if God Didn’t Hate the Sharks? I liked this one so much, I actually made it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UriEZkREJMA

Shorter Hockey Thoughts From The First Few Night Of Action

- Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before, Santa Clara’s cable system doesn’t get Versus. I have started a small movement to try to get the administration to add it to the lineup. If you are interested in helping (it would be much appreciated), go to the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112407142124340&v=wall&ref=mf#!/group.php?gid=112407142124340&ref=ts.

- On that note, thanks to the literally a few people who emailed media services to try to get Versus at SCU.

- Rather than wrapping up everything that I have to say about round one thus far in a column that would run around 4500 words in addition to all of this stuff, let’s go with a more digestible ‘shorter hockey thoughts’ version of a recap.

- Randy and Drew (Sharks announcers) said that there is going to be an emphasis on faceoff violations in the playoffs. My question is this: WHY THE HELL WOULD THERE BE AN EMPHASIS ON FACEOFF VIOLATIONS? WHY? “Guys we need to slow down stoppages, make the games drag out, and enforce petty violations without making the game more competitive, more entertaining, or in any way better! Stat!”

- What the hell was going on with the doors at Mellon Arena Friday night? Multiple times, hits sent guys flying through the boards, including Sutton, after he had already hit Leopold a few feet away. Good thing this is it for the Igloo.

- Joe Pavelski saved the Sharks season. I am convinced of it. If Pavs doesn’t put ‘er home with 30 seconds left in game 2 Friday night, the Sharks were done. Now that he did? I would bet just about anything on them in this series. The Avalanche have thrown everything that they have in games 1 and 2 and the Sharks have, for the most part, held it off, with only Craig Anderson keeping it close.

- Absolutely tremendous 100% clean hit by Andy Sutton on Jordan Leopold Friday night. Leopold had his head down, and Sutton came across and caught him perfectly. Elbow was in, he led with his shoulder, and he didn’t leave his feet. Sure, he caught Leopold high, but that was a textbook example of the puck carrier not protecting himself. I don’t think that there was anything wrong with it. More important, though, was the elite club that Sutton joined after the game, when he added “are you an expert,” to “practice,” and “playoffs?” in the ridiculous post-game quote lexicon.

- I missed the best storyline in the Buffalo-Boston series, one that hasn’t been built up as much as it should be. Really, we have the present going up against the future, with Zdeno Chara and Tyler Myers. They are the only two players in the NHL that physically, are unlike anyone else. Obviously, there isn’t much direct competition between defensemen on opposing teams, but the chance to watch the Slovakian giant, and the youngster from Houston, Texas, which I believe is in British Columbia, for 60 minutes in the same rink is exciting.

- Ovechkin getting zero shots in the Caps opener is shocking. Watching him, and taking into account the amount that he is on the ice, it is absolutely unbelievable that he could not get a shot. He can create a play that leads to one every time he touches the puck. Thursday, night was just a genuine no-show. The Caps can’t win the series, let alone the cup, if they get that Ovie for the next few games.

- Going back to Chara, everyone knows about the huge size, unmatched strength, booming shot, and uncanny shutdown ability, but the things that make Chara so incredible are the fact that he is an unbelievably agile skater for his size, and he has a great knack for jumping up in the zone.

- As of the second period of the Habs-Caps game, my main thought is “DUN-DUN-DUN, DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN, DUN-DUN-DUN, WOAH-OH-OH-OH-OH!” Also, I can’t believe that a 1 on 2 shot from the faceoff dot was just described as ‘Ovechkin’s best chance of the series.’

- Finally, the Canadians are getting the Mike Cammalleri that they thought they were getting when they signed him from Calgary, rather than the one that the Flames signed from Los Angeles.

- Cisco doesn’t seem to understand how ‘time zones’ work.’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uz3wQRFbvg) Or, generally, advertising. Or school. Then again, I haven’t been in elementary school for a few years. Do semi-unknown Canadian actresses routinely show up prior to field trips these days? (and if you are wondering what that has to do with hockey, I have seen that commercial approximately 1800 times in the past few days)

- Starting in 2012, take “John Carlson/Tyler Myers” over “The Field” for the next 12 Norris Trophies. Pencil that in. The only doubt I have is whether or not that should start next year.

- If you want to rank the best players in the NHL in tiers, tier one is Crosby and Ovechkin. Nicklas Backstrom is in tier 2. If he wasn’t in Ovie’s shadow, he would be getting credit for carrying a franchise.

- Who told Versus it would be a good idea to model every original show that they do after ‘Mohr Sports?’

- Cisco gets the worst ad award, obviously, but the best I have seen so far has to be the Wayne Gretzky LG commercial.

- My favorite type of music is Jim Houghson’s voice. My favorite song is “A Howitzer.”

- I love every single series going 1-1. Obviously, with the exception of the Sharks, you want to see the most hockey, and the wildest, closest matchups. This year has certainly delivered that through the first weekend with OT’s, and every team taking a sweep off of the table already.

- This is where I would write something about how devastating the Sharks game 3 loss was, or how upset I was, or even how well they played, that is if the loss hadn’t rendered me unable to think rationally, or even coherently at this point.

What I Like About: Alexander Ovechkin

There are so many things to love about Ovechkin if you are a hockey fan. Dude brings it every night. He is electrifying to watch. You never know what he is going to do next, but most of the time it will be something that brings you to the edge of your seat if not to your feet.

I have written about plenty of those things before, but there are two intangibles that get overlooked often times because of Ovechkin’s immense skill. Those things are an undying love of playing hockey, which is evident when you watch #8, and a passion for winning that can only be described as ‘Jordan-esque.’

To me, there is one situation that brings this characteristic to light consistently (although just watching him play does as well). Everyone knows about Ovie’s enthusiastic goal celebrations. Cherry called him out for jumping into the boards. He has his signature one knee sweep of the ice. He made headlines for his charade when he scored his 50^th goal last season. What gets overlooked though, is that Ovechkin often gets equally, if not more, fired up, when his teammate scores.

No one celebrates harder when he is on the ice for a goal. Either this guy really cares about getting plusses (possible, he lead the league in them this year), or he gets genuinely fired up for his teammates. You might not like his aggressiveness, or even the vigor with which he celebrates his own goals, but it is hard not to like how much he appreciates his teammates’ successes.

Homer Note of the Week

(Warning: I am writing after the Sharks’ loss in game 3. I am still mad. This could be…less than diplomatic.)

Ok, so I am bitter. Maybe I am just bitter. But really, Colorado? Listen to the radio broadcast, and the call of the last goal. Dude reacted like he had just seen the prettiest goal in the history of hockey to win the Stanley Cup.

The fact is this: The Sharks beat the crap out of the Avalanche for 180 minutes. Two freaky goals (fluky doesn’t cover it) have kept the Avalanche in this series. We are a better team, and anyone in their right mind would take the Sharks with even odds to come back and win.

Seriously, you have created about 3 legit scoring chances in the series. You 5 marshmallows in game 2 to stay in it, nad your goalie had the best day of his G-D life to get game 3 in what can only be described as grand larceny. To all you Avalanche fans, running your mouths, talk to me when you win a single race. Sure, you are up 2-1, but the shots have been 51-17, 52-22 and 129-69. Craig Anderson isn’t Vladislav Tretiak. He is gonna crack.

2 gifts from God, who clearly hates the Sharks for some reason, have kept you in this series, but anyone in their right mind knows that the Sharks are better, and there is no way I would trade our team for their situation.

So keep your shirts on.

(Sorry, needed to get that out.)

Goal of the Weeks

The Sedins combined skill, savvy, passing, flash and ESP to score this one. It is an absolutely incredible play. Probably the goal of the year for my money.

Hit of the Weeks

I had a bit of trepidation, posting this video, since you hate to see someone get knocked out the way Leopold did, but this was just an absolute hammer dropped by Sutton, and at the same time an effective defensive play, the two things you look for with physical play. I would know, I’m an expert.

Save of the Weeks

This week’s best save was made by…Patrice Bergeron? The play that Crosby made Friday night may actually have been even better, but between the hustle showed by Bergeron, and the fact that if he doesn’t do that they may very well have missed the playoffs, Bergeron gets the edge over the other half of the duo that dominated the 2004 World Juniors.