Category: NHL (Page 5 of 9)

What We Know of The Great Outdoors

25 June, 2009 / Kat

The NHL is currently teaching everyone a lesson in basic marketing with its handling of the Winter Classic announcement. Create a buzz by releasing information about a program piece by piece, and make people clamor for more.

It's safe to say hockey fans are becoming obsessed with Fenway Park. (Photo by me.)

But although complete and official information about the 2010 Winter Classic and subsequent events will not be released until July 1st at the earliest, there is enough substantial information out there to piece together five nearly certain pieces of the official announcement.

– The NHL game at Fenway Park will be the Boston Bruins versus the Philadelphia Flyers. After the owner of the Washington Capitals, the Bruins’ most rumored opponent, mentioned that the team had no plans to be part of a January 1, 2010 game last week, the Flyers have been the most reported and substantiated replacement.

– The ice at Fenway Park will be down for several weeks. Having the Winter Classic at a ballpark as opposed to an NFL stadium affords the organizers much more time to bring in the rink system, as the latest baseball runs is the first week in November. When the Winter Classic was held at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buf-town (which is what I’m allowed to call Buffalo because I’m a bitter Rochestarian), the major complaint is that event organizers did not have enough time to lay down the ice surface and troubleshoot any problems because of the NFL season ending only days before. With Fenway Park the NHL’s to play with from mid-November on, not only can any system problems be fixed much before the main event, other events can use the ice surface.

Are the Bruins Making a Statement on their View of the College Game with the Kessel Situation?

24 June, 2009 / Kat

Phil Kessel's college style of play could hurt his chances of staying in Boston. (Photo: Flickr user egasbarino)

Two Sundays ago, Kevin Paul Dupont’s Boston Globe Hockey Notes column led off with a discussion was whether or not the Boston Bruins will resign restricted free agent forward Phil Kessel. Said Dupont:

“For all his flash, dash, and goal scoring, Kessel has some troubling holes in his game. It’s a contact sport, one full of one-on-one battles, and in most cases, Kessel prefers to motor around those battles. When he is forced to battle for a puck, he usually looks for a different option….

Remember, this is a team that puts great weight in what Cam Neely thinks of players, and No. 8’s standard read on a skilled-but-soft contributor has been, “That dog won’t hunt.”

Having listened to Neely’s reads for more than two decades, and knowing both Kessel’s strengths and shortcomings, I think the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls for Kessel.”

Despite his breakout season, the Bruins appear not to hold signing Kessel a priority. Front office supporters may argue that the proposed amounts of $4.5 – 5 million are quite high for a 22 year old who has quite awful luck when it comes to injury and illness, who needed benching to shake up his game during the 2008 playoffs, and who has only “proven” himself for one year.

But what concerns me about the Bruins’ discussion of Kessel is the parts of his game they are picking on – very much the college aspects of his play.

To Play Outdoors, To Not Play Outdoors

14 June, 2009 / Kat

So are they playing a college hockey game here or not? (Picture by yours truly. Yes, I can take good photos once and a while.)

Remember when I noted that Denver’s men’s ice hockey schedule release may have squashed rumors of a college game being a part of Fenway Park’s all-but-confirmed Winter Classic festivities? Well, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont may have revived those rumors by claiming that a source close to the organizers are looking to have the ice system down for three weeks of use, and are looking to schedule a college tournament within that time.

Dupont went on to mention that any official announcement about all of the Winter Classic would most likely take place near the beginning of July.

These new details would seemingly make a Boston College-Boston University game a possibility, because of the length of time the ice will be available. BC could still keep their commitments to the Denver Cup on New Year’s Day, while still having time to fit in an outdoor game against BU.

I’ll keep my eyes out for any additional clues.

********

Belated congratulations to the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury definitely proved his worth as a goalie on Friday evening (he actually made an acrobatic save in those final seconds – who knew?)

On the Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, John Curry did dress for Game 7, but his name does not get engraved on the Cup, and thus he was not allowed to carry it because of superstition. Until your name is on the Cup, you are not allowed to touch it as a hockey player. He was still spotted on the NBC broadcast wearing the nifty locker room hat though.

Speaking of locker-room hats, Puck Daddy posted a great feature on the conceptualization and production of NHL championship fan wear on Saturday. Those of you as obsessed with fan wear as I will geek out over the detail.

And a special congrats to the Pens fans at Puck Huffers (NSFW), who titled their championship post, “Our Curry in Heaven,” and part of their dedication to disappointed and bitter Detroit fans read:

It’s time for you to put your hands towards the sky and pray for redemption. It worked for us.
Then again, John Curry is God.

It’s clear I’ve been outdone. I think they might need to take over the “Everyone’s Favorite Goalie” posts.

A Brief Break from Frozen Four Mania to Watch Bruins Cut Their Hair

8 April, 2009 / Kat

My dear Twitter friend and fellow Boston hockey blogger @cameronfrye and I had the opportunity to attend and cover WBCN and Aaron Ward’s Cuts for a Cure event on Wednesday afternoon. While she is the far better photographer than I – it helps that she has the souped up, newer version of my trusty ol’ Kodak – I tried my best to snap some interesting photos myself of the Boston Bruins players who offered their locks up for shearing by the highest bidder.

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Oh, Mr. Thiessen. I Didn’t See You Over There

5 April, 2009 / Kat

After giving Everyone’s Favorite Goalie, John Curry, a fellow Hockey East alum earlier in the week – Northeastern senior Joe Vitale – the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins surprised us college hockey fans, and it seems others, by signing Northeastern junior goalie Brad Thiessen on Friday.

Although some had speculated he might leave school early (including myself very briefly last weekend before his team’s NCAA semifinal loss to Cornell), I don’t know if it was particularly expected. Especially a move to the Penguins organization, which seems to be stockpiling goalies like 1950s families stocked canned vegetables in fail-safe shelters. (At the end of the world, there is not such a thing as too many cans of creamed corn. Or, it seems, too many undrafted college goalies.)

What does this mean for Everyone’s Favorite Goalie? Is this a confirmation of his spot as the somewhat-revitalized Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup next season? Or does the Penguins organization think that they want to have some grand goalie cage match next training camp? Thiessen, Curry, Fleury, Dave Brown, Chad Johnson and Adam Berkhoel all go at it, and the two still standing get a chance in the NHL? That would make an amazing reality show…in Canada.

As for Thiessen, I’m kind of disappointed he won’t be back next year. Given the youth of Northeastern’s team, they were a lock to compete for the top spot in Hockey East again next year. Since Thiessen started every single game for the Huskies last year, no one is quite sure what type of goalies they have coming up behind him. Thiessen definitely was deserving of the Hockey East Player of the Year award, and really kept the Huskies in the mix all season long. Now the Huskies seem like a giant question mark heading into 2009-10.