Tag: NHL (Page 3 of 5)

The Alumni Association: Fantasy Camps, Waiting in Line, and Getting Out of Portland

4 September, 2009 / Kat

Since a large chunk of my favorite college hockey players have now embarked on the professional portions of their careers, I present to you the first edition of “The Alumni Association,” a regular look at what some of the memorable college hockey players of the past five years are up to now.

Marblehead to Lynnfield, MA is a short distance geographically, but Marblehead native Cory Schnieder and Lynnfield’s Chris Higgins couldn’t be farther apart in their professional hockey careers this week.

For Higgins, the starting left wing for BU last year (and the LW in my most favorite line ever – Higgins, Wilson, Lawrence), Labor Day weekend will bring about his first NHL rookie camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Higgins, who is expected to spend the start of the season in Syracuse with the AHL Crunch, has the opportunity to be a part of a unique NHL training camp experience. Continue reading

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.

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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.

The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch: Riding a Taxi Without Paying a Dime

8 June, 2009 / Kat

033108_curry It’s been a while since we checked on Everyone’s Favorite Goalie – well, I mean, Everyone’s Favorite Goalie before Terrier fans were introduced to the John Curry clone that is Kieran Milan. (Thanks to blog commenter “Ogre” for jogging my memory to cover this topic.)

When we left last BU’s former starting goalie, Curry had returned to the AHL after impressing in his NHL debut around Thanksgiving. He then went on to set the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins team record for number of wins in a season in March, ending the season with 37 (33 in the regular season, 4 in the playoffs.) Curry earned those 4 playoff wins by leading the Baby Penguins team through the first round of the playoffs against the Bridgeport SoundTigers, but not without suffering a knee injury in Game 5 of that series. (Of course, the SoundTigers are the team in which Curry participated in the now famous “goalie fight” last year. Can I just tell you that still, a year later, we play that video in the office when we’re having a particularly rough day? Or maybe it’s just me.)

Due to Curry’s injury, backup Adam Berkhoel received most of the starts in the Baby Pens series against the pesky Hershey Bears, which the Bears won on their way to the Calder Cup finals (in which they currently have a 3-1 series lead over the Cory Schneider led Manitoba Moose.)

But why is it then that a detail-oriented hockey fan might find Curry’s name on the active roster for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals? Because despite his knee injury, Curry was called up to be the third string goalie for the remainder of the playoffs for Pittsburgh. He is on what sports fans and writers call “the taxi squad.”