Head on over to YawkeyTalkies.com for original photography and coverage of the 2010 Beanpot hockey tournament.

With our sports editor hailing from Boston University so many years ago and our editor in chief graduating from Northeastern a bit more recently, Monday’s Beanpot championship game had special meaning for the Blast Magazine family.

Whether it had the intended result or not, Blast had a reporter at the TD Banknorth Garden and worked with two photographers, Kristyn Ulanday of the Daily Free Press, and freelancer Peter Keeling, to visualize the game as best we could.

Here are the photos in high resolution:

Reported live from the TD Banknorth Garden

Fans trickled out of the Garden. They were either elated or in the dumps — justified or mortified.

A Boston University 5-2 win over Northeastern left many frustrated that the game — pitting No. 1 versus No. 3 in the country — really wasn’t even close.

At the beginning of the third period BU, already leading, went at it hard and left the Huskies struggling to play catch up. NU’s Wade MacLeod’s seemed simply unable to take the shot after he had an opportunity, letting the puck loose causing one of several pileups at the BU goal.

BU’s David Warsofsky scored fourth goal and Colin Wilson followed about a minute later with the last nail.

Northeastern had a chance, but they were just not aggressive enough to attack and take the shots needed. The Beanpot and the pride of Beantown has been given to BU once again, with BU Sophomore Nick Bonino being named MVP.

Northeastern University students arrived pumped and fiery, chanting “BU Sucks,” but the game was the first serious letdown of perhaps the best hockey season this school’s struggling athletics program has seen in more than 10 years.

In the first period, Boston University managed to score the first goal. The Huskies fought back with a goal in the last minute of the period and have been fighting back BU’s plays since the start.

The rowdy fans got a little bit of drama early on when an official got hit in the face by a puck during the fourth minute. He was taken off the rink by paramedics.

BU played clean and fast, and the Huskies just didn’t have an answer all night. Most frustrating of all may be the fact that BU scored two shorthanded goals, topping off NU’s failure to capitalize on opportunities.

Bessie King reported from the game. Blast Magazine editor John M. Guilfoil contributed to this report with analysis.

Reporting from the TD Banknorth Garden

The players are warming up and the fans are crowding the Garden for the 57th annual Beanpot Championship.

“Execute our game plan and come up high, there’s no more pressure than any other game,” said‚ Albie O’Connell Northeastern assistant coach.

After a decisive win against Boston College, the third-ranked Huskies are ready to go for the cup. Top ranked Boston University though is ready to reclaim its title for the 29th year.

Although a Massachusetts event, this year’s game has reached nationwide‚ attention‚ because‚ Northeastern has not made it to a final in more than 20 years.

So far the expectations are high and the tension is tangible.

In tonight’s consolation game Boston College beat Harvard 4-3. For some this was a good enough prize.

“Its a little depressing that we didn’t make it and its my last year, but we’re rooting for Northeastern because there’s been such a rivalry with BU all these years,” said Keith Malado, a senior at Boston College.

Next Monday, Boston University and Northeastern will face off in the Beanpot hockey finals.

No, that isn’t a mistake. Northeastern.

The Huskies haven’t won the Beanpot since 1988, but don’t be fooled; this is a much different NU team. Last night the Huskies pulled off a 6-1 beating of Boston College, the defending national champions, when even powerhouse BU struggled against a pathetic Harvard team.

The Beanpot has been held each year since 1952 and features four Boston area college hockey teams: BC, BU, Harvard and Northeastern. The women’s hockey teams from each of the schools compete in their own Beanpot. Their qualifying rounds will take place tonight.

BU (20-5-1) is now ranked first in the nation, with Northeastern ranked third after compiling an 18-6-2 record. Seeing how they didn’t even get 18 wins through all of last season, their record is a vast improvement over their 16-18-3 finish last year. A Beanpot win would be the icing on the cake for a team that has something to prove.

The Beanpot hockey final will be held at T.D. Banknorth Garden on Feb. 9. The consolation game between BC and Harvard will be held at 5 p.m. with the final at 8 p.m.

I don’t know what the actual record is for biggest good ol’ fashioned ass whooping in sports history, but this has to be close. I would have thought the biggest stomping may have been when the Washington Redskins were on the business end of a 73-0 loss to the Bears in the 1940 NFL Championship game.

Nope, this is worse. And it’s hockey!

The women’s ice hockey team from Slovakia skated with the Bulgarian women’s ice hockey team over the weekend in a 2010 Olympic qualifier. I don’t think Bulgaria is going to make the Olympics. Call it a hunch, but when you lose in any sport 82-0, you probably have to rethink whether or not you should even be playing said sport.

That’s right, the Bulgarians lost a hockey game…82-0.

I’ll say it again: 82-0.

What I want to know is what is going through everyone’s head (thanks, Michelle Tafoya) at 31-0? ‘Maybe we should cancel this game?’ ‘Maybe we should stay in the locker room after the first period and sneak out the back?’

The game was 7-0 after five minutes, 19-0 after 10 minutes, and 31-0 after only one period. The Bulgarians were down 77-0 with three minutes to go, when they put in their backup goalie. She proceeded to give up five more goals in 1:25.

12 players had hat tricks and Maria Herichova netted 18 goals herself.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around how it’s physically possible to score this many goals in a given time frame. Didn’t some pucks accidentally hit the goalie? I guess not.

I think my favorite part is that the decision to pull the starting goalie came after 77 goals were scored.

I usually keep this stuff in the OTR blog, but considering the heightened political climate, and the fact that Sarah Palin has made big news over the weekend, I’m going to put it in the main magazine.

Deadspin got a hold of an old sports news video with Sarah Heath (as she was known then) doing the sports highlights for a local news station in Alaska. Despite her wonderful hair, she isn’t very good at this job and the transition to politics seems to have been a good idea.

Decide for yourself:

There has been speculation for some time, but now it seems official, the Spectrum in Philly will close at the end of this year and be demolished. The arena is 42-years old.

"This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make," said Ed Snider, Comcast-Spectacor’s chairman. "The Spectrum is my baby. It’s one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me, but after a lot of thinking and discussions, we all feel it is in our best interest to close the Spectrum at the conclusion of the upcoming 2008-09 Philadelphia Phantoms and Kixx seasons."

This will officially end any remnants of Philadelphia sports wins. The 76ers called the Spectrum home in 1983 when they won the NBA title, as did the Flyers who last won a championship in 1975. Veterans Stadium was busted to pieces a few years ago to erase what was left of the Phillies’ house from their 1980 World Series. And the Eagles…well, we know the deal there.

Canadian Press reports that the Vancouver Canucks have offered Mats Sundin a two-year contract worth $20 million. Number 13 has spent the last 13 years of his 18-year career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team with which he’s set countless club records.

Should Sundin accept the deal, he would become the league’s highest-paid player, surpassing all-star Alexander Ovechkin and NHL poster boy Sidney Crosby, both of whom will earn approximately $9 million next year.

The 37 year-old Swede is expected, if he signs with Vancouver, to be a leader to both Henrik and Daniel Sedin, twin brothers who have been dubbed The Swedish Connection.

In addition to the Canucks, Sundin does have a few other options; the Maple Leafs offered him $7 million over two years and the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers have both expressed explicit interest.

In lieu of all the offers, Sundin recently said that he needs more time to decide whether or not he will even return to the NHL next year.

However, with an offer like Vancouver’s, and an opportunity to play for a team where he would be instrumental in developing more Swedish talent, he just might accept.

Even so, one thing Sundin does value is winning and at 37 years-old, he has yet to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. A key factor in his decision on whether or not to sign with the Canucks will be his degree of confidence in the team’s likelihood to reach the Stanley Cup Finals before the end of the decade.

Does Sundin believe the Canucks can reach the Cup Finals by 2010 under his leadership?

We’ll see.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that former Pittsburgh Penguin forward Marian Hossa has signed a one-year, $7.4 million deal with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

Hossa was with the Penguins last year when they got mopped up by Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals.

A former first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators in 1997, Hossa has 299 career goals and 349 assists in 701 career games.

Luc Bourdon, a young defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, is dead after a motorcycle crash on Thursday. He was 21.

“Luc was a winner; he was a competitor,” said Kent Hughes, his agent. “There was no quit in him. He persevered through a lot. He was a great guy and a great teammate.”

A report said that he lost control of his bike before hitting a tractor trailer in Shippagan, Neb.

According to Comcast SportsNet, the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings are scheduled to play in next year’s NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Yep, outdoor hockey.

Last year, a league-record 71,217 fans showed up at Ralph Wilson Stadium to watch the Sabres beat the Penguins 2-1 in a snowy outdoor contest.

Chicago’s Soldier Field and New York’s Yankee Stadium have also been named as possible hosts, although last week Commissioner Gary Bettman all but ruled out the latter.

In case you missed, and judging by the amount of people that have sent me the link to the Cnnsi.com story you haven’t, Philadelphia is officially a town that hasn’t had a pro sports championship in 100 seasons. The 76ers won in 1983, and all four teams have now gone winless in their last 25 years. Cnnsi.com has been nice enough to mention it with 100 of the worst things to happen to Philly sports during that time.

You can get Perry’s take right here. He’s as miserable a Philly sports fan as you’ll find.

Check it out, it’s a pretty thorough list. Maybe now you will understand why the fans in Philly are the way they are. From the Fog Bowl to the wet chart to the Allen Iverson “practice” tirade to Scott Rolen to the 1997 Stanley Cup Final fiasco to Shawn Bradley to the Charles Barkley trade to the three-straight NFC Championship game losses…Cnnsi.com has it covered.

There is no doubt that the NHL has gotten better and better the last couple years with the emergence of the young superstars, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. But it doesn’t end there. The league is filled with young players that will make this sport very exciting for years to come. Here are a couple players to keep your eyes on next year.

Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar: Anze was the 11th overall pick in the 2005 NHL draft and is only 20 years old. The Slovenian in two full years has already complied 52 goals and 86 assists, including 32 and 45 this year for a team that finished dead last with 71 points. Once this organization surrounds Anze with more talent look for him to start putting up 100 point seasons.

Anaheim center Ryan Getzlaf: Ryan played in his third season this year for the Ducks after being selected 19th overall in the 2003 NHL draft. The 23 year old Canadian had 82 points this season and often plays on the same line as 22 year old right winger Corey Perry (29 goals this season). The more these two play with one another the better they will get.

Chicago Blackhawks right winger Patrick Kane: Patrick played in his first NHL season this year for Chicago and put up 21 goals and 51 assists. The American was drafted first overall in the 2007 NHL draft and is still just a teenager (19). His teammate Jonathan Towes who was selected third overall in the 2006 draft is another youngster to watch. The Canadian Towes is only 20 years old and amassed 54 points in his rookie season.

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom: Just like Sid the Kid has Malkin, Ovechkin has Backstrom. The Swede was drafted right after Towes in the 2006 NHL draft (fourth overall) and played in all 82 games this year for Washington which was his rookie season. The 20-year old scored 14 goals and had 55 assists and helped lead his team to the Southeast Division title.

The list goes on, but these guys are some of my favorites. But just to mention a couple more to watch, here’s a few more:

Phoenix Coyote center Peter Mueller, Edmonton’s two young centers Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano, and New York Rangers’ rookies Brandon Dubinsky and Nigel Dawes.

Let’s also take a look at the top five prospects for the 2008 NHL Draft:

18 year old Canadian center man Steven Stamkos:

17 year old Russian winger Nikita Filatov:

18 year old Canadian defense man Drew Doughty:
Drew Doughty highlights right here.

18 year old Canadian forward Cody Hodgson:

18 year old Canadian defense man Alex Pietrangelo:
Alex Pietrangelo highlights right here.

And in nine years, look for Max Gerlach to be selected number one overall:

The Flyers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals last night for the first time since 2004 with a 6-4 victory over the Canadiens in Montreal. After losing the first game of the series in OT, the Flyers rebounded by winning four straight and taking the series in five games.

After never trailing in any game of the entire series (in regulation) the Flyers found themselves behind 1-0 and 3-1 in the first and second periods. RJ Umberger erased the first deficit with his eighth goal of the playoffs (seventh of the series) at the 10:20 mark in the first period. Amazingly, Umberger scored the first Flyers’ goal in each of the five games of the series.

Montreal was able to respond right away after Umberger’s goal when Alexei Kovalev scored 1:08 later to make it 2-1. After Christopher Higgins scored his third goal of the playoffs 8:15 seconds into the second period, the Flyers faced their first two-goal deficit of the series 3-1. But again, a resilient Flyers team in a span of 2:58 were able to erase the difference and take the lead with goals from Mike Richards (4), Umberger (9), and Scott Hartnell (3) The Flyers headed to the second intermission up 4-3.

Montreal answered 2:13 into the third period when Andrei Kostitsyn tied up the game with his fifth goal of the playoffs. The period remained tied for a little more than 14 minutes with both teams having a shot to take the lead. Daniel Briere had a scoring chance on a clean breakaway, but slid the puck wide right and Canadien Guillaume Latendresse rung one off the post with under five minutes left in the third period.

Finally, with 3:04 left, Scottie Upshall redirected a Jeff Carter shot with the blade of his stick sending it past Carey Price for the game-winning goal. Mike Knuble added an empty-netter at the end giving the Flyers a 6-4 victory.

Scottie Upshall’s game-winning goal was an example of the great hand eye coordination that NHL hockey players have. I once had a friend tell me that redirecting a puck was all luck. I won’t name any names, but his name was Chad. Chad couldn’t have been more wrong. This is an amazing skill that hockey players possess. A hockey puck can be driven to the net up to and over 100 mph. I’m aware that Jeff Carter’s blast was not traveling nearly that fast, but to be able to change the direction of the puck and put it on the net is something that should be admired. There are many hockey players that have mastered this skill (San Jose’s Jonathan Cheechoo to name one) and Upshall’s goal exemplified the perfection of this art.

Upshall had this to say about his game-winner, “It was a great feeling. A tie game with three minutes left, it’s anybody’s game, it’s one shot, it’s one bounce. [Carter] made a great shot on net. I was in the lane to see the puck and I thought I could get a stick on it and redirect it, and to get a big goal like that is pretty uplifting for your spirits.”

Marty Biron didn’t have the best game of the series, but came up with huge stops in the third period and turned away 31 shots overall. Marty leads all goaltenders in the playoffs with eight wins and remains the only netminder to have played in every single minute of every game.

And how huge has RJ Umberger been for the Flyers? Umberger scored two more goals and leads the Flyers with nine playoff goals. Last night was his 26th birthday and he played like a man possessed and he clearly is playing to capture the Cup, “I’m just going to take a moment, enjoy it but stay focused. There’s plenty of time after it’s over to celebrate it and enjoy it, but right now we have one thing on our minds.”

This season for the Flyers has been an amazing turnaround. Philadelphia finished the 2006-07 season last overall in the NHL with 56 points, the lowest total in team history. They finished this year with 95 points and it even came down to the last week of the regular season before they were able to clinch a playoff spot. And now they await the winner of the Penguins/Rangers series to see who they will play in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Penguins lead the series three games to one.

Nothing is more exciting than the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you haven’t already, jump on board.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price, who was benched in Game 4 due to not stopping the puck from going in the goal nearly enough, will be back for Game 5 on Saturday night.

“He deserves a second shot,” Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau told the Canadian Press. “I think in the last few days he had time to calm down and refocus and get ready for another long stretch.”

In other words, “Jaroslav Halak didn’t exactly do it for me in Game 4.”

“It was a tough time, you always want to play, but you have to respect the coaches’ decision,” Price said. “I’m just looking forward to getting back in there. Hopefully, we can pull off a winning streak.”

The Canadiens are down 3-1 to the Flyers and facing elimination. They are the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Flyers are riding a scorching hot goaltender right now in Marty Biron. His glove is catching everything. His poke checks are timely. And he is entering Pat Burrell elite status. Indeed, he is "completely awesome."

Heading into the third period last night, the Flyers led 3-0 and it seemed they only needed to kill twenty more minutes, but they didn’t think they would need to kill seven of them short-handed (including a five minute major on Derian Hatcher for boarding). The atmosphere was tense as Montreal collected two goals during Hatcher’s penalty to pull within one. However, outstanding penalty killing by the Flyers and Biron kept the score at 3-2 till the end and the Flyers skated to a two games to one advantage in the series.

I’m hearing a lot of "The Flyers were outplayed" and "If the Flyers don’t play better, they’re in trouble" and "The refs aren’t calling the games fairly." I completely disagree with all of those statements and here are the reasons why.

The Flyers are playing the passing lanes perfectly. Montreal is a finesse team with highly skilled players. Their passing is incredible, but the Flyers are filling those lanes and the passes are not getting to their wanted destination. Furthermore, the Flyers are making the Canadiens play a physical series, which they would rather not play. These two reasons are disrupting Montreal’s offense and gameplan.

The Flyers are winning the battles on special teams. I can’t express how important this is. Montreal did score two power play goals last night during Hatcher’s five minute major. However, the Flyers were able to kill the remaining two minutes (just under two minutes) of that major, three other five-on-four minor penalties (including one with six minutes left) AND a two minute five-on-three penalty. In addition, Mike Richards was able to tally a short handed goal in the second period. The Flyers are winning the special teams battles. You can’t look past this considering the Canadiens had the best power play during the regular season.

The Flyers have the hot goaltender. Marty Biron had another spectacular game last night. His poke check against Saku Koivu as Saku came flying out of the penalty box untouched on a breakaway kept the game tied at zero in the first period. His glove remains the best penalty killer for the Flyers. And his positioning and ability to see through screens seems to be getting better and better. The Canadiens netminder Carey Price is not performing well. He is giving up too many rebounds and his glove is made out of brick.

The refs are calling a good series. I’m not even going to get into that. The Flyers are a very aggressive team and penalties will mount up for them. If the Flyers don’t want cheap penalties and to be short-handed for five straight minutes then they will have to be more disciplined. When you have players like Hatcher and Downey, and a reputation of being a dirty team, you’ll find yourself short-handed more times than not.

If the series can remain physical and Biron stays hot, Flyers fans shouldn’t need to worry about how their team is playing. They are winning. That’s all that matters. Nothing can be more devastating to a team than losing games that you feel you should be winning, and that is how Montreal feels.

Game Four will be at the Wachovia Center on Wednesday where the Flyers look to take a demanding three to one advantage.

The first round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs is officially heating up, and not just on the ice rinks. Internet chat rooms on sports web-pages everywhere are ablaze with criticism of the NHL referees and the job they’ve done thus far officiating the first 2 to 3 games of each eight opening-round match-ups. Fans from all over the NHL map are weighing in on how the next generation of NHL officials are interpreting and calling the rules of the game, and an overwhelming majority is not very happy with how it’s been going so far in these playoffs.

Most of the gripes are originating from fans following the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames series out west, but there has been noise about missed calls and a "playoff approach" to officiating surfacing from people following every series. Currently, the seven-seed Flames are leading the two-seed Sharks two games to one in the best of seven series, but many fans are complaining loudly that the "stripes" are missing a lot of calls or blowing the whistles in an inconsistent fashion…especially Sharks fans. A lightning rod for the scrutiny of officiating in this series was a big hit that Flames’ defenseman Cory Sarich laid on the Sharks’ Patrick Marleau in Game 3 of the series.

Depending on who you ask, Sarich either caught Marleau, who had his head down, cleanly with the shoulder, or Sarich got his elbow up on Marleau and committed a vicious penalty that was not called. In any case, a scrum between the teams developed after the hit, which left Marleau with a cut over his eyes and a badly bloodied nose. What was the result of the scrum? San Jose was short-handed for an additional roughing call assessed in the aftermath. What happened on the ensuing Flames power play? Jarome Iginla deflected a Phaneuf wrist shot by Sharks goalie, Evgeni Nabakov, 28 seconds into the man advantage, sparking Calgary to a comeback win and a 2-1 lead in the series.

Again, buzz about the sorry performance by the zebras is not isolated to some game-changing penalties in this Western Conference series. NHL fans are voicing their displeasure at the appearance of refs "loosening" their enforcement of the rules in the playoffs, or being inconsistent in their interpretations from period to period. This adjustment in referees’ approach during the postseason has been a regular gripe in response to commissioner Gary Bettman’s post-lockout assurance that rule interpretations (designed to speed up the game and let the talented stars skate) would be consistent in both regular season and playoff games.

Sure, the ticky-tack interference penalties are still getting called, but many (some much more apparent than others that have been whistled) are being missed. The new interpretation of the slashing rule, consistently called during the regular season to assess two minutes to players for hard stick checks that cause an opponent’s stick to break or get knocked away, seems to have disappeared altogether (I’ve personally seen this play go uncalled at least two times while following various opening round contests). The hooking/obstruction call may or may not be whistled when a defender’s stick is quickly brought to a puck-carrier’s hope and removed without clear interference. Lastly, the league’s publicized crackdown on clear shots to an opponent’s head during heavy body checks, a reaction to the past decades sharp rise in NHL player concussions, seems to have dissipated as well—just ask Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks.

Bitter fans of underachieving teams are quick to hatch their "Canadian Conspiracy Theories" that the referees and the league have a nationalist desire to see as many Canadian teams as possible go deep in the run for Lord Stanley’s Cup. It’s no secret that Canada is by far the biggest market in professional ice hockey (pretend ALL Americans were enthralled with the NFL and didn’t really give a spit about the other three sports, that scenario times 10 is how Canadians feel toward ice hockey), but it’s also no secret that the American fan-base is every bit as valuable to the NHL as Canadian pride. Besides, every NHL club north and south of the border dresses plenty of canucks, and the extremely loyal and knowledgeable Canadian fans are known to follow and cheer for hometown NHL talent as much as the hometown NHL club. These silly pro-Canadian rants provide a convenient excuse for fans to vent when their American team is behind to a Canadian club in a series, but I consider it a "sour grapes" response to larger problem with the game. Also, to my surprise, I’ve read similar responses from fans on both side of the equation (supporting the teams suffering the results of marginal calls and even those rooting for teams that have benefited from such calls) stating that the refs have been wildly inconsistent and performing poorly thus far in the playoffs—be it in their favorite team’s favor or not!

The NHL has seen many young, new refs lace up since the lockout. All refs, old and new, have adapted to the huge adjustment in interpreting many of the games’ rules, such as "Obstruction/Hooking" and "Interference". While the refs have been very diligent in adapting their performance during the regular season, they may be reverting back to their personal opinions about which plays deserve a whistle and which plays do not now that so much is at stake in the playoffs. This is the problem with having a new interpretation to an old rule—not everyone will have the same interpretation, and the interpretations are vulnerable to the timing and circumstances that surround a play. Would a young ref, eager to let the players decide these blood-and-guts battles, keep his whistle in his pocket when a defending player barely gets the stick blade on an opponent’s hip? Should a referee give a power play out for a hit that straddles the line between good, hard, clean hockey and a dirty, opportunistic cheap shot?

These are tough questions regarding the tremendously difficult job of being an NHL referee. Fans should remember that these refs are human beings—human beings skating at the pace of professional ice hockey while both simultaneously attempting to avoid interfering with the play and monitoring the rules of the game as it unfolds (sounds tough, huh?). As in all sports, calls are going to be missed from time to time. The burning question for fans of the NHL is this: Are penalty calls getting missed more frequently in this postseason because of the stakes and speed of the game, or have the refs independently adjusted their interpretations of what is and what is not a penalty?

Before Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell tinker any more with the rules of professional ice hockey, they’d be well-advised to make sure that the current rules are crystal clear and consistently spelled out—to the players, coaches, and, most importantly, the scapegoats in stripes responsible for keeping the ice level for all teams.

After an extremely exciting final push for the playoffs, the NHL season has concluded! The die is cast for opening round match-ups between the 16 teams that have made the grade, and both conferences have eight strong clubs seeded to vie for the greatest prize in all of sports.

Before we get into the specific match-ups in the Eastern Conference, I want to take this opportunity to toot the NHL’s horn for the excellent format of the regular season. When the post-lockout NHL and its salary cap promised parity in the league, they meant it and adjusted the schedule to give it to us fans in spades. The past two or three weeks of regular season hockey have been every bit as intense as the post-season product that the NHL hangs its hat on. Even non-hockey fans are quick to admit that the NHL playoffs are an amazing display of athletic competition—a long, grueling test of ability, stamina, and composure to earn the coveted and revered Stanley Cup. With so many teams so close in the standings, smartly scheduled to square off against division rivals in the closing weeks of the season, hockey fans got the wonderful playoff product a few weeks early this year —complete with suspense, sacrifice, go-for-broke action, and (for teams missing the cut) heartbreak. Bravo, NHL!

Now, to see which Eastern Conference "organ-eye-zations" are facing off in the first round of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

• 1 Montreal Canadiens vs. 8 Boston Bruins

Winning hockey is back in Montreal, as the Canadiens posted 104 regular season points to earn a position perched at the top of the Eastern Conference, a position that affords them home ice advantage through the conference finals (should they remain in the hunt that long). Montreal brings a highly offensive team that scored more goals than any team in the entire league. They also bring the NHL’s best Power Play to the playoffs this year, and this squad is regularly described with an adjective that the team earns almost every season—fast!

The Canadiens have a reputation for building skating teams, and this one is no different. Super-skilled star forward Alexei Kovalev leads a balanced offense with his 84 points, and is supported by a talented cast including captain Saku Koivu, Tomas Plekanec, and Andrei Kostitsyn. The Motreal defensive corps is also an offensive threat with both Mark Streit and Andre Markov collecting the third and fourth most points on the club from the blueline; the defense is also primed for a run at the Cup with playoff savvy veterans such as Patrice Brisebois and Roman Hamrlik, as well as youthful defensive stand-out Mike Komisarek.

In net, the Canadiens are betting the farm on the young but impressive Carey Price, who inherited the number one job after Montreal moved Cristobalt Huet to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline. Price has looked the part since the move, but if you had to pick a weakness on this club, then it would have to be the unproven young keeper.

The Boston Bruins, once a stalwart of power in the NHL, are beginning to finally return to form after a trying decade. Since respectfully dealing Ray Bourque to the Colorado Avalanche to win his only Stanley Cup, the Bruins have been seemingly mired in a perpetual state of rebuilding nearly a decade. It seems all the tinkering is finally paying off—this year’s Bruins team has overcome injuries to key players in order to claw their way into the postseason.

Veteran forward Marc Savard leads the Bruins offense into the postseason with his team-high 78 points, and the Bruins offense isn’t exactly filling the net regularly if Savard’s team-leading total is any indication. Marco Sturm leads the team in goals with 27, followed by Kobasew with 22, but these two are the only Bruins to crack the 20-goal mark this season. Without a doubt, the youthful Bruins have missed offense from 22-year old Patrice Bergeron, who has been out of action for 71 games running since suffering a major concussion and broken nose against Philadelphia in November. Offense aside, the Bruins have taken effective steps to beef up the physicality of their team in the past few years. Zdeno Chara, a literal monster at 6’9" (in shoes, not skates), 255 lbs., has a mean streak and is a huge (no pun intended) presence on the blueline. Mark Stuart and Aaron Ward are two other big boys that bring stability to the Boston defense, which has proven itself good enough to shut down opponents and earn the final spot in the east.

The "X-Factor" for Beantown is goaltender Tim Thomas. The Bruins had Thomas penciled in to back up acquisition Manny Fernandez, but injuries to Fernandez found Thomas fighting into the starting role, yet again. The book on Thomas is a story of intangibles and leadership—he’s made a career of winning starting spots from more acclaimed netminders, and plays an athletic brand of goaltending fueled by his competitive spirit. Thomas is a warrior that teams love to play for, and he’ll have to be a beast with a capital "B" to stop the Canadien onslaught.

J’s pick: Montreal in five games. Montreal has way too much offense against an incomplete and green Bruins roster that struggles to score. The Bruins will have to be very physical to slow down the Canadien forwards, and with physical play comes penalties. Penalties mean powerplays, and the Canadiens are the best in the business. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Montreal has won their last 11 games against the Bruins…

I feel I’m doing Boston a favor by not picking a sweep. Sorry, Boston—wait… sorry??? The hell with that! Go watch the Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox!

• 2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 7 Ottawa Senators

My, how the mighty have fallen over the course of this season. Ottawa, a team overflowing with talent that is built to win a Cup NOW, looked like the team to beat before the season began and throughout much of the first half. You don’t even have to be a hockey nut to recognize some of the big names on this roster—Daniel Alfreddson, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Wade Redden… the list goes on. This team is balanced through and through—a speedy, creative offense with plenty of depth (count ‘em—six players with 20+ goals/ 3 with 30+ goals!), as well as a solid defense corps comprised of both shut-down thumpers and offensive threats.

The biggest weakness for this team is a coin-flip between goaltending and injuries. The goaltending issue is a real shame, as their season-opening starter, Ray Emery, has the goods to be one of the brightest young netminders in the league. Emery proved his ability as he carried the Sens to their Cup Finals loss to Anaheim last year, but has erased the sweet taste of his success with his off-ice buffoonery and lack of commitment this year. That leaves the starting role to inconsistent netminder Martin Gerber. Gerber can play, but should not be starting for this team or any other, and is only in the position because Emery has been a club cancer all year long. The injury of note for the Senators is to their captain and consummate leader, Daniel Alfreddson. Borrowing an analogy from the RZA (those hip hop artists have wordplay to spare), "if the Senators form together like Voltron, Alfreddson is the head". Alfreddson is unlikely to be there in the opening round, and, facing the young Penguins, the flailing Senators are unlikely to be around after the opening round.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, if you haven’t heard, pack the dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Although you’re sure to know the former name, it’s really the latter that has carried this young club to the Atlantic Division crown and 2nd seed in the East. While the amazingly talented Crosby has missed a large chunk of games down the stretch due to am ankle injury, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins didn’t miss a beat as they chased down and passed the Devils to win the division. As Malkin’s game has matured to put his name in the Art Ross Trophy running along with Alex Ovechkin, the Penguins also added offensive force Marrian Hossa to an impressive cast of forwards that includes Jordan Staal, Petr Sykora, and the speedy Pascal Dupuis. With the return of Sid the Kid, this is an offense that gives opposing keepers nightmares.

The Pittsburgh defense is also much improved from a year ago as well. They’ve added the beef of Hal Gill from Toronto at the deadline, and Sergei Gonchar is a priceless blue-line threat and seasoned power play quarterback. Most importantly, Marc-Andre Fleury has begun to look like the stud he’s been billed as all of his career in the waning weeks of this season. A disgusting offense, balanced defense, and strong goaltending spell trouble for Ottawa in this opening round.

J’s pick: Pittsburgh in four. I consider this a very bold prediction, but I’m bolder than Doritos Nacho Cheesier flavor, so get your brooms out! Even with the second half slide, injuries, and goaltending situation, Ottawa is still loaded with talent and experience. What Ottawa is not (and Pittsburgh most certainly is) is hot. The Penguins are a young team hitting stride at the right time, and Ottawa is a strong team struggling at the worst time. It won’t take much for the soaring Pens to shatter the fragile confidence of the Senators in the first two games in Pittsburgh; from there, it should be a downhill coast into the 2nd round.

• 3 Washington Capitals vs. 6 Philadelphia Flyers

The Washington Ovechkins—pardon me, the Washington Capitals are this year’s "Cinderella Story.” After a dreadful, coach-firing start to the year, no one expected Washington to be even sniffing the playoffs this Spring. I suppose no one bothered to mention this to Alexander Ovechkin, the best player in the NHL since Mario Lemieux. Ovechkin, along with young offensive studs Alexandre Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, fought their way back into the hunt from being way out early. As Ovechkin piled on the goals and points, the Capitals brass saw an opportunity to take some deadline chances and the hit the chemistry jackpot.

Enter Cristobal Huet, former keeper of the Montreal Canadiens. Although Olaf Kolzig is still effective, the Caps brought Huet in for some healthy competition and he’s stolen the job in D.C. and proven he deserves it by winning nine straight games to finish the season. This late-season surge allowed the Caps to steal the Southeast division from the Carolina Hurricanes, who will be catching this years playoff action at the golf course club house after shooting 18 holes.

Let’s not forget Sergei Federov, either. This Russian veteran made his name as a two-way forward in the ‘90′s Red Wing haydays, and his experience, vision, leadership, and unselfish play has taken the Capitals offense to a new level.

As for the Capitals "D", they’ve got the league’s goal-scoring leader for defensemen in 22-year old Mike Green. Tom Poti and Jeff Schultz provide steady, responsible play on the blueline for a defense corps that’s had an easy job late this season with the prolific Ovechkin and stingy Huet.

Which Philadelphia Flyers team is going to show up for the playoffs this year? Is it the squad that climbed to fight the Senators for the Conference lead by mid-season? Or will it be the team that dropped 10 straight games shortly after the All Star break and nearly missed the playoffs?

Despite their inconsistencies, Philadelphia is a club with a lot of offensive depth. The Flyers boast seven players with 20 or more goals, and one of these skaters, Joffrey Lupul, hit the 20-goal mark despite missing substantial time due to injury. Speaking of injuries, the Flyers would probably have an 8th 20-goal scorer in left wing Simon Gagne, who has missed the bulk of this season with concussion injuries. Led by two-way center Mike Richards, a complete skater and the new face of the franchise, the Flyers have a gritty group of forwards that can dish out hits as well as put up points. Jeff Carter finally emerged as a difference maker when Richards was hit with the injury bug, and players like Scott Hartnell, RJ Umberger, and Mike Knuble can all put the biscuit in the basket as well as throw the body.

Big name, off-season acquisition Danny Briere is a linchpin for the Flyers offense heading into the playoffs. His play, which was very erratic throughout the regular season, has improved down the stretch, and will have to be great in the playoffs if the Flyers seriously want to make any noise.
The Flyers Achilles Heel is definitely their defense corps. Despite the emergence of Braydon Coburn, Philly dresses a weak and unproven blueline on a regular basis. The youth of the defense is obvious as they regularly fail to clear and get trapped in their zone as teams cycle the puck. With the intimidating Derian Hatcher fighting to return mid-series from a broken leg suffered late in the season, the Flyers will need their defensemen to play beyond their years to hang with Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Starting in net for the Flyers (the first time they’ve had a clear #1 since Ron Hextall) is the enigmatic Martin Biron. Biron is entering the playoffs very hot, having pitched back-to-back shutouts to finish the season. However, Biron was far from steady throughout the season, and always seems like he’s one soft goal from falling apart.

J’s pick: Washington in 7. The Flyers ended the season hot, but the Capitals finished the season en fuego (take that, Micah!). Philly’s defense gets its hands full against clubs with mediocre offenses, so I don’t know how they plan on containing Ovechkin. Add the inconsistency and lack of playoff experience for Biron to the Capitals’ home-ice advantage, and sum is bad news for Philly.

• 4 New Jersey Devils vs. 5 NY Rangers

Strap your helmets up, kids… this one is going to be a battle! The N.J. Devils bring their usual to the table this year—a ton of experience, a selfless devotion to team hockey strategy, balance up front and on the blue line, and… Martin Brodeur.

The name of the Devils’ game is responsible team hockey. Every skater, from the silky forwards like Patrick Elias and Zach Parise to the bruising grinders like Colin White, play an extremely patient brand of defensive hockey. Fans have cried for years about the Devils trap ruining the game, but the only reason the Devils system has been so effective is that #30 is always there to save the day when the trap does break down. The Devils have the goods up front to make opponents pay for every mistake—Patrick Elias, Dainus Zubrus, Zach Parise, and Brian Gionta can all pick a keeper clean like a chicken wing. The supporting cast provides depth in the stat sheet with blue-collar productivity thanks to deflections, tips, and rebounds—all rewards of good positioning that result from total commitment to team hockey.

As always, the Devils defense is stifling and imposing behind their disciplined forwards. Paul Martin and John Oduya are at +20 and +27 for the season, respectively; the other blue-liners all play a physical brand of mistake-free Devils hockey. The names may change, but the Devils game remains the same. They’re coming to clog up breakout, own the boards, and block shots. Don’t cry about it, the only hope is to step up and outright beat them.

Of course, the secret ingredient to the Devils success is and has always been Martin Brodeur. The best goaltender to ever play the game always seems to be losing a step early on in the past few seasons, and then he flips a switch and turns back into the dominant brick wall we’ve all grown to hate over the past 15 or so seasons ("hate" if you’re not a Devils fan, that is). Brodeur has got it all—positioning, reflexes, puckhandling, anticipation, athleticism, rebound control, competiveness, and experience (PLENTY of winning experience). Until Brodeur is riding a jazzy to the early bird special at Joe’s, he’ll be a huge factor in any playoff series he’s involved with.

Don’t look now, but the Rangers didn’t pluck half of the available big name free agents for nothing last summer. The Broadway Blueshirts are back as a factor in the Eastern Conference after being pre-season favorites turned trainwreck for a few consecutive seasons.

It’s been a bumpy, up and down season, for sure, but the Rangers are hitting their stride at the right time. Jaromir Jagr, whose stats have been well below his standards all season, decided to catch fire as the Rangers climbed the standings late, only losing home ice to Devils in a shoot-out that decided the last regular season game between these foes. Jagr isn’t alone either since the Rangers added playmaking Gomez and stone cold winner Chris Drury in the off-season. Let’s not forget the aging but effective sniper Brendan Shanahan and his fabulous one-timer or the uber-pest Sean Avery (whose presence in the lineup, despite unremarkable stats, seems to translate into wins for the Rangers).

Youngsters Fedor Tyutin and Marc Staal anchor the Rangers defense, a shaky group that could be the chink in the team’s armor. Michal Rovsival and Dan Girardi provide a little bit of blueline "O", and big body Marek Malik keeps the opposition’s forwards’ heads up.

Despite the offensive firepower, and there’s plenty on this club, the team MVP plays between the pipes. Henrik Lundqvist has solidified a reputation as one of the very best keepers in the game today, and his play throughout the season is a major reason the inconsistent Rangers are sitting pretty in the fifth seed. "King Henri" steals games for the Rangers, especially games at Madison Square Garden. He‘s carried a .912 Save Percentage through his 72 starts, and 10 shutouts lead the entire league. As long as Lundqvist is on his game, the Rangers will be a threat to any team they face in these playoffs.

J’s Pick: New York in 7. I’m not sure how many players will be healthy after this series, but I think that the Rangers are poised to upset Brodeur and the Devils in seven this year. The Devils looked very indifferent down the stretch run, while the Rangers were heating up. With Lundqvist being one of the only keepers in the league that can come close dueling heads up with Brodeur, it’s the Rangers warming, dynamic offense that will be the difference.

Last night, the VS Network held a primetime special to conduct the 2008 NHL Entry Draft Lottery, which determines the sequence teams will select in at the summer’s draft. The program filled around ten or fifteen minutes of airtime by name-dropping former 1st-overall picks, chatting at a table with the general managers of the five teams with a chance of drawing the first pick (never really explaining the math in detail, just showing a graphic with the five teams and their percentages of winning the lottery), and offering a few live shots of projected first overall choice, OHL Sarnia Sting centerman Steven Stamkos.

After this fluff, it was time to find out which lucky team would choose first overall this summer.
According to the list of mystery percentages, the Tampa Bay Lightning had roughly a 48 % chance to get the 1st overall choice. The other four teams with a mathematical shot of choosing first were the Blues, Islanders, Kings, and Thrashers. The NHL has some type of weighted, reverse-sequence lottery where the weakest teams are sure to pick high; the complex system, unexplained in the show, is poorly described on www.nhl.com (for those of you with a graduate degree in Statistics from M.I.T.).

The Lightning upheld the mathematics of probability by landing the 1st-overall pick. The top five choices were announced, for reasons of sweaty, nail-biting suspense (sarcasm, kids), in reverse order: the L.A. Kings wound up with the 2nd pick; the Atlanta Thrashers will be 3rd; the St. Louis Blues are going to choose 4th; and the N.Y. Islanders hold the 5th selection.

Again, the consensus prize of choosing first overall is Steven Stamkos of the Ontario Hockey League club the Sarnia Sting. Stamkos, a 6’1", 183 lb. center, is likely to jump right into the pro game with an immediate impact for the team that selects and signs him. In 61 OHL games with the Sting, Stamkos has tallied 58 goals and 47 assists for a total of 105 points (around 1.72 pts/game… much easier to calculate than the NHL draft pick weights). Despite his value, it’s not unthinkable that the Lightning could move this pick between now and draft day. This year’s draft is reportedly very deep and the Lightning have a bona-fide #1 center in Vincent LeCavalier.

For readers who root for teams that missed the playoffs, but weren’t awful enough to be a basement-five club in the running for 1st overall, the complete sequence of the top fourteen picks is below:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. L.A. Kings
3. Atlanta Thrashers
4. St. Louis Blues
5. N.Y. Islanders
6. Columbus Blue Jackets
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
8. Phoenix Coyotes
9. Florida Panthers
10. Vancouver Canucks
11. Chicago Blackhawks
12. Edmonton Oilers
13. Buffalo Sabres

The sky of the modern NHL shines brightly with many young stars. Players like Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane, Paul Stastny, Pavel Datsyuk, and Jordan Staal are some of the fresh faces that hockey fans are getting to know via highlight reel footage on their local sports news program.

Amidst all of these burgeoning studs, there’s one young player whose skill and playing style places him at the top of the pile. Just like the actual night sky has Polaris (the “North Star”), which shines more brightly than any other star, the NHL’s “sky of youthful talent” has a Polaris as well. Sit down, Sidney Crosby, I’m not referring to you. The best young player in the NHL (and best overall skater since Mario Lemieux, in my opinion) is obviously the dynamic and prolific Alexander Ovechkin.

Ovechkin was drafted 1st overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 entry draft, but didn’t skate in his first NHL game until the next year as the 2004-’05 NHL season got locked out. Before being drafted, Ovechkin had been projected as the 1st overall pick for two years, and was billed as the next Mario Lemieux. Out of sight and out of mind due to the locked-out season, many hockey fans, including myself, forgot all about the coveted young Russian sniper that the Caps had landed… but not for long.

After the lockout, most hockey fans were focused on the pending draft lottery that would give a lucky team the opportunity to draft another projected superstar, Sidney Crosby. Crosby had been touted as much, if not more than, Ovechkin was prior to being drafted. Canadians, easily the most devoted and knowledgeable ice hockey fans, saw “Sid the Kid” as their next Wayne Gretzky-an athlete that would dominate “their” game and restore their historic reputation as the country producing the most talented ice hockey players.

As it turned out, the Pittsburgh Penguins wound up winning the lottery to draft Crosby, which they promptly did. Two years earlier, these Penguins had chosen Evgeni Malkin, another highly touted Russian star with the second-overall pick following Washington’s selection of Ovechkin. Crosby’s ability was apparent as he jumped right into the NHL game with a great deal of fanfare and attention, and his presence, along with Malkin (who was literally smuggled out of Russia to play his first NHL season after the locked out ’04-’05 campaign), instantly returned the struggling Penguins franchise to relevance and respectability.

Over the past three seasons, as most ice hockey pundits and announcers (many of which happen to be Canadian) have drooled over and praised the play of Crosby, Ovechkin’s game and presence has been gaining momentum like a snowball rolling down a mountain slope. The son of former professional soccer player Mikhail Ovechkin and two-time Soviet basketball Olympic gold-medalist Tatyana Ovechkin, Alexander’s play, even in the sleepy market of Washington D.C., was demanding attention. He broke the record for most shots on goal by a rookie in the ’05-’06 season with 425, and set the record for points by a Russian-born NHL rookie with 106.

However, it was an unbelievable goal (since dubbed “The Goal”) scored on January 16th of the 2006-2007 season that catapulted Ovechkin into the awareness of hockey fans everywhere. Driving to the net against the Phoenix Coyotes, Ovechkin got checked to the ice in the slot. Sliding on his back across the slot, Ovechkin hooked an incredible blind shot past Coyotes keeper Brian Boucher with the blade of his stick. One of the most incredible goals in hockey history by many accounts, Ovechkin began solidifying his title as the best player in the NHL.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, there are many young players in the league with ability that is comparable to Ovechkin’s. However, none of these fresh stars-not Malkin, Kane, Staal, and especially Crosby-plays the game with the intensity and edge that Washington’s number 8 brings to the ice every shift. As with most NHL superstars, Crosby and the others are great for a clutch goal, lightning skating speed, incredible passing, and superb ice vision. Unlike the other superstars, however, you can count on Ovechkin for a huge hit, a spirited fight, and defensively responsible play.

 Sidney Crosby has built a reputation for crying to the refs after being obstructed or taking a cheap shot on a play; Alex Ovechkin has built a reputation for taking numbers and effectively handling his own business on the ice.

Although Ovechkin has Donald Brashear for protection, just as Crosby and Malkin have the fierce Georges Laraque in the Steel City, Ovechkin often protects himself with a physical, hard-nosed game seldom seen in players of his caliber. He skates like a young Eric Lindros, only Ovechkin’s offensive ability is much more dynamic than the hulking Lindros’s was.

Watching the Washington Capitals this season has provided the treat of seeing Ovechkin fly around the rink every shift he is on the ice. Every time he gets control of the puck, it seems like something magical is about to happen. He picks up a head of steam in a heartbeat, and goes coast-to-coast for scoring chances almost at will. This isn’t to indicate that Ovechkin is a glory-hounding stat hog; he often uses his status as the most dangerous player in hockey to draw the defense’s attention and thread a pass to Alexander Semin or Nicklas Backstrom for an easy tap-in goal. It’s no accident that he currently leads the league in two of the three scoring categories with 65 goals and 112 points.
Consider that for a moment… 65 goals! That’s a Washington Capitals record, boys and girls. He’s 22 years old, and it seems like his game improves exponentially with each passing season. He’s the first player to put the biscuit in the basket 60 times in an NHL season since Lemieux did it as a seasoned vet in the ’95-’96 NHL campaign! By the way, there’s two games left to play and it’s not unrealitstic to consider the possibility that this kid could get five more for an even 70.

Whether or not the upstart Capitals, who are in the playoff race after a dreadful, coach-firing start to this season, make the post-season this year, Alex Ovechkin should easily be the league’s Hart Trophy winner for MVP. Some hockey pundits are penciling in Malkin as the MVP, likely due to his ability to carry the soaring Penguins to their division lead in the absence of a frequently injured Crosby (and, perhaps, also due to his proximity to “Golden Boy” Sidney Crosby), but this option is giving the award to a less valuable skater based on the performance of a team that is much more talented overall.

I’ll say it one more time…Alexander Ovechkin is the best hockey player in the NHL today. There are many excellent choices in young, talented players to follow and revere, but for me the choice is easy. I want the guy who will beat you in the stat sheet and against the boards. I want the kid that gets so excited for every goal, you’d think he never scored before. I want the player that takes over games and wills a sub-par club into the “W” column.

Give me Alexander Ovechkin any day of the week.

It’s been a rough time to be an NHL ice hockey fan since the turn of the century.

Although hockey has always been the fourth of four major sports in America in terms of popularity, the hockey-following minority has always displayed a tremendous devotion to their sport. The past decade has seen our league’s rapid (over?) expansion southward cause a lag in overall player talent, and big market General Managers’ penchant for late-season “rental” trades set a bad precedent of inflated player salaries. These two factors became major causes of the 2004-05 NHL season lock-out as the league and players’ association hammered out the current CBA.

The NHL returned after the lock-out with many adjustments made to the game — from fundamental changes in league rules and season scheduling to a fresh approach of clubs’ management under the new CBA and league salary cap. In an attempt to win back their small but rabid fan base, the league tinkered with its product to bring us a “new and improved” NHL. With the trade deadline recently passed, and the league entering the final run to the playoffs, it seems like an ideal time to reflect on this “new” NHL and consider which adjustments to the game are winning with fans and which have not gone over so well.

The elimination of the two-line pass infraction/ the return of delayed (tag-up) offsides:

These changes, like most of the adjustments, were made by the NHL to open up the game for faster, more offensive play. In my opinion, both of these rule changes (which had been in discussion long before the locked out 04-05 NHL season) have been very good for hockey.

Elimination of the two-line pass allows teams the option of hanging a sniper in the neutral zone and trying to send him on a breakaway with a long pass out of the defensive zone. Just as intended, the result has been more breakaways and odd-man rushes (hence, fast-paced offense). Teams run a risk by gunning for cherry-pickers with these long passes-if the pass is intercepted, they’re trapped and outnumbered in the defensive zone. When the pass does connect, it gives the trailing team great opportunities to get back into the game.

The return of delayed offside calls has also helped improve the game’s flow and speed as intended. For non-hockey fans, delayed offside means that if an attacking team has a man in the offensive zone when the puck gets sent in (a man “offside”), the attacking player(s) who is offside has a chance to vacate the zone before play is stopped for the infraction.

Before the return of delayed offside, the play was whistled dead as soon as the puck crossed into the zone when an attacking player was offside. The result is less whistles and more opportunity to salvage a broken or mistimed play. Less whistles is a great thing for fans; we call ice hockey the fastest game on two feet for a reason, and non-stop action is something unique hockey holds against the other three “major” team sports.

Football fundamentally has a constant start/stop/start pace. Baseball, as we all know, doesn’t exactly overwhelm viewers with action (it’s a slow game that relies on nuances, situations and brief bursts of athleticism). Pro basketball, while smoother and faster than both football and baseball, has the constraint of the shot clock, and almost as many rules and regular stoppages as a JV high school field hockey game. Also, I have to mention that the NBA and its product are terrible.

Teams called for Icing can’t change lines:

This rule was a real winner that effectively caused the intended result of more offense and more scoring. Back when, if your team was trapped in the defensive zone and getting peppered, all you had to do was get puck control long enough to ice the puck to the other end of the rink. When the icing was whistled, you made a line change, got fresh legs and regained composure to stop the offensive assault.

Now, when defensive teams ice the puck, the same five players have to stay out for the defensive zone draw. If you’ve ever played an organized game of ice hockey, you know how tired you become 45 seconds into a shift. When you’re trapped in your own end, scrambling to fight off an assault, you get even more tired. Icing is no longer the easy way out of this situation, and dogged skaters getting lit up after an icing has greatly boosted offensive hockey.

Changes to the rink/ rules restricting puck-handling by the goaltender:

These related changes have had a very understated impact on the new NHL product. First, let’s look at the often overlooked adjustment to the spacing of the three zones and goaltending area on the hockey rink. The NHL made a subtle change by slightly decreasing the neutral zone (simultaneously expanding the offensive zones). That’s four additional feet in each offensive zone-slight enough to be overlooked glancing at the rink but more than enough space to impact play.

Teams have more room to work the puck on the powerplay and create offense. It’s also four less feet in the neutral zone to get trapped in and a shorter distance to overcome when attempting to get a puck deep or on net. This slight adjustment has seen a positive result in play with faster breakouts and more sustained offensive assaults.

In addition to changing the zones, the league also trimmed the goaltending crease and placed a goofy trapezoid behind the net to restrict goaltenders from handling the puck and slowing down play. A smaller crease means less cheesy goaltender interference calls and (thankfully) fewer calls to the “war room” in Toronto on “blue-collar goals” scored in front of the net.

Hockey needed this badly. Before the lockout you couldn’t sneeze near the keeper’s big blue crease and have a legitimate goal stand.

The inclusion of the trapezoid (keepers who touch the puck outside of the trapezoid get a penalty for delay of game) was, in my opinion, an unnecessary and silly move. Starting with Ron Hextall, the goaltender has evolved into a 3rd defenseman who can retrieve a hard dump and send it to a teammate for a breakout. What’s so bad about that? If you don’t like it, then dump it in softer and use a little touch! The most bothersome part of this rule to me is that the intended result could have been accomplished without the trapezoid rule by simply making ‘keepers “fair game” outside of the crease.

That’s how it was in the days of ‘Old Time Hockey’ and that’s how it should be now. All this “protect the goaltender” junk … protect him from what? He’s protected with equipment, literally, from head to toe! If Martin Brodeur, the best puck handling (and overall) keeper in the game, knew that he could get legally trucked by a big winger in the corner or behind the net, he wouldn’t handle a dump-in unless he was sure he had plenty of time. ‘Problem’ solved! Also, c’mon… a trapezoid? Couldn’t it be a rectangle? It looks stupid painted on the ice, but again, the more important point is that this rule was not necessary.

The Shootout as a tie-breaker after the five-minute Overtime Period:

This new format to decide tied games had been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. The breakaway in ice hockey has often been called the most exciting play in all of sports, and rightfully so. The move by the league to use a breakaway shootout after the 4-on-4, five-minute overtime period was instilled to be both a gift to fans of the NHL as well as an answer to casual hockey fans who couldn’t accept that there were “so many tied regular season games.”

Now that the breakaway has become part of the NHL game, I would advise my boyhood self to be careful of what he wishes for. Although these breakaways are still very entertaining and beautiful (that’s right, beautiful) displays of pro hockey ability, the new frequency of the shootouts has killed much of the excitement in ‘the most exciting play in sports.’

Those rare mid-game breakaway penalty calls don’t seem as important and exhilarating as they used to, and it’s very frustrating to watch your team lose the extra point in a shootout loss when they had dominated, yet not come out on top of the regulation play.

Side Note: Did I mention that I root for the Flyers? I have ten bucks that says a handicapped 13-year old girl can deke Martin Biron out of his jock and score on a breakaway nine out of ten tries!

The crackdown on interference calls by refs:

A strange adjustment, the “new” NHL ordered its officials to re-interpret the interference and hooking calls in a much stricter fashion. This very subjective shift has had a dramatic change on the style of the game, and, although it has surely resulted in more speed, power plays and overall offense, I’m not certain that the change has been a total success. Basically, instructing refs to be more stringent in calling the same rule that had always existed has created some confusion and inconsistency on both the players’ and refs’ parts.

For one, players who had been trained all of their lives to slightly (and, before the change in interpretation, legally) hinder puck-carriers using their sticks have had to re-teach themselves how to play solid defense without putting their team in a shorthanded situation. Secondly, the refs’ obligation to crack down on these infractions has spurred them to call many “ticky-tack” penalties. No longer free to call what they professionally deem to be illegal interference or hooking, refs call everything that might be illegal interference based on the stick position of the defender and the posture of the puck carrier.

While this plan to eliminate the obstruction slowing down the game was a good one in theory, but the execution has ultimately forced refs to frequently blow the whistle on quality defensive hockey. Worse yet, it has influenced puck-carriers to actively draw cheesy calls by pinning defenders’ sticks under their arms and taking dives like European soccer players.

The new CBA salary cap:

As a Philadelphia Flyers fan, the new salary cap of the NHL was billed to hurt my team, as well as deep-pocketed, free-spending hockey markets such as Toronto, Detroit, New York, etc.

Needless to say, when the Flyers suffered their worst season in club history last year, it was at least partially a result of the ownership’s new inability to purchase the missing pieces of talent as they had in the past. Despite my team’s recent struggles, I’m really excited to see the parity that currently exists in today’s NHL. Teams are forced to build their rosters from within and through the draft. Teams that could never afford to pluck high-priced, big-name free agents at the deadline for a boost toward the Cup are now on a level playing field with the Red Wings, Rangers, and Flyers.

Best yet, with the cap in place and the talent spread around the league, teams are not running away from the pack and others are not falling into irrelevance come playoff time. In conjunction with the schedule adjustments, this means that all 82 regular season games count more than ever. It also means that the St. Louis Blues and L.A. Kings of the world could, just maybe, spank the hell out of Ottawa on any given night.

The new NHL schedule loaded with Division match-ups:

The NHL’s decision to alter the regular season schedule to create more divisional matchups was a brilliant move. Teams now face their closest rivals eight times in the regular season, and this format has revved up the many bitter rivalries that already existed throughout the league.

With all of these divisional games, as well as the parity-inducing salary cap, the very best teams don’t miss out on the playoffs because they meet their rivals in an unfortunate part of the season (perhaps during a month in which key players were hurt).

If your squad belongs in the playoffs, you’ve got plenty of division games sprinkled throughout your regular season to prove it. Match-ups such as “Detroit vs. Colorado” or “Philadelphia vs. New Jersey” that bring out the best in player competition, fan involvement and regional relevancy are allowed to cook up throughout the year, and their direct effect on playoff qualification only heats things up further.

The fighting Instigator Rule:

Okay, NHL, you’re now entering the “no-fly” zone. It’s no secret that the sport of hockey has been frequently criticized for allowing fistfights to remain as part of the game. Criticism is fine and good-how else are Mr. and Mrs. Worrisome going to fill the hours they could spend actually raising little Johnny Worrisome? The fact is that fighting has always been a part of the game, and will (should) always remain as such.

There’s no competition like ice hockey, as anyone who’s played the game will tell you. Tempers flair, cheap shots are taken and talented skaters are always in the crosshairs of the opposition. For that reason, every team keeps at least one “goon” on the roster. The opposition has to know that there’s a rabid, monstrous, son-of-a-lumberjack from Western Canada that’s willing and able to put a public whooping on anyone that steps over the line. Players often police themselves by dropping the gloves, and they always have.

However, the new NHL has instilled an instigator rule stating that any player “instigating” (another subjective crackdown) a scrap in the final five minutes of a game gets a one-game suspension. The coach of the suspended player gets fined $10,000. Worst of all, the suspension and fine get doubled for each additional instigator call throughout the season. So what’s the big deal? Players can still scrap in the preceding 55 minutes of the game, right? Sure they can, and they often do. However, when there’s 10 minutes left in the third, what’s to stop someone from getting dirty on a star player in an attempt to injure him?

Chances are Knuckles McGoonman won’t be on the ice at the same time as the dirty player between then and the 5:00 mark. Hockey fans can attest to the
noticeable rise in head injuries or cheap shot injuries that have occurred throughout the league recently, and gradual attempts to cut out fighting (such as this rule) are a major factor. Players don’t have respect for one another anymore, and, if fighting ever gets completely eliminated, they won’t have to. I consider this rule to be the first step on the slippery slope to get fighting out of the game.

That’s very bad for hockey, and the league should consider its longtime, passionate fans before catering to a market that doesn’t exist and (thanks to the league’s pitiful television contract) likely never will. I’ve rolled with the phantom interference calls and I’m living with that stupid trapezoid, but-mark my words, NHL-if you keep prodding to cut out the fights, we’re over. I’ll watch my local NBA take six steps and dunk 30 times a night, thank you very much.

As you can see, I have a very mixed take on the many changes made by the NHL in an attempt to win back fans and create new ones.

Some of these changes (elimination of the 2-line pass/ no defensive changes after icing/the glorious new schedule) were long overdue. Others (the flipping trapezoid/the shootout/the instigator rule) are unnecessary and sometimes harmful to the product we hockey fans love so dearly.

In my case, I take the good with the bad and continue to tune in and watch every second of NHL ice hockey I can get my eyes on. I hope the people that control the league remember to value the opinions of their longtime fans over the potential new fans they are vainly trying win over.

Hockey fans fall in love with the game at a young age, and remain faithful to it forever (kind of like high school sweethearts celebrating a 50 year anniversary). Like I mentioned before, we hockey folk are a passionate and loyal breed, and I hope the league doesn’t seek any additional, unnecessary “fixes” for a game that was never really (aside from the financial and business side of the sport) broken.

Oh well … should they continue to tinker and wind up destroying the professional version of my favorite sport, I’ve always got the NBA.

Simon Gagne is hopeful to return to the ice this season after suffering his third concussion of the season. Concussions aren’t knee injuries, and three of them is called a trend. This is a career-killing trend. Hockey isn’t tennis and I can assure you that if/when he plays again – be it this year or beyond – he will get more of them.

This is a shame because Gagne is one hell of a hockey player. But, in football and hockey, these things happen. Ask Trent Green, who the Miami Dolphins just cut because he was scrambled eggs. Former Pittsburgh Steeler Merrill Hoge had to hang it up for the same reason. I’ve talked to former NY Jets that say that Al Toon can hardly speak. Anyone remember Tom Waddle? The Bears wide receiver that got his head knocked around so much that he gave himself smelling salts on the sidelines? This is a really bad trend for Gagne and hopefully he takes enough time off so that he can fully recover. I just don’t know that that will ever be the case.