NHL 2008/2009 Season

[CmdrWilkens]

So clearly the Caps just needed to come home though I'll take 5-3 any day especially if you spot me 4 call-ups in the same game.

[Master of Ossus]

Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely by the League for describing his ex-girlfriends as his "sloppy seconds."

NEW YORK - Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Tuesday, pending a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The League said the suspension was issued in accordance with the provisions of By-Law 17 and Article 6 of the NHL Constitution for conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey." The suspension was imposed following inappropriate public comments about the personal lives of opposing players, and not pertaining to the game, made by Avery earlier in the day.

The date for the hearing has not yet been scheduled. He was not in uniform for the Stars' game in Calgary on Tuesday night.

Dallas owner Tom Hicks issued a statement on the Stars' Web site backing Bettman's decision.

"I completely support the League's decision to suspend Sean Avery,” Hicks said. “Had the League not have suspended him, the Dallas Stars would have. This organization will not tolerate such behavior, especially from a member of our hockey team. We hold our team to a higher standard and will continue to do so.”

Stars coach Dave Tippett said Avery had gone too far.

"I think everyone in our room believes there is an integrity that has to go along with the game, respect for the game and respect for your opponents and Sean crossed that line," Tippett told reporters in Calgary prior to the game.

"I think the words, the words and disrespect for an opponent like that is something . . . there's lots of trash talking that goes on on the ice. But then to announce something like that for everybody to hear, to me that crosses the line and the League — and our ownership felt that, too."

Dallas concludes a two-game Alberta swing in Edmonton on Wednesday, but Avery will not be with the team.

"We've had lots of discussions about how we need him to be a good player on our team and the stuff that follows him around off the ice, the less distraction the better," Tippett said. "It has been limited, other than some stuff that had been said this summer, it had been pretty limited until today.

"Sean said something that just doesn't paint our organization in a good light and appropriate steps are being taken. He won't continue with us on the trip.

We've always professed that there is nobody that's ever bigger than our group or bigger than the team."

When asked if Avery's relationship with the Stars can be repaired, Tippett responded: "Time will tell."

Avery's comments following the morning skate in Calgary didn't seem to surprise his teammates.

"We expect that out of him like we have all year. The show continues," goalie Marty Turco said. "We all are competitive enough and focused to get out there and do your job. But when it continues over time, things certainly can be (distracting)."

Center Brad Richards said he'd "rather not talk about Sean."

"I don't care what he says," Richards added. "It's none of my business what he says. He's got his own thing going on."

Added center Mike Ribeiro: "Nothing he says or does any more shocks me."

Avery, 28, has 3 goals and 7 assists for 10 points and has 77 penalty minutes in 23 games with Dallas, including a goal in Sunday's 4-3 win over Edmonton. He is in his first season with the Stars after signing a four-year contract with the team this summer. But the Stars, who made the Western Conference finals last spring, went into Tuesday night's game with only 20 points, fewest in the conference and near the bottom of the NHL.

Avery is playing with his third team in as many seasons and the fourth of his career. He's also become a celebrity beyond the sports world through his interest in fashion, including a summer internship with Vogue magazine.

Given Hicks' comments, Avery may already be wearing out his $15+ million welcome.

Meanwhile, the Sharks look to lock down the best start to any season since the 1940's. They're currently up 4-1 going into the third period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who played a great second period (easily outplaying the Sharks).

The Sharks are in a bit of a soft part of their schedule. They've got some weaker teams before one matchup in Anaheim, and then another soft patch before playing at Detroit. A solid record through this stretch, including wins against the Ducks and Wings, would solidify our position as the team to beat and also put us in position to make a run at the President's Trophy in the second half of the season.

As a Sharks fan, I'm really excited about this season. For the last few years, I thought we were contenders for the Stanley Cup, but we've NEVER played anywhere near this well, before. Even when we had long winning streaks, it was because we were working hard every game to win the games we were supposed to win, and we were winning close games and hanging on to tight leads. This year, the team seems bored by opponents like Washington, Dallas, Calgary, and the Leafs. Often, they get to shut it down after the second, or even the first period and play their third and fourth lines for long stretches.

The team has scored, by far, more goals than any other team (96, now, through 24 and 2/3's games vs. 84 for Detroit through 24), but remain in the top-five defensive teams in the League (only MIN is giving up many fewer goals than we are).

Boston is also having a terrific start, and Detroit is, of course, always dangerous.

[Burak Gazan]

TSN story on Avery

I tend to agree with some of the TSN guys, he may have played his last game in a Dallas uniform.
Which can only improve Dallas. How they ever thought this fucking asshole would improve the team....

Caught the first period of Sharks game, I think the surrender option should have been available, it wasnt pretty for the Leafs

Montreal managed to survive blowing a 3-0 lead to Atlanta (in 59 seconds no less..) , finally prevailing 5-4.

Been some weird stuff so far this year ...

[Master of Ossus]

Well, the Sharks won 5-2. I kind of wish they wouldn't give up so many meaningless goals near the end of games, since it hurts everyone's statistics so much, but still a resounding victory. The fans, of course, gave a standing ovation to Ron Wilson, Zettler, and Hunter for their work with the Sharks.

In more interesting news, though, according to this the Stars organization is talking about sending Avery down to the minors to play out the entire rest of his $15.5 million contract. I'm not sure on what sort of cap hit that would deal to the team, but that's gotta be a devastating admission of error. Apparently, Brett Hull was the only guy in the whole organization who wanted Avery there, and with that contract no one in the League would look twice at the guy, so he can't possibly be traded. What a cancer, though. His teammates' comments were... pretty enlightening.

[Darth Fanboy]

The Sharks aren't that old of a team.

All i'm saying is that between Claude Lemieux and J. Roenick you'd need a team of infants in order to get the average age for the roster under 35 .

Well we stuttered Monday night but the Ducks are on another good streak again, the goaltending and defense is finally back to a level where we should be pretty happy. Bobby Ryan getting teamed up with Getz and Perry has been amazing for us.

The whole Sean Avery thing is just great, I hope the guy keeps digging his own grave and ends up getting caught walking out of a clinic with a horrible case of VD.

[Darth Fanboy]

And my favorite quote about Sean Avery comes from Ducks announcer Brian Hayward, when confronted with an insult about his career Hayward responded with: "How would you know about my career? Back when I played you were in your 3rd year of 8th grade."

[Burak Gazan]

James Duthie's TSN Column

Gee now boys, tell us how you really feel .....

In about 45min he's supposed to have his meeting with Bettman , along with Hull.

Whatever the NHL sanctions, I suspect the Dallas Stars will exceed, by a considerable amount.

[Burak Gazan]

6 games

4, actually, with the retroactive bullshit. Dont think its going to matter though, the Stars have removed his name from the team website (supposedly just waiting on NHL...yeah) and were reported to have been considering turfing him to minors even before this latest bullshit. Speaking of that, the AHL Manitoba Moose have already said point blank, thanks, but no fucking thanks; we dont want any part of him. So, I'm thinking a 57-game healthy scratch if nothing else works

In actual hockey news, Crosby had a 4-assist night last night as the Penguins beat on the Hurricanes 5-2; he has tallied 17 points in his last 7 games Whats that old saying, about tugging on Superman's cape?

Leafs go down in flames to the Coyotes 6-3, Wilson looked less than happy with several players, Kaberle in particular who sat the first period, and then ended up -4 for the night. Not a fun end to the road trip .

[Darth Fanboy]

Heh, to all the people saying that the league is coming down way too hard on him, it really doesn't matter if they are or not because no matter what is decided nobody wants this clown on their team anymore. He has embarassed himself right out of the league.

The fans commenting on the TSN article got it right, he might have to go looking for work in the KHL.

[Master of Ossus]

Huge win for the Sharks over the Ducks, tonight. Nabby pulled off a 2-0 shutout.

Interesting stat: if the Sharks continue putting up points at this pace (48 over their first 27 games), they'll finish the season with 140 or 141 points.

The Ducks can win all 52 of their remaining contests and not catch them for the Pacific Division lead.

[Darth Fanboy]

Didn't get to watch it, was doing some gift exchanging and taking the little lady out to dinner but i'm not surprised at the result. The game against St. Louis we played last night was brutal with a lot of hitting. To have to travel and play against the team in the league with the best record in less than 24 hours is an incredibly difficult task for any team. We'll repay the favor next time the Guppies come to the pond. I still like our chances against any team in the league in a 7 game series.

And if you want to place a wager on whether or not the Sharks will put up 140 points i'll take that bet.

[The Dark]

I've got to say, my Flyers are starting to impress me now. Even with Briere, Jones, Carle, and Parent all out injured, they're playing well. They went 5-6-4 in their first fifteen to start the season. Since then, they're 10-1-1. The last win, against Carolina, they came back from being down 5-1 at the start of the third. This team's starting to gel, and they're playing a tough style that opposing teams hate.

[CmdrWilkens]

I know that having 10 players injured at once was big, I know having your top D-man and your 2nd best Winger sitting on the sideline was bad. What is right now amazing me is the depth of injuries the Caps have suffered resulted in the most awesome human interest story...a literal "get called out of the stands" kind of thing. For those who hadn't heard Jose Theodore got hurt during the morning skate before tonight's win against Ottowa. So with Johnson already injured and their AHL affiliate out in Texas what is a team to do?


Why sign their freaking Web Producer to an amateur tryout contract and sit him on the bench as the 3rd goalie.

WASHINGTON -- A 6-foot-7 Web site producer for the Washington Capitals dressed as the team's backup goalie for Friday night's game against the Ottawa Senators because of an injury to Jose Theodore.

Brett Leonhardt, a Division III goalie in college, signed an amateur tryout contract before the game. If he had actually played, he would have tied Ben Bishop of the St. Louis Blues as the tallest goalie ever to see action in an NHL game.

Theodore suffered a hip flexor injury during the Capitals' morning skate, and Simeon Varlamov was recalled from Hershey, the team's AHL affiliate, to back up starter Brent Johnson.

But Hershey happened to be on the road in San Antonio, and Varlamov didn't arrive in time for the 7 p.m. faceoff.

So the Capitals received special dispensation from the league to dress three goaltenders. Leonhardt had a spot on the bench until Varlamov arrived midway through the first period.

By the end of the second period, Leonhardt was back in a dress shirt and tie and in his usual spot in the press box, preparing for his regular job of holding the camera during postgame interviews following the Capitals' 5-1 victory.

But first, of course, everyone wanted to interview him.

"Every dream come true," Leonhardt said. "Growing up in Canada, playing since I was 4. It was just very surreal. It was a blur, went by real quick."

Although he didn't play, Leonhardt -- whose nickname is, you guessed it, "Stretch" -- enjoyed the thrill of his life as he dressed in jersey No. 80 and went through the usual player's pregame routine, including having his skates sharpened. Teammates greeted him warmly during pregame warmups as he fended off shots from superstar Alex Ovechkin and others while tending goal at the Verizon Center.

"It was a great view. Usually I'm up here with you guys in the press box," Leonhardt said. "Mike Green started laughing his head off."

During the first half of the first period, Leonhardt sat at the end of the bench in a white baseball cap. He looked down sheepishly when shown he was shown on the huge replay screen along with the caption: "1st NHL game." The crowd roared.

The crowd cheered again later in the period when Varlamov -- also new to the big league -- was shown on the screen along with the same caption.

The 26-year-old Leonhardt played two years for Oswego State in New York and two years for Neumann College in Pennsylvania before graduating in 2007. He has worked for the Capitals' Web site for about a year and has taken part in drills during practices when the team needed an extra goalie. He wore one of his college masks from Neumann during warmups.

His chances of playing Friday weren't exactly remote. Johnson had a sore hip from a fall during Wednesday night's victory over the Boston Bruins.

Even if he had played, Leonhardt wouldn't have received an NHL check. The special amateur contract pays nothing.

"I should pay them for being able to do this," he said.

The Capitals also reassigned forward Oskar Osala and defenseman Sean Collins to Hershey.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

That's just awesome...oh and a Caps win is always good .

[Darth Fanboy]

Ryan Miller working on a nice scoreless streak. Now the question is did I jinx Ryan Miller, or did I jinx the Pens because I'm intentionally trying to jinx Ryan Miller?

Selanne out 4-6 weeks after accidentally cutting himself with his skate in the game against the Oil. REaly nasty but the All star Break soften the blow somewhat.

[CmdrWilkens]

Wow, Caps just look pitiful against the Rangers and I mean pitiful. They have no energy on offense, total disorder on defense and Theodore just couldn't see a damn thing even if I support pulling him.


*Edit* Proving, once again, that I know nothing the Caps come back and win this sucker in OT.

[Burak Gazan]

Caught the Sharks game last night late on TSN. After watching them pound the Canucks into the ice, one wonders what the bandwagon drinking to think adding Sundin will make any difference against these guys, or Detroit for that matter

Did love the giant shark thingy they do there though, great fun



In non -NHL news, get set for the Juniors again, starting Boxing Day in Ottawa. From the couple exhibition games seen so far, it should be entertaining hockey.

[Burak Gazan]

You know, I know it's the IIHF rules, but Jesus Tittyfucking Christ, they need to change the tiebreak rule to something that doesnt encourage complete massacres like todays 15-0 carnage over Kazakhstan. This was over in the first period, and short of being an exercise in destroying the spirit of the other team, I can see no value in it .
I mean, come on

The Ottawa deathwatch continues, wish I had a shred of pity, but... nah

And in the 'cant make this stuff up' category, Leafs lose Stajan for a week or more due to an eye injury.... caused by fucking about with a soccer ball warming up... Could have been worse I suppose, like the snowblower mishap that got Joe Sakic hurt, but still .

[muse]

And in the 'cant make this stuff up' category, Leafs lose Stajan for a week or more due to an eye injury.... caused by fucking about with a soccer ball warming up... Could have been worse I suppose, like the snowblower mishap that got Joe Sakic hurt, but still .

I heard about it from his sister, Stajan and the guys were having too much fun making the soccer ball ping-pong around a small room to see how long they could keep it in the air when it took a weird bounce and hit him in the face.

[Darth Fanboy]

And in the 'cant make this stuff up' category, Leafs lose Stajan for a week or more due to an eye injury.... caused by fucking about with a soccer ball warming up... Could have been worse I suppose, like the snowblower mishap that got Joe Sakic hurt, but still .

I know the Ducks kick around a soccer ball quite a bit before games, but to get injured by one is just fucking nuts. Wasn't Sakic already injured when he hurt his hand also?

When the Ducks were playing at Edmonton, the announcers were talking about weird injuries. And there was mention of a player who was visiting sick kids in the hospital, got lost, and ended up in a quarantined area and caught a nasty virus which had him out for awhile.

To paraphrase Rick Jeanneret, the Chicago Blackhawks are scary good.

[Burak Gazan]

If I understand it correctly, Joe was trying to clear some crap from the blades of his snowblower.... while it was running -- geez Joe

Top 25 Strangest sports injuries

I remember #6 being a real wtf moment for Jays fans

[Burak Gazan]

After watching one of the best games I've seen in a long time at the Juniors, now the Oilers are facing the Flames; currently in the 2nd period, and just saw yet ANOTHER near -horrible injury from that fucking bullshit trip-the-guy racing for the iced puck. Sam Gagne per the usual fucking stupidity, almost killed Robyn Regehr -- you know, what is it going to take? The NHL fucking waiting for someone to die, or have both legs broken in 6 places? This, combined with head shots, is flat-out stupid. The only thing I can figure, is they ARE waiting for that, then they can form another study group to determine that yeah, the laws of physics are not subject to happy thoughts

Really does contrast from the extraordinary level of play from Team USA and Team Canada tonight

[Burak Gazan]

Sad

No matter the spin one way or the other, no one is supposed to die playing this game


Holy cow

Yeah, I'd say this is an upset. I figured this would be a relatively easy game for Team USA, but yikes. Does show you how a hot goaltender can tip the balance. Russia leads Czechs 1-0 so far in 1st

[Darth Fanboy]

I wouldn't be against of issuing a 10 minute misconduct for players who intentionally remove their helmet or another player's helmet during a fight.

[Burak Gazan]

I'm with you there DF, but there is the bonehead factor in the league to deal with. Just the other night, Bob Mackenzie was talking about this, and Torts, that absolute genius had 'hey, its a hard game' as a response
Hard game? All I can say is, bad timing bubba, that comment will hang around your neck a while

Still 1-0 Russia midway through the 2nd

Edit: 5-1 final for Russia, in what was generally a pretty lackluster contest by both teams.

So semifinals are :
Slovakia v Sweden
Russia v Canada

Should be interesting, never dull when its those 2 teams getting together

[Burak Gazan]

Canada defeats Russia in shootout after tying the game with 4 seconds to go in the 3rd period with an amazing goal by Eberle, and some awesome 4 on 4 in the one 10-min overtime. This stuff might be fantastic hockey, but its murder on the blood pressure

So the Monday night game is Sweden v Canada for the gold; Russian v Slovakia tomorrow for the bronze