Canada Wins Spengler Cup

Backed by great goaltending from Curtis Joseph, Canada has won its 11th Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Joseph accepted the invitation to showcase himself in an effort to return to the NHL this winter. Based on his performance, there may be some teams that are interested. In fact, there are teams that should be interested based on the goaltending they are currently getting. Joseph would come cheap.

HAPPY NEW YEAR STORM NATION

Kyle Turris is Today's Hero

Kyle Turris scored a pair of power-play goals and Steve Mason turned aside every shot he faced as Canada blanked Slovkia 2-0 at the world junior hockey championships today. Your not going to lose too many games if they can't score on you.

The win extended Canada's streak at the tournament to 20 games since they last lost.

Kyle Turris was picked 3rd in the NHL Amateur Draft in June by Phoenix. He plays for the University of Wisconsin Badgers where he is a freshman and the team's leading scorer.

Thanks!

Is Bryan McCabe Missed by the Leafs?

Readers of this blog are not convinced that he is. 46% responded to a poll indicating the Leafs are less likely to make the playoffs without him. However over half thought either their chances improved (38%) or that his injury would have no impact (15%). When you think about it, that remarkable since he is the highest paid player on the team.

He has only missed 4 games so far and their record is 1-1-2-0 during that period. The games have all been close and three games were won in overtime. Except for last night's game in which the Leafs returned to wide-open, sloppy hockey, the games have been defensive battles. McCabe's ice time has largely been eaten up by Anton Stralman (8 minutes), Pavel Kubina (6 minutes more ice time) and the rest of the time has eaten up by the other defensemen. The defense has faired rather well and so has the goaltending.

The problem has been scoring. The checking line of Steen, Stajan and Devereaux has been doing most of the scoring. Sundin's line has hit their first slump of the season and the most overpaid line in hockey - Tucker, Blake and Wellwood has not only failed to score but has been weak defensively. What's a coach to do?

Canada's Spengler Cup team has strong Maple Leaf contingent

The Canada's Spengler Cup team is traditionally made up of Canadian players in Europe with a sprinkling of NHL propects. There is normally few names that are well known in Canada although some former NHLers join the team.

This year Toronto Maple Leaf fans will recognize a few names including Curtis Joseph and Doug Gilmour. Joseph is a recent addition after the goalies original picked to play came down with injuries. Gilmour is not playing but is an Assistant Coach.

Other former Leafs are Travis Green, Yannick Tremblay, and Ric Jackman.

The Spengler Cup, held annually since 1923, is the oldest professional international hockey tournament in the world.

Tavares Takes Centre Stage

John Tavares proved that Team Canada will need his offense as he scored two goals to lead the Junior national team to a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier was brilliant in earning the shutout. He stopped about 40 shots as the Canadians gave the Czechs 8 powerplay opportunities. The win was Canada's 19th straight in the tournament.

NHL MVP Poll

Here is the poll results for NHL MVP for the first half of the season.

Vincent Lecavalier 26%
Daniel Alfredsson 2%
Sidney Crosby 29%
Mats Sundin 26%
Henrik Zetterberg 5%
Pascal Leclaire 5%
Ilya Kovalchuk 11%
Henrik Lundqvist 0%

No one player has stood out above the crowd so its a tough choice. Though I think the poll reflects a large number of Leafs fans based on the number of votes going to Sundin. Although Sundin is having a terrific year, he clearly is not the best player this season.

Also I have certain biases when it comes to MVP. I give less weight to players on non-playoff contenders. So Lacavalier, Kovalchuk and Sundin could make a stronger case if they were carrying their respective teams into a playoff spot. Sill Lecavalier is leading the league in points and on pace to score 120 points. Kovalchuk leads in goals scored and on pace to score 66.

Crosby would be leading the league in points but he is playing with two mediocre players. Ryan Malone has only 14 points so far this season and Colby Armstrong has 13. I've never seen a superstar play with such weak linemates. Otherwise Crosby would easily have 60 points my now.

For me the strongest cases for MVP are Alfredsson and Zetterberg. Both Detroit and Ottawa lead their conferences and Alfredsson and Zetterberg are big reasons for their teams success. As good as Sundin has been for Toronto, Alfredsson has played that much better for Ottawa. He is having a career year and without him I'm not so sure how well Ottawa would be doing.

Storm Close Out 2007 With a Loss

The Storm dropped their 2007 finale to Aurora by a 5-0 score on Saturday night. Aurora clearly was the better team on the evening with an edge in all areas including speed, shooting, play-making and goaltending. The Storm did generate some good scoring chances in the 2nd and 3rd periods but the Aurora goalie made some great saves to preserve a well deserved shutout.

After the break the Storm will have 6 very busy weeks of hockey with 13 remaining regular season games and two tournaments to be played.

Happy holiday to all!!

How have the Leafs done in the first 3 months

So how do the Leafs compare to back in November? Blue is where they are today and red is how they stood in November 1st. It is obvious they have tightened up defensively because they are giving up for fewer shots and their penalty killing is much better. Goaltending has also improved based on their team goals against average. But they have not made any significant move in the standings.

Standing in East: tied for 8th; 6th (November)

Standing in East (based on winning %): tied for 11th; 11th

Goals For: 2nd; 4th

Goals Against: 30th; 25th

Shots For: 3rd; 7th

Shots Against: 30th; 19th

Powerplay: 26th; 29th

Penalty Killing: 24th; 15th

Penalty Minutes: 27th; 11th

Goals Against Average: 3.84 (29th); 3.03 (26th)

Save Percentage: .885 (25th); .897 (21st)

Light it up Like the Lindsays

In every neighbourhood there is someone who loves to go overboard with the Christmas lights. You have to wonder when Clark Griswold is your role model. And then there is the Lindsay family.


Every year since 2000, the Thornhill family has dressed up their home with a bigger and better light show. The lawn lights are buried under snow right now because of last week's storm, but in total there are 80,000 lights (mostly LEDs) blinking away. If you drive up to their house and tune your radio to 104.9 FM, you can hear the music to which the elaborate light show is synchronized.

This year there are two routines, one synced to music from Pirates of the Caribbean and the other to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The Linday Lights website even has all the tech information laid out in the unlikely event you have the time and skill to do your own production. The show runs from 5 to 9 p.m. (11 p.m. on weekends) until January 5. Be warned 416-lovers: You will have to cross Steeles into the 905 to see the house, so have your papers in order and make sure to declare any goods at the border.

Sidney Crosby's First NHL Fight

My dog ate my World Series ball

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon recently told a newspaper in Mississippi that the ball he used to record the final out of the 2007 World Series was torn apart by his dog, Boss, a fresh twist on the dog-ate-my-homework routine practiced by legions of schoolkids, and possibly just as credible. Now Papelbon has a reputation as a prankster.

The fate of the last ball became an issue in 2004 when the Red Sox swept St. Louis in the World Series to end an 86-year championship drought. Doug Mientkiewicz, who caught a toss from pitcher Keith Foulke for the final out, kept the ball. The team wanted it back. Mientkiewicz eventually agreed to lend the ball to the Red Sox for a year and then donated it to the Hall of Fame.

It's SO not what you think

This is funny

The NHL's Double Standard

The NHL's policy regarding violence reminds be of baseballs approach to drugs. Pull your head out of the sand every so often to wrap a few knuckles and then continue to ignore the issue. Chris Simon is a prime example of the NHL approach.

Simon has been banished for 30 games which is the longest suspension in NHL history. A very clever move because the NHL must be serious about violence based on this suspension. But how many times do you need to discipline a guy before you tell him that he has lost the privilege to play in the league. Obviously 7 times isn't the number.

His return will be so close to the end of the season that it will be difficult for Simon to rehabilitate his image. So obviously the league is hoping he will just go away. They have no desire to take away a player's livelihood.

But Chris Simon is a marginal player so they have no problem making an example of him and other goons. But there are some very good players who are just as dirty as Simon. Chris Pronger immediately comes to mind. His suspensions are only a game or two for things far worse. He would have to kill someone to get a 30 game suspension. Todd Bertuzzi ended a player's career and didn't get 30 games. The NHL wants to maintain an image that it is opposed to violence but it really isn't.

Because violence helps fill seats. It's just like drugs in baseball. It seems no trainer, coach, or manager has ever noticed a dramatic change in a player's physique. No one ever bothered to ask Bonds or Clemens how they got so big. Because homerun and strikeout champions fill seats in stadiums and that's what matters.

Dogs in Vancouver Must be able to Read

I Don't Miss Bryan McCabe

It was just 3 or 4 weeks ago that Toronto Maple Leaf fans and the media were ready to run Bryan McCabe out of town if it were not for the huge contract with its no trade clause. Suddenly after a half dozen decent games he's suddenly become irreplaceable. Either he is an overpaid bust or a stud defenseman? Which is it?

In my mind nothing about Bryan has changed since he broke into the NHL with the Islanders in 1995. A lot of good hockey skills but he still makes mistakes that a coach would never tolerate from a rookie. Bryan has benefited from great timing. He had a very good year offensively (not defensively though) in 2005 as he was about to jump into the free agent market, which he was able to work into a huge contract. No one forced the Leafs to sign him and in fact some executives there thought it was a great move.

Since that time, his offense has returned to traditional levels as teams adjusted to his one weapon, a big shot. But his defensive skills have never improved. The one thing that McCabe does provide the Leafs is the ability to eat up minutes. He plays about 26 minutes per game which is in the top 5 in the NHL. The reason he plays that much is that the Leafs lack depth at that position and not because he is a star player. So his injury exposes how thin they are at defense because the coach must now give more ice time to players he was reluctant to play in the first place.

Some NHL team really pile up air mile points

A commenter compiled the travel distances for all 30 NHL teams so far this season over at Kukla's Korner (in miles). Now this reflects the trip to London, England by Anaheim and Los Angeles to start the season. Also some teams have played more home games. However, it seems like the New York based teams rarely ever leave their area codes let alone their time zone.

1. Anaheim 26152
2. Los Angeles 24966
3. Edmonton 21926
4. Vancouver 20626
5. San Jose 19938
6. Colorado 19922
7. Columbus 16985
8. Phoenix 16915
9. Florida 16910
10. Calgary 16576
11. Atlanta 16303
12. Dallas 15610
13. Tampa Bay 15486
14. Philadelphia 14573
15. Minnesota 14542
16. Boston 13574
17. Nashville 13573
18. Detroit 13570
19. St Louis 13106
20. Pittsburgh 12294
21. Buffalo 12176
22. Chicago 11818
23. Toronto 11252
24. Washington 10990
25. Carolina 10855
26. Ottawa 10377
27. NY Rangers 9426
28. New Jersey 9214
29. Montreal 8071
30. NY Islanders 5667

I love football played in snow storms