New Girls League

The new girls league that is being formed to replace the Central East Girls Hockey League, North Metro Girls Hockey League and South Western Girls Hockey League now has a name - LOWER LAKES FEMALE HOCKEY LEAGUE. It's a little awkward but I'm sure it will grow on you. Here is the new website. http://www.llfhl.ca/index.html

Hockey helmet hazard alert

Health Canada has issued a warning about a vital piece of equipment for any hockey player pro, amateur or recreational.

An investigation by the Canadian Standard's Association has found that WJD Pro Ice goaltender helmets and WJD Pro “Cat Eye” face protectors, failed CSA safety standards.Helmets and face shields worn to protect hockey players may actually cause serious head and eye injuries, the Canadian government warns.

Players should immediately stop using all WJD Pro Ice goaltender helmets and WJD Pro "Cat Eye" face protectors, Health Canada said Tuesday.

An investigation by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) showed the Canadian-made equipment fails safety standards. The helmets do not give enough impact protection from falls, collisions from other players or hits from pucks or sticks.

Is anyone watching?

The Canadians didn't bring their best game to Saskatoon, but as has become apparent in this Super Series, (such as it has been) you suddenly don't need your best to topple the Russians.
In a game which saw the Canadians out shoot the Russians by a huge margin (42-17) the story could have been the missed scoring opportunities by Team Canada.

As the game moved into the third period with the two teams tied at 1-1, Canada finally found the chink in Varlamov and put the game away with three goals on the way to the 4-1 victory.

It's starting to look like a 8 game sweep which would be quite embarrassing for the Russians.

Will Toskala be allowed to continue to use a Montreal stick?

NHL Suspends Bell

Well this was to be expected. Mark Bell has been suspended indefinitely without pay after being placed into stage two of the NHL's substance abuse program. In order to be reinstated, Bell will require the recommendation of program doctors along with the approval of both the National Hockey League and the NHLPA.

Supposedly, Bell's plea encouraged his placement into stage two as outlined by the substance abuse program even though more than a year has passed since the incident took place.

This only illustrates how desperate JFJ must have been to pick up a goalie that he would agree to take Bell as well. Although, throughout last season he repeatedly stated he was satisfied with his goaltending. I guess we know not to believe anything he says about his hockey team this season.

At least it appears Bell does not eat up cap dollars.

But hey, the Leafs also signed Tony Salmelainen (which you can pick up from uncooked chicken). He is 26 years old with a NHL career consisting of 18 points. Hope he can double that this season.

ARRRRRGOOOOOOOOOOOS!

Michael Bishop returned to the Argo lineup today and threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns to snap a five-game losing streak with a 32-14 Labour Day win over the Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

The Argos have now won their eighth straight against the Cats and improved to 15-1-1 in their last 16 regular-season games versus the Ticats and 6-4-1 in their last 11 contests in Steeltown.

It's been a long hot summer

...but HOCKEY SEASONS starts for the Storm tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Lauren N

Marketing in the NHL

A friend noticed that the Dallas Stars have a new billboard marketing campaign.

And... the next time the NHL talks about "cleaning up the game," we'll know they really mean it this time:

Canada Leads 4-0 In Super Series

So far, there has been little notice of theJunior Summit Series played between the junior aged players from Canada and Russia. The first four games have already been played in Russia and Canada won all four by a combined score of 17-6.

This week, they return to Canada for the final four games in what looks like a blowout. This series is helping to overplay and possibly burnout junior aged players before they have even entered the NHL and very little interest is paid on it. It appears to be a foregone conclusion who will win before the first game in Canada is played.

The Russian hockey system is currently in disrepair. The somewhat unstable political system has let it fall apart. The Russian system still produces some incredibly talented kids in Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, but most of the rest of the talent is getting lost in a leaky pipeline. They have not been much of a match for the Canadian kids. It has been made worse due to Russian injuries to top prospects Alexei Cherepanov and Artem Anisomov, who are some of the more talented scorers on the Russian roster.

Wondering What Happened to Pavel Bure?

A few years ago Pavel Bure shent on the Rangers' injured reserve list and then disappeared off the face of the planet. Well he has reappeared - in court.

A Russian court has awarded former Bure 67,000 rubles (C$2,750) in a lawsuit he filed against British Airways after being forced to leave a plane.

Bure filed the suit after he was told to leave a plane at Moscow's Domodedovo airport that was preparing to fly to London in October. The suit said the pilot believed he was a soccer hooligan and refused to take off until Bure left the plane.

The incident occurred a day after Russian soccer hooligans disrupted another flight to Britain, reports said.

Bure filed a suit seeking 20 million rubles (C$822,000) in material and moral damages. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted his lawyer, Dmitry Ragulin, as saying he would appeal to a higher court to have the award increased.

Another Win for the Juniors

Canada's junior hockey team is looking for a sweep in Russia after a 6-2 win in Game 3 of the Super Series on Friday.

The Canadian team had four power-play goals, including two to open the scoring. The Russian goal in the first period was Russia's first since the first period of the series-opener.

To make matters worse, star Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov is out for the series due to a concussion he suffered in a massive collision with Brandon Sutter (watch out for those Sutters) in the last game. Sutter was penalized for charging on that play which was in retaliation for a cheap shot earlier in the game.

Game 4 is Saturday. Game 5 is in Winnipeg on Tuesday, followed by Saskatoon on Wednesday, Red Deer on Friday and Vancouver on Sept. 9.

Where the Stanley Cup Went on its Summer Vacation

There is a website, of course, that covers the travels of the Stanley Cup over the summer. Each player gets to take it home for a day - whether you are from Moscow or Wawa. This year, for example, Teemu Selanne took the Cup to Helsinki and Corey Perry took it home to London, Ontario. Interestingly, Perry got stuck in a traffic jam on the 401 (yeah just like you and me) and was running alongside the cars showing the other drivers the Cup (see picture below).

There some pretty bizarre parties that spontaneously start up during this town by town tour. One of the most unusual ones this summer was with George Parros, a fringe NHLer who happened to have landed with the Ducks last season. He took the Stanley Cup to his uncle's pig roast in Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania, last weekend.

I would bet the Vince Lombardi Trophy never made it to a pig roast.

Canada Up by 2 Games

Canada had excellent goaltending for the second game in a row with a 3-0 win over Russia. Lewiston's Jonathan Bernier earned the shutout.

The Canadians cut down on their penalties from the series opener in which they were short-handed 14 times. But special teams were again difference in the game as Canada continued to hold the Russians scoreless a man-up while scoring their first goal of the game on the power play. Russia went 0-for-5 in the game and is 0-for-19 in the series.

For those who go back that far, this series celebrates the 35th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union. The first 4 games are in Russia and then they come to Canada for the last 4 games. The timing of the Canadian based games will work into my work schedule better.

Pictures of the Lunar Eclipse

Canada Takes Game One

Penalty killing will clearly be an important part of Canada’s game in the Super Series.The Canadian team had to play through eleven short handed situations, including a couple of five on three situations in game one of their eight game series against Russia.

As seems to be the case in Internationally officiated games, any form of contact can suddenly send you to the box, particularly anything to do with the hockey stick. Canada played almost one third of the game down a man on the ice, but still managed to not only weather the storm, but to turn the flow of the game around and move the game into the Russian end of the ice.Game one saw Canada fall behind two to nothing before storming back to score four unanswered goals on the way to a 4-2 opening night victory.

Lunar Eclipse

If you're able to get up really early tomorrow morning, you may be able to see the moon go copper red during a totak lunar eclipse. The big event will occur in Toronto - before sunrise, in fact, at 4:51 EDT. It will reach full eclipse stage an hour later. In about 90 minutes, the moon will change from its grey-white colour to a coppery red.

Pirates?

Maybe the Leafs Curse Will End Now?

A treasure hunter searching in Florida waters came across a true Canadian find - a Stanley Cup ring marking the last time Toronto's Maple Leafs were able to clinch the hockey championship.

The ring has been missing for some thirty years. It belonged to former Maple Leaf right-winger Jim Pappin, the player who led his team during the 1967-68 season playoffs with seven goals and 15 points.

Pappin was so disillusioned with the Leafs after they traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks, he gave his ring to his father-in-law.

A Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup ring is a rare piece of jewelry, indeed.

I can't imagine giving one away. So now maybe the curse over the Leafs will finally end.

Another Prediction for 07-08 NHL Season

From The Hockey News Yearbook

Eastern Conference
1 Ottawa*
2 N.Y. Rangers*
3 Pittsburgh
4 Buffalo
5 Carolina*
6 Tampa Bay
7 New Jersey
8 Atlanta
9 Philadelphia
10 Washington
11 Toronto
12 Florida
13 Montreal
14 N.Y. Islanders
15 Boston

Western Conference
1 Detroit*
2 Anaheim*
3 Calgary*
4 San Jose
5 Minnesota
6 Vancouver
7 Nashville
8 Colorado
9 St. Louis
10 Chicago
11 Dallas
12 Los Angeles
13 Edmonton
14 Columbus
15 Phoenix

I like some of these predictions better than McKeen's. Not so sure if Nashville will make the playoffs with their talent sell off and ownership distractions. Maybe most suprising is that the Leafs are rated 11th in the East after upgrading in net. This likely reflects the aging Sundin, continued weak team defense and penalty killing, and their ongoing mangement distractions. What do you think?