Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

I’m taking a page from my good buddy WufPirate and throwing a liveblog party here tonight.

Panelists will be Bethany from HLOG and Bethany’s Hockey Rants, The Sliding Pokecheck (if work hasn’t pwned her), and of course moi. Plus a couple other guests, if I can swing it.

(I had to delete the liveblog script, it’s infected with JS.Psyme was tripping my virus scanner. Sorry kids.)

The fun starts at 7:25 EDT

As of this writing, I could still theoretically return to the job (I have a feeling that situation might change after I publish this) but that brings me to the second reason for this: I’m pretty much done with the Oilers organization in any capacity for the foreseeable future. Up until this point, I was nothing but cooperative and apologetic for what happened, and was met with nothing but irrational hostility at worst and condescending patronization at best. They did finally show some understanding, but that was only after I had pointed out that they were either making it up as they went along, applying an obvious double standard or too stupid to read the blogs of two fairly well established media people to look for this kind of egregious violation of their sacred media pass. And even after that, they threw in some condescending patronization, just in case I might want to chalk up their change of heart to magnanimity. I hope most of you will understand exactly why I’m no longer interested in writing about an organization that has decided to dump on me for having the temerity to care about them and treat their wishes with respect.

From DMFB’s (hopefully not) final post to Covered In Oil.

To sum up: DMFB got a press cred from the Oilers. While he was cooling his heels in the pressbox (he was waiting to collect some quotes for another media outlet post-game), he decided to pop the laptop open and do a liveblog. At some point during the third period, the Oilers flipped their shit and threw him out after saying that his press cred was yanked because he abused the privilege; this despite the fact that two media-bloggers had engaged in similar abuse of their press creds…and didn’t get their creds yanked (nor did they even get a talking-to).

Of note: Did anyone from the Oilers tell D what he could and couldn’t do with his cred?  Only ex post facto.

ex post facto. After the fact. I can’t be the only one that sees how wrong that is.  My larger issue is not with the fact that the Oilers told D to knock off all his bloggish evil. My larger issue is with the way the guy was treated–being told that he’d be thrown out the building and not allowed back, and generally treated like the scum of the earth because he happens to be a blogger that isn’t employed by the org.

I would say that that’s something I’d expect from the Hurricanes (given the lack of forethought shown by a few of their droids), but Mike Sundheim and Kyle Hanlin are better than that.

If an organization wants to be so backwards as to deny pressbox access to bloggers that aren’t directly employed by them (or that won’t kiss the org’s collective ass), that’s one thing–it’s their prerogative and their loss. But acting in that manner toward anyone, blogger or no, is just unconscionable.

Don’t let the bastards drive you away, dude.

(glovetap to Charlie from Rutherfordton for the original link)

The Canes came out with vengance on their mind after the season ending loss only months before. Instead they fell into a 2-0 hole to start the first thanks to an old friend. But the Canes were resiliant and kept at it. After a powerplay goal by Ruutu and a dazzling move by Whitney near the end of the first the Canes have all the momentum. Brindy would put them up 3-2 but would be answered a few minutes later by Dvorak. Joni was being Joni again tonight and put the home team up to stay with just over 5 to play in the 2nd. Despite a late comeback attempt and some, shall I say “questionable” calls, the Canes stood solid and emerged victorious 6 to 4.

So here’s some thoughts on the game. Defense:
Pitkanen – Gleason was solid, real solid. They compliment eachother extremely well and very well might be the best top pairing in the southeast. Dare I say it they could very well be among the top 2 or 3 #1 pairings in the east when all is said and done if they can carry this play over to future games. But they weren’t the only ones doing their part from the blueline. Frank Kaberle was back in fashion tonight and after doing the matador routine on the Panthers first goal had an otherwise solid night. Corvo didn’t produce but he didn’t look bad by any meens either despite his -2 so that’s a wash to me, he should put up the numbers this year regardless. Seidenberg impressed looking like he really wants to be a part of the Canes long-term plans and he deserved the 21+ minutes of ice time he got. Fantastic feed by him on the powerplay to Ruutu. Wallin was also a very pleasant surprise making the nicest play I’ve seen him make since the 05-06 playoffs to set up Lacouture for his first Hurricanes goal.

Up Front:
The Staal line was dominant despite Eric not ending up on the scoresheet. He was dangerous all night, Whitney is still the Wizzard and Eaves looks like he could easily have a breakout season alongside those two. The Brind’Amour line was not at its strongest even strength but they more then made up for that on the powerplay contributing both goals. Ruutu showed some glimpses of why he was considered the best prospect in hockey a few times tonight. The Cullen line was alright, shut down the Panthers forwards and pestered their D all night but didn’t produce until an empty netter at the end. The line that impressed me the most was actually Brookbank-Sutter-Lacouture. Generated a lot of action in front of Vokoun and the end result was a goal for Lacouture and Brandon’s first NHL point.

Special Teams:
This powerplay is lethal, period. The Pitkanen-Corvo setup on the point will generate more then it won’t and having the Brind’Amour setup with what looked like a resurgent Kaberle on the 2nd unit ensured that if the Panthers focused on stopping the 1st unit they would get burnt in the end. It happened, twice.
The PK… I’m still not sold on. It should improve over last season by simple law of averages, but there were only 3 players iced tonight that I would consider putting on a PK with Gleason, Wallin and Seidenberg. That said, the Canes new attacking attitude with the forwards will pay off and ensure that the PK improves. Sutter especially was impressive there, this kid has Selke written all over him, just such a cerebral defensive player at such a young age.

Dave’s 3 stars:
3 – Ray Whitney
2 – The Pitkanen-Gleason pairing… yeah I know it’s a copout, so sue me
1 – Brandon Sutter

Well.

In a previous post, I questioned (in a roundabout manner) the wisdom of the Hurricanes’ training staff in being so super-aggressive when it comes to rehab.

IF–and this is a large if, of course–TSN’s Darren Dreger is to be believed, Jim Rutherford has asked Pete Friesen and his crew to go in pretty much the opposite direction.

Actually, check that. He’s asked for a different direction, rather than a full-on reverse:

Rutherford’s frustration with injury peaked last month when Hurricanes forward Justin Williams suffered a ruptured achilles tendon while participating in a run.

Williams, who sat out much of last season with a serious knee injury could miss six months with his latest setback.

Rutherford has seen enough and has challenged Pete Friesen, his longtime trainer and strength and conditioning coach to research a training program that is designed for individual athletes and not the team as a larger group.

(boldface courtesy of a poster on hfboards’ Hurricanes forum–where you can still take issue at Dwayne-o and get away with it)

The Anti-Luke quotes the following from JimR:

“I’ve given my opinion cautiously the last few years, because it’s a long way from my expertise,” Rutherford said. “But with the amount of injuries we’ve had, we have to do something different. There’s some reason we’ve had so many and it’s not coincidence.

“I’m not saying don’t train. But in my opinion, athletes today may over-train. There have been a lot more injuries in the past decade, especially in hockey.”

Of course he’s not saying “don’t train”. He’d be foolish to say that. But it’ll be interesting to see how Pete responds to the challenge.

Stay tuned.

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I apologize for the paucity of entries in this space. My current job is entering its final month, and I’ve been focusing on getting all the loose ends tied up. I’ve also been mourning Merlin, who died two weeks ago after a hard fight with intestinal cancer. So I haven’t really felt like doing much of anything here.

But today, I do have a couple things that I want to rap about–we’ll start with Jeff O’Neill, who came to the conclusion on Sunday that his heart just wasn’t in it anymore and ended his comeback try with the Hurricanes. That he took the initiative and went to management spoke volumes about how much he’s matured since he got semi-quietly shuffled out of town back in 2005. It surprised even me that he was the one who decided that it was over.

That wasn’t the Jeff O’Neill I once knew, the arrogant and underachieving bon vivant who was all full of braggadocio and (when Chairman Mo pissed him off or a fan pestered him while he was out on the town with his buddies) bile, who gave his best years and most dazzling performances to the Hurricanes (and for that, he has my undying gratitude–I admit, I was one of the nuts that wore shiner makeup during the 02 ECF).

He’d become a new Jeff O’Neill during his time away from the game. Older, of course; but, as Sunday’s post-game events showed, wiser and more self-aware. It even surprised me. He came to the conclusion that he wasn’t ready to come back to The Show. Not now, of course–maybe never again. But he’s got my respect for being able to say “Enough” and walk away with his dignity intact, and I wish him well whether he plays hockey again or not. Thanks for the memories, O.

Next, I want to address Don Cherry’s harping (once again) on European players. Grapes said, in a conference call, that he wanted to see the NHL expand to Europe so that all the European players would just stay there. A caller to NHL Live today called it racism–which in my opinion is being a little overly dramatic. Don Cherry’s moronic ranting that European players are “soft” and “useless” is like when Rush Limbaugh said that Donovan McNabb was massively hyped only because the media wanted a successful black quarterback: it’s just plain stupid and grossly uninformed.

So, this begs the question: What differentiates European players from North American players?  What makes Europeans somehow “worse” than North Americans? Their birthplace? Their parentage (or, more specifically, whether or not those parents are second-or-third-generation citizens of the US or Canada)? What?  Could somebody please explain it to me?

Here’s a quiz:

A player gets massive hype before the draft in which he’s taken. His scouting report read in part:

“He is a superb skater with excellent acceleration and he’s creative with the puck. He has an outstanding touch around the net and I’d say he has excellent overall skill level and excellent hockey sense. He has a superb attitude. He’s a finesse player, but does not mind playing physical. He can hit and take a hit. And he’s a leader on and off the ice and a gentleman in private. He has all the tools needed to become a superstar.”

Is he European, or North American?

Another player’s pro scouting report reads in part:

“His combination of speed, skill and size makes him very hard to contain. Knows how to find the back of the net and also possesses outstanding defensive skills. Is vulnerable in highly physical contests.”

Is he European, or North American?

A third player, when asked what he had to do to stay in shape for hockey, said:

“A month before the season I stop putting ketchup on my french fries.”

Is he European, or North American?

And then there’s the guy who was so amazingly talented and so fawned over by the scouts that an NHL team deliberately tanked their season just so they could draft him with the first overall pick…and wound up looking holding the bag when their prize decided that all he had to do was just sit back and collect his fat paycheck.  Clearly that kid must have been a Euro, because only a Euro would be such a slackard amirite?

Do you see what I’m getting at, folks?

Grapes is entertaining, sure–but he’s also living in the past and has enormous blinders on when he continually makes the claim that all European players are soft and refuse to hit while lauding North Americans (especially Canadians) as tough and skilled players; kinda like when Rush Limbaugh blithely ignored the accomplishments of Doug Williams and Steve McNair (both black QBs who fared pretty well in the NFL, especially Doug “Super Bowl Champ” Williams) when taking a potshot at Donovan McNabb. It’s all just one man trying to take his warped (and selective) perception and treat it as reality even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

(By the way, the players in question are Alex Ovechkin, Mike Modano, Mario Lemieux, and Alexandre Daigle.)

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