Must win.

It's not like Game four is the end of the series, but if the Penguins lose, it pretty much is. If the Penguins can win this integral second home game they'll have the series all tied up at two a piece. If they lose they go down three games to one and then they have to go back to Detroit in that state. Detroit... a place where they seem to have the confidence sucked right out of them.

If you're keeping track, it appears the Penguins have put a few of my suggestions into pratice, 2.5 out of 5 ain't bad:

1. They've been unstoppable at home down the stretch and all through the playoffs, maybe it'll continue through the next two games. half completed.

2. Mario Lemieux suits up. comeoonnnnnnnnn

3. Michel Therrian will have a freak out, just like the last time the Penguins played like this (two years ago.) Obstruction, obstruction, distraction.

4. Someone will score a goal. finally.

5. Detroit defenseman trip over the blueline several more times, sending Pittsburgh forwards in on a 3-on-1, but this time they actually score.


And here's something I came across while checking out the stories for the upcoming game tonight. Spot the typo.

Crosby, Malking Making Impact For Penguins

Also some news about game five, which is a few days away (monday). Feisty Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will be making the trip to Detroit to take in the game. Detroit Red Wing forward Dan Cleary arranged tickets for the Premier. Williams is one of the most hilarious Canadian Premiers, he's called the Prime Minister a liar, pulled the Canadian flags down off the poles, and walked out on a Premiers meeting... and he's more popular than any other politician. If anything we'll get a good soundbite.

Colby Armstrong is back! (yay!) The former Penguins team clown and close friend to Sidney Crosby is now doing analysis for Rogers Sportsnet for the Finals. Too bad Rogers Sportsnet doesn't actually broadcast the games.

Drama in Canadian media.

* insert Darth Vader's theme* There's trouble in fantasyland, folks. So there's this long-running thing here about Crosby and Don Cherry. Waaaay back when Sidney played for the Rimouski Oceanic he scored this absolutely ridiculous goal (ridiculous = awesome) where he basically played the puck lacrosse-style with his stick and into the net. Anyway Cherry called him a "hot dog" for doing it.

Since the said event Cherry hasn't really ever praised Crosby, but he also hasn't really crapped on him like some other players (see: Jarmior Jagr in the late 90s). Cherry prefers the Jordan Staals and Gary Roberts of the hockey world, and that's fine, it's what Cherry's about. I accept that. Nobody turns on Coach's Corner to see Cherry coo over players that everyone knows are awesome and should be awesome every game. We turn it on to see what kind of abuse he shells out.

But then Globe and Mail columnist William Houston (see the story below) writes an opinion piece on Cherry's opinion of Crosby. So (of course) here's my opinion on Houston's opinion of Cherry's opinion. Still with me? (man, where's a good Duthie-ism when I need one?) Here's my favourite quote, it's what Houston tries to wrap up his point with.

"But as a whole, the Hockey Night response to Crosby's effort was dismissive and small - a disservice, not to Crosby, because he receives plenty of kudos and doesn't need them from Hockey Night. It was a disservice to the telecast and the viewers."

A disservice to the viewers, eh? Well apparently, as a viewer i'm just a little to slow on the uptake to realize that Sidney Crosby had a good game without someone at Hockey Night in Canada telling me. Wait, but Houston also admits that they did mention Crosby's play. So I guess that simply mentioning it won't get through my thick viewer skull. Gee, I sure wish P.J Stock and Craig Simpson had come on like a couple of screaming junior high kids, jumping up and down with signs... like Sidney Crosby is like totally like playing like the best player like everrrrrrrrrr! lol, lmao, hugz!!!.... I would have definitely figured it out then.

There's this word i'm looking for, what is it? Oh yes, OVER-REACTION. Seriously, Houston comes off in this piece like a whiny guy who wishes he was on Hockey Night in Canada. Yes, I agree. Crosby did look incredible in game three, in fact I think he looked like he was on some sort of mission to destiny. A destiny that involved magic, and some sort of dramatic music montage....... He played awesome (and created a whole new artery bulge on Mike Babcock's neck). I also agree that there does seem to be the "ABC" (Anybody But Crosby) factor with a lot of fans/media, and i would be the first to call foul when it happens (see: Philadelphia series). But I also agree that Gary Roberts - Jordan Staal pairing went out there and absolutely destroyed. They brought momentum, and the fact that Roberts was a healthy scratch a few days ago is also a very good story (Not to mention, i'm pretty sure he's the same age as Sidney's Dad, Troy). Also let's not mention that the Penguins were out-shot badly and Marc-Andre Fluery held the fort.

If Hockey Night in Canada had've said nothing about the play of the rest of the team and focussed totally on Crosby's play then you'd be on their arse for not recognizing a team effort when they see one.

Just so you know. It does take a full team to win a game, sure Crosby was a bit part of it. But if it was just him out there, there'd be no magic... or music montage.

Hockey Night snubs Crosby, and viewers

WILLIAM HOUSTON

whouston@globeandmail.com

May 30, 2008

Let's see. He's the youngest player to be appointed as the captain of an NHL team. This is his first Stanley Cup final. Hard to tell, but he may still be hurting from an ankle injury that sidelined him for 29 games in the regular season.

On Wednesday, Sidney Crosby scored two of the Pittsburgh Penguins' three goals and logged almost 20 minutes of ice time to lead the Penguins back into their series against the Detroit Red Wings. It was a terrific performance.

But guess who received the attention during the Hockey Night in Canada postgame coverage? Gary Roberts.

The show's grudge against Crosby has gone well beyond ridiculous. Yes, host Ron MacLean interviewed him last Saturday, but the show's most influential commentator, Don Cherry, doesn't like him. And MacLean certainly defers to his elder.

If Cherry mentioned Crosby in his postgame commentary, we missed it. Instead, he enthused about Roberts, the Penguins' veteran, who played 8 minutes 45 seconds and earned an assist. And he praised the team's Jordan Staal, who also had a solid game, but no points.

"He's only 19 years old," Cherry said.

Yes, and Crosby's 20.

The ABC rule (Anybody But Crosby) had MacLean toeing the line. When he read off the three stars of the game, he said Crosby had been selected as the first star for scoring the opening goal and picking up another.

That understated Crosby's impact on the game about as much as saying Tiger Woods is occasionally noticed on the PGA Tour.

When Cherry did his postgame spot for ESPN, he continued to ignore Crosby and wax lyrical about Roberts. Finally, ESPN commentator Barry Melrose said, "What about the Crosby kid?"

"Oh," Cherry said. "I forgot. Yeah, he played a great game."

Crosby should be a Cherry favourite. He's a Canadian, he's tough and he has been in at least one fight. But the two got off to a bad start when Crosby was in junior hockey and was rapped by Cherry for being a hot dog because he used a lacrosse-style stick manoeuvre to score a goal. For his part, Crosby has a bit of an edge and he probably hasn't been appropriately deferential to Cherry.

Whatever the case, his performance on Wednesday ranked as one of the big NHL stories of the year and it deserved raves.

True, Hockey Night put him on the air for a postgame interview with reporter Elliotte Friedman. How could it not? And analyst Craig Simpson said a few words, chosen carefully, about his rising to the occasion.

But as a whole, the Hockey Night response to Crosby's effort was dismissive and small - a disservice, not to Crosby, because he receives plenty of kudos and doesn't need them from Hockey Night.

It was a disservice to the telecast and the viewers.

Sad news.

Luc Bourdon 1987 - 2008

Luc Bourdon, left, with Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang after winning the 2007 World Juniors

Vancouver Canucks prospect Luc Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident involving a tractor trailer, near his hometown of Shippagan in northern New Brunswick Thursday afternoon. Bourdon was 21.

Baffled.

Remember when everyone thought this series was going to be "delicious", and close, and fast skating? I was so excited! A Stanley Cup final I could get behind! Then the Pittsburgh Penguins started playing like a bunch of schoolboy bitches, and I started to lose my cool. My only hope for a decent series is that the Penguins will redeem themselves, and put up some sort of a fight. Here are some (im)possible things that may help:

1. They've been unstoppable at home down the stretch and all through the playoffs, maybe it'll continue through the next two games.
2. Mario Lemieux suits up.
3. Michel Therrian will have a freak out, just like the last time the Penguins played like this (two years ago.)
4. Someone will score a goal.
5. Detroit defenseman trip over the blueline several more times, sending Pittsburgh forwards in on a 3-on-1, but this time they actually score.

Canadiana.

The van that accompanied Terry Fox on his Marathan on Hope in 1980 has been tracked down, restored and has begun its own journey across Canada.
The 1980 Ford Econoline, tracked down by Terry's brother Darrell and famed Canadian writer Douglas Coupland who wrote a book about Terry and his Marathon.
The van was then handed over to Ford of Canada, who put over 1,000 hours into restoring the van to its original condition. The van was then taken to St. John's, Newfoundland where on April 12, 28 years ago Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1977, Fox's lost his right leg at age 18 to bone cancer and vowed to beat cancer by raising awareness and money for research. After beginning modestly in Newfoundland, Fox ran basically an entire marathon every day with his van driving faithfully behind. However later that year on September 1 Fox was forced to stop near Thunder Bay, Ontario as his cancer had spread to his lungs. He had run for 143 days straight.
Fox passed away on June 28, 1981, as the youngest person ever to be awarded the Order of Canada.

The van will be crossing the country raising money for cancer research.


Also, over the weekend 10 pieces of Canadian history were stolen from the UBC Museum. The pieces were from iconic Native artist Bill Reid and were considered "priceless" by museum curators. The missing art is reportedly a mixture of jewelry and sculptures.
Don't think you know Reid's work? Check out the back of your 20 dollar bill.

Spokane Wins Memorial Cup with 4-1 win over host team.

Game recap here

Karma was not on their side.

It all started when Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves (and you know my sentiments about baseball) said that he thought Sidney Crosby was a "Great, young American athlete."

Wait, wait, wait... what? Back that bookmobile up. Great? check. Young? you bet. Athlete? obviously... what was that third thing, again? American? nope. Someone hit the "YOU'RE WRONG!" buzzer. Poor ol' Glavine is gonna be feeling pretty sad when Crosby is tearing up the USA at the Olympics.

Then Joe Louis public address announcer Budd Lynch called him Steven Crosby. For a bit I tried to rationalize it... I looked across the room at a perplexed Garreth and said. "oh he's just old, I think he said Sidney... maybe". No I don't think he said Sidney, he definietely said Steven. Did he look at the wrong part of the page? Maybe he confused it with Steve Yzerman, who was coming out for the ceremonial face-off. Of course that would only makes partial sense because it's Steve Yzerman, not Steven. Awww, whatever he was born in 1917.


Before that, Marc-Andre Fleury fell flat on his face in front of the entire crowd in Detroit. He was attempting to do his super-run onto the ice for the beginning of the game, but instead did a face plant into the ice. It was slightly less embarrassing than when that anthem singer fell that time, but still embarrassing. I won't lie, I laughed.

But again... the karma. It's almost like the ghosts of Ottawa, New York and Philadelphia were cursing every step the Penguins took. (except when that goal got called back... more on that in a bit.) The Pens looked flat, were making bad passes, and they seemed to collectively trip just like poor ol' Fleury.

On top of it all, how many times were Detroit fans staring in horror as the puck sat idly in front of an open net with nobody on the Penguins able to pull the trigger. The answer is, A lot.

Back to that goal that was called back. If you didn't catch it, here's the recap: Holmstrom was in front of the crease and had his stick in "groin area" of Fleury. The Penguins, who seemed to be paying an ungodly amount of attention to the right-wing, didn't really notice Lidstrom pinch in on the left. The puck squirted over to him and he sent a rocket of a shot to the roof. The goal was called back because of "goaltender interference" and when a ref does that the rulebook states that the perpetrator must go to the box and feel shame for two minutes. So off paraded Holmstrom to the box and Mike Babcock looked like he might blow an artery.

I'm not saying that it wasn't goaltender interference, i'm sure any male would cringe in terror of the thought of getting smacked with a stick in the groin. But it's not like Holmstrom full out Chris Simon'd him. Let's just say if it was Henrik Zetterberg, they probably wouldn't have called it.

But I have to say I agree. In this case, I condone a double-standard. And before you hang me out to dry, let me explain. Holmstrom has a history of keeping his butt a little too close to the goaltender, and there's not really a rule against it becuase that toe-in-the-crease rule is thankfully gone. But, if you look at the replays of Holmstrom in front of the net, he is obviously obstructing the goaltender. A message needed to be sent, and sent early in the series. If you are going to call Sean Avery's shananigans a penalty than what Holmstrom does in front the of the net needs to be as well. There was a goal called back last series for the exact same reason, and he obviously didn't learn. My advice? Holmstrom, you're a big guy, just take a step forward. You'll still be screening the goaltender.

It's here!!! It's here!!!

The finals start today.

Now I know the number one of the burning questions is... who did the TSN hockey panel pick to win it all?

Bob MacKenzie: Detroit
Mike Milbury: Detroit
Pierre McGuire: is remaining neutral? Can you do that?
Darren Dreger: Pittsburgh
Geno Reda: Pittsburgh

So with those predictions, it's tied 2-2 because of Switzerland over there screwing up the tiebreaker. Well, what better to replace Pierre McGuire with than with a MONKEY!

Maggie picked Pittsburgh.

And now the real burning question. Who do I think will win? Pittsburgh. Why? Because I have a blind faith in the magic of Sidney Crosby.

Kidding. There are also some other factors. Anyway, talk about a situation that's been over analyzed, pundits have had nothing to do for like 5 days now. And for the most part, it seems most are picking Detroit to take it home. Most seem to cite the team's recent past of overachieving in the regular season and underachieving playoffs, making them somehow more hungry. Don't buy it. They also seem to be saying that Chris Osgood is the more experienced goaltender with a few Cups to his name. Last time I checked Osgood was riding the bench for those Cup runs. Yep, I checked again... still true. I will agree that Detroit has the edge in faceoffs, but as long as Detroit is soooo fast. Um, so is Pittsburgh. Detroit is sooooo dreamy. Ok, well maybe they didn't say that. You get my point, I don't think there's an underdog in this one.

Some other notes about tonight.
Gary Roberts, despite being cleared by doctors after his stint with pneumonia, and was even quoted as saying,
"The rest has been great for me and I feel like I'm ready to go."
Yet for some reason... he is a healthy scratch. Seriously? How can you healthy scratch Gary Roberts in the playoffs. He's a playoff monster. He eats other teams for breakfast in the playoffs. He crushes their spirits. That's pretty hard to do from the press box.

Also, Chris Chelios will sit out for game one, he has a "leg-area injury" although he apparently wanted to play. And scoring machine, Johan Franzen is still out with "concussion-like symptoms" but could possibly be back for game two.

Hockey not extreme or aggresive enough for you?

Then check out the latest installment from Jay Dahl, Backjumping, which won the CBC show "Short Film Faceoff" on Wednesday night.



The Memorial Cup semi-finals are tonight at 8pm (AST). You can catch it on Sportsnet... unless of course there is some sort of rain-delayed baseball game.

no hockey, but we do have a duthie-ism.

"Let's see, four days of Stanley Cup Final preview anaylsis down, two to go.When you see our panel breaking down which team has the better stickboy...

'Mike in Detroit has really fast hands, but little Pete in Pittsburgh really organizes the rack well.'

...You know I will be sticking a pen in my eye very shortly."

Giv'r gas.

The final round robin game of the Memorial cup was tonight, Kitchener versus Belleville. The two teams were already pre-determined to be meeting each other in the semi finals on Friday, and judging by the game tonight, Friday will be a "dandy" as Bob Cole would say.

I checked the score after the first period and it appeared that Kitchener (the host team) had it under control, with a 3-0 lead. But as we all know, 3-0 is a pretty dangerous lead. Anyway I went out for a few pops at Boston Pizza, and came home about a half hour ago to the sight of a 4-3 Belleville come-from-behind, overtime win.

Bets anyone?

Love at the End of the World.

New Sam Roberts album (Love at the End of the World) = awesome. The album was fully released today, (yes i pre-ordered it and it was in my itunes this morning). It's everything you'd expect from a Sam Roberts album: Jeans and T-Shirt rock and roll that doesn't pull any fancy studio tricks to make it seem like they're actually musicians. And I can only imagine that it'll translate to an amazing live show. Album is full of catchy riffs and lyrics, but not toooo catchy (see: Nickelback. see: repetitive). You should pick it up.


In hockey news (although since Sam Roberts is a fan of Les Canadiens, I consider his new album hockey news),

Apparently Chris Simon has decided to abandon the NHL and will be playing in Russia next season. In Russia, Simon will be employed part time by the Russian Mafia where his skate stomping and stick swinging will be of great use.

Did that guy who always wears the velvet blazer, flowered shirt and jeans (sean mccormick) just say "eight-nizzle for bo-dizzle"?... on top of it all i'm pretty sure it was referring to baseball. puke.

I was watching TSN earlier and Mad Mike Milbury called the Stanley Cup Final match-up, "delicious".

As you may have noticed I'm just spewing thoughts in here as they appear in my head, I get a little off when i know HWS (hockey withdrawal syndrome) will soon be setting in.

A pro-longed Duthie-ism:

Watching the Russians celebrate their gold medal, I was thinking it was time for a slow-clap. You know the slow-clap, right? It’s the feel-good movie cliché where something inspirational happens in front of a crowd, there is silence for a moment, then one person starts a dramatic slow-clap that builds to a cheering frenzy. Roll the credits.

Anyway, wouldn’t it have been great if there weren’t any cheering Russians in the Quebec crowd, just 15 thousand stunned silent Canadians, until Prime Minister Stephen Harper stood up and started the slow-clap?

If Sidney Crosby is "The Next One", wouldn't Steven Stamkos be "The Next Next Savio(u)r "? Geez, Hockey News, get your facts straight...and your spelling. Which would make John Tavares "The Next Next Next One".





I think that's it... expect more of this randomness as the week progresses before the finals start on Saturday.

Stanley Cup Finals.

Why I hate that god-foresaken rule.

Slash a guy in the face. fine. Run a guy into the boards from behind. fine. Knee on knee. fine. Heck, drop your hockey pants to the ice to fix your garter strap right before a faceoff (I kid you not, I saw Mike Ribeiro do this in Halifax, back in like 1999 when he played for the Quebec Rempart.)

But why in the name of Dion Phaneuf is there a penalty for flipping the puck over the glass? I understand, previously, it was more lucrative to do this as a defenceman than ice the puck. So, here's my question. Why not make it the same as an icing? You lose your line change, and have a faceoff in your own zone. done. Of course that makes too much sense, and as we know, the NHL doesn't make sense sometimes. The NHL is like a 3 year old child, eventually they'll learn, but not after getting stung in the butt by a bee three or four times.

Every time I see this call, even if it's in favour of a team I like, I cringe. When it results in a goal, well let's not talk about that. Who thought this up? My rule of thumb is large decisions like this would have to go through a group of at least seven people before it's approved. Where are these seven people? I'd like to tie them to a net and have shooting practice.

Who thought, "hmm this seems like it's delaying the game... let's make it a penalty, so it actually delays the game even more while the ref reviews if it hit the glass before it went out, finds the correct player, reports it to the stats dude in the little glass box, get the clock all fixed up and then... finally... drops the puck. Yah! That makes total sense! Even though icing the puck takes the same amount of time as a flip over the glass, let's make it a penalty... I'm an iiiidiot."


gawd.



I never know if i'm going crazy or not when I find out Don Cherry says the same thing as me:

Cherry lambastes NHL over automatic penalty for shooting puck over glass

PITTSBURGH — Don Cherry again ripped the NHL over the automatic penalty given to players who shoot the puck over the glass, a call that helped cost Canada gold at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.

Speaking shortly after Rick Nash's delay of game penalty led to Ilya Kovalchuk's overtime winner in Canada's 5-4 loss to Russia in the gold-medal game Sunday, Cherry ranted that the rule was ruining games.

The rule came into effect for the 2005-06 NHL season.

"The National Hockey League, the reason they put this in, this goofy stupid rule, is because they said players were tired and they were shooting it in the stands," an emotional Cherry said during his Coach's Corner segment on a national television station. "If the guy knows he's getting a penalty, would he shoot it in the stands? Some fool in the National Hockey League had nothing to do (but) come up with that stupid rule and it's cost series."

Nash was clearing the puck from his own end when he mistakenly flipped it into the stands. Kovalchuk won the game 47 seconds later.

"Now you're going to say, 'If it had have been the Russians, the other way around,' no," said Cherry. "I don't want to win like that, I wouldn't want Canada to win like that. Some fool, some idiot in the National Hockey League come up with that rule, and it's killing us with the dumb rule and costing us games and a world tournament and Stanley Cups."

Asked how he would tweak the rule, Cherry barked: "They're too stupid to get rid of it."

Eastern Conference Champions

Sit. Down. Flyers.
If anyone had any doubts about whether the Pittsburgh Penguins would win this series, they were silenced today.

Whilst Canada was getting their ass handed to them by the Russians at least something was right in the hockey world. Before I could even switch the television over to CBC after almost throwing something at it, the game was 2-0. Ryan Malone (a player rumoured to be hitting the Free Agent highway this summer) scored first and opened the floodgates that was Martin Biron's net. The opposite could be said for Marc-Andre Fleury, who made a few timely saves early in the game, and one huge one late to preserve his shut-out.

The entire team was running on what seemed to be all cylinders, getting points from ten different players. Marian Hossa (4), Ryan Malone (3), Sidney Crosby (2), Maxime Talbot (2), Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Jordan Staal, Adam Hall, Pascal Dupuis, Brooks Orpik.

And it was almost like Sidney Crosby said a big 'NO, YOU SUCK' to the fans that rode him all of game four. Sit down. Flyers. and double sit down, flyers fans.

The Penguins now await the winner of the Dallas and Detroit final in the west. And by the way the last game went, it appears the momentum is in Dallas's hands. Game six of that series goes Monday night in Dallas.




The Memorial Cup game is currently in progress. Apparently instead of showing the Kitchener-Spokane game, the main Sportsnet network decided to go with random programming while the Bluejays game was in rain delay (see earlier post on Baseball). So you can only get the Memorial Cup game if you've got digital cable, where you can pick up one of the regional channels. Dear Sportsnet, You suck.