Wild Blockbuster Deal Rocks Hockey World

Vol. IV, No. 1

Yeah, I'm in shock. Along with a bunch of other hockey nuts in the Garden State.

Zach Parise is New Jersey history. After seven great years (OK, one was a rehab year), he has decided to move west with his bride. Well, actually, she will be moving east from North Dakota.

Apparently, Zach will trade in his #9 for a new #11.  He will get a Minnesota Wild New Jersey. Pun intended.  It's already on sale in the NHL store. They have to make a buck some way, now that the arenas are empty and the Stanley Cup is making its summer rounds. 

I spoke with Scott Oake (google him) and he told me that people on the inside were not surprised. The Minnesota Wild had the bucks to attract the TWO top unrestricted free agents. How could Zach resist a chance to play with Ryan Suter, and to play in his hometown?  The choice boiled down to the Wild and the Devs. Money was not the issue. Location trumped bucks.

His future is assured. Was it ever in doubt? Actually, yes it was. Just one year ago, nobody knew if Parise could come back and regain his form after a bad injury and rehab. But, donning the C, he roared back and set himself up as hockey's biggest plum. The Wild picked him.  He will now wear red and green. That's right - the Wild colors are sort of the reverse of the original Devils hues.

It was a no brainer, and nobody can possibly blame him for it. This is NOT a Scott Gomez going across the river for bigger bucks. This was the right thing for a young man about to be married in front of his folks and the people he grew up with.

Zach, New Jersey's going to miss you. Until Veterans Day, that is. On Sunday November 11, the Minnesota Wild come to town to play at Prudential Center. I don't know about you, but I will be there. I will probably cheer for Zach until he scores his first goal against his former teammates.

Hats off to the Parise family. A tough decision, but in the long run, it is surely right for them. Will Parise, Suter and company make the Wild competitive?  Time will tell.

Hockey Rules!

2012 Draft Over, Summer is Officially Here

Vol III, No. 21

The draft is done. We got Stephane Matteau. That name rings a bell, doesn't it? Scouts say he skates better than his father. It will be great to see him on the ice when the Blueshirts come to town. But that is probably a couple years down the road.

Speaking of what's right up ahead, the new season schedule is out. It's available on the Devils and NHL websites. The season home opener is Saturday October 13 against Boston.

One event is not on the list. Keep June 28-29 open on next year's calendar. Why? Because the 2013 draft will be held at The Rock that weekend. Odds are, next year is when the Devs will forfeit a first round pick, to pay off the Kovalchuk contract penalty.

But the Rock will be rockin', with the entire hockey world on hand. It will be our chance to show 'em that the Devils Army cares for our hometown boys. Especially if the NHL owns the franchise by that time (which could happen).

Hockey Rules!

Devils Bow to Kings and Refs

Vol. III, No. 20

Game 6. The Kings have been crowned. 

Six goals were scored by LA, four on power plays, one on an empty net. The Kings deserve the cup, even though the score was determined by the refs (at least three of the LA goals, all in the first period).

Congrats to the Kings. They were the best team in the playoffs with a nearly flawless road record (lost one game to the Devils, took 10 other contests on the road).  Their 16 - 4 record in the second, the toughest, season has not been equalled in decades.

The Devils played one helluva season and have nothing to be ashamed of. They are Eastern Conference champions.  Their playoff performance was the best against the most dominant Western Conference team in decades.  They played the Kings tough, right up until the end.

New Jersey's playoff performances that astounded the experts. This was a team that just one year ago FAILED TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS.  As turnarounds go, this one was huge.  It was a great run.

It's time for summer. That's what hockey fans know. It ain't summer until somebody dances with the Cup.

Newark, LA and the other 28 teams can rest now, for three months. Exhibition hockey starts in only three months.  There are summer hockey camps to run, and the Cup will visit places all over the world. And then the boys get back on the ice in September.

Hockey Rules.

Referees Deciding the Game?

Vol III, No. 19

The Devils have gotten a spanking in the first two periods of Game 6.  It looks like LA is getting near to capturing Lord Stanley.

The first 10 minutes of the game were as even as the rest of the series. But then the NHL referees busted the game wide open.

Steven Gionta gets boarded - no penalty called.  Immediately afterwards, Steve Bernier gets a major and game misconduct which leads to 3 LA goals.  Had Gionta gotten the call, no Bernier infraction, no power play, no Devil player removed from the game.

Next, Ilya Kovalchuk gets mugged and punched - no call.

Next, a ref gets in Anton Volchenkov's path, takes him out of the play, and the defensive breakdown leads to LA's fourth goal.

Next, Bryce Salvador gets a double minor for a high stick. That's about the only legit call in the game so far.

I'd say the score is NHL Refs 4, NJ Devils 0.

Is this sour grapes?  Yes. But the Devils coaches, normally reserved, were livid. If it were Robbie Ftorek behind the bench, there would be debris on the ice already. But Peter Deboer is cooler than that. Even when it comes to Taylor Stevens behind the Devils bench.

There will be another post after the game is over.

Hockey Rules, subject to interpretation!

It's Back to Tinseltown We Go, We Go

Vol III, No .19

The New Jersey Devils have achieved what the top three Western Conference teams could not. On Saturday night, the Devils beat the LA Kings in Newark.  

It was the Kings first road loss in the playoffs, after a flawless 10 - 0 record. It was the Kings first back-to-back set of losses since April. And it was the second game in a row that LA failed to get that magical #4 win. The Stanley Cup remains in its NHL case, and will travel west along with the two teams, NHL officials and the press entourage.

And here's one other strange stat.  In 70 years of Cup competition, any team that has gone up 3 - 0 in the beginning has never been able to win the cup in Game 6.  Series have ended in sweeps, with wins in Game 5, or with deciding Game 7s. But never a Game 6.

History may be made in the next four days. If the Kings win on Monday, they will be the first team in history to do it in a Game 6.  If the Devils win on Monday, it opens up the possibility that New Jersey could come back from a 0 - 3 game deficit and win a Cup.  The last time that was done was 70 years ago, in 1942, when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings.

The series returns to LA, where the Kings have a 5 - 3 playoff record (with one of those losses at the hands of their Eastern Conference opponent).  The pressure is now on the Kings to pull out a victory before a home crowd, after an unsuccessful attempt on Thursday night.

After all, their road game performance is no longer flawless. The ran into Martin Brodeur and a stingy Devils defense - and could only put one puck into the net.  Sounds like what they've been doing to their opponents, but now, the Kings have suffered the same fate.

Lord Stanley is waiting.  One or two more games is all that is left of the 2011-12 NHL season. It's a great day for hockey!

P.S. Martin Brodeur had a stellar performance, allowing one goal on 26.  In the third period alone, LA out shot the Devils 9 - 3. But Ilya Kovalchuk remains a mystery. He was not a factor in tonight's game, with only one shot and a +/- rating of -1. When the season is done, odds are that there will be news about Kovy. Something's up and it has not yet been made public.

Minor News - Robbery in Toronto

Vol III, No. 18

While most of the hockey world is tuned to Los Angeles and Newark, there are odd things going on, north of the border.

In the first professional hockey game ever played in Toronto, during the month of June, the jinx was in on Thursday night. The Calder Cup finals are being played, and it was Game 3.

The Toronto Marlies are the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate (and feeder club).  This year, made it to the Calder Cup Finals. There's only one small problem. They wuz robbed, in one of the strangest finishes anyone has ever seen.

The Marlies entered Thursday night, after losing two road games in a row to the Norfolk Admirals.  Back on home ice, a sellout Toronto crowd (8084 strong) expected the Marlies to bounce back.  Despite being out shot 30 to 21, the Marlies stayed in the game through three scoreless periods. Then came overtime.

At 9:09 of OT, Admirals D-man Mike Kostka dumped the puck into the Marlies end, as his teammates were clearing the zone. RW Brandon Segal was still in the offensive zone as the puck entered.  It was  an automatic offside and should have been a delayed call. 

The puck hit the back boards, bounced off, hit the side of the goalpost and curled around into the other side of the goal. Marlies goaltender Ben Scrivens looked on in disbelief, as the red light came on and the referee signaled a goal.

But it couldn't be a goal, with delayed offsides. The ref blew the call. It was a sudden death game winner. And Norfolk now are one game away from an AHL championship, with a commanding 3 - 0 series lead, all because of a referee's error.

AHL President David Andrews was forced to issue a statement on the league website.  Here it is.

“We have spoken with Toronto Marlies management and confirmed that a rules interpretation error by the on-ice officials occurred on the Norfolk Admirals’ overtime goal during Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals...As AHL By-Laws do not allow for any change to the final result of a game based on an incorrect rule interpretation, the result of the game stands.”


You have to wonder what would happen if a bad goal ever decided an OT playoff game in the NHL.  With video review in Toronto (of course), you assume that the refs would be corrected on the ice.  But in the AHL, there is no video review, and so the Admirals stole a game.

If Norfolk goes on to win the Calder Cup, a lot of Toronto fans will remember Thursday night as the   time a ref got away with murder.

Hockey Rules, but sometimes even the refs don't get them right!

Face Washing

Vol. III, No. 17

What's a face wash? This photo defines it.  Patrik Elias is delivering a visor wipe, on Kings Captain Dustin Brown.

Dustin obviously needed a dustin' - and Patty was happy to deliver the cleaning.  The face wash assist goes to Devils D-man Bryce Salvador. 

Face washing is not what happened to Ilya Kovalchuk. He got a stick in his face, UNDER his visor, and it didn't rip his helmet off. Kings D-man Willie Mitchell got his stick up and took the penalty at the end of the third period.

Poor Willie, a former Devils player. His former team didn't score on the PP, but the penalty ate up precious seconds.  LA goaltender Jonathan Quick skated off with only about 45 seconds remaining.

And then Kovy came roaring back from the infraction, scoring an empty-netter to ice the game.  

LA fans had to put away the brooms and their team is headed east again. Will the Devils repeat what happened to Vancouver and Phoenix, and lose THREE home games in a row? Can the Kings preserve their flawless road game 10 - 0 record?

Stay tuned for Hockey Night in Newark, Saturday at the Rock

Hockey Rules!