Suspense, Defense, Whoa Baby!

Vol. III, No. 16

The suspense was intense. The Cup was in the house. The Kings were ready to celebrate. They almost own the Cup.

But nobody almost wins the Cup.  It takes four games. There's only one small problem. Two Devils, Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique, were able to find the back of the Kings net tonight. 

Henrique's game winner added to an impressive playoff run, following his game and series OT winner against the Rangers two weeks ago. #14 should now have a lock on NHL Rookie of the Year honors.

New Jersey added a cushion with a third empty net goal in the last minute by Ilya Kovalchuk, moments after he suffered a nasty high stick under his visor.

In other words, a resilient never-say-die Devils team answered. As always, it boils down to defense.

The Devils only allowed 22 shots on goal. Martin Brodeur stopped 21 of them. He denied all even-handed chances. The only Kings goal was a power play which happened after a questionable call on Devils forward David Clarkson. He received two minutes for boarding. It was a weak call on what was essentially a moderate check against the boards.

On the other side, the LA defense could not stop Elias, Henrique and Kovalchuk. The Kings have to start thinking, because the top Devils scorers were able to wake up tonight.  The only other NJ scores of the entire series - two goals total - were put in by Anton Volchenkov and Ryan Carter in the first two games. 

The Devils big lines had been kept off the board for three games. Not tonight. The confidence boost, the attitude change is an intangible. But it's real.  The Devs return to Newark with a sense that the series is up for grabs and that the Kings can be beaten. LA flies to New Jersey, wondering if they can win an 11th straight game on the road.

LA lost in another way tonight. They had a chance to equal the 1988 Gretzky-powered Edmonton Oilers stellar playoff record of 16 - 2. The Kings could not get it done and now posses a record of 15 - 3. It's an impressive stat, but it does not qualify for the record books.

The series starts up again, with Game 5 at the Rock on Saturday night.

One of two things will happen. Either the Devils will find a way to win one at home and end the King's phenomenal road 10 - 0 road game record, or else the Cup will appear at the end of the game amidst a scrum of white road jerseys. Either way, the crowd in NJ will have a great experience.

Hockey Rules!

Destiny

Vol III, No. 15

June 4 was the evening that Los Angeles probably sealed the deal.  They didn't win the Cup, it is still too early for that, but they made a statement with a convincing 4 - 0 shutout. 

For the fourth time this playoff season, the Kings have gone up 3 - 0 against their opponents.  Their record is now 15 - 2. They are one game away from dancing with Lord Stanley.

The first two games of the series both went to overtime, ending by identical 2 - 1 scores. Two overtimes in a row is a first in NHL history. Tonight there was no need for overtime.  The Kings took a 2 - 0 lead in the second period, and added another two goals on consecutive power plays in the third period.

The Devils are frustrated. Two OT losses. A first period in Game 3 with six power plays, and nothing to show for it. They are joining this year's elite club of the top three teams in the Western Conference, Vancouver, St. Louis and Phoenix. Over the past two months, all were steamrollered by the gang from Tinseltown.

Vancouver and Phoenix found a way to win their game fours, before bowing out in the fifth game. Can the Devils bounce back on Wednesday night and avoid the sweep?  No matter what, the Stanley Cup will be in the house.  And if the Devils do manage to win a game, the Cup will return to Newark on Saturday June 9.

Teams have come back from 0 - 3 deficits before, but it is rare. The Devils are in the hole and it sure looks like their hockey season is going to end soon.  If they lose the next game, it will just be a mirror image of their first Stanley Cup final, in which the Detroit Red Wings were eliminated in four games.

Sweeps are part of the game, and the way Los Angeles is playing, nobody would be surprised. But, as they say in Philly (where a bunch of Kings players come from), it ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Hockey Rules!

Ruminations on a Long Long Season

Vol. III, No. 14

Here we are in the merry month of June, and hockey is being played when it is 90F outside (or over 100F last week, in that hockey nirvana known as the desert of Arizona).

Hockey is not unique. When customers pay to see a game, length of season gets to be all about the moolah. I remember a World Series game when it snowed one evening. How in hell you can expect normal baseball, when the orb is freezing and hard to throw or catch?  Baseball is, or should be, a sport of the sun.

40 years ago, when hockey "permanently" infected me, college tournament play occurred in the winter. Tournament play is particularly rooted in hockey as a complement to regular season and league play. Tournament play is essentially what the Stanley Cup playoffs are. 

Canadians preserved this tradition as remnants of the English system of community sporting contests from the time of the middle ages.  In other words, we are witnessing the modern equivalent of jousting, with the nobles looking on at the poor idiots who commit their bodies for some sort of honor and a ladies' handkerchief.  Well, maybe the latter really did lead to some real benefits, but who is to say.  

The "Beanpot" hockey tourney in Boston preserves this tradition, as it is played in February when water naturally occurs outdoors in its solid form.  The ECAC and NCAA tournaments are finished in April...which to me is the natural limit of when hockey should be played (at least at our latitudes). It is consistent with when the last snows of winter can occur - usually done by the end of March, but with an infrequent storm even in mid April.

Alas, the "pro" (as in PROfit) leagues don't see it this way. Exhibition hockey starts in September, with the real season opening in early October.  That is a full month before snow happens (witness, the freak Halloween storm that happened in the Northeast last year). 

So, from September to June, professional athletes earn their keep - those that reach the finals. The others get to retire to the golf courses in April or May.  That is a season of 9 months on average. And at the tail end, as happened this past Wednesday in muggy Newark, you wind up with summer-like conditions which create a horrible playing surface.

Hockey played on mushy, choppy ice...baseball played in the snow...seasons that go on without end...and the league teams continue to gleefully rake in gate receipts, merchandise sales and what not.  I am not immune. Playoff tickets cost an additional 30% of a regular season, give or take. I buy some merchandise too. It feels great to wear a hat or T with the word "Champion" emblazoned upon it.

Merchandise cost is another way that moolah flows. The official Eastern Conference Devils hat cost $45 at the Prudential Center. At Modells, it was $32 on Thursday. By Saturday, the hats were marked down to $15.  A little patience can save a bit of money.

Pretty soon hockey will be done, then I go cold turkey for a couple of weeks, and before long, the new season schedule comes out - the awards weekend happens - the drafts and trades get finished. And the eternal question will be answered. Who will replace Martin Brodeur (because, mark my words, he is hanging up the skates this year). 

It is possible that last night was the last time he will have played before a home crowd - if LA manages to sweep the series. But as they say in Philadelphia - it ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Hockey Rules!

The Rock in June

Vol. III, No. 13

It's the 2nd day in June and ice hockey is being played in Newark NJ.

One day after a Radiohead concert gig, the ice is getting a workout as the Kings and Devils duke it out in the Stanley Cup finals. 

When the Pru Center booked Radiohead, could anyone have predicted that the ice would still be in? But the hockey gods and a surprising Devils team confounded Prudential planners.

The Devs refused to take out the golf clubs. They refused to take off the sweaty pads. They insisted in trashing their eastern conference opponents and wound up in the Stanley Cup finals for the fifth time on team history (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2012). What a run. 

And now they are confronting the LA Kings buzz saw, the same machine which has taken apart the best of the west, with a 9-0 road record including their SC final win in Newark two nights ago.

At the moment LA has the lead in game 2, a precious 1-0 score. Jonathan Quick has faced 12 shots and is a stone wall. The Kings are looking tough. It's no surprise. LA, the lowest seed in the Western Conference, has won the first two road games in every playoff round leading up to the final.

Two hours later, the results are in. For a second time in a row, the game went into overtime. For a second time in a row, the Kings found a way to end the contest with a sudden-death goal.

At 13:42 of OT, Jeff Carter found the back of the net. LA's acquisition of Carter in February is looking like a great trade. And, it was the second goal of the night scored by a player named Carter. The Devils tied the game in the third period on a goal by Ryan Carter, no relation.

The Devils are trailing the Kings by a deficit of 0-2. The odds are against them. Only two teams in history have come back from 0-2 home game losses against a visiting opponent. 

If the Devils can figure out a way to solve Quick and to deal with the Kings forecheck, they can put more shots on goal. Two OT losses reflect an even matchup. New Jersey can make this a series.  

But if LA continues to dominate in goaltending and on the forecheck, it looks like the Kings juggernaut will roll its way right to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. I can't remember the last time a team had a 14 - 2 record in the playoffs.  It might be a record in the making.

Hockey Rules!

New Jersey in the Sandwich. Jersey RULES!

Vol III, No. 12

10 pm EDT.  Game six is up and down. Just like a bunch of the last games in this historic Battle of the Hudson. The even steven series continues.

Will NY stave off elimination and repeat their game six performance of 1994? Will the #6 seed be able to regain the lead? Or will this game wind up with multiple OTs?

The suspense is horrible and wonderful at the same time. People say that it is only a game. And yet, there is something more going on.  It's about identity. It's about insecurity. It's about the history of a peninsula sandwiched between two larger states. It's about New Jersey.

Until 1981, the Garden State had no professional sports franchise of its own. Garden Staters rooted for either Philly, New York or the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. With a population of 8,000,000 it was perhaps the only large state in the nation without its own unique sports identity.

For decades, New York, the Empire State, has had three, count them, three hockey teams plus the Giants, Yankees and Knicks. Pennsylvania has had two hockey teams, two baseball teams, two football teams and one basketball team. In between, New Jersey was starved.

And then along came John McMullen from Montclair, NJ - the town where my family has lived for over 40 years, the town where I skated in high school. McMullen brought a team from Colorado and Kansas City the meadowlands. He imported the first Russian hockey players. His staff found a young, promising goalie. Within 15 years, the New Jersey Devils ascended to the top of hockey, winning the Stanley Cup in 1995.

Today, New York sports fans have a cornucopia of championships from the Yankees and Giants (who play in New Jersey but retain their original NY identity). Pennsylvania fans have gotten used to championships from Penn State, the Penguins and Steelers (and more lately, the Phillies).  New Jersey has had the Devils.

If the Rangers win tonight's game and go on to win one more in two days, New York fans will be delighted to add another championship to one of many.

If the Devils win, New Jersey will have one more victory to add to four previous eastern conference wins. Four. It's a small number. That's the difference.  Many versus four.

New Jersey has only one sports team. The Giants count, but they get to have parades in Manhattan.  The New Jersey Devils are pure Garden State. North of Trenton, there are a whole bunch of New Jerseyites who remain starved for success, and identity. The Big Apple and Ben Franklin's city cast long shadows.

At 10:40pm, game six is headed for overtime. Is this deja vu all over again?  Somebody will win tonight and hockey will continue - either on Sunday night at MSG or next Wednesday at The Rock.

Hockey Rules!

PS The world knows by now. 10:48pm. Adam Henrique scored the game winner at 1:03 of OT. Lundquist let it squeak under him. Henrique has probably sealed rookie of the year honors. THE DEVILS ARE 2012 EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS. They return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fifth time since 1995. It is a good day for the Garden State.

The Fog of War

Vol III, No. 10

Sportswriters and bloggers normally write opinions either before a game, or explanations after a contest has been settled.  After all, it's impossible to capture the intensity of the moment in words which take time to write, read and interpret.

Tonight, the Battle of the Hudson is being fought.  The score is tied in the third period. The team from the east bank of the Hudson river has a big edge in shots on goal after 43 minutes of play. But the team from the west bank of the Passaic had the edge in goals until the third period. The score is now even. Why?  It's a tale of two netminders. An old man, versus "The King".

King (but not LA) Henrik Lundquist is having, shall we say, not the best of nights. He has faced 15 shots and three have gotten behind him. That's a GAA of 3.00 and a save% of 0.800.

In contrast, Martin Brodeur is facing a bigger onslaught - 24 shots on goal. He too has let three get by, including an early third period wrist shot by Marian Gaborik. It was one of those things, a weak goal that surprised even Gaborik.

Over the past five games, the Devils and Rangers have evenly split 14 periods in shots on goal. The Devils have outshot New York by a mere 4 shots over 15 periods of play. But that includes a lopsided game #3 with a 14 shot edge - a game which New Jersey lost to the Blueshirts in front of a home crowd.

It was enough to make Zach Parise so frustrated that he refused to speak to the press, the first time all season long that the captain could not collect himself for the obligatory post-game interviews.

This is even steven hockey at its best. Goalies are making the difference. Lundquist kept the Rangers in game #3 and Brodeur is keeping his team in the fight at tonight's game in New York. So what else is new?

No matter who wins tonight, the series returns to Newark on Friday.  The Prince of Wales Trophy will be in the building with a 50/50 chance of being awarded that evening to whoever wins tonight's contest. The hockey cognoscenti continue to favor top seed New York over the #6 seed Devils.

Meanwhile, #8 seed Western Conference champion Los Angeles, with a 12 - 2 record this playoff season, is patiently waiting for the first game of the Stanley Cup finals to begin next Wednesday - either on the east bank of the Hudson river, or the west bank of the Passaic River.

Hockey Rules!

P.S. Post game wrap-up. Devils came out on top. Ryan Carter scored number 4 late in the fourth period. Lundquist just could not keep the Devils out, with only 12 saves on the night. New Jersey capped it off with an empty net goal by Zach Parise at 19:40. 

The Devils now lead the series three games to two. It was a story of netminding. Brodeur produced a consistent performance, not perfect, but good enough. Not bad for an old guy who is supposed to be over the hill. Tonight, "Marty's Better".

LA Royalty

Vol III,  No. 9

With a dramatic early morning OT win over the Phoenix Coyotes, the Los Angeles Kings playoff record over the last three rounds is 12 - 2. They are the 2012 Western Conference Champions.  LA now now owns the Clarence Campbell Cup. 

Going into tonight's game, Kings netminder Jonathan Quick had an astounding 1.46 GAA and a save% of 0.948.  Tonight's stats of 3 goals allowed on 41 shots will water down Quick's numbers a little bit, but not by much.

For the Stanley Cup finals, Los Angeles will travel east after several days' rest. They will play next Wednesday night in either Madison Square Garden, or at "The Rock" in Newark NJ.

Can any team in hockey beat the Kings' hot hand?  In two weeks, the hockey world will know. 

Meanwhile, the Battle of the Hudson is now at high pitch with rivals New York and New Jersey knotted at 2 - 2.  Even their coaches are yelling at each other. Game 5 returns to the Garden in about 18 hours.

Hockey Rules!