Heika plug, XM Radio

Thanks to Mike Heika (on IR with with a broken wing) of the Dallas Morning News for the plug of this site (and me) during last night's post-game show with Ralph Strangis on WBAP.

I'm sure the plug was equally appreciated by Ralph and the Stars. Perhaps there is an advertising slogan in there for little old Andrew's.

Mike's other plug, this one OK'd by Ralph since it is a Stars' partner, was XM Satellite Radio. Mike, during his time on IR, has been listening to the hockey coverage. So have I because I got XM for Christmas. I listen a lot during the day when I am at my computer. It's all hockey all the time. Lots of interviews, analysis and other tidbits. I, like Mike, am really enjoying it. I've barely listened to the music channels yet.

Good game last night. It was a pretty entertaining first period. Great game for Steve Ott. You know Ott has done his job when the guys on the other teams are trying to get him late in the game.

Now it's on to the Kings, which will be a key divisional game. This will be an interesting one to watch to see how the Stars stack up against the Kings almost two months since the Kings dominated them in a couple of games. It's another measuring stick type game against the Stars' prime competitor in the Pacific Division.

Los Angeles lost last night in overtime to the Coyotes, who continue to hang around that last playoff spot.

30 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Turco

The Kings are rolling again and that should set the stage for a good game with the Stars on New Year's Eve. L.A. has won six of seven heading into the tonight's game against Phoenix. The big change for the Kings is that Mathieu Garon has established himself as the team's No. 1 goalie and has been playing well as of late. It will be interesting to see how the Stars and Kings match up Saturday.

Of course both teams have games tonight and for the Stars that means St. Louis, which won last night. I suspect the Blues will be focusing on not giving up multiple breakaways to the Stars in this one.

Both the Morning News and Star-Telegram had articles this morning on the Marty Turco puckhandling issue. I agree with those who say that's the occasional price you are going to pay when he handles the puck so much. Nobody ever complains when his puckhandling completely frustrates an opponent the way it did in the win over Ottawa or the win earlier in the season against Nashville.

He makes a mistake and the ball and chain talk comes out.

Granted, timing plays a big role. Both these turnovers were losses. Both turnover inspired goals came at key moments -- late in the Phoenix game just after the Coyotes had tied it and then early in the Detroit game when the Stars had all the momentum.

That said, his ability to do what he can with the puck is a big part of the Stars' game. The fact that he handles it so much more often than most goaltenders means he is going to give it more often and, as a result, is going to get burned every now and then.

Teams have to prepare for not only how Turco plays goalie, but how he plays the puck. Trying to limit his opportunities to play the puck is one way and trying to force him and the defense into a mistake is another way. That's just one of the chess games within a game. 

Those two turnovers in recent games were not huge gambles. It was him going behind the net coupled with breakdowns in communication with the defenseman or defensemen. The opposition in both cases played it well and created the turnover and was in a perfect position to cash in.

Sure, sometimes I cringe when he wanders too far and takes a gamble. He'll make the play to escape and I'll just shake my head and smile. But I also know that he is going to get burned sooner or later. I just hope it doesn't come at a bad time.

29 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Red Wings game

As much as people complain about Detroit being in a weak division, the Stars don't help themselves when they drop a head-to-head game to the Red Wings. As a I said yesterday, this was a measuring stick game. On Tuesday night the Stars didn't stack up that well. It's still just one game. But that it came against the Red Wings, who seem to have the Stars' number, just makes it that much more frustrating for Dallas.

The Red Wings did a great job of taking advantage of Dallas miscues.

Chris Osgood, who has the Stars' number as well, was great last night. He was the a difference maker. His performance early was key and when the Red Wings scored off  when Henrik Zetterberg picked off that Marty Turco pass, the momentum in the game shifted big time. Detroit got on track and was the better team after that.

I've always like Osgood because he is resilient. People can laugh about that Game 5 Jamie Langenbrunner goal in the 1998 Conference Finals, but Osgood bounced back and pitched a shutout in Game 6 to clinch the series and then went on to win a Stanley Cup.

Zetterberg was great as well for the Red Wings. I thought Kris Draper played a superb game as well. He was the only Red Wing winning faceoffs and was great on the penalty kill.

In the end the Red Wings' top players were better than the Stars' top players. Dallas' fourth line, which has been playing well lately, provided the only offense.

It will be interesting to see what the Stars work on in practice today. I'm sure the power play is going to get some attention. It always does, but it has been non-productive lately.

28 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Wings in town, goaltenders

The Red Wings are in town tonight for what should be a great game. It's another one of those measuring stick games for both teams, especially this is the first they have met this season. Nothing much has changed even with the cap taking effect this season. The Stars and Red Wings are still two of the top teams in the West and the league.

I figure the atmosphere at the AAC will be better than it was Friday night. It was talked about a lot on The Ticket's post-game show Friday night and got a mention this morning on the Dallas Morning News sports blog.

John Banks of the Morning News wrote:

Attended Stars game at AAC on Friday vs. Phoenix. Talk about lifeless. No energy whatsoever in the ol' Hangar. And with a team coming off a terrific road trip, what gives?

This went beyond just the difference in the noise levels between the AAC and Reunion Arena. It was flat. The game didn't help. Neither did the opponent. The Coyotes aren't the Red Wings, so the place should have a more electric atmosphere tonight. I would think it's going to be a sellout as well. All those local Red Wings fans will help the cause.

I didn't think etar Jason Bacashihua looked very sharp last night for the Blues. He looked out of sync from the start of the game even in handling some relatively routine chances. I'm sure he would have liked to have had a better showing against his ex-team. He didn't get much help from his mates, who allowed three breakaways.

Great game for Johan Hedberg, who has really played well when he has relieved Marty Turco. His puckhandling has been good. He's not as dominant as Turco can be in that area, but that pass to spring Mike Modano was a thing of beauty.

The Stars are getting great goaltending from Dan Ellis and Mike Smith in Iowa these days. Smith with 46 saves last night. Both of them are in the top ten in the AHL in goals against and save percentage.

27 December '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Blues and stuff

The Stars get their first look at the Blues tonight. In recent years a Blues-Stars game has usually been a good matchup because both teams were usually top notch teams. It would have been a good game for a national broadcast. Not this season. The Blues have been dismal, but they've been playing a little better lately.

A lot has been made about Nashville and Detroit benefiting from playing the Blues, Chicago and Columbus so much this season. So for kicks I eliminated all games against those three lowly teams to see how the Predators and Red Wings would stack up against the Stars based on winning percentage. Here are the records of the Wings, Predators and Stars when eliminating games against the Blues, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets.

Detroit is 10-1-0 against those three teams and has 13 more games against them.

Nashville is 9-0-1 against the lowly trio with 14 more to go.

The Stars are 4-0-0 and have eight games remaining against the Blues, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks.

Of course, the Red Wings are in town Tuesday night in what should be a great game.

World Junior Championship gets underway today in British Columbia. I'll be tracking the Stars two prospects playing in the tournament -- Matt Niskanen and Perttu Lindgren -- on the main site.

The Iowa Stars weekly update will come Tuesday instead of Monday because Iowa plays tonight.

26 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Olympic stuff

Miikka Kiprusoff has pulled out of the Olympics because he wants to rest an injury. That's a big blow to the Finns, who rode his goaltending to a second place finish at the World Cup in 2004.

"It is in the best interest of the Calgary Flames that I use this opportunity to ensure I am totally recovered for the NHL playoff drive," Kiprusoff said in a statement.  "I have always been very proud to represent my country in international competition and I'm disappointed I will not be joining them in the Olympics in Italy."

There's been a lot of speculation as to what is up with Kipper, who has not looked sharp in goal lately.

Of course, there's been the fuss over Canada selecting Todd Bertuzzi for the Olympics. I'm not a big Bertuzzi fan, but I think he is an excellent player. I am a Jarome Iginla fan, and I agree with Iginla who said:

"He had a long time off, had a long suspension and acknowledges he made a big mistake. I think everybody knows that. But I think it's time to move on. He's going to help Canada and I look forward to the opportunity to play with him there."

There is a group of people who think Sidney Crosby should have been on the Canadian Olympic team because he is "The Next One" and might be able to help sell and market the game to the masses because he has some star power.

Some how, they believe the league has missed an opportunity with all this.  Some have said the NHL should have taken a page from the NBA when it assembled the Dream Team for the 1992 Olympics.

First, I am not sure a Canadian kid helping Canada winning a gold medal is really going to help sell hockey to the masses, especially here in the United States. Hockey's problem is what it was yesterday, is today and will be tomorrow. To a vast majority of Americans it is a foreign game played by mostly foreigners.

Second, I am not sure star power is an easy sell in hockey. Why? Outside of the goalies, players play less than half the game and your top forwards may play a third of the game. It's the ultimate team game.

Third, when the USA assembled the original Dream Team back in 1992 and made a huge splash in Barcelona, the USA had Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird to name a few of the players. That is star power. Those three guys and the rest of the Dream Team helped sell basketball and the NBA to the world. The NBA was basically a league made up of the top U.S. players. It was fairly easy to put together a team that could win and sell basketball (and the NBA) at the same time.

The NHL can't do that. It has players from all over the world. The Olympic games are not an NHL event. The league can't dictate what the Americans, Canadians, Swedes, Finns, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians and others do as they assemble their teams.  Those countries are going to do what is best for them as they try to field a competitive team at the Olympics. It's not the job of Hockey Canada to sell the NHL to Americans or anyone else. Hockey Canada's job is to win a gold medal.  It's none of the NHL's business how Hockey Canada goes about trying to accomplish that.

23 December '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Odds & Ends

The only thing I have to say about last night's game is welcome back Philippe Boucher. That was quite an offensive performance, especially for a team that was getting a little stale offensively.

Overall, a pretty good road trip for the Stars. They got eight of a possible 12 points. I thought they struggled a bit at times over the last three games, but they still got four of six points in those games.

I wasn't surprised too much by Canada's selections for the Olympics. That's a great team. I'm sure Brenden Morrow is disappointed, but there are a lot of good players who are not in the mix.

Jere Lehtinen, Niko Kapanen and Antti Miettinen will play for Finland. No Martin Skoula for the Czechs.

Lehtinen and Kapanen were no brainers for Finland. Lehtinen is Lehtinen and Kapanen has played a key role for the Finns in international play over the past few years.

I'm a little surprised Skoula didn't make it, but when you look at who the Czechs picked on the blue line I can understand it. The Czechs do have a great one-two punch at goalie with Dominik Hasek and Tomas Vokoun.

You can see all the rosters at the International Ice Hockey Federation web site.

World Junior Championship gets underway the day after Christmas in British Columbia. Stars prospects Matt Niskanen (USA) and Perttu Lindgren (Finland) will be playing. I'll be tracking their progress.

22 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

I'm up late watching the Sharks and Ducks tonight. Ottawa lost to Montreal. The Stars are 2-2-0 in their last four. I guess Buffalo is now officially the hottest team in the league with its 14-1-1 run.

I thought Monday night's Stars-Wild game was pretty good from an entertainment standpoint. Not high scoring, but some good goaltending and it was a pretty fast paced game. Not a good outcome for the Stars, but I think Minnesota is a always dangerous because they are such a well coached bunch and have excellent goaltending.

That shot by Marian Gaborik to beat Marty Turco on a breakaway was a thing of beauty.

I wasn't really surprised at the U.S. Olympic selections. I'm looking forward to Canada's roster being named on Wednesday. As Bill Guerin said, if Turco doesn't make it I'll be shocked. Martin Brodeur is a lock.

Two out of Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Roberto Luongo and Jose Theodore would have to make it for Turco not to get it.

I'm not sure about Brenden Morrow.

According to the Canadian Press, he's considered among a group of players in the mix for six roster spots at forward. Among that group are Todd Bertuzzi, Shane Doan, Kris Draper, Paul Kariya, John Madden, Patrick Marleau, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis, Brendan Shanahan, Ryan Smyth, Alex Tanguay.

Sidney Crosby, Jason Spezza and  Eric Staal are considered to be the young guns in the running.

Simon Gagne, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Joe Sakic and Joe Thornton are all considered to be locks for the roster at the forward position.

What ever Canada decides, that will be quite a lineup.

20 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Rose Bowl Update

The Stars idea of moving up the time of the January 4 game against the Canucks because of the Rose Bowl, apparently isn't going to work. It won't work for Vancouver because that game is pay-per-view.

Not sure of all the details, but that could cost Vancouver revenues if that game started at, say, 5 pm (CT). That would be 3 pm in Vancouver and not an ideal time for a pay-per-view game.

It may cost the Stars some revenue as well because a lot of folks may just rather watch the Rose Bowl.

It was still a good idea on the Stars part. That's the college national championship with Texas as one of the two teams.

19 December '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Blackhawks game, Guerin and the Rose Bowl

Not much to say about last night's win. It was two points. I thought the fourth line was pretty good. Niklas Hagman is working out well so far and I think depending on the opponent either Nathan Perrott, who had a big impact last night, or Jaroslav Svoboda would be a good fit with Hagman and Steve Ott.

It was nice to see Jussi Jokinen get back on the scoresheet last night.  He's been kind of quiet lately and hasn't seen a lot of ice time. I think that had to do with that groin injury that had been bothering him.

Team USA announces its Olympic team during tonight's OLN broadcast of the Stars-Wild game. There's been some speculation that because of his play this season, Bill Guerin's status is questionable.

I'd be shocked if he didn't make it. Yes, his goal scoring is down but he is playing well in other areas. He's still fifth on the team in points, is a plus-player (+1) and, most important, the team is winning.

Few, including Bill himself, seem to care that he is playing well defensively, killing penalties or that he is still on pace for the fifth highest point total in his career. He gets paid big bucks to score goals and he isn't doing that right now.

I found his comment over the weekend that he has "no confidence" right now interesting. Losing confidence is a tough thing. It happens to people in all walks of life and highly paid athletes aren't immune, even ones who have had success like Guerin.

Getting it back isn't easy. You think too much. You hesitate. Something that comes naturally just doesn't anymore.

He just has to keep playing and hope for a break, an ugly goal. I think if he gets a little sniff of that confidence, he could go on one of those Guerin goal scoring rolls.

Caught this quote from Sherry Ross of the New York Daily News over the weekend:

If Dallas newcomer Niklas Hagman would change his first name to Larry, then he could challenge Nashville's Vernon Fiddler as the most aptly named NHLer.

Rumor has it the Stars' January 4 game against Vancouver may get an earlier start than the current game time of 7:30. Why? Tom Hicks' Texas Longhorns are playing USC in the Rose Bowl that night for the National Championship. I'm sure Tom wants to make sure fans can watch hockey and get home to see some football as well. I hadn't really thought that far ahead, but that's OK with me. I'd like to see the Rose Bowl.

19 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Well, that was a great win for the Stars last night. Kind of an ugly win, but no problem with that. Especially on the road and against a team like Ottawa.

I still don't read too much into it. Still just one game. Nothing is decided in December. But I do think it showed just how good the Stars can be on any given night. It was a measuring stick game against the league's top team and they stacked up quite well. It was a great team effort.

I don't know if the Senators were a little off or the Stars made them look a little off. Probably a combination of both and more heavily weighed to the Stars taking Ottawa out of its game.

I'm not sure what Ottawa was thinking. Did they think they were going to run the Stars out of the building with the early hitting. It really didn't work.  

Lot of gripes from Senators and their fans about the officiating. People are going to do that when one team gets 10 power plays and another team gets three.  

I believe the power play the Stars scored on was a delay of game call for shooting the puck over the glass. Ottawa took two of those and an unsportsmanlike conduct minor when Bryan Smolinski complained about a call.

I listened to a little of the post-game show on Ottawa radio (it features etar and eenator Shaun Van Allen) and Marty Turco's puckhandling drove Senators fans nuts as well. Turco was great in that department.

Looks like the salary cap could be between $41 million and $44 million next season. I'll have a write up tonight on the main site looking at that issue as it relates to the Stars.  They should be in decent shape the way the roster sits right now.

16 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Sabres, Senators and Ottawa's Razor

Was it just me, or during last night's broadcast did Ralph seem overly concerned with Mike Modano's points streak and the power play streak? It wasn't until pretty late that Razor brought up the fact that the team's five-game winning streak was about to fall victim to Martin Biron and the Sabres.

That's the first real good look I've gotten at the Sabres. I've seen bits and pieces, but no full game. I like their team. No real big names, just a bunch of hard working guys who can play the game.

I'm not going to read too much into the Stars' performance last night. It wasn't all that good. It wasn't exactly terrible. They got off to a slow start against a good team and they couldn't overcome Biron.

I thought Niklas Hagman looked OK. He didn't play a lot, but he made the most of his ice time. I thought he looked good when he was playing with Stu Barnes and Steve Ott. That was a pretty effective trio. There was a lot of juggling last night because of Jere Lehtinen going out for awhile after getting hit by a puck and then the team falling behind. It will be interesting to see how Dave Tippett lines them up tonight.

Tonight's game should be a good one. It's a good test for the Stars to see how they stack up against the league's best team. That's aboThe Senators are a little banged up, but they have a lot of talent and depth.

It doesn't appear Dominik Hasek is going to start tonight.  Ray Emery, who is 6-0-1 with a 2.24 GAA and a .923 save percentage, is expected to get the nod in goal for the Senators.

He played in Binghamton (my hometown) the past several seasons. He's big and athletic. He's also the heir apparent to Hasek for the Senators. His nickname is Razor, and he has it tattooed across his chest. He has lots of tattoos. He's quite the character.

15 December '05 - - default| two comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

It should be a good game tonight. The Sabres are playing extremely well and are one of the hottest teams in the league. Hopefully the Stars don't get caught looking ahead to Ottawa. I'm sure Dave Tippett is doing his best to make sure the players don't.

Buffalo seems to just find ways to win games. Martin Biron is playing great in goal. The Sabres have quite a few guys I have always like as players such as Mike Grier, Chris Drury, Jochen Hecht, Maxim Afinogenov, Ales Kotalik and Daniel Briere. They've got a good rookie in Thomas Vanek. And of course there is Lindy Ruff, who is an excellent coach.

They rely heavily on special teams, or so it seems from the fact that they've been outscored 61-52 during five-on-five play and 62-55 at even strength overall.

It's nice to see the schedule finally picking up for the Stars. Heading into the Christmas break they'll have six games in ten days.

NHL owners meet in Arizona the next two days. Owners will hear an update on what the cap may be for next season. It's won't go down and could even be a little higher based on revenues, which the league says are strong coming out of the lockout.  Here's a Canadian Press article on the meeting.

14 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Hagman

I like the trade for Niklas Hagman. The Stars give up a lower round draft pick in 2007 and don't really take on that much salary as far as this season goes with Hagman. He makes $200,000 more than Mathias Tjarnqvist, who got sent down today.

He's a versatile player who adds depth to the forward lines. He's got a bit of an offensive upside, can kill penalties, can skate and plays hard.

Depth is the key here, I think. If injuries hit, this team would have some problems because there are a lot of injuries in Iowa right now as well and some of the healthy guys they could call up right now are better off developing in Iowa.

Don't really care what Hagman did in Florida. He's a guy who could thrive with a change of scenery, especially now that he is going to a top team.  Time will tell on that one, but he should feel right at home with the Stars four other Finnish players.

To me this cost the Stars very little in what they sent to Florida and in cap space they use to accomodate Hagman. It's a good deal. Nice move by Doug Armstrong to tweak his roster and give it some depth.

There's still the issue of defensive depth, but the team has a roster spot open and some cap space if they need immediate help in that regard.

I thought Saturday's tilt in Toronto was a pretty good game. A superb effort by the Stars. Not to knock the Leafs, but I think Buffalo and Ottawa are going to be the big tests of this trip. The Sabres are playing extremely well right now. Ottawa has some injury issues, but they are still the class of the league. As I type this I am watching the Senators play the Avalanche.

12 December '05 - - default| two comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

So the big road trip starts tonight. The first three games should be interesting.  I don't really want to say I think the Stars need to get X number of points in the first three games for it to be a good start to the trip. I'm more interested to see how they play. Obviously the points are important, but I don't want just look at that alone.

I figured Ed Belfour will be motivated tonight as he goes for win No. 448. He's missed in his last three attempts and this shot comes against his ex-team and on Hockey Night in Canada. 

In case you have missed this, there is a contingency plan for the local broadcast of tonight's game. Here is the media advisory that has been out on the issue:

Contingency plans have been made to start Saturday's (Dec. 10) Dallas Stars-Toronto Maple Leafs telecast on FSN Southwest instead of KDFI-Channel 27 if the Highland Park-Marshall Texas Class 4A Division I state high school football championship game on KDFI-Channel 27 is not completed by 6:00 p.m. CT. If this scenario occurs, KDFI-Channel 27 will pick up the Stars telecast at the conclusion of the high school football game at which point FSN Southwest will resume regularly scheduled programming.

Ottawa and Calgary play tonight. That should be a great game. The Senators lost in a shootout last night in Vancouver.

Tomas Vokoun is out for the Predators for two weeks with a knee injury. It will be interesting to see how they respond since Vokoun is a huge part of their success.

Add Simon Gagne to the list of injured Flyers. He's out two weeks with a groin tear. Hitch has his work cut out for him in Philly.

10 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Panthers game and other stuff

That was an interesting game last night, eh. I really thought it was over after the first period. Apparently, so did the Stars. They got complacent and Florida came barreling back to tie it. But in the end the Stars got the two points out of it thanks to Jere Lehtinen and Mike Modano.

The Panthers didn't like the officiating in the last period, when the Stars got five power plays. Here's an excerpt from this morning's article on the game from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

The Stars had three power plays in the final 7:28 on penalties to Jokinen (hooking), Steve Montador (holding) and Joel Kwiatkowski (tripping), the last with 1:12 left and the most controversial.

"We came back hard and deserved a much better fate," coach Jacques Martin said. "The disappointment is oriented at one group," he continued, making a reference to the officials. "I'm not going to say anything, but at some point in time it has to be addressed."

Said Kwiatkowski: "I'm going to bite my lip on this one. ... We're in last place in the division. I don't know if we're getting kicked around in that way, but lately it seems we're getting the short end of the stick."

The penalty on Kwiatkowski was the one where he was whistled for pulling down Miettinen. I thought that call was iffy. But I don't how it looked to the official. Sometimes players put themselves in a position to get called for a penalty by not having position and having their stick in the wrong place. A player goes down, the referee adds up the circumstances and up goes his arm. Perception becomes reality.

Mario Lemieux is out of the hospital after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat.

"Mario has been diagnosed with a relatively common condition that can be treated with medication," Penguins general manager Craig Patrick said. "We expect that he will be able to begin exercising in a matter of days and return to the lineup in a brief period of time."

The Flyers defense is getting thin. Eric Desjardins is out eight to ten weeks with a shoulder injury. Joni Pitkanen had surgery yesterday to fix an abdominal tear and could miss four to six weeks.

08 December '05 - - default| two comments - § ¶

Luongo, Flyers-Flames and Sharks

Panthers are in town tonight and there are some trade rumors involving Florida goalie Roberto Luongo. The Rocky Mountain News reported today that the Avs are one of teams expressing interest in Luongo. After last week's situation with San Jose, I guess we should keep our eyes on Luongo and see if he gets pulled off the ice, eh?

I watched a couple of good games last night. The Calgary-Philly game was great. 1-0 Flyers win in a shootout. Great scoring chances and great goaltending. It had a playoff feel to it. Just a great game. One of the best I have seen this year.

Watched the Sharks and Thrashers on OLN last night as well. Pretty good game with some good physical play. The Sharks have really gotten a short-term boost out of the Joe Thornton deal. They needed an offensive shot in the arm and he's provided it in the first three games.

Here's an excerpt from today's San Jose Mercury News in which Sharks coach Ron Wilson compares Thornton's personality to a player Wilson has coached in international play.

When he left his former team, the Boston Bruins, the rap that followed Thornton from the East Coast was that he was too laid-back. Here in California, we consider that an entrance requirement.

Hockey is a violent game, so being laid-back is supposed to be bad. But the best and most celebrated athlete in Bay Area history was Joe Montana. And what was his nickname? That's right. Joe Cool. If you can stay calm and produce magic when all about you is madness, that's an asset.

Dang. Did we mention that Thornton makes the scoreboard light up? And that because he attracts an opponent's top checkers, the Sharks' other top-tier offensive player, Patrick Marleau, can skate with more room? And that Marleau has been ripping up teams, with nine points in the past three games? And that the offense has gotten a jolt from other players who previously seemed to be sedated?

Before the Thornton trade, our beloved Los Tiburones had scored five goals or more in just four of their first 24 games. Since the trade, they've scored at least five goals in all three games they have played. Coach Ron Wilson credits increased energy and jump from everybody, but he also notes that when he coached the U.S. national team there was another player of similar bent.

"Joe reminds me of Mike Modano, in the sense that he never seems to have a bad day," Wilson said. "He's a very positive guy. That's a nice thing to have on your team, I think. You hear that Joe doesn't have any intensity, whatever that's supposed to mean. In our league, I guess you're supposed to eat glass and spit nails in order to function."

I will say that the Sharks do look like a different and better team right now. Of course, it's only three games. But the Sharks do have an opportunity to make up some ground over the next month or so. They play nine of their next 12 games at home after playing 17 of their first 27 games on the road.

07 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Odds & Ends

These long stretches of no games for the Stars are getting a little boring. I don't mind the down time, but it makes it easier to update the site when there is actually something going on with the team.

Of course, we do have the Philippe Boucher injury to talk about. The Stars have dodged the injury bullet for the most part this season. They had the second fewest man-games lost to injuries among NHL teams heading into last weekend's play and a majority of those had to do with Mathias Tjarnqvist being on IR to start the season.

Boucher's injury is an opening for John Erskine. We'll see how he does. It will be interesting to see how the Stars handle Boucher being out of the lineup. He logs big minutes, especially on special teams. Erskine is going to have to be good, but some of the other defenseman are going to have take on a bigger role. Trevor Daley has gotten a lot of penalty kill time and maybe he'll now get some power play time as well.  Martin Skoula will have to step up as well. I think Stephane Robidas and Jon Klemm have been excellent and just need to keep doing what they have been doing. Ditto with Mr. Zubov.

TSN released its latest power rankings yesterday and dropped the Stars four spots to No. 9. The reason? Boucher's injury. TSN's comment:

This drop only reflects the impact that Philippe Boucher has had on the Stars this season, and his expected absence over the next couple weeks. In the last mail column, I picked the Stars as my Western representative in the Cup final, so let's dispense with any 'lack of respect' talk. In the rankings community, this is what we call a pre-emptive strike.

Back to Tjarnqvist. He is expected to play with Iowa tonight and then get called back up to the Stars afterwards.

The Ottawa Citizen had a long, but very interesting article on hockey in the South in the post-lockout era. The paper focused on Atlanta, Carolina, Nashville and Tampa Bay to see how the teams there were doing. Again, it's a long article. You can read it here: The South rises again

06 December '05 - - default| No comments - § ¶

Last night's game

On an entertainment scale I would rank last night's game was close to a 9 out of 10. It would have been an 8.5 without the shootout, which I like. Shootouts are like fights. Some people gripe about them, but just about everybody stands up to watch them.

That was some pretty good hockey. Shows what you can get when two good hockey teams go at it in the new NHL. I thought the Stars pretty much dominated play, but Carolina hung tough and got some good bounces and cashed in on two of their power plays. The Stars really dodged a bullet in overtime. Considering the bounces Carolina got in regulation, Mike Modano's shootout goal getting knocked over the line by Martin Gerber's stick sort of evened things out.

Announced attendance was 17,511. Sure didn't look like it to me. Not even close. I'm not alone thinking that based on this comment to my Friday blog from Drew, who writes:

I was at the game tonight vs. Carolina. I see that the announced attendance was about 17,500. I think that’s an overstatement. I tried to look around at different times during the game when most fans would be in their seats. I find it hard to believe that there were more than 16,000, if that. There were large pockets of empty seats in the upper bowl, the standard “half-full” platinum level and a decent number of empty seats down below. Based on the announced attendance, there were only about 1,000 empty seats. No way.

Good game, though. Very entertaining, indeed!

Yeah, they did miss a good game. A very good game. I don't put much stock in announced attendance figures. Those figures are the numbers of tickets distributed and can include both tickets that are given away along with the ones that are sold.

A more accurate account of attendance would be the number of people who came through the turnstiles, which would be an accurate reflection of how many people actually attended the game. Teams don't release those figures. 

There are a lot interesting things teams in other sports have done to boost those announced attendance figures, which is why I don't put much stock in them.

Mathias Tjarnqvist was sent down to Iowa today. No big surprise. The Stars don't play until Wednesday, Jaroslav Svoboda is playing well right now and Tjarnqvist needs some game ice time.

03 December '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶

Carolina coming to town

I for one am at looking forward to tonight's game against Carolina. First, it's nice to see a team other than Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix, etc. Second, I think Carolina's a pretty good team although they've hit a recent slide. Third, I am interested in seeing Eric Staal. 

This has the potential to be a good game. It's the game being streamed on Comcast.net tonight.

Ticket sales must have been lagging though. Razor was pushing it hard on The Ticket this morning. The Stars sent out an e-mail this morning titled "Big Game Alert."

If it is not a sellout they'll just have to blame the media. The culprit will be Bob Sturm, who said the other night he just couldn't get pumped about Carolina coming to town. Way to go, Bob.

Kings and Ottawa tonight. Bad timing for the Kings. The Sens lost 3-0 last night to the Bruins, who got a goal from newly acquired Marco Sturm on his first shift.

The Sharks and Joe Thornton get Buffalo, which has won six straight.

02 December '05 - - default| four comments - § ¶

Thornton deal, penalty shots

What a game last nigh, eh? Not the game itself, which was kind of bland but a good win for the Stars, who move into a tie for first in the Pacific.

I'm talking about all the stuff surrounding it. The mysterious disappearances of Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau before the opening faceoff. The confusion at the benches to the start the game. Then the word that those three players had been shipped to Boston for Joe Thornton.

That's a blockbuster. There was talk the Sharks were going to do something, but who would have imagined something like this. Does it make the Sharks better? It should help their offense, which has been dismal. It gives them a possible great one-two punch at center with Thornton and Patrick Marleau depending on how the wings perform. It gives them one of the top players in the game. The Hockey News had him ranked No. 6 heading into this season.

I don't read too much into the Shark's performance last night. They appeared shell-shocked by the trade. That's understandable. But you still saw the problems that have been plaguing them all year.

Goaltending is a big thing. I thought Evgeni Nabokov was OK last night, actually good at times. But the Sharks could have really used a big save on that Antti Miettinen penalty shot. It's the same way they could have used big saves in the three shootout games they have lost.

Offense. Last night the only thing they got was off a bad bounce and a miscue. They really didn't generate much else in the game.

Defense. Ok at times but still prone to the big meltdown or giving up the glorious chance. The don't give you a lot, but what they give you is often prime.

The problem with the Sharks is they really don't do anything well right now and do just about everything below average. Is Joe Thornton going to change that all by himself? No. But the team needed a change and bringing in one of the game's top players isn't going to hurt. He'll make the players around him better players.

And even with Thornton's $6.6 million salary, the Sharks are still only at about $30 million as far as the cap goes. They can do more. An offensive defenseman would help. Some scoring punch on the wings is needed as well, especially since they shipped out Sturm.

But like with any big trade, it's impossible to say what is going to happen because these things don't happen in a vacuum.  We'll just have to wait and see what else San Jose does and how the acquisition of Thornton fits into the overall puzzle that is now the San Jose Sharks.

Back to the Miettinen penalty shot. Should he have been awarded one? Apparently, Ralph and Razor had doubts. Well, just because you get off a good shot doesn't mean a penalty shot is ruled out. Here is the rule and please note the note:

01 December '05 - - default| one comment - § ¶