Drew Doughty Named to Candian Olympic Team

I'm not an L.A. Kings fan nor do I know much about Drew Doughty, but man... it's so cool to me that he was yesterday named to the Canadian Olympic team at the ripe old age of 20 (having just left his teens a few weeks ago).

Below is video of Doughty (against the Sharks) that I found at this link.

2009-2010 World Junior Championship TV Schedule

Really like me some World Junior Hockey... last year in Ottawa was great TV and looking forward to this year's tournament in Saskatoon.

16 games will be broadcast (hopefully all in HD) on NHL Network in the US with the schedule here and the quarterfinals starting at 2:00PST on Sat Jan 2. Also of note on the schedule is the US-Canada game New Years Eve at 5:00PST.

Good times.

Amazing Dwayne Roloson Saves

Yes, it may be excessive to have two posts in a row with content taken entirely from a different blog, but man... this is a great save.

Below is video taken this Puck Daddy on Yahoo! Sports post.

Minnesota Wild Equipment Fire

Wow, never seen anything like this story from the Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo! Sports.

Below is an image from the Yahoo! post... crazy.

Ovechkin "Goal of the Decade"

This is a goal seen I'm sure many times over the last four years by hockey fans, but Michael Farber's inclusion of it in his "NHL: Highlights and lowlights of the Decade" piece on CNNSI illustrates that it's worth a second, third, fourth or fifth look.

Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals scores from his back against the Coyotes Jan 16, 2006. As Farber writes, the video is made even better by listening to Darren Pang's audio commentary from this clip.

"Sports Jobs with Junior Seau" on Versus

It's not a hockey-centric show, but for those that haven't seen it, I recommend checking out "Sports Jobs with Junior Seau" on Versus (keeping in mind of course how many people don't get the channel).

The concept has Seau spending each half hour episode working behind the scenes in various jobs within sports. Episodes I've seen thus far had him working construction on the new Meadowlands NFL stadium, being an LA Dodgers ballboy and most recently a Washington Capitals equipment manager.

Here's the URL to the Versus microsite on "Sports Jobs" and video clips can be viewed by going to the page for each episode.

Seau himself may not be the most polished show host, but his history as an NFL all-pro probably also gives him a level of respect and access that someone else wouldn't have in doing this show.

Pretty entertaining stuff for any sports fan who likes this type of behind the scenes view.

Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy "10 Biggest NHL Goon Moments of the Decade"

Interesting piece from the Puck Daddy NHL Blog on Yahoo! Sports today.

Titled The 10 biggest NHL goon moments of the last decade it has... that ... and with videos!

I suppose this isn't surprising, but of the ten, nine were cheap shots, with the remaining one being the Sabres goons going out to fight the Senators (great video linked and below, especially the coaches yelling naughty words at each other) after Chris Drury was hit late with a head shot.



Also linked from this story (and also from the Puck Daddy on Yahoo!) was The 10 biggest NHL stories of the last decade. Maybe I'm just an NHL cynic (though not a hockey cynic), but it seems to me that a number of these "stories of the decade" are of the not so great variety and can be tied to how the league is run.

As to the cheap shots, players out to injury others deserve the most blame, but the league itself isn't in the clear given that it's the NHL dictating punishment for transgressions. The severity of said punishment is usually determined by... well, see one blogger's most excellent mock suspension flow chart...

Those Wild & Wooly Flyers Fans

Loved watching the Capitals-Flyers game the other game. Only in Philadelphia does the team welcome a new coach with an 8-2 loss and the fans act like... well, like Philly fans.

Two things from the game that spoke volumes about the fans known for booing Santa Claus. First was them cheering Daniel Carcillo for winning his "fight" (usually you challenge, wait and then throw rather than challenge, see a twitch of gloves dropping and then throw) against Matt Bradley below...



Granted, Carcillo got thrown out of the game and Washington a 9 minute power play during which they scored twice, but me thinks Philly fan was probably happy with the trade since you know... they got to see a good punch thrown by a Flyer.

Then later in the game, Philly fan had another cause for cheering... a referee injury. Yea, someone getting hit in the ear with a shot... there's something to get excited about. Nice.

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Silly me publishing this post before I went and saw this story from Puck Daddy at Yahoo! Sports referencing the four game suspension just received by Carcillo.

Today's NHL: What Does Happen

Remember the first season post-lockout when game announcers seemed to feel they weren't doing their job if they didn't say at least three times that "in today's NHL, no lead is safe"?

Those sure were times and now I feel like we've got a new "today's NHL", but it's about something entirely different than big comebacks. Here's what I see in the game today...

Players

- The ridiculous defending with fists of teammates who are hit with a clean check.

- Teams starting games with repeated cheap shots to "test the toughness" of the other guys. Just seems like silly posturing most of the time.

- The apparent disregard for the safety of fellow players. I'm not the first to say it, but the danger is someone eventually getting killed on the ice due to either a head shot or head hitting the ice. Scary stuff and there doesn't seem to be any efforts being taken to reduce the danger.


Management

- The dumbness of the league not going to 3 points for a regulation win. Even though I think shootouts are a gimmick of a way to decide games, I'm fine with them for regular season games. So silly, though, to have some games count for 2 points total and some for 3.

- The abject dislike of the Canadian market by league headquarters. Recently Commissioner Bettman talked about how no US teams would move to Canada, but perhaps an expansion team might go there? Taking a page from former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Mora... "expansion???, you want to talk expansion???!!!"

- Too high of a % of scoring coming during man advantage situations. This one could be argued as to what management could or should do about it, but I do find it frustrating that games are so frequently decided based primarily on special teams play.

Ok, all that said, I love hockey and will continue to do so. Just some stuff definitely bugs me about the NHL right now.