Hi there old friend

Here is my brief recap of the weekend hockey:
1. Chicago scored lots of goals. Vancouver did not.
2. Marc-Andre let in a softie and I still don't like the Craps.
3. I should have stuck to my "no watching OT games in the playoffs" rule.
4. Never underestimate a team with Ronnie Francis behind the net.

Today, I'm looking at the NHL annual award presentations. There are a lot that I don't agree with but I'm gonna just take a look at a few.

Jack Adams award (coach of the year). Nominated are Todd McLellan, Claude Julien, and Andy Murray. I like Todd I really do. I thought he took a talented team and went far with it. Same goes for Claude (who I don't have a personal preference for one way or the other). This award has to go to Andy Murray. Was there a coach out there who did more with less? No. Getting the Blues to 6th in the West was no fluke. This cat can coach.

Bill Masterton Trophy (The player "who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey"). Nominated are Chris Chelios (who contrary to popular, not ever Wing fan loves him. I can't stand him - am I the only person to remember how he used to abuse Stevie? Plus I find his frat boy behavior to be a bit much. He's just gross. That's it. Chris Cheligross. But I digress), Richard Zednik, Steve Sullivan. Honestly if you get your throat sliced open by a teammate on the ice, have the wits about you to make it to the bench so you DON'T DIE, and come back to play the game again.... no matter what anyone else does, you can't top that. Zednik in a landslide.

Calder (rookie of the year). Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Steve Mason, Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan and Chicago Blackhawks forward Kris Versteeg are all up for this award. As much as my counterpart loves her Bobby, I gotta put my vote (like I have a say) toward Mason. His record alone puts him up there as top 'tender but the fact that he's a rookie and had ten shutouts? Has a rookie goalie since Roy done that? Did Roy do that? Yeah, I'm plugging for Mason.

Hart (writers MVP). I'm really not liking the candidates for this one. Way back when, this award was not automatically to the best player in the league, but to the player judged to be most valuable to his team. I mean props to Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk, but I don't think they were the most valuable to their teams. All important to their teams, yes. That's a given. But where would the Bruins be without Thomas? Where would Chicago be without Kane or Toews? Nashville without Sullivan? The Devils without that goalie not named Marty (Clemmensen, I know.)? I mean really, those teams had guys who were more important overall. I'm not going to pick a winner here because it's sadly become a popularity contest. I'm more interested in the Pearson award anyway.

Norris (Top defenseman). Again this award has changed in meaning. No longer is the best defenseman always nominated. When Lidstrom wins, I think it's fair. I'm not being a homer here. Find me a better defenseman and I'll listen to the argument. But Lidstrom is rarely out of position and makes the game look easy. Games where you don't hear about him just means he's doing his job. This year, he's nominated again along with Chara and Green. While I have no problems with the baby eater Chara, it's Green I do. On most nights, he's a disaster on the blue line. Yes, he gets his points and his plus ratings but I just don't see him as one of the Top DEFENSEmen of the league. Offsensman, sure. Give him the Paul Coffee award or something, but not the Norris. It's a toss up for me between Nick and Chara.

Vezina (best goalie). Steve Mason, Minnesota Wild's Niklas Backstrom, and Tim Thomas nominated. There is that Mason kid again. I think it's a feel good story for Thomas to be nominated and I'd be ok if he won. He back stopped a team that vied for the President's trophy all year. He's one hell of a goalie. I've pitched my thoughts for Mason as MVP, I think it's safe to say I'd be ok with him winning the Vezina. I honestly don't know about Backstrom as I found the Wild just painful to watch this season.

There are other awards out there but I don't really have an opinion one way or the other. Have an opinion, share it please. I've probably picked all the non winners but hey, that's what blogging is all about right?

See that tag called "overtagging"? That's what happens when you have too many tags. I had to edit my tags. What the frak?

Until next time, happy hockey!

Nucks, Ducks, and baby pucks...

It's pretty chilly up here in the NW corner of the country too; and yeah, I'm pretty damn sick of it too. We're not built for extremes in weather... we don't do well with temps over 80 and under 40, simply because for the most part it's not normal.

Anyway, yes I did watch the Vancouver-Anaheim game; and yes, they usually are hard for me because I love them both, though the Nucks will always come first. But if I had to watch them play each other, at least it was worth all the strife because it was a great game.

Anaheim scored the first two goals, one at the end of the first then the other in the first half of the second; then Les Canards came storming back with two within a minute of each other. Then in the third, after the Ducks got ahead again, the Canucks scored with five minutes to go; so off to OT they went and who should score the winning goal, but the captain Scottie Niedermayer. For me, this was a fine finish because not only did team #1 get a point to stay in 5th, but team #2 got two points; and now they're only a point out of 8th and 4 out of 6th.

And I really hope that the Ducks can get their collective shit together and get to the playoffs, because after not making it out of the 1st round last season as part of whatever post Cup curse seems to plague teams, they really need this. They need it not only for veterans like Scottie, Bret Hedican and Teemu; but for the younger guys like Bobby Ryan. I have fallen so much in love with Bob this season... he's got the face of an angel on the body of a football player; as well as the distinction of being the 2nd pick after Sid in the '05 draft. He didn't make the big splash that Steve did right away; but after some time back and forth from the A, he's coming into his own and is leading all rookies in goals and is only three points behind the overall rookie leader. Needless to say, I'm so very proud of him, and if he gets screwed out of a Calder nomination like PMueller did last season, I will be most displeased.

But closer to home, I've been slacking on reporting on my baby boys; or maybe it's just been that there hasn't been a lot to report about. They've lost 3 of 4 this month; and even though they have gotten a few of the wounded back, there are still a couple of boys who are still nursing injuries. Hopefully they'll be back by next weekend when they start the playoffs in TriCities. I wish I had more to say other than I can't believe that the season is almost over.

To close this entry, I want to share my boys with you... this is a video from the Everett Herald that they put together at the beginning of the season. Funny thing about it is that some of the boys aren't even with us anymore due to trades or other things, but it's still really cute. I love my boys.