Has anyone else noticed that Florida Panthers’ coach Paul Maurice isn’t quite as smug as he has been the past few years? Funny how that works.
In one of our earlier articles, we noted the widespread reputation of Panthers fake tough guy Aaron Ekblad as a player who picks his spots and only engages opponents from behind. Predictably, his decision to engage with the much smaller Max Domi followed that script. Also typical was the way Ekblad hung on for dear life throughout the fight, hugging Domi the same way families do when war-torn soldiers return home safely after a lengthy tour of duty.
Hockey Canada took some well-deserved mocking when the World Junior team photo featured an eye-catching number of executives dressed in suits. What do all these suits do, aside from enjoying their free flights, free meals, fancy blazers, and sizeable expense accounts? Perhaps this bloated approach to team preparation and roster selection should be downsized—but nah…can’t have that. After all, the two previous fifth-place finishes are now a distant memory. Now they can proudly—and based on the size of the contingent—loudly chant, “We’re number three, we’re number three.”
Sports fans in Minnesota love to call their home the State of Hockey. How, then, do they explain their pathetic attendance at the just-completed World Junior Hockey Championship? Asking for a friend.
Will Bill Guerin’s arrogance and hubris cost the American men’s team a gold medal in the upcoming tournament in Italy? Apparently, Guerin’s decision to leave snipers Cole Caufield and Jason Robertson at home, in favour of pluggers like Vincent “Who?” Trochek, J.T. “Mr. Angry” Miller, and Brock “Too Tall” Nelson, ties into Guerin’s laughable belief that Canada’s recent Four Nations victory over the U.S. team was a fluke based on some lucky Jordan Binnington saves.
The Buffalo Sabres’ recent ten-game winning streak has reportedly energized their fan base. Then again, after losing four consecutive Super Bowls and enduring 14 consecutive years of non-playoff hockey, their version of energized and our version of the same may differ, to say the least. Let’s just say many Sabres fans are energetically clapping— with one hand.
It’s coming. It’s just a matter of time. It will happen. And when it does, the lawsuits will be flying. The ever-growing hit-from-behind incidents that the NHL continues to turn a blind eye to are getting downright scary. Get ready for the day a young hockey player, in the prime of his career, ends up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Although significant player suspensions would help curtail these thoughtless assaults, that won’t happen anytime soon. As it stands now, these attacks aren’t even penalized. But heaven forbid a player’s stick lightly taps the hands of a puck-carrying opponent. That’s a penalty every time. Yep, the lawsuits will be flying.
It was entertaining to hear that the robotic members of the Calgary Flames were upset because their young rookie Zane Parekh—AWOL while playing for Canada’s junior team—referred to NHL players as robots lacking personality. The fact that Parekh had to apologize more than proves his point. Duh.
