Puck Daddy

Some of you may know I have a book called "Glow Pucks & 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History," so I've got a little history with FOX's ill-fated attempt at making the puck easier to locate for people that can't seem to keep up with a constantly moving black speck on a completely white playing surface. For me, it wasn't so much the fact that the puck glowed -- it was the red comet tail that was initially added to every shot over a certain speed:

Nothing like watching a professional hockey game and expecting to see an Italian plumber run out, eat a mushroom and start stomping on turtles. But I have to half-heartedly defend the "Fox Trax" technology: It was later applied to NASCAR and other sports to better track the action, to a much more palatable effect. From something very, very bad came something quite accommodating.

Michael McCarthy of USA Today reports that Versus and the NHL are talking about introducing "puck-tracking" technology for implementation as early as next season; and the shadow of the glow puck looms large over the discussions:

Marty Ehrlich, executive producer at Versus, has been pushing for a new puck-tracking system with NHL executives. If Versus gets the OK, it would test puck tracking on its studio show before trying it during a game, he says. There would not be any computer chips embedded in pucks, at least at first. "We're looking to track the evolution of a play," says Ehrlich. While puck tracking is on his "wish list," he admits it's still a "sore subject" with hockey purists. "There's people who looked at it as a great success at Fox. A lot looked at it as a dismal failure."

Marc Fein, Versus' senior vice president of programming, says puck tracking could be a great tool to trace the pinpoint passing of NHL stars. "You could see how they thread the needle," he says. NBC and other networks employ tracking technology to trace the flight of shots on golf telecasts. The Golf Channel, Versus' sister Comcast network, recently won its first Sports Emmy for its AimPoint technology, which predicts the break of a putt, Fein notes.

So are fans ready for another attempt at "puck-tracking?"Read More >>

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Both Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett and forward Mike Ribeiro didn't expect there to be any suspension from the NHL in the aftermath of Ribeiro's two-handed slash to the chest of Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood at the end of Game 2. Seems like they might be the only ones that can comprehend the unpredictable and inequitable world of National Hockey League justice: No suspension for Ribeiro, but fines for both players as well as for Stars enforcer Steve Ott, who earned a misconduct for an attack on Kris Draper.

Ribeiro said earlier today that Osgood was more guilty in this incident than he was: "Well, if they do suspend me for one game, hopefully they suspend him for two games." Osgood reached out with the butt-end of his stick as Ribeiro skated by, although Osgood emphatically said today that he wasn't trying to injure him and was trying to protect his teammate from getting run behind the net. Ribeiro addressed Osgood's actions, which he claimed were the catalyst for the incident:

So if he doesn't do that, I don't think I react, I have no reason to do what I did. So a little bit of frustration and emotion in the game. But like I mentioned, I think it was more dangerous what he tried to do than what I did.

Michael Beck makes a rational assessment of the situation, and one we're sure is the majority opinion: "Whatever contact occurred between Osgood and Ribeiro at the end of the game, a two-handed slash was not justified." But let's examine the minority opinion here, which is Ribeiro's: If Osgood's unsportsmanlike play provoked Ribeiro's admittedly excessive response, can the NHL suspend one without suspending the other?Read More >>

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Here are your Weekend Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• R.J. Umberger said that Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has "probably the most confidence" he's seen in him "from the AHL until now." Can the Philadelphia Flyers figure out a way to rattle him like they turned Carey Price into a festering pool of JELL-O in the previous series? Or can that only happen inside the friendly confines of the Wachovia Center? In other news, please shave, Sidney. You look like the singer in the boy band that's supposed to be from "the streets." [Philly.com]

• Looking at the animosity between John Stevens and Michel Therrien from back in their AHL days. [Canadian Press]

• Guessing the suspension for Mike Ribeiro after his two-handed slash on Chris Osgood of the Detroit Red Wings. Since the NHL has what appears to be a 10-to-1 ratio of regular season suspended-games to postseason suspended-games, this should be a one-gamer. Then again, Waiting for Stanley believes he shouldn't even receive any suspension at all because Osgood goaded him into it: "Be a man and own up to the stick job you put on Ribeiro! Gutless puke."

• Is Patrick Roy the next coach of the Colorado Avalanche? Better question: Will his son be hired as either a goalie fight coordinator or to rap the team's official theme song? [Avs Talk]

• Buffalo Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn has made it clear that the team won't be sold to anybody who might relocate the franchise. But it's not exactly up to the owners; if the NHL wants hockey in Buffalo, it'll stay in Buffalo. [The Buffalo News]

• Larry Brooks believes it's time for the New York Rangers to stop playing hardball and get serious about re-signing Sean Avery. Because it's going to be very difficult for him to get time off from Vogue for salary negotiations this summer. [NY Post]

• Jacques Lemaire says he'll return to coach the Minnesota Wild next season, and admits something rather interesting: Some of his players completely tuned him out during a rough spot back in February. [Twincities.com]

• Going to Disney World and discovering the obvious: That the Stanley Cup Finals are dead to Orlando. [Wild Puck Banter]

• Finally, the Flyers could turn to Steve Downie tonight, Max Talbot is back for the Penguins, and Flyers Goal Scored By offers a rather funny look at the top only five commercials on Versus.

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Hockey moms are awesome. Yes, even Mama Niedermayer, who once chose to root against Scott in the Stanley Cup Finals. Yes, even the moms that drop F-bombs (and MF-bombs and SOB-bombs and C-sucker bombs) at their kid's youth hockey game (video, very NSFW). Because who else is going to pack up the SUV or mini-van with hockey equipment at 4:30 in the morning in order to drive to some godforsaken tournament on a Saturday? Who else keeps a warm blanket and a winter jacket in the car during August? Our buddy Nemmy from The 2 Man Advantage said it best in his tribute to hockey moms: "Every loving mother deserves at least a day of recognition. Hockey mothers deserve a little more. After all, if that lady had taken you to soccer camp all these years you'd probably be a p---y and wouldn't know anything about true teamwork. But you aren't." So Happy Mother's Day to everyone for which the salutation applies.

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The assorted tomfoolery continues between Pittsburgh Penguins fans and Philadelphia Flyers fanatics over the desecration of assorted landmarks in their respective cities. Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Horses put out a hit list of other Philadelphia targets for Penguins fans to hit with shirts, jerseys and digital cameras. The Pensblog published photos of a few competed missions, including this assault on the Robert Indiana "LOVE" sculpture.

But the epicenter of this battle continues to be the Rocky Balboa statue, which Penguins fans gleefully defaced even after a Philadelphia radio station attempted to protect it with a bodyguard. This silly attempt at hexing the Flyers has even started its own fashion trend: The image here is from a T-shirt currently being sold by Moewampum.com, which is also the producer of the "Avery Rule" shirts.

But there have been so many attempts at draping The Italian Stallion with Penguins schwag that some fans want credit where it's due. This weekend, we received an e-mail from a reader who claimed he and his boys were the "original guys" to hit the Rocky statue before the series, and provided this YouTubage as evidence:

It should be noted that they also ominously wrote "there is more to come against philly." Honestly, what else could these Penguins fans have in mind? You don't think ... nah.

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No. 1 star: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Hey, nice to see the Red Wings get some secondary scoring. The Mule can't do it all, you know. Especially when he's not in the lineup. Ok, so Zetterberg doesn't play second fiddle to anyone on this roster. Johan Franzen and Tomas Holmstrom are getting all kinds of attention, and justifiably so, but Zetterberg hasn't been too shabby of late with points in seven straight and goals in five of six. Saturday he potted the game-winner on the power play, registered seven shots for the second straight game and won nine of 14 faceoffs.

No. 2 star: Darren Helm, Detroit Red Wings
Helm was a fifth-round draft pick. He was drafted by Detroit. So of course he'll be a star. They were gushing about Helm Saturday in Detroit. A sample from coach Mike Babcock:

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The NHL claims that The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is "an annual award under the trusteeship of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and [that] is given to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey." But what it really means is that the award is given to the player that overcame the most squeamish, tragic or devastating ailment or injury.

In many ways, the Masterton is like the NHL's version of the Best Actor Academy Award -- it's usually the battle between those who put in remarkable performances, those who have paid their dues and deserve some career-affirming hardware, and those who overcame some sort of ghastly malady (on screen). Yes, there are exceptions; but as good as Denzel was in "Malcolm X," he didn't play a blind guy like 1992 Best Actor Al Pacino did in "Scent of a Woman." Tom Hanks ruled the world in "Big," but there was no chance Dustin Hoffman wasn't going to win for "Rain Man" in 1988.

That's why as much as he deserved a nomination, Ty Conklin of the Pittsburgh Penguins was ignored. Criminally, really: If this award is the League's de facto "comeback player of the year" honor, almost no one deserves it more than the guy who rebounded from one of the ultimate playoff embarrassments (video) to an unlikely career resurrection that helped lead the Penguins during their injury-plagued regular season. Should have been you, ConkBlock.

The nominees this year are Jason Blake of the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings and right wing Fernando Pisani of the Edmonton Oilers. Of the three, Chelios is clearly at a disadvantage because he's just ancient rather than living with an unfortunate disease. Here's the skinny on the Masterton field:Read More >>

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No. 1 star: Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

A slap shot on a shorthanded breakaway. How confident does a player have to be to uncork a slap shot on a shorthanded breakaway? Especially when that player had one of the fugliest penalty shots in recent memory earlier in the postseason? Geno's feeling it now, with eight goals on the postseason and playing like he's the best in the sport. His snap shot to beat Marty Biron -- off of a perfect cross-ice feed from Ryan Whitney -- seemed effortless; his slapper shorthanded was an indication that this player is going score any way he damn well pleases in this postseason.

No. 2 star: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins

Fleury continues to exude the kind of confidence his critics never expected him to exhibit in a postseason pressure cooker. He rebounded from a lousy first Philadelphia goal, and then didn't let down after the Flyers took a 2-1 lead. Fleury made 26 saves, with a couple of beauties in the mix, including a wicked poke-check on Umberger. We'd still like to see how he handles that chamber of horrors in Philadelphia before bowing down to his fortitude; that crowd's already devoured one good young goalie this postseason.

No. 3 star: Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers

Two goals for the Flyers' dynamic forward, both of them patient plays that cashed in unpredictable rebounds. Plus, how many 195-pound centers can say they demolished Evgeni Malkin with a body check like Richards did in Game 1? R.J. Umberger, also deserves a nod here with two assists and a rather spirited game in front of friends and family. But if someone can let us know when Danny Briere shows up for the conference finals, we'd greatly appreciate it.

Major penalty: Anyone expecting this game to be three periods of Thunderdome came away sadly disappointed. An entire first period with one penalty for delay of game? Yawn. Perhaps the 16 penalty minutes we saw handed out at 18:32 of the third period will be a harbinger of things to come. The Flyers haven't played as rough on the road as they have at home; they'll need to kunckle up a little more in Game 2 to rattle the Penguins.

Minor penalty: We can't be too hard on Marty Biron, because he's 0-3 in Game 1's in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a GAA of 4.33. Those numbers are 8-2 and a 2.38 GAA in Games 2-7. So there's some reason to believe his average night on Friday could be an aberration. For the Flyers' sake, it had better be: Stopping 17 of 21 shots isn't going to get it done, especially with Kimmo Timonen out of commission.

Conn Smythe watch (Based on playoff performance to date and likelihood of deep playoff run.)

1. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
2. Johan Franzen, Detroit Red Wings
3. Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings
4. Martin Biron, Philadelphia Flyers
5. Brenden Morrow, Dallas Stars
6. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
7. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
8. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
9. Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
10. R.J. Umberger, Philadelphia Flyers

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We could have done a garden variety preview for this series. But this is special. This is the Battle of Pennsylvania.

Just know that you can find some great Flyers analysis on eager to go psycho, The 700 Level, Flyers Goal Scored By and The Orange Crush.

And you can find some very interesting Penguins analysis on The Pensblog, Empty Netters, The Sweater Ted and some little slice of fried gold called Going Five Hole, where the winner of the Mike Lange Tournament of Quotes was crowned this week. 

Now, here's the Tale of the Tape between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers as they prepare for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Read More >>

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