05/01 Hockey Thoughts

Well…as usual there is no doubt all of the series in round two (…and hopefully the finals…) will be long ones. Most prognosticators are saying all of them are due to go 6 or 7 games. But, that’s why we love the Second Season!

Some one is figuring out that the players are making the game great. I wonder where that concept got lost? Of course, the point is the players are the draw…in the midst of bad officiating and other problems. EJ Hradek had some of his own thoughts on the impact of Sundays Rangers-Sabers game. It was a great game, played on national media. And, I agree with him that the NHL could use a whole lot more of that. It could use a few more things than that, of course…
(…better media coverage, league management that knows what it’s doing, more scoring, consistent officiating…OH! Were these thoughts out loud?...)

Over at The Hockey News, Crag McCaig had the interesting thought of Buffalo and Ottawa playing for the East. Despite my predictions earlier, I think the Sabers against the Devils would be even better.

By the way, if you’re looking for playoff history and records information, TSN has all the links.

Meanwhile, the Canucks are continuing to have problems with opponents running over Luongo. Dallas did a lot of the expected bump and tussle during Round 1. And, Vancouver complained. It seems the Ducks, though, are out to run Luongo down. I didn’t see it, but if it’s true, the officials have a lot answer for.
(…of course, so do the Ducks…)

Much to my surprise, Dave Tippet will be back in Dallas next year. Frankly, I saw the inability to keep the team consistent and get production from the main producers as a management failure. Losing their way into the playoffs, as far as I was concerned, was a sure sign of first round failure. (…yeah…I know their last ten regular season games were good…but how many of those were overtime, and how many were shootouts…can’t win the playoffs on shoot outs…) The real surprise is that Nashville’s Barry Trotz may not be coming back. And, of course, Columbus and Phoenix are looking for new GMs.
(…I bet we see a few more teams taking it out on the front office…some of them actually need to…)

And, there are the World Championships.

The Americans and Czechs are 2-0 in Group B, and Finland and Russia are 2-0 in Group D.

The Russians are trying to make their first bid at their first title since 1993.
(…this one may prove pretty interesting…)

Looking into the future of hockey, and sports in general really, there was a really good article on the treatment of post concussions syndrome. Having had one that took six or seven weeks to clear the last symptoms, I for one am glad to hear it.
( thanks to Kukla’s Korner for the link…)