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The Grand Kamalian
May 2007
Thursday May 24, 2007
Posted by: Micah Hart at 4:42PM EST on May 24, 2007
Pithy responses to questions you may very well never have asked:
Yes, lying down in the crease is a confounding way to try to make saves, but who can argue when it’s Dominik Hasek? Just wish he had seen every shot in Game Six. I really wanted to see a Game Seven in that series. No, I have no idea why some Ottawa fans and members of the media had written the Senators off in November. Must be why they don’t play…or coach. Yes, I would have liked to see the overtime of Game Five between Ottawa and Buffalo on NBC. In my estimation, one of the most accurate adages in life is that perception is reality, and that move by the network didn’t do a whole lot for the general public’s perception of the sport. And what a shame, considering the quality of the series between those two very talented teams. No, I didn’t predict Anaheim and Ottawa in the Final. But I will predict it’s going to be a long, eminently entertaining series. I’ll go so far as to say Ottawa wins in seven, on the Pond, er, Honda Center. It’s time for Bryan Murray – one of the great NHL coaches of the last two-plus decades – to lift the Cup. Good for Daniel Alfredsson, too. That should quiet his detractors, at least for several months. Along the same lines, how good has that line of Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley been? Oh, sorry, you’re the ones supposedly asking the questions. Yes, I felt badly for Johan Franzen when his clearing attempt for Detroit in Game Five vs. Anaheim was knocked down near the point, leading to the Ducks’ game-tying goal and eventual OT win. He was making the right play; he just flubbed the backhander. But weren’t you surprised all-world defenseman Nick Lidstrom just stuck out his stick trying to block Scott Niedermayer’s power play blast? Would’ve thought Lidstrom would either try to get in front of that shot with his body or just hope Hasek could handle it. Yes, I will have had plenty of time to practice my beat boxing with all the days between Anaheim’s clinching win and the start of the Stanley Cup the Final. Needed to work on my percussion sounds anyway. Yes, I could imagine Rosie O’Donnell and Brett Hull in the same studio. Now that would be fun. Wednesday May 9, 2007
Posted by: Ben Wright at 2:58PM EST on May 9, 2007
You know the old adage about bounces in sports balancing
themselves out over the course of time? That surely proved to be the case for
the New York Rangers in the series deciding game six loss to the Buffalo
Sabres. You remember, of course, the fortuitous hops, skips, and jumps the puck
was taking during the Rangers sweep of Atlanta, particularly on the Nylander
goal in game one, the Avery and Shanahan goals in game two, and the Cullen
winning goal in the game four finale. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry
for Henrik Lundqvist in the clincher against Buffalo when the tables turned and
no fewer than three of the five Sabres goals were scored as a result of pucks
taking pronounced detours into the New York net. The first goal went off a
defender’s skate and did about a 45-degree turn as it sailed up above
Lundqvist’s left shoulder; the second Buffalo tally deflected off a shin pad on
a shot from the slot, and the game winning fifth goal was a tip by Jochen Hecht
that is still being analyzed at Georgia Tech to determine if it indeed did break
all known laws of physics. It seems the gods of hockey bounces must have
thought the Rangers good-bounce-to-bad-bounce-ledger had to be balanced, in a
hurry.
Bad bounces aside, though, that game six at Madison Square Garden was one for the playoff ages, especially the third period, which was absolutely breathtaking. The Rangers made it eminently clear they were not going to go quietly into the Manhattan afternoon, and they pretty much dictated the tempo and intensity of the final 20 minutes. If not for Ryan Miller’s rather curious decision to move way over to his right to get a better view of Michael Roszival’s shot from the top of the slot in the waning seconds, we may very well have seen a game seven in that series. By making his rather drastic move, Miller was in great position to stop the tip of Roszival’s blast by Jaromir Jagr. It was a dramatic ending to a fabulous game of hockey that, to me anyway, embodied everything this sport is about and is trying to sell. One other thing in regards to that series: is there anyone
in hockey you’d rather see with a puck on his stick when your team is in dire
need of a game changing or clinching goal than Chris Drury? That guy is
absolute money, and he has been since his Trumbull, CT, Little League team won
the world championship in 1989. (Drury, of course, pitched a five-hitter to win
that game, driving in two runs along the way and earning the MVP award for the
entire series.) The goal he scored to tie game five against the Rangers, with
7.7 seconds left in regulation was vintage Drury. His blast went through the
legs of teammate Thomas Vanek on its way by Lundqvist into the short side of the
Rangers cage. In my opinion, only a guy with Drury’s composure and flair for
the dramatic gets that shot away with that kind of accuracy under that kind of
pressure. You think he’s going to enjoy the UFA marketplace?
Thursday May 3, 2007
Posted by: Ben Wright at 2:45PM EST on May 3, 2007
 Did
you catch wind of the mini-controversy initiated by broadcaster Gary Thorne, who
is doing the TV play-by-play for the Baltimore Orioles (among other broadcasting
assignments)? Very recently, he made an offhand remark during an O’s- Red Sox
game claiming the blood on Curt Schilling’s sock in the 2004 ALCS and World
Series was really paint, and it was applied on the sock as a PR stunt. Thorne
has since recanted his rather preposterous claim, saying he misinterpreted past
remarks made to him in the Red Sox locker room. I really have no opinion on the subject, other than to say it was a rather comical situation and blown way out of proportion, which happens frequently on matters involving Red Sox Nation. The reason I bring the whole thing up is that I heard at least two baseball analysts who were asked their opinion of the matter go out of their way to say how much they enjoyed Thorne as a hockey announcer. I couldn’t agree more. With all due respect to the play-by-play voices bringing us this year’s NHL playoffs – and they all do a stellar job – there’s something missing without Thorne in the mix. I always found his energy and obvious love for the game infectious and compelling. He made the games he was doing seem larger than life, and it always drew me in as a viewer. ***** Observation made while channel surfing during NHL playoff games: Why was Cliff Clavin on Dancing with the Stars? I mean, nice guy and all, and I absolutely loved him in Cheers, but – really – was he not miscast, especially with a knockout professional dance partner half his age? And speaking of which, I remember when Clyde Drexler really could “glide”, and it was on a much different hardwood than he was on during his brief run on that dancing show. Maybe it’s just me, but I think there are those rare challenges in life that are probably best left unmet. *****  Anyone
out there remember the glove save Scott Fankhouser made on Jaromir Jagr, then of
the Pittsburgh Penguins? It was either the first or second year of the
franchise, and it was a brilliant stop as Fankhouser lunged to his left to snare
the laser off the stick of Jagr, apparently just before the puck crossed the
line. Unfortunately, upon further review, it was determined that the webbing of
Fankhouser’s glove was across the line when the save was made, so the initial
ruling of no goal was overturned. Now the entire glove was not over the line and
the puck was never visible (it was inside the glove), so it was assumed by the
video review folks that Fankhouser had to have made the save in the web of his
glove. I’ve often wondered why it was never postulated that the Thrashers goalie
may have actually caught the puck in the palm of his glove, which was clearly
outside the goal line. And after seeing the ruling from above on the Briere
non-goal the other night, I’m wondering about that play again. |
