Martin Brodeur who was the son of the Montreal Canadiens' official photographer, grew up idolizing the team.
In the spring of 1986 he and a friend rode went to downtown Montreal to celebrate the Canadiens 23rd Stanley Cup win. The parade of champions made it's way down St. Catherine's Street with the crowd cheering for their heroes. The veteran team members included captain Bob Gainey, top defenceman Larry Robinson and winger Mats Naslund as well as younger players. However the biggest star in that great game was 21-year goaltender Patrick Roy, a youngster whose future impact on the game was as yet unknown.
No one as yet knew yet how great Roy would later become, and how the young Martin Brodeur, admiring him in the parade, would one day surpass many of his achievements. On March 17, Brodeur, goaltender for the New Jersey Devils and certain to enter the Hall of Fame one day added a record to his NHL resume on March 17th by becoming the NHL's career wins leader and surpassing Roy's record with 552 victories.
The 36-year-old Brodeur has been pursuing Roy's numerous records since he entered the NHL in 1992. No doubt these two legendary goaltenders will alway be compared to one another.
Brodeur is a cool goaltender who is never fazed by anything, while Roy's high energy attitude has him looked upon by many hockey fans as one of the hardest playing goaltenders ever seen.
Brodeur has won four Vezina trophies and three Stanley Cups, but Roy will go down as possibly hockey's greatest playoff winner and he has three Conn Smythe trophies to confirm this position.
Roy still holds the record of 13 seasons with 30 or more wins per season. Brodeur's total of 12 in a row came to an abrupt end this season since he missed most the season with a serious injury which kept him off the ice for 50 games.
Brodeur holds the record of seven 40-win seasons while Roy leads in total combined regular-season and Stanley Cup playoff wins with 702 (Brodeur has only 644). Making comparisons between the two greats could be endless, but both of these great goaltenders will always be known as winners .
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor. Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
20 Best Hockey Goals Ever Scored
I just saw this on Youtube and had to pass it on.Great video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTcu6rEOCws.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor. Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTcu6rEOCws.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor. Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Guy Carbonneau Fired As Canadiens Head coach
The Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey fired head coach Guy Carbonneau on Monday and took his place behind the bench.Gainey's first appearance as coach will be on Tuesday when The Canadiens are host to the Edmonton Oilers. Carbonneau, was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award last year, and has been released after nearly three seasons as head coach of the Canadiens.
Gainey said on Monday that hiring Guy Carbonneau was the best decision had made as Canadien's GM. He stated that team performance has been below average for the last 8 weeks and that he believed that a change of direction at ice level was needed.
Gainey said "With 16 games left in the season I believe that the change was necessary to maximise our chances of being one of the teams to participate in the playoffs this spring".
"There were certain games when I had a real confusion about the overall ... it showed up as effort, but I felt like it was emotional engagement to a game," Gainey said.
"Our team (did) not seem to be emotionally engaged".
The Canadiens finished first in the Eastern Conference last year, but their 100th anniversary season in 2008-09 has not been going well. There has been much controversy about the team during the year and they have had to deal a number of on and off-ice issues.
Gainey said "I find ourselves in a position that requires my intervention, and the response is my decision today,". "I feel like its necessary to make a change, but the real answer will be the results 35 days from now."
The Canadiens started the year strongly, but of late have been struggling. The team was well set for a playoff position until Jan 25 and the All-Star game in Montreal. After this they won only three of 15 games to fall back into fighting for a playoff spot with a group of six teams. Montreal is now fifth in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of The Rangers, Florida, and Pittsburgh.
"I'm not going to make black-and-white changes, but we need to move toward being a better, stronger, more consistent team defensively and an offensive team that takes advantage of our opportunities," Gainey added.
Associate coach Doug Jarvis, along with the two assistant coaches Kirk Muller and Roland Melanson will be staying with the club. In addition to this, the Canadiens have taken Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Don Lever onto their staff.
This will be Bob Gainey's second term as head coach of the Canadiens. He previously was head coach after the firing of Claude Julien in the 2005-06 season. He carried the club to a 23-15-3-0 record. The Canadiens however lost in the first playoff round in that season.
Guy Carbonneau took over from Gainey as head coach of the Canadiens on May 5, 2006. Prior to that he was an associate coach with the Habs. He was hired by Gainey's with the understanding that he would be head coach in time for the 2006-07 season.
Carbonneau's coaching record with the Canadiens was a combined 124-83-23. Montreal did not make the playoffs in that his first season, and last year were trounced in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers. Carbonneau is seventh NHL head coach to be fired this season.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor. Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Gainey said on Monday that hiring Guy Carbonneau was the best decision had made as Canadien's GM. He stated that team performance has been below average for the last 8 weeks and that he believed that a change of direction at ice level was needed.
Gainey said "With 16 games left in the season I believe that the change was necessary to maximise our chances of being one of the teams to participate in the playoffs this spring".
"There were certain games when I had a real confusion about the overall ... it showed up as effort, but I felt like it was emotional engagement to a game," Gainey said.
"Our team (did) not seem to be emotionally engaged".
The Canadiens finished first in the Eastern Conference last year, but their 100th anniversary season in 2008-09 has not been going well. There has been much controversy about the team during the year and they have had to deal a number of on and off-ice issues.
Gainey said "I find ourselves in a position that requires my intervention, and the response is my decision today,". "I feel like its necessary to make a change, but the real answer will be the results 35 days from now."
The Canadiens started the year strongly, but of late have been struggling. The team was well set for a playoff position until Jan 25 and the All-Star game in Montreal. After this they won only three of 15 games to fall back into fighting for a playoff spot with a group of six teams. Montreal is now fifth in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of The Rangers, Florida, and Pittsburgh.
"I'm not going to make black-and-white changes, but we need to move toward being a better, stronger, more consistent team defensively and an offensive team that takes advantage of our opportunities," Gainey added.
Associate coach Doug Jarvis, along with the two assistant coaches Kirk Muller and Roland Melanson will be staying with the club. In addition to this, the Canadiens have taken Hamilton Bulldogs head coach Don Lever onto their staff.
This will be Bob Gainey's second term as head coach of the Canadiens. He previously was head coach after the firing of Claude Julien in the 2005-06 season. He carried the club to a 23-15-3-0 record. The Canadiens however lost in the first playoff round in that season.
Guy Carbonneau took over from Gainey as head coach of the Canadiens on May 5, 2006. Prior to that he was an associate coach with the Habs. He was hired by Gainey's with the understanding that he would be head coach in time for the 2006-07 season.
Carbonneau's coaching record with the Canadiens was a combined 124-83-23. Montreal did not make the playoffs in that his first season, and last year were trounced in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers. Carbonneau is seventh NHL head coach to be fired this season.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor. Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Sunday, March 15, 2009
NHL'S Intent To End Senseless Fighting Makes Good Sense
Georges Laraque the Montreal Canadiens enforcer is upset about NHL recommendations that propose 10-minute misconducts for players who fight right after the puck drops. No doubt he fears that his job is threatened which explains his vocal opposition to this move. But it is definitely high time that the NHL moved to put an end to senseless fights in hockey.
I do not propose that all fighting should end in the NHL but the number of staged fights is increasing steadily and this as far as I am concerned is nothing but bad for the game. According to NHL records, 108 of the first 500 fights in the 2008-09 season took place right after a faceoff.
I would be prepared to bet that most of those fights were between players who had just come off the bench, and not as a result of an altercation during play right before the whistle. To reduce the frequency of such fights, the league is proposing to hand out misconducts to players who fight right after the puck is dropped. This in my humble opinion would be good for the game.
I don't believe fighting will ever be fully stamped out. Even if it means ejection from the game, there will still be some fights and probably plenty of them. Some players are notably careless, if not absolutely dangerous, in the way they use their sticks, their elbows and their bodies without fear of any serious repercussions. Possibly the best thing we can do is to keep some fighting in hockey as a self-policing policy. Much better to have a fight if it curtails high sticking and the resulting injuries.
But needless fighting between two enforcers or others dropping their gloves in a misguided move to justify their place on the team must be stopped. Fights will still take place if they really need to -- all the would be combatants have to do is skate around for 15 seconds before squaring off for a fight. I know that legions of fans love hockey fighting, but this could cut the number of meaningless fights in half. Hockey in my opinion would be better for this.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
I do not propose that all fighting should end in the NHL but the number of staged fights is increasing steadily and this as far as I am concerned is nothing but bad for the game. According to NHL records, 108 of the first 500 fights in the 2008-09 season took place right after a faceoff.
I would be prepared to bet that most of those fights were between players who had just come off the bench, and not as a result of an altercation during play right before the whistle. To reduce the frequency of such fights, the league is proposing to hand out misconducts to players who fight right after the puck is dropped. This in my humble opinion would be good for the game.
I don't believe fighting will ever be fully stamped out. Even if it means ejection from the game, there will still be some fights and probably plenty of them. Some players are notably careless, if not absolutely dangerous, in the way they use their sticks, their elbows and their bodies without fear of any serious repercussions. Possibly the best thing we can do is to keep some fighting in hockey as a self-policing policy. Much better to have a fight if it curtails high sticking and the resulting injuries.
But needless fighting between two enforcers or others dropping their gloves in a misguided move to justify their place on the team must be stopped. Fights will still take place if they really need to -- all the would be combatants have to do is skate around for 15 seconds before squaring off for a fight. I know that legions of fans love hockey fighting, but this could cut the number of meaningless fights in half. Hockey in my opinion would be better for this.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
NHL Fights--Enforcing The Instigator Penalty
NHL GMs have come up with the idea of enforcing the existing instigator rule to cut down on the increasing numbers of fights in NHL games. The two minute minor instigator penalty is seldom called. In fact it has been called in only about 5 percent of fights this season to date. This number should have been much higher because there has been a considerable increase in fights where a player instigated the fight to avenge a clean hit on a teammate.
Enforcing the instigator penalty more often would cut down the number of fights significantly. Enforcement of this penalty would cause players to think again before instigating a fight in support of a teammate who was legally checked. The fact that the team may be penalised and not just the player wiil undoubtedly cut down on fighting.
Statistics show that 20 percent of all fights start because a players was legally checked. Such a fight is the reason for the rule in the first place. Yet referees rarely invoke the instigator penalty.
GMs also recommended punishing staged fights and fights right after the puck is dropped with a 10 minute misconduct penalty. This would further reduce the incidence of fighting. Over 20 percent of all fights in the NHL this season were "staged" fights off a faceoff.
It would be the referee's responsibility to decide on what is a staged fight. The 10 minute misconduct however may be too little to put a serious dent in staged fights. A game misconduct on the other hand would put teeth in the enforcement. For enforcers, who do little except to fight, a 10 minute misconduct doesn't really mean very much but a game misconduct could change that. These recommendations will go now to the Competition Committee and finally to the NHL board of governors for approval and will therefore not come into force till next season.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Enforcing the instigator penalty more often would cut down the number of fights significantly. Enforcement of this penalty would cause players to think again before instigating a fight in support of a teammate who was legally checked. The fact that the team may be penalised and not just the player wiil undoubtedly cut down on fighting.
Statistics show that 20 percent of all fights start because a players was legally checked. Such a fight is the reason for the rule in the first place. Yet referees rarely invoke the instigator penalty.
GMs also recommended punishing staged fights and fights right after the puck is dropped with a 10 minute misconduct penalty. This would further reduce the incidence of fighting. Over 20 percent of all fights in the NHL this season were "staged" fights off a faceoff.
It would be the referee's responsibility to decide on what is a staged fight. The 10 minute misconduct however may be too little to put a serious dent in staged fights. A game misconduct on the other hand would put teeth in the enforcement. For enforcers, who do little except to fight, a 10 minute misconduct doesn't really mean very much but a game misconduct could change that. These recommendations will go now to the Competition Committee and finally to the NHL board of governors for approval and will therefore not come into force till next season.
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.Take a look at this now. Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Monday, March 9, 2009
Will The Calgary Flames Make A Run for The Stanley Cup?
The Calgary Flames are signalling their intention to be serious contenders for the Stanley Cup this season. Their acquisiton of Olli Jokinen and bringing back defenseman Jordan Leopold are clear signals that they are serious in their intention to win the much coveted trophy.
The asking price was high in a tight market and most managers were not willing to ante up so several top players remain with their teams. But The Flames GM Darryl Sutter was willing to put up the price for Olli Jokinen and thus to place his team in a strong position to contend for the Stanley Cup.
Thus far the Detroit Redwings and the San Jose Sharks looked to be the probable Western Conference finalists but The Calgary Flames must now ne added to this list as very strong contenders with this acquisition. Now all that is needed is for Jokinen to show that he can respond to the challenge and help pull the flames toward victory.
To be competitive in the West the Flames needed Jokinen--a big tough center who can score. The only downside is that he lacks playoff experience. But Jokinen himself says that "Its a good feeling right now" which suggests that he is up and ready for the challenge. He was obviously excited and he and Jordan Leopold should add a lot of energy to the Flames team.
Darryl sutter was willing to put up the money to make this happen and because of this the Calgary Flames have added a player with great talent who is excited and ready to make things happen. As jokinen says "If you are in the lineup you're going to play with great players.It's a good feeling".
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.
Take a look at this now.Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
The asking price was high in a tight market and most managers were not willing to ante up so several top players remain with their teams. But The Flames GM Darryl Sutter was willing to put up the price for Olli Jokinen and thus to place his team in a strong position to contend for the Stanley Cup.
Thus far the Detroit Redwings and the San Jose Sharks looked to be the probable Western Conference finalists but The Calgary Flames must now ne added to this list as very strong contenders with this acquisition. Now all that is needed is for Jokinen to show that he can respond to the challenge and help pull the flames toward victory.
To be competitive in the West the Flames needed Jokinen--a big tough center who can score. The only downside is that he lacks playoff experience. But Jokinen himself says that "Its a good feeling right now" which suggests that he is up and ready for the challenge. He was obviously excited and he and Jordan Leopold should add a lot of energy to the Flames team.
Darryl sutter was willing to put up the money to make this happen and because of this the Calgary Flames have added a player with great talent who is excited and ready to make things happen. As jokinen says "If you are in the lineup you're going to play with great players.It's a good feeling".
You can watch the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals on your computer screen for free. You just need to download a program from the internet which will give you Satellite TV on your PC. No more cable vision bills to pay and you can watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your monitor.
Take a look at this now.Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hockey Fights--Should Hockey Fighting Be Banned?
Hockey fighting has always raised a lot of controversy. At the present time there are proposals to ban hockey fights and "clean up" the game. Many people are of the opinion that fighting detracts from the game. Most of these people however have never played hockey and don't understand the importance of fighting in hockey.
If you ban fighting this may lead to more illegal checks from behind,stick fouls and other infractions. Fighting helps keep hockey clean. Hockey is played under great pressure and a fight can be the relief valve for this pressure.
Without fighting you could very well have anarchy on the ice. All pro sports have some element of violence and intimidation. Hockey is the only sport which has a way to deal with this by fighting. Two opposing team players have at it and settle the matter.
Hockey fans mostly enjoy a good fight. Some seem to go to the game hoping for a fight. Two things will get fans on their feet,one is a goal and the other is a fight. When a top skill player is slashed or elbowed the enforcer will take to the ice and challenge the attacker to fight. This is the way in which top players are protected from injury. The most wanted player for any team is someone who can score,make plays and fight.
Hockey is a game which is played at high speed and the players have sticks and wear blades. Collisions constantly take place. There are bound to be disagreements which may lead to fighting. The fighters are then given penalties and the game goes on. No one wants to see continuous fouls,slashing and elbowing but this is what will probably happen without fighting.
Coaches also use fighting to bring a team to life. If the team is losing and everything seems to go wrong for them an enforcer takes the ice to throw some hard checks at the opposition. This will of course draw a response in kind and almost inevitably a good fight. This may wake up the struggling team and gets the crowd involved in the game also.
Fights often happen out of frustration. A lopsided score late in the game will cause the losing players to start an altercation. Coaches on the winning team tend to keep their highly skilled players off the ice at this point and throw in the enforcers and tough guys for this very reason.
Hockey fights are quite different from other forms of fighting. They are absolutely real and players are trying to pound one another into submission. The player who can land the most good punches and who lands on top when they go down is the unofficial winner. Quite often there is a knockout although many fights end in a draw.
Another factor in hockey fighting is that the opponents are on skates and balance is crucial. A well balanced small player can sometimes beat a larger opponent who is less well balanced. Skates are a great equalizer in fights. The majority of fans,players and the announcers like hockey fighting. It has been a vital part of hockey for years and will likely remain so.
You can watch NHL games and enjoy the fights on your PC monitor for free. All you need to do is to download a program from the internet and you can then watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your PC. Satellite TV For PC is great. Have a look here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
If you ban fighting this may lead to more illegal checks from behind,stick fouls and other infractions. Fighting helps keep hockey clean. Hockey is played under great pressure and a fight can be the relief valve for this pressure.
Without fighting you could very well have anarchy on the ice. All pro sports have some element of violence and intimidation. Hockey is the only sport which has a way to deal with this by fighting. Two opposing team players have at it and settle the matter.
Hockey fans mostly enjoy a good fight. Some seem to go to the game hoping for a fight. Two things will get fans on their feet,one is a goal and the other is a fight. When a top skill player is slashed or elbowed the enforcer will take to the ice and challenge the attacker to fight. This is the way in which top players are protected from injury. The most wanted player for any team is someone who can score,make plays and fight.
Hockey is a game which is played at high speed and the players have sticks and wear blades. Collisions constantly take place. There are bound to be disagreements which may lead to fighting. The fighters are then given penalties and the game goes on. No one wants to see continuous fouls,slashing and elbowing but this is what will probably happen without fighting.
Coaches also use fighting to bring a team to life. If the team is losing and everything seems to go wrong for them an enforcer takes the ice to throw some hard checks at the opposition. This will of course draw a response in kind and almost inevitably a good fight. This may wake up the struggling team and gets the crowd involved in the game also.
Fights often happen out of frustration. A lopsided score late in the game will cause the losing players to start an altercation. Coaches on the winning team tend to keep their highly skilled players off the ice at this point and throw in the enforcers and tough guys for this very reason.
Hockey fights are quite different from other forms of fighting. They are absolutely real and players are trying to pound one another into submission. The player who can land the most good punches and who lands on top when they go down is the unofficial winner. Quite often there is a knockout although many fights end in a draw.
Another factor in hockey fighting is that the opponents are on skates and balance is crucial. A well balanced small player can sometimes beat a larger opponent who is less well balanced. Skates are a great equalizer in fights. The majority of fans,players and the announcers like hockey fighting. It has been a vital part of hockey for years and will likely remain so.
You can watch NHL games and enjoy the fights on your PC monitor for free. All you need to do is to download a program from the internet and you can then watch 3000 satellite TV channels on your PC. Satellite TV For PC is great. Have a look here: http://tinyurl.com/dfh9mg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)