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If ever there was a goaltender that personified the stereotype that goalies are a different breed:moody, superstitious, and routine oriented, it would be Ed Belfour. His quirks, combined with his undying work ethic and passion to succeed, made him a Stanley Cup champion and one of the game’s greats – and recently a member of the Hockey Hall Of Fame.

While other goaltenders his age were being drafted in to the NHL and spending their days in the CHL, the un-drafted Belfour spent his junior years with the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. At the age of 21, he moved on to the NCAA and lead the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux to a national championship. Finally, someone would take notice and the Chicago Blackhawks signed the free agent Belfour in 1987, though he spent the better part of the next two seasons playing with their minor league affiliate Saginaw Hawks of the IHL.

The Eagle would take the league by storm with the Blackhawks in 1990. He captured the Calder, the Vezina, and was named to the NHL’s 1st All-Star Team. His Hawks were ousted by the Minnesota North Stars in round one that year, but Eddie would take his Hawks all the way to the Cup Final the following year. They lost four straight to Mario Lemieux and the Penguins in a series that saw every game except one won by just one goal. Regular season success was no problem for Belfour, but playoff success seemed to be hard to come by and naturally questions began to arise. Could he win the big one ?

Despite his successes and accolades league wide, Belfour fell out of favor with the Hawks – as they did with him too during the 1996-97 season, and he would be traded to the San Jose Sharks. His play seemed to be on a down slide and he would become a UFA in the summer. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars seemed to be just one or two pieces away from greatness. Andy Moog had been the Stars goaltender since the move to Dallas and it seemed an improvement at the position was a dire need. Bob Gainey would take a chance on Ed Belfour and he would not be disappointed. Belfour took the Stars from good to great, helping them capture their first ever President’s Trophy in 1998. With a 1.88 GAA and a .916 SV%, his numbers were incredible and the improvement in goal was obvious. His popularity in Dallas was through the roof and Reunion Arena was filled with chants of ” Eddie ! Eddie ! Eddie ! ” several times per game.

Belfour was huge for the Stars on the run to their first Stanley Cup as he bettered Grant Fuhr, Patrick Roy, and Dominek Hasek on the way. He posted a 1.67 GAA and a .935 SV% in the playoffs that year and stopped 53 of 54 shots in nearly six periods of play to outlast Hasek in that final game. If that doesn’t prove he could win the big one, I don’t know what does. Though Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe, that could have just as easily have been The Eagle receiving the honor.

He would come up big for the Stars in the 2000 playoffs as well, of course falling just short. Just like Nieuwendyk, his final season with the Stars would be 2001-02. Belfour would continue to play another four seasons and into his 40′s where he would remain among the league’s best.

Your goaltender is your final line of defense, and Belfour brought a nearly impenetrable  one to the Stars. His will to win, his fiery competitiveness, and his focus made him one of the best goalies ever to play the game.

The Stars will honor him in a pregame ceremony tonight for his recent induction in to hockey’s holy land – the Hall Of Fame.

Things are getting ugly in Montreal. This has been a nightmare of the season for the Canadiens, and frankly, it seems that just when you think it can’t get any worse, it always does. The problems with the team are well documented, so I don’t want to waste your time giving my opinion on why this team is not performing. In fact, rather than harp on negatives, I prefer to look at how they can make the best out of this bad situation.

In a nutshell, the organization needs to start thinking about the future, and not about how they can maybe squeak into the playoffs and get run over by New York, Boston, Philly or Pittsburgh. It’s not going to happen. Even if it only took 92 points to make it in, that would mean the Habs would have to go 21-7-3 the rest of the way. This team is simply not good enough to pull that off.

Now that we got that out of the way, here is my 10-point plan for the remainder of the season, which would hopefully act as the starting point for a successful 2012-13 season.

1 – Trade Andrei Kostitsyn

Do we need to look at TSN’s list again of teams looking for a top 6 forward? Kostitsyn has his critics, but he has a great skill set, he has good size and he can put the puck in the net. Would be an attractive rental for a playoff team, and the Habs could potentially acquire a decent prospect in return.

2 – Trade Hal Gill

Gill notoriously elevates his game come playoff time, and there would be no shortage of interest should he be made available. With the demand for defensemen high and the supply low, perhaps the Habs could squeeze out a second round pick for Gill.

3 – Trade Travis Moen

Moen has a Stanley Cup ring, plays with jam and is a very capable third line shutdown winger that can chip in with some offense. He is yet another player that would be in high demand should he be made available. Like Gill, the possibility of acquiring a second round pick in return for Moen is not unreasonable.

4 – Don’t trade Tomas Plekanec

Not that this is rumored or anything, but with the number of teams looking to acquire help at the center ice position, I have to think teams will be calling Montreal to check on his availability. This is the kind of move that should be made in the offseason (I believe they should explore it in the offseason), not right now.

5 – Keep Louis Leblanc in the NHL for the remainder of the season

The priority now should be development for next year, and I feel it is important that the Canadiens start defining a role for Leblanc going forward, so that they know where they can pencil hm into the lineup at the start of next season.

6 – Call up Aaron Palushaj from the AHL

Palushaj, the player Montreal got in return for Matt D’Agostini, has never really gotten a real chance to showcase his skill at the NHL level. He is a point per game player on a bad Hamilton team, has tons of speed and has good vision. Use the rest of the season to play Palushaj in the top 9 and see if he figures into Montreal’s plans for next year.

7 – Announce that Andrei Markov will miss the rest of the year

I doubt this will happen, which is more a testament to the stubbornness of Pierre Gauthier than anything. His famous words: “ca progresse bien”, which translated means “he is progressing well”. There is no point in risking further injury to Markov; the goal should be to have him healthy and ready to go for the 2012-13 season.

8 – Re-sign Carey Price

Want a way to make your fans happy? Re-sign your franchise player to a long-term (4-6 years) deal. What better time to do it than when the team is struggling.

9 – #FailForNail or #FailForMikhail

Ok, I don’t actually mean trying to lose so that they can draft Nail Yakupov or Mikhail Grigorenko. What I mean is if you get rid of your expiring contracts and you turn your attention towards the development of your young players (i.e. getting them more ice time), naturally the team will continue to fall in the standings. This will result in the franchise getting their highest draft pick since Carey Price at #5 overall in 2005.

10 – Ownership should make a decision NOW if they plan on firing Pierre Gauthier, and if that’s the case, do it NOW and put an interim GM in place.

The Canadiens should absolutely turn their attention to next season, and that means if ownership does not envision Mr. Gauthier retaining his role as General Manager for the 2012 offseason, he should not be the one calling the shots as the February 27 trade deadline approaches.

Just reading the summary of last night’s Kings vs. Blue Jackets game you could tell that something special happened.  Doughty scores the game winner with less than a second remaining in order to save his team from overtime?!  Incredible.  As it turns out, it may have been even more incredible than that.  upon viewing the replay, it appears the game clock froze for a second and a half, which means that time should have expired before Doughty’s winner went in.  As my nerd friends would say, “What kind of sorcery is this?!”

Since I’m a Kings blogger and I’m very obviously biased, I’m going to play devil’s advocate.  So here are a few reasons why it matters the Kings won, and a few reasons why it’s moot.

It matters because…

The Kings got a point they may not have gotten.  And they got it in regulation.  If it comes down to some tie-breaker to get the Kings into the playoffs, this could be a point of contention.  Well, it will be for the team that loses the tie-break, but for the league this is a win and that’s that.  If I were the fan of a team that loses that tie-breaker, I’d be irate that there wasn’t some way to overturn that goal.

The Blue Jackets picked up a loss.  They could have squeaked out at least 1 point with overtime, but they didn’t even get that.  While I’m sure the odds that they’ll reach the playoffs is minuscule, it’s still not fair for them.  Nor is it fair for the team that may be going up against them come lottery selection time for the draft.  Maybe the Carolina Hurricanes would have a chance to nab Nail, but the Jackets get the lotto pick.  Hmmm…

There’s always the chance that this is a systematic problem.  I mean that literally, like within the clock system the NHL uses.  Perhaps this happens more than we know.  This one also falls on the other side of the line too, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Really those are the only reasons it matters but they are big reasons.  I’m sure someone is pulling their hair out in the NHL offices today over this issue.  Probably not Gary Bettman, and not just because he’s bald.

It doesn’t really matter because…

You play until the whistle (or horn) and Doughty scored legitimately.  Player’s know they play until the game is over and if I’m the Blue Jackets coach I’m a little mad at my players for not clearing the puck.

It’s on par with other in-game type mistakes.  For instance, how many times have we as hockey fans seen a goal that is clearly a good goal get waved off because the ref thought it was a high-stick, or goalie interference, or something else that really didn’t happen at all upon the replay?  I still get angry knowing 6’5″ Martin Hanzal batted a puck in basically off his nose and the ref called it a good goal.  Playing a game with refs making decisions is inherently flawed and those flaws become part of the game.  Now we know that the computers and clock make mistakes too.  Do you still want a computer chip inside the puck telling you if it’s a good goal or not?

Maybe I’m reaching a bit here but how do we know the clock wasn’t self adjusting for rolling too long.  Imagine every millisecond the clock runs long during a game and how much time adds up.  if we’re really being sticklers about it, I could watch the whole game and stop the clock every time the ref “intends to blow” the way it should be.

Honestly though, if I’m a Blue Jackets fan I’m pretty upset over this.  In a season worth of downers, this just adds more to the trash heap.  If the Blue Jackets were in the playoff race, I’d be even more upset.  But I’m not a Blue Jackets fan, I’m a Kings fan.  And I count my lucky stars that I’m on this side of the celebration.

As they say, you’ve got to be lucky to be good.

Go Kings!

ANA – 4 PHX – 1 F

The Coyotes returned to action at Jobing.com Arena after the much-needed All-Star break. Seems like some of the players thought they were still on break. The last place Anaheim Ducks rolled into town and with 3 goals over a span of 8 shots midway through the 2nd, the Ducks chased goalie Mike Smith and made quick work of the Coyotes.

The second period belonged to the Ducks’ Andrew Cogliano who had a natural hat trick in the second period. It’s hard to discredit a man who scored the fastest natural hat trick in franchise history, but it was three of the softest goals Mike Smith has let in all season. After trying to play the puck behind the net, Smith got trapped back there and the puck squirted to Cogliano for an open net goal. That really seemed to rattle Smith, and just three minutes later Cogliano’s wrist shot from a really bad angle seemed to go right through him. Things got worse for Smith when just under four minutes later Cogliano’s backhander from 30 feet away when right through Smith’s legs. It was either a horrible goaltending performance or Cogliano just had the magic touch. Both teams seemed to think it was the former.

“That might have been the ugliest hat trick I have ever seen,” said Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau, “but I’m glad they went in.”

The Coyotes had a strong 1st period outshooting the Ducks and getting a goal from Ray Whitney who notched his team-high 43rd point on the year. But after the Ducks’ 3 goal barrage in the 2nd, the Coyotes were never in it. Even after Anaheim took back to back penalties giving the Coyotes a 5 on 3 advantage late in the 2nd, Phoenix’s power play looked anemic and uninspired. The Coyotes power play got only 1 shot on net during the 2:36 man advantage, which included 1:24 of 5 on 3, and they had 2 turnovers and 2 offsides called. That just shows a complete lack of discipline by a unit that already ranks close to last in the league.

Coyotes coach Dave Tippett was disappointed by a couple referee calls that he felt could have really changed the game. He believed the refs missed an obvious offsides call that resulted in the Ducks’ third goal, and a Coyotes goal was called back after the referee declared that Martin Hanzal interfered with Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller.

“When both teams are amazed that a call is being made, you have to wonder about it.” Tippett said post game. “There was no contact with the goalie whatsoever.”

Referee calls aside, the Coyotes were not the better team on the ice Tuesday night. The defense played poorly, passes were off target, the offense looked slow, shots repeatedly missed the net, they were outplayed physically and Mike Smith’s head was clearly not in the game.

Not the start they needed going into the second half of the season.

Coyotes Notes:

Center Daymond Langkow left the game with a facial injury, but returned in the 3rd period. He is not expected to miss any games

This was the Coyotes 4th game of a season-long 6 game homestand (1-2-1)

Let’s be honest, as Kings fans we all want to be buyers at the deadline, and not Fredrik Modin/Jeff Halpern buyers.  We want to be big time buyers.  Like, what-we-all-expected-Dustin-Penner-to-be buyers.  We all know the Kings could use some offense, yet it’s not always so easy to tell what Lombardi is going to do when it comes to acquiring players.  However, if you twisted my arm I’d wager the Kings will be in the market for a goal scoring forward.  

Let’s not waste any more time.  Here are some of the players who might be on the market:

Zach Parise-

Why he might be available: His contract is up at the end of the season and with the Devils money situation and the fact that they have approximately 900 players to sign this summer, Parise might be out of their budget.

Why he might not: Well, apparently the Devils aren’t going to part with him at the deadline.  At least that’s what they said, however I feel like this might be a ploy to raise his value.

How awesome it would be to trade for him: Parise is the Prize Chicken this year.  He’s a former 90+ point guy and will make bank this summer.

How much the King will have to give up: A lot.  We’re talking 3 Ps (Player, Prospects, Picks).

Alexander Semin-

Why he might be available: He’s a pending UFA and the Caps aren’t too pleased with Semin’s hot and cold streaks.  Or his playoff disappearances.

Why he might not: On a team without Ovechkin, he’s the best Alexander.  He’s a point per game talent.  Plus the Caps will be in the thick of the playoff race and will likely need him.

How awesome it would be to trade for him: Semi-awesome.  Semin is like a trailer for a movie that really excites you.  It could be an amazing movie, or it could end up sucking.  It’s hard to tell with Semin.  I shudder at the thought of another Penner on this team.

How much the King will have to give up: A decent bit.  Probably 2 Ps.

Ryan Smyth-

Ha!  Kidding.  Next!

Ales Hemsky-

Why he might be available: With the glut of young talent in Edmonton, Hemsky has seen his importance drop markedly.  He’s a UFA option for the Oil that they can replace much cheaper with a prospect.

Why he might not: Sentimentalism?  Lunacy?

How awesome it would be to trade for him: Pretty cool.  Hemsky is a very talented player and can add offense.  However, he’s more of a right wing (the Kings need left wings) and he hasn’t been playing so hot recently.

How much the King will have to give up: Not a ton, but possibly 2 Ps.  I don’t think the Oilers want to give him up for nothing this summer, nor will they keep him.  So, the price will likely be fair.

Brad Boyes-

Why he might be available: He’s had a rough go of it in Buffalo and it’s doubtful they’ll want him back when Pegula can waste money on another Ville Leino.

Why he might not: Pegula may want to waste more money on him.

How awesome it would be to trade for him: Meh.  He hasn’t been setting the world on fire the past few years.  Another right wing.

How much the King will have to give up: I don’t think a ton.  Maybe even just 1 P.  You pay for what you get.

Tuomo Ruutu- 

Why he might be available: He’s a pending UFA and Carolina is no doubt a seller.  Lots of youth in Carolina looking for roster spots.

Why he might not: He’s a fan favorite in Carolina and the organization likes him too.

How awesome it would be to trade for him: Pretty cool.  Ruutu is a power forward with some scoring ability.  He loves to hit.  He’s sort of in the Dustin Brown ilk, but thankfully a left wing.  He is a tad injury prone though and they already have Gagne for that.

How much the King will have to give up: Decent bit.  2 Ps.  Carolina is looking to rebuild (or something close to it), so they’ll want pieces for their puzzle.

These are just a few of the options off the pending UFA list.  It’s always possible the Kings could go after a player under contract, but those are harder to predict.  There aren’t a lot of top-flight options this year for the Kings, especially with the lack of left wings available.

Who knows.  I was one of the people who said Lombardi wouldn’t sign Penner because he’s too slow.  I was wrong on one of those points.

Go Kings!

The Ottawa senators have now dropped their 4 games in a row, a team that was riding high not long ago. The Senators traveled to Boston to face off with the Bruins last night, in a playoff type atmosphere, hard hitting, couple of fights, goals and a very loud crowd. Might have a atmosphere a little intimidating for the senators team, as they saw their 3-1 lead evaporate into thin air.

With just a few minutes left to play in the 2nd, you could tell the tides were turning, the sens looked disorganized and couldn’t seem to get plays set up. The Stanley cup champs, a team you know that will never give up took it to the sens hard late in the 2nd and Lucic scored with under a minute to go in the period. That would start the comeback for the bruins. Maybe it was the rust from the All star break of maybe the atmosphere was just hard on the Senators who have made been a legit playoff contender for a few season now.

The 3rd period saw the Sens lack of composure after Brad Marchand out muscles Veteran Defenseman Chris Phillips to tie the game up, at that point you could tell it wasn’t going to a pretty finish to the 3rd period for the Sens. Shortly after that, a Slap shot from center ice from Steinberg on hops past Goalie Craig Anderson for a 4-3 lead and that would be the final score.

Sens now lost 4 in a row, and have shown some signs of bad defensive play. They have gave up the 1st goal in  8 straight games as well, is this a sign of a team on the down fall or did they just over achieve at the start. Remember NHL analysts picked Ottawa to finish toward the bottom, Time to be worried? Time will tell…

It was a second match up in as many days for Zdeno Chara and Daniel Alfredsson, but this time, it wasn’t a friendly. Ottawa’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins was fast-paced and salty, with a good measure of physicality which shows that we are very clearly in the second half of the season. The break is over and done with, and as Ottawa looks ahead to the last 30 games of the season, they’re going to do everything they possibly can to hold onto their playoff spot and make a real run at it.

Taking this last half of the season sprint very seriously is Jason Spezza, who’s upped the physical aspect of his game and is making sure his presence is felt. Maybe the black eye has given him a little mean streak and it couldn’t come at a better time. There’s no more “oh, it’s just October” or “oh, it’s just November”. The NHL season is a long one, but it’s go time now and Ottawa has already gone above and beyond what anyone expected of them in September.

After the fun-loving nature of the All-Star Game, NHL level hockey kind of shocks the system, for the fans, players and refs, it seems. The players were looking a little logy at times and there was more falling than usual. Timing was a key issue, as shots were just fanned on at the last minute and a few shots on net just whispered shy. They more than made up what they lacked in accuracy with what they did in fighting. Two heavy matches within the first period saw Neil take on Thornton and Konopka take on McQuaid and sportscasters waging bets on Carkner and Lucic to follow.

The second period was real hockey. Both teams played their best hockey on the night in this period, with lots of speed and good rushes. Turris and Karlsson scored for Ottawa while Lucic potted on for Boston to make the score 3-2 at the buzzer. The third period went from bad to worse as Ottawa got called for minors and Seidenberg scored a weird one from centre ice which took a funny bounce past Craig Anderson. Marchand also scored off a deflection off Karlsson’s leg on the power play in the same period.

Ottawa didn’t get any power play time of their own in this game. Which is funny, because with all the ref controversy hanging over Ottawa’ s head from their Western Conference road trip, surely, there’s no bad reputation around one of the most heavily penalized team in the NHL? One of two strange things happened; the refs believed in the phony baloney surrounding the team during that trip or the Boston Bruins played hockey like an angelic choir group. I’m taking the former.

Before the third period, this was anyone’s game. Neither team had a lock on it until the bad calls and weird bounces took the wind out of Ottawa’s sails. The refs made fair calls against Ottawa; they didn’t return the favour when it came to making the exact same calls against Boston. But Ottawa can’t afford to get frustrated; they’ve come too far to blow it now.

The stars of the National Hockey league took over the city of Ottawa this weekend, from Thursday to Sunday the city was a special buzz. There were lots of parties going on and events to take part in, such as Fan Fair in downtown Ottawa. Maybe players enjoyed the night life of the market and entertained fans at local bars. The All-star Weekend was a great for the Ottawa people who had 5 home town heroes to cheer on, which included, Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, Colin Greening and Daniel Alfredsson. The tremendous support of the Fans made this weekend the best weekend I’ve been a part of as a fan of the game. The Ovations that the home town fans gave their hometown heroes on NHL Skills night and then toping it on Sunday when Alfredsson score his 1st game of the game, just gave me chills all over. The rest of the NHL got to see a real classic moment and I imagine most of the young guys all dream of moments like that in their careers to come. A Weekend I’ll never forget…

The fun times are over for now; it’s back to business for the Ottawa Senators who hit the ice today for practice I believe who will then travel to Boston for a game with the Bruins. Sens are coming off a long western road trip, where they ending up the trip on a 3 game losing skid. Does the bad play of late and the losing streak mean much, or were the Sens just tired out? They have played the must games to date in the NHL this season. Rookie’s Andre Peterson and Mark Borowiecki made their debut in the NHL, Borowiecki looking NHL ready who played a tough physical style and was good in the Sens end. Kyle Turris who had 4 pts in the 1st two games of the road trip is looking like he found his game can he keep this up? I expect Milan Michalek to get back to wear he started his amazing year who at one point lead the league in goals for the NHL before injury kept him out of play.
A strong test for the Senators tomorrow night in Boston as they will look to start the 2nd half of the season on a high note, it will be a great entertaining 2nd half of the season for all Senators fans as the 20th season memories continue.

http://mikey-rantsandraves.blogspot.com/2012/01/fighting-fighting-issue.html

Please see the link for this article

This is a companion piece to the Season of the Concussed entry which was

previously posted in December 2011.