TIME FOR NHL & NHLPA TO POLICE THEIR OWN

Recently in the NHL there haven't been any players carted off on stretchers or suffering life threatening injuries. Which is exactly why it's time to be thinking about the topic. In a few weeks the trade deadline will be looming and the playoff race will begin heating up...which is when you will see more of the "ugly" side of hockey rear it's head.

I've always appreciated the "goon factor" in the game. Hockey is an intense game, played at high speed by large men with sticks. Things happen. Goons are there to make those "things" don't happen to the star players on the team. Just as the high riser is a necessary evil in baseball...so too, is the (most often) lovable goon in hockey. When the NHL mistakenly tried to remove this natural deterrent from the game, is arguably, what gave rise to the increase in hits from behind, late hits, stick swinging incidents and various other cheap shots that mar the game at times.

A few years ago it would have been a non issue really. Hockey had no TV interest and with it's labor woes, the sport was floundering to a level where it was competing with the likes of "Rock, Paper, Scissors Matches (they really televise that you know?). Ah, but then came hockey wunderkids galore; Crosby, Ovechkin, Toews, Semin and Kane (to name a few). All of a sudden the NHL had what it hasn't had since Sergei Fedorov came into the league. Bona Fide "marketable" superstars in the making. These kids have the goods to turn hockey around period. The skill, talent and natural ability these players bring to the game must be akin to the buzz that had to be happening in the days of young Wayne Gretztky and Mario Lemieux. Each and every one of these kids a compelling personality to boot. The cash registers in Hockey Heaven surely have had to be re-fitted with extra zeros since these kids have hit the ice.

With all that being said, the LAST thing the league needs as the world warms to the dazzle of these young superstars, is another Todd Bertuzzi-esque moment to drive potential fans away. So what to do? I've proposed this a number of times before and though it is "extreme" in some senses, it would be one sure fire way to curb the extra curriculars that often go so wrong in the NHL.

Simply put, it's time for the NHL and NHLPA to endorse a code of punishment truly fitting the crime. If a blatant, purposeful act results in the injury of another player, then the instigator should be fined and given a suspension equal to the time the injured player is out. Sorry Todd B, you can't play anymore. Simple, direct and fitting to the action calling for discipline. You injure another player with an action outside of the rules and you sit the same amount of time it takes for that player to return to the game. With a rule like this, I believe FAR less players would take the chance of cheap shotting someone on the hope that they might get off "easy" now and then. There would be no getting off easy.

The NHL has an opportunity to gain REAL momentum as a top professional sport again with the insurgence of some great charismatic rookie players over the past couple of drafts. Hell, if the hockey REVIVAL seen in Chicago since Kane and Toews have come to town isn't enough of an eye opener for the league as to what "could be", then maybe Todd Bertuzzi needs to play a little pond hockey game with Mr. Betman behind the league offices--and knock some sense into him.

Move Over Boxing...UFC is Here

I can't remember the last professional boxing match I really WANTED to see...it had to be years ago for certain. I don't know if it was Mike Tyson's making a mockery of things or if it was that every recent heavy weight that comes to mind spends more time clutching than punching and honestly I don't care. As boxing was making it's laborious decline (much like all of it's heavyweight fighters) there was a new form of fighting coming around far more exciting and far more appealing to those of us who used to love boxing. The Ultimate Fighter Championship couldn't have come along at a better time.
In the beginning, these cage / octagon matches were relegated to pay per view and the promotion and production was pretty bad. In it's early stages, the sport was dominated by "submission" style fighters, though many of them talented (Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie to name a couple), they were sometimes as boring to watch as the sport they were trying to overtake. In the mid 1990's the UFC as a whole almost faded completely. Pressure from many political figures regarding the brutality of the sport nearly saw the UFC banned in all 50 states. The UFC regrouped however and began working closely to get the sport state sanctioning by implementing weight classes, adding some rules with regard to the types of strikes that would and would not be allowed and making gloves a mandatory part of the sport.
It was at this time that new ownership of the UFC came into play. With the new rules and some savvy marketing in place the sport began to make a major comeback. As it stands today, The UFC broke the pay-per-view industry's all-time record for a single year of business, generating over $222,766,000 in revenue during 2006. This figure eclipsed the numbers put up by both boxing and WWE Wrestling.
The fighters are real, well versed in many styles of fighting and the matches seldom bore. There are enough good fighters who specialize in the different MMA styles to keep all fans interested and the pitting of a good wrestler against a good striker is almost ALWAYS a great fight to wacth. With a regular weekly show on Spike TV along with the pay per view and their Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, this sport is one that has a little something for everyone. For those of us who love to see a guy get clocked good every now and then...well it's got a LOT of that too.

Miracle

Miracle
Starring: Kurt Russel
Directed by: Gavin O'Connor

Without a doubt the best hockey movie ever made with the exception, of course, of "Slapshot". In it's bid to tell the inspirational side of the 1980 US "miracle" Olympic hockey team, the film far and away became the best film ever at depicting hockey in a movie sense. This is no "Youngblood" for sure. The hockey scenes were all painfully re-enacted and choreographed from footage of the actual games the 1980 US Olympic team played in thier quest for gold.

Having been in my teens and seeing the game when it was aired here in the states, it was eerie how the memories came back while watching the movie. The accuracy of the positions goals were scored from and saved were spot on throughout the film. Achieving this was no easy task and watching the DVD extras showing how director Gavin O'Connor put the cameras on the ice amid the action with the skaters was alone worth the price.

The storyline overall is of course an inspirational "little guy beats big bad guy" story that is somewhat corny to deal with (It's a Disney production afterall!), but the action segments and Kurt Russel's performance depicting the no-nonsense coaching style of the late Herb Brooks more than make up for any "weirdness". Russel shines in the "again" sequence as he puts the team through their paces making them skate lines for hours after a poor performance in a preliminary game...a move designed to get the players to understand just who and what it was that they were playing for.

The movie works on the inspirational level as a family movie for youngsters, and also serves well those looking to see a "Real" hockey movie. All in all it's a favorite of mine and will be for a long time.

T-Blades The Way To Go

I'm amazed still that the mention of "T-Blades" draws many a quizzical look when talking shop with other hockey parents. About a year ago I switched my high school aged hockey playing son to these and have never looked back. For those who don't know, the T-Blade system is based on an inter-changeable blade made of surgical steel that does not require sharpening. No more last minute trips to the pro shop minutes before the game and the ability to change (in minutes) your hollow and or rocker style to suit different situations.
Basically the T-Blade is compromised of a blade, a rocker and holder that can be changed in an instant with an allen screw type fastener as opposed to having a fixed blade that needs to be sharpened every few weeks. The blade and rocker can literally be changed in minutes to suit your performance need or skating style. Different lengths on the rockers are available (to suit different skating styles / needs) and different hollows on the blades are available too. There are different styles and designs available for the blade holders that give the player a way to alter the look of the skates too.
Since changing to T-Blades over the past year, I've found the money savings to be pretty substantial. before the T-Blades we were sharpening my son's skates on average every 2 to 3 weeks depending on his schedule of games. At an average of $7.00 per sharpening plus the trip there it was a decent chunk of change over a season. With the T-Blades, his blades tend to last between 2 to 3 months provided he doesn't take a hard slapper directly on an edge. This has been the only thing that has proven to ding an edge quickly since we have changed to this style of skate / blade.
These are well worth looking into for any serious / semi serious hockey player and or parent. The flexibility provided be being able to switch on the fly has been great and these blades really do last as the literature on the T-Blade systems says. If you give them a try I'm sure you will agree. A number of skate makers offer T-Blade style skates nowadays...my son's first were CCM Vectors. Graf, CCM and most other makers offer them. Check them out.